Getting started

Open the editor

Go to /home. There is nothing to install — PopCraft runs in any browser with WebGPU support (recent Chrome, Edge and Safari). There is also a desktop app for macOS if you'd rather have it in the Dock.

Make your first file

Hit New in the top right, then File. The gallery that opens is a shortcut past the blank page: pick a starting point and PopCraft sets the page size, the type styles and the layout for you.

1. 1.Click New, then File0:00
2. 2.Pick a kind of file in the rail0:01
3. 3.Pick a template, then Use0:03
4. 4.Double-click the headline and type your own0:05

Description

On Home, New then File opens the new file gallery. Social is picked in the rail, the Announcement template is chosen with Use Announcement, and it opens in the editor. The headline is double-clicked, selected with Command-A and retyped as Doors open Friday.

1. Click New, then File.
2. Pick a kind of file in the rail on the left — Social here. The page sizes for that kind come first, then its templates.
3. Click a template, then Use (the button names the template: Use Announcement).
4. The file opens in the editor. Double-click any text to change it — press ⌘A (Ctrl+A) to select what is there, type, and press Esc when you're done.

The rail lists the kinds of file PopCraft makes, and the kind decides how the file behaves:

Prefer to start empty? Create blank file is at the bottom of the same dialog.

Signed in, a new file is made where you are browsing: your own files, or a team picked in Home's sidebar. The dialog says which, and you can change it before you pick.

1. 1.Pick the team in the sidebar0:00
2. 2.Click New, then File: it will be made in that team0:01
3. 3.Pick a kind and a template, then Use0:04

Description

Home, signed in. Brightside Studio is picked in the sidebar, then New and File open the gallery, whose owner picker says the file will be made in Brightside Studio. Social is picked in the rail, showing its sizes and templates; whatever is used next is made in the team.

1. Pick the team in Home's sidebar.
2. Click New, then File: the dialog shows the team the file will be made in.
3. Pick a template and Use it.

See Templates for the anime shorts, music videos, game UI kits and slideshows.

Shortcuts on Home

The Start something cards on Home skip the dialog:

• New file opens the New file dialog above.
• New whiteboard creates a board straight away and opens it in PopCorn.
• Ask the agent takes a sentence (a launch post for our spring sale), creates a file and hands the sentence to the agent, which starts on it as soon as the file opens. If the agent isn't available, the file opens with your sentence waiting in the chat box.

Until you have a file, Home also shows Start from a template. It has the same groups as the New file dialog (All, Print, Comic, Social, Slides and the rest). Click a template to make a file from it and open it, or Browse all templates for the full dialog.

Importing

Drop a .popcraft, .json (Lottie), .lottie or .pdf file on Home, or press Mod+I in the editor. Import plugins add more formats. A progress card shows while PopCraft reads the file. Large files can take a while; you can hide the card and the import keeps going, then tells you when it's done.

Without an account you get one file, kept on this device, with every tool and mode. Sign in and that file is uploaded to your account, and more files, sharing and collaboration unlock. See your account.

Find your way around

The editor is three columns: pages and layers on the left, the canvas in the middle, the inspector on the right, and the tools along the bottom. The editor window walks through each one.

Next steps

• Designing — frames, shapes, text and components
• Drawing — the brush engine
• Keyboard shortcuts — the ones worth learning first
• Exporting — getting the work back out