Page 1 of 1

Some questions about TVPaint

Posted: 09 Sep 2010, 21:30
by nobody
Hi,
I have a few questions for anyone here who would be kind enough to answer :)
1. How do you move a layer, or the content of a layer, in TVP (let's say in TVP 9.5)? I noticed the warp, move, pan tools only work for one drawing. I want to move an entire animation.
2. If I do that using a camera, which is not OK anyway because it works for all the layers, I guess... and also I want to be able to see what that camera sees without pressing play, but while I'm drawing... OK, but lets' say I use the camera, how do I control the camera's background color? The default is black. Maybe I want white... (meaning if I frame outside my drawing, where there's "nothing", that "nothing" is right now black instead of white, as the pages are. weird.)
3. How do I flip a drawing or a selection? By flipping I mean.... vertical or horizontal flip, or mirror. How do I flip an entire animation (yet again, I'm not talking about playing frames backwards, but actually flipping/mirroring all the drawings)
4. Is there a way to cut and paste with a selection brush (it's called the Free Cut Brush, yet it doesn't cut, but copy)? So I can copy and paste, but then I have to keep copying, pasting somewhere, erasing, copying again, pasting again... or maybe.... is there a way to move/transform a selection?...
Basically, as you see, I'm having a really hard time doing, in TVP, anything beyond drawing and painting. I find the transform and selection tools extremely nonintuitive and frustrating, and I can't manage to do anything with them... :(
Thanks for taking the time. :)
N

Re: Some questions about TVPaint

Posted: 09 Sep 2010, 22:48
by Peter Wassink
i answer to nobody

1. enter key (repeats transform over all selected frames)
3. permanently? answer: [ key
temporarily? answer: view; flip horizontal
4. select with right mousebutton (front pen buttton)

in general: take some time getting to now TVP
don't let yourself get frustrated, learn how it works, there are many tutorials on the site, you'l see its not really unintuitive only different from other software you'r maybe used to

Re: Some questions about TVPaint

Posted: 10 Sep 2010, 07:51
by Elodie
Hi Nobody, welcome in the TVPaint community

1) use the keyframer or use the warp / move / pan tools and select all your frames before pressing "enter" (or apply, if you use the keyframer)

2) change the background here :
t01p.png
3) answer here => http://www.tvpaint.com/forum/viewtopic. ... lip#p35855" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

4) ctrl or  + c, x, v etc...
As Peter said, you can also do this with right click on your image

Don't hesitate if you have other questions.

Re: Some questions about TVPaint

Posted: 10 Sep 2010, 13:56
by D.T. Nethery
nobody wrote: 3. How do I flip a drawing or a selection? By flipping I mean.... vertical or horizontal flip, or mirror. How do I flip an entire animation (yet again, I'm not talking about playing frames backwards, but actually flipping/mirroring all the drawings)
Keyboard shortcuts - the bracket keys [ ] will flip an image horizontally or vertically. Use [ to flip the image horizontally . ] to flip the image vertically.

You may of course re-assign other keys to this function in the Preference --- Keyboard Shorts if you don't want to use [ and ] .

Re: Some questions about TVPaint

Posted: 11 Sep 2010, 08:45
by nobody
Wow, I didn't expect so many answers, so quickly... You guys are most extraordinary :) Thank you so much for helping! I never noticed those Flip options under View, silly me. And [ ] work beautifully :) And looks like I didn't think of selecting all my drawings before repositioning one of them... or the first one... That hopefully works as expected, haven't tried yet. And cutting and pasting with right click selection... wow! :D Was it easy... :P Thanks again, so much!!
Mr. Nobody :P

Re: Some questions about TVPaint

Posted: 11 Sep 2010, 10:30
by Paul Fierlinger
TVPaint takes good advantage of RMB... as you further explore, keep checking if RMB has something you might be looking for.

