ESP3UserGuide3 2

EASY SKETCH PRO
User GUIDE
Version 3.2 May 2016
Important Note
New features are being added to Easy Sketch Pro all of the time and so
we will be adding to and updating this guide on a regular basis.
To find out if this is the latest version of the Guide, note the version
number above this box and then compare it with the current version
on this page
http://www.easysketchpro.org/espguide/update.html
If necessary, you can download the latest version from that page and
also signup to be notified of all future updates.
If the above link is not clickable, copy and paste it into the address bar of your
Internet browser.
NiScape
Easy Sketch Pro User Guide
2016 NiScape, all rights reserved
You do NOT have the right to reprint or resell this document. No part of this
document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever,
electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
informational storage or retrieval system without express written, dated and
signed permission from the publisher.
DISCLAIMER AND/OR LEGAL NOTICES:
The information presented herein represents the view of the publisher as of the
date of publication. This document is for informational purposes only. While
every attempt has been made to verify the information provided in this
document neither the publisher nor its affiliates or partners assume any
responsibility for errors, inaccuracies or omissions. Any slights of people or
organisations are unintentional. If advice concerning financial, legal or related
matters is needed, the services of a fully qualified professional should be
sought. This document is not intended for use as a source of legal or
accounting advice. You should be aware of any laws that govern business
transactions or other business practices in your country and geographical
location.
Copyright NiScape 2016 Page 2

CONTENTS
Introduction 4
Download and Installation 5
Easy Sketch Pro Workspace 17
Canvas Options 20
Images 27
Using Your Own Images 32
Animation 37
Text 47
Timeline 52
Saving and Opening Projects 54
Video 56
Multiple Scenes 62
Sound 68
Many Hands 75
Creating Your Video 77
Interactive Features 79
Putting It All Together 81
Now Its Over To You 82

Introduction
Welcome to Easy Sketch Pro!
You now have in your hands something that is going to revolutionise your
video creation and marketing endeavours.
The purpose of this guide is to walk you through every aspect of using Easy
Sketch Pro so that, by the end of it, you will be making whiteboard animation
videos every bit as good as the professionals and at a tiny fraction of the cost.
There is also a selection of additional video tutorials in the My Dot Com

Business Members Area. You will find them on the same page where you
downloaded the software i.e. My Products / Easy Sketch Pro.
You can watch these either before or after completing this user guide.
If you have any problems that are not resolved by reading this guide or
watching the tutorial videos, you can contact My Dot Com Business Support
here
http://mydotcombusiness.com/support/
Without further ado, lets dive straight in and put this amazing software to
work for you.

Download and Installation

You download Easy Sketch Pro from the My Dot Com Business (well use MDCB
from hereon for brevity) Member's Area here
http://mydotcombusiness.com/members/index.php
You will need your login details to enter the site.
If you were already an MDCB member prior to purchasing Easy Sketch Pro,
you can login using your existing email and password. If you were not already
a member of MDCB prior to purchasing Easy Sketch Pro, you should have
received an email from MDCB with your login email and password.
If you have not received a welcome email or you have lost your access details,
contact MDCB Support here
http://mydotcombusiness.com/support/
When you have logged in, you will see this home page
Note that the exact layout inside the

Members Area may change from time
to time so you might see something
slightly different when you login.
However, the basic options will be the

same.
From the horizontal menu at the top of

the page, click on My Products.
A dropdown menu will appear listing all

of the MDCB products you have
purchased or have access too.
The one we are interested in is 'Easy

Sketch Pro' (highlighted in red).
The other Easy Sketch Pro menu items

are optional related products you may
or may not have signed up for.
We will not be covering these in this guide but you can click on the links to
either access them or find out about them and, if you wish, purchase them.
Click on 'Easy Sketch Pro' and you will be taken to this page...

This is where you download the software from.
First, a short detour. Click on the gold 'Back to Easy Sketch Pro Home' link
(highlighted in red above). You are taken to this page...
The Easy Sketch Pro Home page gives you access to a range of resources.

The top section shows you which Easy Sketch Pro products you have access
too (in green) and which you don't (in red). If you wish to purchase additional
products, you can do so from here.
The lower section has links to resources to help you use Easy Sketch Pro.
Clicking on 'Tutorial Videos and User Guide' (highlighted in green above) will
take you to a page where you can, unsurprisingly, watch some tutorial videos
and download the user guide (which you are reading now).
(Click on the big gold 'Back to Easy Sketch Pro Home' link at the top and
bottom of each page to return to the home page.)
I recommend that you finish reading this guide before watching any of the
video tutorials on that page because you will then have the overall picture.
Although it will often work with JPG and PNG image files, Easy Sketch Pro (like
all whiteboard animation software) performs best when using vector or SVG
format images.
Clicking on 'Help on Converting Images for Use in Easy Sketch Pro' (highlighted
in blue above) will take you to video tutorials showing you how to convert JPG
or PNG images into SVG format.
Not all SVG images will work with Easy Sketch Pro 'out of the box' because
they may contain features that the software can't interpret correctly.
If you find you have an SVG image that isn't working with Easy Sketch Pro, the
'Help on Converting Images for Use in Easy Sketch Pro' page also has video
tutorials showing you how to 'tweak' it to make it compatible with the
software.
The 'Easy Sketch Pro Addons' link (highlighted in pink above) will take you to a
page where you can access banners for promoting Easy Sketch Pro and find
recommendations for other products that can complement your use of the
software.
That's the end of our detour so, from the Easy Sketch Pro Home page, click on
the top link, 'Click Here For Easy Sketch Pro Software Download and
Authorisation Codes' (highlighted in red in the above screenshot).
This takes us back to the download page we saw before.
At the top of the page, you will see a banner that tells you which version or
'level' of Easy Sketch Pro you have purchased...

Here, it is 'Business Pro' (highlighted in red above).
Currently, there are three versions: 'Starter', 'Business' and 'Business Pro'. The
differences between the versions concern the 'branding' of the videos you
create (i.e. whether they contain a logo saying 'Made by Easy Sketch Pro') and
the number of images and music loops included with the software.
Hence, although this guide will be using the Business Pro version, the content
is applicable to all versions.
At the top of the page, you will see the current version of Easy Sketch Pro and
its release date (highlighted in red above). At the time of writing, it is version
3.0.6, which was released on 30th January 2016.
Once you are up and running with Easy Sketch Pro, you can compare this with
the version you are using, as we will see later.
Before downloading the software, let's look at what else is on this page...

Immediately below the download buttons, you will find the 'Change Log'. This
lists the changes that have been made to the software in the latest version.
For example, using video as a background was added in version 3.0.6.
Below this, you will find the 'Friday Freebies' download links...
On most Fridays, a batch of new images for use in Easy Sketch Pro is released
completely free of charge. You will get emails notifying you when this happens,
but this is where you come to download them.
Just right-click on the links and select 'Save Link As' (or equivalent) to
download the images to your computer.
(By the way, you can suggest topics for future Friday Freebies. So, if you want
something in particular, contact the Support Desk.)
Finally on this page are video updates that help you get the most out of Easy
Sketch Pro...
There is a useful video here that shows you how to upload your Friday Freebies
image folders into Easy Sketch Pro.
Check back here occasionally to see if new videos have been added.

Now let's get back to the software download at the top of the page.
Before you do anything else, read the important messages about validating
and using the software. Doing so will avoid unnecessary problems during the
installation process.
When you come to run Easy Sketch Pro for the first time, you will be asked to
authenticate your purchase. This requires you to enter your registered email
address (the one you used when you signed up to MDCB) and the
authentication code that appears immediately above the download buttons (I
have masked out in red the code in this screenshot).
To do this successfully, you need to make sure of two things
1. Check that the email address you have registered with MDCB is all in
lower case.
In other words, the email address you have specified cannot include any
capital letters. For example, johnsmith@gmail.com is fine but
JohnSmith@gmail.com is not. (Case is ignored when using your email
address to actually send or receive emails.)

