Layers & scenes on nodes
Lift a node into its own layer, stack and blend it like a compositing app, drop it into a 3D scene, or decide how far a light reaches — all from the node itself.
Most of the time DNA figures out where your content belongs: 3D objects share one scene and sort by depth, 2D shapes stack in front of it. But you can take direct control. Any node can be promoted into its own layer, assigned to a scene, or — if it's a light or force — told exactly how far its influence reaches.
Promote a node into its own layer
By default, a 3D node lives inside the shared scene and is sorted against everything else by depth. Promote it and its content lifts out into its own flat layer that sits on top of the scene, composited like a layer in a paint or motion app.
Once a node is its own layer, three controls decide how it sits in the stack:
Z-index — the stacking order. Higher sits in front. This is how you say "this layer goes above that one."
Blend mode — how the layer combines with what's behind it. Over (normal), Add, Multiply, Screen, Overlay, and dozens more, including dodge/burn, HSL, and difference-style modes.
Opacity — how much of the layer shows through, from fully transparent to solid.
Demote the node again and it drops back into the shared 3D scene, depth-tested with everything else.
Reach for promotion when you want compositing-app behaviour — a glow on Add, a logo always on top, a tint on Multiply — rather than true 3D depth sorting.
Track mattes
A track matte lets one layer punch a hole in another, or reveal it through a shape. Give a layer a matte source, then choose how the matte is read:
Alpha — use the matte's transparency as the cutout.
Luma — use the matte's brightness instead (white reveals, black hides).
Flip invert to swap what's kept and what's cut. Turning the matte off restores the plain layer. Whole 3D scenes can carry a matte too, masking the entire scene's composite the same way.
Put a node in a 3D scene
Beyond the default shared scene, you can group nodes into separate 3D scenes. Each non-default scene renders as its own self-contained unit through its own camera, then takes its place in the stack alongside your promoted layers.
Assign to a scene — set which scene a node belongs to.
Active scene — the scene new visual nodes land in as you create them. Think of it as your current working scene.
Scene camera — pick which camera each scene renders through.
Scene stack position — where the whole scene floats on the shared stack, so a 3D scene can sit above and below promoted layers, not just behind everything.
Separate scenes are great for picture-in-picture, a 3D inset over a 2D background, or rendering the same objects through two cameras at once.
How far an influencer reaches
Lights, force fields, and environment lighting are influencers — they act on other things rather than drawing themselves. Each one has a scope that decides how far it reaches:
Global — affects everything in the project, across every scene.
Scene — affects only its own scene. This is the default, so a light lights the scene it lives in and nothing else.
A chosen set — affects exactly the scenes you pick, and no others.
This keeps a stage light from leaking into your picture-in-picture inset, or lets one key light wash across every scene at once when you want it to.
If a new scene looks unlit, remember each scene only sees its own lights by default — add a light to that scene, or widen an existing light's scope.