[Niels]

OK, sad to hear even Alpha 7 doesn’t work for you. I’ll talk with the programmers and see if we can find a reason for this. I might be in touch if you can help test a possible fix.

Thanks,
Niels

[Niels]

Hi Herb, sorry to hear that.

Did Alpha 7 work on your new tablet PC? If you haven’t tried it, can I get you to test? I have uploaded Alpha 7 for you here:

https://animationpaper.com/files/a7/AnimationPaper_x64.exe

It’s not that I want you to use Alpha 7 – it’s just to home in on what is wrong so we can fix it.

One thing to try with Alpha 8: I know that we have had problems earlier on some tablet PC’s. It might be a long shot, but try to locate the file “qt.conf” (probably here C:\Program Files\Animation Paper\qt.conf). Delete it or rename it (to save it). Then launch Animation Paper (Alpha 8) again.

This will force Animation Paper to use Windows Ink. Maybe that will solve the problem. Please let me know!

Best,
Niels

[Niels]

You might be right about the people wanting the faint cursor is probably the ones with a Cintiq or other screen tablet. Thanks again!

[Niels]

Thanks a lot for telling me this Harry. Normally it has been the other way around – people letting me know the cursor is too visible and distracting when drawing. But this is natural of course, people are different and have different preferences.

Apart from making the cursor “faint” or not, you can change it to a dot (which is fully opaque). Maybe that helps you?

Anyway, I will consider having more cursor options. Thank you!

Best,
Niels

[Niels]

Hi Diego,

I have used Google Translate, and your message looks like this in English:

“Yesterday I started using the application, I activated it normally and it works quite well, I saw some tutorials and I already know how to use it, at night I closed the App which was supposedly activated, today when I am going to use it again it asks me for a Key, I assumed it was the one from my email and I used it worse it didn’t work, I don’t know what to do anymore”

That is strange indeed. When you use your activation key, Animation Paper is not supposed to ask for it again. But if it did, because it was reinstalled or something, it is totally fine to use the same key as used the first time. So I’m puzzled.

Did something change from yesterday to today? Does your computer have multiple users/logins?

Please let me know, and we can try to figure this out and help you!

Thanks,
Niels

[Niels]

Hi Barbora, do you have an older Windows PC with onboard graphics card by any chance? Please confirm to me what hardware you have and I can probably help you.

Also please email me. If this is what I think it is, I need to email you back with further instructions. My email address is the one you got your activation key from.

Thanks,
Niels

[Niels]

Hi Kiki, thanks for your questions!

1) We have special stabilization build into the core of Animation Paper. It doesn’t work as the traditional smoothing algorithms that other programs tend to use – which is having drawbacks in certain situations. The Animation Paper stabilization takes more factors into account and it works automatically all the time. This is why it doesn’t have any settings. It works in a very subtle way, and often people don’t even realize it. But in fact it makes a big difference.

2) Yes, earlier in development we put in the names of features and tools to come into the menu (greyed out) – so people could see what was coming up later. However, as we are getting closed to the finished product and only a couple of things remained greyed out, it was more confusing than informative. The coloring and paint features are coming soon, but in the current version it is not yet done. To color your animation you can easily export your frames and color them elsewhere in any paint program. AP has great export options for taking care of timing and reused frames, etc. Also you can re-import your colored frames if you need to output it all as, say, an mp4 movie file.

3) Yes, when you export, your transparent areas will stay transparent. Just remember to turn on the “Include Alpha (transparency)” option when exporting. The alpha channel is available when exporting a sequence of png or OpenEXR frames and even with movie clips when exporting MOV ProRes.

Let me know if you have further questions!

Best,
Niels

[Niels]

Well, that is kind of working against how AP works. Actually the reason for having the “clones” are exactly what you were trying to do with blanks.

So, you add and use the clone drawings (aka held frames) to do the timing of your key drawings. You can now keep the timing all the way through your work. So no need to delete anything and lose the timing. When you start to do breakdowns and in-betweens the clones will gradually be made into original drawings and the timing will stay the same all the way through.

Just stand on a clone and hit Clear Drawing, then it turns blank and you can draw your breakdown.

I can explain much more, if you want me to 🙂 I hope the above makes sense. Please let me know.

Thanks,
Niels

[Niels]

Hi Luke,

I don’t understand – the two things you say is present in AP is actually not. And the thing you say is not, is actually kind of a thing. 🙂 When you import an image (jpg or png) or a sequence (multiple jpg’s, png’s or animated gif), they will automatically be imported into a new “reference layer”. Is that what you were looking for?

Please let me know, so I can help you better.

Best,
Niels

[Niels]

Hi Luke, thanks for this!

I’m not sure I understand fully though – when you say “Add Layer button” do you mean the menu item “New Layer”?

… Or maybe you are talking about what is called a “clone” in Animation Paper? So when you say “create a new drawing” you mean “add clone drawing”?

I think you maybe could be misunderstanding how AP works – I will love to explain, but please get back to me with clarification, so we don’t talk past each other 😉

All the best,
Niels

[Niels]

Thanks Craig!

Actually you CAN select a sequence of drawings in the X-Sheet and make them all go on 2’s (and then on 4’s) in one go.

Here’s how: In the X-Sheet, click the first drawing, then hold Shift and click the last drawing. A sequence of drawings are now selected. Go to the menu Edit -> Add Clone after each Selected Drawing. Or you can just hit the shortcut ‘ (apostrophe). They are now on 2’s. Do it again and you get 4’s.

We do have a feature on our development todo-list, where you can type in the number of clones you want to add.

I understand this is not 100% what you are asking, but maybe it is close enough for your needs?

Best,
Niels

[Niels]

Cool! Thanks for letting me know! – and for the happy tears! 😉

[Niels]

Thanks a lot for reporting this Randy. Just yesterday another user reported the same – also with a Huion. So it seems we need to investigate and get something fixed.

In the meantime, it seems this workaround should work for you too:

Find the file “qt.conf” (probably here C:\Program Files\Animation Paper\qt.conf). Delete it or rename it (to save it). Then launch Animation Paper again.

This will force Animation Paper to use Windows Ink – which should give you pressure sensitivity.

Please let me know if this helps.

Thanks,
Niels

[Niels]

OK, great – thanks!

[Niels]

Hi Bert, thanks for letting us know. As a workaround, could you please try this and let me know if it helps:

Find the file “qt.conf” (probably here C:\Program Files\Animation Paper\qt.conf). Delete it or rename it (to save it). Then launch Animation Paper again.

This will force Animation Paper to use Windows Ink – which should give you pressure sensitivity.

Thanks,
Niels