You can check and, if necessary, amend your email address by clicking on
the links provided on the download page or by clicking the 'Your Access' link
in the top right corner of the screen. If you do make a change, ensure you
click on the Save button to save the new details. Once you have finished,
you can return to the download page using the menu options as before.
2. It is recommended that you copy and paste your authentication code when
you first run Easy Sketch Pro because the code is long and you have to get
it exactly right.
However, ensure you do not include any spaces at the start or end of the
code because the software will read these as part of the code and reject it.
There are (currently three) different versions of the software depending on

whether you are going to be running it on a Windows PC (the top two buttons)
or a Mac (the bottom button).
Which of the two PC versions you select depends on the operating system you
are using. Most people will use the top button. However, if you are still using
Windows XP (even though Microsoft no longer supports it) or Windows Vista,
use the second button.
I will assume here that you are using a PC. The process will be similar for a
Mac but, if you have any problems, again, contact the support desk.
Click on one of the Download Windows PC.zip buttons and navigate to where
you want to save the installation file on your computer. I recommend you opt
for the Desktop so you can find it easily.
The file is fairly large (currently around 260MB), so it may take a few minutes
to download. You should see the download progress in the status message in
the bottom left corner of your PC screen.
Once the download is complete, you will find a file on your

desktop (or wherever else you placed it) named
EasySketchPro3.0.6_Win.zip (the version number at the end
may be different when you download the software).
This is what is known as a zipped or compressed file to make it smaller for

downloading. Before you can access the contents, you need to unzip the file.
Right-click on the file and you will see a dropdown menu.
Click on the option Extract All (highlighted in red below). The precise wording
may vary depending on your operating system.

You will be asked where you want the extracted file to be saved. The default is
usually the same folder as the zipped file. If you saved the zipped file to your
desktop, the default will also be your desktop. Again, I recommend you extract
to the Desktop so you can easily find the unzipped file.
The extraction may take a few seconds and, when it is

finished, you will see a new folder titled EasySketchPro
followed by the version number.
Open the folder you unzipped and you will see this file
(again, the version number may be different)...
Double-click on this file (or right-click and select Open from the dropdown
menu that appears).

You may get a popup box telling you that This publisher could not be verified.
Are you sure you want to run this software?
If so, click on Run (Easy Sketch Pro is safe!).
You may get another popup asking whether you want to allow the software to
make changes to your computer. If so, click 'Yes'.
You will see the popup box shown

here. Click on Next.
You will then be asked where you

want to install Easy Sketch Pro.
It is strongly recommended that you

accept the default location shown to
avoid problems finding the software
later.
Click on Next.
You will now be asked where you want

to store the program shortcuts. Again,
the safest option is to accept the
default of EasySketchPro3.

The next screen asks whether you

want to create a desktop icon. This
is a graphic on your desktop that
you can click to launch Easy
Sketch Pro. It is recommended
you accept the default of creating
the icon so you can easily run the
software. Click on Next again.
The next screen summarises the

choices you have made. If you
need to make any changes, click
on the Back button, otherwise
click on Install.
Easy Sketch Pro will now be

installed. This may take a few
minutes to complete.
You will get a message when the

installation is complete.
This will give you the option of

running the software.
If you do not want to run it now,

uncheck the 'Launch Easy Sketch
Pro' box.
Click on 'Finish'.

Note: If Easy Sketch Pro doesnt open or you get some form of error message,
it may be that your operating system requires you to run the program as an
administrator.
If so, exit from the installation program. Now find the

desktop shortcut icon (shown left). Right-click on this and
see if there is an option to Run as administrator. If so,
select this option. If this option does not appear, either
select Open from the dropdown menu or double-click on
the shortcut icon. If you still have problems loading the
software, contact the support desk.
You can run Easy Sketch Pro at any time by double-clicking on the desktop
icon, by right-clicking on the desktop icon and selecting 'Open', or by clicking
on the Windows start button and selecting Easy Sketch Pro from the options
displayed.
The first time you run Easy Sketch Pro, it will show you a popup box asking
you to enter your Login Email and Authorisation Code...
The login email is the email address you use to login to MDCB.
We have seen the authorisation code before, immediately above the download
button inside MDCB...

(Again, I have blanked this out in red for obvious reasons!)
It is safest to copy and paste the code from MDCB into the popup box.
However, if your system does not allow you to do that, you need to type it in
manually and very carefully.
Make sure the Keep me in box in the bottom left corner (highlighted in red in
the screenshot before last) is checked so that the software remembers your
login details and you do not have to enter them every time you use Easy
Sketch Pro.
Note that you have to be connected to the internet whenever you login to Easy
Sketch Pro. This is because the software goes online to validate your software
license.
However, you do not need to be connected to the internet to use Easy Sketch
Pro, once you have successfully logged in.
After you have logged in, the Easy Sketch Pro workspace will open and that's
what we will look at in the next section.

Easy Sketch Pro Workspace

When you login to Easy Sketch Pro, you will start at the workspace. This is
everything inside the Easy Sketch Pro window.
Although it is too small to read, the version number of the software you are
running is shown at the top of the screen, circled in red. This is what you
compare with the version number we saw earlier in the Member's Area to find
out if you are running the latest version.
If the version number shown here is lower than that shown in the MDCB
member's area, simply follow the whole download and installation process we
have just been through. The new version will overwrite the current version.
You will not lose any project files you have created.
There are the usual Windows options here. So you can minimise (minus sign),
maximise (square) or 'float' (2 squares) the window or close the software (x)
by taking the options in the top righthand corner (indicated by the blue arrow
in the screenshot above).
You can also access these options by clicking on the Easy Sketch Pro icon in
the extreme top lefthand corner of the window (indicated by the green arrow in
the screenshot above).
When not maximised, the window can be moved around by clicking and
holding anywhere inside the top border of the window (as indicated by the red
arrows in the screenshot above) and then dragging with your mouse.

You can also resize the window by holding your cursor over any of the edges or
corners until it changes into a double-headed arrow and then dragging in or
out.
Lets have a look at the various aspects of the Easy Sketch Pro workspace.
Along the top of the workspace is the toolbar, consisting of buttons or tool
icons.
You will find a tool button for everything you do in Easy Sketch Pro. We will be
making our way through them in this guide.
There is one tool button I want to point out here and that's the 'Help' button
on the extreme right of the tool bar (highlighted in red above).
Clicking on this will open an internet browser window (so an internet

connection is required) and take you to the MDCB Support Desk where you can
get help with any issues or queries you have using the software.
The big white rectangle in the middle of the workspace (indicated by the pink
arrow in the screenshot before last) is called the 'canvas'. This is the area of
the screen that will be recorded in your final video. In other words, it is what
the camera 'sees. Your finished project will consist of one or more canvases,
each known as a 'slide' (but more of that later).
Before we move on, there is some terminology you will need to know.
We are using Easy Sketch Pro to create 'whiteboard animation' videos , also
variously known as 'sketch videos', 'doodle videos', 'video scribing' and
probably many more names.
We call a video we are working on a project. And items we add to the canvas
i.e. images, pieces of text and videos are called objects.
You will notice as we move through this guide that many of the Easy Sketch
Pro operations we will be using are standard Windows program functions.
For example, if you have used something like Microsoft Word, much of this is
going to seem very familiar to you.
And, if you have used any Windows graphics program, you will be well ahead
of the game.

Let's move onto canvas options next...

Canvas Options
We have already seen that the 'canvas' is the white rectangle in the middle of
the workspace. When you load Easy Sketch Pro, the canvas will be the default
size of 640 (width) x 480 (height) pixels.
The size of the canvas determines the resolution or definition of your final
video. The larger the size, the higher the resolution.
The default size produces a video in 'standard definition' (or 'SD'). You may
want to change the canvas size if you want to create a 'high-definition' (or
'HD') video.
You can do this by selecting the 'Settings'

button in the toolbar (highlighted in red
here).
This opens the Canvas

Properties box.
To change the canvas size,

click on the 'Canvas Size'
setting (highlighted in
blue) and a dropdown
menu will appear.
You will see the

alternative sizes.
The normal option, for

example, for YouTube HD
videos is 1280 x 720.
Select the option you

want and click on 'Save'.
You will see that the white canvas area has now changed size.
If you don't want to change the canvas size, just click 'Cancel' to close the box.

