xsheet

[trenino]

As I am exploring the demo version of TVPaint, I tried to find the traditional XSheet but could not. Is it abandoned by TVPaint? For me, a total beginner in 2d animation and someone who wants to go through the traditional learning it seems quite important to have. I believe all basic books use the Xsheet for instructional purposes. I have also noticed that the other major 2d animation packages include it.

My question is if it is in the program, how to enable it /open it?
If it is not, I would really like to know, why this move was taken by the company and would be very interested to know if users of TVPaint find the Xsheet an obsolete tool and why.

[trenino]

ok. I found the answer. I should have searched the forum, first

Unfortunately it feels very unintuitive and underdeveloped. I still wonder about this decision and how people deal with the timing. I am at the same time exploring the demo of Harmony and I really, really like the way the have implemented the Xsheet there. There are a lot of things I don't like with that software though.

[Fabrice]

hello and welcome on the TVPaint boards.

All you can do with the Xsheet can be done in a Timeline. The first one is vertical, the second one is horizontal.
It's like two views of the same calendars :

The concepts behind those views of your animation (instances, exposure, keyframes, etc.) are still the same.
That said, if you want to extract a traditionnal japanese Xsheet from the timeline, you can still try this : viewtopic.php?f=11&t=9663" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; but it's very focused on the japanese way to work.

Anyway, feel free to ask questions with some specific points/exemples that you can't reproduce with the current Timeline.
We will help and guide you as best as we can.

(Post Edited, August 24th 2016)

[trenino]

Thank you Fabrice,

I am wondering for example, if it is possible to optically annotate the frames in the traditional way using just the horizontal timeline. Some annotations could be: K - keyframe, B - Breakdown, I - In-between, next to the corresponding frame.

[Elodie]

Yes, you can use the timeline for notes or rename instances. Notes are displayed when you click on the note button at the bottom left corner of the timeline.

Actually, have you watched the video tutorials ? All the basics are there.

[trenino]

I am aware of the annotation area in the timeline, which is a more general place for notes, but I haven't seen yet in the videos or in the software the option to annotate the kind of frame, as it would traditionally be done in an Xsheet. From my limited understanding, this is a way that gives an instant, visual way of going through the timing of the animation and also seeing the multiple background exposures/images.

In any case, since this seems a conscious decision not to incorporate the xSheet, at least not in a meaningful way, like other programs do, I was wondering if someone cares to explain the logic behind that decision. Also if people feel that that using the timeline for everything is more intuitive/faster etc.

As I said, I am a total beginner, and to my knowledge all the important books on 2d animation teach the classic structure of 2d animation, that includes the xSheet. As such I would expect to find this in such a prestigious and expensive software like TVPaint.

Thanks

[furushil]

Hello trenino,

in the timeline your can use "image marks" to mark your frames. Use different colors for "key" "breakdown" and "inbetween". Right click on a frame and select "image marks-> set mark".
You can read more about it here : http://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvp11/index. ... mage-marks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can also choose to rename an instance. See here: http://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvp11/index. ... e-instance" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This way you can change the numbering under the instances to e.g. "key".

These functions can also be assigned to keyboard shortcuts so that you don't have to right-click and look through the menu all the time.

[Elodie]

I am aware of the annotation area in the timeline, which is a more general place for notes, but I haven't seen yet in the videos or in the software the option to annotate the kind of frame, as it would traditionally be done in an Xsheet. From my limited understanding, this is a way that gives an instant, visual way of going through the timing of the animation and also seeing the multiple background exposures/images.

In any case, since this seems a conscious decision not to incorporate the xSheet, at least not in a meaningful way, like other programs do, I was wondering if someone cares to explain the logic behind that decision. Also if people feel that that using the timeline for everything is more intuitive/faster etc.

As I said, I am a total beginner, and to my knowledge all the important books on 2d animation teach the classic structure of 2d animation, that includes the xSheet. As such I would expect to find this in such a prestigious and expensive software like TVPaint.