Re: Some questions about TVPaint

Posted: 11 Sep 2010, 12:31
by nobody
Thanks, I will.
One more silly question, if I may... how do you move from key to key? I use the arrows to move frame by frame, but from key to key, or drawing to drawing... never manged to figure that out. In the shortcuts there's a thing called Next Key and Previous Key, activated with Page Up, Page Down, but they don't do anything.

Re: Some questions about TVPaint

Posted: 11 Sep 2010, 12:35
by Paul Fierlinger
Look closely at the video controls of your project window; see the double arrows with the plus symbols? From picture to picture use bookmarks and reset your Ligh Table from Instance to Bookmark.

Re: Some questions about TVPaint

Posted: 11 Sep 2010, 12:47
by nobody
Hey Paul,
The double arrows with a plus symbol don't do anything... even though I have selected an animation layer with several drawings. All the other navigation buttons work. Also, I don't use that window, I work fullscreen. Isn't there a shortcut? Or what should I configure a shortcut for?...
I don't understand what you mean with those bookmarks and what's the light table got to do with navigation... that last part, I didn't get it at all... sorry :D

Re: Some questions about TVPaint

Posted: 11 Sep 2010, 12:59
by Paul Fierlinger
Hey nobody,

You have to make keyframe markers to jump from keyframe to keyframe, which you can do with the kkeyframer (FX Stack>Motion>KeyFramer).
On the top toolbar under Windows open Remote Control to control your full screen project window. Don't you need to navigate between frames when working with the light table? If yesy, I explained how you can do it between bookmarked frames instead of all frames. Perhaps you could upload a work in progress of yours to make it easier for us what you are trying to figure out. If you don't use the LT I am somewhat at loss as to what you need explained.

Re: Some questions about TVPaint

Posted: 11 Sep 2010, 13:17
by nobody
Hey Paul
I managed to figure it out finally :P
I asked about keys, or drawings, or keyframes, but it looks like in TVP they're called Exposures. :| Yeah, I kind of think I heard the term used before, I'm sure it comes from classical animation whatnot blahblahblah, but to me... Exposure means.... nothing :D And I've been animating for a living for years. But I never used paper, only computers :D So anyway, thanks for helping. I can now... navigate from Exposure to Exposure... :D
Btw, that Configure Keyboard Shortcuts window really needs to change, like... badly :D I always have a really hard time trying to see a relation between it and the rest of TVP's interface. I'm looking at some weird name and I'm like... so what's this actually called in TVP? What would Layer Blend Rainbow Colors Whatnoter actually do... hehehe. And if at least I could try it quickly, but no, you have to set it, hit ok and close the window, and only then can you see what the impossibly named command does... :D
Or maybe, OK, if TVP came with some decent documentation, I could learn a few things not by trial an error :D Seriously, if I had to learn Maya the way I'm learning TVP, I would have nnnever learned Maya. The docs are a mess, the website has some tutorials that cover some things here and there, randomly, and... I'm really impressed that I got so many replies on this forum :) If I only knew sooner.. :P

Re: Some questions about TVPaint

Posted: 11 Sep 2010, 13:41
by Paul Fierlinger
nobody says:
I'm really impressed that I got so many replies on this forum :) If I only knew sooner.. :P
You cracked the secret codex; upgrades are made at such blinding speed by the developers that nobody could keep up with changing manuals and tutorials so we fill the need for working help by quickly answering questions. This is a unique software application for and by unique people. If somebody (opposed to nobody) wants mass marketing, let them drink Coca-Cola! :mrgreen:

Re: Some questions about TVPaint

Posted: 11 Sep 2010, 16:04
by Byron
Hey Nobody - give it time and you'll find that by daring to be different, the TVP team have created something wonderful! Since I've been using it, I often find myself wishing other programs (Photoshop, for example) worked more like TVP!

:D

Re: Some questions about TVPaint

Posted: 13 Sep 2010, 08:51
by Elodie
Thanks guys for your kind words =)

We are sincerely sorry if the manuals are not as updated as our softwares. :oops:
Write a code line is shorter than write an explanation :mrgreen:

But well, thanks to this, we have a nice community and a dynamic forum =)