How to export just a couple of frames?

[oskarmatzerath]

When I'm exporting frames from Animate (usu. a PNG sequence from export video/media), if I'm exporting 10 or more frames, it actually renders the frame range I export in the settings. If I'm only rendering one or two frames, it instead renders an entire 150-frame sequence (a lot of duplicated frames) even when there are only two frames in the scene. Is there a way to get it to behave, or do I just need to plan on deleting 148 files every time I render?

[kglad]

create a new fla

from the old fla, copy the few frames you want to export

paste those frames into the new fla

export

[oskarmatzerath]

I think you misunderstand--copying two frames (from a two-frame sequence) from one file to another will just be recreating the problem with a different file name. It will still be exporting 150 frames even if I specify a two-frame frame range.

[kglad]

if you have a fla with 2 frames, how would more than 2 frames be exported?

[oskarmatzerath]

That is exactly my question. But that's invariably what happens. A 10-frame (or more) frame range exports the number of frames expected. One or two frames exports 150 frames. Any file, any time. There is apparently some overriding range option somewhere.

I love drawing in Animate, but exporting is clunky as hell.

[kglad]

that's impossible.

upload a problematic 2 frame fla to a file server and post a link here.

[oskarmatzerath]

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wb5mj594nlnpsv4a79h66/export_oddness.zip?rlkey=cr0m6jtpb2zv55e8n46k25...

Brand new project. Two frames. Very simple. Either exporting frames 1 and 2 by frame range in the scene, or exporting the entire movie, it exports 150 frames. This is what it does for literally every project, so I'm assuming there's just a non-intuitive way that short .png sequences should be exported (that's not export video/media).

[JoãoCésar]

Hi.

I think that's a bug. Or I don't know how to use Export Video/Media... dialog correctly. Haha

If it is, please let the Animate team know about this bug through this link:
https://www.adobe.com/products/wishform.html

Anyway, I suggest you to use Export Movie... and choose PNG sequence instead.

Regards,

JC

[Mario_CR]

Yep Export Movie > PNG Sequence is the way.

The problem of doing a sequence with Media Encoder is that Animate has to create an MOV video first to send to AME and having just 2 frames on a 12fps sequence means that each frame is half of a full frame on video so perhaps that causes issues with the format or whatever script Animate is sending to AME.

[oskarmatzerath]

That's what I was looking for. A million ways to half-do a thing. The exporting end of Animate has all the elegance of Acrobat.

Thanks!

[kglad]

actually, it looks like theres a 5 second minimum on ame's end, so set fps to 1 and add 3 more frames, or use whatever fps and add the required amount of frames.  then edit the video to suit yourselft

[oskarmatzerath]

I remember why I stopped trying this method--it appears to export every frame in the entire project. Is there no way to just isolate a scene, especially just a frame range of a scene? It worked on my 2-frame test, but on my many-scenes project it spits out everything.

[oskarmatzerath]

Ah, so export video/media will isolate a scene. That scene just has to have several frames. So the only way to export a two-frame sequence is apparently to have it isolated in its own file.

I repeat: clunky as hell. I wonder if ToonBoom's exporting is logical, and if that's why it's so aggressively taking over the 2D marketplace.

[Mario_CR]

Try it out, not only is toonboom no different in this regard, you'll find it has plenty of clunkiness of its own.