Notice that it is important to select your canvas size before you start to add
objects to the canvas. If you change it later, you may find that your objects
are not where you wanted them to be in relation to the canvas and each other
and that objects you wanted in one 'scene' may now be in another.
While we're on the Canvas Properties box, this is where you can also change
the canvas colour.
Currently, the colour is white, as shown by the 'swatch' next to 'Background'

(highlighted in red in the screenshot before last).
To change this, click on the 'Colour' button (highlighted in green in the

screenshot before last)...
This opens a new box where you can select the canvas colour you want in a
number of ways...
1. Simply choose from the 'Basic colours' provided in the top left (highlighted
in green above)
2. Click anywhere in the two colour picker areas (highlighted in red above)
3. Manually enter hex values (between 0 and 255) for 'Red', 'Green' and 'Blue'
(highlighted in blue above). E.g. You get 'pure red' by entering Red 255,
Green 0, Blue 0
4. If you know the precise HTML hex code for the colour you want, you can
enter it directly into the 'HTML' box (highlighted in orange above)

5. Set values for the 'Hue-Saturation-Value' colour coding system (highlighted

in black above)
The colour you have selected at any time is shown in the swatch (highlighted
in pink above).
If you define a colour you may want to use again in the future, click the 'Add
to Custom Colours' button. It will then appear in the 'Custom Colours' palette
(highlighted in brown above) so you can select it when you need it.
When you have the colour you want, click the 'OK' button to close the 'Select
Colour' box and then click 'Save' on the Canvas Properties box and the canvas
will change to that colour. Alternatively, click the 'Cancel' button to exit
without changing the colour.
Instead of a coloured background for your canvas, you can also use an image
or a video.
Click on the 'Backgrounds' button in the

toolbar (highlighted in red). This opens the
'Backgrounds Library'...

You are presented with a range of backgrounds supplied with Easy Sketch Pro,
split into 'galleries' for each canvas size.
If you want the background to exactly fit the canvas, make sure you choose
the gallery that corresponds with the canvas size you are using.
Navigate around the library using the scroll bars and the 'Previous' and 'Next'
buttons (highlighted in green above).
When you find the image

you want to use, just click
on it, the Background
Library window will close and
the image will be overlaid
onto the canvas.
Note that the image is now

the canvas, so you add
objects to it just as you
would with a white or
coloured canvas.
If you want to change the background image, just repeat the process and
make a new selection.
To remove a background image at any time, click on the Backgrounds tool

button and then click on the 'Remove Background' button (highlighted in red in
the screenshot before last).
You can add images to the Backgrounds Library (whether your own or ones
you receive if you are part of the monthly backgrounds service) by clicking the
'Add to Library' button (highlighted in blue in the screenshot before last).
This will open a navigation window where you can locate

the folder you want to upload. The folder name will appear
as a new gallery in the Backgrounds Library. Here, I have
uploaded a folder called 'Xmas-640-480' (highlighted in
red).

Note that you do have to upload a folder, not individual images. If you want to
add just one image, place it in a new folder with an appropriate name first and
then upload that.
Once you have your own gallery in the library, you can add further individual
images to it by copying them into the original folder (wherever that is on your
computer) and then adding that folder to the library again. The old gallery will
be overwritten with the new one.
Note that background images are applied to all slides (or 'scenes') in your
project (we will be covering these later) i.e. you cannot select a different
background image for individual slides.
As well as images, you can also add a video as the background.
Click on the 'Backgrounds' tool button again...
At the top of the Backgrounds Library window, you will see the option to add a
video (highlighted in red above).

To select a video, click on the 'Browse' button. This will open a Windows
Explorer window which you can use to navigate to the video you want to use.
Here, I have located a video file called 'Criswell1.mp4'.
Note that Easy Sketch Pro supports only videos in MP4 format. However, this is
the 'industry standard' format that most videos come in.
When you have selected the video, click on the 'Add Video' button...
A popup message will appear informing you

that Easy Sketch Pro is processing the
video.
This may take a few seconds up to a

minute or so, depending on the size of the
video file.
When the video is processed, a still image of it will appear on the canvas.

Note that, if the video is not of the same dimensions as the canvas, it will be
re-sized to fit. This could result in a degree of distortion to the video.
You can now add objects on top of the video, just as you would with a plain or
image background.
Note that the video will play for as long as is required for the objects you add
to the canvas to be drawn (we'll be looking at adding objects next).
If the length of the video is shorter than the total drawing time, the video will
freeze on the final frame while the remaining objects are drawn.
(This also means that the video will not play until you have added at least one
object to the canvas.)
Also note that the video will play without sound.
Currently, the video you select will only show as a background in the first slide
you create. If your project has more than one slide (we will cover this later),
the backgrounds for subsequent slides will be blank.
Alternative options are being looked at for a future release.
To remove a video background, click on the 'Backgrounds' tool button and click
on the 'Remove Background' button, as we saw with images.
That concludes our look at canvas options, so let's start looking at adding
objects to the canvas.

Images
The best way to learn the various Easy Sketch Pro features is through using
them. So we will start a simple project.
I should say that the order we will look at things in this walkthrough is for ease
of learning and is not the order you would execute things for a real project. But
more of that later.
OK, lets start our project. We have a blank canvas ready and waiting. Now
well add an image.
Click on the Image button in the tool bar (highlighted in red)...
This opens the 'Image Library' containing all of the images provided with
Easy Sketch Pro.
(By the way, as we saw earlier, the library is being added to all of the time, so
watch out for emails or check in at the member's area to get the latest.)
Take a few minutes to browse around the library to see what is on offer.
The library is divided into various categories or 'galleries', which are shown
down the lefthand side. Each gallery contains images related to the theme of
the gallery e.g. 'Alternative Energy', 'Amazon Rainforest', 'Ancient Egypt',
'Ancient Greece', etc.

To select a gallery, just click on its title in the list.
Navigate around the gallery by using the scroll bar on the right (highlighted in
green above) and the 'Previous' and 'Next' buttons (highlighted in blue above).
The latter are only operational if the gallery stretches over more than one
screen.
To select an image, just click on it. We'll go to the Animals gallery and click
on the chicken...
The library window will close and the chicken will be added to the centre of our
canvas.
Note that the chicken has

the number 1 annotated
to it to indicate that it is
the first object added to
the canvas.
To select the chicken, double-click on the image.

The image area turns blue and blue dots are

added to each corner.
To deselect the chicken, click anywhere outside

the light blue image area.
Once an image is selected, you can do all sorts of

things with it.
To move the chicken, select it, click anywhere

inside the image area and hold the left mouse
button down to drag it around the canvas. Here,
I have moved the chicken left and up. The image
will be drawn wherever you place it on the
canvas.
You can resize the chicken by clicking on any of

the blue dots and dragging it inwards (smaller)
or outwards (larger). Here, I have made the
chicken smaller.
You can rotate the chicken by again clicking on

any of the blue dots and dragging it in a circular
motion clockwise or anticlockwise. Here, I have
rotated the chicken through around 60 degrees
anticlockwise.
Try playing around with the image by moving it around, making it bigger and
smaller and rotating it.
We can get other options for manipulating our chicken by selecting it and then
right clicking anywhere inside the image area. This opens the object menu.

We will address 'Order Up' and 'Order Down' in a moment.
'Cut', 'Copy' and 'Paste' are only relevant for projects with multiple scenes, as
we'll see later.
If you want a second

chicken exactly the same
as the first, select the
chicken, open the object
menu and select
Duplicate (highlighted in
red above).
We now have two

identical chickens, one
on top of the other. The
second chicken is already
selected, so you can
move it around (as I
have here).
Note that this second chicken is annotated number 2 because it is the second
object to be added to the canvas.

When you duplicate an object, all of its properties are also duplicated, including
the way it is drawn and all associated timings. But we'll be covering all of that
a bit later.
You can duplicate an object as many times as you want so you can breed a
clutch of chickens.
Note that the object menu provides you with keyboard shortcuts for all of its
options. These are shown to the right of the options on the menu. You can
execute these shortcuts by simply selecting an object and then hitting the
relevant key(s).
For example, the shortcut for Duplicate is Ctrl-D on the keyboard i.e. press
and hold down the Ctrl key and then press the D key.
To delete an object from the canvas, select it and click on Delete (highlighted
in blue above) in the object menu (remember that you right-click anywhere
inside the image area to bring up the Object Menu).
Alternatively, select the object and hit the shortcut key, which is the 'Delete'
key on your keyboard.

Using Your Own Images

We have seen how to use images from the Easy Sketch Pro Image Library.
However, you can also import and use your own images. Let's look at how.
Click on the 'Image' button in the toolbar (highlighted in red below)...
As you know, this opens the Image Library. We have seen how to browse and
select images from the library but there are also two ways to use your own
images.
The first allows you to select and use an image from your computer and does
not make any changes to the Image Library. You would probably use this
option when a project calls for the one-off use of a particular image.
The second method adds your own images to the Image Library so they are
easily accessible for all of your projects. You would use this option with images
you will make repeated use of or to add the regular 'Friday Freebies' images.
Let's look at each of these methods in turn.

