The Frames Panel

Let’s take a look at the various features of the Frames Panel.

Some of the features in this Panel are duplicated in others that we have discussed already. The lower right corner of the Frames Panel, for instance, looks and functions in exactly the same way as the Layers Panel. Use the buttons located in this section to duplicate, distribute, create and delete Frames in exactly the same way that you would Layers. 

The options at the bottom left hand corner of the Frames Panel control Onion Skinning and Looping. Let’s set Onion Skinning aside for a minute and concentrate on Looping. You can control the number of times that your animation plays by clicking on the Looping Options Button. 

This ability is more important when it comes time to export our document. For the moment we’ll just be previewing our work document so we can set the loop option now if we wish or later. 

In the main window of the Frame Panel you will see your frames listed in descending, numerical order.  Frames can be moved around the stacking order but their labels cannot be changed. Frame 1 will always be at the top, Frame 2 will always be second and so on. If you want to change the stacking order of a frame you simply {Click} on its label and drag it. Again, the frame labels won’t change but the content will move.