Welcome to TVPaint Community forums !

Here are two new merge-type functions which some may find useful. MergeAllLayers is an update on a version I had submitted earlier.

I think both of these functions should work with all TVPaint 9.5.5 versions. Post feedback if you have any problem.

Sven.

The Merging Panel contains two button icons for Layer Manipulation. Here's what each one does.

1. MergeAllLayers
When pressed, this button presents a menu with three options:

Option 1: Merge all layers lets you do just that, merge all VISIBLE layers into a NEW layer while leaving all the old layers intact.

Option 2: Merging all, blended will merge all layers into a NEW layer while leaving all the old layers intact. In addition, all frames (including the original background color areas) are turned into opaque pixels.

Option 3: Cancel

Either form of the new, merged layer will be named "Merged visible layers" and the TimeLine layer color will be changed to orange. Also, by default, the merged layer visibility will be set to OFF. All the original layers (visible or not) remain unchanged.

A single Undo (control-Z) will roll things back to before the merge took place, all layers in their original states.


2. Kill Expose
When pressed, this button will modify the current layer by KILLING (deleting) ALL EXPOSURE-TYPE frames (repeats) for the entire layer.

A single Undo (control-Z) will roll things back to before all the exposure-type frames were removed restoring the layer to its original length and state.

thanks Sven for sharing your scripts !

as I can see the big interest of the first one (Merge Layers), the second one isn't obvious to me ...
does your "Kill Exposure" have any advantage on the imbedded Exposure:Remove All command ? (it seems a button with these 2 commands does the same result, and probably faster,
or am I missing something ..?)

ZigOtto wrote: (it seems a button with these 2 commands does the same result, and probably faster,
or am I missing something ..?)

Ha! Of course that does the same... I neglected to test Exposure:RemoveAll with the whole layer selected and thought it just worked on one group of exposures. Really though, I think I got involved in the nested do/until logic of this little script out of curiosity and with the possibility of including it as one process in a more ambitious script.

In fact, lots of scripts could be replaced by a sequence of embedded commands but sometimes the lack of error-trapping or special-case handling or even branching makes me lean towards a scripted solution. (Obviously not so in the case of KillExpose script).

Sven

Sven, Merge all visible layers is excellent and I, for one, expect to get many miles from it. I often need to sandwich one clip and its rendered camera move between two sets of layers in another clip with its own sets of layers and this expedites the trick. It would be neat though, if you could add a "Merge and Render Camera Move" option button -- or can this be done using one of the blend modes. I have no experience yet with using any of those.

paul,

I don't think it is possible to merge a camera move into a new layer as yet (though if it were possible that would be VERY POWERFUL, especially if individual layers could each have their own moves.) I could be wrong about this as I am only starting to experiment with the camera controls.

To anyone who has already downloaded the Merging.tvpx: Please re-download that file from the first post and install over old version.

I noticed several problems with the original MergeAllLayers.grg script: specifically, that it wasn't properly counting the VISIBLE layers. I also realized there may be a situation that required a single layer be merged, so the script now allows that.

Sven

Sven, you are right -- I just thought you can perform miracles. Oh well. I'll still remember you with fondness.

and thanks also to make always your scripts clear and self-explanatory (with //comments),
having a look into them, it's sort of free lesson for us who are still novice in george language .

Has something happened to the file since it was first uploaded ?

I tried downloading and installing Merging(sven).tvpx today (Dec. 27) , but when I drag the .tvpx into TVP in the normal way it returns an error message: "Bad File" .

D.T. Nethery wrote:Has something happened to the file since it was first uploaded ?

I tried downloading and installing Merging(sven).tvpx today (Dec. 27) , but when I drag the .tvpx into TVP in the normal way it returns an error message: "Bad File" .

May be something wrong with the download. I downloaded it myself and got the "Bad File" message too when I tried to install it.

When I regenerate the tvpx file it installs fine on my system.

But. I replaced the old Merging.tvpx file in this thread with the new one and re-downloaded it and still got the "Bad File" message again trying to install this new version.

So I think the problem is with the download process. Sorry.

If you PM me your email address where I can send the .tvpx file, I'd be happy to do so.

Sven

(the original file size is 115kb before I upload it, but when I download it the file size is 119kb if that's any help to the website meister...)

I've uploaded the Merging(sven).TVPX file once again since it seems to have been lost when the TVPaint forum was restored. Please try downloading one more time, then let me know if there is still a problem with the TVPX.

Sven

Svengali wrote:I've uploaded the Merging(sven).TVPX file once again since it seems to have been lost when the TVPaint forum was restored. Please try downloading one more time, then let me know if there is still a problem with the TVPX.

Sven

Thank you Sven ! The new tvpx file installs with no problem.

I installed it too and am delighted with it! Sven, would it be possible to make a script that would create empty frames, ready to be be filled with inbetweens, at certain, regular intervals? Here's how I work most of the time:
I draw my key poses every 16 frames, then my first tweens every 8 frames, then every 4 frames... so far not so tedious to manually pick these frames one at a time and open them as empty image frames -- but when it comes to placing an empty frame smack in the middle of the three instances between every fourth frame, the task becomes tedious. Could you create a script that would know how to open up an empty image frame in the middle of every three instance frames -- or even smack in the middle of every 16, or 8 frames? Raymond once made a script for me which opens every instance between two images. It would be really cool to have a little program that would automatize all this work (Just the thought of this makes me very emotional).

Svengali wrote:Here are two new merge-type functions which some may find useful. MergeAllLayers is an update on a version I had submitted earlier.

Sven,
a slight improvement to this very useful script: could the result have all the previously visible layers become closed (all green buttons become red) and only the newly created layer would be visible. Since to see just the resulting new layer is the purpose of the script, why have to manually hide all the source layers?

Paul Fierlinger wrote:could the result have all the previously visible layers become closed (all green buttons become red) and only the newly created layer would be visible.

It's easy to do that now if you simply select the newly generated layer and click the "H" button on (hide all other layers).

If you have some layers visible and other layers not, by using the "H" button you won't have to remember anything... or go back and turn certain layers on again manually.

Sven

Svengali wrote:If you have some layers visible and other layers not, by using the "H" button you won't have to remember anything... or go back and turn certain layers on again manually.

True