Synfig Studio :: Documentation - User contributions [en]

Keyboard Shortcuts

2015-06-23T09:37:11Z

Rylleman:

{{Title|Keyboard Shortcuts}}

{{Category|Permalink}}
{{NewTerminology}}


Here is a list of some of the keyboard shortcuts you currently have at your disposal. These are the defaults. There is a way to customize these, but it is currently not intuitive. Basically you need to edit the '''accelrc''' file in your synfig settings directory (don't forget to remove the ";" at the start of a line if you want it to be taken into account).
The file refers to the glyph names of each key, these can be found here: [https://github.com/adobe-type-tools/agl-aglfn/blob/master/glyphlist.txt] (more information here: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Glyph_List])

Synfig settings directory :
''Ubuntu GNU/Linux:'' /home/{username}/.synfig/
''Windows XP:'' C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Synfig\
''Windows Vista:'' C:\Users\{username}\Synfig\
''Mac Os:'' ????

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" align="center" width="80%"
|'''Keystroke'''||'''Description'''
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|A}} || Select all {{l|Handle|Handles}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Shift|Control|A}} || Select all {{l|Layer|Layers}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|C}} || Copy currently selected layer(s) and put them in the clipboard
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|D}} || Deselect all Handles
|-
| {{Shortcut|Shift|Control|D}} || Deselect all layers
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|G}} || Toggle grid show
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|I}} || Import image
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|L}} || Toggle grid snap
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|N}} || New composition
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|O}} || Open composition
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|O}} || Toggle {{l|Onion Skin}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|P}} || Play the current animation in the WorkArea
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|Q}} || Quit Synfig Studio
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|R}} || Redo
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|S}} || Save
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|V}} || Paste the layer(s) from the clipboard above the currently selected layer
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|W}} || Closes the current animation document.
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|X}} || Cut currently selected layer(s) and put them in the clipboard
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|Z}} || Undo
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|`}} || Toggle low/high-resolution (defaults to low resolution)
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|0}}...{{Shortcut|9}} || Change the current rendering quality (lower is better, but 0==10)
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|1}} || Toggle display of {{Literal|Position}} Handles
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|2}} || Toggle display of {{Literal|Vertex}} Handles
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|3}} || Toggle display of {{Literal|Tangent}} Handles
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|4}} || Toggle display of {{Literal|Radius}} Handles
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|5}} || Toggle display of {{Literal|Width}} Handles (DEFAULTS TO OFF)
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|6}} || Toggle display of {{Literal|Angle}} Handles
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|-}} || Zoom out of {{l|Canvas}} (spacial zoom)
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|eq}} || Zoom in on {{l|Canvas}} (spacial zoom)
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|Shift|Z}} || Zoom canvas to '''100%''' (spacial zoom)
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|_}} || Zoom out of timeline (temporal zoom)
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|+}} || Zoom in on timeline (temporal zoom)
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|,}} || Move backward one frame
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|.}} || Move forward one frame
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|<}} || Move backward one second
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|>}} || Move forward one second
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|[}} || Move backward to previous {{l|Keyframe}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|]}} || Move forward to next {{l|Keyframe}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Home}} || Jump to beginning of timeline
|-
| {{Shortcut|End}} || Jump to end of timeline
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|(}} || Decrease workarea pixel size
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|)}} || Increase workarea pixel size
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|Alt|(}} || Decrease {{l|Amount Parameter|Amount}} of selected layer
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|Alt|)}} || Increase {{l|Amount Parameter|Amount}} of selected layer
|-
| {{Shortcut|Shift|PgUp}} || Raise currently selected layers
|-
| {{Shortcut|Shift|PgDn}} || Lower currently selected layers
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|A}} || Select {{l|Transform Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|V}} || Select {{l|Smooth Move Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|S}} || Select {{l|Scale Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|T}} || Select {{l|Rotate Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|M}} || Select {{l|Mirror Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|C}} || Select {{l|Circle Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|R}} || Select {{l|Rectangle Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|Q}} || Select {{l|Star Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|G}} || Select {{l|Gradient Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|P}} || Select {{l|Polygon Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|B}} || Select {{l|Spline Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|X}} || Select {{l|Text Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|F}} || Select {{l|Fill Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|E}} || Select {{l|Eyedrop Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|Z}} || Select {{l|Zoom Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|D}} || Select {{l|Draw Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|K}} || Select {{l|Sketch Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|Alt|W}} || Select {{l|Width Tool}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|F8}} || {{l|Canvas_Properties_Dialog|Canvas Properties}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|F9}} || {{l|Render_dialog|Render}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|F11}} || {{l|Doc:Preview|Preview}}
|-
| {{Shortcut|F12}} || Canvas Options (Grid size, etc.)
|-
| {{Shortcut|Escape}} || Deselect the last Tool and select {{l|Transform Tool}}, if you don't have done something with it the focus will stay in {{l|Toolbox}}. '''CAREFUL''', with {{l|Polygon Tool}} and {{l|Spline Tool}} in use, '''Cancel''' the current process, and so the current draw, but stay with the selected tool.
|-
| {{Shortcut|Control|Delete}} || Deletes the currently selected {{l|Canvas}}.
|-
| {{Shortcut|Cursor Key}} || Nudge the currently selected Handle(s) one pixel in the given direction
|-
| {{Shortcut|Shift|Cursor Key}} || Nudge the currently selected Handle(s) ten pixels in the given direction
|-
| {{Shortcut|Backspace}} || Select the immediate parent {{l|Group Layer}} (if any) of the current selected layer.
|-
|}

== Fixed Shortcuts ==

* In the {{l|Timebar}}, when you drag and drop a {{l|Keyframe}}, by holding {{Shortcut|Alt}} key when releasing the mouse button will adjust the length (not the time).
* In the {{l|Graphs Panel}}, {{Shortcut|ctrl}} + mouse wheel : Change zoom factor

== Hotkeys Visual Guide ==
A good way to learn all this shortcuts is putting them in front of your eyes all the time. Because of that, we bring to you a beautiful "Hotkeys Visual Guide" that you can use as a poster.

<gallery>
Image:hotkeys-visual-guide-SVN2011.png|PNG Version - SVN2011
</gallery>

We offer you two print sizes (both in PDF):
* [http://download.tuxfamily.org/synfig/wiki/images/c/cd/Hotkeys-visual-guide-SVN2011-A4.pdf A4 Version]
* [A3 Version]

And these are the source files in SVG format:
* [http://download.tuxfamily.org/synfig/wiki/images/e/e1/Hotkeys-visual-guide-SVN2011-A4.svg A4 Version]
* [http://download.tuxfamily.org/synfig/wiki/images/c/c2/Hotkeys-visual-guide-SVN2011-A3.svg A3 Version]

Give us your {{l|Talk:Keyboard_Shortcuts|feedback and comments}}.

Multiplane Camera

2014-09-13T21:59:44Z

Rylleman: /* Connecting it all. */

{{Title|Multiplane_Camera}}
{{Category|Tutorials}}
{{Category|Tutorials Advanced}}
{{NewTerminology}}


== Introduction ==

The term multiplane is from when real cameras were used to photograph animation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplane

It's a technique where you place different parts of the animation scene on glass plates at different height below the camera. When the camera (or the layers) are moved you get pans and tracks with depth and space. (3D)

The technique I'm demonstrating here uses layer Z Depth-values to position the layers in space. Higher values goes into space, lower out.
For the plates 0 puts them really close to the camera while 1 will put them away from the camera. Furthest limit is around 1.7 where the layers are too far away to move at all.
The camera starts at 0 and goes into the scene, closer to the plates at positive values and away from the scene at negative values. 1 gets really close while -3 is far away from the plates.

'''Synfig basic-setup and example files:'''

{{l|Media:Multiplane_basic-setup.sifz‎|Multiplane_basic-setup.sifz‎}}

{{l|Media:Multiplane_landscape_example_2.sifz‎|Multiplane_landscape_example_2.sifz‎}}

[[File:Multiplane_01_gif-anim.gif]]

''All circles are of the same size and all is centered in the canvas, not moving at all. The movement and depth is accomplished by moving the main or "camera" layer.''

== Basic layer setup ==

[[File:MultiplaneCamera 01 BasicSetup 0.63.06.png|frame|none]]

*First create a {{l|Circle Layer}}. {{l|Group}} this circle and name it "Content". You place all content of the plane in this group, this is what the circle represent.
*Group again the "Content" group and rename it to "Plane_01". This is the first glass plate. We will later duplicate and alter this to add more plates.
*Group the plate and rename it to "Main". This will be the simulated camera.
*Now, in the plate layer create three new layers, {{l|Blur Layer}}, {{l|Translate Layer}} and {{l|Scale Layer}}.

== Connecting it all. ==

*First {{l|Export}} the {{Literal|Z Depth}} from Main. Name it Main_Z.
*Also export the {{Literal|Origin}} from Main as Main_Origin.
*Next we'll need an inverted version of this value to use in our calculations.
**For that create a temporary layer, say a circle, in any place of the layer stack.
***Choose a real value (for example the radius) and convert it to a Scale value.
***Connect the Main_Z value to {{Literal|Link}} from the scale converted and set {{Literal|Scalar}} subparameter to '''-1'''.
**Select the real value (i.e. the radius) and export as Main_Z_Inverted. Delete the temporary circle layer.
*We'll also want the Plane_01 {{Literal|Z Depth}} so export that as Plane_01_Z.

Now we'll want the planes to scale based on it's distance from the camera. We'll use {{Literal|Z Depth}} to decide where the layer is in space.

'''SCALE-LAYER'''
Select the Scale layer of the plane.

[[File:MultiplaneCamera 02 ScaleSetup 0.63.06.png|frame|none]]

*Convert {{Literal|Amount}} to {{Literal|Add}}
*Connect {{Literal|LHS}} to Plane_01_Z
*Connect {{Literal|RHS}} to Main_Z_Inverted
*Set {{Literal|Scalar}} to '''-1'''.

Now the plane will zoom based on it's distance from the camera which is decided by the sum of plane and camera {{Literal|Z Depth}} value. We reverse the number by scalar so it scales in the right direction.

'''TRANSLATE-LAYER'''

We use a separate Translate layer rather than the Plane {{Literal|Origin}} so that we can still move the plane undependable from the camera move.

[[File:MultiplaneCamera 03 TranslateSetup 0.63.06.png|frame|none]]

*Convert {{Literal|Origin}} to {{Literal|Scale}}.
**Connect {{Literal|Link}} to Main_Origin. This is what we'll base the movement of the planes on.
**Convert {{Literal|Scalar}} to {{Literal|Range}} and set {{Literal|Min}} to '''-1''' to to avoid the layer to start moving the wrong direction when tracking out from the scene. Set {{Literal|Max}} to '''999999''' since we really don't need an upper limit.
***Convert {{Literal|Link}} to {{Literal|Subtract}} and set {{Literal|Scalar}} in this new calculation to '''-1'''.
****In {{Literal|Link}} connect {{Literal|LHS}} to Plane_01_Z and convert {{Literal|RHS}} to {{Literal|Reciprocal}}.
*****Next convert the {{Literal|RHS}} {{Literal|Link}} to {{Literal|Range}} and set {{Literal|Min}} to '''0''' and {{Literal|Max}} to '''999999''' to avoid some strange movement when layers move too far off the canvas.
*****Convert the {{Literal|Link}} to {{Literal|Add}} and connect {{Literal|LHS}} to Plane_01_Z and {{Literal|RHS}} to Main_Z_Inverted.

This whole calculation moves the layer more when it's closer to us and less when it's further away, thus creating illusion of depth.

'''BLUR'''

*Select the Blur layer and select it's {{Literal|Blend Method}} to {{Literal|Straight}}. (Due to a bug, convert blend method to scale and set link subparameter to 1)
*Create a temporary blur layer for exporting values.
**Export {{Literal|Size}} as Initial-Blur and set value to '''1.00x1.00'''
**Export different real-values as Falloff, Near-Focus and Far-Focus (convert Amount to Add, you've got three 'new' real values)
**Convert a real value to subtract and set {{Literal|LHS}} to Plane_01_Z and {{Literal|RHS}} to Main_Z. Export this as Plane_01_CamDistance. This calculation and export needs to be done separately for every new layer that is added.
*Delete the temporary blur layer.

[[File:MultiplaneCamera 04 BlurSetup1 0.63.06.png|frame|none]]

*In the Blur Layer, Convert {{Literal|Size}} to {{Literal|Scale}}.
**Connect {{Literal|Link}} to Initial_Blur.
**Convert {{Literal|Scalar}} to {{Literal|Switch}}.
***Convert {{Literal|Switch}} to {{Literal|Compare}}
****Connect {{Literal|LHS}} to Plane_01_CamDistance and {{Literal|RHS}} to Near_Focus, and check {{Literal|Greater}}.

***Convert {{Literal|Link Off}} to {{Literal|Scale}},
****Set {{Literal|Scalar}} to '''100'''
****Convert {{Literal|Link}} to {{Literal|Scale}}
*****Connect {{Literal|Link}} to Falloff
*****Convert {{Literal|Scalar}} to {{Literal|Subtract}}
******Connect {{Literal|LHS}} to Near-Focus, {{Literal|RHS}} to Plane_01_CamDistance

[[File:MultiplaneCamera 05 BlurSetup2 0.63.06.png|frame|none]]

***Convert {{Literal|Link On}} to {{Literal|Switch}},
****Convert {{Literal|Switch}} to {{Literal|Compare}}
*****Connect {{Literal|LHS}} to Plane_01_CamDistance and {{Literal|RHS}} to Far_Focus, check {{Literal|Less}}
****Set {{Literal|Link On}} to '''0.0'''
****Convert {{Literal|Link Off}} to {{Literal|Scale}},
*****Set {{Literal|Scalar}} to '''100'''
*****Convert {{Literal|Link}} to {{Literal|Scale}}
******Connect {{Literal|Link}} to Falloff
******Convert {{Literal|Scalar}} to {{Literal|Subtract}}
*******Connect {{Literal|LHS}} to Plane_01_CamDistance, {{Literal|RHS}} to Far_Focus

[[File:MultiplaneCamera 06 BlurSetup3 0.63.06.png|frame|none]]

== Adding more planes ==

*Duplicate Plane_01 and rename it to Plane_02.
*Select the layer {{Literal|Z Depth}} and Disconnect it. Then export it as Plane_02_Z.
*Open up the Scale layer {{Literal|Amount}} and connect {{Literal|LHS}} to Plane_02_Z.
*Open Translate layer calculation and connect the two occurrences of {{Literal|LHS}} to Plane_02_Z
*Create a temporary layer and convert real value to subtract.
**Connect {{Literal|LHS}} to Plane_02_Z and {{Literal|RHS}} to Main_Z. Export this as Plane_02_CamDistance. Delete temporary layer.
*Open Blur layer and change the 4 Plane_01_CamDistance references to Plane_02_CamDistance.

Duplicate the plane as many times as you'd like and go through these steps again.

== Usage: ==

• '''MAIN'''
*Move to simulate camera movement.
*Use Z-depth to track in/out with camera.
• '''PLANES'''

are moved, scaled and blurred in relation to the camera (MAIN layer) to simulate 3D plane space.

• '''Translate layer''' - This is used to move the layers in relation to the camera layer. Once setup you should not manually change anything here.

• '''Zoom layer''' - This is used to scale the layers to simulate distance from the camera. Should not be altered after setup.

• '''Blur layer''' - This layer blurs the layers in relation to their distance from the camera. It simulates depth of field from different types of lenses.

Here you can alter a few values:

• '''Near-focus''' and '''Far-focus'''. Objects within this range from the camera (MAIN_Z - plane_Z) is in focus.
• '''falloff''' - This value sets how fast objects gets blurry when outside the focus range. With a higher value the objects quickly gets blurry when leaving the range and with a lower objects needs to be far away from the range before getting blurry.

[[File:Multiplane_landscape_example2.gif‎]]

Render options

2014-08-13T09:40:47Z

Rylleman: /* Intro to render */

{{Title|Render options}}
{{NewTerminology}}


== Intro to render ==

Rendering an animation in Synfig can be done in two way, by the {{l|Doc:Synfig CLI Syntax|Command Line Interface (CLI)}} or through the {{l|Render dialog}}

== Target ==

Here are the file {{l|Render dialog|Target}} that can be rendered

*{{Literal|bmp}} - Bitmap
*{{Literal|cairopng}} - portable Network graphics - images with lossless compression rendered by cairo library
*{{Literal|dv}} - digital video
*{{Literal|ffmpeg}} - TODO writeme
*{{Literal|gif}} - graphic interchange format
*{{Literal|imagemagick}} - image manipulation program
*{{Literal|jpeg}} - Joint Photographic Expert Group - still format suited to photographs
*{{Literal|magick++}} - TODO writeme
*{{Literal|null}} - Dummy file for rendering engine testing?
*{{Literal|null-tile}} - Dummy file for rendering engine testing?
*{{Literal|png}} - portable Network graphics - still images with lossless compression
*{{Literal|ppm}} - portable pixmap - still image using very basic format
*{{Literal|yuv420p}} - Still image format designed to preserve the images luminance

== Results ==

{| border="1"
|-
! Target type
! Extension
! Helper app
! width = "180"|
Linux support
! width = "180"|
Windows support
! width = "180"|
Mac OSX support
|-
! Auto
! align = "left" |
*.bmp->bmp
*.dv->dv_trgt
*.mpg->ffmpeg_trg
*.gif->gif
*.miff->imagemagick_trgt
*.jpg->jpeg_trgt
*.avi->Target_LibAVCodec
*.mng->mng_trgt
*.exr->exr_trgt
*.png->png_trgt
*.ppm->ppm
*.yuv->yuv
! Determined by extension
! align = "left" width = "180"|
*.bmp->bmp OK (but text layers upside down) {{l|#note 5 - bug in .bmp (fixed in svn)|5}}
*.dv->dv OK
*.mpg->mpg OK
*.gif->gif OK
*.miff->OK (only last frame?)
*.jpg->jpg OK
*.avi->crash {{l|#note 1 - libav crashes for genete|1}}
*.mng-> not render {{l|#note 3 - mng not working?|3}}
*.exr->exr OK
*.png->png OK
*.ppm->ppm OK
*.yuv->yuv OK? {{l|#note 2 - wtf is yuv?|2}}
! width = "180"|
*.bmp-ok (text layer correct in 983)
*.dv- n/a
*.mpg-crash synfig
*.gif-ok, (imagemagick)animated gif crashes (983)
*.miff-single frame ok, animated crash synfig (983)
*.jpg-ok
*.avi- n/a
*.mng- n/a
*.exr-ok
*.png-ok
*.ppm-ok
*yuv-ok {{l|#note 2 - wtf is yuv?|2}}
! align = "left" width = "180"|
*.bmp-ok, but text layers upside down {{l|#note 5 - bug in .bmp (fixed in svn)|5}}
*.dv-crash synfig
*.mpg-crash synfig
*.gif-ok, also animated gif
*.miff-crash synfig
*.jpg-ok
*.avi-crash synfig
*.mng-"unable to create target for...
*.mov-"unable to create target for...
*.exr-"unable to create target for...
*.png-ok
*.ppm-ok
*yuv-render a file in unknown format
|-
! bmp
! bmp
! Native
! Yes (but text layers upside down) {{l|#note 5 - bug in .bmp (fixed in svn)|5}}
! Yes (Text layers correct in 983)
! ok, but text layers upside down {{l|#note 5 - bug in .bmp (fixed in svn)|5}}
|-
! dv
! dv
! encodedv
! Yes
! N/A - encodedv not supported under Windows
! crash synfig
|-
! ffmpeg
! mpg
! ffmpeg
! width = "180"|
It renders .mpg .avi, .mov and .flv
! width = "180"|
Working with FFMpeg 10464 and SVN 934 (may crash on longer renders)
! width = "180"|
crash synfig
|-
! gif
! gif
! native
! width = "180"|
yes (animated gifs also)
! width = "180"|
yes (animated gifs also)
! width = "180"|
ok
|-
! imagemagick
! miff
! imagemagick
! width = "180"|
yes (but only last frame?)
! width = "180"|
Renders to a readable file, but the image is corrupted in builds prior to SVN 934. Working in 934 and later (October 17th 2007).
! width = "180"|
crash synfig
|-
! magick++
! gif
! native
! width = "180"|
yes (animated gifs, optimized)
! width = "180"|
unknown
! width = "180"|
unknown
|-
! jpeg
! jpg
! native
! width = "180"|
yes
! width = "180"|
yes
! width = "180"|
ok
|-
!libav
!avi
!libavcodec
! yes, tested on Ubuntu Feisty (fails on Ubuntu Edgy)
! N/A - libav support not compiled into the Windows version.
!?
|-
! null
! n/a
! n/a
! n/a
! n/a
! n/a
|-
! null-tile
! n/a
! n/a
! n/a
! n/a
! n/a
|-
! open-exr
! exr
! native
! width = "180"|
yes
! width = "180"|
yes
! width = "180"|
n/a
|-
! png
! png
! native*.mpg->
! width = "180"|
yes
! width = "180"|
yes
! width = "180"|
ok
|-
! ppm
! ppm
! native
! width = "180"|
yes
! width = "180"|
yes
! width = "180"|
ok
|-
! yuv420p
! yuv
! native
! width = "180"|
yes but format in unknown format
! width = "180"|
yes but format in unknown format
(use: ffmpeg -i your_yuv420p_file -sameq your_mpg_file.mpg)
! width = "180"|
render file in unknown format
|}

== Rendering to Video ==

Rendering to video directly from Synfig under Windows Operating Systems presents some challenges.

