[Chris Thomas]

Very nice insight, Joe.. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head.

I’ve got my fingers crossed that this functionality is added in the future. In the meantime, I’ll try to find workarounds, and will update this thread if I come across anything particularly great. And, of course, if anyone else out there wants to weigh in—I’m sure we’d all love to hear from you.

[Chris Thomas]

Glad you like the tip! It’s not perfect, but it’s something.

I never use the AE particle emitter; Particular is just too powerful! I probably use it in some way on every project I do.

[Chris Thomas]

I remember it taking me a while to figure out how to paint on an image or comp—it’s surprisingly unintuitive. But if you:

• Precomp what you want to draw on top of
• Hit command+b to select the brush tool
• Double-click the precomp

It will open in a layer window, not a comp window.. and you can paint right on top of it. Super unintuitive.. but hey, that’s what it takes.

I’ve never understood needing to paint in a layer window. Personally I don’t see why it can’t be done simply in the comp window, so you don’t have to precomp the items you wish to draw on top of.

[Chris Thomas]

Oh yeah—for some stuff, absolutely! But for a lot of smaller effects, having a simple 2-10 pixel hard-edged brush is all I need.. and for that, AE would be perfect.

[Chris Thomas]

Thanks for the links! I’ve used both of those tutorials in the past, and they’re great. Also, love the work that Daniel does—he’s got a fantastic eye for frame-by-frame stuff.

I know a lot of people use PS (including me), but I still think there’s a huge market for being able to do a lot of that work in AE. AE is made for motion, and PS isn’t (despite their continued updates to the software). For me, I’d love to see it all happening within the software that I’m using for all the rest of my animation work.

In the meantime, PS will work for me.. I’m just throwing out a line in case anyone else feels the same way.

[Chris Thomas]

Hey Todd—

Exciting that you’ve addressed this issue in a meeting yesterday! Glad to hear it’s on the table.

If you have a moment, I’d love it if you read my specific thoughts on drawing frame-by-frame animation in AE. I’m not sure of onion skinning will only be available in the Vector Paint effect, but it would be great to have it in the normal “Paint” effect, too.

It seems as if having a way to paint frame-by-frame in AE is such a low-tech solution that it’s not really addressed in the software. However, as motion graphics continues to use more and more hand-done work, it’s a feature that I find myself needing more and more.

Anyways! My two thoughts. Thanks!
Chris

[Chris Thomas]

Hi Joe,

Yes, I know this can be done in Photoshop.. but I still don’t find the workflow ideal—

• Make a new layer
• Change opacity of layer below
• Draw a new shape
• Repeat
• Change all opacities back to 100
• Export image sequence
• Import image sequence
• Review
• Make changes
• Repeat

AE is one step off from having a beautifully simple interface which allows me to draw, hit “page down,” draw again, then hit “0” when I want to watch the whole thing. It would allow for such better iteration and faster workflow.

I’ve been doing my animations in PS now and it’s just not as simple as it could be in AE. Being able to preview what I’ve done after a few frames would be unbelievably helpful.

Thanks for the thought, though—
C

[Chris Thomas]

Unfortunately the script doesn’t work because all of the “painting” in AE takes place within a layer window, not a comp window. That means onion-skinning a comp would only help you after you’ve already drawn the animation—not while you’re currently in the layer window painting it.

I think either one of two things needs to happen:

1. There needs to be a way of painting/drawing in AE without having to open the layer up in an official “layer window” (something that’s incredibly annoying and should go away regardless)

2. There needs to be a way to turn on onion skinning within a layer window

Thanks for the thought though, Jeff! Anyone else out there have an idea? I feel like there should be—somewhere—a third-party plugin that utilizes the brush tool for this sort of simple thing.

[Chris Thomas]

Wow, Kevin!

That worked! I was able to use that plugin, plus several more. Granted, everything runs really, really slow. What exactly does opening doing Rosetta do?

Thanks!
Chris

[Chris Thomas]

Hi Kevin,

I’m doing something similar now, and it works/looks great.

My only problem is that my shape is being created by a mask and animates throughout the piece. Having a one-layer solution allows me to just edit one mask and have the entire shape follow suit. Using two layers essentially doubles my workload, plus the hassle of making the two shapes match up each time. And the eventual buttload of edits to come? It’ll just be a nightmare, seeing how I’m using hundreds of these shape layers.

Very good idea, though.. and, in another project, would be the perfect solution. 🙂

Thanks for your help!
Chris