【RD test】How to Add a Border or Shadow to a Clip in PowerDirector
Give a clip an edge so it stops disappearing into whatever is behind it.
Updated Aug. 21, 2026 · 5 min read
In a hurry? Use the Border & Shadow quick guide instead.
A picture-in-picture shot or an overlay can vanish into the footage behind it when the two are a similar brightness. A border or a shadow fixes that by giving the clip an edge, and in PowerDirector both live in the same place. In this guide, you'll add each one and set it up properly, including the colour picker, which is worth learning once because the same window turns up all over the app.
- Select the clip and click Edit, or double-click it, then choose Border / Shadow in the Tools list.
- Tick Border, then click the colour box to open the Color window and pick a colour.
- Set Size, Blur and Opacity with the three sliders underneath.
- Tick Shadow and set its distance, blur, opacity and direction.
Borders and Shadows
Prefer to watch? Here's the whole thing in a two and a half minute video, or follow the written sections below.
Open the Border / Shadow Panel
Select the clip or image on the timeline and click Edit, or double-click the clip. In the Image tab, under Tools, click Border / Shadow. Both effects sit on that one screen, each behind its own tick box.
Turn the Border On
Tick Border and one appears around the clip straight away, at a default thickness and colour. That is usually enough to see whether a border is going to help before you spend time tuning it.
Choose the Colour
Click the colour box under Border and the Color window opens. It gives you four ways in, and which one you want depends on where the colour is coming from:
| Way in | How it works | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Basic colours | Click a swatch from the palette along the bottom | You just need something obvious and readable, and the exact shade does not matter |
| Picker area | Click anywhere in the large gradient, then set brightness on the slider to its right | You are choosing by eye and want to explore around a hue rather than commit to a swatch |
| Eyedropper | Click the icon, then click anywhere on screen to sample that pixel | The colour already exists somewhere, in your footage or another window, and matching it beats guessing |
| Hex code | Type the six-character code straight into the field | You have a brand colour to hit exactly, which is the only route that will hit it every time |
The eyedropper is the one people get stuck in, because it takes over the whole screen while it is armed.
Press Esc to get out of the eyedropper. Once it is armed your next click anywhere on screen becomes a colour sample, so there is nothing obvious to click to cancel. Esc leaves it without picking anything.
Whichever route you took, click + to save the colour before you click OK. Saved colours collect under Custom Colors in the same window, which is what stops you re-sampling the same brand colour on every clip in a project.
Set Size, Blur, and Opacity
Three sliders sit under the colour box. Size is the border's thickness. Blur softens its edge, so a little of it stops the border looking stuck on. Opacity decides how solid it is, which is the one to reach for when the border is doing its job but pulling too much attention.
Add a Shadow
Tick Shadow for the other way of lifting a clip off its background. It defaults to black, and the same colour box opens the same Color window if you want something else.
Its sliders are almost the border's, with one swap: Distance replaces size and sets how far the shadow falls from the clip. Blur and Opacity do what they did before, and both matter more here, since a hard black shadow at full opacity is what makes an overlay look pasted on.
The last control is a dial rather than a slider: Direction sets the angle the shadow falls at. If the clip is sitting over footage with its own light in it, point the shadow the same way that light is going and the overlay stops fighting the shot behind it.
FAQ About Borders and Shadows
Press Esc. While the eyedropper is armed, your next click anywhere on screen is read as a colour sample, so there is no button to cancel it with. Esc drops out without picking anything and the Color window stays as it was.
Yes, and you should. Click the + in the Color window once you have the colour and it is saved under Custom Colors, which is available every time that window opens. Otherwise you are matching by eye on every clip, and the mismatches show up as soon as two of them are on screen together.
A border when you want a deliberate frame, like a photo sitting on a background. A shadow when you want the clip to read as lifted off the footage without a visible line around it. They can both be on at once, though that combination reads as heavy unless you keep both subtle.
