Mesh/Bone tool Art modification HELP!!!!!

[marcs61886613]

I am trying to use the asset warp tool and or the bone tool. I am successful in placing the mesh and modifying the shape however, when I try to modify the art work there doesn't seem to be any way to do that.

Conversely when I use the bone till there doesn't seem to be any way to make changes to that art as it is a vector shape. Either method the mesh to Audubon tool doesn't seem to allow the modification of art with a bitmap or vector wants the two has been initiated. Is this correct?

[Nick Gioia]

Once you create the mesh bone rig, you use the same tool to move the bones. 

[_keyframer]

Unfortunately you are correct. Once a mesh has been created, there's no way to edit the artwork. This poses a huge workflow issue indeed. Best workflow right now is to make a duplicate layer(s) and/or keyframe(s) for the artwork before applying the mesh with the Asset Warp tool. That way if necessary you can always go back to the artwork before applying the pins/mesh. But hoping the team enhances this tool to allow for more control as artists.

[rayek.elfin]

It's an unfinished half-baked mess, just like almost any other animation feature that was introduced since the rebranding to Animate.

I mean: in OpenToonz a sub timeline/animation can be imported in the timeline (similar to a graphic symbol), and converted to a mesh with bones. When I open the sub timeline, I can edit it (vector, bitmap, or combo). Then I save the changes, and reload the changes in the master timeline. It just works. The mesh still works, and the content is always editable.

How is it possible that an open source free animation tool had this working for years now, and a professional commercial product with paid developers are unable to get it at that same basic working level?

They should not have released it in this state. First fix the legions of other bugs and finish/polish half-baked animation functionality before introducing another unfinished tool and more bugs.

[Mario_CR]

Are you talking about the plastic tool? Where can we see a demostration of the sub-timeline? All the tutorials I've seen only show a basic shape deformation.

[rayek.elfin]

It's actually very simple: open the file browser in OpenToonz, and navigate to your scenes folder where the scenes are saved.

Save your empty scene or master scene first. Then drag any scene in your ' master' scene. It is loaded as a subscene (or Sub-Xsheet as OpenToonz calls these).

Take note of these three icons in the animation timeline area:

Select a Sub-Xsheet layer/level, and click the first button to enter the sub timeline/scene. To exit the sub-Xsheet, click the second button.

The third button is important: it allows for in-place editing of the sub-Xsheet. If toggled ON you can animate and work with the sub-timeline within the context of the master scene. If toggled OFF only the content of the sub-scene is shown.

This way it is possible to split up your character scenes from your story scenes, and layer your characters any way you'd like. Drawing replacement for expressions and such is simple: enter the subscene with context toggled on, animate the eyes, return to the master scene.

After importing a sub-Xsheet in a master scene, it is possible to create a mesh with the plastic tool for it - just like any regular drawing. It is also possible to replace an existing sub-Xsheet with another version and still have it work with the mesh animation, but ensure that you are working in the node view to pipe in the correct level.

The mesh and skeleton may be adjusted after you created it as well. Also handy to be aware of: multiple independent skeletons can be created to control the animation. There are of course some limitations related to how different the replacement character is, but animation can be reused for different characters as well.

One of the advantages of OpenToonz: everything is kept separated as files. Scenes are easily updated and replaced. Which is a boon for teams and versioning through the use of Git as well. Animate is terrible in this regard.