If you want to render to anything other than .mpg with {{Literal|ffmpeg}}, you'll want to save a series of images that represent your animation, to a still format that ffmpeg can read. I recommend {{Literal|png}}. Whilst you can render to any size image, if you're going to show your video on Youtube*.mpg->, you may want to take that into account when you render.

If you set up your render like [[File:Render 0.63.06.png|frame|none]]

{{literal|Image Size}}
* Width 320 Xres 72.0 Physical width 4.44
* Height 240 Yres 72.0 Physical Height 3.33
* Image span 10.0000
{{literal|Image Area}}
* Top left X : -4 Y : 3
* Bottom right X : 4 Y : -3

You will get a series of .png files in your output directory. Open a command prompt, cd to that directory, then use ffmpeg to assemble these png files into the video stream of your choice. for example -

<code> C:\output>ffmpeg -r 15 -i rfrac%04d.png -f flv fractal.flv</code>

creates a Flash video file of with the same framerate as used on Youtube. You should be able to submit it to Youtube without the need for the Youtube servers to have to re-compress it.

== Notes ==

=== note 1 - wtf is yuv? ===

The yuv file is rendered but it seems to have a not compatible format. See the console output when try to convert to a avi using ffmepg.

<code>
ffmpeg -i RenderTest.yuv -sameq RenderTest.avi
FFmpeg version SVN-rUNKNOWN, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-pthreads --enable-vorbis --enable-libogg --enable-a52 --enable-dts --enable-libgsm --enable-dc1394 --disable-debug --enable-shared --prefix=/usr
libavutil version: 0d.49.0.0
libavcodec version: 0d.51.11.0
libavformat version: 0d.50.5.0
built on Sep 20 2006 00:26:15, gcc: 4.1.2 20060906 (prerelease) (Ubuntu 4.1.1-13ubuntu2)
picture size invalid (0x0)
[rawvideo @ 0xb7f47c30]Could not find codec parameters (Video: rawvideo, yuv420p)
RenderTest.yuv: could not find codec parameters
</code>

I can watch a .yuv animation. You need to specify the size it was rendered at - that doesn't seem to be part of the file format:
animate -size 480x270 file.yuv

I can single-step through a .yuv animation, using SPACE to step forward and BACKSPACE to step back through the frames:
display -size 480x270 file.yuv

I can also convert a .yuv to a series of .png files. This makes file-0.png through file-23.png for a 24 frame animation:
convert -size 480x270 file.yuv file.png

I also discovered that ffmpeg will happily convert a .yuv to .avi if you just tell it the image dimensions:
ffmpeg -s 480x270 -i file.yuv file.avi

svn r980 adds headers to created .yuv files, so you no longer need to specify the size when using them. -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 21:50, 25 October 2007 (EDT)

:Mmmm I can play yuv files with mplayer and with ffplay. Also I can convert a yuv file to an avi (or whatever ffmpeg can encode) without telling the video size. I think it depends on how ffmpeg was compiled. {{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 11:59, 4 June 2008 (EDT)

=== note 2 - how to render for TV formats ===

If you need to render stills (pngs) for something where the final format does not have square pixels, such as PAL or NTSC DV, you can use the approach outlined below.

0) Select png format as you would otherwise

1) Use square pixel when you edit it in synfig (1024x576 for PAL 16:9 and 768x576 for PAL 4:3. (Pixelgeek calculates this to be 958x540 for anamorphic and 720x540 for SD NTSC)

2) Just before rendering, in canvas property->Other->Locks and links, set checkboxes for Image Aspect and Image Span, and uncheck Pixel Aspect (Depending on synfig version, this may possibly be the options dialog for File|Render, at least it is for me)

3) Change back to the Image settings

4) Change resolution to 720x576 for PAL, 720*480 for NTSC

5) Render

That should produce stills with the right "pixel aspect". When viewed on the PC using square pixels, a circle will appear as an oval. When viewed on a TV with the right pixelaspect, the circle will become a circle.

Talk:File Formats

2014-08-11T14:09:25Z

Rylleman: Created page with " {{Title|File_Formats}} {{Category|Manual}} {{Navigation|Category:Manual}} {{NewTerminology}}  Rewrite preparation for 0.65 == A..."

{{Title|File_Formats}}
{{Category|Manual}}
{{Navigation|Category:Manual}}
{{NewTerminology}}



Rewrite preparation for 0.65

== About File Formats==

Synfigs native working file format is '''sif''', an uncompressed human-readable XML file format. The default format is '''sifz''' which is a ''sif'' file compressed in a ''gzip'' container.
As of Synfig Studio 0.65 there is a new file format, '''sfg''', which is a ''sif'' along with all assets it uses; images, audio, etc compressed into a ''zip'' container.

To use any of the formats just add the file suffix to your file name while saving in Synfig.

File:Synfig scaling keyframes graphic.png

2014-06-24T14:06:50Z

Rylleman:

illustration to bug report regarding chaninging keyframe length.
http://www.synfig.org/issues/thebuggenie/synfig/issues/651

File:Synfig scaling keyframes graphic.png

2014-06-24T14:04:04Z

Rylleman: illustration to bug report regarding chaninging keyframe length.

illustration to bug report regarding chaninging keyframe length.

Time Loop Layer

2014-06-19T13:52:09Z

Rylleman: /* Parameters of Time Loop Layers */

{{Title|Time Loop Layer}}
{{Category|Layers}}


{{l|Image:Layer_other_timeloop_icon.png|64px}}

== About Time Loop Layers==

The Time Loop layer can be used to repeat an animation over and over. It loops a section of the layers below and within the same canvas over and over.

See also the {{l|Convert#Time_Loop|Time Loop ValueNode}} conversion, which can be used to loop the value of a single parameter, rather than an entire layer or group of layers.

[Note: ''the Time Loop layer used to have parameters 'start time' and 'end time'. Documentation for that old version of the layer {{l|Time Loop Layer (v0.1)|is available}}''.

==Parameters of Time Loop Layers==

The parameters of the time loop layers are:

{|border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"
|-style="background:silver"
|'''Name'''||'''Value'''||'''Type'''
|-style="background:#"
||{{l|Image:Type_real_icon.png|16px}} {{l|Z Depth Parameter|Z Depth}}
||0.000000
||real

|-style="background:#eeeeee"
||{{l|Image:Type_time_icon.png|16px}} Link Time
||0f
||time

|-style="background:#"
||{{l|Image:Type_time_icon.png|16px}} Local Time
||0f
||time

|-style="background:#eeeeee"
||{{l|Image:Type_time_icon.png|16px}} Duration
||1s
||time

|-style="background:#"
||{{l|Image:Type_bool_icon.png|16px}} Only For Positive Duration
||
{| style="width:16px; height:16px" border="1"
|-
|}
||bool

|-style="background:#eeeeee"
||{{l|Image:Type_bool_icon.png|16px}} Symmetrical
||
{| style="width:16px; height:16px" border="1"
|-
|}
||bool

|}

* '''Link Time''' (time) - start time of cycled material/child layers.
* '''Local Time''' (time) - start time of loop. (this is currently (since 120323 at least) ''broken'' and has no effect on time loops, see http://synfig.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3526#p14986 for a discussion)
* '''Duration''' (time) - number of seconds or frames that are looped in the child layer.
* '''Only For Positive Duration''' (bool) - If checked and ''Duration'' is zero or negative, then the time loop layer is effectively disabled, and acts as if it wasn't there.
-If not checked and the Duration is zero, the Time Loop layer freezes the animation of the children layers at the value of "Link Time".
* '''Symmetrical''' (bool) - If not checked, and the current time is less than 'local time', then 'duration' is taken off the resulting time. This is to provide compatibility with {{l|Time Loop Layer (v0.1)|version 0.1}} of the time loop layer.

These parameters, like any other in Synfig can be animated, so that they change over time. This can be confusing, so make sure you aren't in Animate Edit Mode when working with the Time Loop layer, unless you know what you're doing!

The Time Loop layer repeatedly loops through the 'Duration' seconds of its child layers, from 'Link Time' to 'Link Time' + 'Duration'. 'Local Time' is used to line up the offset of the time looping. When the Time Loop layer is asked to set its time to 'Local Time', it sets the time in its child layers to be 'Link Time', ie. the start of the loop.

==== Breaking loop ====
To break a loop and continue animating you basically need to do two things; break the loop with a waypoint and copy the animation keyframe to your position in the timeline.
* Find out which frame in the child layers that corresponds to the frame in the time loop layer where you want to break the loop.
Goto this frame in the child layer and add a keyframe here. Then goto the frame where you want to break the loop and duplicate the keyframe.
* Set the first time loop ''Duration'' waypoint to ''Constant'' and check ''Only For Positive Duration''. Then at the breaking frame set ''Duration'' to 0.
* Continue animating the child layer(s) which are not looped anymore.

== Visualized Example ==

For example, suppose:
* Link Time is 5s
* Duration is 3s
* Local Time' is 4s

And suppose that the Time Loop layer is applied over an existing animation. The 'Link Time' and 'Duration' specify that the section from 5s to 8s in the children layers will be looped. The 'Local Time' specifies that this loop will be at the beginning at 4s. (And so also therefore at 1s, 7s, 10s, etc).

This is how the mapping actually works:

{| border="1" cellspacing="0"
|'''real time'''||'''child time (symmetrical = true)'''||'''child time (symmetrical = false)'''
|-
| 0 || 7 || 4
|-
| 1 || 5 || 2
|-
| 2 || 6 || 3
|-
| 3 || 7 || 4
|-
| 4 || 5 || 5 (local time = 4; link time = 5)
|-
| 5 || 6 || 6
|-
| 6 || 7 || 7
|-
| 7 || 5 || 5 (duration = 3, so loop repeats after 3 seconds)
|-
| 8 || 6 || 6
|-
| 9 || 7 || 7
|-
| 10 || 5 || 5
|}

Specifying a huge number for the Duration parameter effectively turns the Time Loop layer into a Time Shift layer. The Link Time and Local Time parameters controls which time in the children lines up with which time in the Time Loop layer, giving the amount of the timeshift, with both positive and negative differences working as expected.

== Contrived Example ==

Download and examine this example file: {{l|Media:Time-loop-demo-0.2.sifz|Time-loop-demo-0.2.sifz}}

It's a 10 second animation, and shows 2 circles. The top one moves linearly from the left to the right. Its position is marked by static text digits 0 through 10.

The other circle is an identical copy of the first one, with the same waypoints, but it's inside an Group layer. The parameters are:
* Link Time: 5s
* Duration: 1.5s
* Local Time: 2s
* Symmetrical: true

So as time=2s, the top circle is at position 2 (local time) and the bottom circle is at position 5 (link time):

{{l|Image:Time-loop-demo-0.2-2s-0f.png}}

The loop is 1.5s long, so the bottom circle is also at position 5 every 1.5 seconds before and after this point in time, for example at t=3.5s and at t=8s:

{{l|Image:Time-loop-demo-0.2-3s-12f.png}}
{{l|Image:Time-loop-demo-0.2-8s-0f.png}}

The following two images show the positions at t=0s and t=3s. The loop starts at t=2s, so it's also at the start at t=0.5s. So at t=0s it's half a second before finishing the previous loop. And at t=3s the same is true, but 2 loops later on:

{{l|Image:Time-loop-demo-0.2-0s-0f.png}}
{{l|Image:Time-loop-demo-0.2-3s-0f.png}}

There's a rendered copy of this example on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyYLd7319Gw YouTube], and it's also available for download: {{l|Media:Time-loop-demo-0.2.avi‎|Time-loop-demo-0.2.avi‎}}.

Talk:Advanced Outline Layer

2014-05-21T10:13:38Z

Rylleman:

I advise to make '''Specific parameters for Advanced Outline Layer''' section as a subsection of '''Parameters of Advanced Outline Layers''' - jcome

"TODO: add hyperlinks for known words. Add some visual examples. Add dashed outline." cut from intro (replaced with link to talk page) --[[User:D.j.a.y|D.j.a.y]] ([[User talk:D.j.a.y|talk]]) 10:28, 5 February 2013 (UTC)

"TODO: Update Convert wiki page" cut from "Working with the Avdanced Outline" / "Specific actions for Width Points" --[[User:D.j.a.y|D.j.a.y]] ([[User talk:D.j.a.y|talk]]) 10:28, 5 February 2013 (UTC)

TODO: Add "Homogenous"

This page need a Template&Syntax work --[[User:D.j.a.y|D.j.a.y]] ([[User talk:D.j.a.y|talk]]) 10:28, 5 February 2013 (UTC)

Doc:Shiny Effects

2014-04-23T11:20:23Z

Rylleman:

{{Title|Shiny Effects}}
{{Category|Tutorials}}
{{Category|Tutorials Intermediate}}
{{NewTerminology}}


Shiny Effects #1 by Ceox

'''Skill Level:''' Intermediate

'''Length:''' About 30 minutes

'''Version of Synfig Studio:''' 0.61.07

In this tutorial we will make some shiny/glowy effects on your text.

It might seem long to you because there is a lot of text, but when I
first tried this out I did it in 5-10 minutes, so if you learn all the
stuff you'll be able to do it that fast as well.

== Part 1 - Designing ==

=== Step 1: Create New Document ===

We start by opening Synfig Studio and creating a new document with all
the default settings except these:
[[File:Shiny-tut_pic1.gif]]

=== Step 2: Create Text Layer ===

Now we create a new text layer. In this tutorial I'm going to use
the text "Ceox". That's not my real name, but it will have to
do. Start by adding the text layer:

[[File:Shiny-tut_pic2.gif]]

=== Step 3: Select Text Layer ===

Now you should see a "Text Layer" text in the middle of your
project. Select the text layer in the layers list, so that it is
highlighted, and you should see its parameters in the "Parameters" window,
which is on the bottom of your workspace if you haven't placed it
somewhere else. (Click on the image to enlarge it; it will open in a
new window).
[[File:Shiny-tut_pic3.gif]]

=== Step 4: Edit Text Layer ===

Now we are going to modify the text in the "Parameters" window. First
double-click on the color in the "Value" cell and choose the color you
want, with 100 "Alpha". I chose a darkish blue. Then double-click on
the "Text Layer" text, also in the "Value" cell and enter your name
into the pop-up window. After this, change the size to 50pt and the
font to Arial, both by double-clicking the field in the "Value"
cell. Here's a screenshot of all things need to be modified: (I have
darkened all the values that should be good to go by default, but if
you like you can check the others as well).
[[File:Shiny-tut_pic4.gif]]

=== Step 5: (OPTIONAL) ===

If you want some more "fancyness" on your text, create a stroke for
the text, like this step tells you. Right click on the text layer in
the layers list and choose "Duplicate Layer":
[[File:Shiny-tut_pic5.gif]]

Now you should have two "Text" layers on top of each other. Choose
the lower "Text" layer and change the color to something else what
you have on the top "Text" layer. Im am going to choose a simple
green. Now change the size of this layer to about 2-3 pt bigger than
the layer on the top, in this case to 52pt. (50pt 2pt, if you didn't
get it). Now we have a stroke for our text, though it might not be
perfectly around the text. You can fix this, my moving the lower layer
a bit. This is how my text looks like now:
[[File:Shiny-tut_pic6.gif]]

=== Step 6: ===

Now we create the first the shiny thing. Add a new layer just like we
added the text layer, by clicking on the little black arrow in the
corner of our canvas and choosing "Layer > New Layer > Gradients > Linear Gradient.
Now your canvas should be filled with
a some colored gradient. Don't worry, we will get your text back in
the next step. Which actually comes now. Choose the "Linear Gradient"
layer in the layers list and then double-click on the "Gradient"
value in the "Parameters" window, like we double-clicked in Step 4. Now
you should see a window which calls itself the "Gradient Editor". At
the bottom of this window you should see two black 'half-arrows', one
on the left side and one on the right side. Click on the one, which is
on the left side. (When the color of it changes to white, it is
selected.) Change the color to white and the "Alpha" value to 0. Now
select the arrow on the right side and do the same thing. Now insert a
new arrow (or Color Stop, what ever you want to call them) by clicking in
the center of the area, which is over the half-arrows with your right
mouse button and select "Insert Color Stop". Notice that the menu will
only appear when you keep the right mouse button pressed down. Now
select this arrow and change its color to white and its "Alpha" value
to 50. As you may have noticed by now, the alpha amount controls the
transparency of an object. Now your Gradient Editor should look like
this:

[[File:Shiny-tut_pic7.gif]]

and your canvas something like this:

[[File:Shiny-tut_pic8.gif]]

=== Step 7: ===

Rotate and scale the "Linear Gradient" layer with the "Normal Tool"
using the control points like the video shows.
[http://personal.inet.fi/musiikki/ceox/synfigtuto1/vid1.swf.html Click
here to view video. Opens up in new window.]

=== Step 8: ===

Select the "Linear Gradient" layer in the layers list and set its
"Blend Method" to "Onto" in the "Parameters" window. Now the Gradient
layer is visible only on the layers below it. Your gradient should
disappear if you placed like the video showed in the previous
step. (Not on top of the text)

[[File:Shiny-tut_pic9.gif]]

=== Step 9: ===

It's easier to do all the animations afterwards, so now we could make
the other shiny effect, which I prefer to call a 'shimmer'. We start
by taking the Spline tool ({{l|Image:draw-path_128sif.png}}) and zooming
in 400% into our canvas. You can zoom in and out in the "Navigator":
[[File:Shiny-tut_pic19.gif]]

Â Now we have to draw a new object with the Spline tool
({{l|Image:draw-path_128sif.png}}) in to some sharp corner of our
text. I chose the corner of the X, because this effect looks good on
the last character(s). So now draw a shape like this one:

(Insert a controller by pressing your left mouse button and close the
line by clicking on the first point with your right mouse button and
selecting "Loop Spline")
[[File:Shiny-tut_pic20.gif]]

=== Step 10: ===

Now zoom out to 100% again. You should now have a new layer in your
layers list:
[[File:Shiny-tut_pic10.gif]]

Select it by clicking on it. Now we have its parameters in the
"Parameters" window. Change its color to white, if it isn't it aleady. You
also have to set its "Feather" to 1pt and the "Type of Feather" to
"Box Blur". We don't want it to be visible yet so we also have to set
the "Alpha" value to 0 in the color editor. Now everything is ready
for the animation.
[[File:Shiny-tut_pic11.gif]]

== Part 2 - Animating ==

=== Step 1: ===

First we animate the "Linear Gradient" layer. Select it in the layers
list. Now you should have to have two green control points visible in
your canvas. Choose the "Normal Tool" ({{l|Image:normal_icon-full.jpg}})
and select both of those points by drawing an rectangle over
them. Open the keyframe- window by clicking on its icon (a golden key)
in the same window where the "Parameters" are. Make sure your timeline
indicator is at "0f" (the small orange line on a gray background) and
add a new keyframe by pressing on the blue icon. Move the timeline
indicator to "2s" and add a new keyframe. Now your window should look
like this:

[[File:Shiny-tut_pic12.gif]]

=== Step 2: ===

Move the time indicator to "0f" and press on the green ball in the
lower right corner of your canvas. After pressing on it, its color
changes to red, like it is in the screenshot. Now move the control
points up a bit (this doesn't affect the animation), just to create a
waypoint. Go back to "2s", where we inserted the second keyframe and
move the two green control points to the right side of your text. The
first animation has been created. You can move your timline indicator
around to see it. This should be your timeline and canvas now:
[[File:Shiny-tut_pic13.gif]]

=== Step 3: ===

Now let's group our "Linear Gradient" layer and the two "Text"
layers by selecting them all. (Select multiple layers by holding CTRL
down and selecting the layers). Then press on one of the selected
layers and choose "Group". The layers should now be grouped in
one layer with a box symbol and labeled "Group". You can open
all the layers by clicking on the small arrow on the left side of the
box- icon.

