How to make an animation

Jbotofte · Post by **Jbotofte** » 17 Aug 2007, 12:14

Hi! I know this is a very broad question but as a new user of TVPaint, I am curious how people make an anim of let's say 1 or 2 minutes duration in TVP. Do you work in one project from beginning to end or do you make every scene (however big or small) an individual project and then combine them at the end?
Love to hear how others do. I am used to working in Anime Studio and TVPaint is very different. I have many ideas for new anims but feel a little humble towards such an impressive software.

Thanks in advance for any ideas
John

alex · Post by **alex** » 17 Aug 2007, 13:29

hi Jbotofte,

i think that if you wanna use TVPaint for an animation of one or two minutes, you can do it with the feeling, but it can be very chaotic.

I think that you have to do a script, to know what you wanna do ( from the beginning to the end), and you must imagine what will be your layouts and to draw some pictures of your differents scenes, like a storyboard.
after, i think that you've got all the opportunity to draw all scenes into differents projects. At the end you can compile all your scene to edit them on a NLE software.
In finnally, you've got one project, with differents scene, like traditionnal animation.

this is just a proffer, i'm just a student and it's all i can say to help you. try what you prefer and you will know what will be your main to do.

Peter Wassink · Post by **Peter Wassink** » 17 Aug 2007, 15:21

generally 1 minute would be doable in one project.

off course it depends on many factors:
- your hardware specifications
- project resolution
- number of layers (this is theoretically unlimited but practically more then say 50 becomes it harder to keep overview)
- etc. etc.

you can also edit different projects together using TVP using multiple open projects and the keyframer

A1 · Post by A1 » 17 Aug 2007, 15:35

Hi Jbotofte

It is best to divide your project in to scenes.
My Approach:
Make an animatic/moving storyboard in an NLE like Premiere or vegas.
Break it up into sequences and scenes.
Depending on how long your project is, it is wise to have good namegiving. For example "Seq1_Sh01_01.tvp": sequence- shot - progress
I have a different folder for every shot, with everything in it i might need. (reference-Background-sound- etc)
When all of that is set up, create your layout (Background-character positioning-...)for any giving shot in tvpaint, then take the timing of your shot from the animatic and animate.
(and save in the correct! folder

)
When a shot is animated or in a certain state and you would like to know if it works, make an avi or mov or whatever your NLE settings of your animatic allow, and place it in the appropriate place in your animatic timeline. Make a render and check it out. TVPAINT is not fit to put all your shots after oneanother, use your NLE.
If all is animated you can either render out frames for the lab to put on pellicule or any other media you like, or render your final movie in an NLE.

Before you start decide on your project size, aspect ratio (and thus final output), framerate, use of codecs for easy switching between tvpaint and NLE, and i forgot a couple.

This is just a possible approach and i most certainly forgot a few things,
Test your workflow, trial and error works best

i hope i didn't confuse you...

oliveuk · Post by **oliveuk** » 19 Aug 2007, 16:42

talking about animatic.

I am new to TV paint for for my short I have been using a mix of Sketchbook pro and Premiere but I am wondering if it wouldn't be possible to use Tvpaint alone.

http://www.olivier-ladeuix.com/blog/?p=290

To get a time code we would just need to import a jpeg sequence

but there are few features I am not sure are available in TVpaint like translating a layer on the screen over few frames by setting up 2 keys like I have on shot 8. and what about scaling?

Olive

ZigOtto · Post by **ZigOtto** » 19 Aug 2007, 19:33

oliveuk wrote:talking about animatic.

I am new to TV paint for for my short I have been using a mix of Sketchbook pro and Premiere but I am wondering if it wouldn't be possible to use Tvpaint alone.

of course it is! ... I personaly make my animatics on tvpaint for 5 or 6 years now (since Aura/Mirage times).

oliveuk wrote:... To get a time code we would just need to import a jpeg sequence ...

no need to import anything, as we have a customisable "TimeCode Generator" in the FX menu.

oliveuk wrote:... but there are few features I am not sure are available in TVpaint like translating a layer on the screen over few frames by setting up 2 keys like I have on shot 8. and what about scaling?

here, just use the KeyFramer FX, 2 keys with ease-in and ease-out,
for panning and/or zooming, use a larger project as Source (in Render tab).

feel free to ask anything else if you need some more helps.

oliveuk · Post by **oliveuk** » 19 Aug 2007, 22:34

great stuff. thanks ZigOtto ah but the timecode generator only displays the frame number not the actual time in Minutes/seconds

malcooning · Post by **malcooning** » 19 Aug 2007, 22:46

oliveuk wrote:great stuff. thanks ZigOtto ah but the timecode generator only displays the frame number not the actual time in Minutes/seconds

Just press the button "frame" at the bottom of the layer panel, and it will change the timeline AND the generated timecode to time format instead of frame count.

oliveuk · Post by **oliveuk** » 19 Aug 2007, 23:38

crazy stuff

we are 250 students making their own shorts in my school every 3 month. If we had known that we could combine photoshop and After effect by using TVpaint for our animatics ..... a lot of people who have started using it...

Peter Wassink · Post by **Peter Wassink** » 20 Aug 2007, 06:55

now you know! so spread the word!

Patrice · Post by **Patrice** » 20 Aug 2007, 09:30

You can see in this User Story an animatic done with TVP Animation: Rony Hotin

oliveuk · Post by **oliveuk** » 20 Aug 2007, 12:28

i think we should create a sticky post called "how to make an animatic in Tvpaint"

Zigotto "or panning and/or zooming, use a larger project as Source (in Render tab). "

where is the render tab?

Olive

Jbotofte · Post by **Jbotofte** » 20 Aug 2007, 14:40

I'd love to see a good tutorial about developing an animatic and then turning that into a finished animation.
John

ZigOtto · Post by **ZigOtto** » 20 Aug 2007, 16:11

oliveuk wrote:...
Zigotto "or panning and/or zooming, use a larger project as Source (in Render tab). "

where is the render tab?

Olive

your Source Project and Target Project both open, go to your Target Project,
in the FX-Stack panel, Add FX/Motion/KeyFramer, you have now 2 tabs,
the 1rst one, "Position" for setting the positions (X, Y, Z, ...),
the 2nd one, named "Render", where you can set the source for the KeyFramer_FX. (see pict.)

Jbotofte wrote:I'd love to see a good tutorial about developing an animatic and then turning that into a finished animation.
John

yes, it would be cool ...

oliveuk · Post by **oliveuk** » 21 Aug 2007, 17:03

thanks Ziggotto. and well I working on a new CG animation, using TVpaint for the planning ./ animatic so once I am done I will let you know and make a presentation of it.

Olive