Moebius² Animations

Creating Animations in Moebius²

Moebius² supports frame-based animations saved in the native .mob format, with export to Animated PNG (APNG) and ANSImation (.ans) for sharing.

Enabling Animation Mode

Animation mode is off by default so that regular single-image editing is unaffected.

To enable it:

• Go to View → Animation Mode, or
• Press Ctrl+Shift+M

The Animation Panel will appear on the right side of the window (below the Layers panel). Your existing canvas automatically becomes Frame 1.

To disable animation mode, use the same menu item or shortcut. Note that disabling it collapses all frames back to a single image (the current frame is kept).

The Animation Panel

The Animation Panel contains everything you need to manage frames.

Transport Controls

Button	Action
⏮	Jump to first frame
◀	Previous frame
▶	Play / Pause (flip-book style)
▶̃	Play as ANSImation (streaming, terminal-style)
▶	Next frame
⏭	Jump to last frame

The Frame X / Y counter shows your current position in the sequence.

Frame Settings

Each frame has its own settings, editable when that frame is selected:

Setting	Description
FPS	Global playback speed in frames per second (1–60). Applies to all frames that don't have a per-frame delay override. Default: 8 fps.
Delay	Per-frame delay in milliseconds. When set to a non-zero value, this overrides the global FPS for that specific frame. Useful for pauses or variable-speed effects. Leave at 0 to use the global FPS.
Reveal	The transition effect used when playing this frame as an ANSImation stream. See [[#Reveal Effects|Reveal Effects]] below.
Scene Break	When checked, this frame starts a new scene — the canvas is fully cleared before this frame is drawn during stream playback. Disabled on Frame 1 (always a scene break). See Scenes vs Sub-frames below.

Adding Frames

Three buttons add new frames after the currently selected frame:

Button	What it creates
+ Clone	A full copy of the current frame. The clone starts as a sub-frame (no scene break). Use this as the starting point for incremental changes — the classic animation workflow.
+ Sub	A blank frame marked as a sub-frame (no scene break). Use when you want to paint something fresh that builds on a running scene.
+ Scene	A blank frame marked as a scene break. The canvas clears before this frame plays, starting a new scene from scratch.

Deleting and Reordering

• ✕ Del removes the current frame. The button is disabled when only one frame exists.
• Frames can be dragged and dropped to reorder them — click and drag any frame card in the strip at the

bottom of the panel.

The Frame Strip

The strip at the bottom of the Animation Panel shows a card for every frame:

• The active frame is highlighted.
• Scene break frames have a distinct border colour.
• Each card shows the frame number and either its delay (in ms) or its reveal effect name.
• Click a card to jump to that frame.
• Drag a card left or right to reorder it.
• Scroll the strip horizontally with the mouse wheel.

Resizing and Docking

• Drag the resize handle at the top of the panel to make it taller or shorter.
• Click the ⇅ button to move the panel to the bottom of the window (useful on wide monitors). Click

⇄ to move it back to the right panel.

Scenes vs Sub-frames

Understanding scenes and sub-frames is key to getting the most out of ANSImation export.

Scene break frame

The canvas is wiped blank before this frame is drawn during stream playback. Frame 1 is always a scene break.

Shown with a distinct colour in the frame strip.

Sub-frame

Builds on whatever was already on screen. During stream playback, only the differences (the new cells) are

written — giving a smooth incremental-draw or overlay effect.

Typical workflows:

• Flip-book animation — each frame is a scene break with its own fully-drawn image. Plays back fast and is

best exported as APNG.

• ANSImation / typewriter effect — Frame 1 is a scene, subsequent frames are sub-frames that each reveal a

little more of the image, simulating the look of a terminal drawing in real time.

• Mixed — multiple scenes each consisting of several sub-frame steps.

Playback Modes

Flip Playback (▶)

Cycles through all frames at the configured FPS (or per-frame delay). Each frame is displayed in full. This is your standard animation preview and is what APNG export captures.

ANSImation Streaming (▶̃)

Replays the animation as a raw ANSI byte stream, the way it would look in a classic terminal. The Speed dropdown controls how fast the bytes are fed:

Speed	Description
2400 baud	Very slow — authentic retro BBS speed
9600 baud	Slow — still noticeably character-by-character
Slow	Relaxed streaming pace
Medium	Comfortable viewing speed
Fast	Near-instant with visible flow
Max	As fast as the renderer can go

A progress bar appears at the bottom of the panel during streaming. Clicking ▶̃ again stops playback and restores the canvas to the current editing frame.

Reveal Effects

Each frame can have a reveal effect applied during ANSImation stream playback. The effect controls how the frame's content is written to the screen.

Effect	Description
Inchworm	Default. Draws left-to-right, top-to-bottom, like a terminal cursor.
Instant	The entire frame appears at once with no incremental drawing.
Wipe Down	Reveals the frame top-to-bottom in rows.
Wipe Up	Reveals the frame bottom-to-top.
Wipe Left	Reveals right-to-left by column.
Wipe Right	Reveals left-to-right by column.
Diagonal	Reveals along a diagonal sweep.
Starburst	Expands outward from the centre.
Scramble	Reveals cells in a random order.
Checkerboard	Reveals in a checkerboard pattern.

Reveal effects only apply during ANSImation stream playback and ANSImation export. They have no effect during flip playback or APNG export.

Typical Animation Workflow

Simple Flip-Book

1. Enable Animation Mode (Ctrl+Shift+M).
2. Draw your first frame as normal.
3. Click + Clone to create a copy, then make your changes.
4. Repeat step 3 for each additional frame.
5. Set FPS to taste (8–12 is typical).
6. Press ▶ to preview.
7. Export via File → Export As Animated PNG… (Ctrl+Shift+A).

ANSImation / Scrolling Reveal

1. Enable Animation Mode.
2. Draw the final state of your image on Frame 1 — this is your starting scene.
3. Click + Sub to add sub-frames. On each sub-frame, draw or paint the next incremental step.
4. For each sub-frame, choose a Reveal effect if desired.
5. Use + Scene whenever you want to cut to a completely new image.
6. Preview with ▶̃ and adjust Speed and Delay values.
7. Export via File → Export As ANSImation… (saves as .ans).

Exporting

Export format	Menu item	Shortcut	Notes
Animated PNG (APNG)	File → Export As Animated PNG…	Ctrl+Shift+A	Works in any animation mode. Captures all frames at their configured FPS/delay. Widely supported in browsers and image viewers.
ANSImation (.ans)	File → Export As ANSImation…	—	Only available in animation mode. Exports the raw ANSI byte stream with reveal effects applied. For playback in terminal viewers, BBS software, and ANSI players.
Static PNG	File → Export As PNG…	Ctrl+Shift+E	Exports the current frame only as a static image.

The native .mob file format always saves all frames, timing, reveal effects, and scene break information, so you can continue editing at any time.

Collaborative Animation

When connected to a Moebius² server that has animation mode enabled, frame operations (add, clone, delete, reorder, meta changes) are synchronised to all connected users in real time. Each user sees the same frame strip and can draw on any frame.

See Moebius² Server for server setup instructions.