Stroke Animator alternatative (stamp brush and advance to next frame)

[Svengali]

In Preferences/General, many people choose to check the Stroke Animator Box which lets you "Change the current frame during drawing with CTRL".
This lets you hold down the Control Key and draw on multiple frames with the current brush or animbrush. Each time the stylus moves, the brush is stamped and the frame is advanced, wrapping around to the first frame automatically.
One drawback In some cases is there might be two or more brush images stamped BEFORE moving on to the next frame.
For me, a more annoying problem is that I can accidentally hold down the Control key while drawing, and before I realize it, I manage to unintentionally draw over numerous frames, and I have to UNDO all those marks, one frame at a time.

A solution I found was to leave the Stroke Animator Box unchecked... and create a shortcut that works ALMOST the same, always stamping ONE IMAGE PER FRAME, smoothly advancing frame by fame, wrapping around to frame one automatically. The method depends on assigning more than one operation to the same shortcut key as explained below.

1. Enter the Keyboard Shortcut Editor (Control K)
2. Choose a key. (I use the 4 key)
3. First, assign the following tool: in Tools, select "Draw Dot" and assign it.
4. Next, APPEND the following tool: In Layer, select "Exposure: Next Loop, but this time, HOLD DOWN CONTROL before you assign it.

the final assignment will look like this: Tools: Draw Dot + Layer: Exposure: Next Loop

5. Press OK to close the Keyboard Shortcut Editor.

TO USE:
Now, any time you want to stamp your current brush OR Animbrush over multiple frames, you have two options:
Single Step Stamping: Hover your brush ABOVE the frame (don't depress the stylus tip). TAP your shortcut key, and the brush will be stamped and the frame will advance.
Streaming Stamping: Hover your brush ABOVE the frame (don't depress the stylus tip). Press down and HOLD your shortcut key, moving across the frame as necessary, while your brush is stamped over multiple frames. Experiment to get used to the rate of advancement.

It helps to have the Light Table feedback.

Sven

[D.T. Nethery]

This is very useful ! So much more control . Thank you, Svengali !

[CartoonMonkey]

Interesting. Good find! I had no idea shortcut keys could be appended, in all my years of TVP.
I wish I could get it to work with pen pressure for size / opacity and azimuth etc!

[meslin]

This is the best thing I've seen on the TVPaint forum in a long time. Brilliant. Thank you!

[Peter Wassink]

Thats a usefull approach Sven, but to be clear;

The issue of multiple putdowns when drawing with CTRL, can be avoided by simply choosing 'Dot' stroke.

top stroke is Dot
bottom stroke is freehand