Stage View

Displays the thumbnail of a selected panel.

Displays a grid in the Stage and Camera views. The default size is the standard 12-field animation grid, but you can choose another.

You can also select View > Grid > Show Grid or press Ctrl + G (Windows) or ⌘ + G (Mac OS X)—see About Drawing .

Displays the Title Safe Area frame inside the camera frame. By default, this area is 20% smaller than the camera frame. It is used as a guideline of the area that CRT displays might crop out of the picture. Visual elements such as text and logos should be placed within this area.

Displays a semi-transparent black mask covering the area between the camera frame and the Title Safe Area frame.

NOTE You can select the Action Safe Area Mask option by clicking and holding the Action Safe Area button and selecting it from the pop-up menu.

Displays the Action Safe Area frame inside the camera frame. By default, this area is 10% smaller than the camera frame. It is used as a guideline of the area that CRT displays might crop out of the picture. Characters and action should be placed within this area.

Displays a semi-transparent black mask covering the area between the camera frame and the Action Safe Area.

Displays a semi-transparent black mask covering the area between the camera frame and the Action Safe Area.

NOTE You can select the Title Safe Area Mask option by clicking and holding the Title Safe Area button and selecting it from the pop-up menu.

Shows or hides the TV safety zone and the centre of the camera frame for a regular 4:3 resolution. If you are working on a widescreen project, for example, you can easily plan in advance the conversion of your project to a TV format. This way, you can create your project to fit both resolutions.

You can also select View > Extras > Show 4:3 Safe Area.

Shows or hides the 4:3 resolution zone without the centre of the camera frame and TV safety zone.

You can also select View > Extras > Show 4:3 Area.

Shows or hides a black mask around the scene’s frame to avoid seeing anything outside the Camera frame. This is handy when you are setting up the scene as it allows you to see the scene’s composition better.

You can also select View > Extras > Camera Mask.

Displays the timecode of the current frame in the top-left corner of the view.

The timecode is displayed in the HH:MM:SS:FF format, where HH means hours, MM means minutes, SS means seconds and FF means frames.

Shows or hides the IN and OUT indications in the top-left corner of the camera frames, on the start and end position of a camera move for the current panel. When the Camera tool is selected, the labels switch to alphabetical labels that clearly show the different camera keyframes—see About the Camera.

Displays all the related camera keyframes and paths in a scene. When this button is deactivated, the Stage view displays only keyframes that are contained in a panel.

You can also access this feature by selecting View > Show Complete Camera Path.

Resets any panning, zooming or rotation done in the Stage view and returns the display to its initial settings.

You can also select View > Reset View or press Shift + M.

Resets any rotation done in the Stage or Camera view and returns the display to its initial rotation settings.

You can also select View > Reset Rotation or press Shift + X.

When rotating 2D layers in 3D space, you may find that the Stage view is no longer perpendicular to a drawing layer, making it impossible to draw on it. This option makes the Stage view perpendicular to a selected drawing layer, allowing you to draw on it.

The Point of View menu lets you determine the level at which the current position of the Stage view (zoom, pan and rotation) is remembered when you flip through the panels. The current Point of View mode will also affect the different Reset View commands’ behaviour as they will reset according to the Point of View mode.—see Point of View Menu.

Lets you enlarge or reduce the Stage or Camera view display. If you want the camera frame size to always match the size of your Stage view, select the Fit to View option.

Displays the name of the selected layer of the current panel.

Displays the name of the selected tool. If you override a tool using an overriding keyboard shortcut, the tool’s name turns red—see About Drawing.

Displays the currently selected colour in the Colour View . You can click the colour swatch to open the Colour view and select a new colour.

The Layer panel is where a scene’s layers are superposed to form the final image.

When you import an image or draw in a panel, you are actually adding artwork to one of its layers. By default, each panel has two layers; a background layer (BG) and a foreground layer (A). As you add layers, they are automatically assigned subsequent letters in alphabetical order, but you can rename them. They are also placed on top of the selected layer or at the very top of other layers if there is no layer selected in the panel.

Adds a vector layer to the Layers list.

Adds a bitmap layer to the Layers list.

Duplicates selected layers so you can quickly copy and paste in one operation. Unlike copying a layer, you cannot paste multiple copies of a layer on other panels. Duplicating layers is only available within one panel. Duplicated layers retain their names and are appended with a number.

Groups selected layers. The grouped layer is named Group and appended with an underscore and a number. For example, Group_1. Each time you creat a group, the number is incremented.