Pick a tool in the rail, then click the stage to drop it in. Most tools also take a drag while placing: drag to aim a source, size a prop, or size a force.
After placing, the rail goes back to Select. Shift-click a tool to keep it, so you can place several in a row.
Select anything on the stage to move it or use its handles, and tune it in the inspector. Select several things of one kind to change them together. ⌘D duplicates the selection and ⌫ deletes it.
Sources
Sources make liquid. Each one pours its own liquid, so two sources can pour two different colors or types.
| Source | What it does |
|---|---|
| Stream | A steady pour. Drag while placing to aim it. |
| Jet | A fast, narrow squirt. Drag to aim. |
| Drip | Single drops at an interval. |
| Burst | One splash thrown in every direction. Drag for force. |
| Blob | A block of liquid that appears all at once. Drag to size it, then drag its arrow to throw it. |
You can switch a selected source to another type at the top of the inspector. Starts and Stops set when it turns on and off, in seconds from the start of the work area. Rainbow cycles every new drop through the hues.
Props
Props are walls the liquid hits: Ramp, Bowl, Cup, Funnel, Pegs, Tank, Stairs, Splitter and Ring. Sketch lets you draw your own wall freehand.
Every prop has a style, picked in the rail before you place it or in the inspector afterwards, and a color the style shades from. Props bake into your comp as shape layers, so the bowl in the lab is the bowl in your shot.
Props can do more than sit still:
- Copies repeat a prop. The Row, Stack, Spiral and Fan presets set up common patterns.
- Motion makes a prop Spin, Sway or Slide. Choose whether all copies move as one or each copy moves on its own, with a ripple between them.
- Fill fills the shape in behind its strokes. A filled prop is solid, so liquid can’t get inside it.
- Invisible wall keeps a prop in the simulation but leaves it out of the picture.
Forces
Forces are invisible circles that act on any liquid inside them. Drag the edge handle or the Size knob to set their reach.
| Force | What it does | Its own knob |
|---|---|---|
| Vortex | Swirls liquid around. Spin sets the speed; negative spins the other way. | Pull draws liquid down into the eye, like a plughole. |
| Magnet | Pulls liquid in. A strong magnet lifts a pool into a floating ball; negative Pull pushes liquid away. | Calm sets how quickly caught liquid settles into a still ball. |
| Fan | Blows liquid one way. Aim sets the direction. | Gust makes the wind waver instead of blowing steadily. |
| Drain | Swallows liquid. | Flow sets how fast it swallows. Lower values let liquid back up and run past. |
When a scene has more than one liquid, a drain can swallow some liquids and let the others run past.
Portals
Turn on Portal on a drain and swallowed liquid shoots back out of a second hole. Drag the portal anywhere on the stage, and set its Speed and Aim, or drag its arrow. This is how the Portal Loop starter runs forever.