Source Filmmaker

Source Filmmaker

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How to Apply an Overlay
By PidpieLuke
Do you know how to apply an overlay? If not, then this guide will teach you how.

Apologies if this guide isn't so good. It's my first.
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Tutorial
Step 1
Switch to the Clip Editor if you are not there already.


Step 2
Scroll down until you find a brown bar. (It should be titled "Overlay")

If, for whatever reason, the brown bar doesn't exist, go the "Add Overlay Track" section to learn how to get it and come back.

Step 3
Right click on the Overlay bar and select "Add Clip to Track".

Note: Your overlay will appear where your playhead is so make sure you consider that before applying and overlay.

Step 4
Select "Material Overlay Effect" and click OK.


A maroon-colored bar labeled "New Clip" should appear where your play head is.


Step 6
Right click on the "New Clip" bar and select "Show in Element Viewer".

WARNING: The Element Viewer is a powerful tool without many safeguards. Using it incorrectly can corrupt your map irretrievably and can crash SFM. Just follow the step and you'll be fine.

Step 7
Next to the "material" field, click the browse button ().


Step 8
Find the location of the overlay you want to apply, select it, and click Open.

In this tutorial, I will using my own YouTube Banner Overlay as an example.

Congratulations! You just applied an overlay.
Overlay Not Transparent
If your overlay is supposed to be transparent and it's not (like the one below), just follow these steps.


Step 1
Next to the "overlaycolor" field, click on the white box.


Step 2
Go to bottom of the new window and change the transparency to be 254 or lower.


There you go. You made your overlay transparent.


TRICK: You could even change the transparency for overlays without transparent parts to get things like the image below.
Add Overlay Track
If, for some reason, you do not have the "Overlay" bar, follow these steps to get it.

Step 1
Scroll down to any track (that's what it's called) other than the "Picture" channel.

Step 2
Right click in the blank space on the other channel, go to "Add Track", and select "Effects".


Step 3
Name your track whatever you want (It doesn't have to be "Overlay") and click OK.


You now have the "Overlay" bar. Go back to step 3 in the "Tutorial" section to know how to apply the overlay.
Additional Information
The overlay will appear where the maroon-colored bar is. You could drag the ends of the bar to adjust the length of its appearance.

If you want to know how to create your own overlay, check out this guide by YoshiPoland.
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=714375867&searchtext=overlay
12 Comments
Twingo Destroyer 18 Feb @ 2:41pm 
Take a huge dump on the Bonnet of your neighbors freshly cleaned Car, run naked across the street with a saw and cut a stop sign in half then hurl the thing into a incoming truck and then yourself as well and then get reincarnated and become a Walrus because your sign killed a guy and then die horribly to i dont fucking know a Polarbear and then get reincarnated as a human, become old enough to get gifted a computer, install SFM open SFM, create a new session, no. You are not going to start from the beginning you fool... no! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Scrap 3 Sep, 2024 @ 1:30pm 
yeah i know the comment below me is a year old but did you figure it out (also funny that we have the same name)
Mr Ant-Tenna 15 Nov, 2023 @ 1:56pm 
how can i resize and move an overlay?
ChumpRumpkis 22 Aug, 2023 @ 6:13am 
time to add a liveleak overlay
Henodus 11 Sep, 2022 @ 6:31pm 
how can i flip a overlay?
DizzyBizzy01 8 Aug, 2021 @ 1:24pm 
how do i make a poster with the overlay? also this was helpful
doggodiggin 14 Dec, 2020 @ 9:54am 
also six-man click and drag the overlay.
doggodiggin 14 Dec, 2020 @ 9:54am 
It's simple really.
ButtLust 7 Dec, 2020 @ 2:40pm 
Oh neat. Didn't know you could do that through here.
AveryHyena 9 Jan, 2020 @ 2:56am 
Or you could, you know, do whatever you want in post 5x faster with 10x more freedom