I’ve been using Pencil2D for a significant time and it was only today that I realised that the Cut, Copy and Paste edit functions can be used within multiple frames.
Looking back, the main file in a Pencil2D project is an .XML file. This is an ASCII text file which is handled using the Pencil2D Cut and Paste area, rather than the Cut and paste area within the operating system.
This fact means that you unfortunately cannot use these features to move files to another project files.
You can of course Copy the entire project, save the project using a different name and then delete the unwanted frames.
An application for this technique of copying a series of frames is you draw a walk sequence and then need more than 1 repatriation to walk your character off the set. You draw the sequence and then copy it several times and then proceed to move the character. This achieves the character walks off in a smooth move. Any frames that are not required in the last repatriation, can then be deleted.
The project file is a zipped image consisting of the Main. XML file, a directory of the graphics images called Data and mimetype file, which contains the package name.
WARNING if you are going to edit a project outside of the Pencil2D software, MAKE A BACKUP COPY BEFORE PROCEEDING!
Working from the .PCLX file this can be Extracted using the Extract command and then the .XML file can be edited in a text editor, it’s not advisable to use a word processor, because there is a possibility of this corrupting the contents.
Using this method, you can edit the .XML file to remove the unwanted frames. You then modify the contents of the Data directory, which contains the graphics images.
If your doing this process, for the 1st time don’t remove any Sound or Graphics images from the Data directory, the animation will play correctly and can be exported into a .GIF or .MP4 file. The only effect of not doing the deletions is that the .PCLX file will be larger.
To convert the Data directory etc back into a .PCLX file, you simply zip the whole of the files.