Motion between scenes, motion within a scene.
There are two ways to make things move in SSHOW. A transition bridges the change from one scene to the next, and the timeline moves objects over time within a single scene.
Transitions and the timeline
Transition
This is motion between one scene and the next. Put an object with the same name in two scenes, looking different in each, and turn on the transition of the scene you’re leaving. SSHOW fills in the change in between.
All you need is two looks: the start and the end. You don’t need keyframes.
Timeline
This is motion within one scene. Each scene has one clock. In Animation mode, when you move the playhead and then change an object, its look at that moment is recorded as a keyframe.
SSHOW fills in the motion between keyframes. You decide what moves and at what second.
The right method for the motion
| Motion you want | Method | Why | Read more |
|---|---|---|---|
| A card grows into the next screen as the scene changes | Transition | All you need is two looks: the start and the end. | Your first transition |
| The background color changes as the scene changes | Transition | A scene’s transition changes the background color too. | Fine-tune transitions |
| The title, body, and picture appear one after another | Timeline | You decide what moves when. | Your first animation |
| One item appears with each click | Timeline and stops | Playback waits for the next click at each stop. | Stops and the work area |
| Motion that repeats without stopping | Frame clock | Give a frame its own clock and turn on Autoplay and Loop. | Frame clocks |
How a transition pairs objects
When playback moves to the next scene, SSHOW pairs the objects in the two scenes by name. The table below shows what happens when the transition is on for the scene you’re leaving.
If you turn on a transition for just one object in the scene you’re leaving, instead of for the scene, only that object moves smoothly. The other objects and the background switch to the next scene’s look right away.
| In the two scenes | During the change |
|---|---|
| In both, with the same name | It changes smoothly from its look in the first scene to its look in the next. Position, size, rotation, opacity, fills and strokes, effects, corner radius, and path shape all change together. Things that can’t be bridged with numbers, such as text content, fonts, and images, show the next scene’s version from the start. |
| Only in the next scene | Fades in. |
| Only in the first scene | Fades out. |
| Scene background | Changes to the next scene’s background. |
How to give objects the same name
When you duplicate a scene, every object keeps its name. When you copy an object and paste it into another scene, it also keeps its name, as long as that scene has no object with the same name. So the fastest way to make the next scene is to duplicate the previous one and then edit it. Duplicating is covered in Work with scenes.
A newly drawn object gets a name that no other object in the document has. If you draw a separate circle in the next scene, it gets a different name, such as “Ellipse 2”, and doesn’t pair. To match the names, double-click a name in the Objects list and change it.
An object inside a group or frame pairs only if the group’s name matches too. Conversely, if you rename one side, the pair breaks: the first one disappears and the next one appears as new.
Play order when you use both
You can use both in one piece. When you click on the presentation screen and the current scene’s timeline still has stops ahead, it plays to the next stop. If there’s no timeline, or it has finished, the click moves to the next scene with the transition.
When the transition ends and the next scene arrives, that scene’s timeline plays right away. A click while a timeline plays skips to the next stop or to the end. Only the timeline of the scene where playback starts waits for the first click before it plays. To make another scene also wait for a click after it arrives, put a stop at 0 seconds in that scene.
You set the speed of both kinds of motion in the same place. For both transitions and keyframes, you choose Easing or Spring in the Motion panel. If the panel title is Motion - Transition, you’re editing the motion between scenes. If it’s Motion - Keyframe or Motion - Keyframes, you’re editing the motion between keyframes. For details, see Fine-tune transitions.
New scenes have no transition
The scenes in a new project, and scenes you add, start with no transition. So even if you put circles with the same name in different places, the circle appears in its next place right away when you play.
Select the scene you’re leaving in the Scenes list, and click the curve-shaped first button in the button row at the top right. The Motion panel shows “Scene: …” at the top and “No Transition” below it. Choose Easing or Spring, then click Apply.
A duplicated scene keeps the original scene’s transition. If this is your first time, follow Your first transition.
Updated 10/12/2026 · The videos on this page were recorded in the current editor.