Dynamics add moving patterns and effects you pick.

A dynamic paints with a moving pattern such as Aurora or Waves, or changes an object’s picture as an effect such as Halftone or Glitch. Click Dynamic from the + button of Fills, Strokes, or Effects, and pick a card on the picker that opens.

ToolIntermediateAbout 6 minDesign modeWebDesktopTablet

Guide

Where dynamics go

Select an object, and the right panel shows Fills, Strokes, and Effects in a group such as Rect Style. Whichever row’s + button you use, clicking Dynamic opens the same picker.

Fills

Click Dynamic in the Color, Image, Dynamic menu of the + button next to Fills. The pattern you pick paints the inside of the object. It stacks with other paints in the same order as on Fills and gradients.

  • ⌘⇧DOpen the picker for fills (the scene if nothing is selected)

Strokes

Click Dynamic in the menu of the + button next to Strokes, and the pattern you pick paints the outline. A new stroke is 1px, so the pattern is hard to see; raise the width number in the row. Images and videos can have one on their outline too, and a dynamic stroke takes no arrowheads.

StrokesWith a circle selected, clicking Dynamic from the + button of Strokes and picking the Aurora card adds a barely visible 1px aurora stroke, and dragging the width number in the row up to 22 makes the outline stand out. Video: With a circle selected, choosing Dynamic from the + button next to Strokes lists the Basic and Backgrounds cards in the Dynamic window, and picking the Aurora card gives the circle a 1px aurora stroke that is barely visible. Dragging the width number in the row to the right up to 22 makes a teal aurora flow clearly along the bottom and sides of the circle’s outline.

Effects

Click the + button next to Effects to open “Select Effect Type”. Click Dynamic at the end, and the picker opens in the same place, where you pick a Retro effect such as Halftone or Glitch. A dynamic effect changes the object’s picture itself, so it suits photos and text.

EffectsWith a photo selected, clicking Dynamic from the + button of Effects and picking the Halftone card turns the photo into dots, and raising Size makes the dots bigger. Video: With a photo selected, choosing Dynamic from the + button next to Effects lists the Retro pack's effect cards, and picking the Halftone card turns the photo into dots. Dragging the Size slider to the right makes the dots bigger.

Scene background

With nothing selected, click Dynamic from the + button next to Style › Fills in the Scene panel at the top to paint the whole scene background with a dynamic. Mesh Gradient, Waves, and Stars from the Backgrounds pack make a moving background.

Scene backgroundWith nothing selected, clicking Dynamic from the + button of Fills in the Scene panel and picking the Mesh Gradient card turns the whole scene background into a slowly drifting gradient. Video: With nothing selected, choosing Dynamic from the + button next to Fills in the Scene panel lists the Basic and Backgrounds cards in the Dynamic window, and picking the Mesh Gradient card turns the whole dark scene background into a slowly drifting gradient of violet, pink, orange, and sky blue. The title Daylight stays on top.

The picker

Clicking Dynamic from a + button opens the Dynamic window on its picker. Under Kind come the pack names, and under each, a card per dynamic with a small picture and a name. Opened from fills or strokes, it shows the dynamics that paint; opened from effects, it shows the dynamic effects.

Click a card to add that dynamic at its default values; the window then switches to its settings. If you close the window before picking a card, nothing is added. Press ⌘Z once to take the added one back out.

The new row shows the dynamic’s small picture and its name, such as Aurora. To edit it again, click the small picture at the left of the row. Clicking the name field doesn’t open the window.

Clicking Dynamic from the + button of Fills and picking the Aurora card sets an aurora flowing over the rectangle, and picking Fire with the Kind button makes flames flicker. Video: Choosing Dynamic from the + button next to Fills lists the Basic and Backgrounds cards in the Dynamic window, and picking the Aurora card sets an aurora flowing over the rectangle. Clicking the Kind button and picking the Fire card makes flames flicker.

Packs that come with every editor

The three dynamic packs every editor starts with, and the dynamics in each
PackDynamicsGoes onMotion
BasicAurora · Ink · Fire · Lens FlareFills · StrokesAll but Lens Flare move.
BackgroundsMesh Gradient · Waves · Voronoi · Rays · Stars · Dots · GridFills · StrokesAll but Dots and Grid move.
RetroHalftone · Pixelate · Duotone · Posterize · Glitch · Chromatic · ScanlinesEffectsOnly Glitch moves.

The Dynamic window

After you pick a card, or when you click the small picture in a row, the Dynamic window shows that dynamic’s settings. A moving dynamic moves both while you edit and during playback, and the values you change are drawn on the canvas right away.

Kind

The Type › Kind button shows the current dynamic’s small picture and name. Click it, and the window turns back into the picker, with a blue border on the card in use. Click another card to switch to that dynamic; its Parameters go back to their defaults. Press ⌘Z to bring the earlier values back. Clicking the same card changes nothing and returns to the settings.

  • Kind buttonOpen the picker
  • Another cardSwitch to that dynamic (parameters reset to defaults)

Parameters

Parameters differ for each dynamic. Drag a slider or type in a field for numbers; for a color, click its swatch and pick in the Colors window that opens, which offers a solid color with no opacity. Some are on/off boxes, such as Monochrome on Halftone. The canvas changes while you drag a slider, and letting go leaves one undo step.

