Degrading of line quality with transform tool

[djsolomon]

hi to forum members! I am working on a PC with Tvpaint 11.7 pro 64 bit. I am wondering if I am missing a setting? As while using the transform tool the line becomes degraded. I checked the "new" box for the resampling algorithm tried both settings in the transform tool (Smart and Best), but the line is getting fuzzy when using the transform tool.

When animating this is less of an issue but I am making single frame images where details and hand written type are moved around as I create the image.
While I hesitate to bring up photoshop - transforming the line in that program is never an issue. Am I missing a setting?

In then the example I am posting on the top and bottom line I have a manipulated squiggle and there is an untouched squiggle. I used the transform tool 5 times on top and bottom left hand images . The fuzzy line is obvious- any setting suggestions ? thank you so much in advance! My best , Debra

[D.T. Nethery]

It's a long time issue and has received a lot of discussion here on the forum. I am aware that the developers are actively seeking an improvement to how the transformation tools affect the line quality.


In the meantime this little trick using the Sharp mode might be useful to you:

https://youtu.be/Yve1NDcRnV4



(this is better if you watch it in Full Screen on YouTube. For some reason the forum doesn't allow YouTube full screen mode)


Something else that I have found helpful is to work at a higher pixel resolution in the original project file , so for example if your intended output is 1920 x 1080 , work at 2x (3840 x 2160) or 3x (5760 x 3240) resolution, then when you export the animation downscale it to 1920 x 1080 .

[slowtiger]

If I know I need to turn an element more than once (over several frames) I make it a brush - switch on best quality - then turn it before stamping. I also often adjust elements back and forth and so on, then convert them to blue and stamp the final position, then erase the blue.

[djsolomon]

Thank you D.T. Nethery and slowtiger,
for your quick responses. My drawing as you might guess from my sample is very fluid and quirky. So the solution for the vector art ( which is very impressive), might not work as well. I will try in when I am back in my studio. The stamping idea also is very interesting. But perhaps not applicable for my use either. I am combining bits of hand written words and art and as I go along I edit the text and move things around - a lot. So the transform tool is in use over and over and over. I hope the developers can zero in on this issue.

many thanks to you both for your service to the TVPaint community,
my best, Debra

[D.T. Nethery]

My drawing as you might guess from my sample is very fluid and quirky. So the solution for the vector art ( which is very impressive), might not work as well.

Just to clarify, the image of the cube used in my video to demonstrate the Sharpen mode is a bitmap image , not vector. The Sharpen mode will work on any line art drawn in TVPaint. (but like most any fix that is applied after the fact , it has it's limits to how much it can restore a very blurred image). I hope it works for your purposes.

----

What size are you working at in your original project ? I have found that working at least 2x over my intended output helps. (so for 1920 x 1080, work at 3840 x 2160, or higher).


I'll try to demonstrate with these three sets of screen captures. First I drew an image at 4K resolution (4096 x 2304). I made a duplicate of that image so I have two identical images side by side. The one on the right will remain unaltered. The one on the left will be transformed (rotated) 6 times. BEFORE I did anything to the image I duplicated the project (modified size) so I had the same images in a project at 1920 x 1080 resolution and 1280 x 720 resolution. In each of these three projects I will apply the same transformations to the duplicate image on the left, then we can compare them below.


Here is the original image (on the right) compared to the transformed image (on the left) at 4096 x 2304:


(first image shows screen capture of the TVPaint interface after the transformation)

(second image shows the exported image)

(Click on the images to view them full size. At full size it is easier to see the effects of the transformation)

Now here is the same number of transformations applied to the same image at 1920 x 1080:

(results seen within TVPaint interface)

(exported image)

Finally, here are the results of the same number of transformation applied to the same image at 1280 x 720:

(results seen within the TVPaint inteface)

(exported image)

By comparing them all, you can see that the transformations done on the images at resolution 1920 x 1080 and 1280 x720 are more obviously degraded.


Here is the version at 4096 x 2304 comparing it with no sharpening applied and with sharpening applied:

(again, click on the image to view it full size to better see the results of the sharpening)

Now here is the worst result (1280 x 720) with Sharpen Mode applied:

[djsolomon]

Thank you for explaining your post, that the "sharpen effect" works on all lines.

Maintaining the integrity of the line when using the transform tool hopefully will be addressed in the next version of TVpaint.

Fingers crossed !
again many thanks, Debra

[D.T. Nethery]

While we're on the topic I should mention that some people suggest it is always better to draw line art with Anti-Aliasing OFF , (at highest resolution possible) , then after animation is finished , apply Anti-Aliasing to the drawings (FX Stack > Stylize > Anti-Aliasing) or some people take the images over to After Effects and use AE's Anti-Aliasing filters.

There's a tool that was recommended on the forum called OLM Smoother , for processing aliased line drawings. It's a plug-in for Photoshop and After Effects, but not for TVPaint (it was suggested that because OLM Smoother is open-souce, perhaps it could be incorporated into TVPaint , but there was no response from anyone on the TVPaint team to that suggestion, so I don't know if that will ever happen?) See this topic: https://forum.tvpaint.com/viewtopic.php?t=12604

In that same topic, this video posted by Hironori Takagi shows how his studio imports TVPaint scenes to After Effects to use After Effects anti-aliasing filters.
https://forum.tvpaint.com/viewtopic.php ... 18#p114418


Another technique that has been discussed in the past on this forum for sharpening line drawings that have blurry pixel edges is to use the Curves FX in the FX Stack. See this topic:

viewtopic.php?p=64595#p64595

(sometimes using the Curves FX can result in lines that are sharp , but maybe a bit too sharp around the edges -- "jaggy edges" -- so it can be helpful to use Curves FX in combination with the Anti-Aliasing FX in the FX Stack.)


Here's another idea using the Histogram FX filter in the FX Stack to sharpen-
https://forum.tvpaint.com/viewtopic.php?p=30040#p30040

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