Animation channel management

General Moho topics.

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dueyftw
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Post by dueyftw »

I have to add that I don't get the idea of turning on and off animation channels. Whats the point, just so AS behaves like AfterEffects? So what? But I do like the idea of mutable time lines. That way I can work on a walk cycle and see where the other legs keys are. They should be linked so if I change the time line slider on one it will change the slider on the others. Only one time line should be active at one time. Or if you want have mutable time lines active, and then the keys affect all active time lines.

Dale
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heyvern
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Post by heyvern »

You know, one thing might make all this much easier for Mike...


If he opens up the AS user interface to script access and control someone like me could script ALL of these features without Mike lifting a finger. All he needs to do is put in some access to the menus and dialog boxes. Or even add some more powerful "widgets" to the existing dialog box controls so we can build our own "time line".

-vern
Rudiger
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Post by Rudiger »

heyvern wrote: You know, one thing might make all this much easier for Mike...


If he opens up the AS user interface to script access and control someone like me could script ALL of these features without Mike lifting a finger. All he needs to do is put in some access to the menus and dialog boxes. Or even add some more powerful "widgets" to the existing dialog box controls so we can build our own "time line".

-vern
Exactly! That's why there's no need to hold back when we come up with requests for Mike. Even if there's no chance of him adding them to the next version of the program, there is a chance he'll make it possible for us to script them in ourselves.
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madrobot
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Post by madrobot »

That is a really exciting idea Vern.

A bit mind boggling really
it's hard to imagine what you guys could do if
AS was opened right up to scripting.
Just look how much you guys have achieved already...
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heyvern
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Post by heyvern »

I don't know for sure because I've never used them, but I think those "high end" 3D applications have the ability to "program" or create your own widgets and interfaces. Some studios have their own programmers to implement stuff like that.

That's what could make AS stand out from any other 2D application (besides Flash... or... just like Flash). Flash is the only 2D animation program I can think of that allows the user to create their own "interface" controls within the program, via those... whatsits... uh... modules? Thats how all those funky add ons are possible for Flash. They are like... Flash files... that control the application. A lot of them are just Actionscript.

Anyway, scripting access to the whole application or as much of it as possible would be my favorite new feature for AS.

Just in case Mike is reading here are a couple of scripting improvements I would like to see:

Target palettes or windows - being able to "target" or "read" open palettes or windows, like the time line, style, layers, actions etc. We can access the ELEMENTS in the palettes in some cases but not the actual palette itself.

Images in pop up windows and tool options - Being able to add images to scripted pop up windows or dialogs. Having to use text for every label in a pop up or tool interface takes up so much space.

REAL scripted Menus - not just the "scripts" menu but REAL application menus via scripting... with assignable key commands. Menu items that can be added to the existing menus.

Various Scripted pop up modifications/additions - being able to create REAL pop up windows or palettes that can interact with the open document. This can sort of be done now but there is no way to create sliders or movable widgets and the windows can't scroll. It's about 70% there with the current script interface it just needs a bit more. Being able to scroll a pop up window would be first on my list.

Just some ideas.

-vern
chucky
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Post by chucky »

Hey everyone, I think one huge improvement to menus would be 2 very slight modifications to the layer settings po-pup.

1 : Add an apply button in addition to the existing OK button (this way we could see the effect of the adjustments made without closing and reopening the layer settings). This would be particularly useful when changing, masking compositing, shadows and particle effects.
This would also be great for the shape effects pop-ups.:)

2 : Remember the pop-ups position for the next time it opens.
Mine currently opens in between two monitors (eeek) the only way to change that is with graphics card settings which make all windows in all programs default to the centre of one monitor- I don't know which is worse.:roll:
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synthsin75
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Post by synthsin75 »

Yeah, my number one feature would have to be scripting access as well. There is just so much AS could do that Mike may not have the time or inclination to work on.

My very close second would be making more of the current features animatable.

:wink:
Genete
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Post by Genete »

chucky wrote: and particle effects.
There is a particle button that pop ups a dialog that updates immediately the modificatons in the particles.

Image
-G
chucky
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Post by chucky »

Thanks Genete, I will use that from now on, that's a real timesaver, don't know how I missed that one. :oops:
Although now I see it, like the bones constraints box, this could be re positionable too so it doesn't obscure the preview.:)
The rest of the Layer settings request still remains though. :twisted:
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Touched
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Post by Touched »

I would love to have the ability to turn off keyframe generation for various channels, primarily because I often use the "Copy current frame" option under the animation menu, and it's essentially an all-or-nothing deal. Although it has checkboxes for selecting various channels, it doesn't apply those to any other layer than the currently selected one, so if I want to copy the movements of an entire character, bones and points, on multiple sublayers, I have to use the "Copy entire document" option instead, and delete all the unwanted keyframes afterward.
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jwlane
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Channel Check Box

Post by jwlane »

Toggling off a channel would be great for isolating something that needs to be tweeked - turning off the parent movement, shading, camera movement, etc. that affects the ability to see and follow some specific detail late in the job.

My biggest wish has always been additional function curve controls in the timeline.
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AngryMonster
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Post by AngryMonster »

Yes please!

Just like in After Effects...This feature would be very handy.

Almost as handy as a bezier curve graph editor - for the ultimate in time and space control... hint hint nudge nudge...but, no pressure... we love anime! :wink:
keisern
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Keyframe improvements

Post by keisern »

I think the option Mike is outlining about channel on/offs is a good idea. Less clutter in the timeline would be a good thing.

I think the timeline is the one thing in Anime that could do with a makeover.

We have finished two seasons of an animated TV-series (12x29 minutes), and our animators all agreed that some things could be better:

- Separate x,y,z channels for keyframes.
- More control over tweening (bezier curves anyone?)
- Scrolling mousewheel should scroll up/down in stead of scrubbing.
- More vertically compact timeline allowing more channels to be shown at the same time.
- Hide the annoying onion skin feature that always gets turned on by mistake.
- Create multiple keyframes across channels when right clicking -> Add keyframe (or maybe a shortcut making it possible to drag downwards to "paint" keyframes on the channels you want).

Oh, and if you're taking down ideas, Mike: Please make a better, more advanced system for Style management. 99 styles for complex scenes is too little, and scrolling through them is a pain :)
Halvseint, animated talkshow on NRK
www.nrk.no/halvseint
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