Excellent point! Not having interpolation wasn't a problem for us when I used the SBD setup because we could make the lip-sync appear smoother by additionally squashing and stretching the Switch layer itself (be sure the set the origin in the center of the mouth Switch layer.) However , as Wes noted...

Without seeing your actual setup, it's a little hard to say what's wrong. Based on past experience, here are some suggestions: For a variety of reasons, Mask previews are not always accurate. When you render, does it look the same or any differently? (i.e., correct or otherwise?) Mask preview errors...

BTW: The old Wacom Cintiq 27 is ok too. The Cintiq 27QHD is what my wife uses. It worked great for about 3 years then it suddenly had trouble staying on for more than a few seconds. We sent it off to be fixed last week. She's already missing it very much. :) Her only complaint about the tablet is t...

Ok, I'm going to take back the above comment about Bluetooth performance, at least with the Intuos Pro 13 and my laptop. This test is obviously limited, but so far with the current Wacom drivers, Win update, and the latest version of Photoshop, Bluetooth support seems pretty decent and I'm not seein...

I just remembered something I don't like about modern Wacom tablets: Bluetooth performance is laggy and pretty much useless. This has been true for various models I've tried it with including lower-end Intuous and the higher-end Intuos Pro tablets. For best performance, you need to plug these tablet...

BTW, I want to make it clear that I'm not against non-Wacom tablets, I just have a personal preference for Wacom. There are good reasons Wacom can demand a premium, but I do believe some third party companies are serious about offering competitive devices at more affordable prices. I suggest reading...

Another important tip: the SBD needs to be set to use Step keys to switch drawings for non-linear animation. Otherwise, it's just going to play the drawings in sequence. Sequential playback can be useful if you're using the SBD to control playback speed but it's useless this way for non-linear anima...

Yes, you can use a Smart Bone Dial to flip through layers and group inside a Switch layer. I used to use this for mouth shapes (but now I pretty much stick with the Switch Selection window because it's easier to setup.) Tip: If you use an SBD to control mouth shapes, I suggest having it also control...

I've had some more tablet experience since my last post to this thread and would like to share what I learned: I bought a Wacom One when it first came out. It's an entry level 'Cintiq' and priced accordingly, and I thought I could use it for my laptop. It works as advertised, but it lacks several fe...

My Leap Motion arrived the other day. Naturally, I started doing a lot of OT this week, so I probably won't get to test it till this weekend at earliest. TBH, I'm a little skeptical about how useful this device is for motion capture, but I'm hoping to use it in both Cartoon Animator 4 Pipeline and i...

Yes! I love mind mapping programs. I use mind mapping tools to brainstorm and organize almost anything and everything I'm thinking about, like breaking down a story, flow-charting a script, designing a website, planning a birthday party, etc. Currently, I'm using a mind mapping tool to break down my...

Oh, and I REALLY miss not having in CA the equivalent of Moho's Sketch Bones tool. I use this tool in Moho all the time to animate tails, hair, and rubber hose limbs. IMO, Sketch Bones is so much faster and more natural to work with than IK or FK for this type of animation. It's another reason I thi...

I also discovered that the famous/infamous prefabricated movements can be edited using the 2D motion key editor (which has a sub-editor just for hands) and then saved as a custom movement. Yes, this aspect of CA is like using Motion Builder, a mocap editing program for 3D animation rigs. The pre-an...

One thing I loved though was the active development of the product till I joined their forum and started posting unanswered questions. Yeah, I'm not nearly as active in their forums as I am here and, so far, I've had little-to-no interaction with their developers. I'm just lurking over there until ...

Admittedly I looked at the first Beta April last year before it was officially released so things may have changed a lot since then. I think my biggest annoyance was having to swap parts in a pre rigged character. It was just too creatively claustrophobic :) I wasn't involved with the beta testing,...