[[File:Shiny-tut_pic14.gif]]

=== Step 4: ===

I just noticed, that I screwed up and we have to make the whole
animation a bit longer. Click on the black arrow in the upper left
corner of your canvas, select "Edit" and then "Properties". A new
window should pop up. Go to the "Time" tab and then set the "End Time"
to 4s 2f.
[[File:Shiny-tut_pic15.gif]]

=== Step 5: ===

Select the "NewSpline(some number) Region" layer, place the timeline
indicator to "2s" and a add a keyframe, like in Step 2. Now repeat
this by adding keyframes also to "3s" and "4s". Move your timeline
indicator back to "2s" and press the green ball icon to get into the
animate editing mode. Now open the "Colors" window from the "Parameters"
window and set the "Alpha" value to 1. Close the window. Move the time
indicator to "3s" and set the "Alpha" value to 100 trough the
"Colors" window like before. Now move the time indicator to "4s" and
set "Alpha" to 0. Now we have the shimmer in the corner of our text
fading in and out in 2 seconds. Your timeline should now look like
this (without those texts, of course):

[[File:Shiny-tut_pic16.gif]]

=== Step 6: ===

Your animation is basically ready, but that shimmer needs some
enhancement. First add a new layer onto the "NewSpline(some number)
Region" layer, by left clicking on it and selecting "New Layer >
Transform > Rotate". A new layer named "Rotate" should appear. Now
lets group the "Rotate" and "NewSpline..." layer like in Step 3,
but just selecting the "Rotate" and "NewSpline..." layers this
time. If we wouldn't do this the rotation effect would affect our
text too, but that's not what we want. Now you should have 2 Group layers.
Open the first one by pressing on the small
white arrow next to the [box]- icon. This is what your layers list
should look like now:
[[File:Shiny-tut_pic17.gif]]

=== Step 7: ===

Select both of the layers in the opened "Inline canvas" and you should
see the outline of your shimmer and a new line, which has a green dot
and a blue dot in both ends. Move the green dot to the center of your
shimmer like this:
[[File:Shiny-tut_pic18.gif]]

=== Step 8: ===

Make sure, you're still in the "Animate Editing Mode" (the ball in the
bottom left corner of your canvas is red, if you are), place your
timeline indicator to "2s" and select only the "Rotate" layer. Now
you have to set the "Amount" value to 0.01 in the "Parameters" window,
just to set the waypoint. Move the timeline indicator to "3s" and set
the "Amount" value to 180 (for 180 degrees) and then move the
timeline indicator to "4s" and the "Amount" value to 359.

Congratulations, you are done!

Here's the Synfig Studio file:
[[File:Shiny_Effects_Tutorial_1_by_Ceox.sif]]

And here's the final result:

[[File:Shiny-tut_animation.gif]]

Hope this tutorial helped you with something :)

For further questions, contact me at ceoxmusic (at) gmail (dot) com

[http://ceox.urli.net Ceox] |
[http://personal.inet.fi/musiikki/ceox/synfigtuto1/ HTML version]

File:Shiny Effects Tutorial 1 by Ceox.sif

2014-04-23T11:18:29Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic20.gif

2014-04-23T11:13:52Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic19.gif

2014-04-23T11:13:38Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic18.gif

2014-04-23T11:13:28Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic17.gif

2014-04-23T11:13:19Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic16.gif

2014-04-23T11:13:08Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic15.gif

2014-04-23T11:12:57Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic14.gif

2014-04-23T11:12:48Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic13.gif

2014-04-23T11:12:38Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic12.gif

2014-04-23T11:12:29Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic11.gif

2014-04-23T11:12:16Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic10.gif

2014-04-23T11:12:04Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic9.gif

2014-04-23T11:11:54Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic8.gif

2014-04-23T11:11:45Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic7.gif

2014-04-23T11:11:33Z

Rylleman: Rylleman uploaded a new version of "File:Shiny-tut pic7.gif"

File:Shiny-tut pic7.gif

2014-04-23T11:11:11Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic6.gif

2014-04-23T11:10:55Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic5.gif

2014-04-23T11:10:38Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic4.gif

2014-04-23T11:10:27Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic3.gif

2014-04-23T11:10:16Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic2.gif

2014-04-23T11:10:05Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut pic1.gif

2014-04-23T11:09:00Z

Rylleman:

File:Shiny-tut animation.gif

2014-04-23T11:08:41Z

Rylleman:

File:Synfig-core examples logo.sifz

2012-11-20T10:03:39Z

Rylleman: Synfig Studio Voria logo. Source is in Synfig source code found here: http://synfig.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=synfig/synfig;a=blob_plain;f=synfig-core/examples/logo.sifz;hb=HEAD

Synfig Studio Voria logo.
Source is in Synfig source code found here:
http://synfig.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=synfig/synfig;a=blob_plain;f=synfig-core/examples/logo.sifz;hb=HEAD

Layers

2012-04-07T09:39:23Z

Rylleman: /* {{l|Scale Layer|Scale}} */

{{Title|Layers}}

The following layer types are available in synfig:

== Blurs ==

=== {{l|Blur Layer|Blur}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Size
| Size of Blur
|-
| Type
| Type of blur to use
|}

Example: ( [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmCpV2Q5lfI youtube] [http://www.musikboden.se/synfigfiles/blur.sif corresponding sif file] )

=== {{l|Motion Blur Layer|Motion Blur}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Aperture
| Shutter Time
|}

=== {{l|Radial Blur Layer|Radial Blur}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Origin
| Point where you want the origin to be
|-
| Size
| Size of blur
|-
| Fade Out
|
|}

Example: ( [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7V5e4A2xwk youtube] [http://www.musikboden.se/synfigfiles/radial_blur.sif corresponding sif file] )

== Distortions ==

=== {{l|Inside Out Layer|Inside Out}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Origin
| Defines the where the center will be
|}

=== {{l|Noise Distort Layer|Noise Distort}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Displacement
| How much the distortion is displaced form its original position.
|-
| Size
| How much separated are two consecutive distortions .
|-
| Random Seed
| Defines the random generator number seed.
|-
| Interpolation
| What type of interpolation to use
|-
| Detail
| Lower/higher values produces less/more detailed distortions.
|-
| Animation Speed
| In times per second, defines the frequency of change of the distortion.
|-
| Turbulent
| When checked it produces turbulent distortions.
|}

Example: ( [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc39nnd7R_4 youtube] [http://www.musikboden.se/synfigfiles/noise_distort_area.sif corresponding sif file] )

=== {{l|Spherize Layer|Spherize}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Position
| The center (or axis) of the distortion.
|-
| Radius
| Defines the radious of the distortion (spherize) or a half of the bar (vertical or horizontal bar)
|-
| Amount
| Defines how much convex (positive) or concave (negative) the distortion is
|-
| Clip
| When checked it only distorts inside the Radious area.
|-
| Distort Type
| The direction of the distortion (spherize, horizontal bar, vertical bar).
|}

Example: ( [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ3vjLqUTW0 youtube] [http://www.musikboden.se/synfigfiles/spherize_area.sif corresponding sif file] )

=== {{l|Stretch Layer|Stretch}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Amount
| Its distance to Center defines how much the image is stretched or is shrunk
|-
| Center
| The position from where the distortion is made.
|}

Example: ( [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCkZgOloKZc youtube] [http://www.musikboden.se/synfigfiles/stretch_area.sif corresponding sif file] )

=== {{l|Twirl Layer|Twirl}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Center
| The position of the twirl distortion.
|-
| Radius
| This is the radius of the circle of the twirl distortion
|-
| Rotations
| Defines how many rotations (in DEG) the twirl produces.
|-
| Distort Inside
| Defines if the distortion is produced inside the radious area.
|-
| Distort Outside
| Defines if the distortion is produced outside the radious area.
|}

Example: ( [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqqVuMa0WdQ youtube] [http://www.musikboden.se/synfigfiles/twirl_area.sif corresponding sif file] )

=== {{l|Warp Layer|Warp}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Source TL
| Top Left point of the source to warp.
|-
| Source BR
| Bottom Right point of the source to warp.
|-
| Dest TL
| Top Left point of the destination where to warp.
|-
| Dest TR
| Top Right point of the destination where to warp.
|-
| Dest BR
| Bottom Right point of the destination where to warp.
|-
| Dest BL
| Bottom Left point of the destination where to warp.
|-
| Clip
| When checked it only renders what is inside the source rectangle.
|-
| Horizon
| A number to define when to stop rendering when do a perspective warp. High values produces far horizons.
|}

Example: ( [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3MY8VGtVGc youtube] [http://www.musikboden.se/synfigfiles/warp_area.sif corresponding sif file] )

== Filters ==

=== {{l|Clamp Layer|Clamp}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Invert Negative
|
|-
| Clamp Ceiling
|
|-
| Ceiling
|
|-
| Floor
|
|}

=== {{l|Color Correct Layer|Color Correct}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Hue Adjust
|
|-
| Brightness
|
|-
| Contrast
|
|-
| Exposure Adjust
|
|-
| Gamma Adjustment
|
|}

=== {{l|Halftone 2 Layer|Halftone 2}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Mask Offset
|
|-
| Mask Angle
|
|-
| Mask Size
|
|-
| Light Color
|
|-
| Dark Color
|
|-
| Type
|
|}

=== {{l|Halftone 3 Layer|Halftone 3}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Mask Size
|
|-
| Type
|
|-
| Subtractive Flag
|
|-
| <Channel Name>Color
|
|-
| <Channel Name>Mask Offset
|
|-
| <Channel Name>Mask Angle
|
|}

=== {{l|Luma Key Layer|Luma Key}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Color
| Color of checkers
|-
| Offset
|
|-
| Size
| Size of checkers
|}

== Fractals ==

=== {{l|Julia Set Layer|Julia Set}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Inside Color
| Color of the Set
|-
| Outside Color
| Color outside the Set
|-
| Color Shift
|
|-
| Iterations
|
|-
| Seed Point
|
|-
| Bailout ValueBase
|
|-
| Distort Inside
|
|-
| Shade Inside
|
|-
| Solid Inside
|
|-
| Invert Inside
|
|-
| Color Inside
|
|-
| Distort Outside
|
|-
| Shade Outside
|
|-
| Solid Outside
|
|-
| Invert Outside
|
|-
| Color Outside
|
|-
| Color Cycle
|
|-
| Smooth Outside
| Smooth the coloration outside the set
|-
| Break Set
| Modify equation to achieve interesting results
|}

=== {{l|Mandelbrot Set Layer|Mandelbrot Set}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Iterations
|
|-
| Bailout ValueBase
|
|-
| Break Set
| Modify equation to achieve interesting results
|-
| Distort Inside
|
|-
| Shade Inside
|
|-
| Solid Inside
|
|-
| Invert Inside
|
|-
| Gradient Inside
|
|-
| Offset Inside
|
|-
| Loop Inside
|
|-
| Distort Outside
|
|-
| Shade Outside
|
|-
| Solid Outside
|
|-
| Invert Outside
|
|-
| Gradient outside
|
|-
| Smooth Outside
| Smooth the coloration outside the set
|-
| Offset Outside
|
|-
| Scale Outside
|
|}

== Geometry ==

=== Common Parameters ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Z Depth
| Relative displacement of the depth of the layer inside the canvas
|-
| Amount
| Overall alpha amount of the layer.
|-
| Blend Method
| Type of blend method.
|}

=== {{l|Checkerboard Layer|Checkerboard}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Color
| Color of checkers.
|-
| Offset
| Displacement of the checkboard origin.
|-
| Size
| Size of checkers.
|}

=== {{l|Circle Layer|Circle}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Color
| Circle's color.
|-
| Radius
| Circle's radious.
|-
| Feather
| Circle feather amount.
|-
| Center
| Circle's center.
|-
| Invert
| Invert the circle
|-
| Falloff
| Determines the falloff function for the feather
|}

=== {{l|Outline Layer|Outline}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Color
| Outline's color.
|-
| Offset
| Displacement of the Outline from the (0,0).
|-
| Invert
| When checked it inverts alpha results of the layer.
|-
| Antialiasing
| When checked it produces antialiased renders for the layer.
|-
| Feather
| Outline feather amount.
|-
| Type of Feather
| Defines the type of feather.
|-
| Winding Style.
| Defines overlapping behavior.
|-
| Vertices
| A list of BLine Points
|-
| Outline Width
| Default widths of the points.
|-
| Expand
| Defines a value to add to the Outline width.
|-
| Sharp Cusps
| When chekced it produces sharp corners.
|-
| Rounded Begin
| Round off the begin tip
|-
| Rounded End
| Round off the end tip
|-
| Loopyness
|
|-
| Homogeneous
|
|}

=== {{l|Polygon Layer|Polygon}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Vector List
| A list of Vector points.
|}

=== {{l|Rectangle Layer|Rectangle}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Color
| Rectangle's color.
|-
| Point 1
| Position of the first point of the diagonal
|-
| Point 2
| Position of the second point of the diagonal.
|-
| Expand amount
| Amount of expansion around the rectangle's edge.
|-
| Invert the rectangle
| If checked on inverts the alpha value of the layer.
|}

=== {{l|Region Layer|Region}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Color
| Region's color.
|-
| Offset
| Displacement of the Region from the (0,0).
|-
| Invert
| When checked it inverts alpha results of the layer.
|-
| Antialiasing
| When checked it produces antialiased renders for the layer.
|-
| Feather
| Outline feather amount.
|-
| Type of Feather
| Defines the type of feather.
|-
| Winding Style.
| Defines overlapping behavior.
|-
| Vertices
| A list of BLine Points
|}

=== {{l|Solid Color Layer|Solid Color}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Color
|
|}

=== {{l|Star Layer|Star}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Outer Radius
| The radius of the outer points in the star
|-
| Inner Radius
| The radius of the inner points in the star
|-
| Angle
| The orientation of the star
|-
| Points
| The number of points in the star
|}

== Gradients ==

=== {{l|Conical Gradient Layer|Conical Gradient}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Gradient
| The gradient that's going to be mapped to the cone.
|-
| Center
| The center of the cone.
|-
| Angle
| The angle where the beginning and the end of the gradient join.
|-
| Symmetric
| Cheked on produces a symmetrical gradient.
|}

=== {{l|Curve Gradient Layer|Curve Gradient}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Offset
| Relative displacement of the gradient respect to the BLine.
|-
| Width
| Default width of the gradient.
|-
| Vertices
| A list of BLine Points
|-
| Gradient
| The gradient parameter
|-
| Loop
| If chekced on produces a looped gradient.
|-
| ZigZag
| When checked on it produces a double gradient.
|-
| Perpendicular
| If chekced on it produces a perpendicular gradient to BLine instead of parallel.
|-
| Fast
| When cheked on it produces a faster render but less accurate gradient.
|}

=== {{l|Linear Gradient Layer|Linear Gradient}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Point 1
| First point of he gradient.
|-
| Point 2
| Second point of the gradient.
|-
| Gradient
| The gradient parameter
|-
| Loop
| If chekced on produces a looped gradient.
|-
| ZigZag
| When checked on it produces a double gradient.
|}

=== {{l|Noise Gradient Layer|Noise Gradient}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Gradient
| The gradient parameter.
|-
| Random Seed
| Defines the random generator number seed.
|-
| Size
| How much separated are two consecutive distortions
|-
| Interpolation
| What type of interpolation to use
|-
| Detail
| Lower/higher values produces less/more detailed distortions.
|-
| Animation Speed
| In times per second, defines the frequency of change of the distortion.
|-
| Turbulent
| When checked on it produces turbulent distortions.
|-
| Do Alpha
|
|-
| Super Sampling
| When chekced on produces more accurate results but slower renders.
|}

=== {{l|Radial Gradient Layer|Radial Gradient}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Gradient
| The gradient parameter
|-
| Center
| The center of the radial gradient.
|-
| Radius
| This is the radius of the circle.
|-
| Loop
| When cheked on it produces a looped gradient.
|-
| Zig-Zag
| When checked on it produces a double gradient.
|}

=== {{l|Spiral Gradient Layer|Spiral Gradient}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Gradient
| The gradient parameter
|-
| Center
| The center of the spiral gradient.
|-
| Radius
| This is the radius of the circle
|-
| Angle
| The amount of rotations of the spiral.
|-
| Clockwise
| When cheked on/off produces clockwise/counter-clockwise spiral gradient.
|}

== Other ==

=== {{l|Duplicate Layer|Duplicate}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Index
| Copy Index
|}

=== {{l|Import Image Layer|Import Image}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Filename
| File to import
|-
| Time Offset
| Time offset used for image sequence import.
|}

=== {{l|Paste Canvas Layer|Paste Canvas}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Origin
| Point where you want the origin to be.
|-
| Canvas
| Canvas to paste
|-
| Zoom
| Amplification of the canvas (around the origin?)
|-
| Time Offset
| Time to rewind (negative) or fast forward (positive) the animation of the canvas
|-
| Children Lock
| When checked on you cannot select a child layer by clicking on it.
|}

=== {{l|Plant Layer|Plant}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Vertices
| A list of BLine Points
|-
| Gradient
| Gradient to be used for coloring the plant
|-
| Split Angle
| Angle by which each split deviates from its parent
|-
| Gravity
| Direction in which the shoots tend to face
|-
| Tangential Velocity
| Amount to which shoots tend to grow along the tangent to the BLine
|-
| Perpendicular Velocity
| Amount to which shoots tend to grow perpendicular to the tangent to the BLine
|-
| Stem Size
| Size of the stem
|-
| SizeAsAlpha
| If enabled, the alpha channel from the gradient is multiplied by the stem size, and an alpha of 1.0 is used when rendering
|-
| Step
| Measure of the distance between points when rendering
|-
| Seed
| Used to seed the pseudo-random number generator
|-
| Splits
| Maximum number of times that each sprout can sprout recursively
|-
| Sprouts
| Number of places that growth occurs on each bline section
|-
| Random Factor
| Used to scale down all random effects. Set to zero to disable randomness
|-
| Drag
| Drag slows the growth
|}

=== {{l|Super Sample Layer|Super Sample}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Width
| Width of sample area (In pixels)
|-
| Height
| Height of sample area (In pixels)
|-
| Use Parametric
| Use the Parametric Renderer
|-
| Be Alpha Safe
|
|}

=== {{l|Text Layer|Text}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Text
| Text to Render
|-
| Color
| Color of the text
|-
| Font Family
| You could use values "Sans", "Times" or "Courier" for system fonts here. If you have ttf font file in the same dir as your sif/sifz file, then you may specify it's name (without extension). If ttf font file is located in another directory, then you may specify absolute or relative path to it.
|-
| Style
|
|-
| Weight
|
|-
| Horizontal Spacing
| Describes how close glyphs are horizontally
|-
| Vertical Spacing
| Describes how close lines of text are vertically
|-
| Size
| Size of the text
|-
| Orientation
| Text Orientation. Set to 0.0 for left aligned, 0.5 for centered and/or 1.0 for right aligned.
|-
| Position
| Text Position
|-
| Kerning
| Enables/Disables font kerning (If the font supports it)
|-
| Sharpen Edges
| Turn this off if you are going to be animating the text
|-
| Invert
|
|}
Fonts that appear to work under Linux - Courier, Times, Serif, Verdana, Sans Serif. 
Fonts that appear to work under Windows - Arial, Times New Roman/Serif, Verdana/Sans Serif. Courier produces an interesting, but non-legible effect. 
Sans Serif appears to be the default if Synfig doesn't recognize the font.

=== {{l|TimeLoop Layer|Time Loop}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Link Time
| Time where the loop starts.
|-
| Local Time
| Used to line up the Offset time of the time loop.
|-
| Duration
| Amount of time of the time loop.
|-
| Only For Positive Duration
| Disable the Time Loop layer if Duration is <= 0.
|-
| Symmetrical
| Provides compatibility for the previous Time Loop layer version.
|}

=== {{l|XOR Pattern Layer|XOR Pattern}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Offset
|
|-
| Size
|
|}

== Stylize ==

=== {{l|Bevel Layer|Bevel}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Type
| Type of blur to use
|-
| Hi-Color
| High color (where the light comes from)
|-
| Lo-Color
| Low color (where the light goes to)
|-
| Light Angle
| Angle of the light of the Bevel.
|-
| Depth of Bevel
| Bigger values produce bigger Bevel detph.
|-
| Softness
| Blur amount of the Bevel.
|-
| Use Luma
|
|-
| Solid
|
|}

=== {{l|Shade Layer|Shade}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Color
| Color of the shade
|-
| Offset
| Relative displacement of the shade respecto the shaded layer(s)
|-
| Size
| Size of blur of the shade
|-
| Type
| Type of blur to use
|-
| Invert
| When checked on inverts the alpha result of the shade.
|}

== Transform ==

=== {{l|Rotate Layer|Rotate}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Origin
| Point where you want the origin to be
|-
| Amount
| Amount of rotation in degrees.
|}

=== {{l|Translate Layer|Translate}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Origin
| Point where you want the origin to be
|}

=== {{l|Scale Layer|Scale}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Amount
| Amount to scale in
|-
| Center
| Point to scale in to
|}

== Not Available ==

These layers are examples to aid developers in creating more layer types, but aren't included in binary releases of Synfig.

