Welcome to TVPaint Community forums !

Paul Fierlinger wrote:Good to know. Now if there would only be someone here who has made the switch right in the middle of a project ....

I'm about to start an intense 3 week animation project with a friend of mine trying to convince him he should switch before we start (he is still working in mirage)
he is reluctant to switch now (for the similar reasons as you) if he does decide i'll keep you informed how we fare.
His main worries are about the new instance system and whether it would slow him down in the begin.

Thanks Asaf. Yes, I have basically kept up with my goal to animate a minute a week -- perhaps the average is a little under by now but this includes editing, computer outages, and a few unavoidable re-dos.

But it's all in 1080p HD and I even passed my first ever filmout test. It feels weird to hold a 35 mm film reel again, knowing it's my current work on it. The work flow is pretty straightforward and the results projected on a 29 ft screen were stunning. I tested camera moves, cross dissolves and extreme speeds of characters (slow and very fast).

We had been warned by the lab that we will be disappointed with the colors, that the film dyes cannot match the brilliance of digital colors, but even there we were both perfectly satisfied.

Have you been doing anything interesting these past couple of years?

His main worries are about the new instance system and whether it would slow him down in the begin.

I worry about that too only because Sandra has a much more difficult time adapting to anything new.

Here's another worry of mine: will the cursor plugin with the pen image for a cursor still work or might it even be a standard feature in TVP? If I didn't have that, that alone would stop me from switching. I believe you used the same one in Mirage, Peter, so you must know what I am talking about.

How about some other dhomas plugins such as "Backup" Would any plugin made for Mirage work in TVP, even those published by Bauhaus?

Paul Fierlinger wrote: My Dog Tulip is in its final stretch; I have 72 minutes out of 83 drawn and we have until end of October to finish all. It is slated for release at Cannes, followed by a first run in London and then a U.S. Premiere and the rest of the world. My producers already have secured a French distributor for Europe.

You can see the website here:
www.mydogtulipfilm.com

I am now also in the preliminary stages of making another feature about Joshua Slocum's historic solo circumnavigation of the world in 1895-1898. Klaus Hoefs has already agreed to participate on that one so we are in almost daily contact.

Welcome, Paul !

That is great news about the near completion of "My Dog Tulip". Congratulations to you and Sandra . A lot of us have been eagerly anticipating the release of this film.

The new film about Slocum's voyage sounds fascinating. Hooray for (truly) adult animation !

Paul Fierlinger wrote:... Here's another worry of mine: will the cursor plugin with the pen image for a cursor still work or might it even be a standard feature in TVP? If I didn't have that, that alone would stop me from switching. I believe you used the same one in Mirage, Peter, so you must know what I am talking about.

don't worry Paul, there are inbuilt.
(see pict. below)

Paul Fierlinger wrote:... How about some other dhomas plugins such as "Backup" Would any plugin made for Mirage work in TVP, even those published by Bauhaus?

download the trial version, and 90% of your questions will disapeared,
for the 10% remaining, some workarounds or minor tweaking are available here and there,
so feel free to ask once a problem occures.

basically, dhomas plugins should work in tvpa 8.5.x,
with the next generation, who knows ???

Thanks, Zig. This is so reassuring about the pens and plugins. I won't have to download the trial version; I'm here to buy TVPaint but I'm just too tied up to go through that exercise right now so asking is the next fun thing to do.

I'll ask just one more question before I layoff: Are those classic Aura colors I see on the screenprint the only choice, or is the Mirage black color scheme also available?

EDIT: oh. seems like Zig beat me to it!

Paul Fierlinger wrote:We had been warned by the lab that we will be disappointed with the colors, that the film dyes cannot match the brilliance of digital colors, but even there we were both perfectly satisfied.

Film is the undoubted king of projection. dulled colors or not, it gives the image this evasive magic feel. I wish I could have my work on film too.

Paul Fierlinger wrote:Have you been doing anything interesting these past couple of years?

a year and a half ago I did the animation for a short film about uprisings in London in the 30s against the fascist party. Funny subject, but I got to do quite a bit of animation in a short time.

After that I lingered a bit and worked mainly doing animation workshops for children in schools and after school clubs.

Then I moved back to Israel, and made a couple of music videos.

Paul Fierlinger wrote:Here's another worry of mine: will the cursor plugin with the pen image for a cursor still work or might it even be a standard feature in TVP?

Exactly that. there's a choice of 7 different cursor, 3 of which are pen-type.

Paul Fierlinger wrote:How about some other dhomas plugins such as "Backup" Would any plugin made for Mirage work in TVP, even those published by Bauhaus?

dhomas backup plugin works in TVP. I know for sure.

Paul Fierlinger wrote:I'll ask just one more question before I layoff: Are those classic Aura colors I see on the screenprint the only choice, or is the Mirage black color scheme also available?

you can customize the colors of the interface yourself (by categories: buttons, sliders etc) or you can load/save Color Schemes files. There's a thread here in which people share their interface schemes.

Great, it can be Mirage black. I have decided to go ahead with the purchase now, and I might be dense, but I don't know where to go to do this. First, it seems that the special price was extended only to the end of last month; is that true? And second, I see where to buy an upgrade but not the new product. Can someone please give me a link?

Paul Fierlinger wrote:... is the Mirage black color scheme also available?

yeap, you just have to load a CustomColorScheme.ini file,
the dark Mirage-like has been re-made and uploaded
under the funny name "hallucinationDesktop" by Keith Osborn.
(thanks to him) .

Great, it can be Mirage black. I have decided to go ahead with the purchase now, and I might be dense, but I don't know where to go to do this. First, it seems that the special price was extended only to the end of last month; is that true? And second, I see where to buy an upgrade but not the new product. Can someone please give me a link?

i believe going from Mirage(TVP 7) to TVP 8(.5) is considered an updgrade

Paul Fierlinger wrote: Can someone please give me a link?

from the States, I would go there,
then "Download TVP Animation Pro purchase order" to get the pdf order form.

maybe there's an other faster way I don't know ...

Paul Fierlinger wrote: And second, I see where to buy an upgrade but not the new product. Can someone please give me a link?

Here's the link to the web store for North American customers:

Purchase TVP Animation International orders

You'll want to select the "Upgrade" to TVP PRO 8.5

I don't know if the PayPal page automatically calculates the 60% discount for Mirage license holders or if that has to be arranged via an email to Fabrice.

info@tvpaint.fr

Thanks for the link. I think I need to first make sure the discount applies. I guess Herve is the guy to ask.