Roll drawings macro
Posted: 28 Feb 2009, 00:10
Hi all,
I'm still transitioning from traditional pencil-on-paper animation to TVPA. One thing that bugged me was that I did not have an easy way to 'roll' my drawings. For a while, I held down the right-mouse-button (on the stylus) and dragged across the timeline to 'roll'... but that was using my drawing hand. I wanted my non-drawing-hand to do this. Instead of purchasing a PowerMate or ShuttlePro, I decided to see if my (somewhat primitive) programming skills can tackle the problem first. The result is this macro 'roll.ahk'.
Very simply, the macro allows me to hold down a keyboard key to 'roll' back or forward a number of drawings. When I release the key, it 'snaps' back to the original drawing.
I'm right-handed, so I assigned the left keys on the keyboard. On a QWERTY keyboard, that's QWER. I'm actually on a Dvorak keyboard so it's ',.P. Anyway, you will probably need to modify the macro to your needs because everyone assigns keyboard shortcuts differently.
How to get this to work:
1. You must have AutoHotkey installed. It's Windows only, sorry Mac users
2. You also need the Instance Panel.
3. Download the 'roll.ahk' file and save it somewhere. In TVPA's directory, on your desktop, whatever.
4. You must assign the following shortcut keys in TVPA (I've put my example in brackets):
- Instance panel: PrevCel [A]
- Instance panel: NextCel [F]
5. Make sure [Q] [W] [E] [R] are not assigned in TVPA.
6. Open 'roll.ahk' in Notepad (it's a text file) and edit the sections (they have been commented for guidance):
- If you're using TVPA 8, remove the first ; from the line 6 and add a ; in front of line 7.
- You can set a custom flip speed on line 10. It's in milliseconds... so if you want to flip at 12 fps, then type in 83 (1000/12). Otherwise, default is 10 fps.
- For lines 13-37, enter your custom shortcut keys here, in case they're different from mine. Lines that have 'hotkey' refer to [Q] [W] [E] [R], PrevCel and NextCel are [A] and [F] respectively.
7. Save, then exit Notepad.
8. Double-click on the 'roll.ahk' file. Assuming you have set up AutoHotkey and associated .ahk files with it, it will run. It will put a green 'H' icon in the system tray. (You can stop the macro by right-clicking on this icon and selecting Exit.)
9. Start TVPA. Make some drawings... and try out the keys. Hold down [Q]... and it rolls back 2 drawings. You can even draw on the frame while it's held down! Release [Q]... and boing! it snaps back to your original frame. Want to roll forward 3 drawings? Hold down [E] and then [R] together!
Note -- I've only tested this on TVPA Standard 8.6.4 and 9.0.5 on WinXP Pro SP3 English. I'm not sure if it'll work on TVPA Pro because it may have a different 'ahk_class' name.
Disclaimer -- this macro is quite rough around the edges. There's no error-catching, GUI, kitchen sink, etc., and I won't be held responsible if it breaks your stuff, yadda yadda yadda. I made it for my own use and am releasing it in case anyone else finds it useful. If you can improve the macro, please share it in this thread!
Cheers!
I'm still transitioning from traditional pencil-on-paper animation to TVPA. One thing that bugged me was that I did not have an easy way to 'roll' my drawings. For a while, I held down the right-mouse-button (on the stylus) and dragged across the timeline to 'roll'... but that was using my drawing hand. I wanted my non-drawing-hand to do this. Instead of purchasing a PowerMate or ShuttlePro, I decided to see if my (somewhat primitive) programming skills can tackle the problem first. The result is this macro 'roll.ahk'.
Very simply, the macro allows me to hold down a keyboard key to 'roll' back or forward a number of drawings. When I release the key, it 'snaps' back to the original drawing.
Code: Select all
+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| Q | W | E | R |
| roll | roll | roll | roll |
| <<-- 2 | <- 1 | 1 -> | 2 -->> |
+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| A | S | D | F |
| prev | prev | next | next |
| cell | frame | frame | cell |
+--------+--------+--------+--------+How to get this to work:
1. You must have AutoHotkey installed. It's Windows only, sorry Mac users
2. You also need the Instance Panel.
3. Download the 'roll.ahk' file and save it somewhere. In TVPA's directory, on your desktop, whatever.
4. You must assign the following shortcut keys in TVPA (I've put my example in brackets):
- Instance panel: PrevCel [A]
- Instance panel: NextCel [F]
5. Make sure [Q] [W] [E] [R] are not assigned in TVPA.
6. Open 'roll.ahk' in Notepad (it's a text file) and edit the sections (they have been commented for guidance):
- If you're using TVPA 8, remove the first ; from the line 6 and add a ; in front of line 7.
- You can set a custom flip speed on line 10. It's in milliseconds... so if you want to flip at 12 fps, then type in 83 (1000/12). Otherwise, default is 10 fps.
- For lines 13-37, enter your custom shortcut keys here, in case they're different from mine. Lines that have 'hotkey' refer to [Q] [W] [E] [R], PrevCel and NextCel are [A] and [F] respectively.
7. Save, then exit Notepad.
8. Double-click on the 'roll.ahk' file. Assuming you have set up AutoHotkey and associated .ahk files with it, it will run. It will put a green 'H' icon in the system tray. (You can stop the macro by right-clicking on this icon and selecting Exit.)
9. Start TVPA. Make some drawings... and try out the keys. Hold down [Q]... and it rolls back 2 drawings. You can even draw on the frame while it's held down! Release [Q]... and boing! it snaps back to your original frame. Want to roll forward 3 drawings? Hold down [E] and then [R] together!
Note -- I've only tested this on TVPA Standard 8.6.4 and 9.0.5 on WinXP Pro SP3 English. I'm not sure if it'll work on TVPA Pro because it may have a different 'ahk_class' name.
Disclaimer -- this macro is quite rough around the edges. There's no error-catching, GUI, kitchen sink, etc., and I won't be held responsible if it breaks your stuff, yadda yadda yadda. I made it for my own use and am releasing it in case anyone else finds it useful. If you can improve the macro, please share it in this thread!
Cheers!
