Stykz • Help - View Modes: Edit vs. Preview

# Working With the Stage

## View Modes: Edit vs. Preview

Last updated on 11/6/2010

Stykz operates in two separate viewing modes: Edit Mode and Preview. You can see what mode you are currently in, or switch to another mode, through the use of the View menu. The current mode is checked with a checkmark; selecting the other mode will switch you to that mode:

## Edit Mode

Edit Mode is the mode in which you spend 95% of your time - in this mode you can add, edit, delete, and manipulate your figures and other elements on the Stage. Edit Mode is the default for newly created or opened Stykz documents. This is an example of a selected figure in Edit Mode:

This figure has a static segment (shown in solid gray) and a hidden segment (shown in a light blended gray) - both of which are clearly visible in Edit Mode.

## Preview

By contrast, Preview is the mode where you can preview how the current frame will look when it is going to play in your animation (whether inside Stykz in the StykzPlayer window or after having been exported to GIF or QuickTime). This is an example of the same figure above, but in Preview:

You'll notice that the hidden segment is actually gone in this mode (as are the nodes on the figure), just as it would display during playback.

When you switch to Preview, Stykz will automatically hide all of the other Stykz palettes so you can focus on how your frame looks (this is especially useful if you have any of the palettes overlapping the main document window).

## Switching Between Modes

You can switch between modes two ways: you can use the menu bar (View > Edit Mode and View > Preview), or you can use the keyboard shortcut - hitting the Tab key will quickly toggle between the two modes.

## Other Places These Modes Are Used

In addition to you manually selecting a mode to display, Stykz will automatically show frame(s) in a specific mode:

StykzPlayer | When you play your animation using the Play button in the Controller Palette, the frames you see playing are the same as you'd see in Preview.
Scrubbing | When you use the Scrubber in the Controller Palette, the frame(s) you see when the mouse is held down during scrubbing is in Preview; when you release the mouse, the currently displayed frame returns to Edit Mode.