I'm confused! (Anime studio 6)

[judahlion]

Got a simple question, if someone buys AS 5 tomorrow will they get the ver 6 upgrade for free

Yup, I already asked that question and they said yes (as long as you purchased version 5 30 days or less prior to release)

[Lost Marble]

Just a clarification on scripting, regarding the idea of "walking the file". I don't think I ever used those words with Vern (or if I did, I mis-spoke). What you can do is walk the scene. The difference may be subtle.

The file as it is on disk is a saved representation of the scene, not something you generally manipulate at runtime when writing a script. What scripts can do now in version 6 is to ask the document for how many layers it has, then access those layers individually. For group layers, scripts can now ask for the individual children of the group.

In version 5, a script would generally work just on the selected layer. For the majority of scripts, this is still true. However, if there's a reason to, a script can now access any layer in the document. The script might do this to change multiple layers at once, or it might use settings in one layer to control another layer.

Vern mentioned a couple other scripting things, like access to interpolation settings through scripting, but here are a couple other additions (this is not a comprehensive list, just a couple interesting tidbits):

Scripts can copy and paste. They have access to the clipboard (actually 2 clipboards - the one the user can copy and paste to, and a second one just for scripts). There's a new tool called the Scatter Brush that uses this.

Scripts can also load Anime Studio documents. Not to the main window, but as a document the user doesn't see directly. It scares me to think how far Vern might go with this, but a script could load a secondary document, copy something from it, and paste it into the main document. Maybe have a document that is a library of bone rigs and animation clips that can be copied into the main document.

[slice11217]

I have a question: what about .swf export? have there been improvements on that end also in this update?

I asked about the graphic editor in the timeline earlier but that question seems to have gotten ignored.

[Lost Marble]

I have a question: what about .swf export? have there been improvements on that end also in this update?

There have been some improvements to .swf export. Mostly of the bug fix variety, not major changes to how it works. SWF export does support the new multi-colored and animatable gradients.

If SWF works for what you're doing, that's great. In general though, I'd recommend against it as an export format. People think that because Anime Studio and Flash are both vector based that there's some kind of inherent similarity. But they both represent vectors in such different ways that it's difficult to convert from one to the other.

In fact, I've seen cases where a vector SWF file exported from Anime Studio is larger than a rendered QuickTime movie, and the QuickTime movie can include all kinds of effects like shadows, image warping, depth of field, etc.

I asked about the graphic editor in the timeline earlier but that question seems to have gotten ignored.

Sorry, there's 14 pages of posts now, some things will slip by. I'm not sure what your specific question was, but the curve editor in the timeline hasn't really changed this time around.

[synthsin75]

viewtopic.php?t=13468

Started a new thread for more screen shots, review, tips, and bug reports.

[Rudiger]

I've probably missed Mike again for another day, but I'll try anyway.

I'm still keen to know whether you can access the curvature channel of a point with scripting. You can indirectly add a keyframe to the curvature channel with the point's set_curvature method, but there's no way to remove a keyframe, or set/get it's interpolation value. This is why all of the animation scripts Vern was talking about updating for V6 ignore the curvature channel.

[rpc9943]

My question is will users who bought AS/ASP in the last month or so get a price break beyond the upgrade price (or even a free upgrade )

Yes, if you bought the older version in the past 30 days you can upgrade to 6.0 for free.

Damn it. I am 15 days off...

RonC

[AniPierre]

Wow...this was a total surprise. I purchased my copy on April 21 and registered it on April 28. I've e-mailed SM to see if I'm covered for the free upgrade but I have a bad feeling I've missed it by a few days...

My main concern is whether drawing is any easier in this upgrade than in v5? I love alot of the drawing functionality like variable line weights, but I find it "easier" to get the look I like by creating my basic art in Illustrator and importing it.

To see what I'm trying to achieve from within AS, take a look at some of my Flash samples towards the bottom of my blog at http://pierreanimation.blogspot.com/

In an ideal world, I think a combination of being able to "sketch" an animation in AS, then ink it using near standard bezier tools would be really wonderful.

Thanks.
Pierre

[windstormer]

I've tried to follow what has been mentioned for the various changes (so many pages...), so I may have missed this one already mentioned.

Does 6 export animated 3d objects into swf?

Thanks!

[DK]

No. It doesn't appear to.

Cheers
DK

[Rudiger]

Wow...this was a total surprise. I purchased my copy on April 21 and registered it on April 28. I've e-mailed SM to see if I'm covered for the free upgrade but I have a bad feeling I've missed it by a few days...

My main concern is whether drawing is any easier in this upgrade than in v5? I love alot of the drawing functionality like variable line weights, but I find it "easier" to get the look I like by creating my basic art in Illustrator and importing it.

To see what I'm trying to achieve from within AS, take a look at some of my Flash samples towards the bottom of my blog at http://pierreanimation.blogspot.com/

In an ideal world, I think a combination of being able to "sketch" an animation in AS, then ink it using near standard bezier tools would be really wonderful.

Thanks.
Pierre

That's rough about missing out by a few days. Hopefully they'll be a bit more flexible about the date since there was no warning that a new version was due for release.

