Image settings

This article will take you through the different features and options that are available from the Edit right-hand panel for an element

The following options can be found in the Edit right-hand panel for any given image on your canvas. Click on any of the options below to learn how they work.

• Replace image
• Lock element position
• Lock aspect ratio
• Use content bounding box
• Hide element
• Flip object
• Crop image

Replace image

The replace image option is useful for quickly swapping one of the images on your canvas for another one - for example, if you want to change an image into a different one without changing its position on the canvas, or if you want to keep an image’s animation properties without having to set them up again.

1. Select an image
2. Navigate to the ‘Edit’ tab in the right-hand panel 
3. Click the ‘Replace image’ button
4. Choose an image from the library or upload your own to replace the existing image with

Lock element position

When you’re creating a particularly busy or intricate scene, locking element positions is a great way to avoid moving or adjusting them by accident.

1. Select an element
2. Navigate to the ‘Edit’ tab in the right-hand panel 
3. Click the ‘Lock element position’ icon

To unlock the element, first select it on the timeline, and then click the ‘Unlock element position’ icon in the same location.

Lock aspect ratio

You might want to resize an image without changing its horizontal or vertical proportions - for example, pictures of people or animals can look odd if they are stretched or squashed too much in one direction. In these instances, you can lock the image aspect ratio to keep their proportions fixed.

1. Select an image
2. Navigate to the ‘Edit’ tab in the right-hand panel 
3. Click the ‘Lock aspect ratio’ icon

To unlock the element’s aspect ratio, click the ‘Unlock aspect ratio’ icon in the same location.

Use content bounding box

Sometimes when you insert an image into VideoScribe for your browser, the outer box consisting of the resizing controls may be much larger than the image it contains, which can make it difficult to accurately resize your image and avoid selecting it by mistake.

To resolve this you can use the content bounding box instead, which shrinks the outer box to fit the image. This makes it much easier to arrange these images on your canvas.

1. Select an image 
2. Navigate to the ‘Edit’ tab in the right-hand panel 
3. Click the ‘Use content bounding box’ icon

To revert to using the image’s original view box, click the ‘Use original viewbox’ icon in the same location.

Hide element

Sometimes when you’re building a complex scene or working with layered elements, you may want to see behind a specific element without having to move it out of the way. You can hide elements in order to do this, which temporarily makes them fully transparent.

1. Select an element
2. Navigate to the ‘Edit’ tab in the right-hand panel 
3. Click the ‘Hide element’ icon

To unhide an element, click the ‘Unhide element’ icon in the same location.

Flip object

Flipping an image gives you the flexibility to orientate elements however you like - you can use it, for example, to have a character face the opposite direction to their usual orientation.

1. Select an image 
2. Navigate to the ‘Edit’ tab in the right-hand panel
3. Click the ‘Flip vertically’ icon or the ‘Flip horizontally’ icon to flip the image in the corresponding direction

Crop image

Perhaps there’s an image that you like the look of, but it contains some extra details that you don’t need in your animation - for example, you might only want one person in an image of two people, or you’d like part of an image to not be visible. You can crop images to cut away detail from the top, bottom, and/or sides.

However, cropping an image involves VideoScribe converting it into a raster PNG image, which will mean any drawing animations in SVG source images (such as our library images) will be ignored. Instead, the image will now have a simple diagonal reveal animation.

1. Select an image
2. Navigate to the ‘Edit’ tab in the right-hand panel
3. Click the ‘Crop image’ icon
4. A warning message will display, demonstrating how the image will animate once cropped. You can continue cropping, cancel the crop, or turn off the reminder
5. If you have chosen to continue with the crop, the crop tools will appear. You can adjust the crop using the handles around your image, or change its shape using the icons in the right-hand panel
6. Click ‘Apply crop’ to confirm your changes, or ‘Cancel cropping’ to discard them

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