Dottie animates with frames. Each layer starts out as a frame, bottom to top, so you can draw each frame on its own layer and play them back. Show the Timeline to turn those layers into explicit, reorderable frames with their own timing and tags.
Choose Window > Show Timeline Control+Command+T to reveal the timeline strip beneath the canvas.
On a document with more than one layer, showing the timeline turns each layer into a frame.
On a single-layer document the strip shows a hint until you add more layers.
A frame is a snapshot of which layers are visible, so a frame can combine several layers: select the frame, then toggle layer eyes in the inspector to build it up. The current frame’s thumbnail updates as you draw.
Each frame appears as a thumbnail in the strip. Click a frame to make it current; Command-click or Shift-click to select several.
Reorder: drag a frame (or a multiple-frame selection) to a new position.
Add: click the + tile that appears after the last frame to insert a new frame. Hold Option while clicking to add several frames at once.
Remove: hover over a frame thumbnail and click the − badge that appears in its top-right corner to delete it.
Duplicate or copy state: Control-click a frame for Duplicate Frame and New Frame from Current State.
Rename: Control-click a frame and choose Rename Frame… — the name shows beside its number.
Every frame plays for the document’s default duration, set by the Default rate slider in the inspector’s Animation section (up to 30 frames per second, saved in the document).
To give one frame its own timing, double-click its duration label in the timeline and type a value in milliseconds. A frame with a custom duration shows it beneath the thumbnail.
A tag is a named, coloured range of frames shown in a band above the strip. A new timeline starts with Tag 1 covering every frame.
Playback scope: click a tag to loop just that range; click it again to return to All Frames.
Create: Control-click a frame and choose New Tag from Frame, or select several frames and choose New Tag from Selection.
Resize: drag either edge of a tag capsule.
Rename: double-click the tag, or use its Control-click menu.
Loop mode and colour: set both from the tag’s Control-click menu, which also lets you point the tag’s start or end at the selected frame.
In the timeline: the transport at the left of the strip provides full playback control.
Play / Pause: press the play button to start playback; press it again (or press Space in the timeline) to pause.
Step: use the previous-frame and next-frame buttons to move one frame at a time; the first-frame and last-frame buttons jump to either end.
Loop toggle: the loop button switches between Loop (playback repeats continuously) and Play Once (playback stops on the last frame of the active scope).
Speed: pick ½×, 1×, or 2× to preview at half, normal, or double the document’s frame rate without changing the timing saved in the file.
Playback scope: the scope menu next to the transport lets you play All Frames or restrict playback to a specific tag—useful for checking one animation segment while leaving the others intact.
In the inspector: choose Window > Show Preview Shift+Command+P and press play in the Animation section.
In a floating window: choose Window > New Preview Window Option+Command+P. The preview floats above other windows while you keep drawing; click it to toggle playback and the checkerboard background.
Onion skinning works in the classic layer view—before you show the timeline. Switch the inspector’s layer mode to Onion Skin to ghost the previous and next frames (the layers directly below and above) behind the one you’re editing, the standard way to keep motion smooth.
Once the timeline is active each frame supplies its own visibility, so onion skinning no longer applies.
Animated file: choose File > Export as Image… Command+E and pick GIF or APNG (animated PNG) in the format menu to write every frame to one animated file, using your frame timing.
Just one tag: Control-click a tag and choose Export Tag as GIF… or Export Tag as APNG… to export only that range.
Sprite sheet: choose File > Export as Sheet… Shift+Command+E to write all frames to a sprite-sheet PNG that game engines can play back directly, and that Dottie re-imports frame-per-layer.