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1.17. Things You May Not Know
In order to keep the interface as simple as possible there are several features in Pivot Animator that are not immediately obvious. Many of these features can only be used with the knowledge of specific keyboard keys. Most of these features are mentioned elsewhere in this user guide but have been collected together here to make them easier to find. If you've already learnt the basics of using Pivot Animator then it may be worth reading this list to learn to do things you may not know about yet, or just to make the process of making animations easier.
Stretch segments while dragging using the
Ctrl key
Reposition joints between segments while dragging using the
R key
Bend line segments by
Right click dragging
Rotate a segment in small increments using the
arrow keys with the cursor over a handle (zoom in for finer adjustment)
Position segments accurately by clicking down on a handle and then moving the cursor far away before releasing
Align a segment to horizontal / vertical using
Shift + arrow keys with the cursor over the handle (45° angles using key combinations)
Align handles with the previous frame using the
L key (+ Shift for next frame if editing a frame)
Resize and rotate the whole figure using the
Alt key (+ Ctrl for rotate only, + Shift for scale only)
Scale a figure in small increments by holding the shift while rotating the mouse wheel over the scale box
Change a figure between selected or unselected by clicking it while holding the
Shift key
Select a group of joined figures by
double clicking the figure at the base of the tree
Select all figures of the same figure type by selecting one, then hold the
Shift key while using selected all figures (Ctrl+Shift+A)
Resize and rotate all selected figures together using the
Alt key
Scale and rotate all selected figures as separate objects (lock their positions) using
Alt + Z
Lock the scale of selected objects so they only rotate and move apart using
Alt + X
Flip a figure vertically using the flip button while holding the
Ctrl key
Scale a figure quickly by
dragging in the scale box or using the mouse wheel while the cursor is over it
Change the figure's z-order in single step increments using the raise / lower button while holding the
Ctrl key
Zoom and scroll quickly using the
mouse wheel by rotating or click and drag (Shift key for finer zooming)
Use View menu items quickly using the
F key shortcuts (see the View menu)
Show the time of the current frame from the start of the animation by
hovering the cursor over the frame number
Select multiple frames using the
Shift or Ctrl keys in the same way as multiple files are selected in Windows Explorer
Set the background or inbetweens value for multiple frames by
multi-selecting , making the change and then clicking
Update Frame
Step through frames quickly using the
< and > keys
Add a frame quickly using the
space bar or A keys
Undo all changes to a frame being edited by
clicking the frame again in the timeline
See a preview of the selected figure in the open figure window by clicking the
preview button in the top right corner
Save as a v2 or v4 format STK file by clicking Save As in the figure builder and selecting a type from the dropdown list
Create invisible connections between segments by adding a line segment with
thickness set to 0 and adding another segment to it
Apply segment control changes to a whole branch by selecting the segment at the base of the branch and holding the
Shift key
Flip a segment or branch vertically by using the Flip button while holding the
Ctrl key
Delete a joint without affecting other joints by holding the Ctrl key while deleting the segment below the joint
Change the segment's z-order in single step increments using the raise / lower button while holding the
Ctrl key
Make sub-pixel adjustments to segment or outline thickness by
zooming in first
Add multiple polygon connections with one click by holding the Ctrl key to include all points between the previous point and the clicked point
Add guidelines to your animation to help with alignment, then hide them later by editing the line, setting the thickness to 0 and using
Modify Figure Type
Hide keyframes while playing by setting inbetweens value to
-1 (used as reference only)
Inbetweening between different backgrounds or different figure colours will create a
fade effect
If inbetweening doesn't work because figure IDs don't match then delete the figure and copy and paste it from the other frame
Create a sudden change in direction when auto-easing is enabled by separating inbetweened frames into groups
Add non-alphanumeric objects using symbol fonts such as
Webdings
Add non-alphanumeric objects using
Alt codes or
unicode characters by
copying and pasting them into the text box
Create an ellipse object by writing a full stop in the text editor, adding it to the animation and then stretching it using the Ctrl key
Show or Hide the Virtual Camera quickly using
Ctrl + K
Set the position, rotation or scale to match the previous frame by placing the cursor over a handle and using the
L key
Position the camera accurately by placing the cursor over a handle and using the arrow keys (zoom in for finer adjustment)
Quickly position the virtual camera by using the mouse wheel to pan and zoom the canvas and then press
F10 to align it with the canvas
Export an animated gif or png with a transparent background by using a solid background with
opacity set to 0 in the background colour selector
Convert to many other video formats by exporting as lossless FFV1 video and then converting using
VLC player
Export using any installed video codec by choosing Windows AVI and selecting the compress option
Export to separate SVG images to create high quality vector art that can be edited in Illistrator or Inkscape
Hidden Accessibility Settings
Make the default handle size larger by increasing HandleMaxSize and HandleMinSize in the
Pivot.ini file (found in AppData\Roaming)
Change the colour of handles by setting HandleColSeg, etc in the
Pivot.ini file . Hex colour ordering is BGR
Change the colour of the selected frame highlighting by setting SelectedFrameColor
in the
Pivot.ini file . Hex colour ordering is BGR
Increase the number of digits after the decimal point in the status bar info by setting InfoBarPrecision between 1 and 4 in the
Pivot.ini file
