<a name="1005839"> </a>The first step in creating a new animation is to create a movie file. Corel Painter automatically saves movie files as you proceed from frame to frame.
<li class="SmartList1" value="2"><a name="1005672"> </a>In the New Picture dialog box, select the frame size and paper color you want. </li>
<p id="1005673" class="ToDoBody">
<a name="1005673"> </a>The standard digital video frame is 640 by 480 pixels, which is a 4:3 aspect ratio. Many people work at sizes consistent with this aspect ratio.
</p>
<li class="SmartList1" value="3"><a name="1005674"> </a>Click the Movie radio button under Picture Type and enter the number of frames you want to create. </li>
<p id="1010221" class="ToDoBody">
<a name="1010221"> </a>Remember, you will be able to add and delete frames at any time.
</p>
<li class="SmartList1" value="4"><a name="1005675"> </a>Click OK. A dialog prompts you to name your new movie. </li>
<li class="SmartList1" value="5"><a name="1005676"> </a>Type a name for the movie and click Save. </li>
<li class="SmartList1" value="6"><a name="1005678"> </a>In the New Frame Stack dialog box, choose a number of onion skin layers.</li>
<p id="1005679" class="ToDoBody">
<a name="1005679"> </a>The number of onion skin layers determines the number of frames displayed in the Frame Stacks palette. For more information about onion skinning, refer to <a href="23-Video5.html#1009623">"Understanding Onion Skinning"</a>.
</p>
<li class="SmartList1" value="7"><a name="1006426"> </a>Choose one of the following storage types:</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li class="Bulleted2"><a name="1006482"> </a>8-bit gray - 256 levels of gray</li>
<li class="Bulleted2"><a name="1006483"> </a>8-bit color system palette - 256 colors</li>
<li class="Bulleted2"><a name="1006484"> </a>15-bit color with 1-bit alpha -32,768 colors and a layer for a channel</li>
<li class="Bulleted2"><a name="1006485"> </a>24-bit color with 8-bit alpha - 16.7 million colors and a layer for an anti-aliased channel</li>
<li class="SmartList1"><a name="1012677"> </a>The storage type lets you specify the color depth for saving each frame. This applies to the saved frame stack-not to working in the current frame. For example, choosing 256 colors as the storage type still allows you to work with a selection and 24-bit tools in the image window for the current frame. As soon as you change frames, however, the image is saved in the 256 color format and the selection is lost. If you want to maintain selections in saved frames, you'll need to choose the 15-bit or 24-bit storage type. These storage types allow you to take advantage of compositing options that require a selection layer. </li>
</ul>
<h3 id="1005697" class="Heading2">
<a name="1005697"> </a>Opening a Movie
</h3>
<p id="1005698" class="Body">
<a name="1005698"> </a>Quite often, you'll start by opening a movie created in another program-like a captured video segment. You'll also open an existing movie if you worked on a frame stack earlier and now want to return to it.
</p>
<p id="1005699" class="Body">
<a name="1005699"> </a>For efficiency, don't bring in more video frames than you're going to work on. For example, if you have a two minute video clip and you want to paint on the first 10 seconds, don't open the entire clip in Corel Painter. You're better off separating the first 10 seconds in your editing application and bringing in just those frames. After finishing that clip in Corel Painter, you can join it to the other part in your editing application.
</p>
<p id="1006282" class="Body">
<a name="1006282"> </a>You can also import a movie that has been saved as a series of numbered files. For more information, refer to <a href="23-Video10.html#1008109">"Working with Numbered Files"</a>.
</p>
<h5 id="1005707" class="ToDoHead">
<a name="1005707"> </a>To open a QuickTime or AVI movie or a Corel Painter frame stack
<li class="SmartList1" value="2"><a name="1010250"> </a>In the Open dialog box, locate the movie or frame stack.</li>
<p id="1005712" class="ToDoBody">
<a name="1005712"> </a>When a file is selected, the dialog shows the frame size, file size, and the number of frames. If a preview is available, it will show a thumbnail of the first frame.
<li class="SmartList1" value="4"><a name="1010255"> </a>In the Open Frame Stack dialog box, choose the number of onion skin layers you want to appear in the Frame Stacks palette. </li>
<p id="1010260" class="ToDoBody">
<a name="1010260"> </a>The number you choose also determines the number of thumbnails visible in the Frame Stacks palette. In most cases, you'll want four or five layers.
</p>
<li class="SmartList1" value="5"><a name="1005715"> </a>Click OK. </li>
<p id="1012696" class="ToDoBody">
<a name="1012696"> </a>The Frame Stacks palette appears and the image window displays the first frame of the movie.
