Scrubbing in Timeline with use of one button+dragging mouse

[Brusen]

Dear TvPaint,

Autodesk Maya has a function of scrubbing in the timeline by holding down "k" (Change current time: Left Mouse Button to change current time).
Its a very useful tool that speeds up the way of previewing the animation for the actual moment you are at, instead of hitting the flipbook button. Here you can control and really analyze the motion.

We met at the TvPaint stand in Annecy, and I presented the idea, I'm curious to find out if you made progress?

Best regards Troels Brusen,
The Animtion Workshop, Denmark

[Elodie]

If I understand you well, yes it does exist, but you have to define the shortcut by yourself.

The fonction is named "Preview > Flip Manually".

You can change the shortcut in Edit Menu > Preference > Configure Keyboard shorts.

[Brusen]

Thank you Elodie!

"Preview > Flip Manually" is sort of the function, except for it goes back to the frame I started out scrubbing from. In Autodesk Meya, it stays on the frame you end at, it doesn't travel back, It is very handy as you can then do the corrections.
A thing that seems weird with this function is that you have to go vertically with your mouse, not horizontally?
Is there a way to change this?

Best regards Troels Brusen
The Animation Workshop, Denmark

[ZigOtto]

maybe I misunderstand you, but for scrubbing along the timeline, why not :
- 1) - LMB-clic & drag the yellow cursor at the bottom of the preview panel ?
- 2) - LMB-clic & drag the white cursor at the top of the timeline panel ?
- 3) - press and Hold the [<] (left) or [>] (right) shortkeys to scrub backward and forward ?

scrubb.png (16.71 KiB) Viewed 30368 times

[Brusen]

Thank you ZigOtto for the detailed description ,

I'm very familiar with those functions, but the thing with the function from Autodesk Maya, is that you can save time and focus, by only having to press a button and scrub, without having to look at your time line or pressing step-frame all the time.
It is very handy for analyzing, plus you can save time and finger-energy from instantly pressing hot-keys.

[Fabrice]

I don't get it.
you can use the shortcuts and hide the timeline.

[Paul Fierlinger]

I think I understand, and if so, I agree that this would be very useful. It means that you press a scrub button and then you can place your pen or mouse anywhere within the project and scrub.

[Brusen]

Yes indeed! Thank you Paul!

[Fabrice]

- 3) - press and Hold the [<] (left) or [>] (right) shortkeys to scrub backward and forward ?

I'm with Zig here : left an right arrows keys do the job.
Not sure to understand.

[Brusen]

It is not to sound picky or anything, but I almost only used the frame-skip keys at first, also in Autodesk Maya. - But after being introduced to the scrub function, I started using it half of the time.
It is an extremely useful and powerful tool. I would say it is the only thing I miss in TV paint

[Fabrice]

opps ...
In fact, I'm not saying it's not useful.
I'm just saying I don't understand the option you describe. It seems to me it's already in TVPaint (we have frame skip keys, instances skip keys and scrub/flip).

Would you mind explaining again differently or post a screenshot ?

[Brusen]

I found a video with a guy showing the feature in Maya:
http://youtu.be/FYZ_WAfg-Xc?t=4m42s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It becomes very useful as you progress in any animation and have many frames. Especially if you work on ones.


Best regards Troels Brusen
The Animation Workshop, Denmark

[Paul Fierlinger]

The issue is that when scrubbing and stopping on an exact frame to make a small correction and then scrubbing and correcting again, it becomes such a distraction to keep one's gaze on the exact position of the scrubbing at the same time as one tries to keep an eye on the spot of the drawing mistake that it becomes at times a worthless exercise and one just goes back to punching the keyboard to move from frame to frame.

[Fabrice]

Did you try this option ? It's unassigned by default but it should do the job.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Almost there, but to scrub up and down is awkward and insufficient because one very quickly runs out of scrubbing space, and it is not stable, by which I mean the scrubbing continues before or after lifting the pen. In other words, this operation requires a lot of practice and concentration to be useful. Can this be fixed and improved upon?

EDIT: I was not testing on the best clip, an animatic with instances far too far apart. It actually works better than I at first recognized, yet a big drawback is that the scrubbing continues even after I release my keyboard key. It should have the ability to stop precisely on a desired frame, and of course to scrub horizontally. If it worked only when the pen tip is in direct contact with the tablet's surface, that would be a huge improvement.