Author Topic: Animation timeline: multiple layers  (Read 3193 times)

andreaspinelliart

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Animation timeline: multiple layers
on: May 31, 2022, 06:06:49 AM
Hi everyone!

First of all, congratulations for all the news regarding the animation feature, it is really useful.

As a professional animation designer I would like to ask you for a feature that I personally consider essential to use Artstudio Pro professionally on iPad.

Currently, like most iPad animation apps, Artstudio Pro structures the animation timeline into layer groups:

FRAME 1
   Layer1
   Layer2
   Layer3
   ...

FRAME 2
   Layer1
   Layer2
   Layer3
   ...

FRAME 3
   Layer1
   Layer2
   Layer3
   ...


This is very inconvenient for those who, working with frame by frame animation, have to color many frames using multiple layers because they are disconnected from each other and each time you have to open / close groups, select the level etc ...

On the other hand a structure like the following would be much faster and comfortable:

LAYER 1 – Frame1, Frame2, Frame3 ...
LAYER 2 – Frame1, Frame2, Frame3 ...
LAYER 3 – Frame1, Frame2, Frame3 ...

A sort of horizontal timeline, similar to software like Krita or Adobe Animate for example.
One of the rare iPad animation apps that uses this type of structure I refer to is called iArtbook and can be found on the App Store.

If you could add this kind of timeline I think many animators would be thrilled :-)

I hope I have explained myself better and thank you for reading me!

Andrea
Last Edit: May 31, 2022, 06:09:01 AM by andreaspinelliart

Lucky Clan

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Re: Animation timeline: multiple layers
Reply #1 on: May 31, 2022, 06:59:42 AM
We will consider more animation features in future versions.

ps. You can mark layer as "always visible" to show it in all frames...

andreaspinelliart

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Re: Animation timeline: multiple layers
Reply #2 on: May 31, 2022, 09:43:04 AM
Thank you for your reply and advice!

Hope you'll develop horizontal timeline very soon  :)

Andrea

mattnava

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Re: Animation timeline: multiple layers
Reply #3 on: June 03, 2022, 10:07:31 PM
I started a thread a while ago discussing this issue here. You can get some more context from that discussion related to the topic. I am also very interested in this feature!

https://www.luckyclan.com/forum/index.php?topic=2883.0

andreaspinelliart

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Re: Animation timeline: multiple layers
Reply #4 on: June 04, 2022, 02:48:00 AM
Thank you so much, glad to see I am not the only one to request this feature!

Honestly I don't get why pro digital paint apps decide to implement animation (and that's great) but without considering this simple rows structure... Even if we talk about simple animation.

Artstudio Pro would be the perfect and full featured app for my illustration and animation work if this feature would be implemented.

I understand when staff tell us "we'll consider this in the future" but this makes me totally despondent because there's no app on the entire ipad store that has the power of Artstudio Pro (Procreate apart but it has the same "lack" structure in animation) and I am afraid we'll have to wait a lot for having this feature. :-(
Last Edit: June 04, 2022, 02:51:06 AM by andreaspinelliart

mattnava

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Re: Animation timeline: multiple layers
Reply #5 on: June 04, 2022, 05:08:42 AM
I totally agree that it would set Artstudio apart as one of the few apps with very high quality painting features and a pro set of anim tools.

It's definitely a bummer, but the devs of Artstudio are singularly unique in how attentive and responsive they are to user opinion and feedback. They are really fantastic! I do trust that they have thoughtfully considered this suggestion.

The other apps I know of that have this feature are Rough Animator and Clip Studio. To my knowledge they are as good as it gets for animation on the iPad currently. Calipeg is also interesting and powerful for animation, if perhaps a bit less intuitive than the others. I'll have to check out iArtbook, hadnt heard of that one before.

andreaspinelliart

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Re: Animation timeline: multiple layers
Reply #6 on: June 04, 2022, 05:37:38 AM
I agree with everything you wrote and thank you for the suggestions regarding the apps!

In the meantime that Artstudio Pro staff evaluates whether to implement the feature we so long for, I would like to suggest you to try iArtbook, it is very similar to what we have described in this topic and it is the best app I have found in this sense.

Clip Studio paint is great but I find its interface terribly difficult (and most of all I hate monthly/yearly payment plans)!

As for the desktop, Krita is great but I am a Mac user and Krita is based on OpenGL so sadly it doesn't work properly for me. :-(

And yes, I absolutely agree on the speed with which the staff of Artstudio Pro intercepts and implements the requests of its users (which for example happens much more rarely in relation to other communities / apps). Praise them!

LCArt

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Re: Animation timeline: multiple layers
Reply #7 on: June 08, 2022, 02:34:40 PM
I agree with everything you wrote and thank you for the suggestions regarding the apps!

In the meantime that Artstudio Pro staff evaluates whether to implement the feature we so long for, I would like to suggest you to try iArtbook, it is very similar to what we have described in this topic and it is the best app I have found in this sense.

Clip Studio paint is great but I find its interface terribly difficult (and most of all I hate monthly/yearly payment plans)!

As for the desktop, Krita is great but I am a Mac user and Krita is based on OpenGL so sadly it doesn't work properly for me. :-(

And yes, I absolutely agree on the speed with which the staff of Artstudio Pro intercepts and implements the requests of its users (which for example happens much more rarely in relation to other communities / apps). Praise them!

sadly iartbook dev is kind of trash, i bought his app some time ago when it had a different name, and after 3-4 more name changes he released a free version with a paid "pro" option (current version) and after a few days removed the app i paid for, reported him to apple but they did nothing, so beware.

On the other hand, if you want a better animation app than iartbook that is 100% free, try Mooltik, has horizontal timeline with the option to add scenes, duplicate em and more (really hope artstudio gets similar to this app in the future), its biggest flaw is the lack of brushes but they have a discord server and are open to suggestions

andreaspinelliart

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Re: Animation timeline: multiple layers
Reply #8 on: June 08, 2022, 04:16:58 PM
Hey! Just tried Mooltik the other day, honestly it's very basic, no brush options and too much "minimalist" for me...

Hope Lucky Clan will develop horizontal timeline for Artstudio Pro soon as possible!