Raster Image

[Kaiko]

Raster Image.

A lot less functionalities than Vector/Raster Levels, but still happy with the result

[Juls_3000]

Nice !

[Kaiko]

Thanks @Juls

By the way, I don't know why its background got dark (black). I just painted with a white background, but any other way I think the result is almost the same but I would like to know, how can I select a white/different background  (preferable transparent)?

I don't understand why the image was a .tiff file. How was that? since I changed Preferences to "Scan File Format: png" (Does any one know if there is another place for changing the output image?)

[Juls_3000]

I have been working mainly with vectors, not familiarized with raster in OT, sorry cannot help. Seems to be one image with transparent background, try to put white level behind.

[Herbert123]

You have to change the output file format in File-->Output Settings. Then select a different output format.

The background is default transparent, which translates to black depending. Just add a background level with a white filled rectangle to prevent this.

[Kaiko]

@Herbert

Thank you for the information.
So I went to Output Settings in PItEdit´s room, and changed the option from tiff to png. I also changed this option on Preferences, from tiff to png....
I do not get a png file resolution. Even restarting OpenToonz for the changes to take place, it does not save changes. Opening Output Settings again it shows tiff as default. I end up with a render tiff file every time.

Any idea how to do this?

Thanks

[Herbert123]

Make sure to click the "Add" button to save a new output preset AFTER you have adjusted the settings. It works for me. I close the settings dialog, and hit "Render" in the output menu. It then renders to png (or any other format).

[Kevin Laherty]

It looks really good!
I also use raster layers instead of vectors (just because I like bitmaps... no special reasons)
But about the background, from my limited understanding, if you don't set a background,
it will default to transparent for export... which can actually be quite handy!
If you exported the image as *.png, it would have an alpha layer.
If you exported it as an *.avi file, the background would also appear black,
but in a movie editor, you'll be able to see that the background remains transparent.

[Joseph Goforth]

as far as the black/transparency, if you want to set a solid color background for the entire animation/output file, go to cleanup->customize->scene settings and there is a box option of Camera BG color.  the M value is the opacity so max it for solid color. just remember this method sets it for the entire scene so no transparency behind your other layers, the more flexible option would just be to fill a solid color on a level in the xsheet and make sure it's the first level in order from left to right.

[Kaiko]

Another try

Opentoonz still has some hidden bugs. OT closed without without warning two times
Concerning the brush/paint result, it has some artefacts (I used the selection tool for transforming the face of the girl and at the end it shows those white areas, but it did not show them while inside view canvas, not even with the Preview icon checked...


@Herbert
Thank you for your clarification. It did work as you said and I got a png file. However I would really like to improve the output render since it seems to me the image is a bit blurred than in my computer and a bit "low quality". Do you know if OpenToonz is capable of that?

@Joseph
sorry but despite your explanation, I was not able to find the BG color Camera, not even able to find out where the "Scene Settings" feature was. I found ProjectSettings, RenderSettings, PreviewSettings, OutputSettings, LevelSettings, CleanupSettings....

[Kaiko]

There is also not desirable behaviours whiting the Hardness and Opacity features when using the Brush Tool. At the maximum of the Hardness tool it starts to behave like an Opacity Tool, so it doesn't help much to understand which is best to use for opacity strokes....

I think I am gonna leave the OpenToonz idea of painting with it. It is somehow a pain, in the raster level I mean.
OpenToonz was not intended to be a Raster tool anyway, I mean the authors used it with the Toonz Raster Level applied to their work, but I am not sure if they use the Raster only Level to accomplish all the beautiful films they have made in the past...

Till then, I will take a rest of learning OpenToonz :)

[Toonz Buff]

Hey Kaiko, it sounds like you are giving up! :O Don't!

[Kaiko]

Hi @Toonz Buff,

Thanks for your comment

To be honest, being able to use correctly the Raster Tool was my main goal when I started learning OpenToonz. And the idea was to learn it and after that I would start learning the animation tools.... But OpenToonz is not suitable for raster images alone...... well at least I will be coming back to check if there was something important that I was missing right now  :)


Enjoy today!

[Toonz Buff]

Yes, OT is NOT YET ready for that but things are being developed fast. I can assure you that in 3 months, this MIGHT have been taken care of. Maybe you should simply head on to learning the other parts while waiting for the raster thing to be rectified.
:)

Have a lovely day yourself

[Juls_3000]

Kaiko I think your point of view is very logical. IMO OT is excelent in animation with a reasonable functionallity for drawing (vector an raster). Krita is excelent in high level raster drawing  (now with step by step animation capabilities). Medibang is excelent for medium level raster drawing. Inkscape is excelent in vector drawing. And finally Photoscape is excelent in quick image editing (the one I use more often :). All these wonders are free. Use each tool for the mission which has been designed for.

PS

Gimp I don't like very much probably because I don't know it to much.

[Willson Baer]

OT was not designed for high level raster painting, it was designed for animation, which is as different from painting as painting is from sculpting. It would make much more sense to use a high level raster painting program for BG's and over/underlays and then import into OT for combining animation with. I personally doubt that OT or any other animation program will ever come close to having the painting capabilities of something like Gimp or Krita because it took years for those programs to get where they are without any animation tools. If what you want is animation tools, you're not going to find anything better than OT for less than a grand, but if you just want to paint, by all means use something else.

@Juls_3000: I had the same opinion of Gimp as you have until I read the manuals and learned the thing, now it's my default painting program and it's amazing!

[Joseph Goforth]

ok, i took some screens to show you where the option was but i'm seeing that your issues are more than just setting a background color alone for a scene lol. one shows where the menu is, other the actual menu.

