Infinite scenes and frames

A scene is an infinite, pannable canvas that holds many artboards, called frames. It's the part type to reach for when you want to see a whole campaign, a set of size variants, or a small design system on one surface instead of flipping between separate pages.

A frame here is an artboard, not the clipping mask you get from selection tools or the pen tools. The two features happen to share the word "frame," but they're unrelated: a scene frame holds a design, a selection frame masks part of an image.

Quick overview

1. Add an infinite part from the page tabs, or switch the current part between single and infinite from the command rail.
2. Draw a frame with the Frame tool, or add one from a template or a saved design.
3. Pan and zoom to lay frames out; multi-select frames to align, distribute, or group them.
4. Turn a shared element into a linked component so every frame stays in sync.
5. Download a frame as a PNG, or select several to download one PNG each.

Detailed reference

Creating a scene

A scene can start two ways: add an Infinite part from the add-part ("+") menu on the page tabs, or flip the Single / Infinite switch in the command rail's templates panel. The switch only sets the mode; the actual scene page is created lazily the first time you add a frame or drop a template while in Infinite mode, so toggling it never spawns an empty page on its own. A fresh scene starts with one placeholder frame, which is replaced automatically the first time you add real content, so your first template lands as the only frame instead of sitting beside an empty one.

Frame presets

Both the Frame tool and the responsive-variant generator below use the same five sizes:

Preset	Size (px)
Square	1080 x 1080
Portrait	1080 x 1350
Story	1080 x 1920
Landscape	1920 x 1080
A4	595 x 842

Adding and editing frames

Action	How
Draw a frame	Pick the Frame tool and drag; a short drag drops a default square frame instead
Use a preset size	Open the Frame tool's fly-out for the five sizes above
Add from a template	Drop in a template design; it lands as a new frame next to the others
Add a saved design	Place one of your saved designs as a frame the same way
Resize	Select the frame and enter an exact width and height (20 to 20,000 px), or pick a ratio chip: 1:1, 16:9, 9:16, 4:3, or 3:4
Duplicate	Places a copy just to the right of the original, tiling into the first free column, with a copy suffix on its name
Recolor	Pick a background color from the swatch row, choose a custom color, or make it transparent
Rename	Click the frame's name label and type a new one
Tag	Open the tag picker from the frame's context bar to add or remove project tags
Delete	Select the frame and delete it, like any object

Resizing a frame keeps its top-left corner fixed and doesn't rescale the content already inside it.

Editing inside a frame

A frame normally behaves as one object: a single click selects the whole artboard, and dragging moves it (and everything in it) as a unit. To edit the contents, double-click the frame to step inside it. Its objects become individually selectable, its background turns into a locked backdrop, and the other frames dim so you can focus. Press Esc, or double-click the backdrop or empty space, to step back out; the objects re-group into the frame and the scene saves. New text, images, and shapes you add drop into whichever frame is active, described under Toolbar and navigation below.

Working with several frames at once

Marquee-select or shift-click to select multiple frames; the selection automatically narrows to frames only. A multi-select bar gives you background color, exact size, group or ungroup, align, and per-frame download. Align works on six edges (left, center, right, top, middle, bottom), and distribute spaces frames evenly along a row or column while keeping at least a small gap between them. Grouped frames move together, and selecting any member of a group selects the whole group.

Performance and sleeping frames

A scene holds up to 200 frames by default; adding more shows a limit notice. To keep a couple hundred frames smooth to pan and zoom, frames that scroll well outside the visible viewport collapse into a lightweight cached thumbnail (capped at roughly 400 px on its long edge) and wake back into fully editable objects the moment you scroll near them again. Waking uses a small halo around the viewport, so a frame is usually awake just before it scrolls in, and the check runs a fraction of a second after a pan or zoom settles rather than on every frame of the gesture. Sleeping and waking never add undo steps.

Filtering frames by tag

Once your project has tags, a filter bar lets you toggle tag chips to narrow which frames are highlighted, switch between matching all tags or any tag, invert the match, and clear the filter in one click. A cluster action groups the matching frames into tidy blocks, and you can save a filter as a named view to come back to later.

Linked components

Turn a selected element into a linked component, and it's cloned into every other frame at the same relative position. Editing one instance's fill, stroke, size, text, font, or shadow updates every other instance immediately, while each instance keeps its own position, so a shared header or button stays visually consistent but can still sit correctly in a differently shaped frame. Linking again after adding new frames extends the sync to them too.

Responsive variants

Generate a full set of platform-sized copies from one frame in a single step, using the same five sizes listed above. Each variant is placed below the source frame with its content cloned and scaled proportionally, ready for platform-specific touch-ups, so one layout becomes a matched set of correctly sized frames.

Applying a brand

With an active brand kit, apply its colors and font to a single frame or to every frame in the scene at once, including ones that are currently asleep. Frame backgrounds pick up the brand's body color, text switches to the brand's font and text color, and other shapes pick up the brand's primary color. See Brand overview.

Exporting frames

The Download action on the frame bar renders the selected frame (background plus content) to a PNG and downloads it. With several frames selected, it downloads one PNG per frame rather than a single archive. To get many frames as one ZIP, select them in the Works browser and use its part-aware bulk export instead. See Exporting a page for general export options.

