How to loop a certain part in the timeline?

[melissam]

I'm using tvp 10 pro,
Windows 8 operating system.

I'm just trying to figure out how to loop certain frames in the timeline? I have about 40 frames of a someone breathing slowly because they are asleep. I wanted to loop the frames where the chest is moving slightly up and down. Then after it loops a certain number of times, I'm going to turn off the loop and then animate the person getting up. How can I do that? I'm not just talking about the loop button next to the playback button.
I mean how to I set it to loop certain number times, and then stop at a point, so that I can animate more movement?

Thanks, I was trying to be clear, but tell me if you don't understand what I'm talking about!
Melissa

[ZigOtto]

hi Melissa,

apparently, you need to use the Faux-Fixe feature,
at the last loop-image, drag the tail to the desired length (the nb of loops on the timeline),
then, positioned at the last frame of the looping animation, RMB-clic and set your faux-fixe,
the value according to the nb of frames of your initial loop,
well, it more easy in the practice than in explanation, so experiment it as is,
and if you can't tame the beast by your own, go and read carefully the "FauxFixe feature" description in the TVPA pdf manual ("Working with Instances" chapter) .

[melissam]

I read the faux fix section in the manual, but I don't think it's what I'm looking for... I'm not going for a toggle kind of look, but rather a loop of the drawings where the character is breathing; I have frames showing his chest moving up and down slowly. I was thinking that there was a button or something somewhere that would allow me to loop certain parts of the timeline, similar to Flash, but I guess the only way to achieve this would be to select the whole part of the timeline that i want to loop and copy/paste it repeatedly on the timeline..

Unless there's an easier way I'm not aware of?

[CartoonMonkey]

Have you thought of using the FX Stack / keyframer?
Or the animbrush? With TVPaint there are often many paths to the end result, depending on your style of working, and the situation you're in.

You could design that part of your animation in another project, (or on another layer) and pick it up as an animbrush and stamp it down. Alternately, you could use the keyframer.

In this video, I pick up the first 15 or so frames of the 2nd layer with the animbrush, clear the frames, stamp it down once to set it's position using the left mouse button, undo, then select all frames and hit
return to write the sequence into the empty layer.

As a 2nd method, using the FX Stack, I then just simply shorten the layer named breathe to the desired length, and set the keyframer to use the hidden "breathe" layer as source, setting the values to loop normal and loop. Then I select the desired
frame length and apply fx. This can also be done with the animbrush, or a whole project as the keyframer source.

http://www.cartoonmonkey.com/breathe.mp4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[melissam]

Wow!!! Much thanks Cartoon monkey! I didn't know about either of those methods. The video you made is very helpful! Thanks so much I'm excited to try it out!

[melissam]

Oh, there's something that's tripping me up. What if I don't want a hold at the end of the loop? I want the images of one layer to keep looping until the timeline reaches a certain point, then I want it to stop.

I uploaded a screen shot so that you can see what I mean.

[hellofilms]

If you extend the last frame in the loop layer to frame 100 and use Faux_fixe feature to loop the drawings.
doesnt that do it?

[Thierry]

I see that you have the 10.0.16 version, that is quite an old one ! You should update to the latest one (10.5.7)

[Sewie]

Say Melissa, had you just copy pasted the whole thing on your timeline you would have been on your way by now, wouldn't you have?
Additionally you can rename the looping frames (double click on the frame) so that they are easily recognizable on your timeline.

My advice is to keep it simple so you can focus on your animation instead of the technicalities.

[ZigOtto]

I read the faux fix section in the manual, but I don't think it's what I'm looking for... I'm not going for a toggle kind of look, but rather a loop of the drawings where the character is breathing; ...

Faux-Fixe is just made for that kind of loop within the layer

... What if I don't want a hold at the end of the loop? I want the images of one layer to keep looping until the timeline reaches a certain point, then I want it to stop.

set the end handle behaviour to "none", as simple as that.

[CartoonMonkey]

See if this video doesn't help. Just a bit more on animbrush, faux-fixe, and the FX stack. ( With the fx stack, you can keyframe opacity too by the way, to make things fade in-out.)
http://www.cartoonmonkey.com/animbrush.mp4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[melissam]

Got it! thanks everyone. Thanks for that very informative video, cartoonmonkey. I wasn't fully understanding the faux fix feature, but your video, along with a previous post on the forum helped me understand how to really use it properly. It helps tremendously, now that I know how to use it. And thanks for the information about the keyframer! I was kind of nervous about using it before but this looks simpler than I thought it was.
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