[Adveric Megrez]

First off, beautiful works! dont give up! and second OT was not designed for animation at least no for traditional animation! for paperless obviously YES, and for post production YES again, but it was not made for traditional animation, sorry but I just can' t contain myself when someone says " DON'T YOU USE YOUR ANIMATION SOFTWARE FOR DO YOUR ANIMATION" it has a lot of sense, right? go and use inkscape, go and use krita " but seriously try krita or clip studio paint" go and use other software, I remember a thread about a user asking for a more friendly version for paperless animation, but the truth is in the opposite way, OT is not too much firendly with traditional animators. Well in the other hand You have to see that Studio Ghibli dont did the animation directly on OT, they did it on paper, scan their frames and then put color and do post production effects on OT, so You can do your animation in paper or use Krita or Clip Studio Paint and then import the frames to Open Toonz for coloring or for just post production, it would be a reasonable workflow by the moment. I was thinking seriously on buying Toonz Premium because of the bugs in first releases, but the painting tools really disappointed me, I gave up at the first 10 minutes, You did a great work!. About the transparency you can do it by the option on the camera, or just leave the first column for your background, You can fill it with a white color or load a level with a background pre made on your favourite illustration software.

PS: Sorry for being troll!

[Kaiko]

Hi again,

Today I urgently felt the necessity to do something new with OpenToonz, to show you my consideration and respect for all comments above. I do not have time to respond today (it is actually time to rest now) so I will be back in a few days to read again every comment. 

Here my last work done with OpenToonz. I picked several images from internet and mixed them. I learned a lot with it.

I was not able to find out if OT was capable of Flipping the canvas horizontally. It would be a great tool for a painter. Or, does anyone know if there is a trick for flipping the canvas inside OT? (preferable with a shortcut)

[Herbert123]

Someone else pointed out that, in order to flip the canvas for checking your drawings, a negative value of 100 (-100) can be entered in the H scale box of any level or peg, column, etc. While this works, it is too much of a hassle, in my opinion (and experience).

While I hope a true flip canvas button/menu item will be added at some point, I found a smarter method of handling this:

1. Open the schematic viewer. and work in the Stage schematic view.
2. Create a new camera in the schematic view (either with the icon at the bottom, or by right-mouse clicking). Call this camera "flip"
3. Select the Flip camera node. You can also select this camera with the dropdown menu at the left top in the (combo)viewer.
   
4. Activate the Edit tool, and work in Scale mode (select Scale in the second dropdown from the left in the tool properties).
5. Here is the trick: enter -100% in the H box.

You now have two options to flip the canvas. The quick method, and the slower method.

Quick method:

1. Activate the flip camera (right-mouse click the Flip camera node in the schematic view, and choose "Activate".
2. You can now flip the canvas by simply switching between camera stand view and camera view with the equivalent mini icons at the right top of any combo viewer or viewer panel.
3. Or alternatively, open a new viewer, and activate camera view in that new viewer. You now have a way to show TWO views: one normal, one flipped. This is pretty handy and cool. Working in one view updates the other view as well. Re-position, scale, or rotate: both views update simultaneously.
   

You may want to turn off the Table in the Comboviewer if you intend to switch back and forth - it is a bit jarring. A normal viewer cannot display the Table, so no problem there.

Slower method:

1. Keep the schematic view around. Then switch your view between a flipped canvas and a normal one by right-mouse clicking each camera, and activating either one whenever you feel the need to switch back and forth.

One more perk of a flipped view: drawing is NOT affected by a camera flip - which means you can draw without issues in a flipped view.

Hope this helps. I don't think it is possible to assign a shortcut key to the mini icon functions. Perhaps someone else knows? Could be a configuration setting in one of the config files. Not certain.

[Herbert123]

PS Avoid using the Rotate View tool in a flipped view: TOonz gets quite confused, and the view goes all over the place. Funny to watch though. :-P

[Kaiko]

@Toonz Buff
You were right about OT being developed fast. And I got your idea about  learning the other part of OT while waiting for more improvements. Thank you, I didn't really think about that till now :)

@Juls
yes, you are right about using the best part of other software for our purpose. I was like using Krita for what I want, but even despite its animation feature is really well done, it lacks camera and sound layers. And in OpenToonz the animation is just Fabulous. It has soooo many good features that I did decide to learn it a little bit, to see what happens :) .... for painting I also have ArtRagePro (I feel more comfortable with its interface sooo intuitive)

@Joseph,
Since I deleted some Rooms and configured OpenToonz to my way, I was not able to find the SceneSettings you were talking about because I deleted the CleanupRoom (following your indications). But managed to find it under the Xsheet MenuBar. Thanks :)

Thank you for the screenshots tip. I have set the "Camera BG Color" to fully transparent. My graphic card was having some issues handling with FX effects (there were some lines appearing on the background, getting worse every time I tried to change the values on the FX slide effect), but after applying BG to transparency now it seems to be solved

@Adveric
Thanks for your comment. It makes a lot of sense to me. I am considering to try a different workfllow from what I previously have in mind.

@Herbert
What a great help and trick for the flip view!.. It works really well. This works just as an already implemented feature of OpenToonz!... (although we have to set everything again every time we start OpenToonz, not able to save the camera as a default setting)
And you are right about adding a shortcut for the flip camera view. Maybe someone could ask developers to do this on the Github developer forum?

Any way thank you for your time and explanation. I can see you are digging inside OT! :)


Well, have all a good day
and Thanks
:D