To use an image without adding it to the library, click on the 'Load Image from
PC' button (highlighted in blue above). This opens the 'Load Image from PC'
window...
If you change your

mind, click on the
'Cancel' button
(highlighted in blue
to the left) to close
the window.
Otherwise, click on
the 'Browse' button
(highlighted in red
to the left).
This opens a
standard window
where you can
navigate to and
select the image you
want to use.
Here, I have
selected an image
of a senior citizen.
Again, if you
change your mind,
click on the
'Cancel' button
(highlighted in blue
to the left) to exit.
Otherwise, click on
the 'Add' button
(highlighted in red
to the left).
The image is added to the canvas and can now be manipulated in the same
ways as any image from the Image Library...

Now let's look at adding images to the Image Library so that they are available
for repeated use.
With the Image Library window open, click on the 'Add To Library' button
(highlighted in green in the first screenshot of this section).
This will open a standard browsing window.
Note that, just as we saw with the Backgrounds Library, we are looking for
folders to add to the library and not individual images.
Here, I have navigated to

a folder containing the
'Friday Freebies'.
If you recall, these are

the new image galleries
provided free of charge
roughly on a weekly
basis by MDCB.
We saw how to find them

in the 'Download and
Installation' section.
I am going to import the 'Elderly Folks' gallery (highlighted in red above), so I

click on it and then click the 'Select Folder' button (highlighted in green
above).

The folder is
now added to
the Image
Library as a
new gallery
(highlighted in
red to the left).
We can now
browse and
select images
from this
gallery, just as
we would with
any of the
galleries
provided with
Easy Sketch
Pro.
We can now select an image or click on the 'X' (highlighted in green above) to
close the Image Library window.
I recommend that you use a naming convention for folders of your own images
that you import.
For example, if the 'Elderly Folks' folder we used above was one of my own, I
might call it 'My Elderly Folks'. I might then import another folder called 'My
Cars and Trucks', and so on.
In this way, you can tell at a glance which of the galleries in the Image Library
came with the software and which ones you have added yourself.
I would also recommend maintaining a folder on your computer containing all

of the folders you have imported. Should anything go wrong and, for example,
you had to reinstall Easy Sketch Pro, you will be able to re-import all of your
folders quickly and simply.
Now, as we touched on in the 'Download and Installation' section, there are

some rules regarding using your own images in Easy Sketch Pro.
Clearly, you will always be good to go adding images provided by MDCB as

part of the Friday Freebies or otherwise.

For images you source yourself, the best format (as with all whiteboard
animation software) is 'vector format', with the SVG file extension (e.g.
yourimage.svg).
These images carry all of the information that Easy Sketch Pro needs to 'draw'
the image correctly.
But not all SVG images are created equal and you may occasionally find that
Easy Sketch Pro cannot draw one you import.
If this is the case, watch the video tutorials in the MDCB Member's Area that
show you how to 'tweak' SVG files for use in the software (see the Download
and Installation section for more information).
You will also find there video tutorials on how to create vector files out of PNG
or JPG images.
Speaking of which, you can import images with the PNG or JPG (or JPEG)
extension into Easy Sketch Pro, but you will get variable results, depending on
how well the software can 'interpret' the data in the file.
Generally, the more complicated the image, the less well a job Easy Sketch Pro
will do in drawing it.
Of course, the easy way to check is to just try to import the image into the
software and see what happens.
Tip: Even if Easy Sketch Pro does not draw an image well (whether it is SVG,
PNG or JPG), you can often still import it and introduce it onto the canvas
using 'Drag', 'Drag by hand', 'Fade in' or 'None' Draw Styles. It is only for
'Draw' or 'Draw by hand' options that the software needs additional
information about the image in order to sketch it out.
We'll be covering all of these options soon.
OK, that's images covered. Let's move on...

Animation
Let's start with our chicken in the middle of our canvas. I recommend you do
the same and follow along.
Its time for Easy Sketch Pro to strut its stuff.
Click on the 'Preview' button in the toolbar

(highlighted in red).
The magic hand will appear

and draw out our chicken for us.
As the image is being drawn, the

status changes to 'Preview', as
indicated in the top righthand
corner (highlighted in red) and
the elapsed time and total time
for the project is displayed in the
bottom righthand corner
(highlighted in blue).
We currently only have one

object on the canvas. If we had
more, the total time will be the
time to draw all objects.
During the preview, the 'Preview' tool button changes to a 'Stop' tool button
(highlighted in green above). If you want stop the preview before it is

completed, click on the Stop button. This returns playback to the start of the
project.
If you now move the chicken to a new place on the canvas (by selecting and
dragging it) and press 'Preview' again, the magic hand now draws it in the new
position.
Play around with moving and resizing the chicken and watch the software draw
the new image each time.
Lets add another image. Open the Image Library, go to the 'Animals' gallery
and select the cat. Position the two characters next to each other.
We now have two images on the

canvas.
Note that the cat is annotated 2

because it was the second object
added to the canvas (the chicken
being the first).
Now click the Play button. The

magic hand will draw the chicken
first (object 1) and then draw the
cat (object 2).
But what if we want the cat to be drawn first?
Its simple. Select the cat and open the object menu (by right-clicking on the
selected cat image).

Click on Order Up (highlighted in red) or,

alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut by
holding down the Shift key and then hitting
the Up arrow key.
You will see that the cat is now

annotated 1 and the chicken has
been relegated to number 2...
Click on Play and you will see the magic hand now draw the cat first and then
the chicken.
To draw the chicken first again, we can open the Object Menu for the cat and
select 'Order Down' (highlighted in blue above) or use the keyboard shortcut
Shift + the Down arrow key.
Alternatively, we could select the chicken, open the Object Menu and select
Order Up'.
What if we want the chicken to be drawn faster or slower?
Open the Object Menu for the chicken and select 'Properties' (highlighted in
green in the screenshot before last). Alternatively, select the chicken and use
the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-R.

The 'Object Properties' box opens.
This is where you control how the object is drawn and the various timings
associated with it being drawn. Most of these are fairly self-explanatory.
I will briefly run through the various options and then I suggest you try playing
with them one at a time to see the effect they have. Dont worry, you cant
break anything!
Click on the dropdown menu next to Draw Style...
This shows the five methods by which the object can be added to the canvas.
The default is the one we have already seen i.e. 'Draw by hand'. As its name
suggests, the object will be sketched out by the magic hand.

Further down the list, you will see 'Draw'. This is the same as 'Draw by hand'
except that no magic hand will be present i.e. the object will appear to draw
itself.
'Fade in' has the object gradually appear on the canvas.
'None' means that the object will simply appear on the canvas with no special
effect.
Now let's return to 'Drag

by hand'.
Select this option and the

'Direction' dropdown
menu becomes active.
As its name suggests,

'Drag in by hand' will have
the object dragged onto
the canvas by the magic
hand. The 'Direction' determines from which side or corner of the canvas the
object enters the canvas.
For example, here is the chicken

being dragged in from 'Bottom
Right' i.e. it enters from the
bottom right corner of the canvas.
Note that dragging in from the top

currently gives you a rather
disconcerting dismembered arm,
so you probably want to avoid that
one!
The final option, 'Drag', is the

same as 'Drag in by hand' but
without the magic hand.
OK. Those are the five methods for introducing an object to the canvas. Play
around by changing the Draw Style, clicking 'Save' and seeing what the effect
is on how the object is drawn.
The Object Properties box also allows us to change the timings associated with
drawing the object (see below).
The most obvious of these is 'Timing Draw', being the time taken to actually
'draw' the object (whether that be through drawing, fading or dragging).

