Webcam and Camera Controls for Screen Recordings

Camera controls and layouts for screen recordings

Pane Studio includes direct camera controls and layout controls that work together. The camera side covers size, shape, aspect style, position, padding, shadow, mirroring, visibility, and camera behavior during zoom. The layout side covers how the camera and screen are arranged, how the camera is cropped inside a layout, and how those arrangements can change across the timeline.

Camera size, shape, and aspect style

You can change camera size, roundness, and aspect style. Aspect options include wide, portrait, and square. There is also a squircle shape for a softer frame than a standard rounded rectangle. This helps when one recording needs a compact camera while another needs a wider or taller camera frame.

Camera position and padding

The camera can be placed on a 3x3 grid and padded away from the edges. This makes it easier to keep the presenter visible without covering menus, sidebars, buttons, captions, or other important parts of the recording.

Mirroring and visibility

The camera can be mirrored horizontally and hidden when needed. Mirroring helps when the camera direction feels wrong inside the composition. Hiding the camera is useful for moments where only the screen should remain visible.

Shadow controls

The camera shadow can be turned on or off, and the shadow intensity and blur can be adjusted. This helps separate the camera from the screen when needed without forcing one fixed visual style.

Camera behavior during zoom

The camera can become smaller during zoom moments, and you can control how small it becomes. This keeps the presenter on screen while giving more room to the part of the interface being zoomed.

Layout controls tied to the camera

The camera feature also includes layout controls. You can switch between manual and auto layouts, start from presets, add layout segments over time, reposition the camera inside a layout, override the camera shape for a layout, set a custom camera size for a layout, and control camera crop position so the right part of the camera frame stays visible.

Main video layout mode

Layouts can also control the main screen recording itself. You can enable a main video layout mode, reposition the main video, and resize the main video. This means the camera and the screen can be arranged as one composition instead of the camera simply floating over the recording.

Responsive split layout

A responsive split layout keeps the screen and camera side by side in wide videos, then adapts into a stacked top-and-bottom layout for portrait formats. This is useful when one recording needs to work across different aspect ratios.

Screen-focus layout

A screen-focus layout keeps the screen dominant while the camera becomes a smaller supporting element. This works well for product demos, walkthroughs, onboarding videos, and tutorials where the interface should stay primary.

Camera-focus and webcam-only layouts

A camera-focus layout makes the presenter the main visual. A webcam-only layout can hide the screen entirely or reduce it to a minor supporting element. These layouts are useful for intros, commentary, transitions, and talking-head sections.

Timeline-based layout changes

Layouts can be added, adjusted, disabled, or removed as separate segments across the timeline. This allows the composition to change when the recording changes, instead of forcing one camera arrangement for the entire video.