Top View Menu

The Top View menu lets you position elements in 3D space, set parameters for animation and access animation tools—see Top View.

Command Description

Edit

 

Cut Drawing Object

Removes selected objects. You can then paste the object or its properties to another object.

Copy Drawing Object

Copies selected objects and properties.

Paste

Places an object you cut or copied into the location you select in a view.

Delete Drawing Object

Removes selected objects.

Select All

Selects all drawing objects in the current drawing window in the Drawing, Timeline and Camera views. This helps you manage multiple objects as one when moving them.

Deselect All

Deselects all selected objects in the Drawing and Camera views.

Invert Selection

Deselects the currently selected items and selects all other items that were not selected. For example, if some lines are selected in a drawing, this command will deselect them and select any other lines in the drawing that were not selected.

Select Child

Lets you select the first element parented to the selected peg element in the Timeline view.

Select Children

Lets you select all elements parented to the selected peg element in the Timeline view.

Select Parent

Lets you select the parent of the selected element in the Timeline view.

Select Previous Sibling

Lets you select the previous element (above current element) in the Timeline view.

Select Next Sibling

Lets you select the next element (below current element) in the Timeline view.

View

Zoom In

Zooms in the view.

Zoom Out

Zooms out the view.

Reset Zoom

Resets the view’s zoom to its default position.

Reset Pan

Resets the view’s pan to its default position.

Reset View

Resets the view to its default position.

Layer Properties

Shows or hides the Layer Properties view.

Camera Cone

Displays the camera cone.

Control

Displays the controls of the selected element.

Hide All Controls

Hides the controls of the selected element.

Enable Playback

Plays back your animation in the Perspective view.

Animation

Animate

Enables the Animate mode which records the position, rotation, scale, skew, etc. of objects as keyframes in the Timeline view. Turn off the Animate mode to reposition objects for the entire scene. When the Animate mode is disabled, keyframes are not created when an object's parameters change.

Insert Keyframe

Adds a keyframe to the selected cell in the Timeline view.

Insert Control Point

Set Stop-Motion Keyframe

Sets a stop-motion keyframe which there is no computer-generated motion between two keyframes. The segment is constant or flat. The drawing remains still until the playback reaches the next keyframe, then the drawing pops to its new location.

Set Motion Keyframe

Sets a motion keyframe. In motion keyframes, there is no automatic interpolation created between the selected point and the next one. The layer will maintain its position until the animation reaches the frame of the next point and will then jump to the new position. Deselect this option to generate interpolation and get the layer to progressively move to the next position.

Flip

Flip Horizontal: Flips the current selection horizontally.

Flip Vertical: Flips the current selection vertically.

Flip Scale X: Once your drawing layer is rotated, the original horizontal and vertical axes change. The Flip Scale X and Flip Scale Y will perform a flip on your drawing layer following its original axis.Remembers the original X-axis of the layer and flips the element following it.

Flip Scale Y: Remembers the original Y-axis of the layer and flips the element following it.

Set Ease for Multiple Parameters

Opens the Set Ease for Multiple Parameters dialog box where you can change the velocity of selection functions.

Linear Motion

Lock in Time

Indicates Indicates whether the point is locked to a specific frame (keyframe) or only locked to a specific position and the curve can flow through it freely as other points are being added, moved, or adjusted (control point).

No Z Dragging

Substitute Drawing Previous

Replaces the drawing or cell's symbol on the current frame by the next drawing.

Substitute Drawing Next

Select Previous Keyframe /Point

Select the previous keyframe/point.

Select Next Keyframe /Point

Select Next Keyframe /Point

Lock

Lock: Locks Locks one or a multiple selection of layers.

Unlock: Unlocks Unlocks one or a multiple selection of locked layers.

Lock All: Locks Locks all the layers in the Timeline view.

Unlock All: Unlocks Unlocks all the layers in the Timeline view.

Lock All Others: Locks Locks every layer except the selected ones.

Reset

Returns Returns the value of the selected element to the initial value of the active tool. For example, if the Rotate tool is active, the transformation angle will be reset to 0 and if the Transform tool is active, all the transformation values will be reset.

Reset All

Resets Resets all transformations on the current frame in a selected layer. Your keyframe will remain, but all the values will return to the starting value. All transformations are reset regardless of the tool you're using.

Reset All Except Z

Resets Resets all transformations on the current frame except the Z position. This is useful when doing cut-out animation. Cut-out puppets often have a particular Z ordering for the different views of a character. You might want to reset the transformation, but not necessarily the Z position.

Animation Tools

Transform

Lets you create a global selection so you can reposition, scale, rotate and skew as one unit, which is useful for cut-out characters.

Translate

Lets you move the selected element along the X and Y axes.

Rotate

Turns a selected element around its pivot point.

Scale

Increases or decreases the size of a selected element. You can scale an object up to make it larger or down to make it smaller. Press Shift to scale the element while maintaining its proportions.

Maintain Size

Keeps elements the same size aspect ratio in the Camera view as you move them towards or away from the camera.

Spline Offset

Lets you Lets you reposition the visual trajectory without offsetting or modifying your animation. By default, the trajectory is located at 0,0,0 fields. If your elements were drawn in a different location than the centre of the drawing area, it will look like the trajectory is not aligned with your drawing. Also, if you have several elements attached to one trajectory, you might want your trajectory to be at a different location to represent the group's motion better.