The default time is 3 seconds. To change this, click on the slider control
(highlighted in red) and drag it left (less time) or right (more time). You will
see the time on the right change as you move the slider.
You can make fine adjustments by clicking on the slider 'groove' to the left or
right of the slider control. Each click decreases or increases the time by 0.01 of
a second.
Hold the mouse button down on the slider groove and the time will decrease or
increase continuously until you release the button.
You can also increment or decrement the timing in intervals of 0.5 seconds by
using the small up and down buttons in the timing box (highlighted in green
above).
Finally, you can specify the timing directly by clicking inside the timing box and
editing the contents.
All of the timing sliders are operated in the same way.
Note that the maximum time you can set any of the timings to is 180 seconds,
or 3 minutes. However, I suggest you are unlikely to ever want an object to
take that long to be drawn!
The top slider is for Timing Before. This is the time Easy Sketch Pro will
delay before starting to draw the object. The default is zero i.e. no delay.
You might want to set this if you want to start drawing the object at some
point after the start of the relevant piece of accompanying narrative (which we
will look at later).
In our case, the chicken is the first object, so this would set a delay from the
start of the video to when the chicken is drawn, during which nothing happens.
The third slider is 'Timing Fading'. This is the time it takes for colour to be
added to the image after it has been drawn.

The fourth and final slider is Timing After. This is the time delay between
completing the drawing of this object and starting to draw the next object.
Note that the effect of adding a 'Timing After' for the chicken is effectively the
same as adding the same interval to the 'Timing Before' for the cat.
Again, just play around with the timings and see what effect they have on how
objects are drawn.
This may all sound a little confusing to begin with, but it is quite simple when
you have tried the various options out a few times.
As a final point before we move on, you can

overlay one image (or any object) over
another. The one with the higher number
annotation will then be drawn over the one
with the lower, as in this illustration.
Here, the cat has the higher number

annotation.
You use 'Order Up' and 'Order Down' to switch

which object appears in front of the other.
In the tradition of true magic, we can make objects disappear from the canvas
as well as appear.
Let's suppose that we want the chicken to be drawn and then to disappear
from the canvas before the cat is drawn.
This is where the 'Exit'

options in the Object
Properties box come into
play (highlighted in red to
the left).
The default 'Exit Style' is

'None' i.e. the object
stays on the canvas.
To change this, click on

the Exit Style bar...

There are two options for the exit effect.
With 'Drag out', the object will be dragged off the canvas with the magic hand
and, with 'Fade out', the object will fade out of view.
If you select 'Drag out', the 'Direction' box is enabled and you can choose in
which direction the object moves off of the canvas.
Note that the direction refers to the direction the hand enters the canvas, so
'Bottom' means that the hand comes in from the bottom of the canvas and
drags the object off of the top of the canvas.
Once the Exit Style is selected, you can set the 'Exit Time', which is the time
the exit takes to happen.
Note that, if you leave this at zero, the object will instantly disappear,
irrespective of which style is used.
There are a couple of other options at the bottom of the Properties box...

The 'Stroke Width' is the width of the lines that are used to sketch the object.
You can key the value you want directly into the box or you can use the small
up and down arrows to increase or decrease the width in units of 0.5.
The 'Stroke Color' is, as you might imagine, the colour of the line used to
sketch the object. The current colour is shown by the swatch to the right of the
colour picker button (black in this case).
Clicking on the colour picker button opens a pallet where you can choose the
colour you want. This is used in exactly the same way as we saw for the
canvas background colour.
Here is an example where I have set the Stroke

Width to 3.0 and the Stroke Color to red.

When you don't have an exit effect, the 'Timing After' is the amount of time
the software waits after completing the drawing of this object before it starts
drawing the next object.
With an exit effect set, the 'Timing After' is now the time after the object has
been drawn before the exit effect is executed.
In other words, it is the time the object will be present and static on the
canvas.
If you want a pause between removing an object and starting to draw the next
object, you need to set this as the 'Timing Before' for the second object.
With the settings in the above screenshot, this object will be drawn
immediately after the previous object (Timing Before set to 0). The object will
be drawn by the magic hand in 4 seconds (Timing Draw) and the outline will be
'coloured in' in an additional 0.5 seconds (Time Fading).
The object will then stay static on the canvas for another 3 seconds (Timing
After) before it is dragged off the canvas by the magic hand, which takes 1
second to do so (Exit Time).
I hope that is all clear. However, if not, just add a couple of objects to the
canvas and play with the various timings to see what effect they have.
That's images taken care of. Let's move onto the next type of object...

Text
We have seen how to add images. The second type of object we can add to the
canvas is text.
Delete any objects you already have so you start

again with a blank canvas. Now add the chicken
as we did before. Reduce his size and move him
up and to the left.
If you cant remember how to do this, go back to

the Images section. Now lets add some text.
Click on the
Text button in
the toolbar
(highlighted in
red). The Text
Editor window
will open.
This contains all

of the usual
editing options
you will find in a
standard word
processor.
You can click on

the dropdown
menu against the
font and scroll to
choose a font
(highlighted in
blue).
You can also click on the dropdown menu next to the font size and make the
font bigger or smaller (highlighted in green above).
In one sense, you dont really have to worry too much about the font size
because you can resize the text in the same way that we resized images.

However, note that, if you do resize text using the corner dots and you then
edit the text, the text object will revert to the font size you selected. So it can
make sense to only resize text objects by adjusting the font size in 'Edit'.
This also ensures that all of your text objects appear with a consistent font
size.
You can make the font bold and/or italic by clicking on the relevant buttons
(highlighted in pink above). To remove bold or italic, click the relevant button
again.
You can have the text align to the left, right or centre by clicking on one of the
alignment buttons (highlighted in brown above). These are really only useful
when text spans more than one line, as illustrated by the right alignment
example here...
Click on the colour button (highlighted in a nice shade of plum above) and the
familiar colour picker window opens...
I will not go through this in

detail because it is used in
exactly the same way as the
colour picker for the
background colour we saw in
the 'Canvas Options' section.
Refer back there if you need

a reminder.
The final option is 'RTL', standing for 'Right To Left' (highlighted in orange in
the screenshot before last). Left unchecked, Easy Sketch Pro will write text
from left to right, as is the norm in the English language and many others.

If RTL is checked, you still type in your text in the normal manner but the
software will write the text from right to left, as it is, for example, in Arabic
languages.
Now that we have looked at all of the options, just type whatever text you
want into the Text Editor.
If you want the text to span more than one line, press the 'Enter' key to create
a new line, just as you would in a word processor.
When you are done, click 'OK' to save the text or 'Cancel' to discard it.
We will type 'This is a chicken' and hit 'OK'.
The text is added to the centre of

the canvas.
Note that the text object is

annotated '2' because it is the
second object to be added to the
canvas.
We can manipulate the text in

the same way as an image.
Thus, you first select the text by double-clicking on it. The bluish box
appears...
We can move the text by clicking on it and holding the mouse button down
while we drag it around the canvas. We can also re-size it by clicking on any of
the corner dots and dragging in or out. And we can rotate the text by again
clicking on any of the corner dots and dragging either clockwise or
anticlockwise.
Try making the text a bit smaller and dragging it to

below the chicken...
Now press Play and watch the magic hand draw first the image and then write
out the text.

Select the text object and then right-click on it to open the Object Menu...
The one addition to the menu that

isn't present for images is Edit
(highlighted in red).
Clicking on this (or using the

keyboard shortcut Ctrl-E) will open
the Text Editor so you can make
changes to the text itself.
Click on Properties at the bottom

of the Object Menu (highlighted in
blue) and you will see the same
options for how the text is to be
drawn and the time it takes as we
had for images.
Tip: The 'Duplicate' option can be useful for text, more so than images.
Suppose you want to create multiple text objects, all with the same font, size,
colour, bold and italic settings. You may also want the same Draw Style and
timings.
Create your first text object and set everything the way you want it to be.
Then use Duplicate on this text object to copy it along with all of its settings
and just use 'Edit' from the Object Menu of the new text object to change the
actual words.
Repeat this every time you want to create a new text object. This can be much
quicker than having to change multiple settings for every text object you
create.

All of the other properties operate with text in the same way as they do for
images.
Note that the 'Stroke Width' changes the thickness of the line used to draw the
text in the same way as it did for images.
Changing the Stroke Color has the same effect as changing the text colour in
the text editor and vice versa.
Spend some time manipulating text until you are familiar with everything you
can do with it.
Note that we can also change the order in which the image and text are drawn
by using the 'Order Up' and 'Order Down' options on the Object Menu, just as
we did with images.

Timeline
Here is a canvas I prepared earlier

with several images and text.
Replicate it if you want to play
along.
Any real world project is likely to

have dozens of different objects
and it would be a bit of a pain if we
had to preview the entire project
every time we wanted to see how a
particular object or sequence of
objects was playing out somewhere
in the middle or end of the project.
This is where the Timeline tool bar button comes in handy (highlighted in red
below).
Clicking on this opens the Timeline window...
From here you can see all of the objects in the project and the order they are
drawn. Click and drag the slider bar (highlighted in red above) to move
backwards and forwards through the project.

