Overwhelmed but want to learn

JimmyXL · Post by **JimmyXL** » 22 May 2008, 00:14

Hi everyone, I'm using the trial version of TVPaint Pro and I've got a couple questions about learning it:

I've used Flash for 8 years, I know XSI very well, have used USAnimation professionally, learned Flipbook and Photoshop, and I'm very excited about the potential for this program. Although, everytime I close it down, I find myself more frustrated than the previous time. I'm afraid at this rate I'm just going to close it down and leave it for good.

How did the people who now understand the program go about learning it in the first place? I want to use it to replicate pencil animation and I find the help files 'overly' detailed. I just want to learn how to bring a character to life with a background layer using an onion skin yet I can't even find how to erase lines. I know I can erase what I've immediately drawn but I can't locate how to erase a simple picture.

Anyway, if anyone can share their process of learning, no matter how mundane it may seem, please share. I want to learn the program before the trial time is up and if it's as good at doing the simple stuff as I'm hoping it is, I wouldn't mind purchasing it.

Thanks for your time.

(to clarify, I'm good at learning the 'extras' of a program once I can understand the basics of what I want to accomplish.)

Paul Fierlinger · Post by **Paul Fierlinger** » 22 May 2008, 01:02

I wouldn't mind talking you through this over the phone but it's a bit too much for me to type. Now here's an example why it's a good idea to make it public where we live. Let me know if this interests you -- I can get you going in under 15 minutes.

JimmyXL · Post by **JimmyXL** » 22 May 2008, 01:08

oh wow, that'd be great. Although, right now, I'm in New Brunswick, Canada. I'm heading out of home for tonight but let me check on my international phone rate and get back to you tomorrow on this offer.

Paul Fierlinger · Post by **Paul Fierlinger** » 22 May 2008, 01:11

Actually it's close to my bedtime now. I get up around 3 to 4 AM, so tomorrow is better -- perhaps from 10 am onwards...

idragosani · Post by **idragosani** » 22 May 2008, 01:12

Have you looked at any of the tutorials?

http://www.tvpaint.com/index.php?option ... Itemid=147

You should start there.

I came into TV Paint from being a Mirage (TVPaint 7.x) user for the past couple of years, and learned most of the application via the Mirage tutorials. If you have worked in PhotoShop, TVPaint should be easy (in fact, I think TVPaint is easier to use than Photoshop). Mainly what you need to learn in TVPaint to get started is what all of the different tool icons are. If it's not open, you should open up the Tool Bin (via the Window->Custom Panels menu), where you will get a whole bunch of pencils and brushes and erasers! The Sketch Panel and Animator Panel have a lot of great tools also. And under Help->Inline, set to Full... that way, when you hover your mouse over any gadget in the GUI, you will get a popup describing the gadget's functionality, including the keyboard shortcut.

JimmyXL · Post by **JimmyXL** » 22 May 2008, 01:29

hahah, seems I missed the obvious. Not surprising

Thanks. I'll take a look through those come tomorrow morning.

Paul Fierlinger · Post by **Paul Fierlinger** » 22 May 2008, 07:06

JimmyXL wrote:hahah, seems I missed the obvious. Not surprising Thanks. I'll take a look through those come tomorrow morning.

You should do fine with that advice, but in case you still felt like calling, download my key commands before you call from here:
www.paulfierlinger.com/students/
and I can walk you through some of the more useful ones. You can change them later to suit your own needs, but it'll escalate your workflow to start with key shortcuts. If you like to draw with a tablet you'll never stop, once you grasp the uniqueness of this software for independent 2D people.

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » 22 May 2008, 09:44

I was about to write a short description of the bare necessities for animation, but then took a look into the tutorials and found that my Mirage experience is a bit different from the actual TVP version, so I skipped that.

Jimmy: read the tutorials 1 and 2 and you are ready to start. It looks pretty complete to me, maybe a bit overly complex, but you should find everything you need.

Some details which are a bit hidden:
1. You draw and erase with the same tool, just switch from "draw" to "erase" with pressing F2 and F4 (erase).
2. If your background vanishes after frame 1, just click on the little triangle right to your background layer and set it to "hold", so it gets displayed for the length of the scene.

djm99001 · Post by **djm99001** » 22 May 2008, 09:51

Paul,

I was interested in your shortcuts and visited your web site. YOU MADE TEENY LITTLE SUPER GUY!
Sorry to take this thread off track but I'm sure no one minds learning (or re-acknowledging) that.
I'm a huge fan of your work. I knew that you were an animator of renown, but could not have anticipated the depths to which your work is ingrained in the innermost rings of my brain's hard drive. In case you were wondering, it's a 5400rpm.

Thanks.
David

Paul Fierlinger · Post by **Paul Fierlinger** » 22 May 2008, 10:03

David, this happens to me quite a bit -- a couple of times I've worked with new clients, who after giving me a hard time with the usual petty demands some art directors have the habit of slipping into at the outset of a new working relationship, discovered that I made the stuff they grew up on, and confused by the new circumstances, dropped me like a hot potato.

Anim8tor Cathy · Post by **Anim8tor Cathy** » 22 May 2008, 12:54

Hi JimmyXL and Welcome!

I am new to this software too and have been teaching myself from the tutorials and cresshead's videos that I've found on YouTube. The folks on this forum are especially helpful and very knowledgeable. I've picked-up a lot of information just browsing the forums here as well. This software is extremely powerful and incredibly stable but it offers so much it can be a bit overwhelming at first. The way I deal with this is to just focus on the basics until I get more comfortable.

Good Luck!
-Cathy

Paul Fierlinger · Post by **Paul Fierlinger** » 22 May 2008, 13:01

Cathy, in my opinion you're going about it the right way, which is to not try to grasp all at once, and to learn step by step by actually working on something in a way you expect to work into the future. This is the same idea as I had mentioned when discussing how to develop a character, which is to formulate its appearance through animation from drawing one.

idragosani · Post by **idragosani** » 22 May 2008, 13:05

Anim8tor Cathy wrote:Hi JimmyXL and Welcome!

I am new to this software too and have been teaching myself from the tutorials and cresshead's videos that I've found on YouTube. The folks on this forum are especially helpful and very knowledgeable. I've picked-up a lot of information just browsing the forums here as well. This software is extremely powerful and incredibly stable but it offers so much it can be a bit overwhelming at first. The way I deal with this is to just focus on the basics until I get more comfortable.

Exactly the way to go about it.

evar · Post by **evar** » 23 May 2008, 20:50

Hi JimmyXL - I live in NB, Canada as well. In Moncton - where are you located ?

lemec · Post by **lemec** » 24 May 2008, 09:53

If you'd like, I've been recording painting tutorials for TVPaint daily... You can find them here:

http://www.tvpaint.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 492#p16492

Welcome to TVPaint Community forums !

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