Animation folders and cels

Animation folders are used to manage animation cels.All layers and layer folders within the animation folder are treated as cels.They are linked to cels on the Timeline palette which creates the movement in an animation.

If the timeline is disabled, the animation folder and cels inside it are then treated like a normal layer folder and layers.

Creating an animation folder

To create an animation folder, you can either tap the New animation folder button on the Timeline palette or tap Animation menu > New animation layer > Animation folder.

This creates an animation folder in the Layer palette and a track in the Timeline palette.Tracks have numbers along the top of them.These are frames.Frames hold cels on a timeline.

Animation folder naming

If a single letter is set as the name of an animation folder, subsequent folders will automatically be named with the next letter of the alphabet.

For example, after creating animation folder A, the name of the next new animation folder will be B.If a new animation folder is created between animation folders B and C, a lowercase alphabet letter is added after the previous letter, as in Ba.

New animation cel

This creates an assigned cel on the track of the Timeline palette and in the animation folder on the Layer palette.

On the Timeline palette, tap the frame on the track where you want to create a cel.

Tap the New animation cel button on the Timeline palette or long-press the track and select New animation cel from the menu that appears.You can also tap New animation cel from the Timeline palette menu or the Animation menu.

If the selected frame already has a cel in it, the new cel will be created in the next frame.A new layer is also created in the Layer palette.

Cel naming

Cel names are named with numbers.The cel created after 1 will be named 2. If a cel is created between 1 and 2, a lowercase alphabet letter is added after the previous number, as in 1a.

If the first cel name created is changed to a letter of the alphabet, the next cel name created after A will be B.

Turning multiple layers into a cel

Layer folders inside animation folders are treated as single cels.This is useful when you want to use multiple layers in a single cel.

For information on how to create a layer folder, see "Creating a layer folder".

Using templates

You can create new cels with a template by turning on Cel template in the New dialog when creating an animation file.Each time you select New animation cel, it will create a cel with the layer structure of that template.For details about template materials, see "Template materials".

Create cels with the same layer structure

After assigning a cel of a layer folder with multiple layers, you can create another cel (layer folder) with the same structure by selecting the same animation folder and tapping the New Animation Cel button.

If there are multiple cels with layer configurations in the same animation folder, the layer configuration of the previous cel is used.

Turning a layer into a cel

You can also create a layer in the animation folder by creating a new raster layer and using it as a cel.However, no cel is created nor assigned to it from the Timeline palette.

You cannot draw or otherwise edit a layer that doesn’t have a cel assigned to it.In this case, tap Assign cel to frame on the Timeline palette and select the cel you wish to assign to the raster layer.

Drawing on a cel

You can draw on a cel by selecting it from the Layer or the Timeline palette.

Layers shown on the canvas are layers outside the animation folder.Cels in other animation folders assigned to the same frame will also be shown.

You can create your animation by drawing on each cel.

To refer to other cels when drawing

Onion skins and light table layers can be used as reference to draw on other cels.For details, see "Onion skin" and "Animation cel palette and Light table".