The Layer, Vector and Pixel menus
Every item in the Layer, Vector and Pixel menus: what it adds or does, its shortcut where it has one, and when it is greyed out.
The three menus split the work by what it acts on. Layer adds new layers and arranges the ones you have: grouping, transforming, stacking order, alignment and binding. Vector works on the geometry of paths. Pixel makes bitmaps and works on the pixel selection. Items grey out whenever there is nothing for them to act on, so an enabled item always does something when you click it.
Where a new layer lands is set once, in the Layers panel: Above, Below or Inside the selection. Every add item in the Layer menu honours it, and so do Duplicate and Paste. See the Layers panel.
Layer
Adding layers
The top of the menu mirrors the add row of the Layers panel, item for item and in the same order. Every add item is always available and is a single undo step. Image, video and audio layers come from File ▸ Import instead.
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Bone | Adds a Bone layer |
| Mesh | Adds an empty Mesh layer |
| Pixel | Adds a Pixel layer: one continuous bitmap with no cells |
| Raster Cells | Adds a Raster Cells layer. With Ask for raster layer size when adding on in Preferences, the size dialog opens first, exactly as from the Layers panel |
| Symbol | Adds a Symbol layer |
| Vector Cells | Adds a Vector Cells layer: a frame-by-frame vector container that holds its own drawing cells. This is not the same thing as a Shape layer |
Group and Ungroup
| Item | Shortcut | What it does | Greyed out when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group | Ctrl+G | Folds the selection into a new Group layer | Fewer than two layers selected |
| Ungroup | Ctrl+Shift+G | Dissolves the selected group and promotes its children, each staying exactly where it was on screen. An animated group asks first, see Grouping in Organizing layers | No selection |
Convert to Symbol and Break Apart
| Item | Shortcut | What it does | Greyed out when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Convert to Symbol | F8 | Wraps the selected layers into a new symbol in their place, with a matching entry in the Library | Nothing is selected, or an action is open |
| Break Apart | Ctrl+B | Turns the selected symbol instance back into its layers, inside a group that keeps its place and keys, so nothing moves | The selection is not exactly one symbol instance, or an action is open |
Both shortcuts can be changed in Preferences. The same two items are on the canvas right-click menu. See Symbols.
Transform
- Flip Horizontal / Flip Vertical: mirrors the layer along that axis
- Rotate 90° CW / Rotate 90° CCW: rotates the layer a quarter turn
Order
| Item | What it does | Greyed out when |
|---|---|---|
| Bring to Front | Moves the layer to the top of its stack | It is already at the top |
| Bring Forward | Moves the layer one place toward the top | It is already at the top |
| Send Backward | Moves the layer one place toward the bottom | It is already the bottom-most layer, just above the built-in camera |
| Send to Back | Moves the layer to the bottom of its stack, just above the camera | Same as Send Backward |
Align
Align Left, Align Center, Align Right, Align Top, Align Middle and Align Bottom line up the selected layers along that edge or axis. Align needs one vertex or one layer to be enabled, and cameras never count. With vertices selected it acts on the vertices, not on their layers: selecting a single vertex aligns it to the canvas rather than moving the whole layer under it.
Distribute
Distribute Left, Distribute H Center, Distribute Right, Distribute Top, Distribute V Center, Distribute Bottom, Space Horizontally and Space Vertically even out the spacing between the selected layers.
Distribute needs three of whatever it is acting on: three vertices when any vertex is selected, otherwise three layers. Space Horizontally and Space Vertically are layer-only and need three layers with no vertex selected. Each row follows the same rule as its button on the toolbar, and a span too small to divide is left alone rather than piling everything onto the first item.
Bind and Unbind
Bind (Enter) and Unbind (U) run the same two commands as the buttons on the Bone Bind tool's options bar. They are enabled only while that tool is active in Edit mode, the one state in which binding can happen.
Vector
Vector holds everything that changes the geometry of a path: whole-layer conversions, the two ways of combining shapes, the path operations from the Node and Pen options bars, and vertex welding.
