How can I transform all instances in several layers?

[JQuinn]

I need to change the position of a character that I have already animated, as its not sitting quite right in the background.

I have tried doing it by choosing one of the instances - then rotating and reducing size using the transforming tool. Then I have selected the layers I wish to affect and pressed APPLY. The result is that only that one instance is effected across the chosen layers. I want it to effect ALL the instances in ALL the selected layers. I realise now this is something that I should probably be using the FXstack but I can't work out how!

[slowtiger]

Re-apply only works with one layer at a time and only while you don't select another tool. So the sequence should be:
- use pan tool on one frame
- select remaining frames of that layer
- enter (re-apply).
If you use the transform or warp tool:
- return or enter to make change permanent in one frame
- select remaining frames
- enter twice.
Repeat on other layers.

[JQuinn]

Hi Slowtiger

Thanks for your help but I can't seem to make it work. I have TVP11 I wonder if it may be different? - or maybe its because Im not fluent enough with TVP yet! I'm going to have a cup of tea and then go for a walk to clear my head of all these instances!! When I come back I will try again!

[Sewie]

Hope you had a good walk.

If you want to transform/warp all your drawings on a certain layer you have to select ALL instances on that layer. You can do that by double clicking on the area of the layer below the thumbnail. Or you can click and drag on that area to select the frames you want to affect.

It's this bit of the layer:

Layer_Selection_Area.PNG (9.61 KiB) Viewed 29015 times

I'm guessing you tried selecting the layer by clicking on the leftside area that holds (a.o.) the layer name and transparency slider?
That won't work for changing instances but is good for actions that affect the layer as a whole, for example copying the entire layer with it's content. Or changing opacity or blending mode for multiple layers at once.

[JQuinn]

Hi Sewie

Thanks for your message. I get how to select all the layer now but still no joy! I move a instance, select the rest and it re-renaders all the layres but when I play back its the same as the original. I think I'll take a break and animate some eyes!

[Sewie]

That's strange.

Do you still see the transform handles of the transform tool, the thin red square (with the resize and rotation handles) around your drawing when you've pressed apply? If so, you'll have to press the 'apply' button (or the enter button on your keyboard) again. That should make the transformation definite.

[Elodie]

Hi Joanna,

I hope this video will help you a little bit.

http://www.tvpaint.com/dl/forums/Pannin ... nsform.mov" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As Slowtiger said, depending on the tool, you are using (Panning or Transform).
With Panning Tool, you hit enter once to valid both coordinates and application.
With Transform Tool, you hit enter a first time to valid coordinates (Red HUD) and a second time to apply (Green Hud).

[2dbert]

Is there maybe the "preserve transparency" button checked on at this layer? That would explain why the command can't be carried out, because you're asking for lines to be moved to an area- the transparent one- that is blocked for this. I'm not using your version, but that's how it works here in 10.5.7

[JQuinn]

Ive finally done it! The problem I was having was that 1 of the 5 layers I was transforming, was a shorter length than the others, so the transformation was only applying to the length of the shortest layer. I made the shortest layer start on frame 1 and end on the last frame by adding blank instances. Once all the layers were the same length it worked.

So my lesson of the day is make sure all the layers are the same length and start on frame 1 all the way through to the last frame even if most of the instances are blank. I'm learning!

Next question - Does transforming a drawing , in my case rotating and reducing slightly, effect the quality or the original instance?

Thx for all your help yet again!

[Sewie]

...
Next question - Does transforming a drawing , in my case rotating and reducing slightly, effect the quality or the original instance?
....

It does. Especially rotating and/or enlarging.

I understand that if you move your selection by integers (...-2, -1, 0, 1, 2...) it won't affect quality. The 'Panning Tool' does that by default but the 'Transfom Tool' doesn't, so that's something to keep in mind.

Reducing usually won't effect the sharpness much, though it can obviously thin out your lines.

[Elodie]

I understand that if you move your selection by integers (...-2, -1, 0, 1, 2...) it won't affect quality. The 'Panning Tool' does that by default but the 'Transfom Tool' doesn't, so that's something to keep in mind.

Yes it does for several months

[D.T. Nethery]

I understand that if you move your selection by integers (...-2, -1, 0, 1, 2...) it won't affect quality. The 'Panning Tool' does that by default but the 'Transfom Tool' doesn't, so that's something to keep in mind.

Yes it does for several months

Here is the need for another screen capture video demo I think , showing the "new" improved Transform Tool you are referring to ... I find that clicking and dragging on corner handles on the Transform Tool or clicking and dragging on the rotation handle still produces "blurry" line quality after a few transformations . The Perspective Tool (formerly "Warp" tool) is even worse about making the line quality blurry if used manually by clicking and dragging on the handles. I think most people tend to use the Transform Tool and Perspective Tool that way. A screen capture video showing how using the Transform Tool by setting the Panning X , Panning Y , and the Scale & Rotate coordinates in the tool panel results in less blurry line quality would be a useful thing to add to the Online User Manual documentation.

[Elodie]

For coordinates, there is nothing to do : now by default, it moves pixels by pixels, just like the panning tool.

For resize and rotation.... well I don't remember exactly why we could not do the same

[D.T. Nethery]

For coordinates, there is nothing to do : now by default, it moves pixels by pixels, just like the panning tool.

For resize and rotation.... well I don't remember exactly why we could not do the same

Ah , ok ... I misunderstood what had been changed about the Transform Tool. So for now with scale and rotation it will still have the issues with "blurry" lines after multiple transformations ... but for anyone else reading this: I've found that if I work overscale (say at 200% of 1920 x 1080 , which is 3840 x 2160 ) then any line blurriness from transforming scale and rotation of drawings is minimal when the animation is output to normal 1920 x 1080 size. My usual way of working is to only do multiple transformations on ROUGH animation, but when I work with Clean-Up final line art I try not to use many (or any) transformations , because any size or angle changes should have been done on the rough layers ... so one or two slight transformations on the clean-up layers will not be noticeable ... or if it does look blurry I'll re-draw the lines on a new layer and then delete the "blurry" transformed lines . This is equivalent to the old days of enlarging/repositioning drawings on a photocopy machine ... the enlarged photocopies would have a blurry , not-so-sharp, line quality , so would have to be re-drawn on a fresh sheet of paper if it was for final line art . (but for roughs was not a problem)