Layers, Frames and Masks
A token in Tokenizer 2 is a stack of layers, drawn from the bottom up. Nothing is flattened until you save, and your layers are kept with the actor, so you can come back and change any of them later.
Layers
The Layers tab lists the stack, with the front-most layer at the top.
- Click a layer to select it.
- Drag a layer to move it up or down.
- Double-click its name to rename it.
- The eye hides or shows it.
Right-click a layer for more:
- Duplicate Layer, Delete Layer, Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical.
- Lock - stop it being moved by accident.
- Copy Layer to Avatar (or to Token) - copy it into the other mode.
- Add as Mask Layer - treat it as a frame, so it clips the layers below it.
- Apply Mask to Layers Below - on a frame, clip every layer underneath to it.
- Edit in Ring Generator - on a frame you made in the Ring Generator, reopen its design there; the frame you add or replace takes this layer's place.
- Save Mask - on a painted mask, keep it for use on other tokens.
Layer types
Add layers with + Add Layer:
| Layer | What it is |
|---|---|
| Frames and rings | A frame image from the Frame Browser, or one you design in the Ring Generator |
| Shape ring | A circle, square or hex border with its own colour, texture, glow and soft inner edge |
| Image | Any image from your files |
| Avatar / Token image | The actor's portrait or current token image |
| Text | Words with a font, size, weight, fill colour, outline and shadow |
| Colour | A solid colour |
| Mask image | A black and white image used to hide parts of other layers |
| Painted mask | A mask you paint yourself |
You can also paste an image with Ctrl+V.
Video files (.webm, .mp4 and .gif) can be added as layers too, and play in the editor.
Frames and rings
The Rings tab has everything for the border of your token.
Browse Frames/Rings opens the Frame Browser:
- Favourites and Recent - frames you have starred or used lately.
- Tokenizer and the other built-in sets.
- Ring Generator - design your own; see Ring Generator.
- Custom - add your own frames and masks, one at a time or a whole folder.
Rest the mouse on a frame for a moment to see it larger; it goes again as soon as you move the mouse.
A GM can share custom frames and masks, or a whole group of them, with every user in the world.
Players need to be able to read the folder the files are in.
If the Token Frames module is installed, its frames get their own tab (it does not need to be enabled).
Animated frames (.webm, .mp4 and .gif) play in the browser and in the editor.
Disposition rings
When you first open an actor, Tokenizer 2 can add a ring that matches the token's disposition: friendly, neutral or hostile. A GM chooses the three rings in the settings.
Foundry's Dynamic Ring
Enable Dynamic Ring uses Foundry's own token ring instead of drawing a frame into the image. The editor shows a preview of the ring, which is not saved into the image. The portrait is clipped to the inside of the ring with a painted mask, which you can paint on to change. Dynamic Ring Colors sets the ring and background colours.
Oversized tokens
Enable Oversized (2x) makes the token twice the size, so parts of it can spill out over the squares around it. Use it for big creatures, or with pop-out tokens.
Enable Oversized (1.3x) makes the token 1.3 times the size of its square instead. The frame or Dynamic Ring keeps its usual size, leaving a little room past it for the art.
With the Dynamic Ring on, a third button, Enable Ring Fill (1.3x), makes the whole token, ring and art, 1.3 times larger, so Foundry's ring fills the square rather than sitting inside it. Foundry's Grid fit mode (Dynamic Token Rings Fit Modes in Core settings) does the same for every token without scaling them.
Click the other button to switch sizes, or the lit one to turn oversized off.
Masks
A mask decides which parts of a layer show. A layer can have several masks at once.
The Masks tab lists every layer with its masks. Click + next to a layer to add one, click a mask to change it, or x to remove it.
| Mask | What it does |
|---|---|
| Mask Image | Uses a black and white image: white shows the layer, black hides it |
| Frame Layer Mask - Inner Window (Ray Cast) | Clips the layer to the inside of a frame |
| Frame Layer Mask - Outer Shape (Contour) | Clips the layer to the outside edge of a frame |
| Painted mask | A mask you paint yourself with Paint Mask, or make from a Magic Lasso selection |
If an inner-window mask does not quite follow a frame, change Ray Edge Detection or Ray Sample Size for that mask. A higher sample size gives a coarser but smoother outline; 1 follows the frame most closely. Translucent or glowing frames, such as the hologram ring, have no solid edge, so the inner window is found from where the frame's light begins instead. Frames made in the Ring Generator also record their inner window in the file name, which the mask falls back on if the frame's edge cannot be found.
Animated tokens
Give any layer an animation in the Palette: rotate, breathe, pulse, hue cycle, tint cycle, shimmer or aura pulse. A play button appears in the toolbar so you can preview it.
A token with anything animated in it saves as a looping .webm video.
- In Dynamic Ring mode, only the first frame of an animated token is shown, so use a frame instead for a fully animated token.
- Wildcard tokens always save as still images.
- Animated tokens save fastest when Foundry is opened over HTTPS or on localhost. Over plain HTTP the save still works, but takes as long as the animation plays.
Wildcard tokens
If an actor uses wildcard token images, saving adds a new numbered image (for example wolf-003.webp) without changing the wildcard path.
Keep the export format matching the path's extension (WebP for wolf-*.webp), or Foundry will not pick up the new image.