Animation & timing

Groups, subgroups and animations

The bottom animation area starts by browsing Animation Groups. Open a group to see its animations and subgroups, then open an animation to see the normal frame timeline. Breadcrumbs let you move back through that hierarchy.

Animations belong to the current pixel file. Use New Animation as the creation action, and the item context controls to rename or organize groups and animations.

Current frame and selected frames

The current frame is what the canvas displays. Selected frames are the set used for operations. These are independent states: viewing frame 1 while selecting frame 3 is allowed.

Shift-click selects a range. Ctrl-click toggles one frame. Drag a frame to reorder it using the insertion indication; dragging a selected set moves the set.

Timeline navigation

Use Ctrl + mouse wheel over the timeline to change thumbnail zoom. Increasing the panel height allows more frame rows. Use previous/next and beginning/end controls to navigate without changing frame artwork.

Ctrl + Enter creates a blank frame, Ctrl + D duplicates a frame, and Ctrl + Delete deletes a frame.

FPS and individual frame duration

Default FPS in Animation Settings controls frames using default timing. An explicit frame duration overrides that default for its frame. For example, a two-second hold remains two seconds even when normal frames use 12 FPS.

Use Animation Rules to apply timing to selected frames. This changes their assigned timing; it is distinct from changing the global default. Review the visible duration when a hold seems too long or too short.

Onion skin

Toggle Onion Skin with O. Animation Settings exposes previous/next frame counts and the amount. Onion Skin During Playback is off by default: editing and stepping can show ghosts while active playback hides them.

Enable Onion Skin During Playback if you want those ghosts visible during playback. The main Onion Skin toggle must also be enabled.

Linked frames

Linking connects artwork for the current layer across chosen frames. Editing that linked artwork updates the linked frames. The link indicator makes the relationship visible.

Use Unlink before making one frame different. Review prompts when linking frames that already contain different artwork; linking is not merely a visual timeline group.

Playback

Press F5 to play or pause. The playback sequence uses the animation’s frame order and individual timing. Use , and . to step, and Home / End to jump to the beginning or end.