Tracing pictures/thumbnails... a sketching layer for AS

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capricorn33
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Tracing pictures/thumbnails... a sketching layer for AS

Post by capricorn33 »

Hey everybody,

It's been a long, long time since I posted anything here......

But now I have a tip for all you guys who, like me, have been complaining about the lack of bitmap drawing possibilities for thumbnailing and sketching purposes in AS.

This little tip of mine is a rough workaround, but it works quite well for me. NOTE; this solution only works on XP / 2000. (Sorry, Mac people.)


You need
- your favourite drawing/thumbnailing app, whatever that might be. I use Photoshop and/or Plastic animation paper Pro (WHICH BTW WAS RELEASED AS A COMPLETELY FREE APPLICATION A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO!!! check this link out: http://plasticanimationpaper.dk/)

- and this little app "WinTrans". Download from
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dialog/wintrans1.aspx
This app is XP/2000 only. (..and you need to register and login at the site to be able to download)

(There might be same kind of app out there for other systems too... try googling for "making apps transparent" or something like that...)


And that is exactly what WinTrans does: it simply makes any windows application of your choice transparent!

So when I want to trace something - a sketch or a series of thumbnails - I place the AS window on top of the window of my drawing / thumbnailing app.
Then I activate the WinTrans program and make AS transparent!
And abracadabra - it's almost like having a built in bitmap sketch layer in AS!


cheers
cap
Last edited by capricorn33 on Sun Jul 25, 2010 5:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
capricorn ( - just call me "cap")
children's tv pro, character animator
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neeters_guy
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Re: Tracing pictures/thumbnails... a sketching layer for AS

Post by neeters_guy »

capricorn33 wrote:...Plastic animation paper Pro (WHICH BTW WAS RELEASED AS A COMPLETELY FREE APPLICATION A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO!!! check this link out: http://plasticanimationpaper.dk/)
Terrific! Thanks for the link. PAP was on my wishlist for a while, but decided on ASP.
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jahnocli
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Post by jahnocli »

That is a great tip! Thanks for sharing...
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
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funksmaname
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Post by funksmaname »

Great :) Thanks for sharing - and the headsup on PAP for free!!
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amanandink
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Post by amanandink »

Yeah a great idea and for Mac users try Ulimate Pen

http://www.snowmintcs.com/products/ultimatepenmac/

J
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amine
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Post by amine »

This is great, and I'm just thinking of doing this as a way for rotoscoping using avidmux as frame by frame video player.
Many thanks
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