Mistakes in the user guide

[Fabrice]

Thanks for the help Jérome.

[D.T. Nethery]

I still think the section of the User Guide on the KeyFramer FX needs major additions to make it clearer to the new user that the KeyFramer can be used for creating camera movements in animation production .

http://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvp11/index. ... -keyframer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The illustrations used for the KeyFramer would lead one to believe that the KeyFramer tool is primarily something for manipulating text and titles -- useful certainly, but it doesn't give a clue to the new user of how the KeyFramer is used for something as basic as combining a walk cycle animation with a panning BG level . (either the BG layer moving under a walking-in-place cycle or the walk cycle dragged across a still BG to show a character walking by entering from one side of screen and walking across to exit on the opposite side of screen. )

Reference my post here:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6883#p61868" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've had students (who usually purchase the lower priced TVPaint Standard edition with no Camera Tool) tell me they have to take their animation into AfterEffects to do camera moves . When I refer them to the User Guide section on the KeyFramer Tool they are usually confused because it doesn't show them anything that looks like the KeyFramer Tool pertains to ordinary character animation on a background layer, like this:



This sort of thing makes it looks like the KeyFramer Tool is all about manipulating text or other still graphics:

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[Elodie]

I moved all messages regarding the guide in this topic. So when TVPaint 11 will be released, I will move it in public section.

[D.T. Nethery]

I remember seeing an illustration like this once upon a time (was it with Animo or Toonz ?) that attempted to show the relationship between the traditional animator's tools with the software tools .

Would it make sense to have something like the image below in the introduction to the manual to explain to new users (especially those newbies coming from trad. pencil animation) at a glance how traditional animation tools are replicated in the TVPaint interface ? (animation disc = Project/Drawing view and Light Table , X-sheet = Timeline and Layers , pencils, pens, brushes , erasers = Tools etc.)


*Disclaimer: This is just a suggestion, a quick mock-up using photo reference. A finished illustration could be painted in TVPaint or maybe a line drawing would be better ?

[Fabrice]

I really like the idea. We might do this in the future.

[Thierry]

We've just updated the user guide, and among spelling mistakes being corrected, a Search engine has been introduced

[D.T. Nethery]

This is not a "mistake" as such , but it is a suggestion for expanding the explanation of one of the Color FX in the FX Stack: the Black & White Converter .

In the User Manual it looks like this:

http://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvp11/index. ... lack-white" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But my suggestion is to explain in more detail how this effect can be applied to scanned animation drawings which have either red or blue under-drawing , and the user wants to drop out the red or blue lines . It should be explained how the Red , Green, Blue Channels in the Black & White Converter function similarly to how the "Channels" tab in Photoshop functions , because many new users are more familiar with Photoshop and don't know if TVPaint has the same or similar functions in every case. I made a tutorial about this for my students a long time ago , but I will use the screen captures as my example of what I'm proposing.

You would need to find a non-copyrighted character to include this demonstration in the official TVPaint User Manual, but here is an example of what I am proposing should be demonstrated in the User Manual regarding Black & White Converter RGB channel adjustments.

1.) Original animation drawing has red under-drawing , with black graphite clean-up lines:


2.) This drawing imported into TVPaint :


3.) Now using the FX Stack > Color > Black & White Converter , change the Red channel value to 255 , Green channel and Blue channel value to 0 . This removes the red lines . (if the under-drawing color is in Blue pencil then change the Blue channel to 255 , and the Green channel and Red channel to 0 ) .







After removing the red lines , run the Scan Cleaner FX as usual to strip out the white pixels and leave only the black pixels, so the drawing may be colored.

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[Fabrice]

yes David, you are right.
Thierry will work on it soon.

[D.T. Nethery]

EDIT: this issue is now fixed. The "Tutorials" link leads to the tutorials page and a new link called "Doc" (documentation) leads to the User Manual.
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This is not a "mistake" in the User Manual , but it's about the link at the top of the forum that says "Tutorials".

You would expect if you click on "Tutorials" it would take you to the Tutorials page here:

http://www.tvpaint.com/v2/content/artic ... torial.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But it doesn't ... if you click on "Tutorials" link at the top of the forum it takes you here , to the TVPaint 11 User Manual -

http://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvpaint-animation-11" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

tutorials page.png (71.99 KiB) Viewed 89530 times

However, on the main TVPaint.com page the "Manuals" page and "Tutorials" page under Support are two different things ... so a link to "Tutorials" on the forum page should take you to the Tutorials page here: http://www.tvpaint.com/v2/content/artic ... torial.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... Or otherwise change the link at the top of the forum that is currently titled "Tutorials" to "User Manual" .

