16:9 rectangle tool?

[Arjan van der Linden]

Dear forum people,

does anyone know if it is possible to create 16:9 rectangles with the rectangle tool?
I know that the shift key keeps the aspect ratio to 1:1, but I need an 16:9 aspect ratio.

We are working on some big animation lay-outs, on wich we want to place different camera positions.

Thanks in advance,
Arjan

[slowtiger]

The rectangle tool as well as the marquee selection tool don't have controls for this. Good point, they should have ...

In the meantime use the grid to count squares, or open a HDTV project with 16:9 and select all. Or do this part of your work in Photoshop which is able to do that: type in an aspect ratio into your marquee select, then draw the border.

[Arjan van der Linden]

Too bad, thank you for the info though!
With your tips, we'll work around.

We are importing the larger tvpaint lay-outs into an other tvpaint project using the keyframer - Photoshop is not an option in the workflow...

[malcooning]

I suggest first creating a 16:9 rectangle on a separate project, following the grid, like Slowtiger suggested.
Then grab it as a custom brush.
then switch to your layout project, and place the brush on top while changing it's settings (rotation, size etc.)

[Peter Wassink]

Hoi Arjan, leuk je hier te zien!

The workaround could depend on what exactly you need the rectangles for.

btw, you can adjust the grid to a 16 by 9 ratio

16-9 grid.jpg (47.2 KiB) Viewed 30835 times

[malcooning]

btw, you can adjust the grid to a 16 by 9 ratio

good point. it makes things much easier.

[Arjan van der Linden]

Ha Peter! alles goed?

We are creating big-sized lay-outs, with camera movements and truck-in/truck-outs drawed on it.
In another project (16:9 hd) we use the keyframer using the 'source' function to import the big layout and
zoom/move the lay-out to these different cam. points on a series of frames before starting to animate.

Seems like making a custom brush and save it is a very good option for this.

[Animark]

Hey,

I use this way to make my layouts:

1. rough out the BG/Szene/Whatever
2. make a square withe the rectangle tool on a separate layer
3. use the keyframer to resize the square unproportional to a 16:9 rectangle
4. use the transform tool to move and resize the 16:9 rectangle(s) on the bg

This way also helps me to find the best resolution for my project. I measure the pixels of the smallest rectangle and resize the hole project (using the rule of three) that the smallest rectangle fits my intended resolution (hd for example).

[StopmoNick]

I import 3:2 images in various sizes from a DSLR still camera, and want to re-size and crop to 16:9 HD. I can modify the project and specify the size in pixels I want (1920 x 1080) but can only crop all sides evenly, keeping the center. Why not have something like Photoshop's 9-square grid to say which side you want to keep and which side you want to chop off? Or go one better, and say you want to crop from pixel row 101 to pixel row 1180?
I've tried using the coordinates window and drawing a box while watching the pixel numbers, but whatever pixel it says I'm on, the actual crop is not accurate, there are always a few pixels more than the number it said I was on. So I usually get something like 1082 pixels high, and have to do a second crop.

[Arjan van der Linden]

You can use the keyframer FX tool for this:
(same way we work with lay-outs)

- import the photos in a 3:2 tvp. project. when importing the photos, you can choose to scale all photos to the project size.
- create a new tvp project on 16:9.
- use the keyframer FX tool and choose the other project as a source.
- you can now scale the photo array up to your preferred crop.

succes!
Arjan

[slowtiger]

Nick: I use the crop tool for this - can place the marquee wherever I want, at any odd coordinate. It creates a duplicated, truncated file.

I used this to animate a very small portion on a verly large project, just to speed up things a lot. The finished animation in the small cropped duplicate project I finally imported back into the big project. Very useful.

[StopmoNick]

Slowtiger -
Thanks, what a good idea, working on a small area of a large project! Never thought of that.
I use Select Rectangle, Crop, but I can never get it to come out to exactly 1920 x 1080. Is there another Crop tool I've missed all these years?
Arjan -
Not sure if I understand your solution, but I'll try following your steps and see how it works.

[malcooning]

I use Select Rectangle, Crop, but I can never get it to come out to exactly 1920 x 1080. Is there another Crop tool I've missed all these years?

first, make a new project sized 1920 x 1080.
then create a rectangular frame along the borders of the projects.
Then select all.
then "copy to brush"
go back to your work project and place the rectangle-frame brush on a new layer.
now you have a guideline of exactly 1920 x 1080.

[StopmoNick]

Thanks Malcooning, that makes sense to me now.
But, aha, there IS another crop tool I never noticed before, which lets me read the size of the area I'm going to crop before I do it. I was using a longer and less effective way around all the time.