=== {{l|Shape Layer|Shape}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Color
| Layer_Shape Color
|-
| Offset
|
|-
| Invert
|
|-
| Antialiasing
|
|-
| Feather
|
|-
| Type of Feather
| Type of feathering to use
|-
| Winding Style
| Winding style to use
|}

=== {{l|Metaballs Layer|Metaballs}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Color
|
|-
| Points
|
|-
| Radii
|
|-
| Weights
|
|-
| Threshold
|
|}

=== {{l|Simple Circle Layer|Simple Circle}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Color
|
|-
| Center
|
|-
| Radius
| This is the radius of the circle
|}

=== {{l|Filled Rectangle Layer|Filled Rectangle}} ===

Parameters:
{| border="1"
|-
! Parameter
! Description
|-
| Color
|
|-
| Point 1
|
|-
| Point 2
|
|-
| Feather X
|
|-
| Feather Y
|
|-
| Bevel
|
|-
| Keep Bevel Circular
|
|}

Scale Layer

2012-04-07T09:36:18Z

Rylleman:

{{Title|Scale Layer}}
{{Category|Layers}}


{{l|Image:Layer_transform_zoom_icon.png|64px}}

== About Scale Layers==

A scale layer scales the size of any primitive layers (regions, gradients etc. i.e. object type of layers) below it.

==Parameters of Scale Layers==

The parameters of the scale layers are:

{|border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"
|-style="background:#c8c8c8"
|'''Name'''||'''Value'''||'''Type'''
|-style="background:#"
||{{l|Image:Type_real_icon.png|16px}} {{l|Amount Parameter|Amount}}
||1.000000
||real

|-style="background:#eeeeee"
||{{l|Image:Type_vector_icon.png|16px}} Center
||0.000000u,0.000000u
||vector
|}
 
A positive ''Amount'' value scales up and a negative value scales down.
A value of 1 scales one time, making it double it's original size. A value of 0,5 scales it up a half time. -1,0 scales an object to half its size.

The Origin is the centre of the scale.

''In versions prior to 0.63.05 Scale Layer was called "Zoom layer".''

Scale Layer

2012-04-06T15:14:30Z

Rylleman:

{{Title|Scale Layer}}
{{Category|Layers}}


{{l|Image:Layer_transform_zoom_icon.png|64px}}

== About Scale Layers==

FIXME!!!

==Parameters of Scale Layers==

The parameters of the scale layers are:

{|border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"
|-style="background:#c8c8c8"
|'''Name'''||'''Value'''||'''Type'''
|-style="background:#"
||{{l|Image:Type_real_icon.png|16px}} {{l|Amount Parameter|Amount}}
||1.000000
||real

|-style="background:#eeeeee"
||{{l|Image:Type_vector_icon.png|16px}} Center
||0.000000u,0.000000u
||vector

|}

Zoom Layer

2012-04-06T15:13:25Z

Rylleman: moved Zoom Layer to Scale Layer: rename of tool.

#REDIRECT [[Scale Layer]]

Scale Layer

2012-04-06T15:13:24Z

Rylleman: moved Zoom Layer to Scale Layer: rename of tool.

{{Title|Zoom Layer}}
{{Category|Layers}}


{{l|Image:Layer_transform_zoom_icon.png|64px}}

== About Zoom Layers==

FIXME!!!

==Parameters of Zoom Layers==

The parameters of the zoom layers are:

{|border="0" align="left" style="border-collapse" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"
|-style="background:#c8c8c8"
|'''Name'''||'''Value'''||'''Type'''
|-style="background:#"
||{{l|Image:Type_real_icon.png|16px}} {{l|Amount Parameter|Amount}}
||1.000000
||real

|-style="background:#eeeeee"
||{{l|Image:Type_vector_icon.png|16px}} Center
||0.000000u,0.000000u
||vector

|}

Doc:How Do I

2012-03-23T09:36:58Z

Rylleman:

{{Title|How Do I...}}
{{Category|Manual}}
{{Category|Tutorials}}
{{Category|Tutorials Basic}}


Feel free to add your own questions here or {{l|Contact|contact}} us with them. Or put them on the {{l|Wiki Wish List}}.

__TOC__

== Insert some text? ==

With recent development versions, there is a text tool. If you are using 0.61.08 or earlier, use right click on your canvas and choose Layer > New > Other > Text.

== Show or hide a layer, or fade the effect of a blur? ==
In the {{l|Params Panel}}, look for an option labeled {{l|Amount Parameter|Amount}} - this controls how much of the blended result of the layer is composited with the blend of the layers beneath it.

In other words, for a typical layer, this will 'fade it out'. For a {{l|Blur Layer}} set to "{{l|Blend Method#Straight|Straight}}", this will fade ''between'' the blurred version and the unblurred version of the canvas. If you want it to become less blurry, adjust the {{l|Blur Layer#Size|Blur Layer's 'size' parameter}}.

== Fill an outline? ==
(Requested by {{l|User:Karlb|Karlb}})

There are several options:
* The easiest way is to link a new region layer to the outline's shape.
*# Select the outline you want to fill.
*# In the Params Panel, right-click the Vertices parameter, select "Export", enter a name for the shape, and hit return. This will export the shape of the outline, making it visible in the {{l|Children Panel}}.
*# In the Children panel, open the ValueBase Nodes tree and select the name you just saved the shape as.
*# From the {{l|Layer Menu}} (either context-click on the {{l|Layers Panel}} or use the {{l|Canvas Menu Caret}}) create a new {{l|Region Layer}} by selecting "New Layer -> Geometry -> Region". Ensure that the created layer is selected.
*# In the parameter dialog, right-click the Vertices parameter and click "Connect".
*# Now, if you don't need exported shape, you can unexport it: right click name of the shape in the Children panel and click "Unexport".
* Similar to the above, but using a different method:
*# Create a new region layer as above, and leave it selected.
*# Don't make any changes to the outline layer, which you want to fill! (see the Tier 5 on the {{l|Linking}} page for details).
*# Select both layers in the {{l|Layers Panel}} This will display only the parameters shared by both layers in the {{l|Params Panel}}.
*# Context-click on the {{l|Vertices Parameter}}, and select {{l|Linking|Link}}.
*# The {{l|Region Layer}} will snap to the shape of the {{l|Outline Layer}}.
* When you create an {{l|Outline Layer|outline}} with the {{l|BLine Tool|Bline Tool}} that you intend to be a filled area as well, make sure you select the Fill checkbox in the {{l|BLine Tool#Options|tool options dialog}}. Obviously, this doesn't help much if you realise later that you needed a fill here.
* If you are using the {{l|Draw Tool}}, there is a button at the bottom of the {{l|Draw Tool#Options|tool options dialog}} labeled {{l|Draw Tool#Buttons|"Fill Last Stroke"}}, which creates a new {{l|Region Layer}} and links its shape to the previously drawn outline. Unfortunately, it doesn't work as of Synfig Studio v0.61.04. It has been fixed in the current SVN version of the code.
* Create a {{l|Region Layer|region}} with the same number of ducks, and manually link each duck. If you want a region that depends on multiple outline layers, this is really your only choice for now.
* Use the draw tool, select only the outline to fill, draw a stroke roughly following the outline and make sure you're holding the Control key when you left go of the mouse button at the end of the stroke. This doesn't work 100% right at the moment.

== Dock windows together? ==

*To dock (join) separate windows into one you must drag the tab ''icons'' for each of the tools into another window.
*You can create subdivisions inside the windows by dragging the icons into the side tabs (located around the edges, the look like rectangles).
*Tool tabs inside the window can be arranged by dragging them on top of one another, therefore changing the order.
*''How Do I min/maximize all Synfig windows on a Windows pc''? There must be an easy way/tool to do this?

== Use an external bitmap? ==

* In the image menu (>) choose file-->import. PNG with alpha channel works fine.
* To animate it without accidental stretching, right-click on the layer and choose encapsulate. You can then animate the position of the new "Inline Canvas" layer instead of the bbox.

== Use an image as a fill colour? ==

Make a new object (bline, region, squares, circles, polygons all work)
Import the image you want as the fill colour, and put it on the layer underneith your object. Set the blend method of the image (using the {{l|Params Panel}}) to "onto" or "straightonto".
Encapsulate the object and the fill colour image, otherwise everthing below the image will have the same fill colour.
Be sure to have a look at what the other composite options do as well.

== Use an external Vector? ==

Synfig doesn't yet support vector import because no-one has written an import process yet. You can use the Svg2synfig {{l|Converters|converter}}, or import it as a bitmap and trace over it in synfig. If you want to implement vector import we would gladly accept your patch.

== Close a bline? ==

* Right click on the starting point and then click on loop bline.

Note: It doesn't work unless the initial point has a tangent - ie the first segment is curved. But you can hide tangent ducks (Alt+3, or "Caret Menu > View > Show/Hide Ducks > Show tangent ducks") and process as described. Don't forget to press (Alt+3) after that to show tangent ducks again.

== How do I transform encapsulated objects? ==

* Right click on the Encapsulated object in the Layer dialog and choose "select all child layers". Then you select the ducks you want to transform (usually just all of them, like for rotating the object), and the rotate or scale tool and do the work.

== Make objects go behind each other, without moving layers? ==

You'll notice each layer you make has a number in the z depth column in the Layers Panel. Say you have 3 layers, they will be numbered 2 (lowest, e.g. a square) 1 (eg a circle) 0 (highest, the default, e.g. a line). In order to make layer 1, the circle, pass behind layer 2, the square, change its z depth to be 3 or more. The z depth of the circle needs to be greater than 2 in order to be behind the square. To make the square on top of everything, you'd change its z depth to -1 or less.

Positive numbers on the z axis go into the screen, and negative numbers go out of the screen, towards the viewer.

It is possible to animate this effect, but each layer is discrete. They seem to go from 0 to 0.9999.

In addition, objects in encapsulated layers can only go behind other objects in the same encapsulated layer. However an encapsulated layer can go behind another encapsulated layer.

== Copy a complex convert combination between parameters of different layers? ==

For example: you want to copy a complicated {{l|Convert|conversion}} type that you have in one parameter from a layer, to other parameter (maybe not a root parameter, but a sub-parameter) of other layer. If you {{l|Export|export}} the complicated conversion type from the original layer and then go to the other layer and select {{l|Connect}} (right click and the exported and the parameter both selected) then you have the parameter form the second layer to be exactly the same than the original one. But there is a drawback: if you modify one of the sub-parameters in the complicated conversion type (e.g. you change the value of one of them) then automatically the same sub-parameter of the other layer is changed.

How can you copy the conversion but allow modify the sub-parameters independently on each layer?

Once you have achieved the complex conversion type in the original layer, don't export the root parameter! If you have done yet {{l|Export|unexport}} it. (Why?. You will understand it later.) Now duplicate the original layer. Then you should obtain the same layer with the same conversion type placed at the same parameter (but not exported). NOW export the parameter from the duplicated layer. Then go to the (sub) parameter of the layer where you want to copy the complex conversion type and Connect it to the just exported parameter form the duplicated layer. Now delete the duplicated layer (!). Then the exported {{l|ValueNode}} still undeleted and the layer where you wanted to copy the complex convert type have a (sub) parameter connected to it. You can {{l|Export|unexport}} the ValueNode or not. It is up to you. But notice that the conversion type is already copied into other (sub) parameter of other layer and they are independent as well as you can change one of them (by modifying the sub-parameters) and the other remains untouched.

== Make an existing animation run at half speed? ==

If you have an animation that runs from 0s to 10s and you want it to run at half speed from 0s to 20s, how can you do that?

* Either: encapsulate it, and use the 'time offset' parameter in the encapsulation layer to slow it down:
** Right-click 'time offset' in the encapsulation layer, convert>linear, rate -0.5 offset 0. That means offset the time by -0.5 seconds per second - or in other words, run at half speed
** Or, putting waypoints on the 'time offset' param would work too: 0 at 0s and -10 at 20s. (The choice between using a linear convert and valuenodes is entirely up to you. They both achieve the same result in this simple case).

* Or: use a {{l|Time Loop Layer}}. The first method seems better and more intuitive in this case, but there are ways of getting the same effect from the Time Loop layer. Perhaps the Time Loop layer is better if the animation doesn't run from 0s, but from some other time. Anyway: put a Time Loop layer over the layers you wish to slow down, and:
** Either: set duration to 0, local time to 0, convert->linear the link time and set rate to 0.5 - this slows the animation down *to* 50% of its original speed; use bigger rates to slow it down less
** Or: set duration to 1h (*), link time to 0, convert->linear the local time and set rate to 0.5 - this slows the animation down *by* 50%; use bigger rates to slow it down more
(*) if your animation is longer than 1h then set this parameter to EOT (End Of Time) what is the same as Infinite (INF) for a real number but for a time parameter.

== Draw a rectangle with a given width and height? ==

I was asked on IRC how to specify the width and height of a rectangle, rather than having to specify the position of two opposite corners. Here's how:

* draw a rectangle
* go to the {{l|Params Panel}}
* right-click the 'point 1' parameter and {{l|Export}}
* give it a name, "p1" say
* right-click the 'point 2' parameter and {{l|Convert}} to {{l|Convert#Add|Add}}
* (that's saying that rather than specifying the absolute position of the other point, you want synfig to calculate it for you)
* (it will make 2 new sub-parameters for 'point 2', and the value used for point 2 will be their sum so we want to tell it to use 'point 1' and your (width,height))
* open up the sub-parameters of 'point 2' by clicking the triangle to its left
* go to the {{l|Children Panel}}, open up the values and select the one you exported earlier (p1)
* right-click the "LHS" parameter in the parameters dialog and {{l|Connect}} it
* then enter the width and height you want in the 'RHS' parameter

== Make linked BLine vertices not affected by Rotate layer? ==
Look at the http://dooglus.rincevent.net/synfig/logs/2008/%23synfig-2008-02-07.log
See also: {{l|Convert}}.

== Create dashed outlines? ==

The advanced outline now has an option for dashed lines so the following technique is obsolete.

<s>If you want to make simple dashed outlines the faster way is proceed like this:

* Create a Curve Gradient and an Outline over the same {{l|BLine|Bline}} using the {{l|BLine Tool|Bline Tool}} options. Check both Outline and Gradient at the {{l|Tool Options Panel}}.
* Raise up the gradient layer (it is created below the {{l|Outline Layer}}).
* Modify the gradient {{l|Blend Method}} parameter to be Straight Onto. That would render the gradient onto the outline width. Also it wouldn't render the outline, so transparent portions of the gradient are transparent.
* Check the 'Perpendicular' parameter of the Curve Gradient Layer.
* {{l|Convert}} the Gradient Parameter of the Curve Gradient Layer to be one of those types: Stripes or Repeat Gradient.
* Modify the properties of the sub parameters to achieve the desired effect.</s>

== Render to AVI with higher quality? ==

=== Using raw video ===
The module used by Synfig to render AVI files is ffmpeg. For the moment there is not interface to control ffmpeg options so you render with a fixed bitrate and quality. If you want the maximum quality in your AVI file, follow these steps:

* Render your animation to yuv420p format. To do that select that target at the drop down list of the render dialog and add the ".yuv" extension to your animation name (without quotes).
* Once rendered (it would produce a huge size yuv file) you can quickly convert it to AVI using this command:

ffmpeg -i animation.yuv -sameq animation.avi

Change the animation file name to your one.

=== Rendering through a .png sequence. ===
Render your sif to png sequence
mkdir render
synfig my_animation.sifz -o render/frame.png
Then convert it to movie with ffmpeg
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png <more settings from ffmpeg's manual> my_animation.mp4

=== Possible settings for ffmpeg ===
Possible settings for converting the png sequence from synfig into a video using ffmpeg, from the [http://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-doc.html ffmpeg manual], are
* for a low quality flv file (eg: for streaming from low bandwidth server)
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -f flv my_animation.flv
* for a high quality flv file (2 pass encoding, eg: to be uploaded on youtube)
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -f flv -b 2M -s y -pass 1 -passlogfile log_file video.flv
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -f flv -b 2M -s y -pass 2 -passlogfile log_file video.flv
flvtool2 -UP video.flv
* for mid quality H264 mp4 file (try to change CRF from 15 -high quality- to 25 -generally satisfactory for animations-). H264 codec requires both width and height of source frames to be multiples of 16.
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -crf 25 -vcodec libx264 -vpre hq my_animation.mp4
* for high quality H264 mp4 file (2 pass encoding)
ffmpeg -y -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -r 30000/1001 -b 2M -bt 4M -vcodec libx264 -pass 1 -vpre fastfirstpass -an my_animation.mp4
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -crf 25 -vcodec libx264 -vpre hq my_animation.mp4
* replace the second pass above with the following to include an AAC audio stream
ffmpeg -i <audio file> -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -crf 25 -vcodec libx264 -vpre hq -acodec libfaac -ac 2 -ar 48000 -ab 192k my_animation.mp4

If you need nice open source format without any tweaks you may try ffmpeg2theora:
ffmpeg2theora render/frame.%04d.png --inputfps <frame rate> -o my_animation.ogg
png takes less disk space then yuv.
--{{l|User:AkhIL|AkhIL}} 21:38, 9 April 2008 (EDT)

If you want you can also use [http://www.mplayerhq.hu/ mplayer].

mencoder mf://render/frame.*.png -mf fps=25 -o my_animation.avi -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4

==Increase performance by optimizing during compilation time? ==

I would like to know what parameters do I need to apply to configure to improve performance. {{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 11:04, 9 April 2008 (EDT)

To optimize program you should set two environment variables
export CFLAGS=""
export CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

First flag will be "-O3" (ow three). "-02" is normal optimization. "-03" is hard optimization.

Now you should get info about your CPU
cat /proc/cpuinfo

find your cpu model name

now go to man gcc and search "-mtune"

find your cpu and add "-mtune=your-cpu -march=your-cpu" to CFLAGS.

Then look at flags from /proc/cpuinfo and search it in gcc manual
For example I have 3dnow. So I can find "-m3dnow". For sse I can find "-msse" and "-mfpmath=sse" (can make program unstable).

Finaly you may add "-ffast-math" to disable math checks. But it can make program unstable.

For my AthlonXP I'm using this flags:
export CFLAGS="-O3 -pipe -mtune=athlon-xp -march=athlon-xp -mmmx -msse -m3dnow -mfpmath=sse -ffast-math -funsigned-char -fno-strict-aliasing"
export CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
--{{l|User:AkhIL|AkhIL}} 12:05, 9 April 2008 (EDT)

For my Pentium3 i use the line:
export CFLAGS="-O3 -pipe -mtune=pentium3 -march=pentium3 -msse -mfpmath=sse -funsigned-char -fno-strict-aliasing"
export CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

The additional switches -mmmx and -ffast-math does seem to '''not''' yield any gain in computing performance! So you could leave them out.
--{{l|User:SvH|SvH}} 03:46, 20 May 2008 (EDT)

== Import a movie into Synfig? ==

To import a movie (image only, not sound) into synfig there is only one option for the moment: Extract an image sequence from the movie and import them using {{l|ListImporter}}. Before you can load the image sequence you have to extract it from the movie. There are several software to do that but a straight and easy way is to use mplayer:

mplayer mymovie.avi -vo png:z=1 -ss seconds-start -endpos duration

where ''seconds-start'' are the seconds where you want to extract form and ''duration'' is the number of seconds you want to extract from ''mymovie.avi''. Also the image format specified in this case is png but jpeg or tga can be used also. See [http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/man/en/mplayer.1.html mplayer manual page] for more info.

It would extract a set of files of the selected section of the movie. Each file takes the frame number padded with leading zeros as name.

To put all the filenames into a ''.lst'' file just type this in the folder wehre the files are:

ls *.png >> mymovie.lst

and add a line specifying the frame rate at the beginning of the text file:

FPS 25

if the movie was 25 fps.

== Unpacking sifz-files ==

Synfigs file format sifz is a packed sif xml-file which can be edited in a text editor. You cannot however directly unpack the sifz file. 
Rename the file with the extension .sif.gz and you'll be able to unpack it.

== Granted Wishes ==

=== MNG target filetype ===

The ability to save as/in the Free/Open MNG (.mng) format [http://libpng.org/pub/mng/]

A partial implementation was committed in SVN r470.

