Backgrounds
If your cartoon needs a background (most will) create a layer and name it BG or background.
Before you create a background remember these rules.
a. If you want to import a photo to use in your background it must be a bitmap photo which can only be placed on a bmp layer. This means your background must be a bmp layer.
b. If you want a pure drawing as a background you might want to make a vector drawing (on a vector layer) and color it in with vector colors.
You can move layers up or down. on the left lower corner are your layers. click and drag the background layer to the top of the list. The layer on top is always behind the other layers. so if you want a background you have to put the background layer at the top of that list. the list is the one at the lower left hand corner of the screen.
Now you can draw in a background if you like. Anything you draw in the background layer will automatically appear behind you subject. You will never have to paint around your subject if you set your background layer correctly.
If you would rather paint in your background without seeing your subject just turn off all the layers except the background. Just click the box to the left of the layer name and that layer will turn off. Turn them back on the same way.
you can drag and drop anything you like for a background. you could use a photo of real trees, or a photo of a city or an ocean, or a painting or almost anything. If you draw a picture of a cartoon city you could use that. It will remain fixed behind your animated figures and give a nice effect.
you can make your background move if you want to simulate movement for your characters. They can appear to be walking or riding. You can just relocate the background depending on which way the motion is going.
Make sure you background is wide enough to allow for this movement. Some animators use the same background over and over. This is why a character may appear to be walking past the same table or tree over and over. Keep your motion scenes short and this may not matter.
HOW TO USE DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS IN PENCIL SOFTWARE
Any active layer with only one frame will be shown in all frames. This allows the same background to be used for every frame, without having to insert a new background pic in each frame.
If you need to show a different background in part of your animation you can add the proper frames and paste, import or draw in a different background.
If you put in a new background the following frames in the background layer can be left blank with no frames (not even blank ones). The first frame will show in each empty frame space as the animation runs.
