10.5.0 New Features

[Sewie]

Now that I have been working with the new early release of 10.5 for about two days, I would like to mention that I am quite happy with the features that I have had a chance to use. I haven't been able to get acquainted with all of them and some I will probably hardly ever use but I can see that this new version is definitely a step forward for TVPaint.

The projection tool for custombrushes is a great addition and when it's expanded it will become quite an asset for adding some more user defined expressions to custom brushes. I'm looking forward to that!




The last two days I have been constantly using the "Layer Attenuation" addition in the Display Panel. It's very handy to keep a slight shade of your layers visible for reference, even when you need to hide them. And it's good thinking to give the user the option of adjusting the amount of opacity to his/her desire. It works very well!




The option to compress TVP files when saving is also very welcome as my files tend to get much bigger in the age of HD video. And it can make quite a difference in file size, I've noticed.

The option to save Custom Panels with/into the project file will keep the interface al lot clearer when working on different projects, with different sets of custombrushes, or when hopping from one project to the other. And it will save me the headache of having to keep backing up the Custom Panels when I've changed my brushes. I've tested it shortly and it seems to works good. It makes the TVP file a bit larger but that is expected.

The ability to check if my animation is playing at the correct speed through the proxy bar makes me very happy. (Though I think I've noticed some glitches. I'll point those out in a different thread.)




The other features I haven't yet gotten a chance to work with but the ones above have given me quite a good feeling about this new release. It will be quite an update once the glitches are ironed out for the official release!

So congratulations, guys! These new features make this update feel a lot more professional to me. Thanks!

[Paul Fierlinger]

I'd like to bring your attention to a simple but very useful new toggle key command which is designed to toggle off and on the Layer attenuation you demonstrate so niftly above. It does the same thing as manually checking and unchecking the Layer attenuation feature on the Display Settings Panel, but having it assigned close to the key of your keyboard that the " Layer: toggle display all" is assigned to, makes for a very efficient work flow. It is:
Display: Toggle Layer Attenuation
It basically allows you to completely isolate your character when needed.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Have you noticed there are brand new colors (which I think are very nicely chosen) for identifying layers that replace the old ugly ones? If you don't see then, RMB on the tiny color palette icon in the left uppermost corner of Layer Panel, select "Edit" which will open your Edit Groups Panel and at the very bottom, click on Options and select "reset". Now the new colors will show everywhere where these colors are used. To have these colors by default you have to start a new configuration in the Startup Panel. You can also save these colors as Default on your HD.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Zoom to Zone is another new selection within the Zoom button menu on the Main Panel. When you select it the yellow cross hairs appear with which you can delineate any area of your Project window with a binding box and your point of view will instantly jump to it. Clicking on the little "F" or "1" of the Project's frame will get you back to normal size.

[Lukas]

I really like the Layer Attenuation option! It's great for projects with many layers.

It would be better if it would change the opacity of all other layers together though, because it changes the situation quite a lot.

See images:

[piano]

i have a problem with layer attenuation. no matter what i do i can't get it to work, i check and un check the box , change the purcentage ... i have several layers beneath the one that is active but it has no effect on them... what's wrong ? anyone else has a problem with it or am i forgetting something ? looks like a useful feature , i'd like to get it to work....

[Paul Fierlinger]

I don't know what you are talking about because here it does exactly what you are asking for; the attenuation function dims the opacity of all layers, top or bottom, except for the current one and by the amount you set the value of attenuation to. It's quite simple. Of course, if you dim individual layers with their individual sliders, you will see that reflected on the overall appearance, and this is the way it should be.

Now I see piano's post and it occurs to me that the version released to the public might be dysfunctional. On all the beta versions it works the way I described it here.

[Paul Fierlinger]

@ piano: to make the attenuation work you still have to use your toggle display command, the little eye icon at the top of the layer stack. Are you doing that?

[Lukas]

Of course, if you dim individual layers with their individual sliders, you will see that reflected on the overall appearance, and this is the way it should be.

Can you explain why is this the way it should be?

The point of a "Hide all layers except for current layer button" is so you can focus on your drawing without having too much info on the screen from other less important (Backgrounds, other characters, etc) layers, but without losing the bigger picture (like we did without Attenuation, when everything disappeared completely).

The extra info it gives you by dimming them individually instead of as a group is useless info, thus distracting, which is the exact opposite as the purpose of the button: Remove distracting info.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Because there are often times when you do need to see one or two layers more than the rest of the other ones, but still less than the current one. One such example would be if my character's line has to match with the line of the surface of a table behind which he is sitting.

[ematecki]

I really like the Layer Attenuation option! It's great for projects with many layers.

It would be better if it would change the opacity of all other layers together though, because it changes the situation quite a lot.

See images:

But this only makes sense if all your layers use the 'color' blending mode.
It won't work that nicely with other blending modes.
It already makes some strange thing with some combination of blending modes...

[Sewie]

i have a problem with layer attenuation. no matter what i do i can't get it to work, i check and un check the box , change the purcentage ... i have several layers beneath the one that is active but it has no effect on them... what's wrong ? anyone else has a problem with it or am i forgetting something ? looks like a useful feature , i'd like to get it to work....

The Layer Attenuation works in combination with the Toggle Display command, the button with the eye on the lower left hand side of you screen, above the layers. When you used this button in previous versions, it hid all the layers except for the one that was active. In the new version it still hides the non-active layers, but you can choose, through the Display Panel, to have them shine through just a little, so you don't lose the reference with the non-active layers. Simple addition, but it often comes in so handy!

[Elodie]

Thank you all for your kind feedbacks about the 10.5. I'm glad that you appreciate the new features, even if this version contains some bugs (they are already fixed, so an update sould be available soon )

[Sewie]

Have you noticed there are brand new colors (which I think are very nicely chosen) for identifying layers that replace the old ugly ones? If you don't see then, RMB on the tiny color palette icon in the left uppermost corner of Layer Panel, select "Edit" which will open your Edit Groups Panel and at the very bottom, click on Options and select "reset". Now the new colors will show everywhere where these colors are used. To have these colors by default you have to start a new configuration in the Startup Panel. You can also save these colors as Default on your HD.

Paul is this a beta-thing again? Because I don't have the color palette icon your are talking about. But I do have a folder icon and when I use the 'reset' under 'options' nothing happens.

[Lukas]

I really like the Layer Attenuation option! It's great for projects with many layers.

It would be better if it would change the opacity of all other layers together though, because it changes the situation quite a lot.

See images:

But this only makes sense if all your layers use the 'color' blending mode.
It won't work that nicely with other blending modes.
It already makes some strange thing with some combination of blending modes...

Not if you make it work...

Just see it as:

1. Current layer (show it on top, where-ever it's located in the layer list)
2. All the other layers together, whatever their modes are etc. together they are an image of which you can change the opacity