Frames
Figma-style vector artboards on the board. Draw shapes and text, then animate them with states or keyframes.
A Frame is a vector artboard on the board. Draw shapes and text on it, drop images into it, and its picture flows out of an Image port like any other node. Animate it with states or keyframes.
Make one#
Open the Omni menu (Tab), type "Frame". A white rectangle appears. Drag its corner to scale the Frame and everything on it.
Under the Frame: Contents (layers icon), the background swatch, Animate (play icon), and ⋮ for Width, Height, Output W / H (the pixels it renders at) and Clip contents. Width and Height resize the Frame without scaling the art.
No background? Open the swatch and pick None, the red-slashed square. The Frame's picture is then clear around its art, ready to sit over video or another image.
Anything you draw with its center inside the Frame joins it. Drag a stray shape onto it and it joins. Drag the Frame and everything travels with it.
Drop an .svg file on the board and it lands as a Frame, every shape editable. Drop it on a Frame and it joins that one.
Draw#
| Tool | Key | Draws |
|---|---|---|
| Rectangle | R | Drag. Shift for a square. |
| Ellipse | O | Drag. Shift for a circle. |
| Line | Y | Drag. Shift snaps to 45 degrees. |
| Path | N | Freehand. Your stroke becomes an editable curve on release. |
| Text | T | Click, type. |
Alt-drop an Image node onto a Frame to place a copy of its pixels as a member. The copy stands on its own: delete the source node and the member keeps its picture.
Edit#
Pointer (V). Click to select, Shift-click to add, drag on empty board to marquee. Drag a shape to move it.
A single selected shape shows its points. Drag a point to move it, drag a handle to reshape the curve, Alt breaks the handle pair. Delete removes the shape.
A small bar floats above the selection. The fill and stroke chips take a swatch, the picker, a Linear or Radial gradient, or none. The brush chip opens Stamp Stroke, which paints the outline with your current brush onto the Image node beneath. Use as Mask turns a shape inside a group into that group's mask, like a clipping mask.
The stroke panel's Line ends row puts an arrow, a triangle or a dot on either end of an open line, sized from the stroke width. A line you draw on with a trim carries its head along. Export Lottie carries the heads too, except on a line that is trimmed, morphed or changes width, which exports without them.
Select a member and Contents also shows Blend: how it mixes with what is under it, like a layer blend mode. For now the board draws every member as Normal. The blend shows in the Frame's image output and in anything you render or export from it.
Contents lists every member. Select rows and press Group. Rows have an eye and drag to reorder.
Select a member and Contents shows its numbers: X and Y place its center, measured from the Frame's top-left corner. Images and text also get Rotation. In state 2 or later, and in Keyframes once the member has keys or the playhead is past 0, every member gets Scale and Rotation too. Click a value to type it, or drag across it.
Annotate#
Pen (P) draws freehand ink over anything. Five colors, three sizes, in the left rail. Laser (G) draws a glowing stroke that fades in under a second. Nothing is saved.
States#
Open Animate and pick States. The strip shows state 1 and a +. Press +: state 2 is a copy. Move, scale, fade, or hide members. Every edit lands in the selected state. Click thumbnails to flip between them.
Select state 2 or later to tune its transition: a preset (Gentle, Snappy, Bouncy, Wobbly), or Duration and Bounce by hand. Defaults are good.
With two or more states the panel grows a transport. Press Play (or Enter) and members glide between states.
Keyframes#
Want a timeline instead? Open Animate and pick Keyframes. Drag the playhead, then move, scale, rotate, fade, or recolor a member: it keys itself at the playhead. Typing a value in Contents keys only that property. Rotation goes past 360: type 720 for two full turns. Select keys to set their easing. Enter plays.
Select a path and the Trim card keys its Start, End and Offset: key End from 0 to 100 to draw the stroke on. To morph a shape, key its Shape row, move the playhead, and drag its points: each drag keys a new outline. This works only while the shape has no move, scale, rotation or trim keys.
Drop a Lottie file (.lottie or .json) on the board and it lands as a Frame in Keyframes mode, ready to edit. Drop it on an existing Frame and only its shapes join: the animation stays behind.
Output#
Wire the Frame's Image port into any filter, blend, or Image Exporter. Render Video on the Animate transport bakes the animation to the Frame's Video port for the Timeline. Lottie (in States) or Export Lottie (in the Keyframes gear) saves it as a Lottie file.