Mistakes in the user guide

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Thierry
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Re: Mistakes in the user guide

Post by Thierry »

D.T. Nethery wrote: 31 Dec 2022, 13:46But there is no Video Output panel (this was removed several versions ago, at least on the Mac version. Does it still exist on Windows version ?)
It still exists on Windows, yes.
We will update the documentation regarding this, and the Panning tool keyboard shortcuts.
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D.T. Nethery
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Re: Mistakes in the user guide

Post by D.T. Nethery »

Re-reading an old topic regarding the KeyFramer tool I am reminded that these keyboard shortcuts are very handy for using the Keyframer:

CTRL LMB moves pivot offset (pivot remains in place)
CTRL RMB will change the z-value ( which is something else then scaling)
SHIFT LMB adjusts the Heading and Pitch.
SHIFT RMB would Bank it (change the Angle)

These keyboard shortcuts are not mentioned in the User Guide in the section on Using the Keyframer https://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvp11/index ... -keyframer , nor in the video tutorial on the Keyframer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZhzTo4hOgo , but should be added to the User Guide (and any updated video tutorials that are planned)

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D.T. Nethery
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Re: Mistakes in the user guide

Post by D.T. Nethery »

I hope no one minds if I bring up a suggestion for the User Guide that I previously posted in this thread.. I still think this is worth adding to the User Guide. Believe it or not , some people still like to animate on paper or at least sketch out some drawings on paper , then scan the drawings to import into TVPaint. It doesn't have to be for animation. It could be a single image drawn on paper that the user wants to scan and then color it in TVPaint.

This is not a "mistake" as such in the User Guide, but is a suggestion for expanding on the explanation of one of the Color FX in the FX Stack: the Black & White Converter .

This is how it currently appears in the User Guide: https://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvp11/index ... lack-white

Looking at this page most animators are going to immediately move on to the next page without really understanding how this Black & White Converter effect could be useful to them.

My suggestion is to explain in more detail how this effect can be applied to scanned animation drawings which have either red or blue or green under-drawing , and the user wants to drop out the red, blue, or green lines, leaving only the black lines. Red or blue tend to be the most commonly used colors for the underdrawing in animation and also comics.

It should be explained more clearly how the Red , Green, Blue Channels in the Black & White Converter function similarly to how the "Channels" tab in Photoshop functions , because many users are more familiar with Photoshop and they don't know if TVPaint has the same or similar functions in every case.

Here is an example of what I am proposing should be demonstrated in the User Manual regarding Black & White Converter RGB channel adjustments. (a video tutorial would also be useful).

Let us say the user has drawn their animation on paper , using red pencil as the underdrawing for construction of the rough drawing, then knocking down the red lines using a kneaded eraser, cleaning-up on top of the red pencil lines with black pencil. When the drawings are scanned if a red channel filter is not used during the scanning , then the red lines will need to be removed when the drawings are imported into TVPaint.

This is easily accomplished by using the Black and White Converter (along with a combination of the Scan Cleaner Black and White , and optionally the Anti-Aliasing in the FX Stack).


click the images to view them full size
TVPaint_scanned_drawings_need_cleaning.png
(for the demonstration I used the girl from "Journey Through Creativity")


TVPaint_FX_Stack_to_clean_scanned_drawings.png

TVPaint_Black_White_Converter_settings.png
(obviously, if the colored pencil lines are blue pencil or green pencil, use the blue or green channel set to 255
and the other two channels set to 0)



I was reminded of the need to add this explanation to the User Guide because I had the experience of explaining this process to an associate who was new to TVPaint and was unaware that this function was possible in TVPaint , so he was laboriously importing all his scanned drawings to Photoshop first ,creating a Photoshop Action to remove the red channel , then importing the drawings into TVPaint for Scan Cleaning , Peg Hole Registration, and Coloring. When I showed him there was no need to go through Photoshop first, he could do all of this easily in TVPaint, he was very happy to know about it , but remarked that he would never have understood he could remove the red lines (or blue lines , or green lines) from reading the section on the Black and White Converter in the User Guide. There is a perception among some people that TVPaint tends to "hide" information from the user that could be presented in a clear, upfront manner, instead of assuming that another more experienced user will enlighten the new user or that the new user may accidentally stumble upon the information themselves by trial & error.

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Jeremy Richard
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Re: Mistakes in the user guide

Post by Jeremy Richard »

D.T. Nethery wrote: 25 Feb 2023, 20:30 Image
(obviously, if the colored pencil lines are blue pencil or green pencil, use the blue or green channel set to 255
and the other two channels set to 0)

This is a very useful technique, thank you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

I may have suggestions regarding the display of the documentation, to make it more adaptable to screen sizes (specially small screens) and subsequently maybe more practical to consult.

