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Non-Destructive Layers

Flexibility is the operating word. Grade everything on one layer — or divide the image as granularly as you want. The Layer Stack supports either way. How you work is entirely up to you.

26 Transduce Layer Stack dock with layers, opacity, enable, Add Layer, and Curve Layer

Each clip carries an ordered Layer Stack evaluated bottom-up in ACEScg. A layer is one non-destructive correction: any combination of the Color kit (primaries, look, tonal shaping, tone curve), plus an optional qualifier / geometric shapes matte, plus opacity · Color Grading · Masking.

Nothing is baked until export. Reorder rows, rename them, enable or disable with the eye, scrub opacity. The stack is there so you can keep decisions separate when you choose to — not because the system forces a recipe.

Your call — one layer or many

Same tools either path. The difference is how much independence you want between decisions.

Valid

One layer

Put balance, look, curve, and a mask on a single row when the shot is simple — or when you want speed. Full Color panel, one Active Layer, done.

Also valid

As granular as you like

Split balance from skin, skin from sky, sky from a Curve Layer. Each row can carry its own mask and opacity so local work stays independent and revisable.

Workflow example — portrait / dialogue

One possible path on a talking-head plate. Stop wherever the picture is right — or keep splitting when a scrubber starts fighting the rest of the frame.

Example · flexible — not a required recipe
Start
Layer 1 · whole frame Dial Lift / Gamma / Gain / Offset (and look if you want) on the full plate. Many shots can stop here.
Optional
Add Layer 2 · skin qualifier When the global grade pushes faces too far, isolate skin with a qualifier (or shape), warm or open only that matte. Layer 1 stays as global balance.
Optional
Add Layer 3 · sky / window Cool the upper frame or tame a bright window with its own mask. Faces on Layer 2 are untouched. Opacity on either row if you overshot.
Optional
+ Curve Layer · contrast pass Shape the S-curve on its own stack row — full frame or masked. Dial opacity instead of rewriting points. Balance and secondaries beneath stay put.
Check
Viewer · Active Layer Flip Source → Active Layer (cumulative through your selection) → Final Output. Open Active Mask to read isolation before you push more color.

You might use two layers. Or five. Or stay on one. Flexibility — the stack expands with the image’s needs, not with a mandated structure.

How the stack evaluates — technical model

List index 0 is the base (bottom of the UI). Enabled layers run in list order. Disabled layers are skipped.

01
Capture Frame entering this layer — source at the base; composite-so-far for every layer above.
02
Apply CC That layer’s Color parameters in ACEScg — primaries, look, tonal, then its tone curve (if any).
03
Mask If qualifier / shapes are enabled: composite only through that matte onto the incoming frame.
04
Opacity Blend toward the incoming image — wet/dry for this layer only, not the whole grade.

What a layer can hold

Not “layer types” — tools available on a row. Use as many or as few as the task needs. The Color panel always shows EDITING: [layer name] for the selection.

On the row Detail
Color kit Lift · Gamma · Gain · Offset (+ RGB); Brightness · Contrast · Saturation · Hue; Shadow lift · Highlight rolloff · Blend; optional tone-curve points · Color Grading
Mask Optional qualifier + geometric shapes (Add / Subtract). Analytical, frame-stable · Masking
Opacity 0–100% blend toward the image entering the layer
Enable Eye on / off — skip processing without deleting the row
Order Drag to reorder; later layers see earlier results (bottom-up)
Curve Layer Optional dedicated row (+ Curve Layer) focused on the Curve dock — still has opacity and its own mask

Curve Layer — when contrast deserves its own row

Tone curve points can live on any standard layer. Use + Curve Layer when you want contrast as a separate, stackable decision — same flexibility philosophy.

Curve Editor · ⌘5 + Curve Layer
Bezier points Own opacity Own mask Bottom-up like any layer

Isolate the contrast pass — or don’t

Keep the curve on Layer 1 if that’s simpler. Or add a Curve Layer so you can mask it, opacity it, reorder it, and disable it without touching the Color numbers beneath.

Again: entirely your call.

Viewer modes & Match

Mode / action What it does
Source Unprocessed clip — stack peeled back
Active Layer Cumulative result from the base through the selected layer (inclusive)
Final Output Full enabled stack — what export uses for color (Effects sit after the stack)
Active Mask Selected layer’s qualifier / shape matte
Match to Reference Writes an ordinary editable global layer (per-channel LGGO) — reorder, opacity, disable, remask · Color Match

Related

Color GradingThe Color kit available on every standard layer. MaskingPer-layer qualifiers and geometric shapes. Color MatchHero looks land as editable stack layers.
FlexibilityOne layer or many — your call, every shot.
Bottom-upBase first; each layer sees what’s beneath.
Per-layer maskLocal work stays independent when you split.
Curve LayerContrast as an optional stack citizen.

Work the way the image needs.

Start simple. Split when you want more control. The stack scales with you — not the other way around.

Download for macOS (Apple Silicon) Available for macOS on Apple Silicon only. Windows & Linux coming soon.