JSON fails to export colour layers Topic is solved

[JoannaL]

Hello there!

I’m an animation student working on my graduation film and I’ve encountered a problem when exporting my animations with JSON (PNG + RGBA).
If I open the exported folder, all the PNGs for my clean up lines are there but for every single colour layer, there is just 1 blank PNG.
I am confused because back in March I exported other shots with the exact same method (following the official TvPaint tutorial on Youtube) and the same TvPaint version and I did not have this problem. I tried reexporting those shots today and it doesn't work for them either.

The colours do appear however if I export my layers as one PNG sequence or a video file. The issue seems to be specific to JSON.

I tried updating TvPaint but the problem remains.

You can see my export settings in my attached file.

Details about my MAC + software:

Mac OSX 10.14.6 Mojave
OS architecture: 64 bit
1.4 GHz Intel Core i5
RAM: 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3
TvPaint : 11.5.3 Pro 64 bit
Wacom bamboo CTL-470

I thank you in advance for your help ! Any tips or suggestions are welcome and let me know if there’s anything in particular I should upload.

Cheers,

Joanna

[D.T. Nethery]

Hi, Joanna -

I realize this must be incredibly frustrating for you. I wish I could help you with an easy solution to your problem.

I have a similar set up to yours: MacOS Mojave 64bit architecture, 16GB of RAM , TVPaint 11.5.3 . I think I am using the same export settings as you (except for one setting, see below)
So I ran a test to see if I can reproduce the same problem.

However, I am not able to reproduce your issue on my end. When I export using the JSON export option all the color layers are there.
The only difference is in my Export settings I have Ignore Duplicate Images unchecked.

Screen Shot 2022-05-20 at 3.44.35 PM.jpg (31.09 KiB) Viewed 3718 times

But then I tried it again with the box next to Ignore Duplicate Images checked , however I got the same result. All the color layers are exported correctly.


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[D.T. Nethery]

Try these settings to see if they give better results:

Folder Name Pattern: %ln
File Name Pattern: %ln%04in

Screen Shot 2022-05-21 at 8.28.37 AM.jpg (29.83 KiB) Viewed 3688 times

You may also want to try changing the image format to TGA , RGBA .

Screen Shot 2022-05-21 at 8.42.42 AM.jpg (28.25 KiB) Viewed 3686 times

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[JoannaL]

Hello D.T. Nethery,

Thank you for your reply; I tested all the settings you suggested but I still get the same results, sadly.
If I uncheck "ignore Duplicate Images" however, the right number of PNGs are exported for my colour layers, although they remain blank.

I don't know if this is related to my colour problem but I've noticed that even when exporting a clip as a PNG sequence, TvPaint ignores my transparency settings (RGBA + "Background" unchecked) unless I specifically set the Background type to "None" (Clip>Background>None). I could previously always export transparency with a "Check" Background as well, which is no longer the case.

[D.T. Nethery]

Hello D.T. Nethery,

Thank you for your reply; I tested all the settings you suggested but I still get the same results, sadly.
If I uncheck "ignore Duplicate Images" however, the right number of PNGs are exported for my colour layers, although they remain blank.

I don't know if this is related to my colour problem but I've noticed that even when exporting a clip as a PNG sequence, TvPaint ignores my transparency settings (RGBA + "Background" unchecked) unless I specifically set the Background type to "None" (Clip>Background>None). I could previously always export transparency with a "Check" Background as well, which is no longer the case.

I'm racking my brain, but can't think what might be causing that problem. I can't reproduce it on my end using the same settings. Does this happen on every TVPaint project file you have or only on this one file ? Perhaps you could share the file with TVPaint Support and they could run a test to see if they get the same results on their end or if they can detect if something is wrong with the file . Hopefully someone from TVPaint will see your post and respond here , but to expedite you might want to use the official Contact Us form on the website to report your issue: https://tvpaint.odoo.com/en_US/contactus .

when exporting a clip as a PNG sequence, TvPaint ignores my transparency settings (RGBA + "Background" unchecked) unless I specifically set the Background type to "None" (Clip>Background>None).

That's the same setting I use (Background: None , Clip> Background>unchecked) , but the export on the color layers works correctly. (either exporting as a PNG image sequence from Clip-Display , or exporting as JSON from Clip: Layers Structure.)

Screen Shot 2022-05-23 at 8.05.27 AM.jpg (44.23 KiB) Viewed 3625 times

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[JoannaL]

Yes I'm beginning to think that the problem might be with something else on my computer rather than TvPaint itself. The problem happens on all my TvPaint files, even on those that I exported successfully with JSON a few years ago or even earlier this year. A real mystery...

In any case, thank you so much for your help! I will follow your advice and use the Contact form !

Have a nice day,

Joanna

[Dean]

Hello Joanna, the problem comes from the fact that your project is exported in dimensions different from the one you created it with (from 2758*1551 to 1080p), making the CTG layers' squiggles displaced and creating anomalies.
The easiest solution might be extracting the CTG layer's colors as bitmap layers (using the paint palette icon on their heads in the layer list) before exporting.
You can also resize your project before exporting it, but this might require a couple small adjustments with your CTGs' squiggles.

It must be hard for TVPaint to decide where the squiggles should be moved when there is less space on the workspace overall, I will see with the devs if they can add a warning message about this.

[D.T. Nethery]

the problem comes from the fact that your project is exported in dimensions different from the one you created it with (from 2758*1551 to 1080p), making the CTG layers' squiggles displaced and creating anomalies.

Ahhhh! That's the answer then. It's good to know, because my inability to reproduce the problem on my end or understand what was causing the problem on her end was troublesome. When I was doing the JSON export on my end the color layers in my scene were regular Anim layers, not CTG layers. Now I understand why I could not reproduce Joanna's problem on my end. Thanks for the explanation.

[JoannaL]

The easiest solution might be extracting the CTG layer's colors as bitmap layers (using the paint palette icon on their heads in the layer list) before exporting.
You can also resize your project before exporting it, but this might require a couple small adjustments with your CTGs' squiggles.

Oh, everything makes sense now! I tried the two methods you mentioned and they both worked as you said. What a relief! Thank you so much for your help!