[Jaira Skirvin]

The project I’m working on is the final for one of my classes this semester. I am working with a 47 frame project with multiple layers (both reference and active animation layers). Just this afternoon/evening of the 11th AP started to chug, freezing and becoming unresponsive. I took note of this and began saving intermittently, but lost a small portion of progress when I closed the application after being certain I’d saved the file for a break. I also have had AP close itself without warning during these freezing sessions. I’ve been heeding the warning of tracing vs. lassoing but I am still experiencing lag and am unsure if this is due to the large file size (which I am doubtful of since I’d animated a project with 49 frames and 10 layers without this problem) or if this has something to do with a file update (the 49-frame project was finished on Oct. 29th but I don’t recall update dates as well). Any suggestions would be appreciated!

• This topic was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by Jaira Skirvin.

[Jaira Skirvin]

I have lost progress on this twice now, when I was certain I had saved it. I’ve tried saving as instead of continuing on the same file, but this hasn’t solved my issue

[Niels]

Hi Jaira, I’m sorry you are having this trouble. It certainly sounds like your “lasso limit” has been reached long time ago. Having 47 frames with several layers should not be a problem at all. The problem comes when the data of one frame is growing too large because of extreme lasso use 😉 Also that data can be copied and multiplied to many other frames with the lasso, spreading that large lump of data around. This makes the system very slow (when lassoing again, not while playing or drawing) and the file size enormous.

Best way to stay out of this problem is to not use the lasso too much. If you need to copy a drawing, drag down a clone and then make it original using shortcut o. Or use copy/paste in the X-sheet.

I know this is also about how we are used to work – and like to work. Some people use the lassoing method a lot. Sketching/drawing the next frame instead of building it out of lassoed pieces is a better way of doing it for many reasons. At least that is how many animators like to do it. But I think Animation Paper aught to cater to both types of animators of course. So we will find a solution eventually to this.

For now, to get your file up and running again, I recommend copying your problem-file, and then go methodically through it to find out first which layer(s) has the problem. Delete them one by one and save for each time. If after deleting a certain layer it suddenly has a huge drop i filesize, you found your problem layer. Depending on how many frames it consist of you could redraw the drawing one by one. You often do this anyway as you do your cleanup or inking. Redraw (trace) on to a new layer and get rid of the old messed up layer. Then save again and you should have a clean file taking up next to no space and being super fast to work with.

I hope this will help you.

I just want to say, that this lasso problem is my responsibility to find a solution to. It should not be up to the user to have to change behaviour. I know, how it works right now becomes a problem for some users – luckily most people use it as I thought it would be used, so they are not affected. 🙂 And even though I know you and others are suffering because of my design, I hope to make it good again as I figure out a way to fix it.

Best,
Niels

[Jaira Skirvin]

Thanks Niels! I should have heeded the lasso warning long ago, but thankfully I am almost done with the “rough” animation layers where I believe the lasso problem lies, so I will be tracing the drawings for the clean animations and it should run smoother.
I’m just happy for a more accessible animation program that helped me through this semester, as the recommended program, ToonBoom, seemed too complex for me to learn quickly. Of the various hiccups in my semester (Media Encoder defaulting to 23.96 fps rather than 24 fps, a lost Wacom stylus, the replacement stylus having a battery issue) this is the first time Animation Paper has given me a problem. I’m happy to help uncover bugs and issues in the Alpha for you since I love the simplicity of Animation Paper’s layout and features, and am excited to see how added features (such as color and advanced Brush settings) will make it something special.
Thanks again

[Niels]

Thanks a lot Jaira! I’m happy that you only found this one problem with Animation Paper. I’m sure you will find it completely gone once you clean it up and get rid of the problematic rough layers.

Yes, color is what we are working on right now – will be released as alpha 4 and 5 when we are ready. 🙂

Thanks for choosing Animation Paper! Good luck with the rest of your project!

Cheers,
Niels