Would the overlay being a solid color affect the effect of the transparency? Should we upload the actual background as the overlay?
Whatever background you’re using needs to be made into an overlay. The overlay should match the background exactly.
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Thanks!
this has really helped but I’m having trouble getting the right sized overlay.
help
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What do you mean?
When I save the background as an overlay I have to resize it when I put it into my story but I find it hard to get it at the right size it ends up looking right in some places and blury in others
You’ll just have to move it around so that it lines up and matches with the background. (it’s good to keep it half opicty when you’re moving it around so that you can see through it so that it’s easier to line up)
Thanks 
never thought about keeping most of the opicty. That would have made my life easier, 
How do you fade yourself in?
I haven’t quite got it yet still need to play around to figure it out but how she did example 2 I would do the same but in reverse
EXAMPLE TWO:
(quoted from Dara.Amarie)
EXAMPLE TWO:
In the image below, I did the same as above: myself at layer 1, boyfriend at layer 3, and overlay at layer 2. At the beginning of the scene I put the overlay at opacity 0, so you can’t see the overlay yet when the scene starts. Then during the scene, I changed the opacity to 1 in the span of 2 seconds to make it appear as if I’m fading myself out. (But really my character is just behind the overlay)
BACKGROUND with BG_OVERLAY at layer 2
@overlay BG_OVERLAY opacity 0.5 in 0
&DARA moves to layer 1 and BOYFRIEND moves to layer 3
@overlay BG_OVERLAY opacity 1 in 2
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Thank you
Start out the scene with your character behind the background overlay, then just change the opacity of the background overlay to 0 in however many seconds you want.
I’m having a problem I’ve called my overlay COMPUTER and used this coding
INT. TV CLOSE UP2 - DAY with COMPUTER at layer 2
@YOU stands screen left at layer 1
@overlay COMPUTER opacity 0.5 in 0
but I keep getting an error saying
“the overlay COMPUTER does not exist”
I’ve tried refreshing the page but it still doesn’t work and I have definitely uploaded it and named it COMPUTER
It’s the command above the COMPUTER command that is the error.
“stands screen left at layer 1” is not a valid command. There’s only 2 ways to layer characters and it’s these:
@CHARACTER moves to layer #
@CHARACTER spot % x y in zone # at layer #
Hi so I’ve tried this and I’m still being told that the overlay computer does not exist
It works if I remove the overlay…
actually ignore that…
I’ve just refreshed it again and its now working 
Me again sorry for all these messages I spent ages the other day trying to get the overlay to fit properly… think I have managed to find the perfect fit
So if anyone is struggling I used the scale
1.603 -0 0 and I have tried it on 3 different background/overlays so
I presume it would work for all backgrounds.
It depends on the size of your overlay. The best way to match the overlay with the background is if you have the overlay at half opacity and shift it to 0 0, then all you need to do is scale the overlay bigger so you can line it up to match the background.
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Oh right thank you
Thank you!