Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://tella.com/docs/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Custom layouts let you remix Tella’s layout templates and make them your own. Save them to your Favorites and reuse them across every video, helping you create content that looks uniquely yours.
Creating a custom layout
To create a custom layout:- Start with any Tella preset (such as side-by-side) from the Presets tab of the layout picker.
- Open the Customize panel from the sidebar to tweak the layout’s style, camera position, and screen fit.
- Click on one or both layers (camera and/or screen) on the canvas and move or resize them to your desired arrangement.
- When you’re satisfied, give the layout a name in the Save as favorite form at the top of the Customize panel and click Save layout.
- Your saved layout now appears in the Favorites tab of the layout picker.
Using saved layouts in your videos
Saved layouts work just like presets:- Apply them as your base layout for the entire video.
- Add them to specific sections by clicking and dragging on the timeline.
- The video transitions smoothly between different layouts.
Managing your saved layouts
Open the Favorites tab in the layout picker to see every layout you’ve saved. You can drag tiles in the grid to reorder them — helpful for grouping related layouts or keeping your most-used arrangements at the top. Hover any tile to access its actions:- Customize: Apply the saved layout to the current section and reopen the Customize panel so you can keep tweaking it.
- Rename: Open the tile’s menu (three dots) and select Rename to change its name inline.
- Duplicate: Make a copy of an existing saved layout to use as a starting point for a new variation.
- Remove from favorites: Removes the layout from your Favorites tab, but the underlying saved layout is not permanently deleted.
- Delete: Permanently deletes the saved layout.
- Updating an existing layout: When you customize a section that originated from one of your saved layouts, the Customize panel shows an “Or update <name>?” shortcut next to the save form. Click it to overwrite the existing saved layout with your new arrangement instead of creating a duplicate.
Custom layouts and cropping
Custom layouts preserve their design intent across different aspect ratios. When you create a layout with one aspect ratio and then crop your screen recording to a different ratio (such as 4:3 or 16:9), the relationship between your camera and screen layers remains consistent. This means you don’t need to create separate layouts for each aspect ratio—one custom layout works across all your screen recordings, regardless of their dimensions.Apply to all clips
The Apply to All feature works with custom layouts, allowing you to apply your custom layout to every clip in your video at once. This is a significant time-saver for longer videos with multiple clips. If you need certain clips to use different layouts, you can override them individually after applying to all.Creative layout ideas
Camera backdrop layout
Create a layout where your camera fills the entire background with your screen overlay in the foreground:- Start with a standard layout
- Right-click the camera layer and select “Send to Back”
- Enlarge the camera layer significantly and position it to frame yourself on one side
- Resize and position the screen layer in the remaining space
50/50 split screen
Create a full-screen split with camera on one side and screen on the other:- Start with the TV show style layout
- Move the camera layer to occupy roughly half the canvas
- Use the screen cropping tool to crop your recording to fit the remaining space
- Adjust positioning as needed
Additional features
Custom layouts work with:- Camera-only clips
- Screen-only clips
- All canvas aspect ratios (16:9, 16:10, 4:3, 1:1, 4:5, 9:16)