Layers

A layer is a row of the timeline with its own figures and its own keys. Put each character on its own layer and you can change one character’s timing without touching the others. This page shows how to add, name, colour, hide, lock and reorder layers.

Why layers help

When you add a key, the app saves the pose of every figure on that layer at that frame. If Blue and Red share one layer, a key for Blue’s wave is also a key for Red, so you can’t delay only Red. Give Red a layer of their own and each row gets its own keys, holds and length.

Example: a fight between two characters, with a background. Put the background figures on a bottom layer and lock it. Put each fighter on their own layer above it. Now you can slide the second fighter’s reaction a few frames later without moving the first fighter or the background.

Try the layer list

Three figures, each on its own layer, in the Advanced timeline. The tasks follow the sections below.

Add, name, reorder and delete layers

1. Add: click + next to Layers, at the top of the layer list in the Advanced timeline. A new layer appears at the top with its name ready to type. The small arrow beside + has the other kinds: a drawing layer and a folder.
2. Name it: type a name and press Enter. Later, double-click the name, press F2, or right-click → Rename layer. Esc keeps the old name.
3. Reorder: drag the name up or down. A line shows where it will land. Or right-click → Organize → Move layer up / Move layer down.
4. Delete: right-click → Delete layer. Its figures and keys go with it; Ctrl+Z brings them back. The app doesn’t delete your last layer or a locked one.

Colour, hide and lock

Both are also in the layer menu, under Visibility and lock. Right-click the ruler for Show all layers on canvas and Unlock all layers.

Put a figure on a layer

1. New figures: click a layer’s name first. Figures, text and pictures you add go into the selected layer.
2. An existing figure: select it on the stage, then choose a layer in Properties → Arrange → Layer.
3. Scrub the timeline and check both rows: the figure now follows the keys of its new layer.

Clicking a figure on the stage selects its layer’s row too. In the Simple timeline, the Layer button in the frame bar opens the same list, with the eyes, locks and New layer.

Find and focus layers

With many layers, two tools in the layer list keep it short. Neither one changes your animation or what the stage shows.

1. Find: click the magnifier above the names, or press Ctrl+F with the timeline focused, and type part of a name. Only matching layers stay in the list (Camera and Scene always stay). Esc clears it.
2. Focus: select the layers you are working on (Ctrl-click names to pick several), right-click → Focus → Focus this layer. The list shows only those layers until you click Show all layers.
3. Focus and lock does the same and also locks every other layer for now, so you can only touch the ones you focused. Show all layers puts your own locks back as they were.

Frame edits only reach the layers you can see in the list. Clear Find or Focus before you select frames for the whole scene.

Folders

Right-click a layer → Organize → New folder, or select a few layers and choose Group selected layers in folder. Drop a layer onto a folder to add it; click the folder’s arrow to fold it away. A folder only tidies the list: it has no keys of its own and folding it doesn’t hide anything. Ungroup folder removes the folder and keeps its layers.

The Camera and Scene rows

Camera keeps the camera’s framing and Scene the background and scene settings. They are always the top two rows of the Advanced timeline, can’t be moved or deleted, and have their own keys like any layer. See Camera and Scene.

Drawing layers

Choose the arrow beside + → New drawing layer, or start painting in the Draw workspace. A drawing layer holds pictures instead of stick figures. Its keys hold their drawing until the next key; easing can’t blend one drawing into another. See Drawing.

Questions

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