The command palette

The command palette is a search box for the whole editor. Press Ctrl+P, type a few letters, press Enter: you can run any command, select a figure or layer by name, jump to a frame or open a setting, without hunting through menus.

Open it and run a command

1. Click the canvas so the editor has your keyboard, then press Ctrl+P. A box with Search commands opens near the top of the window, and the editor behind it goes dim.
2. Type onion. The list keeps only matching rows, with the letters you typed in bold. Each command shows its shortcut on the right, so you learn the keys as you go.
3. The first row that can run is already highlighted. Press Enter to run Onion skin, or use ↑ and ↓ to pick another row first. Clicking a row works too.
4. The palette closes and the command runs, exactly as if you had used its menu or shortcut.

With a mouse: click the StykAnimate mark at the far left of the top bar, then Search commands…. Esc or a click outside the box closes the palette without running anything.

Try it

This window has Blue on the Hero layer and Red on the Villain layer, 24 frames long. Click on it, then press Ctrl+P (or F1).

Try itThe command palette

Street fightSaved

AnimateDrawBuild

SaveExport

Joints

Paths

Grid

Effects

87%

Click here, then press Ctrl+P

Add frame

00:00:00fps

0 of 5 done

1. Open the palette with Ctrl+P or F1.
2. Run a command: type “onion” and press Enter.
3. Type 12 and press Enter to go to frame 12.
4. Type “red”, press ↓ to Red under In this project, then Enter.
5. Type “theme”, press ↓ to Theme under Settings, then Enter.

What it finds

Results come in groups, each with a grey title:

Type less: how matching works

• Words can be in any order and only partly typed: skin oni still finds Onion skin.
• The first letters of each word work as an abbreviation: fh finds Flip horizontally, fv Flip vertically.
• Capitals and accents don’t matter.
• Many commands also answer to other words: mirror finds Flip, ghost finds Onion skin, preferences finds Settings….
• Page Up and Page Down move eight rows at a time in a long list.

Select a figure by name, then act on it

In a busy fight scene it can be hard to click the right figure. Let the palette do it:

1. Press Ctrl+P and type the figure’s name, like red.
2. Commands come first, so Redo may be highlighted. Press ↓ until Red under In this project is highlighted (it says Figure · Villain), then press Enter. Red is now selected.
3. Press Ctrl+P again and type fh. Pick Flip horizontally. Red turns around.
4. Press Ctrl+P once more without typing: Flip horizontally waits at the top under Recent.

Picking a layer selects that layer in the timeline. Only figures on the current frame are listed: if a figure isn’t there, go to a frame where it appears first. Giving your figures and layers clear names makes this much faster.

Why is a command grey?

It can’t run right now, and the right side says why instead of showing a shortcut:

• Select a figure first or Select a joint first: select one (click it, or find it in the palette), then try again.
• In Build or In Draw: the command belongs to another workspace. Switch with the Animate · Draw · Build buttons in the top bar.
• In the desktop app: only the installed app can do it (like opening a new window).

Grey rows stay in the list so you can still find out that a command exists. Pressing Enter on one does nothing.

Jump to a frame

Type just a number, like 12. The only group is Go to with Go to frame 12; press Enter. Frames are counted from 1, like in the timeline. A number past the end lands on the last frame; it never adds frames. Once there, , and . step one frame back or forward.

Open a setting directly

1. Press Ctrl+P and type theme.
2. The command Settings… comes first. Press ↓ to the Theme row under Settings (it says Settings › Interface) and press Enter.
3. Settings opens on the Interface page with the Theme tiles focused. Choose Dark, then close Settings.

Other good ones to try: zoom gesture, handle radius, loop animation, autosave. More in Settings.

Good to know

• The palette runs the same commands as the menus and shortcuts, for the current workspace and selection. It never skips what a command needs.
• Exports started from the palette (like Export GIF) use the default options. Open Export… (Ctrl+Shift+E) to choose size, quality and sound yourself.
• On a phone the palette fills the screen and has a close button.

Common questions

Keep going