Conversions
| Item | What it does | Greyed out when |
|---|---|---|
| Convert to Curves | Turns a live shape (a rectangle, star or other shape-tool shape, or any path with rounded corners) into plain editable points. Acts on every selected Shape layer that qualifies | No selected Shape layer is a live shape or has a corner radius |
| Expand Stroke | Turns the stroke into a filled outline of its own. A shape that also has a fill keeps it, with the outline added as a new layer above | No selected Shape layer has a visible stroke |
| Convert to Mesh | Wraps the selected Shape layer in a Mesh layer so it can be deformed | The primary selection is not a Shape layer |
| Create Path Line | Builds a Shape layer that traces the selected layer's motion path, just above that layer. See Motion paths | The layer has fewer than two position keys, or it is the camera |
Boolean and Geometry
The two submenus combine shapes in two different ways, and follow two different rules.
- Boolean holds Union (Liquid Shape), Subtract, Intersect and XOR. It is live and non-destructive: the selected layers are wrapped in a new boolean group, every layer above the bottom one takes the operation you chose, and the originals stay editable inside it. It needs two layers selected, not counting the camera or a layer whose parent is also selected, so two groups can be combined as easily as two shapes.
- Geometry holds Add (Union), Subtract, Intersect, Xor and Divide. These are the toolbar's Pathfinder buttons, they are destructive, and each item is enabled exactly when its toolbar button is.
See Boolean shapes for what each operation produces.
Path operations
Join Curves, Close Path, Break Curve, Split Curve, Reverse, Simplify and Start Vertex are the curve buttons of the Node and Pen options bars. Each is enabled exactly when its button would be, and acts on the points you have selected with those tools. A point selection left over from another tool is not acted on.
- Join Curves (Ctrl+J) closes a path through its two selected endpoints, or joins two open paths end to end.
- Close Path closes an open path of three points or more. Break Curve opens a closed path at the selected point.
- Split Curve adds a point in the middle of the segment after the selected point.
- Reverse flips the direction of the path. Simplify refits the whole path with fewer points.
- Start Vertex makes the one selected point the first point of its closed contour. It needs the Node tool.
To Line and To Curve straighten or bend the segments between two or more selected neighbouring points. Both need the Node tool.
Welding
| Item | What it does | Greyed out when |
|---|---|---|
| Weld Vertices | Welds every selected vertex to the first one you selected | The Node tool is not active, or fewer than two vertices are selected |
| Unweld Vertex | Removes every weld touching each selected vertex | The Node tool is not active, or no selected vertex has a weld |
Pixel
Pixel makes bitmaps out of other layers and holds every command that works on the pixel selection.
| Item | What it does | Greyed out when |
|---|---|---|
| Rasterize | Opens the same confirmation as the layer's right-click Rasterize, then turns the layer into a Pixel layer, with or without its effects baked in. A Vector Cells or Raster Cells layer, or a group holding one, becomes a Raster Cells layer with every cel painted | The primary selection is the camera, a Bone layer or already a Pixel layer |
| Convert to Raster | Turns an Image or Pixel layer into a Raster Cells layer, with its picture as the first cell | The primary selection is not an Image or Pixel layer |
| Convert to Pixel Layer | Turns a Raster Cells layer with a single drawing into a Pixel layer | The primary selection is not a Raster Cells layer, or it holds more than one drawing |
| Selection | The submenu below | Never |
| Adjustments | Colour adjustments for the selected bitmap layer, see below | Its items are greyed out unless exactly one editable Raster Cells or Pixel layer is selected |
| Filters | Blur, sharpen, noise and other filters for the selected bitmap layer, see below | Its items are greyed out unless exactly one editable Raster Cells or Pixel layer is selected |
| Transform Pixels | Flips the whole layer's pixels horizontally or vertically, or turns them by 90° either way or by 180°. Every cell of a Raster Cells layer turns together, and the layer stays where it was on the canvas | Not exactly one editable bitmap layer is selected |
| Trim Layer | Shrinks a Pixel layer's bitmap to the painted area, without moving anything on the canvas | The primary selection is not an editable Pixel layer |
