Pencil is a program of creating of hand-drawn animation. When creating animations it uses four types of layers: vector graphics, bitmap, sound and camera. These layers and be added or removed dynamically and you can change each layer as it has a track that lets you change it as a function of time by inserting keys at certain frames in the track. These keys create the sequence that enables animation.

Pencil can also be used as a simple drawing program with standard design tools like pen, brush, paint bucket and more with an unlimited canvas space. The options palatte lets you choose the size or color of each tool. If you select a vector image layer, you can use those same tools but all your strokes are converted to geometrical shapes. That way, you can enlarge your drawings without any aliasing effect. The color is automatically changed in the vector image when you change it in the colors palette. This makes the vector images perfect for clear-cut drawings as in a character animation while bitmap images are ideal for backgrounds or quick drafts.

Pencil even lets you import existing drawings on real paper into the program, creating a key for each image. This is very useful if you have a lot of paper images to work on. You can also copy and paste images from other applications. Pencil also has simple sound support should you want to add a sound layer and choose where you want it to begin playing.

Pencil saves your work in an SML format with a folder containing the bitmap data. You can export your work as a series of PNG images, a Flash or a Quicktime movie. Pencil is a versatile drawing program that is easy to learn and produces superb results.

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