Ok i been having this trouble now and i know there has to be a way to export and keep the vectors i created. For example when ever i export the animation to a swf, targa, etc... it just turns them into layered images, i would like it to export as vectors so that the file size won't be as big.
Can i do this??
Keeping vector when exporting
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Absolutely! Just save it as .anme format. This is a vector format.
The drawback is that only Anime Studio can be used as a viewer.
Seriously, .swf export should also be a true vector format if you've only used vector shapes and animation, and no bitmap render effects, and probably somewhat smaller than .mov or .avi. The drawback is that if you have used bone or point deformation you get a separate shape for each frame and considerably larger files. You can partly work around this by binding layers to bones and using layer animation only.
You can check that .swf is a vector format by exporting to a small size, then playing it back at full-screen size.
You also seem to be under the understanding that vector formats produce considerably smaller files than image-based formats - although often a good general rule of thumb, this is not entirely/always true - it will depend on content. Floating point can take more storage space than simple RGB values, and image-based animations can use lossy compression techniques that vector-based formats cannot, although there are compression tricks and binary formats you can use for vectors. A highly detailed highly animated scene can potentially create larger files in vector format than in image-based format.
.swf and .svg are probably the only two widely supported formats that can handle vector animation, and Anime Studio doesn't support .svg export.
So, .swf is the way to go for vector export.
There is no way to export single frames / characters.
Image-based animation formats would be .avi or .mov, not Targa/JPEG/PNG image sequences, although I don't think the Linux version (of Moho, the Anime Studio version was still coming last I heard) can export to .avi or .mov, and I don't think the Mac version supports .avi export. By choosing your codecs and their settings wisely, you can greatly reduce the size of .avi and .mov export, although possibly with some loss of quality.
Regards, Myles.
The drawback is that only Anime Studio can be used as a viewer.
Seriously, .swf export should also be a true vector format if you've only used vector shapes and animation, and no bitmap render effects, and probably somewhat smaller than .mov or .avi. The drawback is that if you have used bone or point deformation you get a separate shape for each frame and considerably larger files. You can partly work around this by binding layers to bones and using layer animation only.
You can check that .swf is a vector format by exporting to a small size, then playing it back at full-screen size.
You also seem to be under the understanding that vector formats produce considerably smaller files than image-based formats - although often a good general rule of thumb, this is not entirely/always true - it will depend on content. Floating point can take more storage space than simple RGB values, and image-based animations can use lossy compression techniques that vector-based formats cannot, although there are compression tricks and binary formats you can use for vectors. A highly detailed highly animated scene can potentially create larger files in vector format than in image-based format.
.swf and .svg are probably the only two widely supported formats that can handle vector animation, and Anime Studio doesn't support .svg export.
So, .swf is the way to go for vector export.
There is no way to export single frames / characters.
Image-based animation formats would be .avi or .mov, not Targa/JPEG/PNG image sequences, although I don't think the Linux version (of Moho, the Anime Studio version was still coming last I heard) can export to .avi or .mov, and I don't think the Mac version supports .avi export. By choosing your codecs and their settings wisely, you can greatly reduce the size of .avi and .mov export, although possibly with some loss of quality.
Regards, Myles.
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