TVP Animation / TVP Animation Pro features comparison

[TVPaint]

Yojimbo i sent you an email to let you know how to proceed.
And for those who are wondering the same, feel free to contact us at tvpaint@tvpaint.fr

[Patrice]

Hi All,
We have updated the Comparison sheet by adding TVP Animation 8.5 and TVP Animation Pro 8.5.

Click here

[Peter Wassink]

*spelling error*
Burshes stored with Paper

[Patrice]

Thanks,
It is now fixed.

[Peter Wassink]

did the trial version policy change?
it used to be possible to try a full standard version for a month.
it seems it is now only possible to try a limited Pro version?

I'd like to know so i know what to tell the students.

[Fabrice]

The save and export features have been removed from the Demo version. It avoid the software to be hacked.

[Peter Wassink]

o.k.
a pity but i understand.

[Annudsa]

First of all... a warm hello to all tvp animation people out there and
of course to the tvp team who created this wonderful piece of software !
yes i have to admit i fell a bit in love with this program...i am so happy with this userfriendly bitmap oriented animation software !

so i bought the standard edition last weekend.
and i must say the delivery of the software was very fast i did not expect that with all this cold and snow everywhere in europe.
thank you!

my Question or remark concerns the following
Why is it that in the standard version of the software
the user is contantly reminded of the fact that he or she did not buy the pro version !
f.e i did not buy the 26 blending layer options ...or have the abillity to use the camera or have this and that special effect...etc.
but the options are all there in my menu's. WhY?

Is this a strategy of the tvpaint team to grey out all these options and remind me of all the beautiful things i did not get in the standard version.
so i will upgrade..a bit faster to the pro version?

I was really a bit surprised about that...
and also a bit annoyed to be honest
i did not read all the posts on this forum yet so maybe i missed something
but i would have liked to know this in advance
that the PRO DEMO would shine through in the standard version all the time

but i will get over it in time and maybe in the future i will try to buy the real program
Tvp animation PRO

i posted here because i will have the feature list of comparison contantly thrown at me
when i am working in my sweet standard version.

[chatbraque]

I understand what you mean… it must be boring
I bought the pro version one year ago… but I'm not sure my decsion was the best…
… because I was already working with AE… on AE, fx are more intuitiv, more powerfull and easier to use…
to me, I guess that the best workflow would have been…
- TVP standard for drawing and animating
- AE for color corrections, fx, camera movements (that are really "3 D"), etc …
(but, I'm a beginner in "cartoon animation")

TVPpro would have come only in a second time (when grown up in animation)… in order to be able to do the most part in the same software…
… I can see that very few are using "TVP only"… most of the tvp users seems to work both with TVP and AE (and sounds softwares, etc…)
(especially if they want to composite 3D in their projects… )

Then, to me, Your choice is not the worst and worth to be called a looser all the day long

[Paul Fierlinger]

As many know here, Sandra and I drew and painted a feature length film in HD 1080p which was played on large theater screens all over the world. We started the film in Mirage 1.5a and with a 17 inch monitor each. We each had a small Wacom; the one that came before thr Intuos series. I needed an editing program, which was DPS back then. It needed its own card and software and cost $3,000. After about a year (after Bauhaus collapsed) we migrated to TVP8, then TVP9.5 on which we completed our movie.

The only thing that made a real big difference in our efficiency was that we acquired each 3 wide-view monitors and the Wacom tablet improved over the course of those 3 years. So there's nothing that can't prevent high quality work from being produced on an old Mirage, or the basic TVP 9.5 or TVP 10 basic. What has improved is the work flow and heightened efficiency that comes with it, but for a beginner in 2D animation the most important thing is to get into the mindset af drawing motion by drawing key poses and inbetweens for several years and for that all you need is to have an old TVP-1 on an ancient Amiga 3000 -- which is exactly where many of us here started.

And about the ghosted goodies: Don't let something like that make you cry in self-pity, but think of it as useful information which tells you where there is something better to look forward to and inspiration to work your way to one day buying it because you feel you can't do any longer without ... But honestly; those are just useful luxuries, most of which we were without by the time we got our feature film out in the world.

[slowtiger]

I think it's not the best idea to have a smaller version of any software show features of the bigger version in an unavailable fashion, i.e. greyed out.

Most if not all users have learned that greyed out means "temporarily not available", which means that under the right circumstances they get available to them (usually by changing something else). Showing features which are not available at all in their version needlessly keps them in a state of frustration, and sometimes causes them to waste hours searching for doing something right to "unlock" that function.

As a marketing device, I'd call it a failure.

[Paul Fierlinger]

I don't disagree with you and without having any knowledge of what the software looks like, my guess is that this might be an unfortunate choice of TVP developers' to expedite the release of TVP10. I do know that the decision of what should be left out and what not went up to the last minute without leaving enough time to adjust the layout of the GUI. But when I've come across these instances -- for instance in the media players, I don't know why, but it never upset me and I felt good that I'm not missing out on junk I don't need. Whenever you buy consumer products these days you have the same occurrences of manuals placing stars next to features you might have not bought into. I've always understood this as simplifying release materials and an austerity measure, not as an in-your-face sales pitch. I don't think it's such a big deal -- on the other hand, to have it in your face all day long within a work surface might be like having your eyes tripping over flattened bedbugs on your walls from years past.

[Elodie]

on the other hand, to have it in your face all day long within a work surface might be like having your eyes tripping over flattened bedbugs on your walls from years past

Well, in our defense, I would say there are (from memory) only two places where you can see those famous [Pro] : in the layer blending modes and in the FX stack.

When you look once at the layer blending modes with the Standard Edition, you know there is no need to look several time, as the features proposed won't change (they will stay in grey).

I agree it is maybe more annoying when using the FX Stack (as there is FX you can use and some other you can't) but well... the software is the only free place where we can advertise a little about the Professional Edition...
I agree, maybe this is not the best way to proceed, but heh ! would you prefer a random pop-saying "buy the Pro !" (as it is the case in many other software) or worst, let you click on the feature and then, open a window saying "Buy Pro" ?
I think that would be more annoying than few grey lines

[chatbraque]

I agree, maybe this is not the best way to proceed, but heh ! would you prefer a random pop-saying "buy the Pro !" (as it is the case in many other software) or worst, let you click on the feature and then, open a window saying "Buy Pro" ?

… please, add a big flicking price (fluo)

(how about : "No grey stuff shining through" ??)

[Annudsa]

thank you for the replies and comments, chatbraque, Paul Fierlinger, slowtiger and Elodie

do not get me wrong,
i am not sad and disappointed that i "only" have the light version of the program.
i was aware that i would not have the pro features, when i bought the standard version!

but..ik think and here i qoute the words of slowtiger because he sad it so well..

I think it's not the best idea to have a smaller version of any software show features of the bigger version in an unavailable fashion, i.e. greyed out.
As a marketing device, I'd call it a failure.

and Elodie,
i expected a bit more of a serious answer..to be honest

Elodie wrote:
I agree, maybe this is not the best way to proceed, but heh ! would you prefer a random pop-saying "buy the Pro !" (as it is the case in many other software) or worst, let you click on the feature and then, open a window saying "Buy Pro" ?

when i click the camera icon (which is not even really greyed out) in the main menu..i get literly the popup screen that this option is only available in the pro version...

when someone pays a considerable amount of money on a piece of software this is not the right way to go..in my opinion
i think this is something to seriously consider for the future,
i mean to make the standard version a true "standalone" version of tvpaint ! this in respect of the clients who buys it with that idea in mind !