# Layers & Hierarchy
Layers are the building blocks of your animations. Organize complex scenes using layers, precompositions, and parenting to create hierarchical structures and reusable components.

## What are layers?

Layers contain visual content (shapes, images) or structure (groups, precomps). Each layer has transform properties (position, rotation, scale, opacity), draw order (z-index), and optional parent-child relationships.

## Layer types

<List type="bullet">
  <ListItem>**Shape Layers** — vector-based layers containing shapes (rectangles, ellipses, paths, stars)</ListItem>
  <ListItem>**Precomposition Layers** — references to nested compositions for organization and reuse</ListItem>
  <ListItem>**Image Layers** — bitmap/raster image assets</ListItem>
  <ListItem>**Group Layers** — containers for organizing shapes within a layer</ListItem>
</List>

**Layers have a hierarchy, which is determined by their relationship:**

<List type="bullet">
  <ListItem>Parent layers affect child layers</ListItem>
  <ListItem>Precompositions contain nested scenes</ListItem>
  <ListItem>Groups organize shapes within layers</ListItem>
  <ListItem>Draw order determines rendering sequence</ListItem>
</List>

## Related articles

<Grid columns="4">
  <Card title="Layer Types" href="/en/creator/04_layers-and-hierarchy/layer-types" variant="interactive" />

  <Card title="Precompositions" href="/en/creator/04_layers-and-hierarchy/precompositions" variant="interactive" />

  <Card title="Parenting" href="/en/creator/04_layers-and-hierarchy/parenting" variant="interactive" />

  <Card title="Outliner" href="/en/creator/04_layers-and-hierarchy/outliner" variant="interactive" />
</Grid>

**Applies to:** Lottie Creator (Web)