[Niels]

That’s odd. Happy you found a solution though. And when you download the next alpha release you don’t need to register again. Your activation key works for all alpha and beta versions automatically.

Best,
Niels

[Niels]

I’m sorry, this is caused by a known issue. It only happens on a few older graphics cards, but it is something we want to address and find a fix for.

Right now there’s nothing I can do to help, other than suggest installing Animation Paper on another computer – if that is a possibility. I know that’s probably not an option. 🙂

We will hopefully have it fixed within the next couple of alpha releases (alpha 4 or 5).

Best,
Niels

[Niels]

No problem. Thank you!

[Niels]

Hi Mario, sure. That is already on our todo list for one of the next alpha releases.

But did you know, that you can already assign keyboard shortcuts to you Wacom buttons through your Wacom settings software? Make sure you choose Animation Paper as the application and then just Ctrl Z and . (period) as the keys for the buttons. That will give you Undo and Toggle Draw/Erase as you are used to. 🙂

Best,
Niels

[Niels]

Hi Walter! No questions are stupid! Especially when it come to using software in alpha stage 😀

It seems to me like you are actually having the red layer BELOW the black one. You see, any layer that you draw on automatically goes on top temporarily. But when you play, it pops back down.

To change the order of the layers drag these left or right:

To change the opacity of each layer, click the colored areas just above.

Best,
Niels

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Niels.

[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

[Niels]

Hi Isabella,

I will try to help you – but right now I don’t understand exactly where you are in the process. I mean, did you manage to install and run Animation Paper?

You say “the tab is open”? That seems weird to me. Do you mean you are using your browser? Having you browser open doesn’t make any difference. Animation Paper is a stand alone software. You need to install it and get your activation key and then you are all set to go. You can check out the video tutorials that pops up when you first start Animation Paper on how to use it and animate. But did you get to that stage at all? Please get back to me with a little more info – and I will help. 🙂

Best,
Niels

[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

[Niels]

You can find plenty of software that can do that – both paid and free.

If you don’t mind using commands in the console, I can highly recommend FFMPEG (https://ffmpeg.org – free and cross platform).

After you installed it, you can use a command like this (check out the documentation for tons of options and variations): ffmpeg -i “yourvideofile.mp4” “frame-%%03d.png”

This will produce a numbered sequence of png files, you can easily import into Animation Paper.

It is a bit technical, but it isn’t that difficult. And FFMPEG has sooo many capabilities.

And again, soon you will be able to just import video directly into Animation Paper.

Cheers,
Niels

[Niels]

Hi Phoenix,

Yes, in the current alpha version (3) you are only able to export your animation as a sequence of png files (split into layers if you want). This way you have the option to composite your layers, do camera moves, effects like blur, etc in your favourite compositing software – before exporting your final movie file.

We will of course support exporting directly as movie files (such as MP4 and Quicktime ProRes with alpha) – but this is coming in one of the next alpha releases.

For now, you can export as png’s and convert them to mp4 (or other moviefile) elsewhere. Lot’s of software can do this, including free ones. An alternative solution is to do a screenrecording. With a little patience, the easier exporting options are coming soon! 😉

Cheers,
Niels

[Niels]

Hi Azazel!

Sure! Animation Paper has build-in reference layers! This is exactly what is needed for rotoscoping.

You make sure to have your video material saved out as a framestack of png images (soon Animation Paper will accept video files as well, but for now you’ll need a sequence of png’s).

When you import your reference (rotoscope) material into Animation Paper (select 1st png and shift-select last png to have all of them imported), it automatically adds a reference layer with your video material. You can then adjust the opacity of your ref-layer to your liking – and add normal layers on top for your rotoscope drawings.

Let me know if you have further questions!

Cheers,
Niels

[Niels]

Hi Kristian 🙂

Sure, that is already on our todo-list and will come in one of the next alpha releases.

Cheers,
Niels

[Niels]

Everything regarding coloring is what we are working on right now. Features planned to go into the menus are shown but disabled (greyed out). New Paint Layer will be ready and enabled in the next release (Alpha 4).

Best,
Niels

[Niels]

Hello 🙂

I would go for a Wacom – even though other brands a good too. As long as it has pressure sensitivity you should be good.

The Wacoms are generally more expensive, but also much better in my experience. Many pro animators opt for a Wacom Cintiq (it has a build in screen), which is the VERY expensive solution. This is NOT needed in your case I would imagine. Any smaller Wacom would do just fine I would say. Preferably an A5 (medium) size.

Just my thoughts. Maybe others have better recommendations?

Best,
Niels

[Niels]

Hi Michael – right now, no. You will have to change the audio and reimport it to create a silent space in the beginning.

But we will add functionality in Animation Paper soon, so you can just drag the waveform to adjust the starting point of the audio.

Thanks for mentioning this!

Best,
Niels