How to make strokes scale smaller/bigger when zooming in/out

[Hugh Jollies]

Hi guys. Here's whats happening: I went in to "project settings" and changed the stroke style to "sketchy". I absolutely love the look of it!... until I zoom out and the stroke stays the same width. This makes the whole scene almost indecipherable when looking at it from any distance other than close-up. I want the stroke to automatically get smaller when I zoom out and bigger when I zoom in. I have looked through seemingly every menu and preference that there is, but nothing helps; in fact, I can't seem to even manually make the strokes smaller. Maybe its just the fact that the "project settings" sketchy style stroke isn't meant to be modified in any way. There aren't any sketchy looking brushes in the right side menu, either. Does anyone know how to fix this? Thanks

[synthsin75]

Disable scale compensation in the layer settings.

[Hugh Jollies]

Disable scale compensation in the layer settings.

Sadly, I've already tried that. I'm starting to think that the "project settings' menu is just not a very good way to pick a stroke style. I'm not talking about any stroke found on the very right stroke menu -- if I did that, it would work... but the sketchy look I like is in the project settings menu.

[synthsin75]

Try layer settings, vector tab, noisy outlines, with and without scale compensation.

[Hugh Jollies]

Try layer settings, vector tab, noisy outlines, with and without scale compensation.

I've also tried that one already too. No luck. Or did you mean to JUST use that method of "sketchy" for my animation? Because that is a totally different looking stroke than the sketchy found in project settings. The sketchy I'm using actually looks like a person sketched it, the sketchy in the layer settings menu is a different thing, it seems.

[synthsin75]

Just that method. You'll have to play with the vector noise settings to find a similar look. Start by enabling extra sketchy.

[slowtiger]

Line width in different zoom levels is a very delicate thing, and it's nearly impossible to get satisfying results with just one setting. I recommend to group your shots into wide, middle, close, and find the perfect setting for each. After that you can, if necessary, animate from one setting to the other if there's a zoom in the shot.

I also found out last week that it makes a big difference whether you watch your animation on your monitor or on the big screen in the theatre. As a rule of thumb, I'd say "better make your lines a bit thinnner than you think it's right", especially in wide shots.

Another point: do a rendering test in full resolution for each zoom level, with some straight vertival and horizontal lines, and have a zoom in there. In this test, check for flickering lines! I've seen that in several movies and it can be really distracting.

[Hugh Jollies]

I don't think you understand. I can't change the line width in any way, shape or form when I'm using this sketch effect. That's the problem is I don't have any settings that'll even change the line width. Try it out yourself, see if you can adjust your line width after selecting "sketchy" in the project settings menu.

[slowtiger]

Ah, you're right, I missed the "sketchy" bit.

It's more than a bit confusing that we have 4 places to look at: the project preferences where we can choose sketchy outlines, the style panel where sketchy is listed as a legacy effect, the vector layer panel and its vector tab where we can choose noisy outlines, and finally the script menu where under draw we have apply sketchy effect.

Of these 4 I could make 3 to work, prefs, layer tab, and script, but not the style effect. The prefs thing doesn't have any controls, as well as the script. Only the vector panel tab offers some control. The prefs sketchy effect is resolution and scale independent. I suppose I could do something with working in different resolutions, then render it all to same dimensions, but that's a PITA. In general I refuse to use effects which don't give me control over their amount/appearance.

I agree that this is highly unsatisfying, but can't offer any advice except experiment and try different combinations to make it work for you.