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This video was recorded in an older version of the editor, where backgrounds had their own BG button in the toolbar. Backgrounds are now part of the Style sidebar. Follow the updated steps below.

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Using backgrounds in Tella to enhance your videos

Tella’s backgrounds feature allows you to choose eye-catching backgrounds to place behind your screen and/or camera recordings. This guide will walk you through how to select and customize backgrounds to make your videos more engaging.

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Accessing the backgrounds feature

  1. Open your video in the Tella editor.
  2. Click Style in the toolbar (or press B). Background options appear at the top of the Style panel.
  3. Click Browse all next to the Background heading to open the full Background Picker.

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Types of backgrounds

At the top of the Background Picker, there are four tabs:
  1. Recents
  2. Image
  3. Animated
  4. Color

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Recent backgrounds

The Recents tab shows the backgrounds you’ve recently applied, whatever their type, so you can quickly reuse them across clips and videos.

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Image backgrounds

Image backgrounds are static images that you can use as backgrounds.
  • Uploads: Allows you to upload your own personal images.
    • Click on the Upload button to select an image file from your computer (JPEG, PNG, or WebP).
    • You can build a personal library of backgrounds for your brand or style.
    • To remove an uploaded background from the Style sidebar, open the Images tab, right-click the background, and select Delete.
    • In the full Background Picker, hover over an uploaded background and click the trash icon.
    • The right-click Delete action is only available for images in your personal Uploads library.
  • Workspace backgrounds: Displays backgrounds shared across your workspace.
    • All workspace members can see and use these backgrounds in the editor.
    • Members and Owners can upload new workspace backgrounds by clicking the Add workspace image button.
    • Members and Owners can remove a workspace background by hovering over it and clicking the trash icon.
    • Viewers can browse and apply workspace backgrounds but cannot add or remove them.
  • Unsplash integration:
    • Browse and select free images from Unsplash.
    • Click on See All to view more images or use the tags at the top to search by category.

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Animated backgrounds

Animated backgrounds are short looping videos that play seamlessly in the background.
  • Selection: Browse through the available animated backgrounds.
  • Preview: Hover over a thumbnail to see a preview or click on it to apply and view it in your video.
  • Updates: New animated backgrounds are added regularly.

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Color backgrounds

You can choose solid colors or gradients as your background. Solid colors
  • Selection: Click on a color to apply it as your background.
  • Custom Colors:
    • Click the Plus (+) icon to pick a custom color.
    • Your recently used colors appear in the picker’s history row, alongside the preset colors.
    • You can enter a hex code for precise color selection.
Gradient backgrounds
  • Selection: Choose from preset gradient options.
  • Custom Gradients:
    • Click on the gradient editor.
    • Select your first color and second color.
    • Choose the angle of the gradient.

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Applying backgrounds across clips

By default, when you pick a background it applies to every clip in your video, so the look stays consistent. If you want to break that out for one clip, use the Apply to this clip only option.

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Apply to this clip only

Inside the background picker, look for the Apply to this clip only checkbox (it appears only when your video has more than one clip).
  • Unchecked (default) — the background you pick is shared across every clip in the video. Changing it on any clip updates them all.
  • Checked — the background is scoped to just the clip you’re currently on. The other clips keep whatever they had before, and you can give this clip a different background without affecting them.
Toggle it back off to re-sync this clip with the rest of the video.

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Getting every clip back in sync

If some clips have their own backgrounds and you want the whole video to match again, go to the clip whose background you want to keep and open the background picker. A banner at the top tells you how many clips have a different background; click Reset all to apply the current background to every clip in the video.

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Tips and best practices

  • Use workspace backgrounds for brand consistency: Upload your team’s branded backgrounds to the workspace library so every member can access them without re-uploading.
  • Building a personal library: Upload images to your personal Uploads section for backgrounds only you need.
  • Building a background library: Upload your own images to create a personal background library, or add images to your workspace so the whole team can use them.
  • Consistency: Backgrounds are shared across all clips by default; use Reset all if some clips have drifted and you want a uniform look again.
  • Experiment: Try different types of backgrounds (image, animated, color) to see which best enhances your video’s content.
  • Custom colors and gradients: Use custom colors and gradients to match your brand colors or to create a specific mood.
By utilizing Tella’s backgrounds feature, you can significantly enhance the visual appeal of your videos and keep your audience engaged.