Groups & Repeaters

Creating and nesting logical groups.

Select two or more components and Group them from the canvas right-click menu. A group is logical, not a transform frame: it gives its members a shared name, a shared visibility and lock, and a single handle for animation.

• Groups nest, to a maximum depth of four.
• Un-nest lifts a nested group back to the top level; Ungroup dissolves it.
• Sibling names must be unique — the structure validator enforces it, and a rename that would collide is rejected with an error.
• Hiding or locking a group applies to everything beneath it.
• A group can be an animation target, which is how a whole lower-third animates as one.
• Mask, on a group row in the Components list, clips everything beneath the group to the group's box. Text can then slide up from behind the plate's edge, or a number roll out of view, without a separate wipe.
• Alt-click (Option-click) the line between two sibling rows to clip the upper one to the lower one — a photo into a circle, type into a plate. Alt-click that line again to release it. A clipped row indents, and the base's name is underlined.
• On the canvas, select one item and Alt-click another in the same group. The selected item moves directly in front and shows only inside the one you clicked. Alt-click that base again to release. Either item can still be dragged on its own, including the shape under a photo that covers it; a click on the part the clip hides passes through to whatever is visible there.