Process recording: canvas, interface and work archives

Confirm recording, then draw as usual. Nephele groups drawing activity by work and sitting, with optional canvas and application-interface video. Export a timelapse, share a record card, or keep the underlying process archive.

For activity statistics alone, turn both video options off. Video is not required to track drawing time and habits.

Watch the feature overview

Start recording

1. Open Toolbox → Process Recording and open the document in your drawing app.

2. Select a source. Interface recording supports an entire screen, a window or a selected screen region. For canvas recording, select a supported drawing window.

3. Enable Application interface, Canvas only, or both. The two tracks are saved separately. With both off, only drawing activity is recorded.

4. Check the canvas detection result or interface preview, then start a new recording. If prompted, choose whether to create a new work or continue the previous one.

5. Stop when this sitting ends. Choose Not finished yet to continue later; mark the work finished when it is complete.

Choose what to record

| What you want to keep | Choose |

|---|---|

| Clean changes to the artwork for a timelapse | Canvas only. Panels and viewport zoom or rotation do not enter this track. |

| Operations, panel changes and viewport adjustments | Application interface. Check the selected window or region first. |

| Both artwork and operations | Enable both and export their timelapses separately. |

| Drawing time, strokes and activity patterns | Turn both video options off. |

Native canvas capture differs from selecting the visible canvas area on your screen. Region recording can still capture floating panels that cover that area. Save a region as a preset to reuse it later.

Drawing reminders

When enabled, Drawing reminders ask whether to begin after drawing activity is detected. Changing files may also prompt you to switch works. Confirm the prompt to start. Your recording settings are retained for later sessions.

Recording samples and encodes frames in response to drawing operations, rather than continuously recording every second. Memory use and file size still depend on resolution, enabled tracks and activity.

Connect your drawing app

Select a window and use Canvas preview / Detect again. Begin after the recorder reports a valid canvas frame. Preview is not counted as recording or drawing activity.

| Drawing app | Preparation for canvas recording |

|---|---|

| Photoshop | Install Nephele's canvas component and enable Generator in Photoshop. See the steps below. |

| SAI2 (64-bit) | See support and verification details below. The newer-layout fixes for 2026 Alpha builds are included in 0.8.5-beta. |

| CLIP STUDIO PAINT | Enable Record timelapse in the File menu before detecting the canvas. Quality depends on the host's timelapse resolution. |

| 优动漫 (the Chinese edition of CSP) | If the recorder offers to enable timelapse when recording starts, follow that prompt and wait for the first frame. Otherwise enable built-in timelapse manually and detect again. Quality also depends on its timelapse resolution. |

Available native sources depend on app and version support. Other drawing apps can use window or region recording.

SAI2 version scope

This section covers native canvas recording and activity-only recording, not color-picker integration. Their version support differs. All tests below use 64-bit SAI2.

Client version and verification scope: 0.8.5-beta retains legacy-layout detection and the built-in 2026.07.08 profile, and includes detection fixes for the 2026 Alpha major-renovation branch. Older installations do not include these additions. The table below lists completed verification and its limits.

| Branch / build | Verification and release status |

|---|---|

| Preview 2024.08.14 | Released support; verified real canvas reads, drawing-triggered capture, activity-only records, and exports of canvas and interface video. |

| Stable Preview 2026.07.02 and 2026.07.02b | The existing automatic-detection path passed this round of real-installation tests without adding an Alpha layout. Detect the canvas first. |

| Alpha 2026.07.08 | The existing built-in profile captures basic changes. 0.8.5-beta corrects document-name and saved-path reads, with the newer history structure also verified. |

| 2026 Alpha major-renovation branch (full dates below) | Development tests passed for real canvas reads, drawing / undo / redo triggers, activity-only records, matching pixels after redo, and canvas-video encoding and full decoding. The newer-layout detection fixes are included in 0.8.5-beta. |

As of October 5, 2026, all 25 branch builds obtained for this round passed these basic 64-bit compatibility checks: 2 stable builds and 23 Alpha builds. Preview and Alpha builds sharing a date are separate binaries; their support results must not be combined.

| Branch | Tested build dates |

|---|---|

| Stable Preview | 2026.07.02, 2026.07.02b |

| Alpha · July | 2026.07.02b, 2026.07.08, 2026.07.11, 2026.07.12, 2026.07.27, 2026.07.29, 2026.07.30 |

| Alpha · August | 2026.08.06, 2026.08.11, 2026.08.13, 2026.08.23, 2026.08.24, 2026.08.31 |

| Alpha · September | 2026.09.02, 2026.09.15, 2026.09.16, 2026.09.16b, 2026.09.17, 2026.09.19, 2026.09.20, 2026.09.21, 2026.09.24, 2026.09.25 |

Not yet verified: official packages for Alpha 2026.07.02, 2026.07.04, 2026.07.05, 2026.07.06 and 2026.08.05 could not be obtained, so these builds are not listed as supported. Some builds were available only in English or Japanese. Where the main executables are byte-identical, backend evidence is reused; this does not claim that both language interfaces were tested. These basic checks are not a long-duration drawing stress test.

