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Use blur to hide sensitive information in your recordings. Use highlight to draw attention to a specific area by masking everything else. Both blur and highlight are available from the effects sidebar tool.

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Where to find blur and highlight

  1. Open your video in the editor.
  2. Open effects in the sidebar.
  3. Select blur or highlight.

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Blur sensitive information

  1. Move the playhead to the point in your video where you want the blur to start.
  2. In the Blur section, click the plus button.
  3. On the canvas, drag the blur into position and resize it to cover what you want to hide.
  4. In the timeline, adjust how long the blur appears:
    • Drag the start or end of the blur to change its duration.
    • Drag the blur segment left or right to move it earlier or later in the clip.
    • Or, select the blur in the effects sidebar. Its control panel opens below the row, where you can type precise start and end timestamps.
Hover over a blur or highlight segment or either duration handle to preview the exact frame under your pointer. While you drag a duration handle, the video preview follows the moving edge so you can choose the exact frame where the effect starts or ends.

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Add more than one blur

  1. Click the plus button beside Blur again to create another blur.
  2. Place and resize the new blur on the canvas.
  3. Adjust its timing in the timeline.
You can run multiple blurs at the same time, including overlapping blurs, without needing a complicated multi-track timeline. In the sidebar, each blur shows a small visual preview so you can quickly see what is being blurred and when it starts and ends.

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Duplicate, edit, or remove a blur or highlight

  1. In the effects sidebar, click the blur or highlight you want to manage.
  2. Open its three-dots menu.
  3. Select Duplicate to create a copy with the same type, position, size, and timing. The copy is selected and initially sits directly over the original, so you can move, resize, or retime it.
  4. Select Delete from the same menu to remove the effect instead.

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Highlight something you want viewers to focus on

Highlight does the opposite of blur. Instead of hiding information, it masks everything except the area you want to show, so attention is pulled to the fully visible part.
  1. Move the playhead to where you want the highlight to start.
  2. In the Highlight section, click the plus button.
  3. On the canvas, position and resize the highlight area to frame what you want viewers to look at.
  4. In the timeline, adjust the start, end, and duration just like you would with a blur. You can also select the highlight in the effects sidebar and enter exact start and end timestamps in the control panel below it.
You can add multiple highlights, overlap them, and manage them from the effects sidebar.

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Split a blur or highlight at the playhead

You can split a blur or highlight in two from the effects toolbar. 1. Select the blur or highlight you want to split. 2. Move the playhead to the point inside the effect where you want the split. 3. Click Split in the toolbar, or press X. The effect is divided at the playhead and the new right half inherits the same type, position, and size, so you can resize, reposition, or retime each half independently.

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Switch between blur and highlight

You can convert an existing effect without recreating it.
  1. Select a blur or highlight in the effects sidebar.
  2. Click the three dots menu.
  3. Choose the option to switch it to the opposite effect.

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Use blur and highlight with crops, layouts, and zooms

Blur and highlight work alongside other Tella features like layouts and zooms. For example, you can keep an area highlighted while another area stays blurred, even as a zoom effect plays.
Blur and highlight areas follow the Shape selected in Style for that layout section. In a full layout, the camera or screen frame stays square at the canvas edge, while the effect keeps your Rounded or Circle shape in the editor and exported video.
Move the playhead into the zoom before positioning your blur or highlight. You can drag and resize the effect across the full screen recording, including areas that extend beyond the canvas while zoomed in.
If the crop still includes the full area covered by a blur or highlight, the effect stays anchored to the same content. If the crop cuts through part of the effect, Tella adjusts it to fit inside the crop. Resetting the crop keeps that adjusted position and size rather than restoring the original effect. If the crop removes the covered area completely, Tella removes that blur or highlight.