home > director > edit stage

selecting & dragging keyframes on the stage

on the stage, you control the shape and the place of the actors

tip: you could read "editing the score" first, but decide for yourself.
   
new sprite: when you start with a new sprite, you drag the cast member to a channel in the score. your score should now look something...
like this:
the sprite starts with a keyframe (dot), but does not end with a keyframe (square), meaning there is no movement. first, make the last frame a keyframe: right-click on the last frame and select "insert keyframe".
or this:  
you could also see just one dot, depending on your settings (edit/preferences/sprite/span duration). this is the first keyframe. alt-drag the keyframe to make it longer, you now have 2 keyframes (dots).
result:  
in both cases, you should now have a keyframe on both ends. this makes working a lot more easy and comprehensive.
when you look at the stage, you see that the startframe is at the same location as the end frame. there still is no movement.
   
selecting: watch the boundaries of the sprite on the stage very carefully. the differences are very subtile, but when you make a mistake, the effects are quite disastrous. and remember you only have one undo level!
 
score: edit whole sprite.     stage: closed boundary  
   
actions like moving the sprite on the stage or changing the shape by grabbing the handles (square black dots) have effect on the whole sprite. this way you can change the location or change the shape of the whole animation. know what you are doing.
 
score: edit keyframe     stage: open boundary  
   
after you have selected a single keyframe in the score, actions on the stage take place on the selected keyframe only and the stage shows an open boundary.
watch out: sometimes the boundary does not change immediately, but only when you start moving the sprite on the stage.
   
dragging:
you can place the mouse on different areas of the boundary. each area does something differently.
first make sure that the arrow is selected in the "stage tools" panel.
  ...under construction...