[Niels]

Thanks for posting this S.L.! I’m happy you found a solution and you got your activation key.

I am suspecting some glitches/problems that we are experiencing with this webserver being the reason for what you got (thanks for the screenshot by the way). Just tested everything – and at least it works right now. However, it is so frustrating that these glitches occur. We are in the process of changing provider and setting up a new and much better server and website, that can handle all the users we have now and will get in the future.

Thanks,
Niels

[Niels]

We want to do custom keyboard shortcuts, it’s on our list, – but a lot of other features have been prioritized higher. So that is the only reason we haven’t done it yet. 🙂 It will eventually come.

[Niels]

Yes, I see. Could be a way forward. Thank you.

[Niels]

Your input is super appreciated! Thank you both of you – and thanks Ridvan for your good explanation. I do understand.

There’s no explanation for why it is as it is, other than I thought it would be great like that :). The only technical “issue” is that actual HUE shift requires a color to shift from, therefore black can not physically be hue shifted. But that of course doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do some other feature that allows colored backlight frames.

As a thought experiment, let’s wipe the slate clean and think about what would be the absolutely best way of doing it.

It wouldn’t be a problem making the frames green in one direction and red in the other. But I’m also thinking of how to do this in such a way that the interface is super simple, fast and easy. Not that a green/red solution would necessarily be complex or anything. I’m just saying: What is the best solution? And how can we make it efficient and simple? Please tell me your dreams!

I’m all ears! 😉

[Niels]

I’ll give it a shot and see how it looks. Thanks!

[Niels]

I understand that adding the change in color would make it even more obvious. However, I would rather not do it, because such colors also adds to the “noise” of the interface in general. I hope to keep everything as calm and uncluttered as possible – without sacrificing important information of course. I am awaiting your thoughts. Thank you Bahadir!

[Niels]

Hi Bahadir,

We have looked into the issue you brought up with the key-markings not visible enough. In that process we discovered that the key graphic we used was quite transparent, so with your small scale thumbs and naturally contrasty/noisy drawing behind it (as will be the case for many/most animators, I’m sure), the key symbol will almost disappear.

So we have made the key graphic a little larger, with a thicker white outline and solid opacity. It is much more visible now. So maybe we don’t need the colored frame anymore. What do you think?

   

[Niels]

Thank you Keira! Feel free to ask all you want, if you stumble across anything weird or difficult. Best of luck with your short film!

Thanks,
Niels

[Niels]

Hi Keira, – thanks a lot for your great question! And thanks Rodney for your excellent and accurate answers.

I will add, that it is also possible to export as ProRes Movie files, which will hold the alpha too. Some like this way of doing it, because you have all frames as one file. Though split into layers if needed of course.

Best,
Niels

[Niels]

OK, I see. Cool. It is great to import colored backgrounds etc. – but for now (before we implement the new features), you must crop them to fit your animation aspect ratio before you do the importing.

Thanks again,
Niels

[Niels]

Hi Asmaa – thanks for your question!

Yes, imported images are meant to mainly be used for reference purposes. They go into a “reference layer” – which basically means that they are not editable – they are for drawing on top of, like rough animation from other software, or video, or rendered 3D for moving backgrounds or for rotoscoping, etc, etc.

We are working on an interface and features, to make you able to move, scale and rotate complete layers, so this will be possible for reference layers in one of the following releases.

But drawing in imported images will not be possible. You see, Animation Paper has a special line engine that gives you many great advantages, such as being able to scale and rotate your drawings without any degradation or blurring. If you haven’t noticed, try to lasso a little doodle and scale it way up. It is almost magical 😉 But this means that standard bitmap images imported from other software does not have the ability to do all these clever things. Best practice is to do both your rough work and your clean-up/inking  within Animation Paper.

What you CAN do with reference layers are edit them timing wise – i.e. set their exposure by dragging out clones, move them around, cut, copy and paste them – on a whole drawing/frame basis. So, you can do your timing and sync to your drawn animation and audio track if you have that.

I hope this makes sense. Please let me know if you had anything else in mind.

Thanks,
Niels

[Niels]

Alright! That is kind of a relief for me 😀 Do you find you are sacrificing something though? Or is it totally a matter of habit?

[Niels]

Is it a problem to draw in blue? Because then you have your hue shifted colors.

I thought making it like this was a quite clever idea on my part 🙂

To clean up I would use black yes, but any color will of course work (technically speaking). To do it like you wish to do it, you would clean up in black, but have the previous and next drawings in that same layer be other colors when the backlight is on, right? That is not possible as it is now. I guess we could make it like that – but I’m not sure about this. 😉

I’m listening – if you care to go on with this discussion. It’s super interesting to me. But I of course respect your time too.

[Niels]

You can use the lasso for removing areas, which is a great and super useful alternative to the erasers (as you are saying).

But in that case we call it the Cutter and not the Lasso. Just hit X instead of L – and you will be able to draw the dotted line and pick up the area as you are used to with the Lasso. The only difference from the Lasso is that the area is removed from the drawing. Now you can stamp it down elsewhere, but if you don’t need it, just hit Esc to loose the cutout.

So to remove an area from a drawing: Hit X, mark the area, hit Esc.

[Niels]

Hi Potato Queen – thanks for writing!

I can see on your first screenshot, that you have your Range set to begin at frame 19. Your second layer has at least 1 drawing (on frame 1) – which you can not see, because it is outside your working Range.

You can adjust the Range by dragging the end of the Range bar at the very bottom of your Animation Paper window. Or you can simply hit Ctrl Home (Cmd Home on Mac) to reset Range-Start.

Please let me know if this works for you!

Best,
Niels