Frames and groups

Frames

In Creatie, frames are similar to artboards and can hold various child objects. During the design process, you can customize the frame's size, corner radius, fill, stroke, effects, and more, similar to drawing a regular rectangle. Frames also give you access to extra functionality such as Constraints, Smart layout, Layout grid, and Prototyping. Moreover, Creatie incorporates the concept of div from development, allowing to nest frames within other frames.

Create frames

Two ways to select the frame tool: select the Frame tool from the toolbar; use F . You can either simply select a frame preset in the right sidebar or create a frame by clicking and dragging in the canvas.

You can also create a frame around objects by selecting the existing object (shape, etc), then you can create a frame by using the keyboard shortcut:

• Mac: Option + Command + G
• Windows: Ctrl + Alt + G

Move frames

For empty frames, you can just click in the frame to select and drag to move. For frames with content, click on the frame title to select and move it.

You can also reposition the selected frame by modifying the X and Y values in the properties panel in the right sidebar.

Edit frames

Resize frames

There are three ways to change the size of a frame:

• Click the handle in one of the corners of the frame and drag to resize
• Update the frame's width and height using the properties panel in the right sidebar
• Use the frame dropdown to select a frame preset

Resize to fit

By clicking Resize to fit, you can automatically make the frame resize to fit the content.

Clip content

When Clip content is turned on, whatever extends beyond the frame's bounds is hidden.

Delete frames

Select a frame and then you can use the Delete key to remove it. Please note that deleting a frame will also delete all layers within it.

If you want to remove the frame and leave its layers, select Ungroup from the right-click menu to ungroup the frame, or use the keyboard shortcut:

• Mac：Shift + Command + G
• Windows：Shift + Ctrl + G

Other properties

You can freely edit the layer properties of a frame, such as corner radius, fill, stroke, and effects, the same as editing a regular shape layer.

Frames can be created within other frames, similar to nesting boxes where different design objects can be placed. This approach better reflects constraint relation and facilitates the design of smart layout. We highly suggest using frames instead of groups. Think of frames as a way to build objects, like buttons, by creating a frame and adding text layers within it, similar to a programming structure.

Group

By default, the bounds of a group are determined by its child objects.

• Create a group: You can select some layers, right-click, and select Group selection
  • Mac：Command + G
  • Windows：Ctrl + G
• Select layers: The first click on a layer within the group will select the entire thing. If you want to select a particular layer within the group, double-click on the object or select the layer in the left Layers panel. You can also hold down the Command key and click on the target layer to select it directly, bypassing the group.
• Move layers: You can move layers in and out of the group by dragging them in the left Layers panel. When layers inside the group are moved, the group's bounds will adjust to accommodate all the layers within.
• Ungroup: You can select the group and ungroup it
  • Mac：Shift + Command + G
  • Windows：Shift + Ctrl + G

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