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old classics

Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:51 am
by otonal
after playing around with some vector animation software from the mid eighties of the last century i found that anime studio is really missing some things you could easily do back then.

First both softwares i used were able to cope very well with changes in numbers of vectorpoints. vectorpoints that were added or removed later in time /during animation made no issues back then.

if i had a line or polygon with 4-5 vectorpoints there and later in timeline added more points to those to refine/ or reduced a few, it was all beatifully interpolated/tweened which anime studio really does not do for me all the time.

in anime when i delete a point later in the timeline all that was previously animated for it is all gone, as the point does not exist anymore, just as if he had never existed. in the old software a "loss of points" was gradually interpolated for the line they resided on.
when in anime i add points at any point on the timeline onto a line or filled polygon outline that is already animated, it is always changing form backwards to the beginning as well, which can be desireable but definetely is not if i already "set the past/beginning just fine" with fewer polygons for a reason and then want to go on with more vectorpoints from some point on.
anyway both is no drama, but those things i really liked about the old programs gave you more freedom, you could anytime delete of add points and it always looked good in motion-just loved it.

now one thing i really really do miss in anime compared to the old ones, is a temporary center of rotation for mulitple selections(of elements on one or across several layers). first, in anime even with shape select on for the rotate tool, i really cant select multiple objects on the same layer intuitively by holding down shift or something. if i manage to get them all selected with selection tools finally and change back to rotation i cant rotate them around a center of my choice directly (which was all possible back in the eighties with one mousecklick).
so with those limitations there is really no intuitive boneless vector cutout puppet animation functionality possible for me in anime and today one has to switch to tuun buum or flush for such tasks. it wouldnt take much to allow these things in anime guess...
But then again those other two really cant do straightforward vectorpoint movement as anime and the old softwares can but tend to get morphy all the time..
so maybe i just pack my smartbones and fly back to the eighties ;)

overall, of course many things have impoved in the last nearly 30 years from there^^ but often its the simple things that just worked and made things easy that you miss...

Re: old classics

Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:22 pm
by slowtiger
i really cant select multiple objects on the same layer intuitively by holding down shift or something.
Select tool (G) - click with shift on outline - voila, multiple selection.

Re: old classics

Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:30 pm
by otonal
allright thats fair
and for free rotation centers shift/alt as well with rotate tool ? would be nice :)

also the shift- multiselect you described, made available for translate, rotate and scale would make alot of sense for me as well.