# Using other video editors

Looking Glass Hololuminescent displays work by overlaying traditional video content on top of a fixed holographic volume. This allows immense freedom in choice of the creative tools you can use to make content. In this guide we'll go over the basic operations that make content shine on Hololuminescent displays.

### The Hologram

Hololuminescent displays have a fixed holographic volume built into the display itself. The content you put on the display will be overlayed on top of this volume, allowing for a compelling 3D effect. 

For most of our templates, we use the center view of the holographic volume as reference for the safe areas of our content. This can be imported into your video editor as an image backplate to be used as ***reference*** during the editing process.

{% hint style="info" %}
The holographic volume reference does **not** need to be exported as part of your video, the display itself will do all the magic there. 
{% endhint %}

<figure><img src="https://804846835-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE9AhVJoaDxXfUQueIzAL%2Fuploads%2F1ICGSaHZzUuu892q1FWN%2FHLD_Template_centerview.jpg?alt=media&#x26;token=d9b827e2-821c-4e4c-bb76-7e8ea9f517b3" alt=""><figcaption><p>Download this image to use as a reference guide</p></figcaption></figure>

Content on the Hololuminescent display will effectively blend over top the holographic volume, this is similar to the "multiply" blend mode in photo or video editing tools.&#x20;

For the best preview of this, you can place the reference image on top of or under the main content and apply a `multiply` blend mode. This will replicate how the content will look in the actual HLD.&#x20;

<figure><img src="https://804846835-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE9AhVJoaDxXfUQueIzAL%2Fuploads%2Fvk4KZxK697Yn8TaUgn4y%2Fbear_explain_hld.png?alt=media&#x26;token=0f1f5796-f990-4c49-bf0e-a4e3414ee612" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Your output video should look like this.&#x20;

<figure><img src="https://804846835-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE9AhVJoaDxXfUQueIzAL%2Fuploads%2FVc9oW4h9uf1XqREjR7N0%2Fpersref.jpg?alt=media&#x26;token=a60ad116-f4f4-4ed9-9dd6-a33eb0aaa431" alt="" width="184"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="success" %}
The display itself handles blending of the video content with the holographic effect. Your content should have a solid color or gradient background. See our [demo-video-content](https://hlddocs.lookingglassfactory.com/resources/demo-video-content "mention") for more examples.&#x20;
{% endhint %}

### Special Effects

We recommend adding drop shadows and reflections to content for the best effect in our Hololuminescent displays. There are a few ways to achieve these effects. For full guidance on creative constraints please see our [characters](https://hlddocs.lookingglassfactory.com/creative-guidelines/characters "mention") or [products](https://hlddocs.lookingglassfactory.com/creative-guidelines/products "mention") pages. For guidance on exporting and specific measurements for safe areas please see our Media specifications page.&#x20;

{% content-ref url="../../resources/media-specs-and-encoding" %}
[media-specs-and-encoding](https://hlddocs.lookingglassfactory.com/resources/media-specs-and-encoding)
{% endcontent-ref %}