10.5.0 New Features

[Paul Fierlinger]

Michael, try opening a new configuration from your start screen. You won't lose your current one, particularly if you save it as a template in the file menu. You should see the new colors there. Save them as default on your HD and import to your current layer. Of course a better way would be to recreate your current settings into the new config but who wants to put himself through that!

[Paul Fierlinger]

2. All the other layers together, whatever their modes are etc. together they are an image of which you can change the opacity

I really have to emphasize that it is not desirable to have all the other layers dim their opacity by the same value Wedon't all draw alike. Just look at your avatar and mine. My drawings are very complex, my animation style is often slow, close to real life, which requires far greater numbers of in betweens than your cartoons do. With this kind of complexity, plus my thin lines, I need some layers to be more salient than others.

[Sewie]

Michael, try opening a new configuration from your start screen. You won't lose your current one, particularly if you save it as a template in the file menu. You should see the new colors there. Save them as default on your HD and import to your current layer. Of course a better way would be to recreate your current settings into the new config but who wants to put himself through that!

Got it! Took some doing with exporting and importing the color groups. These new colors are a lot brighter, a bit overpowering in the dark interface that i like to use.

[Paul Fierlinger]

You can always adapt them to your own needs and save as the default set. I like them brighter because it makes for easier instant spotting for me, perhaps due to my old eyes.

[piano]

Thanks Paul ! it works perfectly. The info I was missing was that it works in display current mode, which seems obvious now after the fact

Now anyone have a problem with the snooze option in the save alarm ? it does'nt work for me and i have to hit the save to get out of the alarm, which can be hazardous if i want to do a "save as" instead of deleting he previous saved file.

[Lukas]

2. All the other layers together, whatever their modes are etc. together they are an image of which you can change the opacity

I really have to emphasize that it is not desirable to have all the other layers dim their opacity by the same value Wedon't all draw alike. Just look at your avatar and mine. My drawings are very complex, my animation style is often slow, close to real life, which requires far greater numbers of in betweens than your cartoons do. With this kind of complexity, plus my thin lines, I need some layers to be more salient than others.

I work in many different styles (more often in someone elses style than my own), and what I was suggesting is really only to make the current behaviour better. The Layer Attenuation is a part of 'Display current layer', so all attention should really be on the current layer. Which happens would work better if the image wouldn't change by showing layers-over-layers like it currently does.

[Sewie]

Ah, I see now how that might work better with full color or filled artwork, like photo's or life-action video.
Perhaps adding a blend option in a future update?

[Paul Fierlinger]

all attention should really be on the current layer.

Really? Why?

If everything remains the way it is now, you can adapt by keeping all your layers at 100% opacity and then attenuation will dim them uniformly. But if attenuation were to be changed so that no matter what value you have on your individual sliders, everything would look the same when activated, people like me would be stuck.

By the way I have good reasons to believe that most people will like to use this feature the way I do, once it becomes a routine in their work flow. It is absolutely asinine to claim that when some dimmed layers are less dimmed than others, everything becomes a distraction. I think I don't want to keep beating this dead horse over anymore.

[neonnoodle]

Thanks Paul ! it works perfectly. The info I was missing was that it works in display current mode, which seems obvious now after the fact

Now anyone have a problem with the snooze option in the save alarm ? it does'nt work for me and i have to hit the save to get out of the alarm, which can be hazardous if i want to do a "save as" instead of deleting he previous saved file.

Yes, I also have this problem with the Snooze button. I turned off the alarm feature altogether because I couldn't get it to snooze.

[Lukas]

all attention should really be on the current layer.

Really? Why?

Because the Attenuation is an expansion of the "Display Current" button. What extra functionality it brings is simply the ability for the animator to see what the rest of the project looks like when focussing on the current layer. (For example, if you're working on a character, you'll still be able to see if he's walking into a tree or not, which wouldn't be possible without Attenuation)

It is absolutely asinine to claim that when some dimmed layers are less dimmed than others, everything becomes a distraction.

That is not what I am suggesting AT ALL.

I think you should not suddenly be able to look trough layers when pressing the "Display Current" button.

If you have layers that are see trough before clicking the button, they will still be see trough after clicking the button. I don't know what functionality you are afraid of losing, but what I'm suggesting simply makes more sense...to me at least.

Here's a last example, the current way of doing things present you info that is not even there in the original state:

[Sewie]

Lukas has raised a good point (again), I think. It reminds me of a lighttable enhancement that Peter suggested recently. It's the sort of thing you'll miss only when you're confronted with a problem.

Though there are workarounds to Lukas's problems, like changing the opacity of the layers themselves, it's a thoughtful suggestion for refining the Layer Attenuation feature.

[Lukas]

Here's how Anime Studio Pro deals with 'hide all other layers'.

It even works on groups or when manually selecting multiple layers.

Instead of changing opacity it makes layers light and grey.

It works quite well.

[Paul Fierlinger]

I never realized the possibility that many people work against colored backgrounds. For me, animation is so much just a matter of drawing lines against other line drawings. When Sandra paints, she uses the line drawings of our backgrounds to place behind characters, even after she has painted the backgrounds. I can now appreciate the possibilities of having anything in color shifted to B&W, which can't be so difficult, can it?