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Placing main Keys on the timeline, then secondary keys, then inbetweens and playing the preview, is somehow like refining your animation, one step after the other, from Animatic state to full Animation.

True, but I like to eyeball the holes and the progression. I like to have a visual overview of how the holes are filling in. This might be a leftover from my classical days, when I used horizontal x-sheets, which very much resembled today's digital layers -- I guess I was ahead of my times back then and now I'm in inertia, poised to start slipping behind... that should make me quaint and cute.

Tantalus wrote:

Sierra K Rose wrote:Paul's not the only one. I too work this way.

Sierra that makes you a "Fierlinger school" animator.

Well that's not too surprising since I learned what I know from him. But it also works well for me, keeps a dynamic in my eyes that I want on the front burner.

When we flipped papers back then to simulate a projector and see how are animation is coming along, and we of course started the flipping process early, already at the key drawings stage, we wouldn't keep a hold on an image but before a flip to slow down the projection, which is the same as what I am doing now.

I don't think my "school" is mine at all. It's what anyone who draws in two's does. Perhaps most animators today use instances but look at how these films move, the ones made mostly on Flash and with a minimum amount of inbetweens. What taught them that they can get away with it? Anime and Flash instancing, I imagine. It's a viable style with zillions of fans so who's to argue; it's just not my cuppa tea.

ZigOtto wrote:you are the only one animator I know who prefers "flashing holes" than "holds".

I'm in that camp too. I think that a flash of a posture is suggestive, whereas a hold is descriptive. In animation, it's usually the motion that counts, and motion feels more alive between flashes, than between holds. But then of course it's different with each case. Some situations employ holds better.

ZigOtto wrote: Placing main Keys on the timeline, then secondary keys, then inbetweens and playing the preview, is somehow like refining your animation, one step after the other, from Animatic state to full Animation.

exactly - you add inbetweens. not duplicates.
If you look at linetests and roughs of classic Disney films, you'll notice they use flashes, not holds.

ok, each school have its supporters, and I wouldn't plead against diversity, not me ...
but my point was : whatever your technic is, the Instance panel have the tools to work with.
the only parts I still use from the Animator panel is the bookmarks, and the Split/Join/Align layers,
also the couple Push/Pop Image,
everything concerning frames edition is now better done with the Instance panel tools.

Instances need just the old habit to change a bit in the first days, then it becomes quickly a second nature,
making a hold by duplicating the previous frame is thick and counter-productive imo.

making a hold by duplicating the previous frame is thick and counter-productive imo.

I sure agree. I also very much appreciate the availability of those little squares on each frame and use them constantly. I think we are just debating our preferences of inbetweening.