[Dave Nielsen]

The Return Flip is useful for seeing how I got to the current frame, but if I’m in-betweening I might want to see what’s ahead before I settle back, without having to advance ahead of the position I’m drawing in.

I found a workaround where I can use the return flip, then quickly manually go up a frame and back at the end of the return flip.

Here’s a possible implementation.
Hold Enter goes back in time like it currently does. If I let go, it starts playing forward as it currently does.

However, IF as it’s playing forward I press and hold Enter again before I get back to my current frame play will continue forward past my current frame, and reverse back as soon as I let go. I’d have to see if this implementation feels nice or if it confuses things, but it seems like it could answer the problem.

I think I remember Toon Boom having a thing where they just roll your onion skin range when you push a button. I like the way your Return Flip feels a lot more. Just seems like it’d be nice to get some before and after the current frame. Some of the oldschool guys who’ve gone digital talk about doing most of your frames optically and flipping a lot to get better results than onionskin. Watching classic animators they often thread some frames ahead and behind in their fingers to optically see where the in-between should go. Seems like something like this might help.

Thoughts? Thanks!

[Niels]

Hi Dave – I think that sounds like a fantastic idea! As you say, we have to “feel it” before we can say if your exact way of doing it will work just right. But I definitely like your way of thinking. We will try it and let you know how it goes. Maybe we can send you a build for you to test at some point. It’s on our list now! Thanks!

[Dave Nielsen]

Great! Thanks for giving it a hearing. This app’s going in a great direction! You’ve made a lot of smart choices. 🙂

[Niels]

You’re welcome! And thank you!