This came to my attention from a student who I told to go to the Forum to look for answers to her questions and also that she should view the video Tutorials (such as the basic tutorials on Introduction to the Interface, Brush Settings, FX Stack basics, etc. ) ... so she came to the forum to look up answers to her questions about TVPaint and she clicked on the link on the forum labeled "Tutorials" , however the link did not take her to the Tutorials page , but to the first page of the User Manual. She messaged me back: "I can't find the video tutorials you mentioned , only the user manual" . I asked her what she meant by that and she told me: "When I click on the link to "Tutorials" it takes me to a page called "Documentation" , but I don't see the video tutorials you told me about." Now I suppose it could be argued that in a sense the entire User Manual is one big "tutorial" , but that is not at all what people expect to see when they click on a link labeled "Tutorials" ... especially because there actually IS a page called Tutorials, here:

http://www.tvpaint.com/v2/content/artic ... torial.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



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[D.T. Nethery]

"Clap" option in the Export panel has been renamed "Slate" , but it is still called "Clap" on this page:

http://www.tvpaint.com/v2/content/artic ... new110.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Display more information in your exported projects -

Thanks to the "Clap" option in the Export panel, you can display information about your sequence when exporting it as a file.

(the screen grab shows "Clap Bars" option in the Export panel , instead of "Slate" -
http://www.tvpaint.com/images/products/ ... ap_big.png" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )



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[Thierry]

Should be fixed now

[D.T. Nethery]

Transition > Fade Effect

http://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvp11/index. ... ition-fade" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"The Fade transition is the most common transition ever used and does not need any other settings than Position. It was also introduced in lesson 9."

But it is NOT covered in Lesson 9 (section 9 - "Importing and Exporting with TVPaint Animation") of the TVPaint 11 documentation.

So the video on this page http://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvp11/index. ... ition-fade" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; simply shows the Fade effect , but gives no explanation of how to do a fade effect in the TVPaint FX Stack. It directs the user to look in "Lesson 9" , but it is not covered in section 9 of the TVPaint 11 user manual . (I think "Lesson 9" is left over from older TVPaint 10 user manual , where the different sections of the user manual were referred to as "Lessons') .

[Thierry]

Transition > Fade Effect

http://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvp11/index. ... ition-fade" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"The Fade transition is the most common transition ever used and does not need any other settings than Position. It was also introduced in lesson 9."

But it is NOT covered in Lesson 9 (section 9 - "Importing and Exporting with TVPaint Animation") of the TVPaint 11 documentation.

So the video on this page http://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvp11/index. ... ition-fade" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; simply shows the Fade effect , but gives no explanation of how to do a fade effect in the TVPaint FX Stack. It directs the user to look in "Lesson 9" , but it is not covered in section 9 of the TVPaint 11 user manual . (I think "Lesson 9" is left over from older TVPaint 10 user manual , where the different sections of the user manual were referred to as "Lessons') .

It is indeed a leftover of the old manual.
The Fade effect was introduced in lesson 12, so I've updated the text (not reflected yet on the public documentation, it will be soon)

[D.T. Nethery]

TVPaint 11 User Guide , Section 3 - "Animating With TVPaint : first steps - Introduction "

http://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvp11/index. ... troduction" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Part of the English text is given in French . Also , a few other awkward phrasings that I would suggest be adjusted.

Introduction

Everybody knows how a film is projected in a movie theater: a film roll is placed in front of a powerful projector, enabling display of the pictures on a screen located a few meters away.

The images are projected at such speed that they give the illusion of movement to the spectator. TVPaint Animation works with the same principle: it is possible to create your own virtual film rolls and project them onto your television screen.

In TVPaint Animation we refer to this roll as: Animation Layers, and these images (the drawings you will create), we will name them instances*.

These two notions are primordial : creating instances and layers, give rythm to them and superimpose in the Timeline is what will help you create your movies.

We will address the basics of these two concepts in this lesson, then we will pousserons plus loin nos explications on tradigital animation with TVPaint Animation in lessons 4 and 5.

* The notion of "instance" will be explained later in this lesson.

"primordial" would read better in English as "These two notions are primary" or "These two notions are foundational"

"rythm" should be rhythm . But I think the better word here would be timing , rather than rhythm.

"... give rythm timing to them and superimpose in arranging them on the Timeline is what will help youto create your movies.


Here is my suggestion to make this read more clearly in English -

"Everybody knows how a film is projected in a movie theater: a film roll is placed in front of a powerful projector, enabling display of the pictures on a screen located a few meters away.

The images are projected at such speed that they give the illusion of movement to the spectator. TVPaint Animation works with the same principle: it is possible to create your own virtual film rolls and project them onto your computer monitor.

In TVPaint Animation we refer to this roll as: Animation Layers, and the images (the drawings you will create), are called Instances*.

These two notions are foundational : creating instances and layers, give timing to them and arranging them on the Timeline to create your movies.

We will address the basics of these two concepts in this lesson, then we will expand on our explanation of tradigital animation with TVPaint Animation in lessons 4 and 5.

* The notion of "instance" will be explained later in this lesson."

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[D.T. Nethery]

http://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvp11/index. ... mage-marks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I hope this doesn't seem too minor to nitpick this issue , but if the User Manual pages are intended to appear in English language , then the screen captures should be in English language version of TVPaint.

The screen captures for the section on Image Marks are in French . This does not bother me because I have a little French from my school days , but for consistency it seems that the screen caps should be in English .



There other areas of the user manual where I have noticed the same occurrence of screen captures from the French version of TVPaint. This is understandable as that is your native language , but again, for consistency , if the user manual is intended to be in English then the screen caps should match the English language text.