Image type layers contain a single frame, but hold it indefinitely, according to the duration of the layer on TVPaint's timeline. When a new TVPaint project is created, it will by default be comprised of a single empty frame in a single Image layer. While convenient for certain purposes, it should be noted that Image layers (being really just a single frame) never contain animation. Animated content can only exist in Anim Layers, which provide sequential individual frames. Image layers can be converted to Anim layers for this purpose using the Make Anim Layer option in TVPaint's Layer menu (as well as several other ways.)

Frames can be added to a layer in a number of ways. For example, the white 'layer handles' at each end of the layer's representative strip in the timeline pane of the Layer panel can be dragged with the mouse, resulting in the appearance of a popup Stretch menu with several options. Please see the next question for other alternatives. In TVPaint Animation Pro you can do it just by clicking anywhere in Xsheet.

The Layer menu items Insert Image and Duplicate Image are fairly self-explanatory. Insert Image provides a numeric popup allowing you to select how many frames to insert, and each has convenient keystroke shortcuts. (As noted earlier, adding frames to an Image Layer merely extends the duration of the layer -- new individual frames only result when adding frames to layers of the Anim Layer type.

Just use the option 'Insert Images Before Current Image...' in the Layer menu.

TVPaint Animation's layer system is effectively unlimited. Note that using multiple 'preloaded' layers (discussed in the TVPaint Animation reference manual Lesson 05 : Handling TVPaint project, section Dependencies) at large resolutions and of long duration can tax system resources, resulting in some latency.

The HUD, or Heads Up Display, is a group of interactive controls for Effects in the FX Stack that appear overlaid directly on the Project Window when the HUD is enabled and Preview Mode is on.

Yes. With the HUD and Preview enabled, depress [Shift] when dragging the mouse in the Project Window. [Shift + LMB] controls Heading and Pitch, while [Shift + RMB] adjusts Bank.

TVPaint Animation's 2 Point Stabilization effect can be used to quickly and easily align scanned sequences using peg holes or registration marks.

TVPaint products provides you this with its ScanCleaner Effect.

Artists do not 'clone' (that's for geneticists.) Artists use a Pantograph instead. Please see the sub-heading Panto Drawing Mode in the TVPaint Animation Reference Manual, Lesson 02 : Drawing Basics, section further details.

TVPaint Animation's Merge modes serve much the same purpose, but of course are only applied when layers are actually Merged. You may find it useful instead to use the similar Blend modes provided in the Render tab of the Keyframer effect to simulate the result of transfer modes for interactive experimentation.

You can do this without complex scripting:

1: Add a new action to a custom toolbar.

2: Enter the 2 commands scripts:


tv_ResizePage 320 256 2 (320 256 is the size)


tv_LayerMergeAll (to tells TVPA to merge all the layers)

Cut out a rectangular brush or animbrush in the current image or selection of the current layer. The x1 y1 and x2 y2 arguments are the coordinates of the top left and bottom right corners of the rectangle, respectively. The button and anim arguments may be equal to 0 or 1. The button argument simulates pressing on the mouse left button (equal to 0) or the right button (equal to 1). The left button simply makes a cutout, whereas the right makes the cutout and also erases it from the image. The anim argument indicates if the brush is to be cut in the current image only (value 0) or in the entire selection (value 1) in the current layer. In the latter case you will obtain an animbrush.

tv_BrushCut 1 1 24 24 0 cuts a 22x22 dimension bush.

Create a button in custom panel (with 'Add Action'). Create a 'Type Script's Command' action in the 'None' popup. In the small popup window, type tv_loadproject whereeveryourfileis.

Choose an icon for your button and there you go! You must put the file name between double quotes(") if it contains spaces. You should preferably use the full path name, with a drive letter. While TVPA does its best to find a file without path, it can not check on the whole drive, that would take too much time, it will just check in a few directories 'known to him'. Do not put quotes around the whole command. It should read: tv_loadproject "C:/the/path/to/the/file.tvp".


Oh, one last thing, use '/' instead of '', that's much friendlier to scripting languages which uses '' to 'escape' some special characters.


