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Hello dear TVPaint friends,
Does anybody know if it is possible to use the Panning Tool over multiple keyframes in an animation layer ?

Let's say I have a piece of animation of (for instance) 50 frames and i want to move the whole animation an inch to the right; can I use the panning tool over those 50 frames to do this in one go? I know it is possible to do it with an animated brush, but I was wondering...

If you want to move all images the same distance:
Move one image, undo, select all images, re-apply (enter).

Thanks, Slowtiger.
But when I do re-apply it changes every exposure in the timeline in a single keyframe. And I have to go through it manually to change the timing back to what it originally was... Can this be done in a way that does not change my original timing ?

ah - I know your problem. After Re-Apply select all frames again, then got to menu Layer > Exposure > Recompute Exposures - that does the trick. You should have your original timing restored.

TVP does not know in advance wether a certain operation applied to all frames will create completely different frames, so it calculates every single frame independently. Recompute Exposures forces it to compare consecutive frames and change them to Exposures if they are identical.

Michael, het instance panel heeft ook een R (recompute) knopje

http://www.tvpaint.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1873

Michael, the instance panel also has a R (recompute) button

Thanks animators ! Both options work like a miracle.

I just fiddled around with that 'instance panel' and it's amazing !

Sewie wrote:I just fiddled around with that 'instance panel' and it's amazing !

yeah, i think it deserves to come standard included with TVP.

you are right : if our Raymond/Zig agree to let us use the instance panel for free in the next versions we will be happy to add it !

It's a must have

Sure, Fabrice !
Add it to the release, ... and be happy ...!

This is good to hear and to recommend the Instance Panel one more time to people who are not using it already ! Such a time saver ! Congrats Raymond, one of the best plugins I've ever seen!

And btw does it still make sense to have Image Layers (while having such flexibility with Anim Layers) ?

Klaus Hoefs wrote:And btw does it still make sense to have Image Layers (while having such flexibility with Anim Layers) ?

That's a very good question. After the introduction of Exposures it becomes clear that Image Layers are the same - only with a different kind of handle.

I have a different problem. Often I have image layers which just need to fade in/out over time (nice effect to change the weather!) but don't move otherwise. Or I have some BG element which doesn't animate in itself but just moves in its entirety. The problem is that after I created those really basic movements via FX stack I end up with a bunch of single frames which blow up the file extremely. A 10 sec scene is half a gigabyte easily!

So I hereby propose the introduction of a "Reference Layer" type of layer (suggestions for a better name welcome). This new type of layer should behave like this:
- It can only hold one image frame, like the current image layer.
- It can be painted or created otherwise like any other layer.
- It can be bigger than the project size.
- It can be moved in its entirety or hold any other FX stack operation (but maybe not all). The FX information will be stored within this layer as it is part of it.
- There could be a low-res render available for scrubbing, and a hi-res render for checking details.

The idea behind this is to separate between an image (actual pixel information) and its use. Think of "linking" to a video file instead of importing it, but add the concept of still manipulating some attributes, like size, position, transparency etc.

I know that this is a paradigm change for the program, especially from showing everything in final rendered quality at any given moment (at least in HD this will not be possible all the time). But I'd like to discuss it because IMO it surely holds a lot of advantages. Especially because some in-program referencing models (exposures, Xsheet) already work nicely.

Klaus Hoefs wrote:... does it still make sense to have Image Layers (while having such flexibility with Anim Layers) ?

imo, they kept Image Layer for upward compatibility,
think we can still load xxxxx.aur or xxxxx.mir projects without any problem 5, ...10 years after,
that's one of the good points of tvpa, taking care of compatibility.
that said, I agree in due time, useless or redundant part(s) have to be retired,
to keep the software's UI as light and clear as possible.

Klaus Hoefs wrote:And btw does it still make sense to have Image Layers (while having such flexibility with Anim Layers) ?

O, yes!
The image layer is very handy for creating helplines, like arcs and grids and spacing charts. because it doesn't matter on what frame you are to adjust them when using an image layer.
This cannot be done with the flexible animlayer because it will 'break' when you are not on the first frame and so it takes a lot more work to have a helpline under the whole of your animation when you only have animlayers available.

Point taken.

Still I'd like to change the Image Layer's pre and post behaviour. Right now it's "none" and "hold", which of course makes sense. But what about a "From: to: " option?

Come to think about it, this would change that Image Layer into an Anim Layer with a defined number of exposures. Why not?

I can imagine a hierarchy of layers with different abilities. The simplest would be the existing Image Layer, the most complex the Anim Layer with its exposures. Anything else would be placed inbetween, with the ability to change one type into another to gain mmore functions (like "make anim"), or to flatten down compositions (if that's possible).