My Experience Teaching OpenToonz to Elementary School Students

[computer...@gmail.com]

So I have started teaching OpenToonz to my elementary school students, here is my experience so far:

• Students pick up most things extremely quickly.
  
• We cannot use the save all button as no matter where the save all file(.tnz) is saved the drawings(.pli) are saved on the C drive in the OpenToonz folder (our computers run a virtual system that erases everything on startup to protect against viruses - students must save to USB sticks). It does not seem possible to change the project folder location to a USB stick - the project root seems to be locked in place. Saving is frustrating and needs my assistance for the moment.
  
• I'm still considering the best way to render the videos and edit them together - I'd like to use blender's VSE for this, but I need to make sure it is possible and that file sizes are kept to a minimum due to the fact that they have to store everything on their USBs.
  
• There are still a few weird things like the mesh and edit tool issues that I posted about earlier this week.
• The students seem really excited by this software and compared to other projects -  partly because progress is much quicker than on our last 3D project - so it is kind of like instant gratification in comparison. 
• Progress has been extremely fast, though what we have done so far has been quite simple. Most of the drawings have been done with the geometry tool. Next week there will be a city background so that will be a bit more challenging.
• Right now we are working on a short video called Alien Wars. We will do a shot or two each week. It will be very short as the semester is almost over.

If you have any advice please let me know, especially if it is related to one of the issues I mentioned above. Questions are also welcome. :)

[Juls_3000]

Really good news congrats ! 

About save work, I am not expert, but I would consider some kind of syncroniced folders (in PC and USB) to automatize somehow this operation. Here speak about : http://superuser.com/questions/65524/how-do-i-synchronise-two-folders-in-real-time-in-windows-7

About working together in final video, I would explore about the possibilities of to work on the cloud with youtube video editor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3ypVoN4NVM

[syn1kk]

It's standard procedure to usually not even allow writing to c drive. Usually it's only allowed to write to the users home folder.

Maybe try:

If each user does have a home folder. Then make sure to create the project there and then save all and all files will be written there.

Work with your sysadmins/IT . There's probably a way forward.

[Tim]

When you install OpenToonz you can choose where to put the "OpenToonz 1.0 stuff" folder. You could install that folder onto a network drive or someplace that doesn't get wiped perhaps.

[Tintwotin]

As an alternative to the Blender Sequence Editor, maybe the much simpler shotcut.org could be used?

[computer...@gmail.com]

Thanks for the reply Juls_3000! Your suggestions are very useful. 

I will look into your suggestions relating to synchronising the folders. We tried using the MEGA web client this year, but there were too many issues with it. 

I watched the clip on the Youtube video editor too, wow! That looks interesting! Especially all the access to Creative Commons video clips. Our internet connection is neither stable nor strong at the moment, but hopefully they will fix that eventually.

I did however find out how to import image sequences into Blender VSE, so now it seems like we have one option for editing. I will need to do a few more tests however.

[computer...@gmail.com]

Tim

When you install OpenToonz you can choose where to put the "OpenToonz 1.0 stuff" folder. You could install that folder onto a network drive or someplace that doesn't get wiped perhaps.

That sounds like a great idea, I will look into this. Perhaps it is something that I could do for next semester. 

[computer...@gmail.com]

Thanks for the suggestion Tintwotin, I always love to hear about open source software! I will definitely check it out. It could be a good alternative to the software that we currently have installed on the schools computers. 

I have since discovered how to import image sequences into Blender VSE without even changing the file names, so at least that is one hurdle out of the way. Since I probably won't be able to install new software this semester, we will probably either have to use Blender or other video editing software currently installed on the computers for now. The children have some familiarity with Blender already however, and I am already familiar with most of the basics of Blender VSE.

[Rodney Baker]

Tintwotin,

Thanks much for suggesting to look into the video editor Shotcut (at shotcut.org).

Very nice and very useful.  I've recommended it to others and expect to use it myself.

[JJ Parks]

I think this is incredibly cool that you're doing this for your students and I have no doubt in my mind that you'll greatly inspire them. I wish that my school had something like this when I was studying back in the day :). Best of luck to you and your hard workers! Are you going to be posting the "Alien Wars" final short anywhere online for the public? Let us know =).

[computer...@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, May 25, 2016 at 3:44:32 AM UTC+8, JJ Parks wrote:

I think this is incredibly cool that you're doing this for your students and I have no doubt in my mind that you'll greatly inspire them. I wish that my school had something like this when I was studying back in the day :). Best of luck to you and your hard workers! Are you going to be posting the "Alien Wars" final short anywhere online for the public? Let us know =).

Thanks for your interest JJ! I will post the finished student work on youtube and link it here, providing that we finish on time - it is a bit of a race now, as the end of the semester is just around the corner and about 50% of the class are sixth grade students and they will graduate soon. I'll post what I can though, and if we don't get it done on time I will do a similar project with next year's students. 

[Jeremy]

As a possible solution to the saving location- I am working on a portable version of OpenToonz that will run from any folder without installing.  The kids could even put it on their USB drive- since OpenToonz isn't that big.  I have it working already, but just need to make sure there aren't any bugs.

[Rodney Baker]

As a possible solution to the saving location- I am working on a portable version of OpenToonz that will run from any folder without installing.

 

I have it working already, but just need to make sure there aren't any bugs.

Wow.  That'd be awesome.

I was just wondering how to best setup a laptop or USB for use in teaching/demonstrating digital animation and was circling around some of the issues I thought I might run across.  A portable version would definitely resolve some/many of those.

Keep us posted.

[computer...@gmail.com]

Wow! That is fantastic!!! You are a god! I love portable apps and we already run GIMP, Inkscape and Blender that way - the portable apps are kept on the desktop and they can copy it to their USB sticks. Thank you TurtleTooth! Hearing that you are working on something similar for OpenToonz has made my day!

BTW is there any way to set up file associations for portable apps? I tried downloading something for that last year and got a virus ( ⁍᷄⌢⁍᷅ ). Portable apps are amazing though, what a world we live in!

( ƅ°ਉ°)ƅ

[TurtleTooth]

The initial portable version is ready:

https://github.com/turtletooth/OpenToonzPortable/releases/tag/1.02

[Rodney Baker]

Okay.  That is just TOO awesome.

Thanks!

Hopefully the OpenToonz team can/will give this portable release their official stamp of approval.  :)

Added:  Just tested on a USB stick and it worked like a charm.

I even created a new folder within OpenToonz while using Save All and the portable recognized the new folder and allowed me to save into it (something I currently can't do in the official release).

Nice.  Nice.  Very nice.

[computer...@gmail.com]

(و˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و

Awesome!

[BlenderBeetle]

not sure if this would answer the save all problem but if you are still having issues this may be something to try:

https://youtu.be/5mwXNpDmEuA

 (the video is still uploading so it may take an hour or two to show up) 

[computer...@gmail.com]

Here is a link to a playlist of their final projects b(^o^)d

They all made the same animation (Alien Wars) but each is slightly different. More to come but they might not get finished this semester.

Computer Art Club Student Work: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUPIMS2cwnMtAY0P4OEef--jajHsRnJIC

Looking forward to our next OpenToonz project! ٩(๑❛∪❛๑)۶

[TurtleTooth]

That is great!

[Monty King]

Yes, since it is open source, just have each student install a copy of it on their own usb drive.