Turning off scale compensation

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DK
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Turning off scale compensation

Post by DK »

Is there a global way/shortcut to turn off scale compensation for an entire scene consisting of multiple layers that has it already turned on by default?

(If not this is a pain in the arse and should be addressed in the next release)

D.K
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jahnocli
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Post by jahnocli »

Can you open the program file in a text editor and do a global search and replace?
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
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DK
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Post by DK »

Thanks Jahnolci. I'll give it a shot.

Cheers
D.K
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DK
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Post by DK »

It worked!!! Thanks for the tip Jahnolci.

Cheers
D.K
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heyvern
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Post by heyvern »

I LOVE search and replace.

Works great for masking too. If you have a whole pile of layers in a group layer and need to set them all to "don't mask this layer" it is much faster.

-vern
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DK
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Post by DK »

I would have loved search and replace even more if i'd had recieved the advice before I spent over an hour turning off all those layers manually last night :(

D.K
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heyvern
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Post by heyvern »

Well at least you know you will never have to do THAT ever again.

;)

-vern
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Mikdog
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Post by Mikdog »

Glad it worked. I never understood what scale compensation is. Do you have an explanation? I'm sure I'm not the only one.
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DK
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Post by DK »

Hi Mikdog.

I'm not sure exactly what's going on with scale compensation but....today I created a close up scene of my characters (using camera zoom) and the line work looked terrible with scale compensation turned off!!!

I originally modelled these characters in AS at a screen resolution of 640 x 480 and they took up about 70 percent of the screen. The line thickness was left at default (around 2.4). My screen resolution for each scene is set at 1024x576 and the characters are imported into each scene.

It appears from my experiments that the general rule is: if I scale my characters down too much, (say they take up only about 1/20th of the screen), scale compensation OVER COMPENSATES the linework so that it becomes almost invisible. In this case it needs to be turned off. For mid to close up shots scale compensation enabled works fine.

EDIT: I think I remember Mike making a detailed explanation of how Scale Compensation works a couple years ago. It's probably still floating around the forum somewhere.

Cheers
D.K
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DK
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Post by DK »

Here's a visual example Scale Compensation off LM's website:

http://www.lostmarble.com/moho/features.shtml

Click on the Scale Compensation "Sample" link under "Drawing" heading.

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D.K
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slowtiger
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Post by slowtiger »

I can only recommend to work as close as possible in the final resolution. If I want to do HDTV, I draw my characters in HDTV and in the exact size they will appear in the scene.

Since my stuff seems to be much less detailed than yours, this trick may not help you much: in worst case I go into each vector layer and change the line thickness and/or the size of shapes. I prefer this method over scaling a layer.
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DK
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Post by DK »

That's interesting. Maybe I could keep 3 model sizes in my library to help overcome the problem? Not a bad idea. Thanks for the input Slowtiger. I re-rendered the scene that you suggested needed more contrast, this time with no Scale Compensation and it was completely different. I can upload it if you would like to see the results?

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DK
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Post by DK »

With Scale Compensation:

http://www.wienertoonz.com/scn007.mov

Without Scale Compensation:

http://www.wienertoonz.com/scn007B.mov

D.K
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slowtiger
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Post by slowtiger »

B is for better ... yeah, the changed colours help a lot.

I still like the frantic action. One point: when he changes direction, he seems to need some frames to pick up speed. I think he should be on full speed immediately.
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heyvern
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Post by heyvern »

I like scale compensation when it's used "correctly". For instance you shouldn't use it if two different characters are in the same scene and right next to each other. Or a bunch of elements in a scene all with different line widths.

Scale compensation with layer scaling adds to the "3D" illusiion. Thinner lines appear to be further away. Thicker lines are closer.

Slowtiger is correct. I keep all of the characters/layers in the same scene at the same scale. If I am scaling layers I know it is based on that 1:1 scale as a starting point. I use layer scaling use for creating animated depth or distance.

Below is an example of when scale compensation works. All the line widths in every character is the same. I use a "default line" style. The image zooms in maintaining the line width. Later it zooms in again. All using the same characters and line widths. If I hadn't used scale compensation the line width changes would have stuck out like a sore thumb. The line widths in the last bit would have been too thin. The line widths in the beginning for the inset tv screen would have been way too thick.

http://www.lowrestv.com/anime_studio/la ... sation.mov

-vern
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