Pixxani — Intermediate

#What you'll learn

• Compose an effect from several layers that share one anchor and play in time with each other.
• Animate any setting with keyframes, and move layers along motion paths.
• Shape how layers start and end with intros, outros and the intro → hold → outro sequence.
• Make loops that never jump, and control colours with palettes, the hue timeline and the Color tab.
• Export sheets, GIFs and frames ready for a game or another Pixx app.

#Before you start

• Read the Pixxani beginner guide first: the library tabs, layers, variations and a first export.
• A desktop or tablet screen helps: Pixxani's library and settings columns are wide.
• Save your favourites with My Presets as you go, so you can come back to them.

#How-tos

#How to build a layered composition

1. Start from a structure in the Structures tab (for example a nova or an orb).
2. Click + on an element card in Elements or Procedural to add it on top instead of replacing your effect.
3. In Layers, select each layer and set its structure, scale and element. Use mix ("+ blend in…") to put two elements in one layer, such as leaves and sparks.
4. Under Blending, use an additive mode for glows and fire, normal for solid shapes. Pixxani has 20 blend modes, from normal to luminosity.
5. Use solo and the eye to check one layer at a time, and duplicate to make a variant you can tweak.

#How to animate with keyframes and easing

1. Step to a frame with ← / → (or the arrows above the canvas).
2. Click the ◇ next to any slider to key it at that frame.
3. Move to another frame and change the slider: Pixxani adds a key there and blends between them.
4. Each keyed setting has its own easing, and every layer lists its keys so you can find and edit them.

#How to move a layer along a motion path

1. In Layers, open the Motion path section.
2. Draw a curve on the preview, or pick a preset path such as arc, S-curve, homing hook or spiral.
3. The layer and any cascade copies ride the path. Add secondary motion (squash and stretch by speed, or a wobble that overshoots and settles) for more life.
4. Use time offset to shift a layer's clock, and stagger in Cascade so each copy starts a little later.

#How to use intros, outros and the sequence

1. In Layers, pick an intro (fade, pop, grow from ground, materialize, assemble from shards…) and an outro (shrink, shatter, crumble, burst to pixels, melt, evaporate…). Each has its own length.
2. For scaling and spinning ones, set scale from (a point on the 3×3 grid) and the start and end scale.
3. Choose an easing: auto, linear, smooth, ease out / in / in-out, overshoot, elastic or bounce, or custom curve… to drag your own.
4. Turn on sequence: intro → hold → outro so the layer plays intro → hold → outro. The colour-coded timing strip shows each part and warns if they don't fit.

#How to make a seamless loop

1. In the Canvas tab, keep seamless loop on (it is by default). Looping layers then fit whole cycles into the loop, and keyframes wrap from the last frame back to the first.
2. Set the duration (s), or type a time in ms or ms per frame; typing a time sets the frame count at the current FPS.
3. For effects that can't loop by themselves (one-shot bursts, sweeps), use ⟲ correct seam.
4. For a one-shot effect, switch to play once with the 🔁/⇥ toggle beside the frame buttons.

#How to control colours

1. In Families, pick a colour family, or edit the layer's own palette. Element colours gives the particles their own palette while the structure keeps its own.
2. Key the palette over time with ◆ (presets such as hot → cool).
3. Use the Hue · Saturation · Light timeline under the canvas for whole-effect colour shifts.
4. In the Color tab, set the number of colours (1–256), dithering (Bayer, Floyd–Steinberg or Atkinson), an outline and recolour rules. More colours also mean more detail: shade steps, particles and texture inside shapes.

#How to light an effect

1. Open the Light tab. Choose a sun (directional) or a lamp placed on the canvas.
2. Drag the dial to aim it, then set intensity, form shading, the light and shadow colours, and highlights (specular, rim light, toon bands).
3. Turn on the ground shadow to cast the silhouette away from the light.
4. For glows and beams that should shine on their own, turn off lit under Layers → Surface.

#Workflows

#A spell set that matches

1. Make your first effect, then save it with My Presets.
2. Use variations (12 mutations, with a wildness slider) or Blend with breed to grow siblings from it.
3. Keep colours consistent by picking the same family for every effect in the set.
4. Export each one as a sheet from Export Sheet, all at the same canvas size.

#Effect to GIF, sheet and atlas

1. Export a GIF for sharing. Remember GIFs have hard transparency; soft glows need the PNG sheet.
2. Send to App → frames to Pixxifo for more loop presets, or a sheet to Pixxula to pack several effects into one atlas.
3. Add a sound from Pixxibu and line it up with the hit in the Sound tab.

#Run it as a Flow step

Add Pixxani to a Flow pipeline (for example Pixxani → Pixxula → Pixxizi), open the step in Pixxani, and use Send result to Flow when the effect is ready.

#Tips and shortcuts

• Space play / pause, ← / → step frames, H marks the current frame as a hit frame.
• Ctrl+Z undo, Ctrl+Y (or Ctrl+Shift+Z) redo, Ctrl+S saves a project file; ⏱ History lists every step.
• In the Paint tab: B pencil, E erase, G fill, I picker, U unpaint.
• Onion skin has modes: ±1/±2/±4 frames, previous only, the intro or outro arc, or all frames.
• The canvas goes from 8 to 480 pixels on an 8-pixel grid.

#Troubleshooting

• The loop jumps at the end. Turn on seamless loop, or use ⟲ correct seam for effects that can't loop by themselves.
• A layer pops at the start. Give it an intro, or lengthen the one it has.
• Colours look flat. Raise the number of colours in the Color tab; detail follows the colour count unless you unlink them.
• The intro, hold and outro don't fit. The timing strip warns you; shorten the parts or add frames in the Canvas tab.
• The effect is clipped. Use ⤢ Fit canvas to animation, a bigger canvas, or a smaller layer scale.

#Related guides

• Pixxani — Beginner · Pixxani — Advanced
• Pixxifo · Pixxula · Pixxibu · Send to App · Pixx Flow