Documentation

Add instances

In the Working with instances chapter, we learned how to create 4 new instances by appending or duplicating instances. Indeed, a right click on the Timeline opens a contextual menu which allows you to Insert Images. You can Append Images (after) the current image but you can also Insert Images (before) before the current image.



A numeric field will appear when choosing one of those two options. You can Append or Insert one or several empty instances.



For the Duplicate Images option, another field will appear, letting you duplicate one or several instances. Whether they are empty or not, you will have a replica of your current instance (or the selected ones).



We also learned that the button creates new empty instances. However, there are alternative methods to create new instances.

• You can simply place yourself on the frame after your first instance and begin a new drawing.



A new instance is then created, but containing the previous instance's drawing.



We learned before how to erase the content of an instance, it is very easy to start again on an empty area. We may also need the previous drawing to continue the animation.



This is possible thanks to the following options (activated by default) which are to be found in the Timeline: Auto break instance () and Auto create instance ().



Be careful, if these options are disabled (), you will not be able to draw if an instance hasn't been created beforehand, and the following message will appear in the info bar:



• You can also use the little grey strip on the right of an instance and stretch it to the wished number of instances (15 for example):



By releasing the click, the Increase Layer Length window will appear.



Click on Empty instances, then on Apply. The 15 (depending on your choice) instances will be created.

Let’s review this panel’s options:
Interpolation is nothing but a fade effect computed and applied by TVPaint Animation to fill the intermediary images which will be inserted between the original images. By clicking on Hold, you will open a sub-menu giving you 3 other choices: Loop, Ping-pong and Exposure.



The next example gives you an idea of the effects produced by the various options.


Original Layer to be stretched to the right.


Stretch without interpolation.


Stretch with interpolation.


Repeat: Loop.


Repeat: Ping-Pong.


Repeat: Hold.


Repeat: Exposure.


Add empty Instances.


Add empty Exposures.

We’ve just reviewed how to create instances from the left to the right. However, it's also possible to create instances from the right to the left, using the left strip.