ParametersClicking the small picture in the Aurora row of Fills opens the Dynamic window, dragging the Thickness slider thickens the ribbons, and picking pink in the Colors window opened from the Color 1 swatch turns them pink. Video: Clicking the small Aurora picture in the fill row of a rectangle painted with Aurora opens the Dynamic window on its settings. Dragging the Thickness slider thickens the aurora’s ribbons as you drag, and picking pink in the Colors window opened from the Color 1 swatch turns the teal ribbons pink.

Opacity

Every dynamic has Appearance › Opacity (0–100%). Lower it to let the paint below show through on fills and strokes, or the original picture on effects.

Copy and paste

Click Copy in the window’s title bar to remember the kind, the parameters, and the opacity together. Open the window of another dynamic row and click Paste, and that row becomes the same dynamic. Paste is turned off between a fill or stroke dynamic and an effect dynamic.

Where they fit, and how many

Fills and strokes can each have one dynamic. When one is already there, Dynamic in the + menu is turned off. Effects take any number of dynamics, stacked and applied from the top row down like other effects.

Text can’t have a dynamic in its fills or strokes, but it can take one as an effect. Images and videos have no fills, so they take dynamics in strokes and effects only. Groups take them in effects only, and the scene in fills and strokes only.

Animation and transitions

Dynamics change with keyframes and transitions too. When both sides are the same dynamic from the same pack, the numbers and colors under Parameters and the Opacity change smoothly. On/off boxes switch halfway.

When the kinds differ, the values don’t carry over: the first pattern fades out over the first half, and the second appears over the second half. A moving dynamic such as Aurora keeps moving with no keyframes at all. To add keyframes, see Working with keyframes.

With the same Mesh Gradient in different colors on two scenes, clicking the screen after Play from this scene moves and grows the rectangle while the pattern’s colors change smoothly. Video: The rectangles in two scenes are painted with the same Mesh Gradient in different colors and scales, and the one in the second scene sits further right and is a little bigger. After the Play from this scene button is clicked, a click on the presentation screen makes the rectangle move right and grow while its blue, cyan and violet pattern changes smoothly into pink and orange.

Getting more packs

Find and install other dynamic packs under Extensions in Studio’s left sidebar. Installing extensions shows how.

An installed pack shows up as a named group on the picker in the editors you open after that. An editor that’s already open doesn’t get it, so close and reopen it. Pick a pack that paints from Dynamic in fills or strokes, and an effect pack from Dynamic in Effects.

Removing a pack leaves documents painted with it as they are: they still open and draw. The editor fetches the packs a document uses when it opens it, so you don’t need to install a pack to open a document someone else made. A .sshowdynamic file you received goes into only the editor you have open when you drop it on the editor.

Clicking Extensions at the bottom of the Studio sidebar shows the plugin list on the Extensions screen, and clicking the Dynamics chip changes the list to the Basic, Retro, and Backgrounds packs. Video: On the Studio home, clicking the box-shaped Extensions at the bottom of the left sidebar opens the Extensions screen with the default plugins, and clicking the Dynamics chip next to the search field changes the list to three packs: Basic, Retro, and Backgrounds. Each row shows Default at its right end.

Files, export, and sharing

.sshow copy

A .sshow file from Save a Copy in the Menu carries the dynamic packs its document uses. It draws as it is even where there’s no internet. A file from Download .sshow in a Studio card’s menu keeps only the pack names and fetches default and published packs again when it opens.

Export

Image, video, and GIF keep what’s on the screen, and a moving dynamic keeps moving in video and GIF. In SVG and Lottie, fills and strokes painted with a dynamic become solid black, and in HTML’s vector mode, light gray. Dynamic effects are left out of SVG, Lottie, and HTML vector mode. If the document’s packs are still arriving, export waits up to 8 seconds for them before drawing. The differences between formats are on Export.

Sharing and editing together

If you pick a dynamic from an unpublished pack in a Studio project, the Dynamic window shows “This pack isn’t published, so others won’t see this dynamic”. That paint looks blank to people who view it through a link and to people editing with you. Default packs and packs published on the Extensions screen draw for everyone.

When a dynamic doesn’t show

  • Is the picker empty?

    On the web, the editor fetches the default packs the first time you open the Dynamic window. Until then only the Kind heading shows, and cards fill in as each pack arrives, so wait a moment. If it stays empty, check your internet connection, then close and reopen the window. The desktop and tablet apps use the packs inside the app, so the picker fills even offline.

  • Can’t you click Dynamic in Effects?

    The pack with dynamic effects hasn’t arrived yet. Hover over the button and it says “No dynamic effects installed”. The button turns on by itself when the Retro pack arrives, so wait a moment. If it stays off, check your internet connection.

  • Does a dynamic paint look blank?

    While the pack a document uses is arriving, that paint looks blank, and it draws by itself once the pack lands. If the pack can’t be found, only that paint or effect stays blank, and the row shows the stored English name, such as aurora, with the dynamic icon. The Dynamic window then has only Opacity, and the Kind button is turned off.

  • Are the dynamics blank in an older .sshow file?

    In a .sshow file saved before dynamics came in packs, Aurora, Ink, Fire, and Lens Flare can look blank. Remove that row with the − button, then pick it again from Dynamic in the + button.

Shortcuts on this page

Shortcuts on this page
Pick a dynamic for fills (the scene if nothing is selected)⌘⇧D
Take back an added dynamic⌘Z
Was this page helpful?

Updated 10/30/2026 · The videos on this page were recorded in the current editor.

Popular