Why not just get this small update out, so you can test and enjoy - while we relax on our summer holiday 😉 Here's Alpha 7 for you...
This is what's new:
Export Open Cell Animation (OCA)
Animation Paper now supports the OCA format. It's an open format, that eases the exchange of hand-drawn animation between different applications - both commercial and free.
OCA holds vital x-sheet info like layers, timing (exposure and reused drawings), color, transparency, framerate and more.
With a free Add-On you can easily import your Animation Paper work into After Effects, Blender or Krita. Add-Ons for Photoshop, TV-Paint and others are in the works too.
Export OpenEXR
Many studios prefer OpenEXR as their file format. Now you have a choice between PNG or OpenEXR when exporting your frames.
Right Click Context Menus for the X-Sheet
Easily reach all relevant Tools and Options for the X-Sheet. Right click your mouse - or the corresponding button on your pen - to open this drop down menu. It is context sensitive, so clicking over a drawing (thumbnail), a layer, or somewhere else in the X-Sheet pane, will give you different options.
One more option for Adjusting pen Size and Opacity
You already have several efficient ways of adjusting your current pen size or opacity, such as holding down D on your keyboard. But now there's one more way of doing it for those who prefers this method better. Just hold Ctrl (on Windows or Linux) or Cmd (on Mac) and drag left/right to adjust the size - or up/down to adjust the opacity. This workflow method is fast, but not as accurate as the D method, because you are controlling both your minimum and maximum pressure setting in one go.
Bug-fixes and improvements
As usual, we crushed a few bugs too.
Now go download Alpha 7 and enjoy! If you stumble across any weird behaviour or bug - don't hesitate to let us know. We can only get issues fixed if we are aware they even exist.
I wish you all an enjoyable July! We will be back soon - stearing towards beta!
Thanks,
Niels Krogh Mortensen
19 Comments on “Alpha 7”
How to change the Pencil Texture ?In reference video tutorials the lines which are drawn look very clean line but , when I tried I am not getting the same line shown in video.
The videos were made with Alpha version 1. We are now at Alpha 7. We updated the pencil texture at some point, because people asked for a more rough textured pencil. However, I worry I might have overdone the grittiness. 😉 What do you think?
The texture of the pencil will not be user adjustable for now. I might adjust it again though for the next alpha release. Especially if people, like yourself and others, want it dialled back to something closer to the previous version (the one in the video).
In the next major version we plan to integrate an actual brush system. So by then it will be fully customisable.
Let me know what you think please!
Best,
Niels
I just found out about version 7! what good news!
I wonder if this version has the color tool?
How do I animate
all I see I’d the site bragging
Hi Jonathan,
I am happy to help. But what do you mean? How you use Animation Paper? How you do animation generally? Do you need help downloading and installing the software?
Please let me know 🙂
Best,
Niels
How do I become the activation key?
Did you download, install and run Animation Paper? If you did that, the first thing you see is a small window asking for the Activation Key. In that same window there’s a link. Click that, register with your email – and you will receive your key right away.
Best,
Niels
I’m having some trouble with the new pen adjustment system, I find when using Ctrl+Z a lot, it lead to me accidentally changing the pen settings. Enough for it to be annoying. Could there be a way to toggle this feature? Thanks
Hi Matilda,
I don’t understand – adjusting pen settings are not part of the undo history. Can you explain what you mean in more detail?
Thanks a lot,
Niels
It’s about the undo shortcut itself rather than undo history. If I’m repeatedly pressing Ctrl+Z, redrawing the line, and using Ctrl+Z again, then the software can sometimes misinterperet me pressing Ctrl as holding it down so attempting to draw adjusts the pen settings instead. It’s just an issue with one key being used for two different shortcuts.
Oh, now I see. 😉 Thanks for explaining!
I really appreciate you telling me this. Nobody else seem to have had this issue – at least they haven’t told me about it. But it’s important – because, as you say, we use the Ctrl key (Cmd on Mac) for two different things here. I thought it was OK, but it’s not for you. And probably not for others then. So I will think about what to do about it. Thank you very much!
Best,
Niels
Hey Niel’s!
How was your summer? Hope it was great, ours feels like it just started, being California is just now getting hot, which is weird for this desert United State! Anyways, was just checking in, and was curious about how beta is looking. Any chance we’ll get it before the new year? Well as always, nice chatting with you. Looking forward to hearing from you!
~Respectfully,
Mike Stumbo
Animation Generalist
Hi Mike,
Sorry – I have been super busy and totally forgot to answer you!
Yeah, it’s been a record breaking hot summer for us in Europe. But my family and I where on vacation in the alps, so being in high elevation had the perfect temperature for a pale scandinavian like my self 😉 Great times!
We were on track to release the beta in October. However, unfortunately Frederik, our main programmer was forced to leave for another project right before the finishline. Unfortunate bad timing. We miss him a lot and he misses the project! Anyway, we had to get a new programmer, which we now have (Alex – is great!). So all is good 🙂 Just a little setback. Hopefully we should be able to go beta before the end of the year.
Thanks for your support Mike – and for checking in with me!
Cheers,
Niels
Can’t wait for the upcoming brush system! I hope you can also add a feature where the user can choose a whole gamut of colors for the pencil and the brush.
And also, are you going to add a feature where we can import video files for reference purposes?
I love drawing with the pencil. For me the texture is perfect. It feels like a normal pencil on paper and is a lot better than several pencils I used in other software!
Thanks for letting me know Bert!
PLEASE a bucket tool (with an adjustable bleeding property) and a stabilizer D:
Some of us don’t have a tablet and pen and use our trackpad (me) 🙁
(and make the stabilizer go up to very high numbers, in my drawings my stabilizer is set to 100, no joke). Please and thank you.
About everything else, I love it 🙂
Thanks Pamela! Both of your requests are already on our todo list. 😉 But I do think you will not regret the investment of a drawing tablet. Even the very cheapest are soo much better than a mouse or a trackball.
Anyway, thanks a lot for letting me know what you are looking forward to the most. Noted!
Best,
Niels
Could you also add an option for *automatically* thinning out the ends of a brush stroke instead of it relying on pressure? (i forgot what that’s called)