Feature 16 · Video production
5 topics from the in-app manual.
Video Timeline: turn frames into animation
In one sentence
Click Video / GIF Animation at the top right and a timeline opens below the canvas. Each frame is a snapshot of the whole layer stack — not one layer, but the complete picture at that step. Draw and edit frame by frame; playback joins them into animation. With the timeline closed, the document behaves exactly like an ordinary image.
Make your first animation in three steps
1. Open a canvas and click Video / GIF Animation to expand the bottom timeline; click again to collapse it.
2. Draw frame one, then click Save as Next Frame (or press Alt+Z): the current picture is frozen into a new frame after it and you are switched to that frame to keep drawing. Use Add Blank Frame next to it if you want to start from empty.
3. Click Play / Pause to preview; drawing a stroke stops playback automatically. First / Previous / Next / Last jump between frames.
Timeline toolbar
Playback: Play / Pause, First, Previous, Next, Last.
Frames & record: Add Blank Frame, Save as Next Frame (Alt+Z), Delete Frame (undoable), Record Drawing. Shift-click several frame cards to delete them as a batch; Ctrl+Z restores the batch.
Camera / Effect / Object: select a frame before setting camera moves or transitions. For object animation, first select a stroke, image, text or shape on the canvas (see below).
This frame's duration − / +: each press changes only this frame by 10 ms; it can be shorter than the global duration.
Ghost / Audio / Export: onion-skin-style frame echo, soundtrack import, animation export. The separate Global 83ms at the far right is the default speed for the whole animation; on narrow windows the rest moves into More.
Speed and timing (everything in milliseconds)
Global frame hold: 83 ms by default (about 12 fps). The Global 83ms flyout has − / + in 10 ms steps, range 16-1000 ms; larger numbers are slower. Every frame without its own duration uses this.
Per-frame duration: 16-5000 ms; 0 means Follow Global. Press + to hold one frame longer.
Double-click a frame card to bracket exactly that frame with the green / red markers (used with audio, see the Soundtrack topic). The status bar shows frame count, memory in MB and the current frame — watch that number as frames pile up.
Two helpers
Ghost: the previous frame tinted red and the next frame tinted blue over the canvas, for alignment only — never exported. Wheel adjusts strength, Shift+Wheel changes how many frames are shown; hidden during playback and in single-frame documents. Do not confuse it with Layer Onion Skin: that dims layers, Ghost overlays neighbouring frames.
Record Drawing: each stroke creates intermediate pictures so playback shows the drawing growing. By default, five strokes stay on one editable frame; the sixth creates the next frame before drawing. Bucket fills and shapes count too. Set 1–20 strokes or manual frame advance under Timeline More → Strokes per frame; Alt+Z always creates the next frame. Recording captures every 110 ms, up to 120 pictures per stroke. Playback defaults to 83 ms per process picture under More → Stroke and fill interval. The audio scale and export timing follow that setting. Process pictures have no editable layer structure.
When not to use it
A single still image: leave the timeline closed; a plain document is lighter.
Canvas edge at 2048 px (2K) or more: camera moves and transitions are disabled automatically, leaving hard cuts only (see the Camera & Transitions topic).
A frame is a copy of the whole layer stack, so memory grows quickly with many layers and frames; the MB figure in the status bar is a live warning.
Frames, durations, camera, transitions, process shots and audio are all saved in the .wci project. Exporting to PNG/JPG flattens everything and you can no longer edit frames.
Camera Moves & Transitions
Two different things
Camera controls how the view moves while one frame is shown (zoom in, zoom out, pan). Transition / Effect controls how that frame changes into the next (fade, wipe and so on). Both can be on at once, in this order: camera move finishes → hold one beat → transition → next frame. Both act on the selected frame: click a frame card first (small badges appear in its top-right corner), then open the Camera or Effect flyout. The last frame has no next frame, so it cannot have a transition.
Camera: 7 moves
Static (default), Zoom In, Zoom Out, Pan Right, Pan Left, Pan Up, Pan Down. Zoom changes scale; pans shift the view.
Strength 5-60%, 30% by default — how obvious the movement is.
Camera duration 1000 ms by default, range 100-5000 ms, fully independent of the frame's hold time: a frame with a camera move plays for the camera duration, not the hold value. When the move reaches its end, the picture holds for one beat before cutting away, instead of jumping immediately.
Effect: 17 transitions
Basic: Hard Cut, Cross Fade, Fade through Black, Fade through White.
Directional: Wipe Right / Left / Down / Up, Slide Right / Left / Down / Up.
Shape & grain: Iris, Mosaic Dissolve, Blinds, Pixelate, Glitch.
Transition duration 1000 ms by default, range 100-2000 ms (flyout − / + in 50 ms steps). It is added on top of the frame's hold, so it never quietly eats the time you set for that frame. Choose Hard Cut or reduce the duration to 0 for an instant switch.
Rhythm when combined
Give frame 2 Zoom In 30% / 1000 ms plus Cross Fade 1000 ms and playback shows the frame slowly zooming, holding one beat at the end, then a full second of cross fade before frame 3. GIF and PNG-sequence export expand this into real pictures, using exactly the same timing as the screen.
When it does nothing / when not to use it
Canvas edge ≥ 2048 px (2K): both camera and transitions are disabled (they keep whole-frame pixels resident and blend every beat, which drops frames badly at 4K). The status bar says so and the flyouts block the setting. Downsize the canvas first.
