Setting up the workspace and canvas

Hello students, welcome to Kwickprep. A painter first chooses the size of the paper. An animator must also decide the size and length of the video before drawing. Today we will set up the Synfig workspace and the canvas, step by step.

First, two new terms. The workspace is the whole Synfig window, with all its menus and panels. The canvas is the drawing area in the middle, where your animation is made. A file you create is also called a canvas, or a document.

Let us look at the parts of the workspace. The menu bar at the top has File, Edit, View, Canvas and other menus. The toolbox holds the drawing tools. The canvas window is in the centre. Panels like Params and Layers sit around it. The Timetrack and time slider sit at the bottom.

Here are the steps to start a new animation. Open Synfig Studio from the Start menu or the applications list. Click File, then New, to open a new canvas. Open Canvas Properties from the Canvas menu to set its size and time. Save the file at once with File, Save As, and give it a clear name.

Synfig saves files in its own formats. The SIFZ format is a compressed file, so it is small, and it is the usual choice. SIF is the same data without compression. SFG is a package that keeps the file and its images together. A saved file is not a video yet; we must render it later.

Now the Canvas Properties box. Its Image tab sets the size of the picture. Width is how many pixels wide the canvas is. Height is how many pixels tall it is. Resolution sets how many pixels fit in one unit of length, which matters for printing. The image area sets how much of the drawing space the canvas shows.

Which size should you choose? It depends on where the video will be shown. 1920 by 1080 is called Full HD, and suits YouTube and TV. 1280 by 720 is called HD, and makes a smaller file. 1080 by 1920 is a tall video for phone Reels. A small size like 480 by 270 is good for practice, because it renders fast.

The shape of the canvas is called its aspect ratio. It is the width compared to the height. 1920 by 1080 is sixteen to nine, a wide screen. 1080 by 1920 is nine to sixteen, a tall phone screen. Keep the aspect ratio locked when you change size, or your drawings will stretch.

The Time tab sets how long the animation is. A frame is one still picture of the animation. Frames per second, or fps, is how many pictures are shown in one second. Start time is where the animation begins, usually zero. End time is where it stops.

Pause and predict. Your canvas is set to 24 frames per second, and the end time is 5 seconds. How many frames will Synfig need? 24 frames in each second, for 5 seconds, is 120 frames. Now, what if you change it to 25 frames per second? 25 times 5 is 125 frames.

A few more settings help while you draw. The Other tab lets you lock or link settings, such as keeping width and height in ratio. You can change the background colour behind the canvas from the settings. Turn on the grid from the View menu to line up shapes neatly. Turn on guides and rulers to place objects exactly.

You can also arrange the workspace to suit you. Drag a panel by its tab to move it to another place. Open a closed panel again from the Window menu. The Window menu also lets you switch between saved workspace layouts, such as the default one for animation.

Let us revise what we learned today. The workspace is the whole window, and the canvas is the drawing area. Start with File, New, then open Canvas Properties. The Image tab sets width, height and resolution. The Time tab sets fps, start time and end time. Save as a SIFZ file, and render it later to get a video. Try making a 1280 by 720 canvas of 5 seconds at 24 fps.