Animation Tools

This section covers the animation workflow and timeline tools.

Timeline Overview

• The Layer Timeline displays each frame as a block whose width reflects its duration.
• The current playback position is indicated by a vertical marker; drag it horizontally to scrub the animation.
• Display Scale controls how many pixels represent one millisecond, effectively zooming the timeline for fine edits.

Reorder Frames (Drag & Drop)

Reorder a layer's frames directly in the Layer Timeline:

• Click and slightly drag a frame to start the drag. A placeholder will appear where the frame will be placed.
• Release to drop the frame at the highlighted position. The change is recorded in history, so Undo/Redo is supported.

Tip: Clicking without dragging still selects and activates that frame (does not reorder).

Playback Controls

• Play/Pause animation.
• Stop animation (resets playback to the start).
• Loop playback.

Navigating Frames

• Next/Previous Frame: jumps to the next/previous timestamp across all layers.
• Next/Previous Layer Frame: jumps within the currently active layer only.

Managing Frames

• Add Frame: insert a new frame at the current timestamp.
  • With copy: duplicates the previous frame's content.
  • Without copy: inserts a blank frame the size of the project canvas.
  • Add Left/Right: insert around the current frame boundary.
• Remove Frame: deletes the current frame (the last remaining frame of a layer cannot be removed).
• Undo/Redo: all frame operations (add, remove, reorder) are tracked in history and can be undone/redone.

Keyboard Modifiers

• Hold Shift to jump between frames in some contexts or to constrain certain manipulations.
• Hold Ctrl/Cmd as applicable for additional timeline actions (platform dependent).

For global shortcuts, see the Keyboard Shortcuts section.