No frame card selected: the flyout will not touch the frame you had in mind.
A quick snap to the next frame: skip transitions; Hard Cut is cleanest. A transition is extra time and lengthens the whole animation.
Content already sitting at the edges: zoom and pan crop it away — leave some margin first.
Soundtrack: add audio to your animation
What it does
Click Audio in the toolbar to import a sound and a waveform track appears below the frame track. Both tracks share one horizontal axis and one playhead, so picture and sound stay in sync. The green marker is the start, the red marker the end; playback follows that selection. MP4 exports include the soundtrack; GIF and PNG exports have no audio.
Import and formats
wav / mp3 / m4a / aac / wma / flac are supported; an audio stream inside a video file can be imported on its own.
After import the audio row shows a waveform and a toolbar: Preview Play, Cut, Paste, Undo Cut/Paste, Mark Green, Mark Red, Replace, Remove, plus Audio Info (file / format / duration / sample rate / channels / size / selection).
Audio is saved inside the .wci project. Closing a document with audio prompts you to save an editable project first; exporting straight to PNG/JPG loses the sound.
Green and red markers = the playback range
Green (start) and red (end) store positions in the audio's own timeline. Click Mark Green / Mark Red, then click the waveform to move that line; double-click the waveform to place the green marker directly.
The audio row's ▶ previews only that range without moving the picture; the frame row's ▶ plays picture and sound together: the start frame is derived from the green marker, audio starts at green and the red marker is moved to the end of the animation.
Double-click a frame card to bracket exactly that frame with green and red (this sync happens only when you actively select a frame — switching frames never changes the range on its own).
Alignment and editing
Drag the audio track sideways to shift it as a whole and line a picture up with a beat. That offset affects only this preview; it does not move frames and is not written into the project.
Cut / Paste removes the selected audio range and inserts it at the green marker, changing the audio itself; Undo Cut/Paste reverts it. Large files briefly show a processing message.
Ctrl+Wheel zooms the timeline; click the zoom label to return to 100%. Grey slots are about 8 seconds each, so long audio needs horizontal scrolling.
When not to use it
Choose MP4 to export a finished clip with the soundtrack; GIF and PNG sequences have no audio.
A reversed range (red left of green) will not play — put the markers in order first.
Do not expect a very long track to fit on one screen; zoom with Ctrl+Wheel or use the bottom scrollbar.
Export: MP4 video, GIF & PNG sequence
Three export formats
Click Export in the toolbar. There are three items: Export MP4 Video (with audio), Export GIF Animation (one animated .gif, ready to share) and Export PNG Sequence (a folder of numbered .png files for further work in a video editor). All three expand camera moves, transitions, object animations and recorded process shots into real pictures, with the same timing you saw on screen.
Progress and cancellation
MP4, GIF and PNG-sequence exports show completed and total picture counts. The progress window responds to Cancel Export while encoding; cancellation takes effect after the current processing step. The main window is temporarily unavailable for editing and returns when export ends or is cancelled.
GIF animation
Needs at least 2 frames. It loops forever by default (Netscape extension); players that ignore the extension still play it once correctly.
Each frame's delay comes from that shot's real duration, in 10 ms units with a 10 ms minimum, so per-frame holds, camera durations and transition durations all land as set.
Colours are reduced to a 256-colour indexed palette with error-diffusion dithering; transparent pixels keep a transparent index. A canvas whose full-frame pixels exceed the limit is rejected — downsize first.
PNG sequence
Choose a folder, not a file name. Output is `frame_0001.png`, `frame_0002.png`, ... with at least four digits.
Process shots are expanded here too: three frame slots on screen plus a recorded stroke can export as 73 PNGs. Use this when you want a real video, subtitles or a soundtrack.
Not available / when not to use it
MP4 video export includes the soundtrack aligned to the current timeline.
GIF and PNG have no audio; choose MP4 when sound is needed.
Ghost, guide lines and the playhead are screen aids and never appear in exports.
Many frames, a large canvas, transitions and recorded process shots multiply the exported frame count and file size; preview the rhythm once before exporting.
Save the .wci project first: exports are flattened results, while frames and audio live only in the project.
Object Animation: animate strokes, images and text
Getting started
Select one or more objects on the canvas, then use Object on the timeline (or More → Object Animation in a narrow window). Brush strokes, images, text and shapes are supported; no vector conversion is needed. The animation applies to selected objects in the current frame and can be combined with a camera move or a transition between frames.
Presets
Basic: Fade In/Out, slide in and out in four directions, Zoom In and Zoom Out.
New: Bounce In, Pop In, Wiggle, Heartbeat, Spin In and Spin Out. Wiggle and Heartbeat return to the original pose. Spin In also fades in; Spin Out fades out.
Adjust and remove
Object Strength changes in 10% steps, range 10–100%, default 50%. Object Duration changes in 100 ms steps, range 100–3000 ms, default 600 ms. Duration contributes to the current frame's timing.
Select an object and choose Remove Object Animation to remove just its animation. Right-click a frame card and choose Cancel Object Animation to remove all object animations from that frame. Ctrl+Z can undo these edits, and the .wci project stores them.
Preview by playing the timeline. MP4, GIF and PNG-sequence exports render object animation too. Special fill and filter elements are not supported; select an ordinary stroke, image, text or shape instead.