Using TVpaint with a Wacom Cintiq

[don-jackimo]

Does anyone know of a mod that will make TVpaint spread over two monitors. I have a Cintiq 12WX and I am having alot of trouble setting up my workspace over the two screens because my computer monitor is physically bigger than the Cintiq. I understand that the program is made in a way that will not allow the panels to leave the main window but is there a way to make the main window fill both screens? Also is there a way to undock the timeline panel and move it to the left hand side?

[idragosani]

I used a 12wx for a short time, but there was no way to spread the TVPaint window across both screens without it either being too big for the Cintiq or only filling half the screen of the 2nd monitor. You really need two monitors of the approximate same resolution & dimensions to make it work right. A wonderful feature would be to have the layer window as a separate window so it can be moved to the second monitor independently of the first one. This is one benefit of apps like GIMP or MyPaint that don't have a single app window for everything.

[don-jackimo]

Bummer! Maybe down the track they'll fix that. Thanks anyway!

[artfx]

I am having trouble imagining the benefit of having a Cintiq and then spreading panels to another monitor. So you draw on the Cintiq and then what? Switch to using mouse when you need to select tools, change layers or use menus? That seems counterproductive. When I used the Cintiq 12, I kept everything on the Cintiq and set all my panels to simply slide away when I was not using them. Everything was at the tip of my pen.

I don't even own a mouse and haven't used on in years, so maybe I am not seeing something. I do everything by tablet.

[Paul Fierlinger]

I have four monitors and use my pen mapped to just the close vicinity of the project window. Tightly around the borders of the project windows and reachable to the pen, I keep my custom buttons in single rows; several pens, erasers, Layer panel controls, export controls and special video scrubbing controls -- all together about 100.

I draw on a Wacom 4 tablet and have my pen's range mapped 1:1 in the Wacom's software. This means tha if I draw a circle on my mapped out space of the tablet, the circle appears exactly at that size on my drawing screen in front of me, which I have tilted backwards, drawing table fashion.

Everything else I reach by mouse which has becomes second nature to reach for -- like a stick shift in a car; I never think of what I'm moving. I have my layers panel on its own monitor -- I don't understand your problem with repositioning it (double click on top of the layer panel's frame to unlock it.) The rest of the space is used for reference pictures I download from the Internet, of which I need many, since my style is quite realistic, and also for the number of plugin panels I use.

For me a Cintiq and one panel would never be enough. I dislike the Cintiq because my hand is always in the way and I can't see my line as it is created (just like it used to be in the way when drawing on paper).

[Fabrice]

Paul,

I just add that one of your four screens is fully dedicated to the Timeline.

[Paul Fierlinger]

****

[idragosani]

Everything else I reach by mouse which has becomes second nature to reach for -- like a stick shift in a car; I never think of what I'm moving.

Yes, same. I have become quite adept at using the mouse to do something on the second monitor while holding the stylus. Don't even think about it! I just kind of twist the stylus slightly and use my middle finger for clicking.

(PS. I just bought a new stick shift vehicle!)

[Fabrice]

ok Paul it's because for me the "timeline" is not an usual panel.

[idragosani]

I don't understand your problem with repositioning it (double click on top of the layer panel's frame to unlock it.)

Yep, of that I am aware. What I meant was a separate application window altogether (rather than a sub-window of the main application), so I don't need to stretch the entire TVPaint main window across both monitors. This can be done with apps like GIMP or MyPaint that use a multi-window screen layout.

[Paul Fierlinger]

So why is it better to have instead of a spread of TVP's GUI as your backdrop, a desktop with the possibility of clutter not relating to TVP? I've seen it on a friend's computer but don't get the attraction or advantage.

[idragosani]

So why is it better to have instead of a spread of TVP's GUI as your backdrop, a desktop with the possibility of clutter not relating to TVP? I've seen it on a friend's computer but don't get the attraction or advantage.

Well mainly because my second monitor is smaller than the Cintiq I use so it doesn't line up, and the far right tool dock gets wasted (I don't think it's movable, although the individual tool palettes are) ... certainly doable, but I'd like all of the tool docks in the main monitor and the layers window in the second monitor... it's just an ergonomic thing, I guess, the Cintiq I use is big enough that I can have everything in one big window so it's not that big of a deal By analogy, for a certain audio application I use, I keep the timeline window in one monitor and the mixer window in the second window (fullscreen for both), without having to worry about stretching the main window across both.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Well, now that you've explained it I can see the advantage, but frankly, I just noticed that my fourth monitor is larger than the other three and I had all but forgotten about that.

[idragosani]

Four monitors... yeah that would be nice!

[djch]

Hello all,
In order not to start a new topic I will post my question here since it is related to this thread.
One of the points in the original question has not been answered as far as I can see. Is it possible to move the timeline to any place other than at the bottom of the interface or on the side?
I work (as many do I think) with a Cintiq tablet and a monitor so it would be ideal to have the timeline on the monitor to review it regularly without it taking up space on the tablet (which in my case is thel 13,3 model).
The idea would be extending the tv paint interface over both screens and have the timeline in the 'top' monitor and the drawing in the bottom Cintiq part of the interface. Is this possible??

Thanks (in advance)!