About the drawing tools, I'm pretty sure they are relatively unchanged from ver 5.6, and I don't expect them to be significantly changed in future versions either, due to the fundamental way AnimeStudio handles curves.

I went to AnimeStudio from Illustrator as well and found it very hard to get the same smooth lines I was used to making in Illustrator. However, I eventually found out that this was because I was spacing the points out by the same distance as I used to do in Illustrator and then trying to adjust the curve using the curvature option in place of the bezier handles. I find that a much better approach is to insert extra points along the curve, and use these to adjust the shape of the curve and pretty much leave the curvature alone, unless I want a sharp corner. In a way, it's the same as using bezier handles, except the handles happen to lie on the curve. Now that I am used to it, I actually find it a much faster and intuitive way to manipulate curves than the "standard" bezier handle approach.

[AniPierre]

Hi Rudiger,

Thanks for the tip!

Coming from traditional animation, I guess I'd love to see a way to quickly sketch out my idea within AS and test the movement before commiting to the final artwork. I understand that AS is a different beast since I'm animating with bones, but it still would be fun to sketch out my keyframes using some kind of raster based pencil tool, then clean it up with AS's vector based pen tools.

I guess the thing that throws me is that I'll start with an oval then add points in order to manipulate it. In Illustrator, the shape wouldn't change until you start moving the newly added points. In AS, once you add a point, the whole shape distorts. The whole approach feels unwieldy at best, though I do find I can eventually make the shape I want. It just feels like I'm fighting the software for control over how I want to design my animations.

At any rate, the changes in v6 look really cool and I'm awfully happy to see that the program is being actively supported.

Pierre

[Rudiger]

I totally agree with you on a needing a bitmap sketching layer. Quite a few people have requested over the years, and with the new sequencer in ver 6.0, it's a real shame that it doesn't seem to be included as the two features together would have turned AS into a killer story-boarding tool. You can sort of fake it using the freehand tool with the construction curves disabled and then covert your vector sketch to a bitmap when you're done to keep the file size down, but a straight to bitmap solution would be much more convenient.

If you want to add a point to an oval type, shape, you're best bet is to select all the points in the shape and use the split-curve script under the Scripts -> Draw menu. For open ended curves, you can usually get away with just adding the point without changing the shape too much.

[heyvern]

Just a clarification on scripting, regarding the idea of "walking the file". I don't think I ever used those words with Vern (or if I did, I mis-spoke). What you can do is walk the scene. The difference may be subtle.

Oops! Sorry if I misquoted you Mike. So sorry. Did not intend to mislead anyone.

The file as it is on disk is a saved representation of the scene, not something you generally manipulate at runtime when writing a script. What scripts can do now in version 6 is to ask the document for how many layers it has, then access those layers individually. For group layers, scripts can now ask for the individual children of the group.

In version 5, a script would generally work just on the selected layer. For the majority of scripts, this is still true. However, if there's a reason to, a script can now access any layer in the document. The script might do this to change multiple layers at once, or it might use settings in one layer to control another layer.

Vern mentioned a couple other scripting things, like access to interpolation settings through scripting, but here are a couple other additions (this is not a comprehensive list, just a couple interesting tidbits):

Scripts can copy and paste. They have access to the clipboard (actually 2 clipboards - the one the user can copy and paste to, and a second one just for scripts). There's a new tool called the Scatter Brush that uses this.

Scripts can also load Anime Studio documents. Not to the main window, but as a document the user doesn't see directly. It scares me to think how far Vern might go with this, but a script could load a secondary document, copy something from it, and paste it into the main document. Maybe have a document that is a library of bone rigs and animation clips that can be copied into the main document.

SCRIPT WRITERS!!!! SCRIPT WRITERS ALERT ALERT!!!!

Read the above post THOROUGHLY!!! Read it and try to understand what this means! There were MANY MANY script additions I could have dreamed to get in this version but THIS is fantastic. Read it carefully and try to understand what you can do with this.

This is going to keep me busy... very busy. It also brings my dream of creating a "project management" tool closer to reality.

Those of you who don't consider scripting a useful feature just wait till you see what these new additions can bring. Just wait. God my head is spinning with ideas. Absolutely dizzy with ideas.

-vern

[ink animations]

What I want to know is, does it have a "deep move" function, where you can move all the key frames of dependent layers by sliding a key on the parent? This would make it so much easier to adjust timing.

Yes. The way it works is you can slide any layer side-to-side in the sequencer view of the timeline. That will make its animation start sooner or later in the timeline. If the layer you move is a group layer (or bone, switch, or particle), the sub-layers within it will move as well.

This is Fantastic and I congratulate Mike in his efforts! can't wait to try it out.

One question regarding the above however, would be is it possible to globally move a bunch of keyframes within the parent layer?

eg. say you want to adjust the timing of a character move and said character has lots of dependant layers (groups,vectors,switches,bones etc..), is there a way to shift all the keyframes together? or do we still have to go into each child layer and adjust the required amount of frames?

This is the one thing that has always been a major problem for our studio (shift layer keyframes script never worked satisfactorily).

Thanks for your time!