Sketch Panel on OSX

efflux · Post by **efflux** » 30 Dec 2006, 14:35

This is my first post here. I've been testing TVPaint Pro on a Mac G5 Dual Core running OSX 10.4.7. I'm quite impressed with the program. However, the sketch panel doesn't function correctly. I have loaded a TVPaint demo onto a PC to see how that works and it does work exactly as supposed to. On my Mac it appears that the erase line feature simply acts like an undo and the erase pixels does nothing. The commands for those tools on the Mac appear to be correct but the outcome is wrong. I'm not accustomed to TVPaint but it appears to me that these particular sketch panel tools call up a plugin called color factory and it looks like this part of the command is where it goes wrong.

Thanks.

efflux · Post by **efflux** » 30 Dec 2006, 15:18

To add a further note here. I now notice that the erase lines erases the whole last action but then I can paint that erased line back instead of erasing. I've tested the color factory plugin and that is working on its own so some command in the panel is failing. I would really like this to work because I want to experiment with it and I really want it working on the Mac.

Patrice · Post by **Patrice** » 30 Dec 2006, 18:07

Hi Efflux,
Welcome on the forum.

I will look at this problem Tuesday. Can you give me the build date which is writed on the startup panel please?

efflux · Post by **efflux** » 30 Dec 2006, 23:24

Yes. It says TVPaint Animation Pro 8.1.1b US Dec 21.

Patrice · Post by **Patrice** » 30 Dec 2006, 23:38

I will upload a new trial version today. Update your version and try again. Then tell me if the problem is still here.

Patrice · Post by **Patrice** » 02 Jan 2007, 15:24

Hi Efflux,

I have found why the Sketch panel seems to not work on your mac. I fix the problem and I upload the new version.
With your version you can avoid the problem by selecting the "Slider" tab in the Color Panel (the problem appear only with the "Picker" one).

efflux · Post by **efflux** » 02 Jan 2007, 16:39

Hi. The trial version appears to be the same version but I downloaded anyway. The problem is still the same. It doesn't make any difference whether I choose Slider, Picker or any tab in the color panel. The tinting tools don't seem to work right either. In fact nothing at all really works in the sketch panel beyond what I can do with simply using a straight brush.

Thanks.

Patrice · Post by **Patrice** » 02 Jan 2007, 17:06

I have done more tests and it seems the problem comes from the color factory plugin as you said in your second post. The color factory operation is not apply so all the followinfg instruction can not work.
This problem is due to a recent modification into the plugin management. I will fix it as soon as possible and I will upload a new version.
Stay tuned.

efflux · Post by **efflux** » 02 Jan 2007, 17:44

OK. thanks Patrice.

I tested the color factory plugin separately and it did seem to correctly perform whatever data I entered.

I'm testing various programs at the moment. Would you say TVPaint is capable of everything Coral Painter can do? I just tested that and it is slow. It seems to be only using 1 core and my Wacom tablet seems to perform way better with TVPaint. So much better than Painter as to be incomparable. Painter has hundreds of prebuilt brushes which is what TVPaint lacks. I guess that's just a question of developing your own brushes. I do 3D but I want an application that I can scan in line drawings for further work, especially colouring. Mainly initial concept work. I do audio as well so I want to link basic storyboards to imported audio. I will start with scanning drawings because I can't get fully used to drawing everything with a Wacom. I don't intend to actually go full animation at the drawing stage (that may change depending on how I progress. I've never done drawn animation but I can draw) but being able to create basic moving storyboards with audio is a huge advantage with TVPaint even if it's a concept for eventual 3D. Also, TVPaint has editing that I could use for post production but some of these tools are missing from the non pro version which means I would need the more expensive version. TVPaint certainly seems like a very powerful program that can just about replace all other 2D apps. I also think that the user interfacing is excellent. It's very easy to use. This is crucially important for a drawing program. It will be a while before I get fully into what I plan to do but at the moment I'm simply testing what applications can do the jobs I need for 2D.

fabrice_ · Post by **fabrice_** » 02 Jan 2007, 18:31

Painter has hundreds of prebuilt brushes which is what TVPaint lacks. I guess that's just a question of developing your own brushes.

Patrice · Post by **Patrice** » 02 Jan 2007, 19:45

efflux wrote:I tested the color factory plugin separately and it did seem to correctly perform whatever data I entered.

The color factory plugin works. The problem appears when TVP Animation call up him.

TVP Animation (Pro) can use a multi-processor hardware since it is fully multi-thread.
In TVP Animation (Pro) you can have the brush you want thanks to the paramter on the different tools and the custom brush. By playing with these parameters you will find a brush you would like to use. Once you find the good parameters you can save your brush by putting it in the Bin (second tab in the tools options panel) and reuse it later. There is no limit.

Patrice · Post by **Patrice** » 04 Jan 2007, 16:59

Hi efflux,

I have uploaded the new trial version for MacOSX. Now the Sketch panel should work as fine as on Windows. Download it here.

Let me know.

efflux · Post by **efflux** » 07 Jan 2007, 01:10

OK, Thanks. It's working now. I downloaded from the link you provided here and it's obviously a different version but last time I downloaded from the old link which I see still has the old version. I hope that didn't cause any confusion because I tested the same version again the last time.

Thanks for the brush links. I have tried most of those brushes before but I can't download the one with lots of brushes. The link won't work in Safari. I'll start up my Linux machine to get that because my Windows machine isn't connected to the net.

The brushes are a concern to me because this is one important aspect to the program for my needs. I have been testing Painter IX and although performance is weakened by it only utilizing one core I have managed to tweak my Wacom to work better. You need to set this up in Painter. There is no doubting that Painter IX is an awesome program. I tried it a few years ago but the new oil brushes are superb. Painter allows mixing of the paint on the canvas which TVPaint doesn't as far as I am aware. I also notice that the brushes don't "turn" as nicely in TVpaint, If you understand what I mean. It's not too smooth but stepped. I think that the power of the brushes in TVPaint is not really demonstrated to full in the trial version. I will look into other aspects of TVPaint but for it's drawing capabilities, Painter can not be beaten, despite it's other faults. So in my opinion TVPaint's brushes must be a strong point of development now. After all TVpaint is really a drawing program that happens to be able to do everything else to create an animation but the quality of the drawing is first and foremost in my opinion. It's not that TVPaints brushes are not good it's just that Painter IX's are awesome. I actually come from a background of painting and drawing and Painter is the only app I've tested which really does feel like you are painting or drawing.

I also think one main problem is to do with the pricing of TVPaint because I imagine many people will want a few of the processing tools in the Pro version such as Volumetric light but they may not want to pay so much, yet the cheaper version of TVPaint is substantially cheaper. It might have been better to make one version and had it priced higher than the cheaper version. That's my opinion because TVPaint Pro is quite an expensive program to invest in. So I don't know yet whether I will use it but it is definitely very impressive. What is there is very good and the UI is extremely simple and easy to use almost like there is no learning curve.

Patrice · Post by **Patrice** » 07 Jan 2007, 10:20

Hi efflux,
Thank you for this feedback. We take care of what you say.

fabrice_ · Post by **fabrice_** » 07 Jan 2007, 12:34

We definitely need something to link animbrushes and papers in the custom panels. It should increase the number of drawings tools.

Efflux, did you try the "PPalette" plug-in from Lemec ? It Increase the brushes drawing options a lot !!
Take a look at the "demo recorder" plug-in too : it allows to record a full drawing process. This is something that painter can't do ...

check this thread : http://www.tvpaint.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=208