| Merge Down | Draws the selected layer into the layer below it, with its opacity, blend mode and effects, and removes it. A layer below that is not a bitmap becomes a Pixel layer first; on a Raster Cells layer below, it lands in the drawing on screen. A Shape layer merged onto a Vector Cells layer goes into the cel shown at this frame as a vector shape, in the same place and with its keys. A hidden layer cannot be merged down. Also on the canvas and Layers panel right-click menus | Not exactly one layer is selected, there is no layer below it in the same group, either one cannot be merged, or the merge would throw an animation away: the selected layer moves, changes or shows several cels, or a layer below that is not a bitmap has motion inside it |
| Merge Visible to New Layer | Adds a Pixel layer on top holding the canvas as it shows at this frame. The layers it came from stay as they are | No document is open |
| Clear | Erases the pixels inside the selection on the selected layer, softly across a feathered edge | No pixel selection, the layer is not a bitmap, or its Alpha Lock is on |
| Save Selection as Brush Tip | Saves what the selection frames as a reusable brush tip | No pixel selection |
| Alpha Lock | Switches Alpha Lock on or off for every selected bitmap layer at once, following the primary layer's state | No bitmap layer is selected |
| Pixel Mode | Switches the project between vector and pixel-art drawing, the same switch as the toolbar's Vector / Pixel pill | No document is open |
Selection
| Item | What it does | Greyed out when |
|---|---|---|
| Select All | Selects the whole canvas | No document is open |
| Deselect All | Commits any floating pixels, then clears the pixel selection | No pixel selection |
| Invert Selection | Selects everything that was not selected | No pixel selection |
| Selection from Layer | Selects what the selected layer draws, soft edges included | No layer is selected, or it is the camera, a bone layer or an audio layer |
| Expand | Grows the selection outward | No pixel selection |
| Inset | Shrinks the selection inward | No pixel selection |
| Feather | Softens the edge of the selection | No pixel selection |
| Border | Asks for a Width, 1 to 200 px and 8 px at first, then turns the selection into a band of that width along its edge | No pixel selection |
| Smooth | Asks for a Radius, 1 to 100 px and 4 px at first, then rounds off the corners and small jags of the selection | No pixel selection |
| Fill Selection | Paints the selection with the active colour on the selected layer | No pixel selection, or the selected layer is not an editable bitmap |
| Stroke Selection | Asks for a Width, 0.5 to 250 px and 4 px at first, and a Position, Inside, Center or Outside, then paints the outline of the selection with the active colour | No pixel selection, or exactly one editable bitmap layer is not selected |
| Selection to Shape | Adds a Shape layer whose outline follows the selection | No pixel selection |
| Crop Canvas to Selection | Makes the canvas the size of the selection, keeping the artwork where it is inside it | No pixel selection |
Expand, Inset and Feather use the amounts set on the Marquee tool's options bar, and the menu prints those amounts in pixels beside each item, so you can see what a click will do before you make it.
Adjustments and Filters
Adjustments holds Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Saturation, Levels, Curves, Invert, Desaturate, Posterize and Threshold. Filters holds Gaussian Blur, Motion Blur, Unsharp Mask, Add Noise, Median, Pixelate and Offset. They change the pixels of the selected Raster Cells or Pixel layer for good, and each one is a single history step.
Invert and Desaturate apply at once. The others open a small window with their settings, and the canvas shows the result live while Preview is on, which it is by default. OK or Enter applies it, Cancel or Esc puts the pixels back, and until you quit, the window remembers the last values you used for each one. See Adjustments and filters for every setting. On a Raster Cells layer, All cells of this layer applies it to every drawing of the layer instead of only the one on screen.
With a pixel selection live, only the selected pixels change, softly across a feathered edge. Alpha Lock keeps every pixel's coverage as it was, so a blur does not spread into empty space.
Save Selection as Brush Tip renders the scene as you see it and crops it to the selection, so it does not depend on which layer is selected. The tip then appears in the tip picker in Brush Studio. See Brush tips and paper.