It was implemented in svn 986. See {{l|Render options}}. --{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 13:12, 29 October 2007 (EDT)

=== Optionally display RGB in Hex in Color dialog ===

(3) When colors are quoted as 3 bytes of hexadecimal, you have to convert them to decimal, divide by 255, multiply by 100 to get a number to type into the dialog box. It's painful to match color schemes for example, with the [http://tango.freedesktop.org/Tango_Icon_Theme_Guidelines Tango Icon Theme style guidelines]. {{l|User:pxegeek|PXEGeek}} 3/16/07

: Added in [http://kibi.dyndns.org:8083/~dooglus/gitweb.pl?p=synfig;a=commitdiff;h=40dda9d27b5249ee32f62d84c819ff569f078929 svn r354]. You can type 3 or 6 digit hex codes and hit return to use. 3 digit code 36a gives colour 3366aa (each digit is duplicated) -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 3/18/07

:: Many thanks - already used many times! PXEGeek.

::: Did you notice that you can use single digit codes too? '5' gives 555555 for instance, giving you 16 equally spaces shades of black through white. -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 17:51, 25 September 2007 (EDT)

=== Restore Default Layout ===

(3) — It's very difficult to put all the dialogs back where they were when you started the program, if you've closed them. In addition, with many programs, if you've done something with your window manager to take a window's position off screen, this command is sometimes the only way to bring them back.
-> I'd like to second this one - especially with the bug where dialog boxes sometime shrink to nothing or offscreen, and no amount of maximizing or minimizing restores them. The only solution is to kill the windows, and none of the combo options in the dialog menu match the default configuration. 4/4/07 PXEGeek

: Implemented in [http://kibi.dyndns.org:8083/~dooglus/gitweb.pl?p=synfig;a=commitdiff;h=036306f3c2c265a604971728d50fcce258766552 svn r757] -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 17:48, 25 September 2007 (EDT)

=== General outline / Polygon-based Outline / "Set Tangents to Zero" button ===
(3.5) I'm no artist, thus my primary form of art is stick figures, not to mention, many interesting animations are done in stick-figure style. Stick figures must be perfectly straight to get the effect across, so when I'm making an outline using B-Curves, it is too time consuming to set the tangents to 0 each time. Similarly, outlines of other shapes like squares, circles and so forth would be very useful. Whichever of the above is easiest, please implement right away. --{{l|User:Dragontamer|Dragontamer}} 02:35, 19 November 2007 (EST)
: For perfectly straight lines, click without moving the mouse. You will get a single point with no tangents. Outline shapes would require some development, particularly with some thought given to backward compatibility. A workaround you might consider is to create a duplicate shape with a different color and make the top one slightly smaller, so the outline of the one below shows. {{l|User:Pxegeek|Pxegeek}} 21:58, 19 November 2007 (EST)
:: Well, in general, whenever I click on a point to edit it (say, to make it move somewhere in animation mode), there is a decent chance that I click on a tangent instead. Then, if I want to right click the point itself, I usually right click the tangent marker instead. It isn't that big a deal, but simplicity at the cost of power generally is a good thing, especially when it will save a few mouse clicks.
:: As for the outlines, yeah, I've tried that and it is a decent solution for now, although it is no replacement for a real outline. I am going to also experiment with a clamp to see if I can make the center of the shape have 100% alpha... but I don't have synfig on the computer I'm on right now. Thanks for the tips Pxegeek. --{{l|User:Dragontamer|Dragontamer}} 01:58, 27 November 2007 (EST)
::: You can press Alt+3 to hide tangent ducks. --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 09:27, 27 November 2007 (EST)

What to do when I've made a mistake and added tangents to a point wich had none initially ? How can I "remove" tangents ? The only way I see is to go to the "param" panel, look for the correct tangent, and manually enter a zero value for its lengh.--[[User:Grondilu|Grondilu]] 22:34, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

=== Copy & Paste/Image Importing ===

(4) I sometimes make graphics in other programs, or use clipart and other images. Would it be possible for Synfig to be able to import images and/or copy and paste them?--Khlieeq 2007-07-19
Well, it doesn't support Copy & paste from the clipboard, but you can import images using "New Layer -> Other -> Import". This will create an Import layer, for which you can then edit the properties to point to the file containing your image. PXEGeek. 2007-07-19

=== Recursive Waypoint Manipulation ===

(4) it is really tiresome to revert changes to waypoints created by manipulating tangent/position ducks or change their interpolation functions. making it possible to right-click-modify the waypoint shown for objects that have some waypoint in a referenced sub-object would be great! -- timonator 2007-06-01
:You can do it in two ways: changing the interpolation method of the waypoint of paste canvas or editing the keyframe properties. The first allow to modify the waypoints interpolation method for all the waypoints of all the parameters of all the layers that are inside the paste canvas layer. You can right click on the left or right part of the waypoint to edit by a context menu the left or the right interpolation method of the waipoints. The second method would add and modify all the parameters that have any waypoint in the animation. See {{l|Keyframe}} for more detail. --{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 13:10, 29 October 2007 (EDT)

=== Tweening for images developed in other imaging programs ===

It's obvious I am a beginner at image movement, but morphing is not enough: movement across the page is needed. Thanks for listening. {{l|User:Comwell@bellsouth.net|Comwell}} 
Imported images can be moved across the page. They can also be scaled, rotated and deformed. Was there a specific example you had in mind? {{l|User:Pxegeek|pxegeek}} 
:I also would like a way to tween images that have been drawn in other programs. I've had trouble drawing with Bline tool and the drawing tool in Synfig, and I'd rather just draw with a paint brush (like the one in Photoshop). Another problem I have is that Synfig tends to shut down on me every 20 minutes or so, and it's really frustrating even with the auto recover feature, because my sketches disappear. It'd be nice if I'm able to draw all of the keyframes in Photoshop or another image program and import it to Synfig so that Synfig can tween and animate them. Thank you. {{l|User:xychefoo@gmail.com|Huina}}
::You CAN use images, drawn in other programs. Just select "File->Import" from {{l|Canvas Menu Caret|canvas menu}} --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 01:39, 24 November 2007 (EST)
:::But how do you animate using images from other sources? I tried to make 2 keyframes with 2 different images, and it doesn't animate. It just stays as 1 picture for the entire render. The closest thing I saw to importing images from another source into Synfig and having it animate is the Walking Cycle Tutorial, but I would still have to trace the images to make it animate. As I said earlier, I'm not entirely fond of using the draw/Bline tool. {{l|User:xychefoo@gmail.com|Huina}}
:::: Huina, there's no way to do what you want right now. Interpolating between two images that are not created in Synfig is well beyond its scope right now. However, what you could do is take an image and separate elements of the picture onto different layers (e.g. have a picture of an arm and another of the rest of the body) and you can move those around, stretch and rotate them. (If you're familiar with the work of Terry Gilliam on Monty Python you'll know what I mean) I don't know how feasible it is to implement your request (I suspect some heavy lifting). We'll keep it on the list, but don't hold your breath. {{l|User:Pxegeek|Pxegeek}} 19:57, 24 November 2007 (EST)

:::: I think, you hardly find any other animation package which allow you to do such things. You could use a special tools for this task, like xmorph (http://xmorph.sourceforge.net/). But to do the tween between two bitmap images you STILL need to set points. It's not tracing, but very similar. Anyway, result may be poor and I'd better suggest to use technique, described in Walking Cycle Tutorial or which the {{l|User:Pxegeek|Pxegeek}} meant. --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 02:08, 25 November 2007 (EST)

:::: There is a technique called "optical flow". It takes two input frames and calculates the movement of each individual pixel between the frames, allowing interpolation to be done. Here's an example: http://www.fxguide.com/article333.html. It doesn't require setting of control points, but it has problems it's own set of problems: http://www.fxguide.com/article333.html. --{{l|User:Yoyobuae|Yoyobuae}} 13:32, 3 February 2008 (EST)

=== Auto-link option in {{l|Draw Tool}} ===

(4) so that you can draw a line, and have its endpoint automatically link to a duck - or if Auto-connect is off, you can get a line object linked to the end of another line object. / I missed this too, it even should be like that by default I think. {{l|User:Maxy|Maxy}} 13:22, 25 Apr 2006 (PDT)

: Isn't this done already? We don't have line objects, but blines are automatically linked to if auto-connect is on. Am I missing something? -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 17:29, 27 September 2007 (EDT)

::To clarify dooglus' comments - If you have an outline created by the draw tool highlighted in the layer dialog and the auto-extend checkbox is checked, then you can continue drawing with the draw tool in that same layer. Blines created with the Bline tool cannot be extended once a different tool or layer is selected. {{l|User:Pxegeek|Pxegeek}} 23:46, 12 October 2007 (EDT)

::: A line is a line - Synfig doesn't remember whether it was created with the Bline tool or the Draw tool - so you can extend blines created with the bline tool using the draw tool. Just make sure the line is selected (so that its ducks are visible), not looped (so that it has end points to extend from), enable the draw tool, check 'auto extend' and start drawing at one of its end ducks. {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 05:47, 13 October 2007 (EDT)

So this sounds like it is already done. But on a related note, being able to open an existing bline in the bline tool to extend it would be useful. -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 04:51, 29 January 2008 (EST)

=== Layer hide boolean parameter ===

(3) — An animatable way to remove a layer from visibility and consideration in tools. And as an option, to hide the layer in the layer list while it is invisible. This crosses over functionality from the {{l|Amount Parameter}}, the Show/Hide checkbox in the {{l|Layers Panel}}, and builds upon it as well, allowing the {{l|Layers Panel}} to dynamically unclutter. ''(This feature request is a refactoring of the {{l|Amount Parameter}})''
: With the addition of the {{l|Convert#Switch|Switch}} type conversion it is not needed this feature request. You can convert the Amount parameter to a Switch value and give 0 and 1 to the Linked OFF/ON values. --{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 13:20, 29 October 2007 (EDT)

=== Riding ducks ===

(2) — Not chocobos. The ability to link a duck from one shape to an arbitrary position on another path, without creating an extra shape duck on that path.
:Already done in SVN.{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 18:59, 5 April 2008 (EDT)

=== Image filmstrip import ===

(2) — Allow import of a series of images (TGA, etc) as frames of an animation, on a layer. 
Response - 'lst' files of a list of images can be imported. I've used this to develop a walk cycle. See {{l|Walk_Cycle|Walk cycle}} for an example. {{l|user:pxegeek|pxegeek}}

=== Character Animation Tools ===

I have seen some interesting methods for helping character design/animation in different 2d/3d software. Hash's animation master has 'poses' which are extremes of a model, for example smiling and frowning, once you add these extremes ot a set you can use slider to create a pose that somewhere inbetween. The real power of this is when you have serveral different poses on the same object, a face say, you can easily come up with new facial expressions. Maybe something similar could be done with synfig using layers and groups, the implementation could something similar to Moho's switch layers. --{{l|User:Triclops|Triclops}} 09:52, 9 Aug 2006 (PDT)
: Have you read this tutorial? {{l|Reuse Animations}}. It is very close to the Switch layer of Moho/Anime Studio. Also You can change the Canvas parameter to any other canvas dynamically in the time line by clicking on it and selecting other exported canvas. Other option is convert the canvas to a Switch type and alternate between two different canvas. --{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 13:26, 29 October 2007 (EDT)

=== More Animation Tools ===

{{l|New Animation Tools|Added here}}

=== Improved User Experience for First Contact ===
* Single file download and installer (at least for Windows)
* Ability to draw the first object directly after starting the application (start with an empty document)
* Ability to animate the object directly after drawing the first object (new documents have a say 3 seconds timeline)
In my opinion this is crucial to attract potential users. Because if I see how easy it is to create my first animation I'm going to accept all the bugs and clumsyness. A good example is the Pencil animation software. --{{l|User:Dmd|Dmd}} 13:50, 26 January 2008 (EST)

: I've implemented #2 and #3 above in svn r1519 & 1520. If no files are specified to be opened when running studio, it'll make a new one. It won't pop up the canvas properties dialog when making new canvases by default. And the default end time is 5s (3s is small enough to cause the time slider to show "1s 12f", whereas 5s looks cleaner). -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 04:00, 29 January 2008 (EST)

=== Automatic attach and manipulate a Vertex to a Bline ===

Please see {{l|Inverse Duck Manipulation|this}} page to understand what we want. --{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 12:43, 3 March 2008 (EST).
:Already done in SVN. {{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 19:00, 5 April 2008 (EDT)

=== Toggle visible ducks ===
(3) So pressing, say, tab while editing a Bline toggles which vertices/ducks are visible - so we can easily move the actual vertices around without having the view cluttered by tangeants (and also make it easier to select 'Loop' rather than 'Split Tangeants' when creating the thing.)

Given that extra ducks such as the width ones listed above may be added, this might become more and more necessary. If too many different sets are added for toggling to be feasible, each visibility for each set can be hotkeyed.

: Synfig already have hotkeys to toggle visibility of the ducks. See {{l|Keyboard_Shortcuts#Hotkeys_Visual_Guide}}. --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 00:39, 22 April 2008 (EDT)

===Remove the thin line from stitched regions===
When you stitch or {{l|Sewing_BLines|sew two regions together}} with the same color (or different even?) it can appear a thin line in the common edge that reveals the background color (see the problem {{l|Sewing_BLines#Removing_thin_line_bug|here}}). This is due to that the antialiasing effect is keeping the background pixels information and displays it on the region. To solve this issue it is needed to:
:1) Uncheck all the antialias parameter of all the regions involved
:2) Add a Supersample Layer over the layers that has the antialiasing parameter disabled. A value of 4 for the height and width values is usually enough. Maybe you need to check "Alpha Safe" for better results.
:3) Render normally.
This tip is particularly useful when you want to have a region over and under other composition at the same time.
{|
|'''SAMPLE SHOWING THE THIN LINE'''
|''' REMOVED THIN LINE AFTER SUPER SAMPLE'''
|-
|{{l|Image: planet-saturn2.png}}
|{{l|Image: planet-saturn2ss.png}}
|}

It has the draw back that intermediate layers has to be super sampled too (line the planet in the example) because the super sample has to be done at the same time to the involved regions (the back and top half rings).

Doc:How Do I

2012-03-09T07:58:21Z

Rylleman:

{{Title|How Do I...}}
{{Category|Manual}}
{{Category|Tutorials}}
{{Category|Tutorials Basic}}


Feel free to add your own questions here or {{l|Contact|contact}} us with them. Or put them on the {{l|Wiki Wish List}}.

__TOC__

== Insert some text? ==

With recent development versions, there is a text tool. If you are using 0.61.08 or earlier, use right click on your canvas and choose Layer > New > Other > Text.

== Show or hide a layer, or fade the effect of a blur? ==
In the {{l|Params Panel}}, look for an option labeled {{l|Amount Parameter|Amount}} - this controls how much of the blended result of the layer is composited with the blend of the layers beneath it.

In other words, for a typical layer, this will 'fade it out'. For a {{l|Blur Layer}} set to "{{l|Blend Method#Straight|Straight}}", this will fade ''between'' the blurred version and the unblurred version of the canvas. If you want it to become less blurry, adjust the {{l|Blur Layer#Size|Blur Layer's 'size' parameter}}.

== Fill an outline? ==
(Requested by {{l|User:Karlb|Karlb}})

There are several options:
* The easiest way is to link a new region layer to the outline's shape.
*# Select the outline you want to fill.
*# In the Params Panel, right-click the Vertices parameter, select "Export", enter a name for the shape, and hit return. This will export the shape of the outline, making it visible in the {{l|Children Panel}}.
*# In the Children panel, open the ValueBase Nodes tree and select the name you just saved the shape as.
*# From the {{l|Layer Menu}} (either context-click on the {{l|Layers Panel}} or use the {{l|Canvas Menu Caret}}) create a new {{l|Region Layer}} by selecting "New Layer -> Geometry -> Region". Ensure that the created layer is selected.
*# In the parameter dialog, right-click the Vertices parameter and click "Connect".
*# Now, if you don't need exported shape, you can unexport it: right click name of the shape in the Children panel and click "Unexport".
* Similar to the above, but using a different method:
*# Create a new region layer as above, and leave it selected.
*# Don't make any changes to the outline layer, which you want to fill! (see the Tier 5 on the {{l|Linking}} page for details).
*# Select both layers in the {{l|Layers Panel}} This will display only the parameters shared by both layers in the {{l|Params Panel}}.
*# Context-click on the {{l|Vertices Parameter}}, and select {{l|Linking|Link}}.
*# The {{l|Region Layer}} will snap to the shape of the {{l|Outline Layer}}.
* When you create an {{l|Outline Layer|outline}} with the {{l|BLine Tool|Bline Tool}} that you intend to be a filled area as well, make sure you select the Fill checkbox in the {{l|BLine Tool#Options|tool options dialog}}. Obviously, this doesn't help much if you realise later that you needed a fill here.
* If you are using the {{l|Draw Tool}}, there is a button at the bottom of the {{l|Draw Tool#Options|tool options dialog}} labeled {{l|Draw Tool#Buttons|"Fill Last Stroke"}}, which creates a new {{l|Region Layer}} and links its shape to the previously drawn outline. Unfortunately, it doesn't work as of Synfig Studio v0.61.04. It has been fixed in the current SVN version of the code.
* Create a {{l|Region Layer|region}} with the same number of ducks, and manually link each duck. If you want a region that depends on multiple outline layers, this is really your only choice for now.
* Use the draw tool, select only the outline to fill, draw a stroke roughly following the outline and make sure you're holding the Control key when you left go of the mouse button at the end of the stroke. This doesn't work 100% right at the moment.

== Dock windows together? ==

*To dock (join) separate windows into one you must drag the tab ''icons'' for each of the tools into another window.
*You can create subdivisions inside the windows by dragging the icons into the side tabs (located around the edges, the look like rectangles).
*Tool tabs inside the window can be arranged by dragging them on top of one another, therefore changing the order.
*''How Do I min/maximize all Synfig windows on a Windows pc''? There must be an easy way/tool to do this?

== Use an external bitmap? ==

* In the image menu (>) choose file-->import. PNG with alpha channel works fine.
* To animate it without accidental stretching, right-click on the layer and choose encapsulate. You can then animate the position of the new "Inline Canvas" layer instead of the bbox.

== Use an image as a fill colour? ==

Make a new object (bline, region, squares, circles, polygons all work)
Import the image you want as the fill colour, and put it on the layer underneith your object. Set the blend method of the image (using the {{l|Params Panel}}) to "onto" or "straightonto".
Encapsulate the object and the fill colour image, otherwise everthing below the image will have the same fill colour.
Be sure to have a look at what the other composite options do as well.

== Use an external Vector? ==

Synfig doesn't yet support vector import because no-one has written an import process yet. You can use the Svg2synfig {{l|Converters|converter}}, or import it as a bitmap and trace over it in synfig. If you want to implement vector import we would gladly accept your patch.

== Close a bline? ==

* Right click on the starting point and then click on loop bline.

Note: It doesn't work unless the initial point has a tangent - ie the first segment is curved. But you can hide tangent ducks (Alt+3, or "Caret Menu > View > Show/Hide Ducks > Show tangent ducks") and process as described. Don't forget to press (Alt+3) after that to show tangent ducks again.

== How do I transform encapsulated objects? ==

* Right click on the Encapsulated object in the Layer dialog and choose "select all child layers". Then you select the ducks you want to transform (usually just all of them, like for rotating the object), and the rotate or scale tool and do the work.

== Make objects go behind each other, without moving layers? ==

You'll notice each layer you make has a number in the z depth column in the Layers Panel. Say you have 3 layers, they will be numbered 2 (lowest, e.g. a square) 1 (eg a circle) 0 (highest, the default, e.g. a line). In order to make layer 1, the circle, pass behind layer 2, the square, change its z depth to be 3 or more. The z depth of the circle needs to be greater than 2 in order to be behind the square. To make the square on top of everything, you'd change its z depth to -1 or less.

Positive numbers on the z axis go into the screen, and negative numbers go out of the screen, towards the viewer.

It is possible to animate this effect, but each layer is discrete. They seem to go from 0 to 0.9999.

In addition, objects in encapsulated layers can only go behind other objects in the same encapsulated layer. However an encapsulated layer can go behind another encapsulated layer.

== Copy a complex convert combination between parameters of different layers? ==

For example: you want to copy a complicated {{l|Convert|conversion}} type that you have in one parameter from a layer, to other parameter (maybe not a root parameter, but a sub-parameter) of other layer. If you {{l|Export|export}} the complicated conversion type from the original layer and then go to the other layer and select {{l|Connect}} (right click and the exported and the parameter both selected) then you have the parameter form the second layer to be exactly the same than the original one. But there is a drawback: if you modify one of the sub-parameters in the complicated conversion type (e.g. you change the value of one of them) then automatically the same sub-parameter of the other layer is changed.

How can you copy the conversion but allow modify the sub-parameters independently on each layer?

