whiteboard animation / lines being drawn

[suse...@gmail.com]

Hi,

is there some straightforward way to generate the build-up of a drawing in a vector layer?

So I just draw the "final" version of the drawing and if I "in between" it from an empty canvas, it will fill in stroke after stroke, just back to front?

and another sweet effect would be "in betweening" a longer vector line from a starting point to the full line over a number of drawings, according to some percentage animation envelope.

the combination of the two would be the icing on the cake:  the in-betweening "distributes" the "amount of ink" according to an overall animation envelope to all the intermediate steps.

This would be incredibly useful to create an animated whiteboard in opentoonz.

S.

[Artisteacher]

Sort of a time lapse effect? Currently we can fake it using matte FX but it can be super time consuming depending on how complicated the drawing is.

[Rodney]

There are two ways I've done the line drawing effect in Opentoonz.

The harder method is to:

- Draw your image with vector lines

- Duplicate this drawing (using D key)

- Using the eraser in Normal mode remove the end of the line opposite of the direction you want the lines to 'draw'.

- Duplicate this drawing (using D key)
- Repeat the above and when finished, select all these frames and use the Reverse option on the cells.  This will make the lines draw out.

A simpler method:

Use a screen capturing utility to record you as you draw the image.

Then use that recording to play back the lines being drawn.

I have used both screen caputure as well as a utility that actually records mouse/pen motion so that a new drawing exactly like the first is drawn each time the script is run.

[suse...@gmail.com]

Hi Rodney,

On Tuesday, November 30, 2021 at 12:09:05 AM UTC+1 Rodney wrote:

There are two ways I've done the line drawing effect in Opentoonz.

The harder method is to:

- Draw your image with vector lines

- Duplicate this drawing (using D key)

- Using the eraser in Normal mode remove the end of the line opposite of the direction you want the lines to 'draw'.

- Duplicate this drawing (using D key)
- Repeat the above and when finished, select all these frames and use the Reverse option on the cells.  This will make the lines draw out.

 I see.  so it's possible to manually create the effect (by creating the final result and then erasing it piece by piece, backwards, until there is an empty sheet.

and this can also be done for long strokes to make them appear bit by bit.

 

A simpler method:

Use a screen capturing utility to record you as you draw the image.

Then use that recording to play back the lines being drawn.

I have used both screen caputure as well as a utility that actually records mouse/pen motion so that a new drawing exactly like the first is drawn each time the script is run.

for that method, the drawing has to be flawless and paced as needed, no?  unless you'd want to communicate the drawing process.

Hm I have to admit the former method is closer to my heart, albeit it sounds tedious if you have a larger number of drawings, when telling a story.

I'm inclined to file a feature request.  I saw you are active on github as well --- any recommendations to hit the right opentoonz jargon/lingo?

greetings and thanks,

S.