Element Properties

Two contexts for the same layer kinds

This page describes generation-time overrides — properties you can change on an existing design's layers for one render. Creating a design's layer structure from scratch is a different operation — see Design Import → Layer Types. Full explanation: Layers overview.

10 components are currently available:

Component	Description
Text	Text layers with rich formatting, markups, fonts, and decorations
Button	Clickable button elements with labels and styles
Image	Image layers with cropping, fit, and overlay options
Logo	Logo layers with smart background removal
Shape	Geometric shapes and decorative elements
Rating	Star or custom-icon rating display
Illustration	Illustration elements from the Abyssale library
QR Code	Dynamically generated QR codes
Video	Video layers for animated formats
Audio	Audio layers for video formats

Additionally, the background of every format can be customized via the root element.

Common properties

These properties are available for all components except root (the root element accepts only background_color):

Property	Description
hidden	Boolean: true, false. Hides the current element if true. Sending hidden: true also satisfies a mandatory layer without providing its content.

Two rules that apply to every element

• Hex works on every design type; cmyk()/cmyka() are accepted on printer and printer_multipage only. Gradients are accepted only on root/text/button/shape fill colors — see Colors & Gradients.
• Unknown properties are not rejected — anything outside the documented set is forwarded to the render engine untouched. A typo'd property name therefore fails silently; double-check names against these pages.

Text variables

Variables are placeholders authored in a design's text, written with curly braces: {username}. You substitute them with vars, a reserved key of elements — a sibling of the layer names, not a property of a text layer. One entry applies to every text layer of the design that uses that placeholder.

Key	Description
vars	Object of variableName: value pairs. Pass the name without braces. Values are strings.

{
  "elements": {
    "vars": {
      "username": "Alice"
    },
    "title": {
      "color": "#111111"
    }
  }
}

Original text Welcome, {username}! renders as Welcome, Alice!.

The design's declared variables are listed under variables on Design details. The dynamic image URL grammar spells the same thing ?vars.username=Alice.

Shadow

Shadows can be added to all components except root.

Property	Description
shadow_color	String: 6–8 digit hex shadow color
shadow_blur	Number: blur in pixels on static / animated (≥ 0). See Units on Print Designs for printer.
shadow_offset_x	Number: horizontal offset in pixels on static / animated (can be negative). See Units on Print Designs for printer.
shadow_offset_y	Number: vertical offset in pixels on static / animated (can be negative). See Units on Print Designs for printer.

Component notes:

• Text: if background color is enabled, shadow is applied to the background
• Button: shadows can only be configured on the background

Example

{
  "shadow_color": "#00000080",
  "shadow_blur": 3,
  "shadow_offset_x": 4,
  "shadow_offset_y": 3
}

Units on Print Designs

Lengths and sizes on static / animated designs are integer pixels (px). On printer / printer_multipage designs, the same properties are floats in the format's physical unit — mm or in — except font sizes, which are floats in points (pt).

Always read the property's own stated range for both cases — the ranges are not the same numbers. A printer design's float range is proportional to the static/animated integer range, converted through the format's DPI, rather than a literal reuse of it.

Why the unit differs at all

printer and printer_multipage designs render at a physical size and DPI rather than on a fixed pixel grid, so a pixel value has no fixed meaning until a resolution is chosen. Expressing lengths in the format's own unit, and font sizes in points, keeps them meaningful regardless of render DPI.

Related

• Generation — the endpoints these overrides are sent to
• Layers Overview — the same layer kinds in their two contexts
• Fonts — font UUIDs for text / button overrides
• Colors & Gradients — the full token grammar