# Overview

## Layers

A Layer in LightAct is a very flexible concept. It can do many different things so playing video or audio is just one of them.

<figure><img src="https://3312042618-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F9sVaJpWJhPbmscipukhh%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-70c7a6b8d7d87bd14c85b2c278e2dc858f885d2a%2Flayers.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

## Layer Layouts

Every Layer in LightAct is composed with nodes. These nodes graphs are created in Layer Layouts - LightAct's visual scripting system.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Good to know**: Layer Layouts is LightAct's node-based visual scripting system.
{% endhint %}

<figure><img src="https://3312042618-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F9sVaJpWJhPbmscipukhh%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-209e338c794c837a56780de75cca3c20ad7e6bd8%2Fnodes.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

The main building block in any layer layout is a **node**. With various nodes, you can build complex behavior and even conditional action flows.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Good to know:** we've created dozens of [**Stock Layer Templates** ](https://docs.lightact.com/layers-and-layouts/stock-layer-templates)for you that fulfill all the most common functionalities you'll need in a typical project. In most cases, you won't have to modify any of the nodes.
{% endhint %}

You can read more about Layer Layouts here:

{% content-ref url="layer-layouts" %}
[layer-layouts](https://docs.lightact.com/layers-and-layouts/layer-layouts)
{% endcontent-ref %}

### Variables

A variable is a placeholder that represents some kind of value.

In LightAct there are a lot of different variable types that are capable of storing different kinds of information, such as integer, float, and boolean.

<figure><img src="https://3312042618-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F9sVaJpWJhPbmscipukhh%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-957e06b46cc00db08a74b5d8ef9221e280a02a29%2Fvariables.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

You can read more about the variables here:

{% content-ref url="layer-layouts/variables" %}
[variables](https://docs.lightact.com/layers-and-layouts/layer-layouts/variables)
{% endcontent-ref %}

## Layer Templates

When you create a layer from scratch, you can save it as a template and use it for future use. This collection of nodes and variables we call Layer Templates.

There are 2 kinds of them:

1. **Stock Layer Templates**: these are templates that we provide with every installation of LightAct. Among them there are some typical ones like Video or Audio and some very unique ones. Explore them in [Stock Layer Template pages](https://docs.lightact.com/layers-and-layouts/stock-layer-templates).
2. **User Layer Templates:** these are templates that users create themselves. Read more about them [here](https://docs.lightact.com/layers-and-layouts/user-layer-templates).

{% hint style="info" %}
**Good to know**: sometimes we refer to layer templates as simply templates or simply layers.
{% endhint %}