# Themes and custom backgrounds > Pick the canvas behind your windows. Presets are free; Pro adds your own colors, gradients, background images and overlays. Source: https://curtains.app/help/themes-and-custom-backgrounds/ A theme is the look of the canvas around your windows, and the five presets are free on every plan. ## Pick a theme Open the **Themes** panel in the rail on the left edge and click a card. Viewers see the change at once. The **Theme** menu in the stage bar has the same list, so you can switch in a call without changing panels. *Image: The Themes panel. Cards for Meet Green (selected), Graphite, Paper, Midnight, Forest and Custom. Below them, a Corner radius choice of 0, 8 or 12 pixels, a Drop shadow switch, and the start of Custom theme.* The presets are **Meet Green**, **Graphite**, **Paper**, **Midnight** and **Forest**. **Meet Green** adds a title bar across the top that reads "Currently Sharing", with a red **LIVE** pill while you're Live. The pill never shows in a draft or while Paused, so the preview never contradicts the state. ## Adjust corners, shadow and padding Below the cards, **Corner radius** sets the window corners to 0, 8 or 12 pixels, and **Drop shadow** turns the shadow behind windows on or off. Both are free. The space around and between windows is **Window padding** in **Settings › Presenter**, with 0, 8, 16 or 32 pixels. **Settings › Presenter** also has the **Canvas theme** setting, which is the same choice as the panel. The look of Studio itself (light, dark or the system setting, and its accent color) is separate: set **Appearance** in **Settings › General**. It doesn't change what viewers see. ## The Shared with Curtains badge The **Shared with Curtains** badge is a small pill in a corner of the canvas. In the **Themes** panel you can choose the corner. On Free and during the trial it's always on. (Pro) Turning it off is a Pro, Lifetime and Pro for teams setting: **Show the badge to viewers**. Layouts keep windows clear of it, and in Follow it sits at the left of the top strip, whichever corner you choose. ## Custom themes > **Pro: Custom themes** > > Your own colors, gradients, background images and overlays are included with Pro, Lifetime, Pro for teams and the 14-day trial. On Free, the custom options show a **Pro** label and **Upgrade to use custom themes**. See [Plans](https://curtains.app/help/plans/). Scroll to **Custom theme** in the Themes panel. Changing anything there switches to your custom theme, and the **Custom** card shows it. *Image: The preview with a custom theme: a green gradient and bubble image behind three windows, and a dark Acme Studio lower third in the bottom left corner.* ### Colors and gradients Under **Background**, choose **Colour** and pick a color, or choose **Gradient**. A gradient blends two colors, **From** and **To**, at any angle from 0 to 345 degrees in steps of 15. ### A background image Click **Choose background image…** and pick a PNG or JPEG of up to 20 MB and 8192 pixels on a side. Then choose how it fills the canvas: - **Fill** covers the canvas and crops the overflow. - **Fit** shows the whole image, and your background color shows in the bars. - **Stretch** pulls the image to the canvas shape. The **Dim** slider darkens the image from 0 to 90 percent, so windows stay readable on a busy picture. **Remove** takes the image away. ### An overlay An overlay is a transparent PNG drawn over the whole canvas, such as a brand frame, a corner logo or a lower third. It's fitted with its shape kept, so a 16:9 image, like 1920 by 1080, fits exactly. Click **Choose overlay…**, then: - Under **Show**, choose **Above windows** (the default) or **Behind windows**. - Move **Opacity** from 10 to 100 percent. Ink, your cursor, the **Shared with Curtains** badge and the holding card are always drawn over the overlay. The overlay is never something you can click in Studio: drags go through it to the windows below. If a PNG has no transparent areas, it covers the canvas, and Curtains says so; lower its opacity or use one with transparency. *Image: The Custom theme controls: Background as Colour or Gradient with From, To and Angle, then a Background image with a preview, Fit options Fill, Fit and Stretch, and a Dim slider, then an Overlay with Above windows and Behind windows, and Opacity.* ### Where your images go Curtains only reads the file you choose. It checks it, makes its own copy without hidden metadata, and keeps that copy in its settings folder on your Mac. The original is never read again, and images no theme uses are deleted. ### When your plan ends A custom theme you made on Pro or during the trial is kept, but viewers see its preset's background, with the frame, corners and shadow, until your plan includes custom themes again. Picking a preset doesn't delete it; click **Custom** to bring it back. ## Related - [Layouts](https://curtains.app/help/layouts/): how windows sit on the canvas. - [Combos](https://curtains.app/help/combos/) - [Plans](https://curtains.app/help/plans/) - [Settings](https://curtains.app/help/settings/)