PhotoPlus X2 User Guide - Serif

156 Creating Animations
In this file (as in any imported .GIF animation) the individual frames can each
occupy one layer in the PhotoPlus image. This is controlled with the Add Layer to
Each New Frame check box, available by right-clicking the Animation tab. Each
new frame can therefore be edited independently as it occupies its own layer.
On the Layers tab, the layer stack for this animation
corresponds with the frame sequence, with default
names—in this case, the default "Layer 1" through to
"Layer 5". You'll notice the thumbnails correlate between
frame and layer.
If you select Frame 1 on the Animation tab (above), you'll
see that on the Layers tab (left) only the "Layer 1" layer is
marked as shown, with an open-eye button; the other
layers are all hidden, with closed-eye buttons.
If you then select Frame 2, only the "Layer 2" layer will be
shown, and the rest will be hidden. And so on with the
other frames.
The above example, with its one-to-one correspondence between frames and
layers, is easy to grasp—but don't make the mistake of thinking that a "frame" is
just another name for a "layer." Frames in PhotoPlus are actually much more
versatile!
Key point: A so-called "frame" is really just a particular state or snapshot of the
various layers in the image, in terms of three layer properties:
• Shown/Hidden: Which layers are shown and which are hidden
• Position: The position of the contents of each "shown" layer
• Opacity: The opacity setting of each "shown" layer
As you switch between frames, you switch between states. In the simple example
above, the six frames define six states in terms of Property 1—each of the six
frames defines a different layer as "shown." We could rearrange the stacking order
of the layers, or rename them—the animation itself wouldn't change.