SAI1 and 32-bit SAI2 are outside native canvas / activity-only support. Other 64-bit SAI2 builds are checked for compatible layouts. Use the actual detection result; attempting detection does not mean every build is supported.

If detection fails, open a document and select Detect again. If the canvas still cannot be read, use Full screen or Screen region to record the interface. Include the full Preview / Alpha date, bitness and Nephele version when reporting a problem.

Connect Photoshop

1. Use Install component or the connection guide on the recorder's Photoshop row.

2. Open Photoshop and enable Generator under Edit → Preferences → Plug-ins.

3. Wait for the connection, then detect the canvas again.

After a component update, follow the prompt to turn Generator off and on again so Photoshop reloads it. Installation in a protected directory may require administrator approval.

If the component is unavailable, the recorder may offer to record the interface first. That records only the interface track; it does not reconstruct a missing canvas track later. Connect the component before starting if you need canvas video.

Extract an existing CSP / 优动漫 timelapse

Use Extract timelapse from project to select a .clip file containing built-in timelapse data. Follow the prompts for frame rate, resolution and destination.

This extracts existing data. It cannot recover drawing from before timelapse was enabled or add operation statistics that were never recorded.

Hands-on demo

This recording shows selecting a capture source, checking the canvas preview and starting recording. Prepare your drawing app using the instructions above.

Continue the same work over several sittings

A work can contain multiple sittings: separate starts and stops of drawing activity. Find it in Process archives and choose Continue, or use the previous-work action. Check the work name so different commissions are not mixed.

Each sitting saves its activity and available video. Sittings are linked within the work, so you can review one sitting or export the accumulated work.

Archives support search, groups, renaming and completion status. If sittings were assigned to the wrong work, inspect Edit sittings. Moving them to a new work requires selecting a contiguous group from the end, rather than removing an arbitrary middle sitting.

Export and review

Export a timelapse

Select a work in the archive and choose Export:

• Frame rate plays recorded frames at a fixed rate. More frames produce a longer video.

• Fixed duration fits the available recording into the selected length for sharing.

Export canvas and interface tracks separately when both were recorded. Choose resolution, final-frame hold and destination. Export can run in the background and be repeated later. The default is 2K with a 2560-pixel long edge; original resolution and a 1080-pixel long edge are also available. Smaller sources are not enlarged by selecting a larger output.

Activity can remain if video was disabled, capture failed or the source video was cleaned up. Those records cannot supply the missing video.

Record cards and drawing data

Choose Record card to review active drawing time, strokes, continuous drawing periods and progress snapshots. A card summarizes the work; it is not the original process archive.

Data Center combines longer-term records: heatmaps, monthly trends and a daily activity clock help you review when and how much you draw. Activity-only records can contribute without video capture.

Keep a verifiable archive

Choose Verify in the process archive to inspect each sitting:

| Check | What it establishes |

|---|---|

| Integrity | Whether current video and records match their sealed fingerprints. |

| Linked sittings | Whether each sitting correctly follows the preceding record. |

| Trusted timestamp | That the record's fingerprint existed when the third party issued the timestamp. |

For a sitting without a timestamp, use the signing action in the verification window. It needs a network connection. A later signature establishes existence at the later signing time; it does not backdate the drawing.

Use Export evidence package when sharing records, timestamps and available video. The verification window provides an independent verification entry point. Verification establishes integrity and existence at a time; attribution still requires examining the work and other material.

Storage and troubleshooting

Archives are taking up space

Check Archive location for the directory, usage and capacity setting. Use Change location to migrate archives. Exceeding the configured limit prompts you to clean up; works are not deleted automatically.

Clean video, keep activity records removes source video while retaining activity statistics and issued timestamps. Those videos can no longer be exported. Save evidence packages or back up originals first if you need them.

No canvas preview, or an unexpected image

Check that the drawing app is running with the target document open, then detect again. For Photoshop, check the component and Generator; for CSP / 优动漫, check built-in timelapse; for SAI2, check version-support messages. After changing documents, confirm the selected work and capture target.

Use interface recording if canvas capture remains unavailable. Increasing activity counts alone does not confirm that canvas video was captured.

Missing video component

Use the repair action provided by the recorder, then check preview and recording status again. Repair does not turn earlier activity-only records into complete video.

For time spent in different applications, see the separate Software Usage tracker.