Buttons on the left hand side of the main window can be used to add new figures to the editing area and modify the current selected figure or figures. A figure can be selected by clicking any of its handles.
Multiple figures can be selected by holding shift while clicking a figure or by dragging a box around the origin handle of figures.
The selected figure can also be changed by holding down the Ctrl key while pressing the left or right arrow keys or by using the mouse wheel. The selected figure will then step through the figures. This can be useful if a figure has been moved outside the screen area and so cannot be clicked.
From top to bottom the figure controls include:
Add Figure
Add a figure to the animation. If there's more than one figure type in the animation then the figure type selector window will appear (see below).
Delete
Delete the selected figures.
Edit
Centre
Move the selected figures to the centre of the animation area.
Flip
Flip or mirror the selected figures horizontally. A vertical flip is the same as a horizontal flip followed by a 180° rotation.
Colour
Change the colour of the selected figures using the Windows colour selector.
Join / Unjoin
Join the selected figure to another figure. The button is disabled if multiple figures are selected. The origin handle of the selected figure can be joined to any other joint if it doesn't result in a closed loop of joined figures. After clicking the button, click one of the white handles to join the figure. Select the figure again and click the button again to unjoin them.
Raise
Move the selected figures in front of all other figures. If the Ctrl key is held then the selected figures will be raised by one layer only.
Lower
Move the selected figures behind all other figures. If the Ctrl key is held then the selected figures will be lowered by one layer only.
Copy
Copy the selected figures to the Windows clipboard. They can then be pasted into the same into any frame or even into a different animation. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+C.
Paste
Paste the figures that were copied using the Copy button. The button will only be enabled if there are figures in the Windows clipboard. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+V.
Scale
The percentage scale change of the figure from its default size. If multiple figures are selected, then the value shown is that of the first selected figure and all selected figures will be scaled to maintain their relative proportions.
Opacity / Transparency
The percentage opacity / transparency of the selected figures.
Duplicate Figures (Edit menu)
Create an exact copy of the current figures and add them to the editing area. All properties of the figures are duplicated where possible. This does the same as copy and paste but places the new figures in a different position so that you know they've been duplicated. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+D.
Figure Selector
The figure selector can be accessed by clicking the 'Add Figure' button when there is more than one figure type in the animation. It displays images of all figure types in the animation that have been created using the
figure builder or loaded from
STK files. By clicking a figure type image, a figure of that type will be added to the frame editing area. Hover the mouse cursor over an image to read the full name of the figure type. The figure selector window is resizable. Double click a figure and the figure selector window will close after adding the figure.
The figure selector window, showing the default figure
