Layers

Overview

Add content to your animation and define their order using layers.

Animation Layer

Animation layers are the most common layer type that you will find in the timeline. They let you add drawings, which hold the actual contents of your animation.

Drawings

A drawing is a collection of layers that are displayed together for a given period of time within an animation layer. Learn about how drawings and their content can be created and edited.

Layer Types

ToonSquid offers different types of layers, each one for a particular purpose and with a unique set of properties.

Layer List

The layer list is the interface to let you see and edit your layers and their order in the timeline and in a drawing.

Inspector

View and edit all properties of the selected layer in the inspector.

Pixel Layer

Pixel layers are the drawing destination for pixel brushes. The size of these layers is limited by the project or clip resolution.

Group Layer

Group layers allow you to organize other layers together, both in the timeline and within a drawing.

Background Layer

The background layer exists in every animation. It is very simple but still has some interesting properties to be aware of.

Camera

Add a camera layer to an animation to define which portions of the animation should be seen during the export.

Audio

ToonSquid allows you to add audio clips into the timeline via audio layers.

Video

Learn how to import and add videos into your animation.

Onion Skinning

Onion skinning lets you see the contents of the previous and next drawings to help with drawing in-betweens in a traditional animation workflow.

Masking

Layers can be masked by the contents of another layer, even if both layers are animated. The mask itself can also be hidden and inverted, allowing you to quickly achieve impressive effects with ease.

Blend Modes

Every visual layer has a blend mode property. Explore the behavior of every blend mode in detail.