Introduction
Synfig, like most every other competent graphics program, breaks down individual elements of a Canvas into Layers. However, it differs from other programs in two major ways:
- An individual layer in Synfig usually represents a single "Primitive". ie. a single region, an outline of a region, an imported JPEG, etc... This allows you to have a great deal of flexibility and control. It is not uncommon for a composition to have hundreds of layers (organized into a hierarchy for artist sanity of course).
- A layer can not only composite information on top of the image below it, but also distort and/or modify it in some other way. In this sense, Synfig Layers act much like filters do in Adobe Photoshop or The GIMP. For example, we have a Blur Layer, Radial Blur Layer, Spherical Distortion Layer, color-correct layer, bevel layer, etc...
Each layer has a set of parameters which determine how it behaves. When you click on a layer (either in the canvas window, or in the Layers Dialog), you will see its parameters in the Params Dialog.
Available Layer Types
The following layer types are available in synfig:
Blurs
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Size
|
Size of Blur
|
| Type
|
Type of blur to use
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Aperture
|
Shutter Time
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Origin
|
Point where you want the origin to be
|
| Size
|
Size of blur
|
| Fade Out
|
|
Distortions
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Origin
|
Defines the where the center will be
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Displacement
|
|
| Size
|
|
| Random Seed
|
|
| Interpolation
|
What type of interpolation to use
|
| Detail
|
|
| Animation Speed
|
|
| Turbulent
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Position
|
|
| Radius
|
|
| Amount
|
|
| Clip
|
|
| Distort Type
|
The direction of the distortion
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Amount
|
|
| Center
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Center
|
|
| Radius
|
This is the radius of the circle
|
| Rotations
|
|
| Distort Inside
|
|
| Distort Outside
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Source TL
|
|
| Source BR
|
|
| Dest TL
|
|
| Dest TR
|
|
| Dest BR
|
|
| Dest BL
|
|
| Clip
|
|
| Horizon
|
|
Filters
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Invert Negative
|
|
| Clamp Ceiling
|
|
| Ceiling
|
|
| Floor
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Hue Adjust
|
|
| Brightness
|
|
| Contrast
|
|
| Exposure Adjust
|
|
| Gamma Adjustment
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Mask Offset
|
|
| Mask Angle
|
|
| Mask Size
|
|
| Light Color
|
|
| Dark Color
|
|
| Type
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Mask Size
|
|
| Type
|
|
| Subtractive Flag
|
|
| <Channel Name>Color
|
|
| <Channel Name>Mask Offset
|
|
| <Channel Name>Mask Angle
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Color
|
Color of checkers
|
| Offset
|
|
| Size
|
Size of checkers
|
Fractals
| 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
|
| 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
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Color
|
Color of checkers
|
| Offset
|
|
| Size
|
Size of checkers
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Color
|
|
| Radius
|
|
| Feather
|
|
| Center
|
|
| Invert
|
Invert the circle
|
| Falloff
|
Determines the falloff function for the feather
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Vertices
|
A list of BLine Points
|
| Point Widths
|
|
| Outline Width
|
|
| Expand
|
|
| Sharp Cusps
|
Determines cusp type
|
| Rounded Begin
|
Round off the tip
|
| Rounded End
|
Round off the tip
|
| Loopyness
|
|
| Homogeneous
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Vector List
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Color
|
|
| Point 1
|
|
| Point 2
|
|
| Expand amount
|
|
| Invert the rectangle
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Vertices
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Color
|
|
| 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
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Gradient
|
|
| Center
|
|
| Angle
|
|
| Symmetric
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Offset
|
|
| Width
|
|
| Vertices
|
A list of BLine Points
|
| Gradient
|
|
| Loop
|
|
| ZigZag
|
|
| Perpendicular
|
|
| Fast
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Point 1
|
|
| Point 2
|
|
| Gradient
|
|
| Loop
|
|
| ZigZag
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Gradient
|
|
| Random Seed
|
|
| Size
|
|
| Interpolation
|
What type of interpolation to use
|
| Detail
|
|
| Animation Speed
|
|
| Turbulent
|
|
| Do Alpha
|
|
| Super Sampling
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Gradient
|
|
| Center
|
|
| Radius
|
This is the radius of the circle
|
| Loop
|
|
| Zig-Zag
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Gradient
|
|
| Center
|
|
| Radius
|
This is the radius of the circle
|
| Angle
|
|
| Clockwise
|
|
Other
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Origin
|
Point where you want the origin to be
|
| Canvas
|
Canvas to paste
|
| Zoom
|
Size of canvas
|
| Time Offset
|
|
| Children Lock
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Filename
|
File to import
|
| Time Offset
|
|
| 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
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Start Time
|
|
| End Time
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Offset
|
|
| Size
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Vertices
|
A list of BLine Points
|
| Gradient
|
|
| Split Angle
|
|
| Gravity
|
|
| Velocity
|
|
| Stem Size
|
|
| SizeAsAlpha
|
|
| Step
|
|
| Seed
|
|
| Splits
|
|
| Sprouts
|
|
| Random Factor
|
|
| Drag
|
|
Stylize
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Type
|
Type of blur to use
|
| Hi-Color
|
|
| Lo-Color
|
|
| Light Angle
|
|
| Depth of Bevel
|
|
| Softness
|
|
| Use Luma
|
|
| Solid
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Color
|
|
| Offset
|
|
| Size
|
Size of Shade
|
| Type
|
Type of blur to use
|
| Invert
|
|
Transform
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Origin
|
Point where you want the origin to be
|
| Amount
|
Amount of rotation
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Origin
|
Point where you want the origin to be
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Amount
|
Amount to zoom in
|
| Center
|
Point to zoom in to
|
Typography
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Text
|
Text to Render
|
| Color
|
Color of the text
|
| Font Family
|
|
| 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
|
| Position
|
Text Position
|
| Font
|
Filename of the font to use
|
| 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
|
|
Not Available
These layers are examples to aid developers in creating more layer types, but aren't included in binary releases of Synfig.
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Color
|
Layer_Shape Color
|
| Position
|
|
| Invert
|
|
| Antialiasing
|
|
| Feather
|
|
| Type of Feather
|
Type of feathering to use
|
| Winding Style
|
Winding style to use
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Color
|
|
| Points
|
|
| Radii
|
|
| Weights
|
|
| Threshold
|
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Color
|
|
| Center
|
|
| Radius
|
This is the radius of the circle
|
| Parameter
|
Description
|
| Color
|
|
| Point 1
|
|
| Point 2
|
|
| Feather X
|
|
| Feather Y
|
|
| Bevel
|
|
| Keep Bevel Circular
|
|
