Export sequence length and crop nuisance

[slowtiger]

I created a big file with a bunch of dancers, each on its own layer with a different loop length. I needed to export each of them separately, so I set them visible one at a time and cropped it. But after export I noticed I had the wrong loop lengths!

I found that after cropping TVP made the bottom layer active, instead of the dancer layer I wanted, and took the sequence length from that layer. It was not possible to set the last frame to some other value than that! In the end I had to activate the layer I meant to export every time, and I had to copy frames and append them to my ping pong layers to get the correct loop length.

It should be possible to type in any value for in and out frames for export, no matter which layer is active (it should, however, take the initial value from the current active layer, as it is now).

And it would be nice to have the same layer active after cropping/modifying a project.

[Elodie]

Hmm... I'm not really sure I've understood your problem...

Could you post some printscreens of the situation, please ? =)

[Paul Fierlinger]

I think I might understand what your problem is about. Is it about setting the Faux-Fixe Value in one project and seeing it change into another value after exporting it? It would be the easiest if you could describe in steps what we should do to see if we can replicate the problem.

[Fabrice]

hmm ... I firstly thought about the post behavior of a layer ( Markus didn't mention the Faux-Fix option )

[slowtiger]

Sorry for not writing more clearly - it was late in the night ...

OK. I have this short piece of animation, let's say 12 frames long, and I want it to behave like ping-pong, going from pose #1 to #12 and back to #1 again, and so on. I want to export this loop so it really works as a loop, so I need to export 24 frames - 12 frames forward, and 12 frames in reverse. The export window gets the in and out points from the existing number of frames of the currently active layer, in this case # 1 and # 12. Now I try to change the # 12 into # 24 - but TVP always resets this to 12!

What I'd expect TVP to do was that it accepted any number I type into the in and out boxes in the export window.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Now I understand better. What format are you using for export?

[slowtiger]

The format shouldn't matter in that case - but I'm using Quicktime with PNG codec and RGBA. (This is the only reliable format to retain transparency in AnimeStudio.)

[Paul Fierlinger]

You are right; somewhat. I tested your description with an AVI and got an exported layer shorter than the original yet a few frames longer than the hidden one below it. This looks like a bug to me.

[slowtiger]

The only thing I really complain about is that TVP should recognize any number I type into the "in" and "out" boxes in the export window, instead of stubbornly overwrite it with whatever it thinks.

And while we're at it: it should recognize negative numbers too. I remember a habit in the old studio that every scene was shot with some additional frames at start and end, to allow for small corrections during edit.

[ZigOtto]

a workaround consists to add (bottom of the BG layer) a dummy imagelayer starting and finishing where you want.
then, you should be able to set the in/out wanted values in the footage export panel (including negative value).

In your specific exemple, I would proceed differently ,
because croping a bunch of layers if you need just a short one to be exported
is time uselessly lost, here's my suggested way :

- stretch the end-handle of your 12 frames layer to make it 24frames long,
in the popup options requester, set Repeat/PingPong mode
- show only the current Layer, double-click under the Layer-strip to select all frames,
- draw a bounding box (with the square selection tool) around your animation cycle,
and Cut it to Brush (cut out an AnimBrush? => Yes),
You can also cut the whole project size in animbrush, with "Optimize" option checked,
- then export this Animbrush in a 32bit format (Avi, Mov or sequence of PNG, TGA).

[slowtiger]

Thx, but I already used this workaround.

An Animbrush wasn't an option because I needed to use the QTs in another program.

[ZigOtto]

so what's the problem here ?
can't you export the animbrush in a RGBA .mov file ?

[slowtiger]

Ah, I overread the .mov part. Can't get rid of this headache, last remains of the flu I suffered the last weeks.

Well, exporting the brush worked - but I doubt it's much faster in terms of how many clicks ... of course it doesn't need the time for cropping. (Aren't there times you really get fed up with users who want just to save another click and another?)

I see there's no possibly faster way right now. What I'd really like to have would be:
- export window accepting any numbers for in and out
- export window set to "current" when evoked from any odd format (another small nuisance)
Since I assigned a keystroke for the export window (cmd-e), the brush option still needs to click on the bin tab, into the bin, then pulldown to "export". I'd like to especially minimize this kind of mouse action.

Keystrokes, next version: please, if possible, put the assigned keystrokes directly behind the action in the right window. I'm in the process of re-assigning a lot, and this would be much better for planning. Also it would be nice to be able to save (and then print) all available commands, since the instance panel commands don't show up in the manual (of course).