Legacy Fragmenter Manual

This manual is for the legacy version of Fragmenter - animated loop machine.

Important notice

This manual is for the last published (but otherwise long out of date) android version of Fragmenter available on Amazon App Store. For an up-to-date manual for the latest desktop (available to download for Windows and Mac) version see the up-to-date Fragmenter Manual.

Introduction

Fragmenter - animated loop machine allows you to create moving images. Watching tutorials and experimenting with Fragmenter is the most effective way to learn to use it and thus strongly recommended.

In the following we give a detailed overview of the gui (graphical user interface) and all the functions of Fragmenter. Note that many of the features are only available in Fragmenter Pro and locked or limited in the free version, Fragmenter Lite. To be able to use all features, upgrade to Fragmenter Pro.

Gui arrangement

There are two different gui arrangements (you can choose between them in the Settings Menu):

  • A phone view optimized for small screens, where many tools are arranged in tabs.
  • A tablet view optimized for large screens, where you can reach all the functions without tabs.

The gui can be divided into these major blocks:

  • Drawing tools allow you to change how you draw (change brush size, etc.).
  • Layers: you have multiple layers to draw on. Different types of layers have different behaviour.
  • Animation tools allow you to change attributes of layers, and so modify your animation.
  • Settings Menu: here you can change additional settings, get help, etc..

Gui elements

There are different kinds of elements of the gui:

  • Simple buttons that are clickable to trigger some event. Note that for some buttons, holding your finger on the button for a longer time will trigger a different event, which we call a longclick event.
  • Second, there are switches that may have two or more states.
  • Finally, there are sliders that allow you to change some variable linearly.

Drawing tools

Paper color

To change the paper-color in phone view, you need to switch to the paper color tab, note that it's color shows you the current paper color.

There is a palette containing 10 paper color slots. The actual paper color slot is denoted by a brighter square (in our example it's the 2nd slot). Clicking on a non-actual slot will make it the actual paper color.

In the Pro version, clicking again on the actual color slot will open the RGB color chooser where you can set the red, green and blue components of the color. When you are done, click on the color tick to change the color of the current slot to this color.

Longclick the color tick to reset the color of this slot to the default color.

Note that some slots have textured backgrounds, which cannot be changed.

Pen color

Choosing the pen color is very similar to choosing the paper color.

To change the pen color in phone view, you need to switch to the pen color tab, note that it's color shows you the current pen color.

There is a palette containing 10 pen color slots. The actual pen color slot is denoted by a brighter square (in our example it's the 9th slot). Clicking on a non-actual slot will make it the actual pen color.

In the Pro version, clicking again on the actual color slot will open the RGB color chooser where you can set the red, green and blue components of the color. Note that changing the color will immediately change your actual color. When you are done, click on the color tick to change the color of the current slot to this color.

Longclick the color tick to reset the color of this slot to the default color.

Pen thickness

To change the pen thickness in phone view, you need to switch to the pen thickness tab, note that it shows you the current thickness. You can switch between constant thickness and variable thickness by clicking on their buttons. When you set constant thickness, the size of your pen will remain constant. When you set variable thickness, then the size of your pen will change over time, depending on how fast you draw or depending on the pressure you apply on the pen. To use pressure mode you need a capable device and you need to set it in the Settings Menu.

There is also a pen thickness slider next to these two buttons which allows you to change the size/thickness of the pen.

Symmetry

To change the symmetry mode in phone view, you need to switch to the symmetry tab. Here you can set the reflection mode clicking on the reflection switch. It has 3 modes,
  • no reflection
  • horizontal reflection
  • vertical reflection
In horizontal and vertical reflection mode what you draw is also mirrored on the respective axis.

You can also set the rotational symmetry clicking on the rotational symmetry switch.
  • no rotational symmetry
  • 32 rotated copies

Setting it to x rotational copies (where x can be 1,2,3,4,6,8,16,32 in the Pro version and 1,2,3 in the Lite version) will draw x rotated copies of what you draw, evenly distributed around the center of the screen.

Combining reflections and rotational symmetries gives you a wide range of possibilities to easily achieve stunning animated mandalas/kaleidoscopes.

Undo

Click on the undo button to undo the last stroke that you have drawn on the current layer.

