Play back animation from current frame of timeline

[TVPUSER]

When working on longer animatics I find myself getting quite annoyed that TVPaint's timeline does not behave like timelines in almost all video editors.

Playing an animation always starts from the very beginning of the timeline/mark in point. This is fine for smaller animations but It starts to become a hassle with larger projects.
Using Mark IN/OUT points is a convenient way to narrow down the scope of playback and to loop preview specific sections, but it is something that ends up being a pain to set up every time you want to just play from the frame you are currently viewing.

I'm aware of the new Playback Clip button but it simply loops one clip from the storyboard view.

I'd like to suggest a default or togglable behavior for animation playback
I'll provide a video example of this too.

1. Pressing play will begin the animation playback from the frame that you currently are looking at
2. Mark IN points can respected after the playback from current frame reaches the OUT point
*This behavior would greatly improve the storyboard timeline as projects can reach much longer runtimes.

[Peter Wassink]

The spacebar is set to always play "from current Image/pause."
did you try that?

[D.T. Nethery]

The spacebar is set to always play "from current Image/pause."
did you try that?

I tried hitting the spacebar , but nothing happened.

I checked Preferences on my TVPaint (version 11.7.1) and the Spacebar is not set to "Play from Current Image/Pause". Spacebar was actually unassigned. I don't know if that's a change in default keyboard shortcuts in 11.7.1 or something I did by messing around with the keyboard shortcuts at some point.

Anyway,I thought I'd mention it for the benefit of TVPUSER and others who might wonder why the spacebar doesn't seem to do anything. Double-check that it's set to "Play from Current Image/Pause" or the other options "Play From Current Image and Return to Current Image" or "Play from Beginning/Stop" .

However, I notice that there seems to be no difference between the behavior of "Play from Current Image/Pause" and "Play From Current Image and Return to Current Image" . With "Play from Current Image/Pause" there is no Pause , it just continually plays , returning to the current image and plays again until I hit the spacebar again. I guess it is supposed to pause between playbacks ,but the pause doesn't seem to be working.

Screen Shot 2023-04-02 at 8.01.26 AM.png (69.46 KiB) Viewed 8679 times

[Peter Wassink]

I tried hitting the spacebar , but nothing happened.

oh, it could be that i set this myself.

the "preview: play from current and return to current image"
indeed doesn't seem to work as advertised.
you need to double click to start and again to stop ?

same for "play and return to current image.

I'm quit confused, i just tried assigning all for preview modes that start with play to the first four function keys
but they don't work all the way?
While they do start the playback, pressing again does not make them stop or pause?
however my spacebar with "preview: play from current image /pause" does work and does manage to make the playback pause when pressed ?

weird and this feels buggy

[TVPUSER]

The spacebar is set to always play "from current Image/pause."
did you try that?

I forgot I had rebound my spacebar key long ago I reset my spacebar and it at least plays back from the current frame, though I really wish It could loop the entire animation after reaching the end..

With the upcoming changes that allow us to switch the ALT key and the spacebar, I'd still very much like the option to have this behavior with the play button itself.

[Hironori Takagi]

After posting the below, no one responded, so I was wondering if it was a topic that TVPaint users didn't care about.
I'm glad we had the same opinion.
https://forum.tvpaint.com/viewtopic.php?t=15390

[Dean]

Hello everyone, regarding the difference in Spacebar bindings among users, this could be due to remnants of previous versions contained in older config files.
I also agree that the spacebar alternative Play behaviors need a overhaul. Thierry will be back at the office in 2 days and I will talk to him about this.

[D.T. Nethery]

Hello everyone, regarding the difference in Spacebar bindings among users, this could be due to remnants of previous versions contained in older config files.
I also agree that the spacebar Play behavior needs a overhaul. Thierry will be back at the office in 2 days and I will talk to him about this.

I have no problem binding the keyboard shortcuts "Play from Current Image/Pause" or "Play From Current Image and Return to Current Image" or "Play from Beginning/Stop" to the Spacebar, but the problem I notice with "Play from Current Image/Pause" is that there is no Pause , it just continually plays , returning to the current image and plays again over and over, until I press the spacebar again. I would expect that there should be a pause between playbacks , but the pause doesn't seem to be working. It is the same with "Play from Beginning/Stop" ... it does not stop. It simply repeats over and over until I press the spacebar again.

[Dean]

I see, I rephrased my second sentences so it is clearer. Some alternative "Play" functions might not work exactly as intended and will be checked.

[D.T. Nethery]

this could be due to remnants of previous versions contained in older config files.

The "remants of previous versions contained in older config files" brings up a question:

I am to the point now where I want to reinstall a fresh version of TVPaint to get rid of any of these "remants of previous versions".
However, I do have many custom panels and also saved FX Stack bins that are contained inside the older configs that I want to retain (so later on I can copy them over into my fresh install of TVPaint).
I have put all my old configs into a separate folder and moved that folder to an external hard drive (also backed up to my iCloud drive).

Here's the question: is it possible for TVPaint to accidentally access any of those old config files stored on my external hard drive or my iCloud drive , thus causing more confusion from the remants of old configs ? Or only the new configuration ("default") in the TVPaint 11 Pro folder in my MacOS Library will be accessed by TVPaint ? I hope it's clear what I'm asking ... I suppose I'm asking if the backups of my old config files on the external drives are sufficiently "quarantined" to prevent TVPaint from accessing the old configs ? OR do I need to make sure that that the old configs are stored on an external drive that is not connected to my computer.

[Dean]

TVPaint only looks inside the "default' and surrounding folders for configuration files, so it won't start using an old backup file it has been moved elsewhere.