Once you have achieved the complex conversion type in the original layer, don't export the root parameter! If you have done yet {{l|Export|unexport}} it. (Why?. You will understand it later.) Now duplicate the original layer. Then you should obtain the same layer with the same conversion type placed at the same parameter (but not exported). NOW export the parameter from the duplicated layer. Then go to the (sub) parameter of the layer where you want to copy the complex conversion type and Connect it to the just exported parameter form the duplicated layer. Now delete the duplicated layer (!). Then the exported {{l|ValueNode}} still undeleted and the layer where you wanted to copy the complex convert type have a (sub) parameter connected to it. You can {{l|Export|unexport}} the ValueNode or not. It is up to you. But notice that the conversion type is already copied into other (sub) parameter of other layer and they are independent as well as you can change one of them (by modifying the sub-parameters) and the other remains untouched.

== Make an existing animation run at half speed? ==

If you have an animation that runs from 0s to 10s and you want it to run at half speed from 0s to 20s, how can you do that?

* Either: encapsulate it, and use the 'time offset' parameter in the encapsulation layer to slow it down:
** Right-click 'time offset' in the encapsulation layer, convert>linear, rate -0.5 offset 0. That means offset the time by -0.5 seconds per second - or in other words, run at half speed
** Or, putting waypoints on the 'time offset' param would work too: 0 at 0s and -10 at 20s. (The choice between using a linear convert and valuenodes is entirely up to you. They both achieve the same result in this simple case).

* Or: use a {{l|Time Loop Layer}}. The first method seems better and more intuitive in this case, but there are ways of getting the same effect from the Time Loop layer. Perhaps the Time Loop layer is better if the animation doesn't run from 0s, but from some other time. Anyway: put a Time Loop layer over the layers you wish to slow down, and:
** Either: set duration to 0, local time to 0, convert->linear the link time and set rate to 0.5 - this slows the animation down *to* 50% of its original speed; use bigger rates to slow it down less
** Or: set duration to 1h (*), link time to 0, convert->linear the local time and set rate to 0.5 - this slows the animation down *by* 50%; use bigger rates to slow it down more
(*) if your animation is longer than 1h then set this parameter to EOT (End Of Time) what is the same as Infinite (INF) for a real number but for a time parameter.

== Draw a rectangle with a given width and height? ==

I was asked on IRC how to specify the width and height of a rectangle, rather than having to specify the position of two opposite corners. Here's how:

* draw a rectangle
* go to the {{l|Params Panel}}
* right-click the 'point 1' parameter and {{l|Export}}
* give it a name, "p1" say
* right-click the 'point 2' parameter and {{l|Convert}} to {{l|Convert#Add|Add}}
* (that's saying that rather than specifying the absolute position of the other point, you want synfig to calculate it for you)
* (it will make 2 new sub-parameters for 'point 2', and the value used for point 2 will be their sum so we want to tell it to use 'point 1' and your (width,height))
* open up the sub-parameters of 'point 2' by clicking the triangle to its left
* go to the {{l|Children Panel}}, open up the values and select the one you exported earlier (p1)
* right-click the "LHS" parameter in the parameters dialog and {{l|Connect}} it
* then enter the width and height you want in the 'RHS' parameter

== Make linked BLine vertices not affected by Rotate layer? ==
Look at the http://dooglus.rincevent.net/synfig/logs/2008/%23synfig-2008-02-07.log
See also: {{l|Convert}}.

== Create dashed outlines? ==

The advanced outline now has an option for dashed lines so the following technique is obsolete.

<s>If you want to make simple dashed outlines the faster way is proceed like this:

* Create a Curve Gradient and an Outline over the same {{l|BLine|Bline}} using the {{l|BLine Tool|Bline Tool}} options. Check both Outline and Gradient at the {{l|Tool Options Panel}}.
* Raise up the gradient layer (it is created below the {{l|Outline Layer}}).
* Modify the gradient {{l|Blend Method}} parameter to be Straight Onto. That would render the gradient onto the outline width. Also it wouldn't render the outline, so transparent portions of the gradient are transparent.
* Check the 'Perpendicular' parameter of the Curve Gradient Layer.
* {{l|Convert}} the Gradient Parameter of the Curve Gradient Layer to be one of those types: Stripes or Repeat Gradient.
* Modify the properties of the sub parameters to achieve the desired effect.</s>

== Render to AVI with higher quality? ==

=== Using raw video ===
The module used by Synfig to render AVI files is ffmpeg. For the moment there is not interface to control ffmpeg options so you render with a fixed bitrate and quality. If you want the maximum quality in your AVI file, follow these steps:

* Render your animation to yuv420p format. To do that select that target at the drop down list of the render dialog and add the ".yuv" extension to your animation name (without quotes).
* Once rendered (it would produce a huge size yuv file) you can quickly convert it to AVI using this command:

ffmpeg -i animation.yuv -sameq animation.avi

Change the animation file name to your one.

=== Rendering through a .png sequence. ===
Render your sif to png sequence
mkdir render
synfig my_animation.sifz -o render/frame.png
Then convert it to movie with ffmpeg
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png <more settings from ffmpeg's manual> my_animation.mp4

=== Possible settings for ffmpeg ===
Possible settings for converting the png sequence from synfig into a video using ffmpeg, from the [http://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-doc.html ffmpeg manual], are
* for a low quality flv file (eg: for streaming from low bandwidth server)
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -f flv my_animation.flv
* for a high quality flv file (2 pass encoding, eg: to be uploaded on youtube)
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -f flv -b 2M -s y -pass 1 -passlogfile log_file video.flv
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -f flv -b 2M -s y -pass 2 -passlogfile log_file video.flv
flvtool2 -UP video.flv
* for mid quality H264 mp4 file (try to change CRF from 15 -high quality- to 25 -generally satisfactory for animations-). H264 codec requires both width and height of source frames to be multiples of 16.
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -crf 25 -vcodec libx264 -vpre hq my_animation.mp4
* for high quality H264 mp4 file (2 pass encoding)
ffmpeg -y -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -r 30000/1001 -b 2M -bt 4M -vcodec libx264 -pass 1 -vpre fastfirstpass -an my_animation.mp4
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -crf 25 -vcodec libx264 -vpre hq my_animation.mp4
* replace the second pass above with the following to include an AAC audio stream
ffmpeg -i <audio file> -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -crf 25 -vcodec libx264 -vpre hq -acodec libfaac -ac 2 -ar 48000 -ab 192k my_animation.mp4

If you need nice open source format without any tweaks you may try ffmpeg2theora:
ffmpeg2theora render/frame.%04d.png --inputfps <frame rate> -o my_animation.ogg
png takes less disk space then yuv.
--{{l|User:AkhIL|AkhIL}} 21:38, 9 April 2008 (EDT)

If you want you can also use [http://www.mplayerhq.hu/ mplayer].

mencoder mf://render/frame.*.png -mf fps=25 -o my_animation.avi -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4

==Increase performance by optimizing during compilation time? ==

I would like to know what parameters do I need to apply to configure to improve performance. {{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 11:04, 9 April 2008 (EDT)

To optimize program you should set two environment variables
export CFLAGS=""
export CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

First flag will be "-O3" (ow three). "-02" is normal optimization. "-03" is hard optimization.

Now you should get info about your CPU
cat /proc/cpuinfo

find your cpu model name

now go to man gcc and search "-mtune"

find your cpu and add "-mtune=your-cpu -march=your-cpu" to CFLAGS.

Then look at flags from /proc/cpuinfo and search it in gcc manual
For example I have 3dnow. So I can find "-m3dnow". For sse I can find "-msse" and "-mfpmath=sse" (can make program unstable).

Finaly you may add "-ffast-math" to disable math checks. But it can make program unstable.

For my AthlonXP I'm using this flags:
export CFLAGS="-O3 -pipe -mtune=athlon-xp -march=athlon-xp -mmmx -msse -m3dnow -mfpmath=sse -ffast-math -funsigned-char -fno-strict-aliasing"
export CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
--{{l|User:AkhIL|AkhIL}} 12:05, 9 April 2008 (EDT)

For my Pentium3 i use the line:
export CFLAGS="-O3 -pipe -mtune=pentium3 -march=pentium3 -msse -mfpmath=sse -funsigned-char -fno-strict-aliasing"
export CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

The additional switches -mmmx and -ffast-math does seem to '''not''' yield any gain in computing performance! So you could leave them out.
--{{l|User:SvH|SvH}} 03:46, 20 May 2008 (EDT)

== Import a movie into Synfig? ==

To import a movie (image only, not sound) into synfig there is only one option for the moment: Extract an image sequence from the movie and import them using {{l|ListImporter}}. Before you can load the image sequence you have to extract it from the movie. There are several software to do that but a straight and easy way is to use mplayer:

mplayer mymovie.avi -vo png:z=1 -ss seconds-start -endpos duration

where ''seconds-start'' are the seconds where you want to extract form and ''duration'' is the number of seconds you want to extract from ''mymovie.avi''. Also the image format specified in this case is png but jpeg or tga can be used also. See [http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/man/en/mplayer.1.html mplayer manual page] for more info.

It would extract a set of files of the selected section of the movie. Each file takes the frame number padded with leading zeros as name.

To put all the filenames into a ''.lst'' file just type this in the folder wehre the files are:

ls *.png >> mymovie.lst

and add a line specifying the frame rate at the beginning of the text file:

FPS 25

if the movie was 25 fps.

== Granted Wishes ==

=== MNG target filetype ===

The ability to save as/in the Free/Open MNG (.mng) format [http://libpng.org/pub/mng/]

A partial implementation was committed in SVN r470.

It was implemented in svn 986. See {{l|Render options}}. --{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 13:12, 29 October 2007 (EDT)

=== Optionally display RGB in Hex in Color dialog ===

(3) When colors are quoted as 3 bytes of hexadecimal, you have to convert them to decimal, divide by 255, multiply by 100 to get a number to type into the dialog box. It's painful to match color schemes for example, with the [http://tango.freedesktop.org/Tango_Icon_Theme_Guidelines Tango Icon Theme style guidelines]. {{l|User:pxegeek|PXEGeek}} 3/16/07

: Added in [http://kibi.dyndns.org:8083/~dooglus/gitweb.pl?p=synfig;a=commitdiff;h=40dda9d27b5249ee32f62d84c819ff569f078929 svn r354]. You can type 3 or 6 digit hex codes and hit return to use. 3 digit code 36a gives colour 3366aa (each digit is duplicated) -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 3/18/07

:: Many thanks - already used many times! PXEGeek.

::: Did you notice that you can use single digit codes too? '5' gives 555555 for instance, giving you 16 equally spaces shades of black through white. -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 17:51, 25 September 2007 (EDT)

=== Restore Default Layout ===

(3) — It's very difficult to put all the dialogs back where they were when you started the program, if you've closed them. In addition, with many programs, if you've done something with your window manager to take a window's position off screen, this command is sometimes the only way to bring them back.
-> I'd like to second this one - especially with the bug where dialog boxes sometime shrink to nothing or offscreen, and no amount of maximizing or minimizing restores them. The only solution is to kill the windows, and none of the combo options in the dialog menu match the default configuration. 4/4/07 PXEGeek

: Implemented in [http://kibi.dyndns.org:8083/~dooglus/gitweb.pl?p=synfig;a=commitdiff;h=036306f3c2c265a604971728d50fcce258766552 svn r757] -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 17:48, 25 September 2007 (EDT)

=== General outline / Polygon-based Outline / "Set Tangents to Zero" button ===
(3.5) I'm no artist, thus my primary form of art is stick figures, not to mention, many interesting animations are done in stick-figure style. Stick figures must be perfectly straight to get the effect across, so when I'm making an outline using B-Curves, it is too time consuming to set the tangents to 0 each time. Similarly, outlines of other shapes like squares, circles and so forth would be very useful. Whichever of the above is easiest, please implement right away. --{{l|User:Dragontamer|Dragontamer}} 02:35, 19 November 2007 (EST)
: For perfectly straight lines, click without moving the mouse. You will get a single point with no tangents. Outline shapes would require some development, particularly with some thought given to backward compatibility. A workaround you might consider is to create a duplicate shape with a different color and make the top one slightly smaller, so the outline of the one below shows. {{l|User:Pxegeek|Pxegeek}} 21:58, 19 November 2007 (EST)
:: Well, in general, whenever I click on a point to edit it (say, to make it move somewhere in animation mode), there is a decent chance that I click on a tangent instead. Then, if I want to right click the point itself, I usually right click the tangent marker instead. It isn't that big a deal, but simplicity at the cost of power generally is a good thing, especially when it will save a few mouse clicks.
:: As for the outlines, yeah, I've tried that and it is a decent solution for now, although it is no replacement for a real outline. I am going to also experiment with a clamp to see if I can make the center of the shape have 100% alpha... but I don't have synfig on the computer I'm on right now. Thanks for the tips Pxegeek. --{{l|User:Dragontamer|Dragontamer}} 01:58, 27 November 2007 (EST)
::: You can press Alt+3 to hide tangent ducks. --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 09:27, 27 November 2007 (EST)

What to do when I've made a mistake and added tangents to a point wich had none initially ? How can I "remove" tangents ? The only way I see is to go to the "param" panel, look for the correct tangent, and manually enter a zero value for its lengh.--[[User:Grondilu|Grondilu]] 22:34, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

=== Copy & Paste/Image Importing ===

(4) I sometimes make graphics in other programs, or use clipart and other images. Would it be possible for Synfig to be able to import images and/or copy and paste them?--Khlieeq 2007-07-19
Well, it doesn't support Copy & paste from the clipboard, but you can import images using "New Layer -> Other -> Import". This will create an Import layer, for which you can then edit the properties to point to the file containing your image. PXEGeek. 2007-07-19

=== Recursive Waypoint Manipulation ===

(4) it is really tiresome to revert changes to waypoints created by manipulating tangent/position ducks or change their interpolation functions. making it possible to right-click-modify the waypoint shown for objects that have some waypoint in a referenced sub-object would be great! -- timonator 2007-06-01
:You can do it in two ways: changing the interpolation method of the waypoint of paste canvas or editing the keyframe properties. The first allow to modify the waypoints interpolation method for all the waypoints of all the parameters of all the layers that are inside the paste canvas layer. You can right click on the left or right part of the waypoint to edit by a context menu the left or the right interpolation method of the waipoints. The second method would add and modify all the parameters that have any waypoint in the animation. See {{l|Keyframe}} for more detail. --{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 13:10, 29 October 2007 (EDT)

=== Tweening for images developed in other imaging programs ===

It's obvious I am a beginner at image movement, but morphing is not enough: movement across the page is needed. Thanks for listening. {{l|User:Comwell@bellsouth.net|Comwell}} 
Imported images can be moved across the page. They can also be scaled, rotated and deformed. Was there a specific example you had in mind? {{l|User:Pxegeek|pxegeek}} 
:I also would like a way to tween images that have been drawn in other programs. I've had trouble drawing with Bline tool and the drawing tool in Synfig, and I'd rather just draw with a paint brush (like the one in Photoshop). Another problem I have is that Synfig tends to shut down on me every 20 minutes or so, and it's really frustrating even with the auto recover feature, because my sketches disappear. It'd be nice if I'm able to draw all of the keyframes in Photoshop or another image program and import it to Synfig so that Synfig can tween and animate them. Thank you. {{l|User:xychefoo@gmail.com|Huina}}
::You CAN use images, drawn in other programs. Just select "File->Import" from {{l|Canvas Menu Caret|canvas menu}} --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 01:39, 24 November 2007 (EST)
:::But how do you animate using images from other sources? I tried to make 2 keyframes with 2 different images, and it doesn't animate. It just stays as 1 picture for the entire render. The closest thing I saw to importing images from another source into Synfig and having it animate is the Walking Cycle Tutorial, but I would still have to trace the images to make it animate. As I said earlier, I'm not entirely fond of using the draw/Bline tool. {{l|User:xychefoo@gmail.com|Huina}}
:::: Huina, there's no way to do what you want right now. Interpolating between two images that are not created in Synfig is well beyond its scope right now. However, what you could do is take an image and separate elements of the picture onto different layers (e.g. have a picture of an arm and another of the rest of the body) and you can move those around, stretch and rotate them. (If you're familiar with the work of Terry Gilliam on Monty Python you'll know what I mean) I don't know how feasible it is to implement your request (I suspect some heavy lifting). We'll keep it on the list, but don't hold your breath. {{l|User:Pxegeek|Pxegeek}} 19:57, 24 November 2007 (EST)

:::: I think, you hardly find any other animation package which allow you to do such things. You could use a special tools for this task, like xmorph (http://xmorph.sourceforge.net/). But to do the tween between two bitmap images you STILL need to set points. It's not tracing, but very similar. Anyway, result may be poor and I'd better suggest to use technique, described in Walking Cycle Tutorial or which the {{l|User:Pxegeek|Pxegeek}} meant. --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 02:08, 25 November 2007 (EST)

:::: There is a technique called "optical flow". It takes two input frames and calculates the movement of each individual pixel between the frames, allowing interpolation to be done. Here's an example: http://www.fxguide.com/article333.html. It doesn't require setting of control points, but it has problems it's own set of problems: http://www.fxguide.com/article333.html. --{{l|User:Yoyobuae|Yoyobuae}} 13:32, 3 February 2008 (EST)

=== Auto-link option in {{l|Draw Tool}} ===

(4) so that you can draw a line, and have its endpoint automatically link to a duck - or if Auto-connect is off, you can get a line object linked to the end of another line object. / I missed this too, it even should be like that by default I think. {{l|User:Maxy|Maxy}} 13:22, 25 Apr 2006 (PDT)

: Isn't this done already? We don't have line objects, but blines are automatically linked to if auto-connect is on. Am I missing something? -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 17:29, 27 September 2007 (EDT)

::To clarify dooglus' comments - If you have an outline created by the draw tool highlighted in the layer dialog and the auto-extend checkbox is checked, then you can continue drawing with the draw tool in that same layer. Blines created with the Bline tool cannot be extended once a different tool or layer is selected. {{l|User:Pxegeek|Pxegeek}} 23:46, 12 October 2007 (EDT)

::: A line is a line - Synfig doesn't remember whether it was created with the Bline tool or the Draw tool - so you can extend blines created with the bline tool using the draw tool. Just make sure the line is selected (so that its ducks are visible), not looped (so that it has end points to extend from), enable the draw tool, check 'auto extend' and start drawing at one of its end ducks. {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 05:47, 13 October 2007 (EDT)

So this sounds like it is already done. But on a related note, being able to open an existing bline in the bline tool to extend it would be useful. -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 04:51, 29 January 2008 (EST)

=== Layer hide boolean parameter ===

(3) — An animatable way to remove a layer from visibility and consideration in tools. And as an option, to hide the layer in the layer list while it is invisible. This crosses over functionality from the {{l|Amount Parameter}}, the Show/Hide checkbox in the {{l|Layers Panel}}, and builds upon it as well, allowing the {{l|Layers Panel}} to dynamically unclutter. ''(This feature request is a refactoring of the {{l|Amount Parameter}})''
: With the addition of the {{l|Convert#Switch|Switch}} type conversion it is not needed this feature request. You can convert the Amount parameter to a Switch value and give 0 and 1 to the Linked OFF/ON values. --{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 13:20, 29 October 2007 (EDT)

=== Riding ducks ===

(2) — Not chocobos. The ability to link a duck from one shape to an arbitrary position on another path, without creating an extra shape duck on that path.
:Already done in SVN.{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 18:59, 5 April 2008 (EDT)

=== Image filmstrip import ===

(2) — Allow import of a series of images (TGA, etc) as frames of an animation, on a layer. 
Response - 'lst' files of a list of images can be imported. I've used this to develop a walk cycle. See {{l|Walk_Cycle|Walk cycle}} for an example. {{l|user:pxegeek|pxegeek}}

=== Character Animation Tools ===

I have seen some interesting methods for helping character design/animation in different 2d/3d software. Hash's animation master has 'poses' which are extremes of a model, for example smiling and frowning, once you add these extremes ot a set you can use slider to create a pose that somewhere inbetween. The real power of this is when you have serveral different poses on the same object, a face say, you can easily come up with new facial expressions. Maybe something similar could be done with synfig using layers and groups, the implementation could something similar to Moho's switch layers. --{{l|User:Triclops|Triclops}} 09:52, 9 Aug 2006 (PDT)
: Have you read this tutorial? {{l|Reuse Animations}}. It is very close to the Switch layer of Moho/Anime Studio. Also You can change the Canvas parameter to any other canvas dynamically in the time line by clicking on it and selecting other exported canvas. Other option is convert the canvas to a Switch type and alternate between two different canvas. --{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 13:26, 29 October 2007 (EDT)

=== More Animation Tools ===

{{l|New Animation Tools|Added here}}

=== Improved User Experience for First Contact ===
* Single file download and installer (at least for Windows)
* Ability to draw the first object directly after starting the application (start with an empty document)
* Ability to animate the object directly after drawing the first object (new documents have a say 3 seconds timeline)
In my opinion this is crucial to attract potential users. Because if I see how easy it is to create my first animation I'm going to accept all the bugs and clumsyness. A good example is the Pencil animation software. --{{l|User:Dmd|Dmd}} 13:50, 26 January 2008 (EST)

: I've implemented #2 and #3 above in svn r1519 & 1520. If no files are specified to be opened when running studio, it'll make a new one. It won't pop up the canvas properties dialog when making new canvases by default. And the default end time is 5s (3s is small enough to cause the time slider to show "1s 12f", whereas 5s looks cleaner). -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 04:00, 29 January 2008 (EST)

=== Automatic attach and manipulate a Vertex to a Bline ===

Please see {{l|Inverse Duck Manipulation|this}} page to understand what we want. --{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 12:43, 3 March 2008 (EST).
:Already done in SVN. {{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 19:00, 5 April 2008 (EDT)

=== Toggle visible ducks ===
(3) So pressing, say, tab while editing a Bline toggles which vertices/ducks are visible - so we can easily move the actual vertices around without having the view cluttered by tangeants (and also make it easier to select 'Loop' rather than 'Split Tangeants' when creating the thing.)