My suggestions would be:
  • a bigger font
  • the main body text of the documentation to adapt to smaller screens
  • the images to also adapt to smaller screens
here is an example of how it could look like:
Documentation responsive design.mp4
(15.59 MiB) Downloaded 549 times
this is how it looks at the moment:
Documentation not responsive design.jpg
Also, when on smaller screens, the main menu could maybe be in the form of a so called 'Hamburger menu', for example. Here is somebody's demonstration of a Hamburger menu.

Toon Boom's documentation on a small screen has the main menu sliding from the side, with each sub sections also sliding from the side, taking over the previous menu. It makes it still practical to navigate a large menu.

It's the same idea with Open Toonz's documentation or Krita's documentation, for example.
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D.T. Nethery
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Re: Mistakes in the user guide

Post by D.T. Nethery »

On this page in the user guide: https://www.tvpaint.com/doc/tvp11/index ... nces-start

To make a new config the user guide says:
* To create a new configuration, click on the Create button of the Startup Panel. A text window will then pop up for you to name this new configuration.

But there is no button called "Create" in the Startup Panel. The button to make a new configuration is "New".

Make New config.png
Make New config.png (29.91 KiB) Viewed 23764 times

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Thierry
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Re: Mistakes in the user guide

Post by Thierry »

Good catch!
I have fixed it. It should be reflected when the cache clears itself.
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Matthieu
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Re: Mistakes in the user guide

Post by Matthieu »

Thank you for pointing this out!

Just so everyone knows: we are currently changing the whole system behind our documentation. We are also re-writing some parts of it to make the User Guide more clear and correct mistakes (the ones which have been pointed out in this topic will be taken into account, of course). Thus, some recommended changes may not be visible during the lifetime of the current version of the documentation, but they will be when the next one is finally released.
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D.T. Nethery
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Re: Mistakes in the user guide

Post by D.T. Nethery »

In the user guide there are no instructions on how to use the Timesheet function (in face, "Timesheet" is not even mentioned in the User Guide).

I realize that the Timesheet function is primarily used by Japanese users of TVPaint , but if the function exists in TVPaint it seems that it should be explained how to use it in the user guide, because even outside of the Japanese production system , it can sometimes be useful to print out a Timesheet (aka X-Sheet) .

TVPaint_Timesheet.jpg
TVPaint_Timesheet.jpg (8.3 KiB) Viewed 859 times

There is some explanation on the usage here: https://tvpaint.com/forum-jp/viewtopic.php?t=9 but it is in Japanese language

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Hironori Takagi
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Re: Mistakes in the user guide

Post by Hironori Takagi »

D.T. Nethery wrote: 29 Jan 2024, 13:42 In the user guide there are no instructions on how to use the Timesheet function (in face, "Timesheet" is not even mentioned in the User Guide).

I realize that the Timesheet function is primarily used by Japanese users of TVPaint , but if the function exists in TVPaint it seems that it should be explained how to use it in the user guide, because even outside of the Japanese production system , it can sometimes be useful to print out a Timesheet (aka X-Sheet) .


TVPaint_Timesheet.jpg


There is some explanation on the usage here: https://tvpaint.com/forum-jp/viewtopic.php?t=9 but it is in Japanese language
The development and current state of this feature is influenced by the ups and downs in our studio's history of using TVPaint11.
(1) Back in about 2015, our studio introduced TVPaint 11 Professional Edition, but the recursive usage of XSheet (material layers and sheet layers exist in the same clip) was complicated for animators to understand.
(2) At that time, many staff members were using paper Key Animation and Xsheets, so we jointly developed a tool that ``outputs Xsheets as image data'' as an alternative.
(3) After all, our studio rules were fixed that use image files on free-hand writing.
(Perhaps this fact is something that overseas studios cannot imagine)

Currently, this panel is being used by several studios and individuals (not our studio).

Based on the recent trends, TVPaint seems to be considering improving XSheet, but the market share in Japan is becoming biased toward Clip Studio Paint (there is a tendency in Japan to use cheap tools even if they are inconvenient).
TVPaint 11.7.2(Nov 14 2023), Windows11 Pro, HP Spectre x360 Convertible 14-ea0xxx / TVPaint 11.7.1(Dec 22 2022) Mac OS 11.6, Apple MacBookPro M1 2020
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