<li class="SmartList1"><a name="1012700"> </a>When you open a QuickTime or AVI movie, Corel Painter makes a frame stack copy of the movie. This ensures the original won't be changed. </li>
<li class="SmartList1"><a name="1009619"> </a>Frame stacks are uncompressed, so you will need an adequate amount of disk space to create them. For example, a 1 MB QuickTime or AVI movie can become a 20 MB frame stack.</li>
<a name="1009625"> </a>Traditional cartoon animators work on an onion skin paper that allows them to see a sequence of frames through the transparent layers. They then draw successive frames using the previous frames for reference. Seeing the several images superimposed helps in incrementing the action evenly.
</p>
<p id="1005761" class="Body">
<a name="1005761"> </a>Corel Painter lets you work in two to five layers of onion skin. You specify the number of layers when you open a frame stack. To change the number of onion skin layers, you must close the file and re-open it.
<a name="1005771"> </a>In the image window, the current frame appears darkest. Each frame moving away is progressively fainter.
</p>
</ul>
<p id="1005773" class="Body">
<a name="1005773"> </a>The Frame Stacks palette displays a linear view of the onion skin layers. Each thumbnail represents one onion skin layer, and the thumbnail of the current frame has a red triangle above it.
</p>
<p id="1005774" class="Body">
<a name="1005774"> </a>You can change the current frame by clicking any thumbnail in the Frame Stacks palette. This lets you view a frame in any position of the onion skin sequence. For example, if you want to display the reference frames before the current frame, set the current frame to the far-right position in the palette. If you want to display the frames before and after the current frame, set the current frame to the middle thumbnail in the palette.
</p>
<h3 id="1005777" class="Heading2">
<a name="1005777"> </a>Animating with Layers
</h3>
<p id="1006553" class="Body">
<a name="1006553"> </a>One of the simplest ways to create animation in Corel Painter is to move an item from the Image Portfolio palette across a series of frames.
</p>
<p id="1006640" class="Body">
<a name="1006640"> </a>This is the most basic example of animating with layers. Adding multiple layers allows you to make more complex animations.
</p>
<p id="1006734" class="Body">
<a name="1006734"> </a>You can also group layers and move them simultaneously, but be careful. When you leave a frame, Corel Painter drops the layers in that frame. When a layer is dropped, its contents are merged with the canvas and can no longer be accessed separately. For this reason, you may want to work from the background forward; start by animating what's farthest from your point of view. For more information, refer to <a href="14-Layers8.html#999385">"Merging Layers with the Canvas"</a>.
</p>
<p id="1006655" class="Body">
<a name="1006655"> </a>You can also rotate a layer. Rotating a layer can degrade its on-screen image quality, but this does not affect its printed quality.
</p>
<p id="1006719" class="Body">
<a name="1006719"> </a>The more you work with layers, the more creative ways you'll find to animate them.
</p>
<h5 id="1005783" class="ToDoHead">
<a name="1005783"> </a>To create motion with layers
<a name="1010264"> </a>A new frame is added and becomes the current frame. The layer in the previous frame is merged with the canvas. In the new, current frame, the layer is active.
</p>
<li class="SmartList1" value="7"><a name="1005795"> </a>On the keyboard, press the right arrow key five times to nudge the image toward the center of the frame. </li>
<li class="SmartList1" value="8"><a name="1006712"> </a>Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you've created a dozen frames.</li>
<li class="SmartList1" value="9"><a name="1005797"> </a>In the last frame, deselect the layer.</li>
<li class="SmartList1" value="10"><a name="1005798"> </a>Click the Play button <img src="images/23-Video15.jpg" height="16" width="16" border="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" />
on the Frame Stacks palette. </li>
<p id="1010272" class="ToDoBody">
<a name="1010272"> </a>The portfolio image moves across the screen.
</p>
</ol>
<h3 id="1005804" class="Heading2">
<a name="1005804"> </a>Repeating Actions
</h3>
<p id="1005805" class="Body">
<a name="1005805"> </a>You can repeat actions to create an animated cycle. Take, for example, a blinking eye. For this type of action, draw the cycle once and repeat it as many times as needed.
</p>
<p id="1017508" class="Body">
<a name="1017508"> </a>To create a clean cycle, the beginning and ending images must be the same. For example, in an animation of a blinking eye, the eye would be open at the beginning and the end. This way, when the end of one cycle is "hooked up" to the beginning of the next, the action continues smoothly.
</p>
<p id="1005812" class="Body">
<a name="1005812"> </a>Scrolling a background is another example of a cycled action. Commonly, a subject remains in one place while the background slides by.