Given that extra ducks such as the width ones listed above may be added, this might become more and more necessary. If too many different sets are added for toggling to be feasible, each visibility for each set can be hotkeyed.

: Synfig already have hotkeys to toggle visibility of the ducks. See {{l|Keyboard_Shortcuts#Hotkeys_Visual_Guide}}. --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 00:39, 22 April 2008 (EDT)

===Remove the thin line from stitched regions===
When you stitch or {{l|Sewing_BLines|sew two regions together}} with the same color (or different even?) it can appear a thin line in the common edge that reveals the background color (see the problem {{l|Sewing_BLines#Removing_thin_line_bug|here}}). This is due to that the antialiasing effect is keeping the background pixels information and displays it on the region. To solve this issue it is needed to:
:1) Uncheck all the antialias parameter of all the regions involved
:2) Add a Supersample Layer over the layers that has the antialiasing parameter disabled. A value of 4 for the height and width values is usually enough. Maybe you need to check "Alpha Safe" for better results.
:3) Render normally.
This tip is particularly useful when you want to have a region over and under other composition at the same time.
{|
|'''SAMPLE SHOWING THE THIN LINE'''
|''' REMOVED THIN LINE AFTER SUPER SAMPLE'''
|-
|{{l|Image: planet-saturn2.png}}
|{{l|Image: planet-saturn2ss.png}}
|}

It has the draw back that intermediate layers has to be super sampled too (line the planet in the example) because the super sample has to be done at the same time to the involved regions (the back and top half rings).

Doc:Object gradients

2012-03-09T07:55:56Z

Rylleman: Created page with " {{Title|Gradient on Objects}} Category:Tutorials Category:Tips_and_Tricks  By default a {{l|Gradient_Tool|gradient layer}} cover..."

{{Title|Gradient on Objects}}
[[Category:Tutorials]]
[[Category:Tips_and_Tricks]]


By default a {{l|Gradient_Tool|gradient layer}} cover the whole canvas. This short tutorial shows you how to cover an object with the gradient.

1. Create the region you want to fill with a gradient. 
[[Image:Synfig_object-gradient_01.png|Synfig_object-gradient_01.png]]

2. Create the gradient layer. As you can see it fills the canvas completely. 
[[Image:Synfig_object-gradient_02.png|Synfig_object-gradient_02.png]]

3. Select all layers, right click, and select {{l|Encapsulate}}. Make sure the gradient is above the shapes it should fill. 
[[Image:Synfig_object-gradient_03_encapsule.png|Synfig_object-gradient_03_encapsule.png]]

4. Expand the new {{l|Paste Canvas|Inline Canvas}} layer if it's not already, and select your gradient layer. 
5. In the {{l|Params Panel}} select the {{l|Blend Method}} parameter, and choose {{l|Blend Method#Onto|Onto}} from the drop-down menu. 
[[Image:Synfig_object-gradient_04_onto.png|Synfig_object-gradient_04_onto.png]]

The gradient will clip to the visible area of the region below it inside the {{l|Paste Canvas|Inline Canvas}}. (and any other layers in that section).

File:Synfig object-gradient 04 onto.png

2012-03-09T07:45:53Z

Rylleman: Gradient object tutorial image 04.

Gradient object tutorial image 04.

File:Synfig object-gradient 03 encapsule.png

2012-03-09T07:44:36Z

Rylleman: Object gradient tutorial image 03.

Object gradient tutorial image 03.

File:Synfig object-gradient 02.png

2012-03-09T07:43:18Z

Rylleman: Object gradient tutorial image 02.

Object gradient tutorial image 02.

File:Synfig object-gradient 01.png

2012-03-09T07:39:12Z

Rylleman: uploaded a new version of "File:Synfig object-gradient 01.png": Object gradient tutorial image 01.

Object gradient tutorial image 01.

File:Synfig object-gradient 01.png

2012-03-09T07:37:38Z

Rylleman: Object gradient tutorial image 01.

Object gradient tutorial image 01.

Wiki Wish List

2012-02-28T12:03:32Z

Rylleman:

If, you're looking for a feature that you need in Synfig but aren't sure exists, PLEASE list it on the {{l|Wish list}} instead.

If you've come here looking for help, and you've found its documentation hasn't been written yet, post it here. That way, we'll know what to work on documenting next!

But isn't this what Talk pages are for? {{l|User:Artm|artm}}

If you're looking for something to write, and nothing here strikes your fancy, take a look at {{l|Special:Wantedpages|Wanted Pages}} in the {{l|Special:Specialpages|Special Pages}} section.

* '''Proper Multi-language mechanism'''. We have page called {{l|Getting Started}} and the same page on Russian - {{l|Первое знакомство}}. Is there a way to create a navigation mechanism like in wikipedia.org, to see if there is a translations of current page for other languages exists. Something like automated generated list of available translations displaying on each page: "This page in other languages: English, German, Russian." --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 12:17, 1 January 2008 (EST)
** Where can I find out about how to do this? BTW, it would be good if you could join {{l|Contact|IRC}}. --{{l|User:PaulWise|pabs}} 17:45, 1 January 2008 (EST)
** I don't know how it exactly could be done, but maybe this links could help:
*** MultiLanguageManager: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:MultiLanguageManager
*** Another interesting approach - here all pages have English names, translations are subpages: http://www.art122-5.net/index.php/MediaWiki_Multi-language
*** Other links: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Internationalization, http://osdir.com/ml/org.wikimedia.mediawiki/2005-03/msg00183.html
*** I think, the way how translation mechanism will be realized must be discussed. I like more the second way (with subpages), as it could help us handle a wiki structure - namespaces and other things. --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 01:24, 2 January 2008 (EST)
*** Maybe we could use not the "PageName/en" for English and "PageName/ru" for Russian, but just "PageName" for English and "PageName.ru" for Russian. This would minimize the modifications of the most pages on the wiki. But I'm not sure, as it could cause additional problems in case of renaming pages. --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 01:36, 2 January 2008 (EST)
*** {{l|WikiTranslation}} proposal --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 09:20, 5 January 2008 (EST)
* '''Animation Namespace''' — Should be a seperate namespace for discussing animation terminology and technique, and such, independent from description of Synfig features. For example, the "Twelve Principles Of Animation" don't really have anything to do with how to use Synfig's interface, but have everything to do with things being created in Synfig.

* We need a nice '''MediaWiki Skin''' to make synfig.org more attractive (See the variation used on [http://www.tango-project.org/ http://www.tango-project.org/] for an example of what can be done.)

* This wiki needs to be relicenced to the GPL so we can freely copy stuff between synfig and the wiki. I've said on my {{l|User:PaulWise|user page}} that stuff I contribute here is public domain.

Doc:How Do I

2012-02-28T07:52:49Z

Rylleman: removed changing shortcut keys and flash shortcuts, moved these into tutorials.

{{Title|How Do I...}}
{{Category|Manual}}
{{Category|Tutorials}}
{{Category|Tutorials Basic}}


Feel free to add your own questions here or {{l|Contact|contact}} us with them. Or put them on the {{l|Wiki Wish List}}.

__TOC__

== Insert some text? ==

With recent development versions, there is a text tool. If you are using 0.61.08 or earlier, use right click on your canvas and choose Layer > New > Other > Text.

== Apply a gradient to an object instead of the entire canvas? ==

# Create the region you want to fill with a gradient, and the gradient layer, if you haven't already.
# Make sure that the gradient layer is above the region layer in the {{l|Layers Panel}}.
# Select both layers, right click, and select {{l|Encapsulate}}.
# Expand the new {{l|Paste Canvas|Inline Canvas}} layer if it's not already, and select your gradient layer.
# In the {{l|Params Panel}} select the {{l|Blend Method}} parameter, and choose {{l|Blend Method#Onto|Onto}} from the drop-down menu.

The gradient will clip to the visible area of the region below it inside the {{l|Paste Canvas|Inline Canvas}}. (and any other layers in that section).

== Show or hide a layer, or fade the effect of a blur? ==
In the {{l|Params Panel}}, look for an option labeled {{l|Amount Parameter|Amount}} - this controls how much of the blended result of the layer is composited with the blend of the layers beneath it.

In other words, for a typical layer, this will 'fade it out'. For a {{l|Blur Layer}} set to "{{l|Blend Method#Straight|Straight}}", this will fade ''between'' the blurred version and the unblurred version of the canvas. If you want it to become less blurry, adjust the {{l|Blur Layer#Size|Blur Layer's 'size' parameter}}.

== Fill an outline? ==
(Requested by {{l|User:Karlb|Karlb}})

There are several options:
* The easiest way is to link a new region layer to the outline's shape.
*# Select the outline you want to fill.
*# In the Params Panel, right-click the Vertices parameter, select "Export", enter a name for the shape, and hit return. This will export the shape of the outline, making it visible in the {{l|Children Panel}}.
*# In the Children panel, open the ValueBase Nodes tree and select the name you just saved the shape as.
*# From the {{l|Layer Menu}} (either context-click on the {{l|Layers Panel}} or use the {{l|Canvas Menu Caret}}) create a new {{l|Region Layer}} by selecting "New Layer -> Geometry -> Region". Ensure that the created layer is selected.
*# In the parameter dialog, right-click the Vertices parameter and click "Connect".
*# Now, if you don't need exported shape, you can unexport it: right click name of the shape in the Children panel and click "Unexport".
* Similar to the above, but using a different method:
*# Create a new region layer as above, and leave it selected.
*# Don't make any changes to the outline layer, which you want to fill! (see the Tier 5 on the {{l|Linking}} page for details).
*# Select both layers in the {{l|Layers Panel}} This will display only the parameters shared by both layers in the {{l|Params Panel}}.
*# Context-click on the {{l|Vertices Parameter}}, and select {{l|Linking|Link}}.
*# The {{l|Region Layer}} will snap to the shape of the {{l|Outline Layer}}.
* When you create an {{l|Outline Layer|outline}} with the {{l|BLine Tool|Bline Tool}} that you intend to be a filled area as well, make sure you select the Fill checkbox in the {{l|BLine Tool#Options|tool options dialog}}. Obviously, this doesn't help much if you realise later that you needed a fill here.
* If you are using the {{l|Draw Tool}}, there is a button at the bottom of the {{l|Draw Tool#Options|tool options dialog}} labeled {{l|Draw Tool#Buttons|"Fill Last Stroke"}}, which creates a new {{l|Region Layer}} and links its shape to the previously drawn outline. Unfortunately, it doesn't work as of Synfig Studio v0.61.04. It has been fixed in the current SVN version of the code.
* Create a {{l|Region Layer|region}} with the same number of ducks, and manually link each duck. If you want a region that depends on multiple outline layers, this is really your only choice for now.
* Use the draw tool, select only the outline to fill, draw a stroke roughly following the outline and make sure you're holding the Control key when you left go of the mouse button at the end of the stroke. This doesn't work 100% right at the moment.

== Dock windows together? ==

*To dock (join) separate windows into one you must drag the tab ''icons'' for each of the tools into another window.
*You can create subdivisions inside the windows by dragging the icons into the side tabs (located around the edges, the look like rectangles).
*Tool tabs inside the window can be arranged by dragging them on top of one another, therefore changing the order.
*''How Do I min/maximize all Synfig windows on a Windows pc''? There must be an easy way/tool to do this?

== Use an external bitmap? ==

* In the image menu (>) choose file-->import. PNG with alpha channel works fine.
* To animate it without accidental stretching, right-click on the layer and choose encapsulate. You can then animate the position of the new "Inline Canvas" layer instead of the bbox.

== Use an image as a fill colour? ==

Make a new object (bline, region, squares, circles, polygons all work)
Import the image you want as the fill colour, and put it on the layer underneith your object. Set the blend method of the image (using the {{l|Params Panel}}) to "onto" or "straightonto".
Encapsulate the object and the fill colour image, otherwise everthing below the image will have the same fill colour.
Be sure to have a look at what the other composite options do as well.

== Use an external Vector? ==

Synfig doesn't yet support vector import because no-one has written an import process yet. You can use the Svg2synfig {{l|Converters|converter}}, or import it as a bitmap and trace over it in synfig. If you want to implement vector import we would gladly accept your patch.

== Close a bline? ==

* Right click on the starting point and then click on loop bline.

Note: It doesn't work unless the initial point has a tangent - ie the first segment is curved. But you can hide tangent ducks (Alt+3, or "Caret Menu > View > Show/Hide Ducks > Show tangent ducks") and process as described. Don't forget to press (Alt+3) after that to show tangent ducks again.

== How do I transform encapsulated objects? ==

* Right click on the Encapsulated object in the Layer dialog and choose "select all child layers". Then you select the ducks you want to transform (usually just all of them, like for rotating the object), and the rotate or scale tool and do the work.

== Make objects go behind each other, without moving layers? ==

You'll notice each layer you make has a number in the z depth column in the Layers Panel. Say you have 3 layers, they will be numbered 2 (lowest, e.g. a square) 1 (eg a circle) 0 (highest, the default, e.g. a line). In order to make layer 1, the circle, pass behind layer 2, the square, change its z depth to be 3 or more. The z depth of the circle needs to be greater than 2 in order to be behind the square. To make the square on top of everything, you'd change its z depth to -1 or less.

Positive numbers on the z axis go into the screen, and negative numbers go out of the screen, towards the viewer.

It is possible to animate this effect, but each layer is discrete. They seem to go from 0 to 0.9999.

In addition, objects in encapsulated layers can only go behind other objects in the same encapsulated layer. However an encapsulated layer can go behind another encapsulated layer.

== Copy a complex convert combination between parameters of different layers? ==

For example: you want to copy a complicated {{l|Convert|conversion}} type that you have in one parameter from a layer, to other parameter (maybe not a root parameter, but a sub-parameter) of other layer. If you {{l|Export|export}} the complicated conversion type from the original layer and then go to the other layer and select {{l|Connect}} (right click and the exported and the parameter both selected) then you have the parameter form the second layer to be exactly the same than the original one. But there is a drawback: if you modify one of the sub-parameters in the complicated conversion type (e.g. you change the value of one of them) then automatically the same sub-parameter of the other layer is changed.

How can you copy the conversion but allow modify the sub-parameters independently on each layer?

Once you have achieved the complex conversion type in the original layer, don't export the root parameter! If you have done yet {{l|Export|unexport}} it. (Why?. You will understand it later.) Now duplicate the original layer. Then you should obtain the same layer with the same conversion type placed at the same parameter (but not exported). NOW export the parameter from the duplicated layer. Then go to the (sub) parameter of the layer where you want to copy the complex conversion type and Connect it to the just exported parameter form the duplicated layer. Now delete the duplicated layer (!). Then the exported {{l|ValueNode}} still undeleted and the layer where you wanted to copy the complex convert type have a (sub) parameter connected to it. You can {{l|Export|unexport}} the ValueNode or not. It is up to you. But notice that the conversion type is already copied into other (sub) parameter of other layer and they are independent as well as you can change one of them (by modifying the sub-parameters) and the other remains untouched.

== Make an existing animation run at half speed? ==

If you have an animation that runs from 0s to 10s and you want it to run at half speed from 0s to 20s, how can you do that?

* Either: encapsulate it, and use the 'time offset' parameter in the encapsulation layer to slow it down:
** Right-click 'time offset' in the encapsulation layer, convert>linear, rate -0.5 offset 0. That means offset the time by -0.5 seconds per second - or in other words, run at half speed
** Or, putting waypoints on the 'time offset' param would work too: 0 at 0s and -10 at 20s. (The choice between using a linear convert and valuenodes is entirely up to you. They both achieve the same result in this simple case).

* Or: use a {{l|Time Loop Layer}}. The first method seems better and more intuitive in this case, but there are ways of getting the same effect from the Time Loop layer. Perhaps the Time Loop layer is better if the animation doesn't run from 0s, but from some other time. Anyway: put a Time Loop layer over the layers you wish to slow down, and:
** Either: set duration to 0, local time to 0, convert->linear the link time and set rate to 0.5 - this slows the animation down *to* 50% of its original speed; use bigger rates to slow it down less
** Or: set duration to 1h (*), link time to 0, convert->linear the local time and set rate to 0.5 - this slows the animation down *by* 50%; use bigger rates to slow it down more
(*) if your animation is longer than 1h then set this parameter to EOT (End Of Time) what is the same as Infinite (INF) for a real number but for a time parameter.

== Draw a rectangle with a given width and height? ==

I was asked on IRC how to specify the width and height of a rectangle, rather than having to specify the position of two opposite corners. Here's how:

* draw a rectangle
* go to the {{l|Params Panel}}
* right-click the 'point 1' parameter and {{l|Export}}
* give it a name, "p1" say
* right-click the 'point 2' parameter and {{l|Convert}} to {{l|Convert#Add|Add}}
* (that's saying that rather than specifying the absolute position of the other point, you want synfig to calculate it for you)
* (it will make 2 new sub-parameters for 'point 2', and the value used for point 2 will be their sum so we want to tell it to use 'point 1' and your (width,height))
* open up the sub-parameters of 'point 2' by clicking the triangle to its left
* go to the {{l|Children Panel}}, open up the values and select the one you exported earlier (p1)
* right-click the "LHS" parameter in the parameters dialog and {{l|Connect}} it
* then enter the width and height you want in the 'RHS' parameter

== Make linked BLine vertices not affected by Rotate layer? ==
Look at the http://dooglus.rincevent.net/synfig/logs/2008/%23synfig-2008-02-07.log
See also: {{l|Convert}}.

== Create dashed outlines? ==

The advanced outline now has an option for dashed lines so the following technique is obsolete.

<s>If you want to make simple dashed outlines the faster way is proceed like this:

* Create a Curve Gradient and an Outline over the same {{l|BLine|Bline}} using the {{l|BLine Tool|Bline Tool}} options. Check both Outline and Gradient at the {{l|Tool Options Panel}}.
* Raise up the gradient layer (it is created below the {{l|Outline Layer}}).
* Modify the gradient {{l|Blend Method}} parameter to be Straight Onto. That would render the gradient onto the outline width. Also it wouldn't render the outline, so transparent portions of the gradient are transparent.
* Check the 'Perpendicular' parameter of the Curve Gradient Layer.
* {{l|Convert}} the Gradient Parameter of the Curve Gradient Layer to be one of those types: Stripes or Repeat Gradient.
* Modify the properties of the sub parameters to achieve the desired effect.</s>

== Render to AVI with higher quality? ==

=== Using raw video ===
The module used by Synfig to render AVI files is ffmpeg. For the moment there is not interface to control ffmpeg options so you render with a fixed bitrate and quality. If you want the maximum quality in your AVI file, follow these steps:

* Render your animation to yuv420p format. To do that select that target at the drop down list of the render dialog and add the ".yuv" extension to your animation name (without quotes).
* Once rendered (it would produce a huge size yuv file) you can quickly convert it to AVI using this command:

ffmpeg -i animation.yuv -sameq animation.avi

Change the animation file name to your one.

