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Using Layers

  WebPainter has 32 layers that you can use to organize your animation and graphics. You can place images on their own layers so you can edit and apply effects to them without worrying about affecting other graphics. This is especially handy if part of your image, text for example, might change. You can change it without having to redo the entire graphic. You can also use layers to experiment with different settings.

You can also merge layers into one layer. However, WebPainter automatically merges layers when you export your animation or graphic.

In this lesson you will learn:

   
  • how to organize work on different layers
    how to show and hide layers
    how to merge layers
  For this tutorial you’ll use the file LAYERS.WPM in the Tutorials folder.

In this exercise you’ll manipulate an image on one layer, and text on another layer, to create an animated logo for a sporting goods store.

  1. Open the file LAYERS.WPM. 
  2. On the Window menu, click Cel Layers.
  3. The first layer contains a football player throwing a ball. The second layer contains the store logo in one frame.
    First you’re going to flip the football player so he’s throwing the ball the other direction.
  4. In the Cel Layers window, click the first layer and first cel.
  5. This is now the selected cel. Notice it’s highlighted with a red and blue border.
  6. On the Cels menu, click Flip Cels Horizontally.
  7. All the cels in the first layer are flipped. Now the football player is throwing the ball from left to right.
    Next you’re going to move the text, and then copy it to the other cels. Before you do that, hide the first layer.
  8. To hide the first layer, click the minus sign to the left of the number.
  9. In the main window you can only see the text in layer two, not the football player in layer one.
  10. You'll notice that the text in layer 2 was also flipped by step 6. Select the contents of the cel by double clicking the Marquee tool and flip it horizontally by using the Flip Horizontal item in the Selection menu.
  11. Use the Lasso tool to select the word "Sports." 
  12. Drag it until it’s underneath the word "Southside" and aligned to the left.


  13. Now you’ll move the words "Southside Sports" to fit in with the image of the football player.
  14. Click the plus sign to show the first layer. 
  15. Click the second layer of the first cel. 
  16. Use the Lasso or Marquee tool to select the words "Southside Sports". 
  17. Drag the selection up and to the right. Line it up with the football player. 
  18. On the Edit menu, click Copy. 
  19. Go to the next cel. 
  20. On the Edit menu, click Paste.
  21. Notice that the text is automatically pasted in the same location.

    Another option is to create an Alias of the cel. This allows you to copy the contents of a cel over any number of cels without copying and pasting. To create an Alias, simply grab the side of the cel you wish to make an Alias of, then drag it to the end of desired cel range. This operation will create directional arrows at the top of the Alias cel indicating the start and end point.

  22. Repeat steps 13 to 14 until "Southside Sports" appears on every cel. 
  23. Click the Flatten All Layers Button.
  24. The text and graphic are combined on one layer. When you export a WebPainter file to another format, the layers are automatically combined in the exported document.
  25. In the main window, click the Play button to view the finished animation. 
  What’s Next
This is just the beginning of what you can do with layers. By applying different transitions and effects to individual layers, you can produce hundreds of unique designs. If you are ready to tackle a more advanced tutorial about layers, see Adding a Transition to a Layer later in this guide.

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