Emoji, GIFs, and stickers

Four small libraries live inside the Items tab, alongside shapes and My Shapes. Each is a search-and-insert grid: find something, click it, and it lands centered on the canvas as a regular object.

Quick overview

1. Open the Items tab (Alt+5) in the icon rail.
2. Pick Emoji, GIFs, Lottie, or Stickers from the row of categories.
3. Browse the built-in grid, or use the search box.
4. Click a result to add it to the canvas.
5. Resize, recolor (emoji only), and reposition it like any other object.

Detailed reference

Emoji

A static image library sourced from Twemoji, with no external API key required.

Feature	Detail
Categories	Popular, Smileys & People, Animals & Nature, Food & Drink, Activities, Travel & Places, Objects, Symbols & Hearts
Search	Filters by emoji name across every category at once; category browsing is hidden while a search is active
Insert	A static image object, not an animated one

GIFs

Powered by GIPHY. Requires your own GIPHY API key, set under AI and API keys; the panel shows a prompt if the key is missing.

Feature	Detail
Default view	A trending slider
Search	Debounced, with infinite scroll through the results grid
Insert	An animated object that plays on the canvas

Lottie

Search results come from LottieFiles' public library and need no API key of their own. Unlike a true vector Lottie player, this panel plays each animation's exported GIF preview rather than the original JSON animation, so it shares the same insertion behavior as the GIFs panel.

Feature	Detail
Source	LottieFiles' public search API
Search	Infinite-scroll masonry grid, same pattern as GIFs
Insert	An animated GIF preview of the Lottie file, not a native vector animation

Stickers

Also powered by GIPHY, using its dedicated stickers endpoint, which returns transparent GIFs rather than photo-style results.

Feature	Detail
Source	GIPHY stickers endpoint
Search	Same debounced search and infinite scroll as GIFs
Insert	A transparent animated (or static) sticker object

Navigating between them

All four sit as drill-in views inside the Items tab, next to the geometric Shapes grid and the My Shapes browser. Each has its own Back button that returns you to the top-level Items view rather than closing the tab, so you can hop between categories without losing your place.

How animation actually plays on the canvas

GIFs, stickers, and Lottie previews are not embedded as a live browser <img> animation. When you click a result, the editor downloads the GIF, decodes every frame client-side, and drives a lightweight render loop that repaints the object's frame on the canvas as each frame's delay elapses. That loop only runs while at least one animated object exists somewhere on the canvas, and decoded frame data is kept in a capped in-memory cache so switching between pages or undoing does not force a full re-download and re-decode of every animated object already placed. This is also why an animated object keeps playing after you resize, rotate, or restyle it like a normal object, since it is a regular canvas object underneath with the animation attached to it.

Step by step

Drop an animated GIF onto the canvas

1. Open Items (Alt+5) and pick GIFs.
2. Browse the trending slider, or type a search term; results load in a masonry grid and more load automatically as you scroll near the bottom.
3. Click a result. It is decoded and placed on the canvas, centered, already playing.
4. Resize or reposition it like any other object; the animation keeps playing at its new size.

Insert and recolor an emoji

1. Open Items (Alt+5) and pick Emoji.
2. Pick a category tab, or type a search term to search every category at once.
3. Click an emoji to add it to the canvas as a small vector object.
4. Select it and change its fill color from the properties panel; because it is a real vector shape (not a raster image), the recolor applies cleanly.

Set up the GIPHY key once for GIFs and Stickers

1. Open Settings, then AI Settings, and scroll to Stock Media API Keys.
2. Paste in a GIPHY key and save.
3. Reopen Items and both the GIFs and Stickers tabs now show results instead of the "add your GIPHY key" prompt, since they read the same stored key.

Browse Lottie animations

1. Open Items (Alt+5) and pick Lottie.
2. Search or scroll the featured grid; previews are LottieFiles' public library, and need no API key.
3. Click a result to add it. Under the hood this reuses the GIF pipeline (LottieFiles' own exported GIF preview of the animation), so it behaves exactly like a GIF once it is on the canvas, including the recolor limitation below.

Common tasks

Task	Steps
Go back to the category list from any drill-in	Click the panel's Back button, or reopen the Items tab
Find a specific sticker instead of a photo-style GIF	Use the Stickers tab, not GIFs, since it queries GIPHY's dedicated sticker endpoint
Keep browsing without re-typing a search	Scroll down; GIFs, Stickers, and Lottie all auto-load more results near the bottom of the grid
Skip API setup entirely	Stick to Emoji and Lottie, neither needs a key

Troubleshooting

Missing GIPHY key shows a prompt, not an error

Both the GIFs and Stickers sliders and their full grids show "Add your GIPHY API key in Settings > API Keys" when no key is set, rather than failing silently. See AI and API keys.

Recoloring only works on emoji

Emoji are simple vector shapes you can restyle from the properties panel. GIFs, Lottie previews, and stickers are decoded frame images, so the only way to change their color is to search for a different result.

Lottie plays a GIF export, not the original vector animation

The Lottie tab shows each animation's exported GIF preview rather than the native JSON/vector format, so very detailed or high-frame-rate Lottie files may look slightly softer on canvas than in LottieFiles' own player.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Alt+5	Open the Items tab, where Emoji, GIFs, Lottie, and Stickers live

Tips

Set your GIPHY key once

GIFs and Stickers both read the same GIPHY key. Emoji and Lottie need no key at all, so if you only use those two, you can skip API setup entirely.

Emoji recolors, animated content doesn't

Emoji are simple vector shapes you can restyle from the properties panel. GIFs, Lottie previews, and stickers are baked images, so recoloring only works by finding a different search result.

Related

• Shapes for the geometric shape library that shares the Items tab
• My shapes for saving your own reusable objects
• Icons for a vector icon library instead of emoji
• AI and API keys for setting up the GIPHY key