=== Rendering through a .png sequence. ===
Render your sif to png sequence
mkdir render
synfig my_animation.sifz -o render/frame.png
Then convert it to movie with ffmpeg
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png <more settings from ffmpeg's manual> my_animation.mp4

=== Possible settings for ffmpeg ===
Possible settings for converting the png sequence from synfig into a video using ffmpeg, from the [http://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-doc.html ffmpeg manual], are
* for a low quality flv file (eg: for streaming from low bandwidth server)
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -f flv my_animation.flv
* for a high quality flv file (2 pass encoding, eg: to be uploaded on youtube)
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -f flv -b 2M -s y -pass 1 -passlogfile log_file video.flv
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -f flv -b 2M -s y -pass 2 -passlogfile log_file video.flv
flvtool2 -UP video.flv
* for mid quality H264 mp4 file (try to change CRF from 15 -high quality- to 25 -generally satisfactory for animations-). H264 codec requires both width and height of source frames to be multiples of 16.
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -crf 25 -vcodec libx264 -vpre hq my_animation.mp4
* for high quality H264 mp4 file (2 pass encoding)
ffmpeg -y -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -r 30000/1001 -b 2M -bt 4M -vcodec libx264 -pass 1 -vpre fastfirstpass -an my_animation.mp4
ffmpeg -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -crf 25 -vcodec libx264 -vpre hq my_animation.mp4
* replace the second pass above with the following to include an AAC audio stream
ffmpeg -i <audio file> -r <frame rate> -i render/frame.%04d.png -crf 25 -vcodec libx264 -vpre hq -acodec libfaac -ac 2 -ar 48000 -ab 192k my_animation.mp4

If you need nice open source format without any tweaks you may try ffmpeg2theora:
ffmpeg2theora render/frame.%04d.png --inputfps <frame rate> -o my_animation.ogg
png takes less disk space then yuv.
--{{l|User:AkhIL|AkhIL}} 21:38, 9 April 2008 (EDT)

If you want you can also use [http://www.mplayerhq.hu/ mplayer].

mencoder mf://render/frame.*.png -mf fps=25 -o my_animation.avi -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4

==Increase performance by optimizing during compilation time? ==

I would like to know what parameters do I need to apply to configure to improve performance. {{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 11:04, 9 April 2008 (EDT)

To optimize program you should set two environment variables
export CFLAGS=""
export CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

First flag will be "-O3" (ow three). "-02" is normal optimization. "-03" is hard optimization.

Now you should get info about your CPU
cat /proc/cpuinfo

find your cpu model name

now go to man gcc and search "-mtune"

find your cpu and add "-mtune=your-cpu -march=your-cpu" to CFLAGS.

Then look at flags from /proc/cpuinfo and search it in gcc manual
For example I have 3dnow. So I can find "-m3dnow". For sse I can find "-msse" and "-mfpmath=sse" (can make program unstable).

Finaly you may add "-ffast-math" to disable math checks. But it can make program unstable.

For my AthlonXP I'm using this flags:
export CFLAGS="-O3 -pipe -mtune=athlon-xp -march=athlon-xp -mmmx -msse -m3dnow -mfpmath=sse -ffast-math -funsigned-char -fno-strict-aliasing"
export CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
--{{l|User:AkhIL|AkhIL}} 12:05, 9 April 2008 (EDT)

For my Pentium3 i use the line:
export CFLAGS="-O3 -pipe -mtune=pentium3 -march=pentium3 -msse -mfpmath=sse -funsigned-char -fno-strict-aliasing"
export CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

The additional switches -mmmx and -ffast-math does seem to '''not''' yield any gain in computing performance! So you could leave them out.
--{{l|User:SvH|SvH}} 03:46, 20 May 2008 (EDT)

== Import a movie into Synfig? ==

To import a movie (image only, not sound) into synfig there is only one option for the moment: Extract an image sequence from the movie and import them using {{l|ListImporter}}. Before you can load the image sequence you have to extract it from the movie. There are several software to do that but a straight and easy way is to use mplayer:

mplayer mymovie.avi -vo png:z=1 -ss seconds-start -endpos duration

where ''seconds-start'' are the seconds where you want to extract form and ''duration'' is the number of seconds you want to extract from ''mymovie.avi''. Also the image format specified in this case is png but jpeg or tga can be used also. See [http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/man/en/mplayer.1.html mplayer manual page] for more info.

It would extract a set of files of the selected section of the movie. Each file takes the frame number padded with leading zeros as name.

To put all the filenames into a ''.lst'' file just type this in the folder wehre the files are:

ls *.png >> mymovie.lst

and add a line specifying the frame rate at the beginning of the text file:

FPS 25

if the movie was 25 fps.

== Granted Wishes ==

=== MNG target filetype ===

The ability to save as/in the Free/Open MNG (.mng) format [http://libpng.org/pub/mng/]

A partial implementation was committed in SVN r470.

It was implemented in svn 986. See {{l|Render options}}. --{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 13:12, 29 October 2007 (EDT)

=== Optionally display RGB in Hex in Color dialog ===

(3) When colors are quoted as 3 bytes of hexadecimal, you have to convert them to decimal, divide by 255, multiply by 100 to get a number to type into the dialog box. It's painful to match color schemes for example, with the [http://tango.freedesktop.org/Tango_Icon_Theme_Guidelines Tango Icon Theme style guidelines]. {{l|User:pxegeek|PXEGeek}} 3/16/07

: Added in [http://kibi.dyndns.org:8083/~dooglus/gitweb.pl?p=synfig;a=commitdiff;h=40dda9d27b5249ee32f62d84c819ff569f078929 svn r354]. You can type 3 or 6 digit hex codes and hit return to use. 3 digit code 36a gives colour 3366aa (each digit is duplicated) -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 3/18/07

:: Many thanks - already used many times! PXEGeek.

::: Did you notice that you can use single digit codes too? '5' gives 555555 for instance, giving you 16 equally spaces shades of black through white. -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 17:51, 25 September 2007 (EDT)

=== Restore Default Layout ===

(3) — It's very difficult to put all the dialogs back where they were when you started the program, if you've closed them. In addition, with many programs, if you've done something with your window manager to take a window's position off screen, this command is sometimes the only way to bring them back.
-> I'd like to second this one - especially with the bug where dialog boxes sometime shrink to nothing or offscreen, and no amount of maximizing or minimizing restores them. The only solution is to kill the windows, and none of the combo options in the dialog menu match the default configuration. 4/4/07 PXEGeek

: Implemented in [http://kibi.dyndns.org:8083/~dooglus/gitweb.pl?p=synfig;a=commitdiff;h=036306f3c2c265a604971728d50fcce258766552 svn r757] -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 17:48, 25 September 2007 (EDT)

=== General outline / Polygon-based Outline / "Set Tangents to Zero" button ===
(3.5) I'm no artist, thus my primary form of art is stick figures, not to mention, many interesting animations are done in stick-figure style. Stick figures must be perfectly straight to get the effect across, so when I'm making an outline using B-Curves, it is too time consuming to set the tangents to 0 each time. Similarly, outlines of other shapes like squares, circles and so forth would be very useful. Whichever of the above is easiest, please implement right away. --{{l|User:Dragontamer|Dragontamer}} 02:35, 19 November 2007 (EST)
: For perfectly straight lines, click without moving the mouse. You will get a single point with no tangents. Outline shapes would require some development, particularly with some thought given to backward compatibility. A workaround you might consider is to create a duplicate shape with a different color and make the top one slightly smaller, so the outline of the one below shows. {{l|User:Pxegeek|Pxegeek}} 21:58, 19 November 2007 (EST)
:: Well, in general, whenever I click on a point to edit it (say, to make it move somewhere in animation mode), there is a decent chance that I click on a tangent instead. Then, if I want to right click the point itself, I usually right click the tangent marker instead. It isn't that big a deal, but simplicity at the cost of power generally is a good thing, especially when it will save a few mouse clicks.
:: As for the outlines, yeah, I've tried that and it is a decent solution for now, although it is no replacement for a real outline. I am going to also experiment with a clamp to see if I can make the center of the shape have 100% alpha... but I don't have synfig on the computer I'm on right now. Thanks for the tips Pxegeek. --{{l|User:Dragontamer|Dragontamer}} 01:58, 27 November 2007 (EST)
::: You can press Alt+3 to hide tangent ducks. --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 09:27, 27 November 2007 (EST)

What to do when I've made a mistake and added tangents to a point wich had none initially ? How can I "remove" tangents ? The only way I see is to go to the "param" panel, look for the correct tangent, and manually enter a zero value for its lengh.--[[User:Grondilu|Grondilu]] 22:34, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

=== Copy & Paste/Image Importing ===

(4) I sometimes make graphics in other programs, or use clipart and other images. Would it be possible for Synfig to be able to import images and/or copy and paste them?--Khlieeq 2007-07-19
Well, it doesn't support Copy & paste from the clipboard, but you can import images using "New Layer -> Other -> Import". This will create an Import layer, for which you can then edit the properties to point to the file containing your image. PXEGeek. 2007-07-19

=== Recursive Waypoint Manipulation ===

(4) it is really tiresome to revert changes to waypoints created by manipulating tangent/position ducks or change their interpolation functions. making it possible to right-click-modify the waypoint shown for objects that have some waypoint in a referenced sub-object would be great! -- timonator 2007-06-01
:You can do it in two ways: changing the interpolation method of the waypoint of paste canvas or editing the keyframe properties. The first allow to modify the waypoints interpolation method for all the waypoints of all the parameters of all the layers that are inside the paste canvas layer. You can right click on the left or right part of the waypoint to edit by a context menu the left or the right interpolation method of the waipoints. The second method would add and modify all the parameters that have any waypoint in the animation. See {{l|Keyframe}} for more detail. --{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 13:10, 29 October 2007 (EDT)

=== Tweening for images developed in other imaging programs ===

It's obvious I am a beginner at image movement, but morphing is not enough: movement across the page is needed. Thanks for listening. {{l|User:Comwell@bellsouth.net|Comwell}} 
Imported images can be moved across the page. They can also be scaled, rotated and deformed. Was there a specific example you had in mind? {{l|User:Pxegeek|pxegeek}} 
:I also would like a way to tween images that have been drawn in other programs. I've had trouble drawing with Bline tool and the drawing tool in Synfig, and I'd rather just draw with a paint brush (like the one in Photoshop). Another problem I have is that Synfig tends to shut down on me every 20 minutes or so, and it's really frustrating even with the auto recover feature, because my sketches disappear. It'd be nice if I'm able to draw all of the keyframes in Photoshop or another image program and import it to Synfig so that Synfig can tween and animate them. Thank you. {{l|User:xychefoo@gmail.com|Huina}}
::You CAN use images, drawn in other programs. Just select "File->Import" from {{l|Canvas Menu Caret|canvas menu}} --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 01:39, 24 November 2007 (EST)
:::But how do you animate using images from other sources? I tried to make 2 keyframes with 2 different images, and it doesn't animate. It just stays as 1 picture for the entire render. The closest thing I saw to importing images from another source into Synfig and having it animate is the Walking Cycle Tutorial, but I would still have to trace the images to make it animate. As I said earlier, I'm not entirely fond of using the draw/Bline tool. {{l|User:xychefoo@gmail.com|Huina}}
:::: Huina, there's no way to do what you want right now. Interpolating between two images that are not created in Synfig is well beyond its scope right now. However, what you could do is take an image and separate elements of the picture onto different layers (e.g. have a picture of an arm and another of the rest of the body) and you can move those around, stretch and rotate them. (If you're familiar with the work of Terry Gilliam on Monty Python you'll know what I mean) I don't know how feasible it is to implement your request (I suspect some heavy lifting). We'll keep it on the list, but don't hold your breath. {{l|User:Pxegeek|Pxegeek}} 19:57, 24 November 2007 (EST)

:::: I think, you hardly find any other animation package which allow you to do such things. You could use a special tools for this task, like xmorph (http://xmorph.sourceforge.net/). But to do the tween between two bitmap images you STILL need to set points. It's not tracing, but very similar. Anyway, result may be poor and I'd better suggest to use technique, described in Walking Cycle Tutorial or which the {{l|User:Pxegeek|Pxegeek}} meant. --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 02:08, 25 November 2007 (EST)

:::: There is a technique called "optical flow". It takes two input frames and calculates the movement of each individual pixel between the frames, allowing interpolation to be done. Here's an example: http://www.fxguide.com/article333.html. It doesn't require setting of control points, but it has problems it's own set of problems: http://www.fxguide.com/article333.html. --{{l|User:Yoyobuae|Yoyobuae}} 13:32, 3 February 2008 (EST)

=== Auto-link option in {{l|Draw Tool}} ===

(4) so that you can draw a line, and have its endpoint automatically link to a duck - or if Auto-connect is off, you can get a line object linked to the end of another line object. / I missed this too, it even should be like that by default I think. {{l|User:Maxy|Maxy}} 13:22, 25 Apr 2006 (PDT)

: Isn't this done already? We don't have line objects, but blines are automatically linked to if auto-connect is on. Am I missing something? -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 17:29, 27 September 2007 (EDT)

::To clarify dooglus' comments - If you have an outline created by the draw tool highlighted in the layer dialog and the auto-extend checkbox is checked, then you can continue drawing with the draw tool in that same layer. Blines created with the Bline tool cannot be extended once a different tool or layer is selected. {{l|User:Pxegeek|Pxegeek}} 23:46, 12 October 2007 (EDT)

::: A line is a line - Synfig doesn't remember whether it was created with the Bline tool or the Draw tool - so you can extend blines created with the bline tool using the draw tool. Just make sure the line is selected (so that its ducks are visible), not looped (so that it has end points to extend from), enable the draw tool, check 'auto extend' and start drawing at one of its end ducks. {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 05:47, 13 October 2007 (EDT)

So this sounds like it is already done. But on a related note, being able to open an existing bline in the bline tool to extend it would be useful. -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 04:51, 29 January 2008 (EST)

=== Layer hide boolean parameter ===

(3) — An animatable way to remove a layer from visibility and consideration in tools. And as an option, to hide the layer in the layer list while it is invisible. This crosses over functionality from the {{l|Amount Parameter}}, the Show/Hide checkbox in the {{l|Layers Panel}}, and builds upon it as well, allowing the {{l|Layers Panel}} to dynamically unclutter. ''(This feature request is a refactoring of the {{l|Amount Parameter}})''
: With the addition of the {{l|Convert#Switch|Switch}} type conversion it is not needed this feature request. You can convert the Amount parameter to a Switch value and give 0 and 1 to the Linked OFF/ON values. --{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 13:20, 29 October 2007 (EDT)

=== Riding ducks ===

(2) — Not chocobos. The ability to link a duck from one shape to an arbitrary position on another path, without creating an extra shape duck on that path.
:Already done in SVN.{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 18:59, 5 April 2008 (EDT)

=== Image filmstrip import ===

(2) — Allow import of a series of images (TGA, etc) as frames of an animation, on a layer. 
Response - 'lst' files of a list of images can be imported. I've used this to develop a walk cycle. See {{l|Walk_Cycle|Walk cycle}} for an example. {{l|user:pxegeek|pxegeek}}

=== Character Animation Tools ===

I have seen some interesting methods for helping character design/animation in different 2d/3d software. Hash's animation master has 'poses' which are extremes of a model, for example smiling and frowning, once you add these extremes ot a set you can use slider to create a pose that somewhere inbetween. The real power of this is when you have serveral different poses on the same object, a face say, you can easily come up with new facial expressions. Maybe something similar could be done with synfig using layers and groups, the implementation could something similar to Moho's switch layers. --{{l|User:Triclops|Triclops}} 09:52, 9 Aug 2006 (PDT)
: Have you read this tutorial? {{l|Reuse Animations}}. It is very close to the Switch layer of Moho/Anime Studio. Also You can change the Canvas parameter to any other canvas dynamically in the time line by clicking on it and selecting other exported canvas. Other option is convert the canvas to a Switch type and alternate between two different canvas. --{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 13:26, 29 October 2007 (EDT)

=== More Animation Tools ===

{{l|New Animation Tools|Added here}}

=== Improved User Experience for First Contact ===
* Single file download and installer (at least for Windows)
* Ability to draw the first object directly after starting the application (start with an empty document)
* Ability to animate the object directly after drawing the first object (new documents have a say 3 seconds timeline)
In my opinion this is crucial to attract potential users. Because if I see how easy it is to create my first animation I'm going to accept all the bugs and clumsyness. A good example is the Pencil animation software. --{{l|User:Dmd|Dmd}} 13:50, 26 January 2008 (EST)

: I've implemented #2 and #3 above in svn r1519 & 1520. If no files are specified to be opened when running studio, it'll make a new one. It won't pop up the canvas properties dialog when making new canvases by default. And the default end time is 5s (3s is small enough to cause the time slider to show "1s 12f", whereas 5s looks cleaner). -- {{l|User:Dooglus|dooglus}} 04:00, 29 January 2008 (EST)

=== Automatic attach and manipulate a Vertex to a Bline ===

Please see {{l|Inverse Duck Manipulation|this}} page to understand what we want. --{{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 12:43, 3 March 2008 (EST).
:Already done in SVN. {{l|User:Genete|Genete}} 19:00, 5 April 2008 (EDT)

=== Toggle visible ducks ===
(3) So pressing, say, tab while editing a Bline toggles which vertices/ducks are visible - so we can easily move the actual vertices around without having the view cluttered by tangeants (and also make it easier to select 'Loop' rather than 'Split Tangeants' when creating the thing.)

Given that extra ducks such as the width ones listed above may be added, this might become more and more necessary. If too many different sets are added for toggling to be feasible, each visibility for each set can be hotkeyed.

: Synfig already have hotkeys to toggle visibility of the ducks. See {{l|Keyboard_Shortcuts#Hotkeys_Visual_Guide}}. --{{l|User:Zelgadis|Zelgadis}} 00:39, 22 April 2008 (EDT)

===Remove the thin line from stitched regions===
When you stitch or {{l|Sewing_BLines|sew two regions together}} with the same color (or different even?) it can appear a thin line in the common edge that reveals the background color (see the problem {{l|Sewing_BLines#Removing_thin_line_bug|here}}). This is due to that the antialiasing effect is keeping the background pixels information and displays it on the region. To solve this issue it is needed to:
:1) Uncheck all the antialias parameter of all the regions involved
:2) Add a Supersample Layer over the layers that has the antialiasing parameter disabled. A value of 4 for the height and width values is usually enough. Maybe you need to check "Alpha Safe" for better results.
:3) Render normally.
This tip is particularly useful when you want to have a region over and under other composition at the same time.
{|
|'''SAMPLE SHOWING THE THIN LINE'''
|''' REMOVED THIN LINE AFTER SUPER SAMPLE'''
|-
|{{l|Image: planet-saturn2.png}}
|{{l|Image: planet-saturn2ss.png}}
|}

It has the draw back that intermediate layers has to be super sampled too (line the planet in the example) because the super sample has to be done at the same time to the involved regions (the back and top half rings).

Category:Tutorials Tips and Tricks

2012-02-28T07:50:16Z

Rylleman: Created page with " {{CategoryContents|Tips_and_Tricks}} {{Category|Tutorials}} {{Ti..."

{{CategoryContents|Tips_and_Tricks}}
{{Category|Tutorials}}
{{Title|Tips and Tricks}}

Doc:Change Shortcut Keys

2012-02-28T07:48:13Z

Rylleman: Created page with " {{Title|Change Shortcut Keys}} Category:Tutorials Category:Tips_and_Tricks  You can use keyboard shortcuts for many operations i..."

{{Title|Change Shortcut Keys}}
[[Category:Tutorials]]
[[Category:Tips_and_Tricks]]


You can use keyboard shortcuts for many operations in Synfig. You can find an overview of the default keys here: {{l|Keyboard_Shortcuts|Keyboard shortcuts}} 
As everyone has different workflows and preferences these keys may not fit you. Fortunately Synfig lets you change all keyframes by editing a text file.

== Changing shortcut keys ==
'''1.''' Find your Synfig config file under:
'''Ubuntu (and other GNU/Linux):''' /home/{username}/.synfig/
'''Mac OS:''' /Users/{username}/Library/Synfig/
'''Windows XP:''' C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Synfig\
'''Windows Vista:''' C:\Users\{username}\Synfig\
'''2.''' Open the file, named '''accelrc''', using any text editing software (GEdit, Kate, Notepad).

'''3.''' Change the shortcuts you want, save and close. Remember to remove the ; at the start of the line to make the custom shortcut active.
Also make sure Synfig is not open while editing the file as it overwrites this file when closing. Your new shortcuts will be lost in that case.

== How to have a Flash-like shortcut keys? ==
If you're coming from an Adobe Flash enviroment you might want to setup Synfig to use a similar keyboard setup.

'''1.''' Open your accelrc file.

'''2.''' Copy the code below and paste it on the very last part of '''accelrc''' then save and close it.
<code>
; misc
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//redo" "<Control>y")
; tools
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//state-text" "t")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//state-rectangle" "r")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//state-rotate" "<Shift>q")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//state-zoom" "z")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//state-polygon" "n")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//state-bline" "p")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//state-normal" "v")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//state-eyedrop" "i")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//state-fill" "k")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//state-circle" "o")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//state-scale" "q")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//state-gradient" "g")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//state-draw" "y")
; navigation
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//seek-next-frame" "period")
(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>//seek-prev-frame" "comma")
</code>