Stroke Animation

Stroke animation draws the outline of shapes over time, as if by hand. Then the same block reveals the rest of the shape: the fill fades in and the label is typed in.

It works on paths, freehand shapes, polylines, geometry shapes, and arrows that have a stroke.

With it you can:

• Draw shapes as if by hand: the outline first, then the fill and label.
• Draw several shapes together: at the same time, or one stroke after another.
• Add a follower image: a pen or a brush that travels at the tip of the outline.

Creating it

Adds a block that draws or erases the outline of the selected shapes.

• Operation:
  1. Select the shapes on the board.
  2. In Animation mode, choose Stroke Animation in the Actions panel.
• Result: a selected block starts at the playhead and draws the shapes.
  • First stroke block: it draws the whole outline from nothing.
  • Later stroke blocks: it starts from the outline's state at the playhead.
    • Not drawn: it draws the whole outline.
    • Fully drawn: it erases the outline.
    • Partly drawn: it finishes drawing the outline.
  • Duration: it follows the amount of outline drawn or erased at the board's base stroke speed, plus up to half a second to reveal the fill and label.
  • Continue from its end: the playhead moves to the end of the block, so the next block you create starts where this one stops.

With several shapes

When you select several shapes, one stroke block draws all their outlines. The block holds one start and one end progress for every shape, so outlines drawn to different points meet at their average:

• No stroke block yet: their outlines are drawn from nothing.
• None drawn at the playhead: they are drawn.
• All complete: they are erased.
• Anything else: the block starts from their average progress and finishes drawing them, so each shape first takes that average.
• Duration: the block lasts as long as the longest outline takes, plus any fill and label reveal. All the outlines draw at the same pace, so shorter outlines finish first.
• One after another: turn on Stagger shapes and set Ref to End. See Stagger.

The stroke animation block in the Timeline panel

In the Timeline panel, stroke blocks appear in gray ().

1. Blocks that animate one shape use circular handles.
2. Blocks that animate several shapes use square handles.
3. Staggered blocks show a marker where each later shape starts.

On the board

The drawing progress has no indicator or handles. You set it in the Attributes panel. A follower image shows with its own handles while the block is selected. See The follower image.

A stroke block reveals the fill and label itself, after the outline. While an opacity block runs on the same shape, the opacity block controls the shape's transparency instead, and the stroke block skips its reveal. See Opacity Animation.

Arrows and dashed outlines

Arrows and dashed outlines draw in their own way:

• Arrows: they draw in stages, and the label appears at the end.
  1. The offset lines.
  2. The body.
  3. The heads.
• Arrows drawn in reverse: the drawing starts from the arrow's end, and the label still appears at the end.
• Dashed outlines: the dash pattern stays in place while the outline draws, in both directions.

The follower image

An image can travel at the tip of the outline while it draws, like a pen or a brush. Select the stroke block to show its pink outline and handles, which change only the image:

1. Move: drag the image, or anywhere inside its pink rectangle, to offset it from the drawing point. Use it to line up the tip of your pen or brush with the outline.
2. Rotate: drag the curved-arrow handle to adjust the image's angle.
3. Scale: drag the double-arrow handle to make the image larger or smaller.

Two marks help you line it up:

• Pink dot: the current drawing point.
• Pink rectangle: the image bounds, including any transparent padding.

Attributes

A stroke block's settings are in the Stroke Animation section of the Attributes panel.

Timing

• Time: when the block starts and ends, in seconds. Each time is outlined while the playhead sits on it.
• Duration: the block's total length, including the reveal, staggered shapes, and block pauses.
• Speed: speed multiplier relative to the board's base stroke speed, which is in pixels of outline per second.
  • It measures the length drawn, so a longer outline takes longer at the same speed.
  • Changing it changes the block's duration.

Progress

• Progress: two values, how much of the outline is drawn at the start and at the end, from 0 for none to 1 for complete.
  • An end below the start erases the outline.
  • Maintain speed, in the Timeline panel header, decides what happens when you change a value:
    • On: the speed stays and the duration adjusts.
    • Off: the duration stays the same.

A start of 0.5 begins with half the outline already drawn.

Reveal

A stroke block draws the outline first, then fades in the fill and types in the label. Reveal Duration sets how long they take to appear, in seconds:

• Positive: they appear after the outline is complete, which can make the block longer.
• Negative: they start appearing before the outline is complete. Changing between negative values changes the overlap without moving the end of the block.

Stagger

• Stagger shapes: starts the shapes' outlines one after another. See Stagger shapes.
• Reordering panel: with Stagger shapes on, sets the order in which the shapes start. See Stagger shapes.

Easing

• Easing: how the drawing speeds up and slows down. Quadratic in and sine out is the default. See Easing.

Multi stroke

Rough outlines can have several overlapping strokes. Multi Stroke sets how they draw:

• One at a time: draws each stroke completely before starting the next. This is the default.
• Together: draws all the strokes at the same time, as one outline.

Follower image

The Follower image row sets the image that travels at the tip of the outline. During playback, the image moves with the drawing point and disappears when that shape's drawing or erasing finishes.

• Add: choose an image for the follower.
• Replace: choose the image thumbnail to pick another image.
• Paste from clipboard: uses a copied image.
• Clear follower: removes the image.
• Copy follower from animation: then choose another stroke block in the Timeline panel to copy its image and settings.
• Auto-Rotate: sets how the image turns while it moves.
  • On: the image turns with the direction of the outline. This is the default.
  • Off: the image keeps a fixed angle.

Actions

Block actions

With a stroke block selected, the Actions panel offers these block actions:

• Delete: removes the block. See Block actions.
• Cut, Copy, and Paste: move or copy the block to another time or sequence. See Cut, copy, and paste blocks.
• Reassign: changes which shapes the block draws. See Block actions.
• Create Block Pause: holds the drawing for a moment inside the block. See Block pauses.

Reversing the direction

Makes outlines draw from their end instead of their start.

• Operation:
  1. Select the shapes.
  2. Choose Reverse stroke in the Actions panel.
• Needs: a stroke block drawing the shapes at the playhead.
• Result: in those stroke blocks, the outlines of the selected shapes draw from their end.
  • Each shape keeps its own direction: the direction is kept per shape in each block.
  • Choosing it again: restores the direction. With a mix of directions, the first choice reverses them all.