Layers

There are currently four layers of three types (background, loop, infinite) in Fragmenter, you can choose which layer is active by clicking on its button. You always draw on and work with the active layer.
      

Master layer

The master layer is not a real layer, it is a dummy. If the master layer is active, then you cannot draw, but layer manipulations (erase, etc) apply to all layers.

Background layer

This is a still image you can draw on, serves as a background.

Loop layer

A loop layer has a fixed number of frames which are played repeatedly in a loop. Always the current frame and a fix number of previous frames are visible. When a loop layer is active, at any moment you draw on the frame that is current at that moment.

Infinite layer

This layer is played without looping, always a new frame is added to the layer, which is the current frame you draw on.

Save and load

To save/load in phone view, you need to switch to the save/load tab, in tablet view the relevant save/load slots are always visible.
You can save and load the full content of the active layer. There are separate slots for each layer type. E.g.,
  • is the 1st background layer slot,
  • is the 3rd loop layer slot,
  • is the 5th infinite layer slot and
  • is the 7th master layer slot.

  • Clicking on a slot loads the contents of the slot onto the active layer (also restoring the current frame and the frame tail length). Note that this overwrites completely your active layer, except when the slot is empty, in which case nothing happens.
  • Longclicking on a slot saves the contents of the active layer to that slot (also storing the current frame and the frame tail length).
  • While a save or load is in progress, a disk icon is shown: .
  • The master layer slots (, etc.) are essentially full snapshots, they store everything about all the layers. Thus, they store the background color, the contents of all layers, their states, whether they are paused, visible, faded. Note that the master layer needs to be active if you want to save/load to such a master slot.
  • Note that there is only one set of slots for each layer type. In particular, all loop layers save/load to the same set of slots.
  • In the Pro version you have 9 slots per layer type, in the Lite version only 2.

Animation tools

Here we explain how you can manipulate the active layer.



Erase

Erase button: erases the contents of the active layer. When is active, erases the contents of all layers.

Longclicking the erase button when a loop layer is active will erase the layer smoothly, i.e., it will erase the contents of a frame only when it becomes non-visible.

Fading on/off

Fade switch: when switched on , the frames of the current layer that are about to disappear are faded. No fading, when switched off .

Show/hide

Show/hide switch: switch between showing or hiding the current layer.

Play/pause

Play/pause switch: switch between playing and paused state of the current layer.

Rewind

Rewind button: rewind current layer to its first frame (used mostly for infinite layer). Hint: for a loop layer you can change its timing relative to other loop layers by rewinding it.

Change frame tail length

Frame tail length slider: set how many frames preceding the current frame are visible. White bar corresponds to the number of frames visible. Setting to max (leftmost position) will show all frames, thus the layer becomes a still image. Setting to min (rightmost position) will show no frames, but you can still draw (invisibly) on the current frame.
Hint: set the slider to min, then draw invisibly, then set the slider to something bigger and the drawing will magically appear.

Settings Menu

The settings menu can be reached by pressing the android back button, or longclicking the gui button. In the settings menu you can do the following things:

Gui mode

Here you can choose between the two gui arrangements:

  • A phone view optimized for small screens, where many tools are arranged in tabs.
  • A tablet view optimized for large screens, where you can reach all the functions without tabs.

Pressure sensitivity

Here you can choose between the two pen pressure modes:

  • Off means that you don't use the pressure info of the pen. Thus variable pen width is calculated from the speed of the stroke.
  • On means that you the pressure info of the pen is used. Thus variable pen width is calculated from the pressure info of the pen. You need a compatible device to use this mode, otherwise there won't be pressure info and the pen width will be always constant.

Support

  • User Manual... shows you this online manual in a browser.
  • Watch tutorial videos online... shows you a page in a browser where you can watch tutorial videos.
  • Click on contact us... to write an email to us - your questions and comments are more than welcome.
  • Depending on the version of Fragmenter you use, you might be able to write a review.... We encourage you to do so, as feedback is still welcome and it also improves visibility of the app.
  • If you are using the free version of fragmenter you can upgrade to Fragmenter Pro..., which allows you to use all the features of Fragmenter (as many features are locked or limited in Fragmenter Lite).

Quit

  • Click on the gui button to quit the Settings Menu and return to the animation interface. The android back button will also take you back to the animation interface.
  • Click on the quit button to quit Fragmenter.