Layout packs, scenes, and the script

To get the most out of layout packs, it’s often helpful to understand how layout pack layouts relate to scenes and the script in your Descript compositions:

  • The script is media represented as text in your Script Editor and the wordbar in the timeline. This underlying element keeps all your visuals, audio, and scenes aligned in your composition while you edit.
  • Layers are additional audio or visual components that play alongside your script track. These are things such as background, music, gifs, or captions. 
  • Scenes contain all visual content, allowing you to apply properties, and visuals across your composition.
  • Layout packs contain layouts that you can apply to a scene to format it for a given visual style. They can also be used to apply a wide range of layers or styles to a scene. 

Layout Packs: How Layouts and Layers Interact

Layout packs in Descript contain pre-designed layouts that structure your composition, including script track media and scene visuals. When you apply a layout to your project, Descript will attempt to match layers in the layout to existing layers in your scene by name. If there is no matching layer, Descript automatically adds it.

  • 2025-02-10_14-53-03.jpg

Applying Layouts to a Scene

  • If your scene contains existing layers, Descript will update matching layers and add any missing ones.
  • If your scene is empty or lacks a script track, Descript will populate the scene with the layout’s script media.
  • If the scene has a script track, but the layout does not, applying the layout removes the script media.

Example: Adding a Paragraph Overlay

  1. Applying a paragraph layout updates the script track if the scene previously had no script media.
  2. Additional layers are added, which can be viewed in the Scene panel.
  3. Any matching layers (e.g., a title) will be updated to reflect the layout’s design.

Renaming Layers for Better Matching

To ensure a layout correctly replaces an existing layer (such as a title), rename the layer in the Layer panel before applying the layout. This helps Descript recognize and apply the correct design.

Locaking a layer in your project will prevent any layout attributes from being applied to that layer.

Using Multicam Layouts

When working with multicam layouts, both the layout and the scene must contain sequences with the correct number of speakers or video angles.

Applying a Multicam Layout

  1. Check the layout pack setup – The scene should have multiple tracks for different speakers or video angles.
  2. Select a matching Multicam layout from the Layout Picker.
  3. Descript automatically assigns each track from the layout to a corresponding track in your script.
    2025-02-10_15-15-57.jpg

What If There Are More Tracks in the Layout?

  • If a Multicam layout has more tracks than your scene, Descript adds a placeholder layer.
  • You can delete the extra placeholder and adjust the layout as needed.

What If You Change the Layout?

  • If you haven’t edited a layer, Descript removes it and replaces it with the new layout’s content.
  • If you’ve made changes, Descript keeps those edits and updates only the unmodified layers.

This allows you to test different layouts while keeping customized edits intact.