your first animation

From an empty project to a .q0s movie on the portal. These pages live here on q0id; the language reference covers the current source, with compatibility notes where older players differ.

start a project

Download q0editor and q0player. In q0editor, press ctrl+n to start a project and ctrl+s to save it as .q1s. Keep that source project: the exported .q0s is a playback file.

draw

Use the pen, pencil, brush, line, rectangle and oval tools. The paint bucket fills enclosed areas, including faces formed by crossing strokes. Hold space over the stage to pan. Select a character and press ctrl+g to make a reusable q0rg symbol; ctrl+b breaks it apart.

See advanced brush, shape tweens, screen color sampling and workspace layouts.

animate

Use onion skin to see nearby frames, easing to control timing, and the rig tools for bones and two-bone inverse kinematics.

add code

Press f9 for the current q0rg's general script. To run code when playback enters a specific frame, right-click that frame in the timeline and choose Add Frame Code.... General scripts hold initial values and reusable functions.

import q0.timeline

pb func start_frame {
  return 3
}

gostop! start_frame()

This general script jumps to frame index 3 and stops. Code counts frames from zero; the timeline labels them from one. Commands ending in ! request an action. Functions have real brace-delimited bodies and are called with parentheses.

Read the q0lang guide, syntax, libraries and keyboard movement example. Mouse support depends on the player version; see events.

export and share

Press ctrl+e and choose .q0s for q0player. Other export choices include mp4, gif, png sequences and .q0v. Open the result in q0player, play it and seek through it before uploading your animation.

keep going

• beta test checklist: verify an editor-to-player workflow and collect a reproducible bug report.
• windows installers: build and package the applications.
• roadmap: project priorities.
• autosave and recovery: recover work after an interruption.

Use the sidebar for the complete documentation, release notes and design history.