LayerzLAYERZ

Layerz Canvas/User Guide

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Export (images and video)

Free and Pro

  • Design is free; video is Pro. Designing, recording, animating and image export (PNG, JPEG, SVG, PDF) are all free, with no watermark.
  • Free video and animation exports (MP4, MOV (HEVC), GIF, APNG, PNG sequence) carry a small watermark in the bottom-right corner: the app icon mark and "Made with Layerz Canvas". MOV (HEVC + alpha), ProRes, Lottie and HTML are Pro-only.
  • Layerz Canvas Pro (app menu ▸ Layerz Canvas Pro…) exports every format without a watermark. Choose a monthly or yearly subscription (the yearly plan starts with a 7-day free trial the first time; cancel during the trial and nothing is charged) or a one-time Lifetime purchase. Use Restore Purchases for a purchase made on another Mac (the button goes away once Pro is on). When a purchase completes, the sheet stays open and shows "Purchase complete" with a PRO badge, the plan and its renewal date; Done closes it.
  • The video save panel shows, under its options, whether the chosen format adds a watermark or needs Pro, with a button that opens the Pro sheet. Saving with a Pro-only format selected shows the purchase sheet and does not export.

Images, PDF and SVG

  • File ▸ Export… (⌘E)
  • Formats: PNG / JPEG / PDF / SVG
  • Options:
    • Scale — 1× / 2× / 3× (raster PNG/JPEG only; PDF and SVG are vector)
    • Transparent — transparent background (PNG, PDF, SVG)
    • Export: Artboard / Selection — the whole artboard, or only the selected layers (cropped to their bounds). Available when something is selected.
  • The panel shows a preview thumbnail that updates as you change the format, scope or transparency.
  • Choose a location and the active artboard is written in that format. The panel opens with the format, scale, transparency and scope you used last (no re-picking when exporting several artboards the same way). The same values show in Settings ▸ Export, where you can change them too. The folder is the default folder from Settings if one is set, otherwise where you last saved.
  • With animation, the export shows the artboard exactly as it looks at the current playhead — move the playhead to the frame you want before exporting a still.

Export All Frames

  • File ▸ Export All Frames… (⇧⌘E) writes every frame as its own file, named after the frame ("Hero.png", "Icon.png"…), into a folder you choose — same format, scale and transparency options as Export…. Files with the same names in that folder are replaced; two frames with the same name get "Name 2".
  • When no frame has a background, Transparent starts switched on.

SVG (vector XML)

  • Shapes (rectangles, ellipses, paths, polygons), text, images, groups, transforms (move, rotate, scale), opacity, solid and linear/radial gradient fills, and strokes (width, caps, joins, dashes) are written as vectors.
  • Limits: angular gradients have no SVG equivalent and fall back to the first stop's colour. Video layers and some effects are omitted. Text is approximated with its basic layout.

Video

  • File ▸ Export Video… (⌥⌘E) — available when the artboard has a timeline.
  • Formats:
    • MP4 (H.264) / MOV (HEVC) — regular video.
    • MOV (HEVC + Alpha) / MOV (ProRes 4444) — video with a transparent background for overlays and compositing.
    • Animated GIF / Animated PNG — looping animated images for the web and messengers. Very large frames (a full-screen recording, say) are scaled down automatically to protect memory (GIF: at most 1024 px, 50 fps).
    • PNG Sequence — the timeline as numbered PNG stills for compositing and post-production. Pick a folder and a base name; every frame is written as name_0001.png, name_0002.png, … (frame rate and scale apply; Transparent keeps alpha). The digit count follows the total frame count (at least four).
    • Lottie (JSON) — vector animation compatible with After Effects / bodymovin; light to share and plays on the web. Documents that contain video cannot be exported as Lottie (a vector format cannot carry video frames; a message explains). Text goes out as Lottie text layers with its outline (colour and width). Lottie text only takes a flat colour, so gradient-filled text is exported as its glyph outlines (same look, gradient, outline and animation — just not editable as text inside the Lottie).
    • HTML (Web Animation) — a web page that plays the animation in the browser — no video file. Open it directly, or paste it into a site (the page starts with a comment explaining which parts to copy). Shapes are crisp vectors at any size; text is drawn from the exact glyph outlines, so it looks the same on computers without the fonts, and the real text stays in the page for screen readers and search. Keyframes play with the same easing and springs as the app, including text animators, counters, 2.5D, morphs, trims, group timing, glow, grain, blur, shadows and colour effects. Clicking the animation pauses and resumes it; viewers who ask their system for reduced motion see a still frame; if the artboard has sound, a speaker button turns it on. Videos and sounds are saved in a <name>_media folder next to the page (iOS puts them inside the file). Motion blur, pixellate and recording cursor highlights are left out, and animated masks use their first frame — after the export a sheet lists anything that differs.
      • Supported: shapes and groups, transform animation (position, scale, rotation, opacity, including group children and smooth motion paths), solid / gradient (linear, radial) fills and strokes, fill and stroke colour/opacity animation, stroke (colour, width) animation, trim paths, repeaters, size and path (shape) animation, image layers (top level), text layers (best effort), blend modes.
      • Track mattes (masking by the layer in front, alpha or luma) are exported too.
      • If anything cannot be expressed as vectors, a notice lists what is dropped or simplified before exporting (text is placed approximately and needs the player's font; effects are omitted; angular gradients become solid). Export Anyway continues, or cancel.
  • Options:
    • Preset — applies a common combination at once: Web (MP4) / High Quality (2×) / Transparent (HEVC + Alpha) / Animated GIF / Lottie (Vector) / HTML (Web Page). A preset fills in format, FPS, scale and quality; changing any of them afterwards shows the preset as Custom. (iOS fills format, scale and quality from "Choose a preset…"; it has no FPS option.)
    • Frame Rate — 24 / 30 / 60 fps
    • Scale — 1× / 2×
    • Quality — Standard / High / Max (the H.264 / HEVC bitrate; disabled for ProRes, GIF and APNG).
    • Transparent — renders on a transparent background for alpha-capable formats (HEVC + Alpha, ProRes, GIF, APNG), ignoring the artboard's background colour.
  • The panel opens with the format, frame rate, scale, quality and transparency you used last. The same values show in Settings ▸ Export, where you can change them too (and per export, of course).
  • Progress is shown and can be cancelled; when done the result is revealed in the Finder.
  • Design, motion, video layers and auto-zoom are all composited into one movie.
  • Audio: the sound recorded in video clips (system, microphone) is mixed into the output exactly as trimmed and placed (overlapping clips are mixed; hidden layers are muted).

Combine timeline keyframes with screen recordings to make promo videos.

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