Glass panels

Glass panels add a frosted, translucent layer to a screenshot. Unlike a flat semi-transparent shape, a glass panel samples the real pixels underneath it, so the interface behind shows through softened, tinted and lit like glass. Use one to hold a caption, group related elements, or give a plain screenshot a more finished look.

Add a glass panel

1. Open your capture in the editor.
2. Pick the glass tool from the tool rail on the left.
3. Drag out a panel over the part of the screenshot you want to cover.
4. Start from a preset, or adjust each property in the inspector on the right.

Like other layers, a glass panel can be moved, resized, rotated, duplicated, hidden, locked and reordered.

Properties

Property	What it controls
Blur	How strongly the content underneath is softened
Frost	A milky, diffused look on top of the blur
Tint	A color laid over the panel
Saturation	How vivid the colors seen through the glass appear
Border	A thin edge that defines the panel
Radius	How rounded the corners are
Reflection	A light sheen across the surface
Inner highlight	A bright edge just inside the panel
Shadow	Depth beneath the panel
Gradient	A gradual change of color or light across the panel
Glow	Soft light around the panel

Because the panel reads whatever is beneath it, moving it changes its look. Over a dark sidebar it reads darker; over a bright header it reads lighter. Check the panel again whenever you move it to a new spot.

Keep text on glass readable

Text on glass is the most common use and the easiest to get wrong. A few habits help:

• Raise the blur until the details underneath no longer compete with your words.
• Add a tint that contrasts with the text color: a dark tint behind white text, a light tint behind dark text.
• Lower the saturation if colorful content shows through and distracts.
• Keep captions short and use a larger text size for labels.
• Judge the result at the size people will see it, for example zoomed out to the export size.

Text and other annotations always draw above effect layers such as glass, so a caption is never swallowed by the panel.

Presets

InnoShot includes editable glass presets. Apply one, adjust any property, and save the result as your own preset so that every screenshot in a series shares the same style.

Good to know

• Glass panels are clipped to the screenshot. They do not extend over the background or frame around it.
• Glass blur is cosmetic. It is designed to look good, not to hide information, and blurred content can sometimes be recovered. Use redaction for anything sensitive.
• Glass pairs well with Spotlight: dim the surroundings, then add a glass caption that explains the highlighted area.
• Glass panels are part of the editable project, so you can change or remove them at any time.

Related

• Glassmorphism effect
• How to add glassmorphism effects to screenshots
• Spotlight
• Text and annotations