They call it AFTER Effects for a reason..

[Peter Wassink]

I discovered ZigOtto's trick works even better if you do the same with Opacity (I have a 100% opacity brush for cleaning in black, but now the brush previews with 50%, see attached image)

goeie truuk! (good one)

[schwarzgrau]

I don't know if CartoonMonkey still follows this thread, but if you need to work with some kind of After Effects guy ever again you should install this script by madsjuul
It exports your whole scene in png-sequences for every layer by a button press. His second script imports everything in After Effects, so it looks exactly the same as in TVPaint.

BTW I'm using After Effects A LOT. Maybe cause I'm more familiar with it and need some more practice with TVPaint, but it's a great tool for me for changing colours, adding camera moves and compositing everything together. I'm only doing the lines and some of the fill in TVPaint and then send it to After Effects to do all the fancy stuff, like camera moves etc.
It's a great combination for me to use both, but I would never compare them.

[CartoonMonkey]

Wow! I've just now picked up the thread..

It's just that having to work again with Adobe products had almost made me commit suicide.
I appreciate Mads' script.. although I hope I never have to use it!

TVP becomes so much more powerful by the day. Just yesterday, I talked to a veteran animator, who had been convinced by another animator, that animating in Photoshop was totally the way to go, to finish his short film. In the end I convinced this person to try TVPaint, especially after they saw all of it's real time playback / paint / manipulation and FX superpowers.

In short, I avoided crushing the cyanide pill contained within one of my molars.. Until someone insists Photoshop is a better animation tool, that is. I've heard it so often.. sigh.

As for or After Effects vs TVPaint, I suppose AE has a use or two, but really, for me the reasons could be counted on about one or two fingers. TVPaint remains the mainstay. I use other software for various other tasks, but when it comes to getting things done in an all in one package, TVPaint is leagues above all the rest.

You can pry TVPaint from my cold dead hands!

[Elodie]

Haha, thank you Chad for your feedback, it's always a pleasure to read such nice words ^^

Too bad for your fellow animator...

[CartoonMonkey]

I get a bit passionate about TVPaint at times.. haha

[John tynan]

Hello,
i have TVP standard, but i would like to use camera moves
dolly in/ pan down etc.
is there any compositing software out there that is suitable for some basic enough camera moves.?
thanks

[D.T. Nethery]

Hello,
i have TVP standard, but i would like to use camera moves
dolly in/ pan down etc.
is there any compositing software out there that is suitable for some basic enough camera moves.?
thanks

Well, After Effects is the most widely used compositing software. With the TVPaint JSON Export option to import into AE it's quite easy to move everything from TVPaint to After Effects. (the import script keeps all your layers and exposures intact on the AE timeline). If you already have an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription then that's probably your best option, but I realize that you may be looking for something less expensive than AE. Apple's Motion software is pretty easy to use for camera moves. Motion costs a one time payment of $50.00, then you own it (not a subscription like Adobe.) https://apps.apple.com/us/app/motion/id434290957?mt=12 .
Here's a tutorial for Motion showing how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO64Mx1iXGE


Also, I think the free version of DaVinci Resolve will let you do camera moves. https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... ciresolve/


Keep in mind that in TVPaint Standard you have the KeyFramer FX tool and also Multiplane Camera FX tool. Both can be used to create camera moves. With the Multiplane Camera you don't necessarily have to use it with multiple "planes" , it can be used for a camera move with all the layers positioned on the same plane , so for a simple dolly-in or pan up/down you can do that with the Multiplane Camera not set up to move the layers with any apparent parallax effect , y'know? See here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... jYyL-WijSl

and : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... v9eth5gUYv

Here's another tutorial on using the KeyFramer to make a Camera Move - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38C7AUj8w-4



Of course, you can also set up your shots to do a proper multiplane camera move with apparent depth , which can look quite nice.

Where a true Multiplane camera set up gets trickier with TVPaint Standard is you don't have the Image Library (which is in TVPaint Pro only) to use as source layers for camera moves accomplished with the Multiplane Camera or Keyframer, but you can use other open TVP projects as source layers, so have your source images open as separate projects in TVPaint. Although more unwieldy to work with, the advantage of having each of the source planes as a separate TVP project is that those projects can be at a higher resolution than the main project where you you will be compositing the images, so that would permit you to push-in closer on the artwork (for a dolly-in or dolly-out) without the pixels getting blurry. Take a look at my tutorials and let me know if you have any other questions about it.


In the screenshot below it shows my main project window , with 7 other projects open . Those 7 projects labeled Layer 7, Layer 6, Layer 5 , Layer 4 ,Layer 3, Layer 2, Layer 1 are the source layers used for the Multiplane composite in the main project. Each of these source projects is 3x the resolution of the main project . The main project is 1920 x 1080. The source project layers (Layer 1 - 7) are 5760 x 3240 . That means when they are referenced by the KeyFramer or Multiplane Camera as sources they will retain a sharp image quality even if you push the camera in closer , as in the example below where the camera starts closer in and pulls out to a wider shot. This takes some careful scene planning , but will obtain the best results. (same if you are importing doing the camera moves in After Effects , Motion, or DaVinci Resolve)

(click on image to view it full size)

Here's the rendered version of the multiplane camera move -





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*EDIT: In response to someone who sent me a PM asking: "Do the Multiplane source layers all need to be separate TVP projects ? Can't all the source layers be in the same TVPaint project ?" I want to clarify that all the source layers could be in the same TVP file, but in this case where the camera starts at a tighter field and pulls out to a wider shot , the source layers will still need to be originated at a higher resolution , 2x - to - 3x the output resolution of 1920 x 1080 , so in this example 1920 x 1080 x3 = 5760 x 3240. To set up and render the multiplane camera move on these higher res. images at 5760 x 3240 (or higher) requires a powerful computer with a fast CPU and a lot of RAM, or else it can get quite laggy. If your computer is fast enough , go for it. The other way I outlined above, having each of the higher-res. Source Layers be in a separate .tvpp project file which are referenced by the Multiplane Camera (or KeyFramer) allows you to use the higher-res. source images , but is composited in a project sized at HD 1920 x 1080 or 2K 2048 x 1152 resolution, which means the rendered multiplane move will not be as heavy as rendering it at full size (5760 x 3240). Keep in mind , all these instructions are for dealing with the limitation of TVPaint Standard Edition not having the Image Library feature. If you have the Pro Edition with the Image Library to store the higher-res. source images then this all gets much easier to work with.

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The other screenshots below show using the Multiplane Camera to composite a camera move with all layers (animation and BG layer) on the same plane.


Here the source project is comp'd with the Multiplane Camera tool in a new project:

Or you can simply do the camera move composite on a new layer within the same project file , with the other layers below being the source. Set the source to Display in the Multiplane window.

Then, after you click Apply FX Stack, the camera move will be rendered on the new composite layer. Your original layers (whether in a separate source project file or on the layers within your current project file) are unaltered so if you decide later to adjust the parameters of the camera move you can re-render it on a new composite layer.

.