convert time line to clips (for storyboard)

[hilere]

I know the storyboard features are pretty new to TVPaint. I am currently working for the first time on a storyboard in TVPaint.
When you are boarding you don't want to focus on different things. You just want to take the next empty image and draw, while the ideas are still fresh. So currently I have come to a way of working that I stay in the same clip layer doing my panels one after the other (instead of constantly switching between the project and clip time line, to create a new empty clip to work in), without worrying about timing yet.
What I think would be a nice feature is that afterwards with one push on the button every frame (storyboard panel) gets converted into a clip within the same project. So in a second stage you go to each individual clip to work on timing.
One problem left to takle would be that there needs to be a way to tell the soft where a new clip should start before pushing the "convert to clip" button, because a shot usually exists of more than one panel.


So the way of working would be :
-drawing all the panels in one clip, not worrying about software technicalities.
-mark the shot splits.
-push the "convert to clip" button.
-go into the generated clips to work on timing.
(- or maybe even work on timing even before converting into clips)

[Elodie]

Wah... I'm not sure I've understood very well...

When you are boarding you don't want to focus on different things. You just want to take the next empty image and draw, while the ideas are still fresh. So currently I have come to a way of working that I stay in the same clip layer doing my panels one after the other (instead of constantly switching between the project and clip time line, to create a new empty clip to work in), without worrying about timing yet.

This is the aim of the feature : draw your ideas without caring about timing and just double click in the grey space to add a new clip. Then, when your ideas / clips are drawn, you just have to double click on the first clip => add a time, then press "Tab" to go to the next clip.

What I think would be a nice feature is that afterwards with one push on the button every frame (storyboard panel) gets converted into a clip within the same project.

Well, that buttons does exist in the Animator pannel => Clip => Split clip after the current frame. =)

[Paul Fierlinger]

While the split clip button is quite useful for what hilere wants, she (may I assume??) wants to be able to go one step further, which would be to place, let's say bookmarks, at various intervals on her first clip, and then have one button that would separate the first clip into many new clips exactly where she had made all those bookmarks.

[hilere]

I'm still a boy, Paul. But you understood very well. I have to admit I did not know yet about the feature Elodie was talking about, and this does does already most of what I was searching for. My idea was indeed doing it in one go, but the existing feature works just fine.

Thanks a lot!

[Elodie]

(hehe, you lost Paul But it's for me, I already knew Hilere is a man ^^)

You are welcome !

[Paul Fierlinger]

Well, boys will be boys; there's not much most people can do about that.

When you are boarding you don't want to focus on different things. You just want to take the next empty image and draw, while the ideas are still fresh.

This is a concept worth debating. I stopped using storyboards a long time ago (unless a client insisted on having one, but usually I could talk them into accepting an animatic). So when the TVP developers came out with the Project/Timeline concept, I first ignored it as something that is not for me, but once I tried it (as a beta-tester I was obligated to) I got hooked, and this is because I don't agree with what you say above. I am of the notion that when you are boarding you DO WANT TO focus on several different things that are just a few steps ahead.

I quit drawing storyboards because as soon as I got into animating, very quickly I found myself departing little by little from my initial ideas and I would find myself far astray from my earlier story concept. This is because I was doing what you say above; not focusing on different things. Now that I use the clip-as-a-storyboard-frame concept, I am back to boarding! It is not a good idea to loose view of the overall story! Painters step back from their canvases, I use the Project clips for the same reasons.

When you design a character I doubt that you start with the nose, not focusing on what the feet or any other parts will have to look like; you most likely work a little on this and a little on that and the character gradually shapes up. Working on a storyline, in my experience has to be the same routine and the Project concept makes that happen when you treat every storyboard frame as a clip.

But this is a major change in thinking and work flow for most people. Nevertheless,I highly recommend testing it out; I was stunned with the results as I dove into it and I've never looked back since.

[ZigOtto]

... So currently I have come to a way of working that I stay in the same clip layer doing my panels one after the other ...

at this stage, are they timed (with exposures) or not ?
if not, I think a "muti-split" script could do the job, (splitting all frames in one click),
if already timed, a script could work as well, but here, a more elaborated one ... so, don't ask me !

[hilere]

Paul,
When I say I don't want to focus on different things I mean of course other things than the storyline itself. Like the technicalities of the software I am working with.
I totally agree with your vision on storyboarding. And that is just the reason for me to suggest this other way of working. You focus on what you are doing, run through the panels, add some here and there to finetune, etc, etc... All this without having to be distracted by switching from clip timeline to project.
To answer on Zigotto's question. Personally at this stage there is no timing done yet, so one image per instance.

But again, the feature exists already...I just wanted to take it one step further.

[Paul Fierlinger]

You do know that you can either play all the clips together from the timeline when in Project mode, and individually when in Timeline mode... now the way I streamline this action is that I have created custom buttons to open Project or Timeline, which I have placed right below the Project window's play controls. Also keep in mind that if you set the in and out points in the timelines, the Project playback will respect these. This is a useful way to tweak the timing as well. I'm glad to see that you got into the real meat of this feature; I think it must be really unique amongst all similar software.