Thanks

The xsheet was created at in the end of the 20s' / early 30s' for a simple reason : to synchronize sound and images.

The first talking animated film was "steamboat willie" and Disney's team recorded the sound after the animation. It was tricky, but it was good enough for a short film.
However, when Disney had the great idea to be the first company to release a long feature in animation (Snow White), his team realized they couldn't use the method "animation first - sound after" (too risky : Disney wanted something efficient).

One guy in his team thought : "ok, there are 24 frames in a second, let's split a text in 24 frames". And he wrote a text with blank space and draw line between each syllabus. Someone else completed the idea with a whole sheet with cells, so it became easier to say which drawing goes with which syllabus.

And there you go : Disney sort of invented the exposure sheet (xsheet) for the needs of Snow White and the 7 dwarves.
It has evolved for many years, including notes, cameras moves, etc.

(the information comes from "the art of animation" by Bob Thomas)

----

So, what's about TVPaint ?

Thanks to computer science, animation and live action films evolved to be more and more digital.
Less and less people animate on paper, so less and less people have to sit in front of large desk with heavy camera to take footages of paper sheets (which was the other purpose of xsheet : putting and finding all the papers of the film in order into the right storage place).

Screens are wider, so having a vertical display is not that comfortable anymore, and it brings different issues (how to display long layers' names, opacities, Fx, eases, and so many things which are common in digital animation ? )

Plus, editing software (for video and sound) always had a horizontal timeline.

The xsheet, like celluloid, belongs to the past (imho). People need to keep timing when they switch from a software to another one and with digital processes, there are faster and more efficient ways to do so (edl files, xml files...) than following cells and sheets.

In 2006, we included an xsheet feature after many people requested it. It was not the best in the world, but it worked well.
Result ? Barely nobody use it, that's why it's hidden by default in version 11.
Activating it won't change anything for you, for your real question was not " I need a xsheet" but "I need to note what are my main keys".

[trenino]

Thank you all for your answers and tips. Coloring for key conventions is a good idea.

I am doing the Jason Ryan Animation tutorials, where he shows in the first video a simple bouncing ball. He uses the Xsheet in a simple program called Flipbook. He draws on the 1st frame, the 13th frame, and 25th frame and flips up and down between them instantly on the Xsheet. The frames in-between are empty at first but when he is on frame 12 he can view, using the lightbox both the drawing of frame 1 and the one on frame 13, so he can demonstrate the in-between on the frame number 12.

I tried to reproduce this in TVPaint, but i encountered two problems, which of course might be just my ignorance.

The first problem is that I cannot flip from frame 1 to frame 13. I understand that I have to go through the settings and set some option for that under animation->flips, instead of simply going left to right, in which case it brings me to frame 2 (not 13).

The second problem is that it seems to me that the lightbox (onionskining) is limited to only the 10 frames before/after, even if there is a drawing or not. From what I saw on the program he was using, if a frame is drawn and between it and the second drawing are any number of *empty* frames, then lightbox will show without limitations the previous and next drawings. Is there a way to extend the onionskin? Say I have frame 1 and frame 30 and I want to see both of them in order to calculate the timing.

Is there a way to address those issues? The first is more related to the sheet while the second is about the lightbox capabilities of TVpaint.

Many thanks

[trenino]

Hello trenino,

in the timeline your can use "image marks" to mark your frames. Use different colors for "key" "breakdown" and "inbetween". Right click on a frame and select "image marks-> set mark".
You can read more about it here : http://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvp11/index. ... mage-marks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can also choose to rename an instance. See here: http://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvp11/index. ... e-instance" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This way you can change the numbering under the instances to e.g. "key".

These functions can also be assigned to keyboard shortcuts so that you don't have to right-click and look through the menu all the time.

Great tips. thanks

And thank you Elodie, very informative.

[slowtiger]

The lightbox has a setting which could be changed to frames, instances, bookmarks, or image marks.

[Elodie]

You're welcome.

You should also have a look to Aaron Blaise tutorials, another famous name among Disney Animators