The options window can be accessed by clicking 'Options' in the Edit menu. Any options modified in the options window will be stored so that the values persist after closing and reopening the program.

 

Any values changed will take effect after clicking the 'OK' button. Clicking 'Cancel' will close the window without changing any settings and the changes will be lost.

 

Click the 'Restore Defaults' button to set all values to the default settings that Pivot had when it was first run.

 

 

The Animation Settings tab contains options specific to the current animation. These parameters affect how the animation looks while playing or exporting. The values are stored in the .piv file when the animation is saved.

 

 

Set the Width and Height to set the dimensions of the animation. The resulting animation area is indicated by the dotted rectangle in the frame editing canvas.

 

If you have already added frames to the time-line then you will be prompted to confirm the changes after clicking 'OK'. All frames in the time-line will then change to the new dimensions.

 

If you intend to export the animation as a video, then it is advisable to set the width and height to multiples of 4 to avoid black borders in the resulting video.

 

The default is 640x360, which corresponds to the commonly used 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. Note that it is possible to scale the animation when exporting, so you do not need to set HD dimensions to produce HD animations.

 

The Play Speed is equivalent to changing the track bar in the player controls, except that the value can be typed in manually. A larger number results in a faster playback speed. The animation below the Play Speed box demonstrates the resulting animation speed.

 

Enable or disable Auto-Easing so that object movement is smooth between key frames (using acceleration), or is always a constant speed. The animation to the right of the Inbetweening Mode box demonstrates the motion of objects between key frames (large grey circles) with the current Auto-Easing selection.

 

 

The Preferences tab contains general options related to the editing interface, which do not affect how an animation looks while playing or exporting.

 

 

 

Set the number of selected figure onion skins from 0 to 9. The default value is zero since this reduces lag when moving figures in the frame editing area.

 

Select 'Show Ahead' to show onion skins ahead of the frame being edited when editing a frame in the middle of the animation time-line.

 

Handles are the red or orange nodes used to position the figures.

 

Unselect 'Show Unselected' to show only the origin handle of unselected figures. This helps to reduce handle clutter in the frame editing area so that selecting and moving figures is easier. When selected, all handles will be shown as blue in unselected figures.

 

This setting does not apply to joined figures because there would then be no way to select a joined figure. Therefore all handles are shown for unselected joined figures even when the option is unselected.

 

This option can also be changed more quickly from the main animation window by using the Ctrl+H keyboard shortcut.

 

Choose how the size of handles is determined. When selected, handle sizes will be based on the length of their attaching lines. This means that neighbouring handles that are close together due to short segments will be small to prevent overlap, which can make dragging handles easier.

 

When unselected, handle sizes are large and may overlap when close together. Handles will only reduce in size if the lines they're attached to are both short and thin. This option can be used if you find it difficult to drag small handles.

 

Choose to show handles with a black outline or not. A black outline means that the handle can always be seen even against red or orange backgrounds, but no outline may look clearer. This does not affect the size of the handles.

 

Switch the interface between Light mode (default) or Dark mode. Dark mode may be easier on your eyes when working in a dark room, or you may just prefer the way it looks. The setting will persist after restarting Pivot.

 

 

Note that some information or question message boxes will still appear light when in dark mode. The open or save windows may also appear light, but this depends on your Windows colour settings (see Windows Settings, Personalisation, Colours,  Choose your default app mode). This Windows setting also determines whether dark mode is enabled or not when you first run Pivot.

 

Select the language for Pivot captions and messages.