Toolbar and navigation

The floating tool bar holds Select/Move, a Hand tool for panning, Frame, Image, Text, the pen tools, Shapes, and a "more" menu for sticky notes, adding a template, a grid toggle, and a smart-snap toggle. Hovering Select, Frame, or the pen button opens a small fly-out of variants and sizes; Shapes and "more" open on click. Scroll to zoom toward the pointer between 5% and 800%, hold Space or drag with the middle mouse button to pan, and press Esc to back out of the current tool, close a fly-out, or clear the selection. Drawing a frame snaps you back to Select afterward; hold Alt as you finish the drag to keep the Frame tool armed and draw several in a row.

A new object (a shape, an image, text, an icon, a QR code, and so on) joins the active frame automatically and lands centered in it. The active frame is the one you have selected, the frame you are currently editing inside, or, when nothing is selected, the frame nearest the center of your view. Sticky notes from the "more" menu are the exception: they always float freely at the scene level and are never absorbed into a frame.

Step by step

Lay out a scene like a moodboard or a multi-screen flow

1. Add an Infinite part from the "+" menu on the page tabs, or flip the command rail's Single / Infinite switch to Infinite.
2. Press F for the Frame tool. Drag out each artboard, or hover the Frame button and pick a preset size (Square, Portrait, Story, Landscape, or A4). A quick click without dragging drops a default 1080 by 1080 frame.
3. Fill each frame: with a frame selected (or after double-clicking into it), add text with T, images with I, and shapes with R. Every new object centers itself in the active frame.
4. Press V to return to Select, marquee several frames, and use the multi-frame bar to align them into tidy rows or columns and distribute the spacing evenly.

Draw a new frame and give it a name

1. Press F, then drag on empty canvas to rubber-band the artboard at the size you want; a dashed preview follows your cursor.
2. Release to create the frame. The tool snaps back to Select so you can reposition it right away (hold Alt as you release if you want to keep drawing more frames).
3. Each frame carries a name label just above it. Click the label in the frame's context bar, type a new name, and press Enter. The on-canvas label updates to match.

Pan and zoom a large scene without losing your place

1. Scroll to zoom toward the pointer (5% to 800%). Hold Space and drag, switch to the Hand tool with H, or drag with the middle mouse button to pan from anywhere.
2. The frame name labels ride along above each artboard as you move, and truncate to the frame's width when you zoom out, so you can always read where you are.
3. To regroup a sprawling scene, tag the frames, open the tag filter bar, and use its Cluster action to snap the frames into tidy blocks grouped by their first tag.

Use one frame on its own

1. Click a frame once to select the whole artboard; do not double-click, which would step inside it.
2. On the frame's context bar, choose Download to render just that frame to a PNG.
3. To reuse the frame's design elsewhere, save an element inside it to My shapes, or generate platform-sized copies with responsive variants. For a batch of frames as a single ZIP, select them in the Works browser and use its bulk export.

Common tasks

• One design, every platform size: select a finished frame and generate responsive variants. You get a copy in each of the other preset sizes, placed below the source with its content scaled to fit, ready for platform-specific touch-ups.
• Keep a shared header or button in sync: select the element and link it as a component. A linked copy drops into every other frame at the same relative spot, and editing any one instance's fill, text, font, size, or shadow updates them all while each keeps its own position.
• Apply a brand in one move: with an active brand kit, recolor a single frame or the whole scene at once, sleeping frames included. See Brand overview.
• Group frames that belong together: multi-select and choose Group. Grouped frames move together, and clicking any one selects the whole group; choose Ungroup to release them.
• Recolor a frame's background: open the Background swatches on the frame bar, pick a preset or a custom color, or make it transparent so the dotted backdrop shows through.

Troubleshooting

Frames look soft or low-resolution when zoomed out

Frames that scroll well off-screen are swapped for a cached thumbnail (around 400 px on the long edge) to keep panning fast, and that proxy can look slightly soft. Scroll back toward the frame and it wakes into the full-resolution, editable version. Exports always render at full resolution regardless of a frame's sleep state.

A new object landed in the wrong frame. New objects go to the active frame: the selected frame, the frame you are editing inside, or the one nearest the center of the view. Select the destination frame first, then add the object, or drag a free object over a frame and drop it to absorb it in.

You cannot click an element inside a frame. A single click selects the whole frame as a unit. Double-click the frame to step inside, then click the element, and press Esc to step back out.

Resizing a frame did not rescale its content. That is intentional: a resize keeps the top-left corner fixed and leaves the content where it is. To scale a layout into a different shape, use responsive variants instead of resizing.

A sticky note will not attach to a frame. Sticky notes always live free at the scene level by design, so they never distort a frame. Use text (the T tool) for copy that should belong to a frame.

Align seemed to hide frames. It does not: aligning an edge that would make frames overlap re-sequences them into a row or column with a small gap, so every frame stays visible.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
V	Select / Move
H	Hand (pan)
F	Frame
I	Image
T	Text
P	Bezier pen
Shift + P	Freeform pen
L	Line tool
R	Shapes
Esc	Back out of the current tool, close a fly-out, or clear the selection

Tips

Single click selects, double-click edits

Click a frame once to move or resize the whole artboard as a unit. Double-click to step inside and edit its contents; the other frames dim so you can focus. Esc steps back out.

Don't confuse the two "frames"

A scene's frames are artboards you design inside. The frame you get from selection tools or the pen tools is a clipping mask around part of an image. See Selection tools.

Related

• Pages for the simpler, single-canvas part type
• Slide decks and whiteboards for the other free-form part types
• Selection tools for the other kind of frame
• My shapes to save and reuse a design
• Brand overview for setting up colors and fonts to apply