Guide

Effects stack, and blend modes mix.

Effects add looks such as shadows, blur, glow, and glass to an object, and you can stack several. Blend sets how the object’s colors mix with what’s behind it.

ToolIntermediateAbout 5 minDesign mode

Effects in the right panel

Effect rows

When you select an object, Effects is at the bottom of a section of the right panel such as Rect Style. Click the + button next to Effects, and the Effects window opens at “Select Effect Type”. Click one, such as Drop Shadow, to add that effect, and the window switches right away to its settings. The row shows the effect’s name, such as “Drop Shadow” (always in English). To edit it again, click the icon at the left of the row.

  • Click the row’s iconReopen the settings
  • Click the eye buttonHide or show again
  • Click the − buttonRemove
Effect rowsClicking + next to Effects and choosing Drop Shadow puts a shadow under the card, and the window switches to the shadow settings. Video: Clicking the + button next to Effects lists the effect types in the Effects window. Clicking Drop Shadow puts a shadow at the bottom right of the card, and the window switches to the shadow settings.

Several effects and their order

You can use several effects together, even the same kind twice. They apply in order from the top row of the list, so with Drop Shadow after Blur, the blurred shape gets the shadow. Drag the handle at the left of a row to change the order.

  • Drag the handleChange the order

Where effects appear

Rectangles, ellipses, paths, text, frames, tables, images, videos, and groups have effects. Scenes don’t. An effect on a group applies to the whole group at once.

Effect types

Blur

Blurs the whole object. The higher the Strength (0–100, starting at 8), the stronger the blur. Turn on Gradient to keep the top sharp and blur more toward the bottom. Drag the two points that appear on the canvas to set the direction and extent of the blur, and use Start and End (0–1) to set how much each end blurs.

BlurTurning on Gradient keeps the top sharp and blurs more toward the bottom, and dragging the end point up to the middle blurs everything below the middle evenly. Video: Turning on Gradient for the blur on a photo shows two points, keeping the top sharp and blurring more toward the bottom. Dragging the end point up to the middle blurs everything below the middle evenly.

Backdrop Blur

Blurs whatever is behind the object, as if seen through frosted glass. Strength and Gradient work as in Blur. The blurred background shows only if the object’s fill is see-through.

Backdrop BlurAdding Backdrop Blur to a white card with its fill lowered blurs the circles behind it, as if through frosted glass. Video: Adding Backdrop Blur to a white card with its fill lowered to 30% blurs the colored circles behind it, and raising Strength to 30 softens them like frosted glass.

Drop Shadow

Casts a shadow outside the object. X and Y are how far the shadow is offset, Blur is how soft it is, and Spread is how much it grows. There are also Color and Opacity (0–100%). It starts as black at 50%, with X and Y at 4 and Blur at 4. For step-by-step instructions, see Fill, stroke, and shadow.

Inner Shadow

Casts the shadow inside, so the object looks sunken. Its settings and starting values are the same as for Drop Shadow.

Outer Glow

Puts a glow around the edges. Besides Blur, Spread, Color, and Opacity, it has Intensity (0–4) for the strength of the glow. The color starts as white, so the glow doesn’t show on a white background. Use it on a dark background or change the Color.

Outer GlowAdding Outer Glow to a button in a dark scene, then setting Color to sky blue and Intensity to 2, spreads a glow around it. Video: Adding Outer Glow to a button in a dark scene and setting Color to sky blue and Intensity to 2 spreads a sky blue glow around the button.

Glass

Shows what’s behind the object refracted, as if through a lens. Refraction (0–2) is how much the edges bend, Chromatic (0–2) is the color fringing at the edges, and Blur (0–100) is how much the background blurs. The fill color tints the glass: white looks clear, and the higher the fill’s opacity, the stronger the tint.

GlassAdding Glass to a card over circles and raising Refraction makes the circles behind it bend at the edges. Video: Adding the Glass effect to a white card over colored circles shows them as if through a lens, and raising Refraction makes the circles bend strongly at the edges.

Noise

Adds a texture like film grain. Amount (0–1) is how strong it is, and Scale (1–10) is the grain size. Monochrome is on at first, so the grain is black and white. Turn it off for colored grain, and change Seed (0–100) for a different grain pattern.

Adjustment

Corrects the object’s colors. It has Brightness, Contrast, and Exposure (−100–100) under Tone, Hue (−180–180°) and Saturation, a color balance for each of the shadows, midtones, and highlights, and Black & White. Turn on Convert in the Black & White section to make the object black and white, and tint it lightly with the color in Tint below. Edits that change a photo’s pixels themselves are in Image editing.

Backdrop blur shows only through a see-through fill

Backdrop blur blurs what’s behind the object, then covers it with the object’s fill. So with the fill’s opacity at 100, the blurred background is hidden and nothing looks different. Click the fill’s color square and lower the opacity in the Colors window to 20–40.

Blend modes

Choose from the Blend list under Opacity in the Transform section of the Object panel to change how the object’s colors mix with what’s behind it. It starts at Normal, which simply covers what’s behind. Select several objects before you choose, and they all change.

There are 16 modes, grouped in the table below by how they mix. Blend modes apply together with opacity, so lowering the opacity also fades the mixed color.

Switching the blend mode of the yellow rectangle over the photo, one after another, changes how it mixes with the photo. Video: With the yellow rectangle over the photo selected, switching Blend in the Object panel to Multiply, Screen, and then Overlay changes how the rectangle mixes with the photo each time.
The 16 blend modes, grouped by how they mix
GroupBlendHow it mixes
BasicNormalSimply covers what’s behind. What’s behind shows through only as much as the opacity allows.
DarkenDarken · Multiply · Color BurnThe darker of the two colors stays, and white parts of the object disappear. Use these to add color over shadows or a light background.
LightenLighten · Screen · Color DodgeThe lighter color stays, and black parts of the object disappear. Use these for glows and highlights.
ContrastOverlay · Soft Light · Hard LightWith middle gray as the pivot, dark areas get darker and light areas get lighter, bringing out contrast and texture.
ComparisonDifference · ExclusionPaints with the difference between the two colors, for a strong result that looks like inverted color.
ComponentHue · Saturation · Color · LuminosityTakes only one component from the object and the rest from what’s behind. Use these to change only the color and keep the light and shade.

Soft shadows, and copying effects

Tip

To soften a shadow. Raise the Blur of Drop Shadow to about twice Y, and lower Opacity to 20–30%. The shadow looks as if light is shining from above.

Tip

To copy effects to other objects. Select the styled object, right-click, and choose Copy Styles. Select the objects you want to change, right-click, and choose Paste Styles: the effects come along with the fills and strokes. Pasting doesn’t work on frames for now, so add effects to a frame yourself with the + next to Effects. See Reuse styles.

Tip

Effects carry across scenes too. Give an object with the same name different shadow or blur values in two scenes, and turn on the first scene’s transition. During playback, the values change smoothly from one to the other. See Your first transition.

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Updated 10/12/2026 · The videos on this page were recorded in the current editor.

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