How to speed up adding new frames?

[defaultufkbqyr0a7re]

Hey there,

I've been developing 300 frames animations with (vector) texture build ups.  Please see the attached screen shot. Each time I add a new frame, I have to wait 24 minutes. It's been a slow process. I realize my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) must be too old. I'm considering to buy the newest iMac or Macbook Pro, but I fear that I'll still face similar issues. I briefly tested my file on my friend's last year's Mackbook Pro. Adding a new frame took less time, but it was still slow. Could anyone please provide an advise? I'm new to Adobe Animate, and this is my first art/design project. Thank you!

[ClayUUID]

First, you'd better be working in an AS3 document for export as video, because you are absolutely NOT going to get realtime playback of that nightmare out of Javascript in a web browser.

Second, consider the possibility that you have selected the wrong tool for the job. Animate is designed around animating relatively simple vector shapes. You appear to have no intention of animating any of what you've drawn at the vector level, and are instead just painting on more and more vectors every frame to create a flipbook type animation. This is a task that would be better suited to Photoshop or Illustrator.

Third, if you're absolutely dead-set on sticking with Animate, the best you could do is divide your stage content into layers. That way you could stop adding keyframes for content that isn't going to change anymore, and could hide those layers for faster drawing performance. Every time you add a keyframe, Animate has to make a copy of everything that's on the stage, and it looks like you have tens of thousands of vectors on there. No wonder it's taking so long.

Finally, at the point where it started taking more than a minute to add new keyframes, that really should have set off the "I'm probably doing this wrong / there has got to be a better way to do this" warning in your head. If you don't have this warning system, work on developing one so you don't end up in absurd situations like this again.

[defaultufkbqyr0a7re]

I much appreciate your technical feedback. Creatively speaking, are there other Adobe tools you'd like to suggest, other than PS, for rendering my vector patterns? My project consists of a series of knitted animations where I need to be able to animate various threads. The attached graphic storyboards will hopefully provide more details. To your final points, I've been already working layers and will explore it further. And yes, I felt the warning signs, but my desperation and determination were obviously stronger.

Thank you for your time.

[Nicktendo28]

you could try Adobe Illustrator. 

[defaultufkbqyr0a7re]

Thank you for the suggestion. I'm using Illustrator for building the patterns, i.e. as a base. Im looking for an application where I can animate the vector patterns. Unless there're Illustrator plugins I could use?

[Humour5F8D]

Thank you for the response

[rayek.elfin]

I found a (free!) solution for you.

I opened your PDF in PhotoLine, cleaned out the clutter and backgrounds, and exported one of the meshes to an SVG (you can do the same in Illustrator, of course). Then I imported the SVG as GreasePencil into Blender, and it created a GreasePencil drawing. (Btw, it is also possible to import your drawings as true 3d splines and render them as 3d threads = takes a bit more work, but delivers interesting results).

GreasePencil mode is the 2d animation mode in Blender. It opened your drawings with all colours intact, ready to animate and cut apart in sections.

On my machine creating a new frame takes a split second. Animation is not real-time: the vectors are too complicated for that, but it is semi-realtime. An animation frame is  rendered within a second.

The mesh can be transformed in both 2D and 3D, and animated per frame. Each thread is selectable and may be transformed and animated individually.

All in all, works well, and without hiccups. And best of all: free! And FAR more powerful than Animate. It is easy to zoom in and out of the scene (all with real-time feedback in the viewport while animating)

The only drawback for you may be that you will have to learn a different animation program, so you will have to invest some time.

Fortunately, good tutorials about 2D animation in Blender are easily found:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qZWW0k41WA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t7BcmAM_2I

You may also have to do a Blender Basics tutorial. Search online: there are many.

Here is a quick recording of what the feedback and responsiveness looks like in Blender (allow the GIF animation to load once and play a second time for original playback speed at 24fps - or download the GIF file):

[defaultufkbqyr0a7re]

This is amazing, you actually took the time to figure this out?! I don't mind learning a new software if it does the job at the end. Here's to Blender and to your geberous help! Thank you so much, with my toes and fingers crossed.

PS The embedede giff didn't seem to go through.

[rayek.elfin]

You are quite welcome! The GIF anim is uploaded here: https://gofile.io/d/bHBmmb

If you need more help with this, let me know. I can also share the demo file with you.

[defaultufkbqyr0a7re]

Thank you for reuploading the GIF. Mine are based on animating the individual lines (knitted threads) instead of the forms. I've started to watch the tutorials. As soon as I feel more knowleadgeable, I'll start developing and sharing them with you, if that's ok. You're awesome. I'm still diggestisting the fact that I no longer need to suffer through my Adobe Animate delays. Thank you again!

[rayek.elfin]

Each thread is individually animateable. Each line segment and each point of a greasepencil line can be animated.

On my system the feedback while doing this remains real-time, as is creating new keyframes. Of course, I haven't tested a more complex animation yet, but it should be fine.

[defaultufkbqyr0a7re]

Hey again, just to let you know that as I've started to watch the tutorials, I realized that I need to up my computer. Blender's suggested requirements are way more than what I've got. That being said, I may take a while to fully get into it. Please stay tuned and fingers crossed. Thanks and soon again.

[defaultufkbqyr0a7re]

It's me again. I've been doing varius tutorials and getting familiar with the Grease Pencil. If I may ask you a question: it appears that I'm unable to import my digital knits (svg) as a line drawing. Is there a way to get around it? Hopefully my screen shots will illustrate the problem. The dotted dice is the Illustrator (svg) file. Please let me know if I need to clarify further. Thank you again. 

[defaultufkbqyr0a7re]

FYI, this is the link that talks about the problem, but the solution is working for me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctwiT8LYjVQ

[defaultufkbqyr0a7re]

Oops, it's NOT working for me.