Canvas Properties Dialog

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Description

This Canvas Properties dialog is used to establish the properties of the current main canvas. To change these parameters while working on a project, go to the caret menu, select 'edit' and then 'properties'. Or you can alternatively use the keyboard shortcut F8.

This dialog is composed of a header (upper part) and three tabs : Image, Time and Other.

automatic display

If you have defined the SYNFIG_ENABLE_NEW_CANVAS_EDIT_PROPERTIES environment variable, then this will automatically be displayed when you start a new project.
note end


In the upper part of main dialog you can set:

Canvas properties Dialog current.png
  • Canvas Info
    • Name - Name of the project
    • Description - Short description, license , authors...

Image tab

Render settings image Dialog current.png

In the Image tab you can set:

  • Image Size
    • Width - set width of render in pixels.
    • Height - set height of render in pixels.
    • Utils chain link on icon.png - Toggle button to fix pixel ratio.
    • XRes - set horizontal resolution to calculate the physical size (do not affect the size of the content).
    • YRes - set vertical resolution to calculate the physical size (do not affect the size of the content).
    • Utils chain link on icon.png - Toggle button to fix resolution ratio.
    • Physical Width - set physical printing size of render. (Calculated from Width/XRes).
    • Physical Height - set physical printing size of render. (Calculated from Height/YRes).
    • Image Size Ratio - Label displaying the current image size ratio.
  • Image Area - sets the portion of the workarea to be rendered.
    • Top Left X/Y: - set where in the workarea top left of render starts.
    • Bottom Right X/Y - set where in the workarea bottom right of render starts.
    • Image Span - diagonal size of the portion of the workarea ("Top Left (X/Y)"² +"Bottom Right (X/Y)"² ="Image Span"² )

Changing Canvas origin

Par default, the origin (the point with x = 0 and y = 0 coordinate) for new created Canvas is set visually to the center.

Adjusting the "Top Left (X/Y)" and "Bottom Right (X/Y)" coordinate without changing the difference between the two point (the vector), you can translate the Canvas origin.

Canvas properties image area current.png

Origin to Top Left Corner

Starting from the upper Image Area example, if you want to set the origin to the top left corner, in Canvas Properties Dialog set "Image Area" "Top Left" X and Y to 0 and "Bottom Right" X to 8 and Y 4,5

  • new_bottom_right_x = ABS(old_top_left_x) + old_bottom_right_x
  • new_bottom_right_y = old_top_left_y + ABS(old_bottom_right_y)

Time tab

In the Time tab you can set:

Render settings time Dialog current.png
  • Time Settings
    • Frames per second - set render framerate. Only applicable when rendering to movie-file, not image sequences.
    • Start Time - set where in your timeline rendered sequence will start.
    • End Time - set where in your timeline rendered sequence will end.
    • Duration - set the duration of the animation.

Other tab

In the Other tab you can set:

Render settings other Dialog current.png
 TODO writeme (explain how to use "other tab" parameters and share info from Template:PropertiesOtherTab )
  • Locks and Links
    • Image Width
    • Image Height
    • Image Aspect
    • Image Span
    • Pixel Width
    • Pixel Height
    • Pixel Aspect
  • Focus Point
    • Focus Point X:/Y:

Resizing the Canvas

In the "Other" tab, uncheck all of the "Locks and Links":

Canvas Prop for resize.png

Then edit Image "Width" and "Height". This will resize the canvas, stretching it's contents in the process.

Resizing the Canvas and keep aspect

In the "Other" tab, check "Image Aspect", "Image Span", "Pixel Aspect", in "Locks and Links".

Then edit Image "Width" and "Height". This will resize the canvas, adjusting it's contents keeping the aspect. That's mean that even if you change the "Image Size Ratio", a square before is a square after.

Expanding the Canvas

In the "Other" tab, check only "Pixel Aspect" in "Locks and Links":

Canvas Prop for expand.png

Then edit Image "Width" and "Height". This will expand the canvas, keeping it's contents at the same size but adding extra space at the top/bottom and left/right.



Please note that since this dialog caused confusion, even among some very experienced people, here are some unofficial thoughts about image dimensions.