Click on any object (image

or text) and the 'Play from
here' (highlighted in red)
and 'Properties' (highlighted
in blue) buttons, previously
greyed out, will become
active. I have clicked on the
bear.
Click on the 'Play from here' button and the Timeline box will close and the
project preview will start from the selected object, in this case, the bear.
Clicking on the 'Properties'

button when an object is
selected in the Timeline will
open the Properties box for
that object, allowing you to
make changes to Draw
Style and timings for the
object, as we have seen
before.
This enables you to quickly

make changes to several
objects in the project, all in
one place.
(For some reason, the 'Bring to canvas' button moves the selected object to
the centre of the canvas. I can't think of a reason why you would want to use
this!)

Saving and Opening Projects

There will come a point when you want to save your project.
In fact, it is very much recommended that you save your work regularly so you
dont run the risk of losing it (e.g. if there is a power cut).
To save the current project at any time, just click on the Save Project button
in the toolbar (highlighted in red above).
If you have not saved this project before, a window will open asking what
name you want to give to the project and where you want to save it to. I
recommend that you have a folder dedicated to your projects so you always
know where to find them.
Easy Sketch Pro 3 projects are stored in files with the extension esp3 e.g.
YourProject.esp3.
Note that what you are saving here is the project file and not the video that
will be created from the project.
This can cause some confusion.
If you have created a project and then exported the video from it and you now
want to make some changes to the video, you open the project file in Easy
Sketch Pro, make your changes and then re-export the video.
If you have saved this project before, the software will simply update the
existing file with any changes you have made.
There may be times when you want to save the current project under a
different file name, even if you have saved it before.
It may be that you want to use the current project as the starting point for
another project.
Tip: Regularly save your project at key points with incrementing 'version'
numbers e.g. yourproject01.esp3, yourproject02.esp3, etc. Should things go
horribly wrong, you can then return to a version you knew was working the
way you wanted it to.

To save your project under a new name, click on the 'Save As' button in the
toolbar (highlighted in blue above).
A window will open prompting you for a new name and location to save the
project file.
To open an existing project, click on the Open Project button in the toolbar
(highlighted in green above).
Easy Sketch Pro can only have one project open at any time so, if you have
not saved any changes to an existing project you have open, the software will
prompt you to save those changes before opening a new one. Then a window
will open to allow you to navigate to the project file you want.
If at any time you want to start a new project, click the New Project button on
the toolbar (shown in pink above). Again, you will be prompted to save any
changes to an open project first.

Video
We have now seen two types of object we can add to the canvas: images and
text. Now let's look at the third.
Easy Sketch Pro allows you to also add videos as objects on the canvas.
Here, I am
starting with a
canvas
featuring our
old friend the
chicken, with
accompanying
text.
Add these
objects if you
want to follow
along.
To add a video,
click on the
'Video' button
in the toolbar
(highlighted in
red to the left).
This opens the 'Import Video' box shown.
To close the box without doing anything, click on the 'Cancel' button
(highlighted in blue above).
To select your video, click on the 'Browse' button (highlighted in green above).
This opens a standard window where you can navigate to, and select, your
video file...

Note that you can

currently only
import videos in
MP4 format (e.g.
yourvideo.mp4).
So that is the only

option in the
format dropdown
menu (highlighted
in pink to the left).
If you change your

mind, click the
'Cancel' button
(highlighted in
green to the left)
to close the
window.
I am going to use a short video clip of the 'Amazing Criswell' (highlighted in

red above). (This is from the amazing 'Plan 9 from Outer Space', regularly
voted the best worst movie of all time!) Use any video you like to follow along.
Click on the video you want to import and click on the 'Open' button
(highlighted in blue above).
The file is now shown in the

'Select video file' box.
To exit without proceeding,

click the 'Cancel' button
(highlighted in blue to the
left).
Otherwise, click the 'Add' button (highlighted in

red above) to import the video.
A box will appear showing that the video is

being processed (shown left).
This could take a few seconds to a few minutes,

depending on the length of the video.

When processing is complete, the

video will initially cover the entire
canvas.
You can now manipulate the video

in the same ways as we did for
images and text.
Double-click on the video to select

it and then make it smaller and
move it to the right of the chicken.
Note that you can also rotate it.
As with other objects, the

video is annotated with a
number.
In this case, it is '3' because

the video was the third object
added to the canvas.
Now press the 'Preview'

button and you will see that
the video appears after the
chicken and the text have
been added and then
proceeds to play (with sound
if it has any).
Select the video and right-click to

open the Object Menu.
You will see that we have fewer

options here than with other object
types.
Hence, we can change the order of

the video, delete it or open the
object Properties window.
If you want to create a copy of the

video object, you have to import it
again.

Let's open the

Properties window.
There are some

differences here
compared with images
or text.
First, note that the

default 'Timing Draw' is
zero.
For 'Draw by hand', 'Draw' or 'None', changing this to, say, 1 second for a
video produces the same result as setting the 'Timing Before' to 1 second i.e.
there will be a 1-second delay between the previous text being drawn and the
video appearing.
However, the 'Timing Draw' does determine how long it takes the video to be
dragged onto the canvas when using either the 'Drag by hand' or the 'Drag'
Draw Styles.
Setting the 'Timing Fading' will also effectively add to the 'Timing Before' i.e. it
adds to the delay between the previous text being drawn and the video
appearing.
In practice then, you will either leave the Draw Style set to 'Draw by hand' and
the 'Timing Draw' to zero to have the video simply appear or you will use a
Draw Style of 'Drag by hand' or 'Drag' and set the 'Timing Draw' for the length
of time you want the software to take to drag the video onto the canvas.
If you do use 'Drag by hand' or 'Drag', you can set the direction using the
'Direction' dropdown menu.
You use the 'Timing Before' and 'Timing After' in the same way you would for
images or text.
There is another neat little feature you can use when adding videos to the
canvas.
This tells Easy Sketch Pro to sketch out the first frame of a video before
converting it to the actual first frame and then playing the video.
Delete the video from the canvas, click on the 'Video' button and navigate to
and select the same video as before.

However, this time, check the 'Sketch to Video' box (highlighted in red
below)...
Finally, click the 'Add' button to add the video to the canvas.
Resize and move the video as we did before and now click the 'Preview'
button...
Easy Sketch Pro now

sketches out the first frame
of the video before playing
it.
Pretty cool!
Note that the results you get can be variable, because they depend on how
well Easy Sketch Pro can interpret the opening scene.
When using this feature, the 'Timing Draw' is relevant because it determines
how long the software will take to sketch out the opening frame.
There is one final option in the 'Import Video' box and that is the checkbox
labelled 'Use High Quality Frames' (highlighted in blue in the screenshot before
last).
In simple terms, checking this tells Easy Sketch Pro to render a higher quality
version of the video. However, very rarely does it make a significant difference
so I would leave it unchecked unless your video is appearing in lower definition
than you would expect.

Finally, a word of caution about using video.
Note the message displayed in the Import Video box (highlighted in red
above).
The longer the video (or, in other words, the larger the video file) you import,
the more work Easy Sketch Pro will have to do to render it and include it in
your project.
If you are getting unpredictable results during Preview, it may be because you
are trying to use an especially large or lengthy video and the software is
struggling to process it correctly.
I recommend that you keep your videos down to tens of seconds, rather than
minutes, for the best results.
The same can be true if you try to include lots of videos in your project.
That said, adding video to your projects can be a lot of fun and very effective.
So go ahead and try it for yourself!

Multiple Scenes
What if your narrative requires more objects than you can comfortably fit on
the canvas?
Or what if your narrative is split into several sections, each of which you would
like to illustrate by a separate series of objects?
The answer is to do what they do in the movies and create multiple scenes.
These are also known as 'slides'.
Let's open Easy Sketch Pro and add a few images to our blank canvas...
Note the 'thumbnail' image on the lefthand side annotated 'Slide 1'
(highlighted in red above).
Suppose that we now want to create a second slide to show some different
animals.
Thinking in movie terms, we want to create a new 'scene'.
We do this by clicking on the 'New Slide' button in the toolbar (highlighted in

red below)...

