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ToonSquid

Guides

Frequently Asked Questions

Does ToonSquid require a subscription?#

No.

A single one-time purchase at a very affordable price will get you ToonSquid with all of its features. Once you have bought ToonSquid, all future updates are free.

There are no hidden fees, no subscriptions, no features locked behind in-app purchases and no ads.

How much does ToonSquid cost?#

Simply click the "Download" link at the top of this page. This will take you to ToonSquid's App Store page, where you can see the current price of ToonSquid in your region and your currency.

Is there a trial version of ToonSquid?#

No, there is neither a trial version nor a free version with ads. I would recommend searching sites such as YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok for ToonSquid or #toonsquid, reading App Store reviews, watching the tutorial and feature announcement videos on the official YouTube channel and reading this handbook to get a better sense of what you can and can't do with ToonSquid before you purchase it.

Who is the developer of ToonSquid?#

ToonSquid is entirely made by one person, Keiwan Donyagard.

You can contact me directly about ToonSquid by sending an e-mail to contact@toonsquid.com.

Will there be Android, Windows or iPhone versions of ToonSquid?#

There are currently no plans for ToonSquid to become able to run on Android, Windows or iPhone.

There is a possibility for a ToonSquid version in the future that runs on newer Macs with Apple chips - given enough demand - so please reach out if you would be interested in this.

Does ToonSquid own the rights to the art that I create with it?#

No! ToonSquid does not claim ownership of any of the art that you create with the app.

Can I sell custom brushes that I create with ToonSquid?#

Yes!

When you create your own custom brushes in ToonSquid, you can export them as individual files, share them with others and also sell them. ToonSquid takes no cut from any of the revenue from the sale of those brushes.

Such brushes may also use the default brush textures that come with ToonSquid.

However, you may not sell those default brush texture images separately from the brush that they are used by.

I created art with ToonSquid. Would you like to see it?#

Yes, please! I would love to see the drawings and animations that you make with ToonSquid!

If you would like to share your work on social media, you can tag the Twitter and Instagram accounts or use the hashtag #toonsquid.

Does ToonSquid require an internet connection?#

No.

You can use all ToonSquid features completely offline and your ToonSquid projects are all stored locally on your device.

I have an idea for a new feature.#

Please share all of your feature ideas! You can create a new discussion thread or comment on an existing one, where you can discuss the idea with other members of the community. You can also contact me directly with your idea at contact@toonsquid.com.

Of course, not all requested features are guaranteed to be implemented.

I want to edit the contents of my pixel layer but the transform tool is moving the entire layer instead#

By default, the transform tool edits the transform properties of the layer. If you want to edit the pixels within a pixel layer instead, you need to first select the region that you want to edit using the selection tool and then use the transform tool.

You can quickly create such a selection by tapping the transform tool button again while the transform tool is already active.

Why is there a thin black border around my pixel layer?#

That grey box shows the limits within which you can draw on a pixel layer and it is displayed if the layer is not in its default position in the global coordinate system.
This can be because you have moved the pixel layer itself e.g. using the transform properties in the inspector or by using the transform tool without an active selection area.

In this case, you can use this tip to quickly reset the position of the layer.
It can also be that the layer is inside of a transform hierarchy and one of the parent layers has an offset, a rotation or a scale that is not 1, which by definition propagates down to the child layer as well.

Also, see I want to edit the contents of my pixel layer but the transform tool is moving the entire layer instead.

I'm trying to animate a pixel layer but it's not adding any keyframes#

Make sure that you are using the transform tool without an active selection area. Otherwise, the selected pixels within the layer will be edited instead of the layer's transform properties, which is what you are trying to animate using keyframes.

The keyframing mode button in the timeline has to be enabled as well.

I'm trying to resize a vector shape without changing the stroke width#

If you edit the scale of a path layer, the scale factor will apply to all contents of the layer, including the stroke width. Instead of scaling the layer, you can edit the positions of the individual path control points, which keeps the stroke width constant.

Create a selection in order for the transform tool to edit the path control points instead of the layer's transform properties. The fastest way to create such a selection is to tap the transform tool button again while the transform tool is already active.

Why are my vector brush strokes in separate layers inside of a group now?#

After updating to ToonSquid 2.0, you might have noticed that the vector layers in your old projects have been replaced with group layers containing path layers and that such groups are now created when you draw with vector brushes.

To clarify the most common source of confusion up front:

Important

Nothing about your previous workflow with vector layers needs to change.
You can edit and interact with vector groups in all of the same ways that you did with vector layers previously. If you do not care about accessing the individual vector shapes inside, you can just leave the group collapsed and continue treating it as a single vector layer.

ToonSquid 2.0 came with a massive overhaul of the vector tools and layer types, bringing more consistency and introducing numerous new (but optional) workflows that were not possible in previous versions, while making sure that previous vector brush workflows are not changed.

