• When you record an animation, don’t worry about the duration or interruptions as you change settings or tools—only onscreen brushstrokes are recorded. After you finish recording, you can manually set the duration you want, previewing it to ensure it’s just right.

• You can easily reverse a recording after you exit Painting Creator (in the Timeline, double-click the recording, and in the Options panel, mark the Reverse video check box). If you know you’re going to reverse the animation, think about how you want to apply your brushstrokes to reveal the underlying content.

• You can use a still clip from your animation as a background (before or after the animation clip, for example). For more information about creating a still from the last frame of your animation, see To create a still image from an animation.