We have now got a blank canvas and a new slide - 'Slide 2' - has been added
to the thumbnails on the left (highlighted in blue above).
We can tell that the canvas in the main workspace relates to Slide 2 because
the Slide 2 thumbnail has a red border around it (plus, of course, there is
nothing on it as yet).
Now let's add an

image - in this
case, a crab - to
the new slide
canvas.
Note that the

image is annotated
'1' because this is
the first object
added to this new
slide.
Now press the

'Preview' button.
You will see that the first four objects are drawn out as normal and then the
scene is switched to the new slide where the crab is drawn.

We can continue to add objects (images, text and video) to this new slide, just
as we have seen before.
To move between slides, just click on the relevant thumbnail in the area on the
left.
One thing you may want to do is delay the transition from the first slide to the
second slide, so that your viewers get a chance to digest the first scene before
being presented with the next.
To do this, go to Slide 1 and open the properties of the last object on that
slide, in this case, the cow.
Now change the 'Timing After' to whatever interval you want. Here, I have set
it to 2 seconds. There will now be a 2-second 'pause' between completion of
the first slide and the start of the second slide.
Note that this is not the same as setting the 'Timing Before' for the first object
in the second slide to 2 seconds. In that case, the software will move
immediately to Slide 2 after completing the cow and then pause with a blank
canvas for 2 seconds before starting to draw the crab.
We need not stop at two slides. In fact, we can have an unlimited number of
slides.
To create a third slide, just click on the 'New Slide' button again. A new Slide 3
will be added to the end of the project.
Let's add a dog to that slide...

Note that the dog is annotated '1' because it is the first object on the canvas
for Slide 3.
Suppose that we really wanted the scene with the dog (Slide 3) to come before
the scene with the crab (Slide 2).
With Slide 3 selected (so that it has the red border around the thumbnail),
right-click on the thumbnail...
The 'Slide Menu' appears.
Click on 'Order Up'...
The dog scene moves up a

notch and becomes 'Slide 2',
with the crab scene moving
down to become 'Slide 3'.
We could have achieved the same result by selecting 'Slide 2',

right-clicking and selecting 'Order Down'.
Note that you can click on 'Play From Here' to preview your
project from the start of the selected slide. This is very handy if
you just want to see the effect of changes on the slide you are
working on.

If we decide that we do not want the dog scene at all, right-click on its
thumbnail and select 'Delete' from the Slide Menu (see the screenshot above).
We get a popup message asking us to confirm that we

want to delete the slide and, if so, the slide, along with all
of its objects, is deleted and no longer shows in the
thumbnails (as shown left).
You may recall, way back in the 'Images' section, that I

said the 'Copy', 'Cut' and 'Paste' Object Menu options were
mainly of use with multiple scenes.
This is because they allow us to copy or move an object

from one scene to another.
Suppose that we want to move the cat from Slide 1 to Slide 2.
If you are not already there, click on the

Slide 1 thumbnail to go to that scene, select
the cat, open the Object Menu and select
'Cut' (highlighted in red to the left).
The cat disappears from Slide 1.
Now click on the Slide 2 thumbnail to go to

that scene.
Right-click on any part of the blank canvas

(i.e. not on an object) and select 'Paste'.
As if by magic, the cat now

appears in Slide 2.
Note that all of the drawing

and timing settings will be
carried across with the
object.
If, instead of moving the cat, we just wanted to create a copy of it in Slide 2,
we would have selected 'Copy' (highlighted in blue in the screenshot before
last) instead of 'Cut' and then 'Paste'.

Note that the object annotations are automatically renumbered to reflect the
changes.
OK. That's 'sight' covered. Now let's look at 'sound'...

Sound
You now know how to add and manipulate image, text and video objects.
Whats missing? Ah yes, sound.
There are two types of sound you may want to use with Easy Sketch Pro: voice
and music. Both are optional.
Voice, of course, is the narrative you want your animated sketches to

illustrate.
Now, I will be up-front here and say that Easy Sketch Pro is not the most
accommodating platform when it comes to recording and editing audio
narration.
So we will focus in this section purely on the 'mechanics' of how you do it and
then talk in a later section about how you might do it in practice.
Whether or not you have voice narration, you may want to add backing music
to help create whatever mood you want your video to convey.
Lets look at voice first. Start with a canvas and a few objects, like this...
To add a voiceover, click on the 'Voice Over' button on the toolbar (highlighted
in red below)...

This opens the 'Record Voiceover' window.
If you already have a pre-recorded audio file with your narration, click on the
'Browse' button (highlighted in blue above).
This will open a standard window where you can navigate to, and select your
audio file.
Note that audio files can only be imported in MP3 format at the moment.
Once you have selected your file, you can preview it by clicking the 'Play'
button (highlighted in green above). The 'Play' button will then change into a
'Pause' button you can use to pause the preview.
Adjust the volume of the voiceover using the 'Volume' slider bar (highlighted in
a nice shade of plum above). Click on the slider and drag to the left to reduce
the volume or drag to the right to increase the volume.
Note that you can only slide in the increments marked on the slider bar.
To exit the process without adding a voiceover, click on the 'Cancel' button
(highlighted in brown above).

Otherwise, if you are happy with the voiceover, click on the 'Add' button
(highlighted in pink above).
A popup will appear saying that the voiceover file is being processed. This
could take a few seconds or up to a minute, depending on the length of the
audio file.
Once the Record Voiceover window is closed, click on 'Preview' to hear your
voiceover play back while the objects are being drawn on the canvas.
The voiceover will only play for the duration of the project i.e. if all objects are
drawn before the voiceover is complete, playback of the voiceover will be
terminated when the last object is drawn.
(So you must have at least one object in your project to hear the audio at all.)
If the voiceover is shorter than the length of the project, the project will
continue to run to the end without a voiceover.
In other words, you really want the length of your voiceover to correspond
with the length of your project.
To remove a voiceover, click the 'Voice Over' button to open the 'Record
Voiceover' window and then click on the 'Remove' button (highlighted in red in
the screenshot immediately above). You will be asked to confirm the deletion
and, if you do, the voiceover will be removed.
If, instead, you want to replace the voiceover with a new one, you can simply
add the new voiceover in the way we have just seen and it will overwrite the
old voiceover.
OK. That's if you want to import an existing voiceover file. But what if you
want to record one from inside Easy Sketch Pro?
Click on the 'Voice Over' button as before to bring up the 'Record Voiceover'
window.

Instead of clicking on 'Browse', we will be clicking on the 'Record' button

(shown highlighted in red below), but only when we're ready!
To record your own voice, you will need a microphone attached to your
computer. The better the quality of your microphone, the better will be the
quality of the recording.
If you have multiple recording devices available, you can choose between them
by clicking on the dropdown menu next to 'Recording Device' (highlighted in
blue above).
To start recording, simply click on the Record button and start talking into
your microphone. The 'Record' button will then turn into a 'Stop' button, which
you click when you want to stop recording.
As before, you can press 'Play' to preview your recording. To re-record it,
simply press the 'Record' button and start again.
Click 'Cancel' to discard a recording altogether or 'Add' to add it to the project.

Again, the software will show a 'processing' popup while the audio is
generated.
You can remove or replace a recorded voiceover in the same way as for a pre-
recorded one.
Note that you can only have one voiceover for your project and that it always
starts from the beginning of your project. So you cannot, for example, use or
record separate voiceover 'segments' for different slides or scenes.
Now lets look at adding music.
Click on the 'Music' button on the toolbar (highlighted in red below).
This opens the 'Music Library' window.

Easy Sketch Pro comes pre-loaded with a range of music tracks you can use.
To access them, click on the dropdown menu next to 'Library' (highlighted in

blue above).
Scroll up and down the list of tracks shown and click on the one you want to
select.

Once selected, you can preview the track by clicking on the 'Play' button
(highlighted in red in the screenshot before last).
The 'Play' button will then change to a 'Pause' button (highlighted in red
above) that you can click to stop the preview.
Note that the length of the track is shown against 'Track Duration' (highlighted
in blue above).
As with the voiceover, you can adjust the volume of the music by using the
'Volume' slider control.
If you have a voiceover, you will want to reduce the volume of the music track
so that it doesn't overwhelm the narration.
If you want to discard the music track, click on the 'Cancel' button (highlighted
in green above).
Before you add the track, there is one more option to consider.
If your music track is shorter than your project length and you want it to start
again at the beginning (so that your entire project has backing music), check
the 'Loop Music' checkbox (highlighted in brown above).
If you leave this unchecked, the music will just stop when the track ends.
As with the voiceover, if your music track is longer than the project length, it
will terminate when the last object has been drawn.
To add the music track to the project, click on the 'Add' button (highlighted in
pink above).

