improving the layer Preset Manager

[Peter Wassink]

I am missing options in the layer preset manager.
Why not offer all the standard layer settings there?

layer preset manager.png (32.71 KiB) Viewed 6779 times

the layer value could be set to a fixed value or make it a pattern... a function on the current layer.... say 20% less then the current layer for instance
- duplicate layer should also be added in the options here, its also in the layer menu but you should be able to create a duplicate layer WITH all the other customizable layer presets
- reverse order should also be added in the options



Currently these are the naming patterns available and i need some more:

layer preset managepattern.png (60.82 KiB) Viewed 6779 times

Since we actively use colorgroups and names in our pipeline, it would be great if we could get a colorgroup based on the name or visa versa.
so some additional naming patterns could be:
%G will add the colorgroup name
%C01 will add custom string 01
(not sure if that makes sense...i'm not a programmer)
else add an option for a custom layer type name. because it says now:
%pt will add the preset type (anim/xsheet...) but in fact there are only two types: Anim and CTG (xsheet was abandoned)
so if there would be a box where you could designate your own type... say for instance layout, storyboard, rotolater, colorlayer.... whatever
in combination with the Presetname box it would make for a very versatile layernaming situation.

but i suppose those are not ' official' tvpaint layer types ( there are only 2) we might have to name them different,
or split up the name pattern into two parts? i don't know what would be the most logic from a programming standpoint

now it works like this:
firstpartofthecurrentlayername_rotolayer
apply new layer:
firstpartofthecurrentlayername_rotolayer_colorlayer

but off course instead i need this result:
firstpartofthecurrentlayername_colorlayer

So ideally i also need something to trimm down the current layer name... to only get the part before the first underscore:

-%... that would delete everything from the current layer name that comes after the first underscore "_"

[Thierry]

That's a very interesting idea Peter!

I can't guarantee the new layer options will be in the next update, but we'll definitely consider it for later if that doesn't make the cut.
As for the naming patterns, being able to put the colorgroup name in the layer name is also a good idea.

I'm not sure I understand the last part though.

[Peter Wassink]

Cool!
that last part is about having more control over the naming pattern.

let me try explain again....

It would be nice to have control over what part of the current layername is used,
and maybe we can achieve this by using the underscore as a divider?

So say you have a layer called: "CHARACTER1_lines"
I could then make a layername pattern rule that takes only the "CHARACTER1_" part of this layername
say "-%_ "
and this pattern would erase everything to right side of the "_" in the name

so if i want to create the color layer belonging to this line layer, i could write this pattern:
"-%_coloring"
And that would then erase "lines" from the current layer name and replace it with "coloring": "CHARACTER1_coloring"

[Thierry]

Okay, I understand better now.

I can't guarantee it's doable though, but we'll look into it.

[Peter Wassink]

Great to hear!

Mind you, the underscore as a name divider is something that was suggested by our programmer and that he uses in his scripts to sort out TVPaint layernames.
So this is what we used in the Undone production.

So that is why i used it here as an example
I do not know if it would also be best for using it in the layer preset manager or if it would be logically consistent with how TVPAint generally deals with names.
So it could also be a space or another symbol... i don't know enough about scripting to tell you what would be the best, most logic symbol to use as such a name divider.