Animation Essentials Mode

• Animation Essentials Mode
• Applying an Animation
• Removing an Animation
• Animation Settings

Animation Essentials Mode

Essentials Mode is accessed by going to the Module Editor, then the Right Sidebar, and clicking the Animation icon in the Mode Switcher to enter Animation Mode. Essentials is one of Animation Mode's two sub-modes, chosen with the switch at the bottom of the sidebar, and is active by default. The other sub-mode, Advanced, is for editing animations keyframe by keyframe.

In Essentials Mode you animate layers by applying ready-made animation presets. Every preset can be previewed and configured before it is applied, so a polished animation rarely needs more than a few clicks.

This article covers the process of applying a preset and gives an overview of the settings presets can offer. The presets themselves are described in eight companion articles, where each preset is listed with its own settings and exact option values.

In and Out Animations covers the entrance and exit presets available to every layer. Additional Animations covers the one-shot and looping attention animations. Text Only Animations covers the extra categories text layers get on top.

The Slide Background's own presets are split across five articles. Its Transition collection is covered by Slide Background Reveal Transitions, Slide Background Motion Transitions and Slide Background Distortion Transitions, its Pan & Zoom collection by Slide Background Pan & Zoom, and its Filter collection by Slide Background Filters.

Applying an Animation

Applying a preset is a five step process.

First, select the layer to animate, by clicking it on the Stage or by clicking its track in the Timeline. The sidebar stays empty until a layer is selected.

Second, choose a collection with the tabs at the top of the sidebar. An added layer offers In, Out and Additional collections. The Slide Background offers Transition, Pan & Zoom and Filter instead.

Third, browse the collection's categories and click a preset tile. This opens the preset's configuration panel, with a back button and the preset's name at the top, then a live preview of the animation, the preset's settings, an Apply button, and a Related grid offering the preset's closest siblings.

Fourth, adjust the settings to taste. The preview plays the result as you work.

Fifth, click Apply. Nothing about the layer changes while you browse and configure. The animation is only added to the layer when Apply is clicked.

Removing an Animation

To remove an animation from a layer, apply the preset that clears it. Applying a clearing preset follows the same five steps as any other preset, described under Applying an Animation.

No Animation is the first tile in the In collection's Basic category. Applying it removes the layer's in animation.

No Loop is the first tile in the Additional collection's Loops category. Applying it removes a loop added earlier, and leaves the layer's in and out animations in place.

The Slide Background's collections hold removal presets of their own, each named None. The Transition collection's None is listed in Slide Background Reveal Transitions, the Pan & Zoom collection's in Slide Background Pan & Zoom, and the Filter collection's in Slide Background Filters.

Animation Settings

Each preset offers a small set of animation settings suited to it. These are the settings you may encounter, and each preset's own settings and option values are listed with that preset in the four companion articles.

• Direction: The direction the animation moves in, chosen on a pad of arrow buttons.
• Corner: The corner the animation works from.
• Strength: How pronounced the effect is, typically Subtle, Medium or Strong.
• Easing: The curve shaping how the animation accelerates and settles.
• Duration: How long the animation runs, in milliseconds. On the Slide Background's Pan & Zoom presets it is instead a choice between the slide's whole display time and half of it.
• Fill: The fill used while a fade transition plays.
• Style: A choice between the preset's visual variants.
• Distance: How far the layer travels.
• Zoom: Whether the zoom runs in or out.
• Axis: Which way a masked zoom crosses its frame.
• Split: Whether a split transition divides the slide into columns or rows.
• Order: The order the pieces of a tiled transition animate in.
• Origin: Which way a zooming fade originates.
• Detail: The intensity of the effect's detail.
• Motion: How the outgoing and incoming slides move relative to each other during a slide transition.
• Lifetime: How long an effect stays on the layer, from only while its animation plays through to staying on permanently.