User Guide

Animation and Video428
You can change the current frame by
clicking any thumbnail in the Frame
Stacks palette. This lets you view a
frame in any position of the onion
skin sequence. For example, if you
want to display the reference frames
before the current frame, set the
current frame to the far-right position
in the palette. If you want to display
the frames before and after the current
frame, set the current frame to the
middle thumbnail in the palette.
Animating with Layers
One of the simplest ways to create
animation in Corel Painter is to move
an item from the Image Portfolio
palette across a series of frames.
This is the most basic example of
animating with layers. Adding
multiple layers allows you to make
more complex animations.
You can also group layers and move
them simultaneously, but be careful.
When you leave a frame, Corel
Painter drops the layers in that frame.
When a layer is dropped, its contents
are merged with the canvas and can
no longer be accessed separately. For
this reason, you may want to work
from the background forward; start by
animating what’s farthest from your
point of view. For more information,
refer to “Merging Layers with the
Canvas” on page 240.
You can also rotate a layer. Rotating a
layer can degrade its on-screen image
quality, but this does not affect its
printed quality.
The more you work with layers, the
more creative ways you’ll find to
animate them.
To create motion with layers:
1 Choose File menu > New.
2 Enable Movie and enter 1 frame.
3 Open the Image Portfolio palette
by choosing Window menu >
Show Image Portfolio.
4 Drag an item from the Image
Portfolio palette to the document
window.
A new layer is created.
5 Position the layer to the far left of
the image window.
6 Click the Step Forward button
on the Frame Stacks palette.
A new frame is added and becomes
the current frame. The layer in the
previous frame is merged with the
canvas. In the new, current frame,
the layer is active.
7 On the keyboard, press the right
arrow key five times to nudge the
image toward the center of the
frame.
8 Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you’ve
created a dozen frames.
9 In the last frame, deselect the layer.
10 Click the Play button on the
Frame Stacks palette.
The portfolio image moves across
the screen.
Repeating Actions
You can repeat actions to create an
animated cycle. Take, for example, a
blinking eye. For this type of action,
draw the cycle once and repeat it as
many times as needed.