Move around the canvas

Zooming and panning change how you look at your scene, never the scene itself. This page shows how to get close to a small dot, move around, get back to the whole picture, find a figure that walked off-stage, and line things up with the grid and guides.

Try it

This stage works like the app’s. Click it first, so the keys go to it and not to the page, then follow the tasks under it.

Zoom in and out

The zoom percentage sits at the right end of the stage header. At 100%, one pixel of your scene is one pixel on your screen. Click the percentage for a menu with Zoom in, Zoom out, Fit canvas, Fit selection, and 25%, 50%, 100% and 200%.

1. Point at the detail you want to see, like a hand or a foot.
2. Hold Ctrl and scroll up. The detail grows and stays under the pointer.
3. Pose, then press Shift+1 to see the whole canvas again.

Zooming only changes your view. To make a figure bigger in the animation, change its Scale in Properties instead (see Rotate and scale).

Move the view (pan)

Panning slides the view sideways or up and down, for example to reach a part of the scene that is off the screen after zooming in.

Fit the view

Fit canvas (Shift+1, or the button at the right end of the stage header) shows the whole canvas. Fit selection (Shift+2) zooms to the figures you have selected; with nothing selected, it fits the canvas.

When you start playback, StykAnimate fits the canvas once, so you see the whole shot. To keep your zoom when you press play, open Settings with Ctrl+,, choose Animation and turn off Fit view when playback starts.

Find a figure that went off-screen

Figures can stand outside the canvas, in the dotted area around it. They are kept, but they are not in your video. To bring one back:

1. Click the stage and press Ctrl+A to select every figure.
2. Press Shift+2. The view zooms out until every selected figure is on screen.
3. Click the lost figure and drag its orange dot back onto the canvas.
4. Press Shift+1 to check the whole shot.

To visit figures one at a time, click the stage and press Ctrl+→ or Ctrl+← to select the next or previous figure, then Shift+2.

Grid and guides

The grid draws squares over the canvas, and the two guides are lines you place yourself, for example on the floor and in the middle. Use them to keep a walk on the same floor line or two figures the same size.

1. Click Grid in the stage header, or press Ctrl+', to show the grid.
2. Click the arrow next to Grid to open Guides & grid.
3. Click the eye next to Vertical or Horizontal to show a guide. A new guide sits in the middle (Vertical, 480 px) or at the usual floor height (Horizontal, 405 px).
4. Move a guide: type its position, or drag its label on the stage. A selected label also moves with the arrow keys, 1 px at a time or 10 px with Shift.
5. Change the grid with Cell size (40 px to start) and Opacity (18% to start).

The lock button locks both guides so you can’t move them by accident, and the target button puts both guides in the middle of the canvas. When you zoom far out, the grid leaves out lines so it stays readable.

Prefer the wheel to zoom?

Open Settings → Canvas → Navigation → Zoom gesture and choose Scroll to zoom. The wheel then zooms without Ctrl, and you pan with Space+Drag, the middle mouse button or the Pan tool. The default is Ctrl + scroll to zoom. Your choice is remembered.

With a pen or touch screen

• Two fingers pan and pinch to zoom at the same time. Putting a second finger down stops a drag the first finger started.
• With a pen, use Space+Drag to pan and Ctrl+Space+Drag to zoom. The pen’s side button works like a right-click: drag a dot with it to bend its line.
• In the Draw workspace, Shift+Space+Drag turns the view like a sheet of paper on a desk. It snaps upright when it gets close, and it never turns your drawing in the animation.
• Drawing with a finger is set in Settings → Interface → Touch → Draw with a finger. With Never (a finger pans), one finger moves the view in Draw.

More about pens and touch screens in Pen and tablet.

Common questions

Related guides