In previous versions of ToonSquid there used to be both Vector layers and Path layers. The vector layer was the drawing destination for vector brushes. It could only contain closed, filled shapes with a solid color. You could erase its contents with the eraser tool, fill closed regions with the fill tool and cut and paste selection areas similar to pixel layers. The vector layer did not support strokes or gradients and the individual shapes inside could not be manually selected or edited using the path tool or via the inspector.

The path tool and shape library on the other hand created path layers, each of which represented a single vector shape with a stroke and/or fill (both of which could be gradients) with stroke and trim properties and whose individual control points could be selected, edited and animated with keyframes. On the other hand, the shapes could only have a single subpath and did not support the eraser and fill tools or the selection cut and paste feature.

What used to be called a "vector layer" has now been replaced with a group layer containing path layers for the individual shapes that were previously inside of the vector layer. Such groups that only contain path layers and/or other groups are now called Vector Groups.

Everything that was possible with vector layers before is still possible with vector groups. This includes the ability to use the eraser and fill tools and the selection cut and paste feature. You can also merge vector groups with other vector groups without rasterization in the same way you could with vector layers. Other than this, vector groups are the same as other group layers.

If you are opening the vector groups that are created by vector brushes and are manually editing the path layers inside or adding new layers inside of the group, it is important to understand that you are now choosing to make edits in ways that were not possible in older versions of ToonSquid.
This opens up many new exciting possibilities, but if you are not interested in these new features and workflows, just leave the group collapsed and continue with your previous workflow of treating the vector group as a single "vector layer".

Why does my exported video not have a transparent background?#

The first thing to make sure of is that you have manually hidden the background layer in the timeline before exporting the video.

If you have selected the video export option, the MOV file format and have enabled the Include Transparency setting, then the exported video should have the .mov extension and the H.265/HEVC codec with transparency.

You won't see the transparency of the video if you just play it in the Photos app, the Files app or on your computer. There, it will play with either a solid white or a solid black background.
The easiest way to verify that the exported file contains the correct transparency information is to import it back into another ToonSquid project and draw something on a layer underneath. You can also check the codec of the video. On a Mac, you can open the video in Quicktime and press the command + i keys on the keyboard to see detailed information about the file.

The most common cause of confusion around videos with transparency comes from the fact that a lot of other software either does not support transparent videos at all or does not support the H.265/HEVC or ProRes 4444 codec. Please confirm with the documentation or the developers of the programs that you are trying to import the video into that they support the selected video codec.

Is it possible to change the resolution of a project after it was created?#

Yes, you can change the resolution of an existing project using the crop tool. You can find more information about this here.

Can you use keyframes and frame-by-frame animation in the same project?#

Yes, it is always possible to use all of ToonSquid's features in every project.

The default workflow that you choose when creating a project only configures a few default project settings to be more in line with typical traditional or keyframing workflows. All of these settings can be changed afterward as well.

Can you import SVGs into ToonSquid?#

Yes. You can learn more about SVG import and its limitations here.

What are all of the file types that can be imported into ToonSquid?#

You can find up-to-date lists of the supported file types that can be imported into ToonSquid projects on these pages of the handbook:

Does ToonSquid have a layer limit?#

ToonSquid projects do not have a fixed layer limit, but that also doesn't mean that you can have an infinite number of layers on each frame of your animation.

There is no simple formula to calculate how many layers your iPad can handle on a single frame. The exact number heavily depends on many different factors, such as the resolution, the type of the layers, the size of the region in the pixel layers that contain visible pixels, your screen resolution if you use vector-based layers, various layer settings such as opacity, blend modes, groups with blending settings, onion skin settings etc. All of these and more contribute to how much memory ToonSquid needs to show that frame and still have memory left to let you make edits.

Generally, the more RAM your iPad has, the more layers you can have on each frame.

Do ToonSquid animations have a length limit?#

No, there is no fixed limit to how long your ToonSquid animations can be.

As long as your iPad has enough free storage space to be able to save all of your drawings and enough space for when you want to export the animation into a single video file, you can keep adding more frames to your animation.

Note that this also does not depend on how much RAM your iPad has. The RAM amount only limits how many layers can be visible on the canvas at the same time. That being said, you might experience reduced performance during playback if not all drawings can fit into RAM at the same time.

What is the resolution limit of ToonSquid projects?#

You can create ToonSquid projects with resolutions up to 4096x4096 pixels.
This is also the export resolution limit.

What are the system requirements for ToonSquid?#

ToonSquid requires an iPad running iPadOS 15 or later. Please refer to Apple's support pages for the list of devices that are compatible with iPadOS 15.

ToonSquid does not officially support beta versions of iPadOS.

The app can be used without Apple Pencil, but it is highly recommended to use one for the best drawing experience. Drawing with your finger does not provide brush features such as pressure sensitivity and tilt controls.

Third-party styluses may or may not work with ToonSquid, depending on their features and how they are integrated with iPadOS. While various customers have reported that their third-party stylus worked without any issues, no official compatibility guarantees can be made about any specific third-party stylus.

