Documentation

The Handy custom panel

We have not yet discussed these panels which appear in the right drawer, when the program is started. They comprise a wide variety of functions which will help you save a great deal of time when you start to get the hang of using the program. You will have noticed that many of the functions already discussed are present in the Handy Panel. It was, however, important for us to start by explaining the fundamentals of the program before introducing you to some shortcuts!

Everything in relation with the creation or modification of custom panels will be discussed in lesson 11.

Amongst these, you will find the possibility to add images, split a layer (after the current image), delete an image or layer, etc… Now we are going to take a closer look at these functions...

The first thing you will notice is that the panel is sub-divided into several sections: All Layers, Current Layer, Managing Instances, Set Exposure, Miscellaneous and Make your own tools !

All Layers

As you have probably guessed, every action present in this category will affect all layers, so be careful as you might lose some of your drawing if you hit the wrong button !

This icon adds an exposure to the current frame of all layers.

This icon kills (delete) the current frame.

This icon inserts an instance at the next frame.

This icon opens the Search panel.

This icon horizontalises the images on all layers : it takes all of the images, and put them on one layer.

This icon verticalises the images on all layers : each image becomes a layer

Current Layer

This icon selects the entire layer.

This icon deletes the current layer.

This icon splits in two the layer after the current frame.

This icon join together two selected layers



This icon lets you select a layer by using the picker in the drawing area.

Here's an example : we have three layers, each of them has a drawing of a color. Anim_0 has an orange drawing, Anim_1 an black one, and Anim_2 a blue one. The current layer is Anim_1.



If, after selecting the layer picker, we click on the blue drawing, the current layer changes and becomes Anim_2.



If several layer's drawings are on top of each other, a contextual menu will appear, letting you choose between the layers.

Managing Instances

This icon deletes the current instance.

This icon adds an instance.

This icon adds a custom number of instances.

Thanks to this button, you can apply the same content to all instances using the same name.

For example, let's take this example below, where several instances with the same name are repeated in the timeline :



Let's draw a blue cross on one of them :



And now, let's use the button to apply the same drawing on all instances using the same name :



This icon enable the Repeat Images option (loop animation). Explanations on the Repeat Images options have been given earlier in this lesson.

Set Exposure

This icon adds one exposure into the current instance.

This icon adds two exposures into the current instance.

This icon adds three exposures into the current instance.

This icon adds four exposures into the current instance.

This icon adds a custom number of exposures into the current instance.

This icon recomputes several similar instances to create only one instance with several exposures.

Miscellaneous

This icon transforms every clip in your project into projects (if you have 4 clips, you will have 4 projects).

This icon lets you export all images and all layers. The layers will be exported as folders, and images will be in their respective folders.

This icon shifts the drawing one pixel up (if you hold [Shift], the drawing will be shifted 10 pixels).

This icon shifts the drawing one pixel down (if you hold [Shift], the drawing will be shifted 10 pixels).

This icon shifts the drawing one pixel to the left (if you hold [Shift], the drawing will be shifted 10 pixels).

This icon shifts the drawing one pixel to the right (if you hold [Shift], the drawing will be shifted 10 pixels).

Make your own tools !

This icon lets you create your own tools. For more details on how to edit custom panels actions, please refer to lesson 11.