Doodly Beginner Tutorial

Working with Layers

Beginner Tutorial #9

Working with Layers

Showing good and bad text while working with layers in Doodly.

Designed to teach about the layers section in Doodly. Defines a layer and explains the sequence in which layering effects the doodle.

What is a layer?

A layer in Doodly is a separate area that contains a single asset. We can work with that asset without affecting the other assets.

We can think about a real world example of this as stacks of clear plastic sheets. We can draw on each one of them without affecting the other and when you place them on top of each other they make up the entire picture. Each sheet would be considered a layer.

In Doodly, each layer contains 1 asset. You cannot put two assets on the same layer.

Revealing Layers

Layers on the canvas are the opposite of the assets in the layers section. Doodly will reveal the assets in the layers section from top to bottom but in the canvas they will appear bottom to top. The top asset in the layers section will be shown on the bottom layer on the canvas and vice versa.

Layer Jumping

This happens when accidentally clicking something on the layer. This is a bug in Doodly and the layer automatically jumps to the top so if all of a sudden the layer disappears, check the top of the layers section and drag it back down again.

Moving layers

We can move the layers by left clicking on the layer and holding the mouse button down and then dragging the mouse button in the direction for which we would like to move the layer.

Auto Scroll

This happens when moving the layer higher or lower than where the layer section begins or ends. The speed at which moving the layers speeds up tremendously. This is only noticeable on doodles with a lot of layers.

Asset Setting

Double clicking an asset in the layers section will bring up the Asset Settings.

Delay

This allows for a timed decimal numbered delay, displayed in seconds, before that asset or layer is revealed on the canvas. Examples of values accepted in the delay are: 0.1s, 1s, 5.25s or 10.5s.

Duration

This is a tells Doodly to take the number of assigned seconds to reveal the asset on the canvas. Examples of accepted values are: 2s, 3.5s, 4.25s or 5s

Increasing the number of viewable layers


Increasing Number of Layers

So you’ve discovered you can only see 3.25 layers on the screen and don’t know how to make it so you can see more of them. I’ve created an entire video on this subject to show you how to do it rather than try and explain it to you as it requires changing the configuration of your computers operating system rather than natively in Doodly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to the most common questions regarding this topic.

A layer acts as an individual space that holds just one item. You can think of it like a stack of transparent sheets where each sheet has a single drawing. This setup lets you edit one specific item without changing the rest of your project.

The arrangement is completely opposite. Items listed at the very top of your layers menu will actually show up at the very bottom of your main workspace. The software draws the items starting from the top of your list and works its way downwards.

This happens because of a known software glitch called layer jumping. When you accidentally click on a layer, it might instantly shoot to the very top of your list. To fix this issue, simply grab the layer at the top and drag it back down to its correct spot.

The delay setting controls how long the software waits in seconds before it starts showing the item on your screen. On the other hand, the duration setting determines the exact amount of time it takes for the software to fully draw or reveal that item.

If you are only seeing a few layers and want to expand your view, you will need to adjust the display settings within your computer operating system. There is no built in feature inside the software itself to increase the number of visible layers.

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