You will see a 'processing' popup, just as we did when adding a voiceover. How
long this takes will depend on the length of the track.
As well as the in-built Music Library, you can also import your own music to act
as a backing track.
To do that, open the Music Library by clicking on the 'Music' button and then
click on the 'Browse' button (highlighted in red below).
This will open s standard window where you can navigate to, and select, your
music file.
Once selected, you proceed in the same way as we did for a track from the
Music Library.
As with the voiceover, you remove a music track by opening the 'Music Library'
window and clicking on the 'Remove' button (highlighted in blue above).
You can also replace it by simply opening the Music Library window and
selecting and adding a new track.
Note that, as with the voiceover, you can only have one music track and it
always starts from the beginning of your project.
Thus you can't, for example, have different tracks to evoke different emotions
in different scenes.
If you are adding both music and voice tracks, I recommend adding the voice
track first and then experimenting with the volume of the music track so that it
is not too loud and distracting for the narrative.

Many Hands
Easy Sketch Pro gives you the option to change the 'magic hand' that does all
of the sketching and dragging in your projects. You can also choose different
writing and drawing implements.
Click on the 'Hands' button on the toolbar (highlighted in red below).
This opens the 'Hands Library'.
Against 'Select hand type' (highlighted in blue above), select either the 'Draw
Hand' or the 'Drag Hand', depending on which you want to change.
You can also choose a small hand (the default) or a big hand against 'Select
hand size' (highlighted in green above).

As with the Image Library, there are various galleries, split by ethnicity,
gender and age.
Once you have selected a gallery, use the scroll bar and the 'Previous' and
'Next' buttons to browse for the hand (and pen, for Draw Hand) you want.
When you have found the one you want, just click on the thumbnail of the
hand. The Hands Library window will close and, when you press 'Preview', you
will see the new hand in action.
If you want to exit the Hands Library without changing anything, click the 'X' in
the top righthand corner of the window (highlighted in pink above).
If, having changed the draw hand, you want to also change the drag hand, you
need to click the Hands button again and repeat the process but with 'Drag
Hand' selected in the hand type.
Note that you can only have one Draw Hand and one Drag Hand for your whole
project.

Creating Your Video

When your project is complete, you are ready to turn it into an actual video.
First, open the project in Easy Sketch Pro.
Now click on the 'Export' button on the toolbar (highlighted in red below).
A standard window will open asking you where you want to save your video to,
once it is created, and what name you want to give it. I recommend naming
the video the same as the project for ease of reference, but the choice is
yours.
The project will now play through

(usually at a little slower than
normal speed) as the software
'records' the video.
A 'Recording' message appears next

to the top menu.
Once the play-through is completed,

you will see a popup message telling
you that the video is being prepared.
This can take up to a minute,

depending on the length of the video.

When the processing is finished, you will get a popup message asking whether
you want to open the video file.
If you click 'Yes', the video will be opened in your default video player.
If you click 'No', you can find and play the video from outside Easy Sketch Pro,
again using your default video player.
You will now find an MP4 file (i.e. a file name in the form yourvideo.mp4) in
the location you chose to save it.
Play it back to make sure everything is as you intended and then the job of
Easy Sketch Pro is done.
You can now publish the video in whatever medium you want, whether that is
on YouTube, another video sharing service or on your own website.
Note that you cannot edit the video itself (i.e. the MP4 file) in Easy Sketch Pro.
If you want to make any changes, you will need to open the project (ESP3) file
in Easy Sketch Pro, make the changes and then re-export the video to reflect
the changes.

Interactive Features
There is just one button on the toolbar that we haven't covered and that is the
'Interactive' button (highlighted in red below).
This is the link to the 'Make My Video

Interactive' online software, where
you can add 'hotspots' to your videos
for all sorts of purposes.
You can add hotspots that link to an autoresponder, link to a website, ask
viewers to like your page on Facebook, pick up the phone and a lot more.
When you click on the link, you are taken to the Make My Video Interactive
login screen (as this is an online service, you will need an internet connection).
You will have been given your login

details when you purchased Easy
Sketch Pro.
Enter these and click on the 'Login'

button.
Once you are logged in, click on

the big plus sign to add the video
you created in Easy Sketch Pro
and then start adding your hot
spots.

This guide does not cover how to use Make My Video Interactive.
You can find comprehensive step-by-step video training by

clicking on the dropdown menu next to your email address
in the top righthand corner of the screen and selecting
'Training' (highlighted in red).

Putting It All Together

We have now been through every aspect of using Easy Sketch Pro.
As I said earlier, the order in which we have looked at the various features of
Easy Sketch Pro is for ease of demonstration and is not the order you would
necessarily use to put a real project together.
The trick is to make what is happening on screen reflect the narrative and not
the other way around.
So I recommend that you start by writing a script or, if you don't want to go
that far, at least a list of the key points you want to make.
Next, create a storyboard from your script. This would consist of a brief
description (or even sketches) of the objects you would like to illustrate each
of the points you are making in the script.
I would do all of this before even firing up Easy Sketch Pro so that you have a
very clear idea of the structure of your project.
The only reason you may want to dip into the software is to see what images
are available in the library. If you can't find suitable images there and you
cannot source them from elsewhere, you may want to tweak the script and/or
storyboard accordingly.
Once you are happy with your storyboard, you then record you (or someone
else) speaking the script and add this to the timeline to form your voice track.
Now you can start adding your objects i.e. the images, text and videos that
illustrate your script. You should build this up gradually from the start,
amending the timing properties for each object so the sketching of them
coincides with the relevant passages of voiceover.
Playback the project after each object is added to make sure everything is in
the right place. You do not want to get several minutes into your presentation
to find that something was wrong with the timing on the object you added
some time ago.
When the voiceover and objects are complete, then consider adding a music
track. And make sure you adjust the volume on it so that it does not intrude
on the voiceover.

Now Its Over To You

That concludes our tour around Easy Sketch Pro.
I hope you have enjoyed it and it has given you a glimpse of the power of this
software and how you can use it to transform your internet marketing and
video production activities.
Now go out there and bring some stunning whiteboard animation videos to the
world!
My very best wishes
William Martin
Easy Sketch Pro
Important Note
New features are being added to Easy Sketch Pro all of the time and so
we will be adding to and updating this guide on a regular basis.
To find out if this is the latest version of the Guide, note the version
number above this box and then compare it with the current version
on this page
http://www.easysketchpro.org/espguide/update.html
If necessary, you can download the latest version from that page and
also signup to be notified of all future updates.
If the above link is not clickable, copy and paste it into the address bar of your
Internet browser.

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EASY SKETCH PRO

2016 NiScape, all rights reserved

DISCLAIMER AND/OR LEGAL NOTICES:

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Download and Installation 5

Easy Sketch Pro Workspace 17

Using Your Own Images 32

Saving and Opening Projects 54

Creating Your Video 77

Putting It All Together 81

Now Its Over To You 82

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There is also a selection of additional video tutorials in the My Dot Com

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Download and Installation

You will need your login details to enter the site.

Note that the exact layout inside the

However, the basic options will be the

From the horizontal menu at the top of

A dropdown menu will appear listing all

The one we are interested in is 'Easy

The other Easy Sketch Pro menu items

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This is where you download the software from.

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This takes us back to the download page we saw before.

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Here, it is 'Business Pro' (highlighted in red above).

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To do this successfully, you need to make sure of two things

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There are (currently three) different versions of the software depending on

Once the download is complete, you will find a file on your

This is what is known as a zipped or compressed file to make it smaller for

Right-click on the file and you will see a dropdown menu.

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The extraction may take a few seconds and, when it is

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If so, click on Run (Easy Sketch Pro is safe!).

You will see the popup box shown

You will then be asked where you

It is strongly recommended that you

You will now be asked where you want

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The next screen asks whether you

The next screen summarises the

Easy Sketch Pro will now be

You will get a message when the

This will give you the option of

If you do not want to run it now,

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If so, exit from the installation program. Now find the

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(Again, I have blanked this out in red for obvious reasons!)

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Easy Sketch Pro Workspace

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Clicking on this will open an internet browser window (so an internet

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Let's move onto canvas options next...

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You can do this by selecting the 'Settings'