Best way to 'animate' an object moving away from camera Topic is solved

[mikdog]

Hi there, I have a question please - I have the following 2 storyboard frames, a van driving off into the distance:

In other animation software packages I'd draw the van once, then create a keyframe of the van on frame 1 at 100% scale, and then at eg frame 200, another keyframe of the van at a smaller 10% scale, and the software will interpolate the scaling for me so it looks like the van drives off into the distance away from the camera.
It seems like the best way to do this with TVPaint is with the Keyframer effect, but then I have to 'commit' or 'apply' it so it makes a whole bunch of new frames, ie it's a destructive workflow? If I need to go back and add colours to the van, I'll have to redo the keyframer effect and apply it to make a bunch of new frames?
Am I missing another method, or is this just the way it's done?
Many thanks.

[slowtiger]

You're on the right track. The trick is: have the still van on one layer, and the animated van on another. Think of it as source and target, and always keep them separate, so you will be able to apply corrections later.

Once you're satisfied with the keyframer result you can store it for later re-use, see the button "bin" in that FX. Once you've coloured your van all you need to do is choosing that coloured layer as source and apply that stored FX again.

A little trick for this: place the pivot point of the van exactly where its vanishing point is. This works in all programs.

[mikdog]

You're on the right track. The trick is: have the still van on one layer, and the animated van on another. Think of it as source and target, and always keep them separate, so you will be able to apply corrections later.

Once you're satisfied with the keyframer result you can store it for later re-use, see the button "bin" in that FX. Once you've coloured your van all you need to do is choosing that coloured layer as source and apply that stored FX again.

A little trick for this: place the pivot point of the van exactly where its vanishing point is. This works in all programs.

Ah man, thank you SlowTiger, that was incredibly helpful. I didn't even think about using the 'Source' tab in the Keyframer to apply it to eg a blank anim layer, that makes things a *lot* easier - I can just keep some source layers safe without needing to lay out all the frames first then duplicate the whole layer to apply the animation on, etc.

SUPER helpful, thank you!!

[mikdog]

Another question if you don't mind pls SlowTiger - is there a way to play back the preview of the keyframer in real time? The preview works when I frame-by-frame through the timeline with the 'Preview' box checked, but soon as I press Play, the keyframer effect preview stops working.

[slowtiger]

No, it never plays back in realtime with anything more complex. But rendering is so fast that I don't mind.