Your library

Save figures and movieclips once, then drop them into any project: Add selection, insert, folders, and where the files live.

7 minBeginnerStykAnimate 1.2.5

The short version

The Library tab (next to Properties and VFX) keeps figures and movieclips ready for any project.
Drag a card onto the stage to drop it right there, or double-click it to put it in the middle.
To save something, select it on the stage and click Add selection at the bottom of the Library.

Made a character you love, or a sword you use in every fight? Put it in your library once and drop it into any project, any time. This guide shows you how to save things into the library, use them, and keep it tidy with folders.

Open the Library

Click the Library tab at the top of the right-hand panel, next to Properties and VFX. The switch at its top chooses where you’re looking:

My library: the figures and movieclips you saved.
Community library: free figures and movieclips other animators shared on stykanimate.com. See The community library.

Save something into your library

Select it on the stage. Click a figure, or Shift-click several that belong together (a character and its hat, for example). A movieclip works too.
Open the folder you want it in, or stay at the top (Library).
Click Add selection at the bottom of the Library. The line above it says Saved to My library and a new card appears.

You can also choose Add to library at the bottom of Properties, or in the right-click menu on the stage.

Try itThe Library tab

Drag a card onto the stage

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Drag a card onto the stage. It lands where you let go.
Double-click a card to insert it in the middle.
Click a figure on the stage to select it…
…then Add selection to save it into the library.
Double-click the Fighters folder, then click Library in the path to go back.
Rename a card: select it and press F2, or use its ⋯ menu.
Search for “fire”, or set Show to Movieclips.

Point at a movieclip card to play it. Everything here stays in this page.

Figures are saved as .stkz files and movieclips as .stykmov, each with a small preview picture. A set of figures keeps its pose, positions, joins and front-to-back order. If you select a joined piece without its parent, it’s saved on its own.

Use what’s in it

Insert at a spotIt lands right under the pointerDrag

Insert in the middleIt goes in the middle of the sceneDouble-clickorEnter

Undo an insertTakes the whole insertion out in one stepCtrl+Z

An inserted figure is a normal figure in your project: pose it, recolour it, animate it. A movieclip starts playing from the frame you insert it on, so go to the right frame first.

At the top, Search finds cards by name, and Show filters to Figures or Movieclips.

Keep it tidy with folders

Make a folder with the folder-plus button next to the item count, or ⋯ → New folder. Name it, for example Fighters, and click Create folder.
Move a card into it: drag the card onto the folder (it highlights when you’re over it), or choose Move to… in the card’s ⋯ menu.
Open a folder with a double-click. The path above the cards (Library › Fighters) takes you back; you can drop cards on it too.

Each card’s ⋯ menu (or a right-click) has everything else:

InsertOpen, for a folderEnter

RenameKeeps the file typeF2

Move to…Drag

Move to Recycle BinCopies already in your scenes stayDelete

With the keyboard, the arrow keys move between cards and Shift+F10 opens a card’s menu.

The ⋯ button next to Show has the library’s own commands:

New folder and Add selection, the same as the buttons.
Refresh reloads the folder if you changed files outside the app.
Show in folder opens the library folder on your computer.
Preview background: Automatic, Light or Dark. Automatic picks a checkerboard that keeps white and black figures visible; this only changes how cards look, never your figures.
Rig examples… opens ready-made rigs to learn from.

Where the files live

In your Documents › StykAnimate › library folder. Show in folder opens it. Removed cards go to the Recycle Bin, so you can get them back. Updating or uninstalling StykAnimate keeps your library.

To move your library to another computer, copy the files from that folder, including the .png and .json files next to each one (they’re the previews). Missing previews are made again when the cards appear.

Figures already in your project

You don’t need the library to add another copy of a figure that’s already in your animation: the + (Add) button at the top of the tool bar lists them under In this project, and All in this project… shows every one.

Asset packs

Ready-made packs are sold separately on the website: Classic Martial Arts Weapons, Training Gear, Traditional Dojo, Bamboo Forest & Training Grounds and Martial Artist Rigs. Open their files like any other (double-click, or drop them on the editor) and add the pieces you like to your library.

Packs need a recent StykAnimate

Pack files open in StykAnimate 1.2 (any version after 1.1.0) and use StykAnimate’s own format, so they can’t be exported to Pivot.

Common questions

My library is empty.

It fills up as you add things. For free figures and effects, switch to the community library.

Add selection says “Select figures or a movieclip to add them”.

Nothing is selected on the stage. Click the figure first, then Add selection.

I can’t see a white figure on its card.

Choose ⋯ → Preview background → Dark.

Where’s the Library tab?

It’s in the right-hand panel. If you moved or closed panels, see Panels and layouts.

Keep going

Still stuck?

Ask the community, or tell us what’s missing from the docs.

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