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Animation and output

A layer stack can be a composite, a set of frames, or a collection of pages. Decide which result you want before exporting: flattening every layer together and showing layers in sequence are different operations.

Export a short animation

  1. Prepare the intended frames as layers. Keep their canvas dimensions consistent. A layer that relies on a separate background in the composite may need that background included in each frame.
  2. Choose File ▸ Export ▸ Animation....
  3. Inspect the frame strip and use its playback control. Confirm the actual sequence rather than assuming the panel's top-to-bottom order is the playback order.
  4. Select a frame and set This frame in milliseconds. Apply to all applies that delay to the sequence. For reference, 100 ms per frame is 10 frames per second.
  5. Set Repeat; the dialog identifies 0 as repeating forever. Check whether Hidden layers are not frames should be enabled for your document.
  6. Choose GIF or APNG, select a destination and export. Play the resulting file in its destination application to check timing and transparency.

GIF has a palette limit and no partial transparency. APNG preserves full alpha and is a better fit for soft transparent edges when the receiving application supports animation in that format. An ordinary PNG export is a still image; use the animation route deliberately.

Keep the layered .mie as the editable source. Animation files do not preserve all the masks, text and live corrections used to make their frames.

Export layers separately

File ▸ Export ▸ Layers to files... writes separate files instead of a single composite. Choose the destination and naming template, then inspect the proposed filenames before exporting. Give important layers meaningful names first. Use a separate output folder to keep source files and generated frames easy to distinguish.

This is useful for sending assets individually or assembling a sequence elsewhere. Check the resulting dimensions and transparency: a layer's bounds and the whole document's canvas need not be the same size.

Pages and printing

Some imported multipage formats arrive as layers. Pages are separate views, not necessarily layers intended to overlap. Check the imported order and the status-bar report before editing or exporting.

Use File ▸ Print... to choose paper, orientation, margins and placement. Inspect the preview before printing, particularly if the image and paper have different aspect ratios. Fitting the whole image may leave borders; filling an area may crop edges. The pixel count limits available detail at the chosen physical size.

PDF is an output format here, not an input format. Keep .mie for further image editing. A print job also depends on the operating system's printer setup and installed drivers; a PDF export can be passed to a separate PDF viewer or print service when direct printing is unavailable.

Import a scan or camera image

On Windows, a compatible installed scanner or camera driver can be accessed through File ▸ Import ▸ Select which scanner or camera to use..., followed by From scanner or camera.... The device's own interface controls acquisition. This direct device route depends on Windows Image Acquisition support and is not available on every platform or device.

If no compatible device is offered, scan or transfer the image using the device's software, save a supported file such as TIFF, PNG or JPEG, then open it in the editor. Camera file transfer and camera raw development are separate tasks; see Camera raw.

Screenshots and online images

File ▸ Import ▸ Screenshot... opens capture settings. The current desktop capture backend is Windows-only; other systems can use their own screenshot utility and then open or paste the result. Choose the intended region and avoid including unrelated windows in the capture.

File ▸ Import ▸ Online image... downloads an image from a supplied address. Use a direct image URL; a web page containing a photograph is not itself an image file. A login requirement, blocked download or unsupported response can prevent import. Saving the image locally and opening it is a useful fallback.

For a moving demonstration, use Tools ▸ Animated screen capture... and review the region, frame rate and destination before starting. Short recordings are easier to follow and smaller to share. See Automation.

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