Encoding videos with the HEVC codec is only supported on devices with an A10 chip or above. If you are using an older device, you can still export videos with the H.264 codec, but they will not have transparency.

Encoding videos with the ProRes 4444 codec requires hardware support by your iPad model. Please refer to Apple support if you are unsure whether your specific device provides hardware support for encoding ProRes 4444.

Will ToonSquid be available in other languages?#

At the moment, ToonSquid and this handbook can only be offered in English, but localizations for other languages might be added in the future.

Please reach out via the contact e-mail address and mention which language you would like to see ToonSquid translated into so that the most common requests can be prioritized. Thank you!

Why can I not see the “Select From Markers” option?#

Make sure that you have added the frame markers inside of the animation clip that is referenced by your symbol layer and not in the main timeline.

For example, in this guide about animating with frame markers, notice that the markers for the mouth are inside of the mouth animation clip that only contains the various mouth shapes. They mark the frames in that clip that correspond to different mouth shapes. When you add a symbol layer that references the mouth clip to your main timeline, the Select From Markers option lets you conveniently choose which frames of the mouth clip should be visible at which points in your main timeline.

You can open an animation clip in the editor to add frame markers to it by either

  • Selecting it in the library and choosing the Edit option at the bottom, or
  • Using the layer actions of the symbol layer and choosing Edit Clip.

I'm trying to export a project with video layers but the export failed#

Please try the following steps:

  1. In the iPad Settings app, go to ToonSquid > Resources > Video Decoding Memory Usage
  2. Change that setting from Medium to Low.
  3. Retry the export.

If the export still fails, please reach out via the contact e-mail address and include the following information:

  • The iPad model that you are using
  • The iPadOS version that you are using
  • The ToonSquid version that you are using
  • The Log.txt file, which you can find in the Files app under On my iPad > ToonSquid > Logs
  • If possible, a copy of the project file that you are trying to export

Why does the “Save Video” option not show up for some projects after the export finishes?#

Whether or not the Save Video option shows up in the share sheet is fully determined by the Photos app without ToonSquid having any control over it. The Photos app appears to have certain limitations for the files that it is willing to accept, but unfortunately, there is no public definitive information on what the exact limitations are.

You might be hitting a video resolution limit of the Photos app. You can try to export at a lower resolution and see if that makes the Save Video option show up.

Also make sure that the export name of the project is not empty since the Photos app will otherwise not accept the file.

Regardless of the quirks of the Photos app, you can always save the exported file to the Files app on your iPad using the Save to Files option.

Where can I find more information about the commercial distribution of video files that use patented video codecs?#

When exporting video files using MPEG-4; H.264/AVC or HEVC technology, ToonSquid uses the video encoding functionality provided to you by your operating system. You can find all the details about the terms of use of this encoding functionality in the Software License Agreements of your operating system.
Depending on the specific details of your commercial video distribution use case, additional licenses and potential royalty payments between you and the patent rights holders of these video technologies might be necessary. For more information about this topic, please contact Via Licensing Alliance LLC (Via LA) directly. See https://www.via-la.com/contact-2/.

As mentioned further above, ToonSquid itself does not claim any ownership of the art that you create with it, nor does it take any cut from any revenue that you generate from the sale of your art or the distribution of your videos.

When will the next ToonSquid update come out and what features will it have?#

As mentioned above, ToonSquid is entirely made by one person and I am working on it in addition to other projects, so I can neither give a time estimate for when the next update will be ready, nor whether and when any specific feature will be added.

Many unpredictable factors can delay the next feature release, such as high-priority bugs popping up that need to be fixed as quickly as possible or large amounts of general support requests via e-mail.

A big thank you here as well to everyone who has been actively answering questions of other ToonSquid users in the discussion forums and on other public platforms. This has a very noticeable impact on my ability to focus more of the little time I have on the development of the app.

The best way to stay up-to-date with the latest news about new versions of ToonSquid is to subscribe to the ToonSquid YouTube channel and to follow the Bluesky and Instagram accounts. Announcements are posted there whenever a new feature version is released.

Are there forums to discuss ToonSquid?#

Yes, ToonSquid Discussions is a public forum where you can have conversations and ask questions about ToonSquid. Simply click on the "Discussions" link at the top of this page.

This forum is hosted on GitHub and requires you to create a GitHub account if you want to post to the forum. You can read all existing discussion threads without creating an account.

GitHub is a very large platform owned by Microsoft that is trusted by millions of developers (including the developer of ToonSquid). Please refer to GitHub's privacy policy before creating an account. The developer of ToonSquid will have no insight into or control over the personal data associated with your GitHub account.

I have more questions about ToonSquid#

You can search existing discussions to see if other users of ToonSquid have already asked and answered your questions. If not, you can create a new discussion where you will get help from the community or the developer.

You can also contact the developer directly at contact@toonsquid.com.

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