Properties Panel: The Properties Panel is used to set various scene specific properties for an element. When you draw objects in Drawing view they are exactly as you create them referenced to the field guide grid. Then when you place your drawing objects in Camera view (also referred to as Scene Planning view) you can change their scale, rotation orientation, positional location etc. These changes do not alter the original drawing, they are just modifications applied in Camera view.

Camera view modifications are parameter driven and there are two categories of them. They can either be "frame specific" or "scene specific". The parameters that are "frame specific" are referred to as keyframes (which is short for keyed frame parameters). The word keyed means that the parameter is pegged or pinned or tacked to that specific frame in time. You can vary keyed frame parameters along the timeline and thus they are animatable.

"Scene specific" parameters are pegged or pinned or tacked to an entire drawing or image element (all the cells of that element) for an entire scene. They are not variable along the timeline like keyframes but rather they are static or fixed for the duration of the entire scene. "Scene specific" parameters are set in one of two ways. Either you set them using the Scene Select tool (6) or you type in a value for the parameter in the appropriate box of the Properties Panel. So the Properties Panel could also be easily named the Scene Properties Panel because it is used to set the "scene specific" properties of an element.

Here is a good guideline for when to use scene specific parameters VS frame specific parameters. If the element is a background element that doesn't move during the scene like a rock or a tree or a piece of furniture etc. Then it is static and you can set it up for the entire scene. If the element is an actor, a character, or a body part, something that will move and be animated then you want to use keyframes to modify that element so that they can be animated along the timeline.



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