Frames

A frame is a container that gathers part of the board under one name:

• Content: the shapes inside move with it, and follow it in and out of groups.
• Heading: its name sits above it. The frame has its own stroke and fill.
• Exports: a selected frame exports and prints on its own.
• Pinning: it can stay fixed on the screen while the board moves under it.

Creating a frame

Draws a named container on the board.

• Operation: pick Frame in the board objects multi-button of the Tools panel, then one of:
  • Drag on the board to draw the frame at the size you want.
  • Click on the board for a frame of the default size, 300 by 300, centered on the point.
• Result: a frame named "Frame" with a stroke and no fill.
  • A dragged frame takes as content every shape that was fully inside the area, except locked ones.
  • A clicked frame starts empty, whatever lies under it.

Content

The shapes a frame holds. Content is drawn in full even where it sticks out of the frame.

• Adding: drag a shape into the frame. It becomes content and stays exactly where you dropped it.
• Removing: drag a shape out of the frame. If the frame is inside a group, the shape joins that group; otherwise it lands on the board.
• Resizing the frame adds and removes content too, as described in Sizing.
• Grouping shapes inside a frame keeps the group inside the frame.
• Locked shapes are never taken in when you draw or resize a frame.

Fitting to content

Shrinks or grows the frame to hug its content.

• Operation: select the frame and click Fit to content in the Actions panel.
• Needs: one frame containing shapes.
• Result: the frame wraps its content with 10 units of padding. The content stays where it was.
• Tip: double-click a corner handle for the same fit. Double-click an edge handle to fit only that direction: the frame keeps its position and the content moves to sit 10 units inside it. Locked shapes stay where they are.

Pinning to the screen

Keeps a frame fixed on the screen, like an overlay, while the board pans and zooms underneath.

• Operation: turn on Pin to screen in the Selection info section.
• Needs: a frame that is not inside a group and not inside another pinned frame.
• Result: the frame and its content keep their place and size on the screen while you move the board, and the frame comes to the front. Dragging it sets its new screen position. Turn the toggle off to let it move with the board again.
• Tip: pinning is marked experimental.

Exporting a frame

With a single frame selected:

• An export covers the frame, its heading, and any content that sticks out of it.
• A print takes the frame's name as its title.

See Exports and Clipboard.

Editing

Changes the name shown in the frame's heading.

• Operation: with the frame as the only selected shape, click its heading, or double-click the frame, and type. Enter or a click elsewhere keeps the name.
• Result: the heading shows the new name, in the typography set by the Text Style section. Line breaks become spaces.
  • A frame with no name shows no heading. A name longer than the frame is cut short with an ellipsis.
  • The heading sits just above the frame's top-left corner. When the frame is rotated, it moves to whichever edge reads most upright.
  • The heading is part of the frame in exports.

Sizing

Resizing a frame is also how you add shapes to it and take shapes out. Only the frame's edges move; the shapes stay where they are.

• Operation: select the frame on its own and drag one of its handles.
• Result:
  • Shapes that end up fully inside the new edges become content.
  • Content that no longer fits fully inside leaves the frame. It joins the enclosing frame if there is one, otherwise it lands on the board.
  • A shape has to be fully inside to be content: a shape cut by an edge is left out, and content cut by an edge leaves.
• Locked Ratio keeps the frame's proportions while resizing.
• Tip: resizing a frame as part of a larger selection only changes its size; nothing joins or leaves. To make the frame hug what it holds, use Fitting to content.

Attributes

A selected frame shows these sections of the Attributes panel.

Selection info

The attributes that affect the shape as a whole.

• X: the horizontal position of the shape's pivot. Inside a frame, it's measured from the frame.
• Y: the vertical position of the pivot, also measured from the frame inside one. Which way it grows depends on the Y axis direction in the UI settings.
• W: the width of the shape.
• H: the height of the shape.
• Rotation: the angle around the pivot.
• Opacity: the transparency of the whole shape, stroke and fill included.
• Locked Ratio: keeps the proportion between width and height while resizing.
• Pin to screen: keeps the frame in place on screen while the canvas camera moves.

Stroke

The line around the frame: none, solid, or dashed.

• Stroke style: the kind of line. The style decides which of the controls below appear.
  • No stroke: no line at all. Arrows don't offer it.
  • Solid stroke: a continuous line.
  • Dashed stroke: a line made of dashes.
• Stroke color: the color of the line.
• Stroke opacity: the transparency of the line alone.
• Stroke width: the thickness of the line.

Dashed borders

Fill

The color inside the frame, behind its content: none or solid.

• Fill style: the kind of fill. The style decides which of the controls below appear.
  • No fill: the inside stays empty.
  • Solid fill: one flat color.

Fill color

• Fill color: the color of the fill.

Fill opacity

• Fill opacity: the transparency of the fill alone.

Text Style

The typeface, size, and weight of the heading.

Font style and family

• Font style: the family of typefaces to choose from.
  • Sans Serif: plain letterforms without finishing strokes.
  • Serif: letterforms with finishing strokes, as in print.
  • Handwriting: letterforms that look written by hand.
  • Mono: every character takes the same width, as in code.
  • Display: decorative typefaces for titles.
• Font family: the typeface, within the chosen style.

Font variant

• Font variant: the weight or slant of that typeface.

Font size

• Font size: the size of the text.

Letter spacing

• Letter spacing: for text on a path, the extra space between characters along the path.

Filter

A frame's filter applies to each shape inside it, one by one, on top of that shape's own filter. The frame's own stroke and fill are not filtered, and the effect cannot merge neighboring shapes into one. See Filters.

Actions

Besides the actions every shape has, covered in What every shape shares, a frame and its content offer these in the Actions panel.

Extract from frame

Takes the selected shapes out of the frame without moving them.

• Operation: select shapes inside a frame and click Extract from frame.
• Result: the shapes leave the frame and stay where they are. They join whatever holds the frame: another frame or a group.

Dissolve frame

Removes the frame and leaves its content on the board.

• Operation: select the frame and click Dissolve frame.
• Result: the frame is removed and its content stays in place, joining the frame that holds it, if any. A group around the frame doesn't keep the content.

Convert to Image

Replaces the frame and everything inside it with one picture.

• Operation: click Convert to Image. When the conversion would lose something, a dialog lists what, and you confirm with Convert.
• Needs: a frame whose content holds no locked shape, camera, or file card. Those stay on the board, and the dialog names them.
• Result: one image in place of the frame and its content: an SVG image, sharp at any zoom, when the content is vectors and text only; otherwise a JPEG when the picture is opaque or a PNG when it needs transparency, at up to double resolution. The content can no longer be edited. Move, rotate, scale, resize, and opacity animations move to the image.
• Tip: while the image renders, an empty image marks its place and the original stays untouched, so you can keep working.

Animating frames

A frame takes the position, rotation, scale, resize, and opacity animations, and its content moves with it. See Transforming shapes and Revealing and hiding shapes. Attributes Animation can also change its stroke and fill over time.

Limits

• Content is not clipped by the frame; shapes can stick out of it.
• Pinning is not honored in the Player or in published boards.