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Preview window

A live, scaled-up preview of your work that plays animations and applies color cycles. Two modes: docked (panel next to the Frames timeline) or floating (draggable overlay).


Where to find it

HotkeyP
Top barPreview icon

The default mode is docked — when you press P, the bottom of the editor splits to show the timeline on the left and the Preview window on the right. Drag the divider to resize.


Header controls

Preview window header

ButtonWhat
Title + dimensionsPreview · 32×32 · 4× (project size + scale)
Zoom out / Zoom inAdjusts the preview scale (1×–16×). Independent of the canvas zoom.
Pause / PlayVisible when an animation is active. Pauses playback.
Pin / PinOffToggle docked ↔ floating mode
×Close the preview window

Modes

Docked

Default. The preview lives in the bottom strip, sharing space with the Frames timeline. Resizable via the vertical divider. Stays anchored across page reloads.

Floating

A draggable, resizable overlay over the editor. Drag the header to move; the position is persisted in localStorage. Useful when you want to compare the preview side-by-side with the canvas.


Playback

The preview shows:

  • No animation active → the active frame, statically.
  • Animation active → the animation plays through its steps at the configured durations and loop mode (loop / pingpong / once).

Switch the active animation from the Anims tab.


Zoom / scale

The preview scale (1×–16×) is independent of the editor canvas zoom. Use higher scales (4×, 8×) to see your sprite at game resolution while you work.

A small "Preview · WxH · Nx" label in the header confirms the current scale.


Color cycles

If your project has any enabled color cycles, they animate inside the preview window — the slot rotation re-paints the displayed pixels every stepMs. The underlying pixel buffers are unchanged; the cycle is a viewer-time effect.

This is the only place cycles render. The main canvas always shows the static palette state.


Tips

  • Press P to toggle visibility quickly while iterating.
  • Floating mode is great for multi-monitor setups — drag the preview to the second screen.
  • The preview always uses the active animation, so to compare animations, switch them in the Anims tab.
  • Onion skin and tile preview do not apply to the preview window — it shows the clean composed frame.

Motestack is a personal hobby project. The editor and these docs ship under no warranty — back up your `.mstack` files.