Q&A for How to Animate in FireAlpaca

Try duplicating the frame, coloring the bottom one with the bucket tool (with expand 2 or 3), or hand-coloring it. It's okay if you go over the lines. Next, merge the duplicate on top with the colored one and it looks fine!

Yes. You can make it as long as you want. Just know the longer your animation is, the more time you'll spend on it. Animation is tough, and you'll need to spend a lot of time, even on a shorter project.

Update to the latest version by downloading it again. This should be easy, but make sure to download it from the official site.

There isn't a maximum number of frames; you can make it as large as you want. However, if you add an absurd amount of frames, your computer might not be able to handle it, and the program might crash.

You can't, you would have to save all of the frames and put it into a video yourself.

Are you in Onion Skin mode? If not, go to "View" and check "Onion Skin." Then it should be able to turn into an animation. However, remember that it doesn't move when you're simply drawing. You have to go to "Autoplay" (also in View) to see how it'll turn out. Also, I assume you know this, but you have to draw the frames. It doesn't draw them for you.

It is becasue iMovie does not allow you to import GIF files. In my experience, what works is to save all the frames, put them in iMovie, and then make all of the frames show for as long as you want.

You can use programs such as Windows Movie Maker or you can also use iMovie.

Unfortunately you can't make the gif more than 121 frames. Try deleting frames that you don't need. If you need to keep all of your frames, try uploading them somewhere else.

Click on "View" in the list of options at the top right corner of the application. Look down the tab that popped up until you find onion skin mode. Click on it.

GIFs aren't able to have audio. If you want to animate with audio, use the Export Frame option and import into a video-editing program like VSDC for Windows or iMovie for Mac. Another free program with the animation option is Krita, which exports as a video instead of a GIF, so you are able to have sound. However, it is much more complex.

No, for adding sound you have to export the animation in a video editor.

Provided your flash drive has sufficient space, yes. If not, you can put the video into a compressed .zip folder to shrink down its size.

You don't really “scroll through” the animation, but to view the progress you’ve made, click “View” and select Autoplay. A small, separate window will open and show you all your progress as a finished animation. In this window you can change the frame rate as well.

While creating your new image (File -> New or Ctrl+N), under resolution choose whether you would like no background, or a colored one. If you want a colored background, then click the box next to it and choose whatever color you want. There is no possible way to make your own background, sadly.

I've gotten 300+ frames in an animation before; I've never hit a limit.

Did you check the FPS? The bigger the number before FPS is, the faster your frames will appear.

Yes, it is. Keep in mind your animation cannot be more than 121 frames. If your animation is more than 121 frames, use something like iMovie. When AlpacaDouga prompts you to select your frames, click and drag (and keep your finger on the trackpad/mouse) to select multiple frames. Keep in mind you have to select them in order, or else the order of the frames will be incorrect.

You need to create a new animation before you can enable onion skin. To create a new animation, go to File and click the 'New' tab (or just press Ctrl+N).

You can put them on a video editor like iMovies, OpenShot Video Editor or Windows Movie Maker.

There are many methods, but I find it best to make all of your frames on a separate canvas, merge everything, then use those merged frames for your final GIF. This means that your completed frames will not have any more than one (1) layer. So, two canvases in total. One for drawing the frames, the other for adding the finished (merged!) frames and playing them in FireAlpaca using the autoplay and onion skin option.

You'll just have to delete some frames and maybe export as separate animations. Sadly, you can't exceed 121 frames.

No, but slowing down the animation to the lowest speed is a good option. This makes it slow enough so that you can analyze the frames, and you can also go back to some of your layers to check whether anything is off.

When you download it, you will have to save it as a GIF file. But if you want to change it, when you do 'Save as' select something other than PNG or whatever you are using.

Some file types are not eligible for different bits and operating systems. Try to save it as a MP4 or video file.

If you want to make the background in every frame, you'll need to duplicate the background layer and merge one with every frame. You can also put the background in an editing software.

Every panel needs the background, there is no way to have a static/constant image that isn't present in every frame unless you use an external program.