Overlay App Previewer Glitch

[kathrynl72]

Hi! I have a problem with my overlays and I can’t seem to figure it out
One of my stories contains a lot of overlays. When I preview it in the portal previewer online, everything seems fine. However, when I try to preview it on the phone app, the overlays glitch. I really wish I could add a video to show since it’s hard to explain, but it’s like my overlay appears in a random spot and stays there for half a second and then suddenly appears in the correct spot/where it is supposed to be. (Sometimes, the overlays also appear one by one which can take forever).
I tried my best to show it in the gifs below. Sorry if it’s low quality - I needed to change the video to a GIF in order to upload it because the forums doesn’t allow me to upload videos aha.
This problem happens to all of my overlays when I preview it on the app, but it’s totally fine when I preview it on the portal. I have so many overlays so I just don’t want my readers to also experience this glitch. (I’m scared that this already happened though because someone made this edit of my story and I saw that there was an overlay that glitched too. So, I’m scared that the readers could also see this glitch). I’m not sure if this is just me, or if there is something wrong with my script (even though I doubled checked everything). Sorry for the super long post ahh. Thank you so much in advance for helping.

[Kayla101]

How many overlays did you use?

[Farah_DeSantis]

it means usually that you use @ instead of &

[Farah_DeSantis]

and yes readers will see it exactly as you see it in app.

Portal usually doesnt show this because pc is quicker so it reads quicker lines with @ even it has a beat.

But phone are not able to do that.

Therefore it is esential to understand the difference between. & and @.

if you use @ it happens one after another exactly as you see it in app.

If you use & it happens all in one moment

[Farah_DeSantis]

another way how to solve tjis is to write the overlays next to the BG including the scales and shifts. But this doesnt work good with rotation of overlays or in case you need to create duplicate overlay

[Vividly]

I used to have the same issue. To fix this you should add your overlays next to your background names, it makes everything run smoother once its coded at the VERY beginning of the scene. Follow Dara’s guide and everything should be fixed. Here’s the thread:

@Dara.Amarie

ADDING Overlays to the Scene:

Here are the two ways you can add overlays into your scenes:

1. Typing the overlay next to the background name using the word "with"

This is used when you want your overlay(s) to be already placed at the beginning of the scene. (If you’re adding the overlay to the background name then you only need to enter the scale size just once)

INT. BACKGROUND NAME - DAY with OVERLAYNAME
or
INT. BACKGROUND NAME - DAY with OVERLAYNAME to % x y
or
INT. BACKGROUND NAME - DAY with OVERLAYNAME in zone #
or
INT. BACKGROUND NAME - DAY with OVERLAYNAME at layer #
or
INT. BACKGROUND NAME - DAY with OVERLAYNAME to % x y in zone # at layer #

Example:
EXT. ATLANTA - NIGHT with CAR ANGLE SILVER to 1.5 220 85 in zone 3 at layer 4

[kathrynl72]

Oh my god. THANK YOU SO MUCH! This helped a lot

[kathrynl72]

Ahh thank you!

[Farah_DeSantis]

glad to help

[kathrynl72]

lol a lot. I know what to do to fix it now!

[kathrynl72]

Hi! Sorry to bother again, but I have a quick question. Is there something wrong with my lines of code here? I changed them to the & symbol instead of the @ and everything runs so much smoother. However, I just have a slight problem with this. There isn’t a large “split second gap” (idk what to call it), but there is still a small gap that shows the overlay somewhere else. Did I do something wrong?

&overlay LIAMCARA CHAP1_1 clear
&overlay LIAMCARA CHAP1_2 create AND overlay LIAMCARA CHAP1_2 opacity 100% in 0
&overlay 5400855143514112_LIAMCARA CHAP1_2 shifts to 13 104 in zone 1
&overlay 5400855143514112_LIAMCARA CHAP1_2 scales to 0.406 0.406
&overlay 5400855143514112_LIAMCARA CHAP1_2 moves to layer 6
&overlay CARA LIPS 2 RIGHT V2 create AND overlay CARA LIPS 2 RIGHT V2 opacity 100% in 0
&overlay 5400855143514112_CARA LIPS 2 RIGHT V2 shifts to 42 79 in zone 1
&overlay 5400855143514112_CARA LIPS 2 RIGHT V2 scales to 0.367 0.367
&overlay 5400855143514112_CARA LIPS 2 RIGHT V2 moves to layer 10
&overlay CARA LIPS 2 RIGHT V2 opacity 100% in .2 then overlay CARA LIPS 2 RIGHT V2 opacity 0% in .2 loop 3 times
@speechbubble is 173 98 to 90% with tail_top_right

    CARA
Didn't you say you were tired a couple of seconds ago?

[Farah_DeSantis]

which one shows elswere?

[Farah_DeSantis]

also jut a habit of mine and maybe it will not help but I give opacity command always as the last so what ever the overlay does before is not for sure visible

[kathrynl72]

There is a small brief gap between overlay LIAMCARA CHAP1_1 and overlay LIAMCARA CHAP1_2 when the first overlay is cleared and before the second overlay appears.
Also, thank you so much for the tip and for helping me out! It means a lot!

[Farah_DeSantis]

also add to the shifts commands at the end ‘

in 0

[kathrynl72]

Thank you! I will try that