Layer Slide – Storykit

The "Layer Slide" slide type is at heart an efficient text slide but with a lot of extras if you need to create distinctive looks. So apart from the text field, this slide has six different inline assets fields, which all can take the full canvas size and be used in a multitude of ways.

This slide is perfect when you want to build templates and reusable modules for Quick Insert, since you can create quite complex and bespoke looks that are easily deployed.

The best method for working with a slide type like this is to use what we can call "subtractive method." So when you are building complex setups – start with a slide that you put everything on, to make sure that you have your layer order correct, and then duplicate and subtract from those duplicates and set animation, timing and behavior.

Main Example

Storyboard View from Main Example

Layer Slide in Product Sales

Layer Slide in Podcast Promotion

Layer Slide in Editorial List

Layer Slide as Buying Guide

Layer Slide as Short Program Format

Usage and behavior

You can choose animation type and whether the text should animate in/out for the Message field, that holds 100 characters with the Large typography.

With the inline asset fields, that all support transparency and have animation settings, you can build very bespoke graphic looks for this slide, which can be very useful. Not least when building templates and partial storyboards for quick insert, when you can spend more time on honing the use of the slide type.

The inline assets all have the same characteristics, by default, they will use their actual size, and you can place them in x- and y-positions. They have a fixed layer order, Asset 1 being the topmost, and Asset 6 is at the bottom.

You can set and combine animation for the assets – so you could combine x- and y-animation for a diagonal move. And you can combine that with opacity as well.

The Animation Controls for the assets are as follow:

In-Animation Duration (ms)
Set the length of the duration for the in-animation. This is the time it takes for each asset to complete its chosen build.
In-Animation Build Order
You can choose the order in which the assets animate in.
In-Animation Build Behavior
If you choose to build "With Previous," all timing originates at the beginning of an animation, meaning that if you choose "With Previous" and have a Stagger time of 0, all assets start the animation at the same time. So you can control a "fanning" effect if you choose "With previous" with a stagger time shorter than the Duration.
If you choose "After Previous" the timing originates at the end of the previous animation, meaning that the previous asset will finish its animation before the next one starts.
In-Animation Stagger (ms)
The stagger time offsets the start of the next animation, and depending on what behavior you have chosen, it delays the next one from the beginning or the end of the previous asset's animation.
Out-Animation Duration (ms)
Set the length of the duration for the out-animation. This is the time it takes for each asset to complete its chosen build.
Out-Animation Build Order
You can choose the order in which the assets animate out.
Out-Animation Build Behavior
If you choose to build "With Previous," all timing originates at the beginning of an animation, meaning that if you choose "With Previous" and have a Stagger time of 0 all assets start the animation at the same time. So you can control a "fanning" effect if you choose "With previous" with a stagger time shorter than the Duration.
If you choose "After Previous" the timing originates at the end of the previous animation, meaning that the previous asset will finish its animation before the next one starts.
Out-Animation Stagger (ms)
The stagger time offsets the start of the next animation, and depending on what behavior you have chosen, it delays the next one from the beginning or the end of the previous asset's animation.

The Asset Settings and animations

For each asset, you have the following settings and options

Asset [1-6]
This is where you choose the actual asset to have in that spot. An image or video file.
X-position
If you are not using Advanced positioning, this determines the asset placement on the x-axis.
Y-position
If you are not using Advanced positioning, this determines the asset placement on the y-axis.
Animate X-position
Turn this on if you want the asset to animate in and/or out from the slide on the x-axis. You can set the in-animation from left or right and the out-animation to left or right.
Animation Type
- Choose "Smooth" if you want this particular animation to move to its final placement or state and not do an overshoot (a bounce).
- Choose "Bounce" if you want this particular animation to do a quick overshoot and then bounce back to its final state or position.
Animate Y-position
Turn this on if you want the asset to animate in and/or out from the slide on the y-axis. You can set the in-animation from top or bottom and the out-animation to top or bottom.
Animation Type
- Choose "Smooth" if you want this particular animation to move to its final placement or state and not do an overshoot (a bounce).
- Choose "Bounce" if you want this particular animation to do a quick overshoot and then bounce back to its final state or position.
Animate Opacity
Turn this on if you want to animate the opacity of the asset from 0 to 100 and from 100 to 0.
Animate Scale
Turn this on if you want the asset to animate its scale from 0 to 100 and vice versa. This creates a growing effect. The effect always emanates from the absolute center of the asset.
Animation Type
- Choose "Smooth" if you want this particular animation to move to its final placement or state and not do an overshoot (a bounce).
- Choose "Bounce" if you want this particular animation to do a quick overshoot and then bounce back to its final state or position.
Scale and Rotate
Choose an option here if you want the asset to do a small scale and rotate while after it has animated in. This can create an attractive "floating" effect. Per default this is Disabled, but you can choose Clockwise or Counter-Clockwise.
Advanced Position
- When you turn on the Advanced Position setting, this overrides the basic position for the asset and allows you to input absolute pixel values for the asset's top left corner.
- So the X-position controls where on the x-axis, in relation to the left edge of the canvas, the left side of the asset will be. The value is expressed in pixels, meaning that a value of 100 means that the asset's left edge will be 100 pixels from the left side of the canvas.
- The Y-position controls the placement of the asset's top edge in relation to the top side of the canvas. So a Y-position of 300 means that the top edge of the asset will be 300 pixels from the top edge of the canvas.
Scaling Settings
- When you turn on Scaling Settings, you can control the scale of the asset. By default, it is not scaled, meaning it takes its original pixel size. This means that an asset that is larger than the canvas will only be visible in part. And conversely, a smaller asset will not cover the canvas.
- With the Scaling Settings, you have different options. If you choose "Original Size" this will show the image in its original size with the position settings you have made.
- If you choose "Fit to canvas," the asset will scale in the same manner as background assets do, and scale the shortest edge to the canvas dimension and thereby fill the proportions. It will use the position you have set, though.
- If you choose Exact Proportions, you can set the max-width and height of the asset, which will scale to the measure it meets "first." We never change the proportions of an asset to protect its integrity. Combine this with Advanced Position, and you can place an asset anywhere in any size on the canvas.

Main Asset Behavior, Styling, Slide settings, Music and Audio Control

You can read all about Main Asset Behavior and Main Asset Styling in those two articles. And Duration and other Slide settings in this article – and all about Music and Sound in this article.