An other possibility of the software in to create a template as you can see on Lesson 05 of TVPaint Anmation manual.

Use the simple command:

tv_projectduplicate

Several method to erase:

1: Brush mode to Erase (F4). I think it is what you did.

2: Press U.

3: Use the 'Death Head' on the Main Panel to erase the current image or seletion (Keyboard Shift K).

You can restrict the area you want to erase with selection.

You can erase several images by selecting them on the layer panel.

You can also set the tool to erase mode, set a large brush, and then create a custom toolbar button to access this tool.


Do not forget to make one to flip back to your default pencil.

There are many ways to do it.

One way:

1: Select the 'Magic Wand CutBrush' and cut the hand.

2: You will have the hand as a custombrush. So you can rotate, scale and redraw it wherever you want.

In the Main panel, right below the selection tools are the brush grabbing tools. Select your characters arm with one of these tools and you'll then have the arm as a brush that you can paint with, and if you go into the edit menu from the Tool Panel - you can perform any changes youd like including rotation, just make sure you hit 'apply changes' or it will seem like nothing happened.


You can place any brushes in the Brush Bin (right beside Options in the Custom Brush Tool Panel, to save them for use later - or you can add them as icons in your own Custom Panel - for quick access.

The creation of an animated brush is also described at manual Lesson 04.

1: Choose the Magic Wand Select tool of the main panel.

2: In the tool panel increase the expand parameter and the smooth parameter.

3: Click on the background behind your character. (I suppose this background have only one color or is transparent).

4: Open a new layer.

5: Fill in the selected area with the white color by using the floodfill tool of the main panel.


You can also use the new Stylise > Toonshading effect with the Color > Image Source effect.

The only way to use other merge modes is by actually merging the layers, by drag-n-dropping one layer 'on' the other (use the icons on the left of the timeline). Then a popup shows-up for you to choose the merge mode.

To pan a bigger video in a smaller project, you do:

1: Load the big video to pan in a project by itself.

2: Use that project as source in whatever effect you use (usually the KeyFramer for panning).

About the keyframer, there is an exemple in the user-manual: Lesson 14. The multiplane camera is explained in the Lesson 15.

No option are available to do this task, but a script can easily do it.

To mix colors without adding some, use Special Brushes tool in moving mode. Make back and forth passes on the concerned zone. To modify the color of drawing, it is necessary to assign keyboard shortcuts with color functions. That's done in the preferences window (menus: Edit/General Preferences, keyboard/configuration). This functions allows you to modify on the fly the R, G, B, Saturation, Hue and Luminosity components of the color. One can also sail in the color panel and thus benefit from color gradations. These functions are also available by the action buttons of the personalized windows. You can also assign several functions with only one key. One can thus vary values more quickly.

TVPaint has many many options and settings. When sometimes your pen may seem to stop working, usually its just a question of reseting one little switch somewhere. To better help you find it, here is a checklist that also includes some other common causes for pen troubles.

Check these settings:

1: The alpha chanelbox, this is the grey gradient button left of the R,G and B buttons in the top bar...(boy a picture would be nice here it takes so many words to describe!) make sure it is off, because it locks all current pixels of a frame and won't allow you to draw outside of them.

2: Did you make a selection earlier? you cannot draw outside a selection. Clear the selection by choosing one of the 5 selection tools in the main panel (first 5 buttons in the second row) and then click clear in its selection tool panel.

3: Do you maybe have a stencil on? check the 'S' colomn in the layer panel. to switch them off they should be turned grey.

4: Is the layer transparency, of the layer you are trying to draw on, high enough?

5: Drawing mode, is it set to color ? you can check it in the tool panel directly under the tool icons

6: Your tool settings, does your tool have enough opacity? Is it big enough?

7: Make sure the opacity of the layer in which you are working is set high enough.

8: Are you maybe drawing in the same color as the background color? Set the background to checkers to find out (bottom of the layerpanel).

9: Is there an opaque layer on top of the layer you are working on? reduce its opacity or hide it (click its green button in the layer panel).