Future Pivot feature suggestions (e.g. bendy lines)

[peterbone]

erm, a bug I think

http://i.imgur.com/GO1ekUg.png

created a new figure type, and it highlights the onion skins of a totally unrelated figure, as if they shared an ID or whatever it was that let them have multiple onion skins. no idea why.

Thanks Static. Can you email [email protected] in future since this is not related to bendy lines. A new figure added to the animation will have a new unique ID. Do you have a method to recreate this error every time so that I can recreate it?

[tuna]

no, sorry.

[ZucchiniJuice]

RIP multiple node backs.

Oh, and screw those people who said pivot is becoming too "easy".
When I will actually complain is when animating is not actual animating, its rotoscoping all movements.

When there is an addition to make high quality effects easier, instead of a cluster of sticks, I'll be happy as hell.
All I can think of is the draw feature in edit mode... then pivot turns it into nodes like what it does with sprites... to make making effects easier.

Peter, you should make a thread on Pivot 5 suggestions on the main pivot forums, name the ones you already heard of, and we'll brainstorm.

[Gifgiff]

What a nice way to implement curved segments! I'm surprised nobody asked for this before, because it looks incredibly useful. Every new feature like this opens up a lot of windows for experimentation, and there are bound to be a bunch of clever uses for curvy segments that haven't been dreamt up yet.

I wish I had some suggestions, but I can't think of any ways to improve the feature without adding complexity. It's elegant the way it is!

Since others have mentioned it, I might as well raise my hand too. I haven't used Pivot 4 much, but from the little I have, I agree: an option to disable all automatic segment snapping would come in handy, so long as there was still a convenient way to return segments to their default length and curvature.

And hey, by the way, thanks for all the memories! I don't even remember what age I was when I found your program, but the amount of enjoyment I've gotten out of it over the years is nothing short of astounding. Judging from the ginormous community that's grown around it, it looks like I'm not the only one. Heck, by chance I've met several people in person that have played around with Pivot. It's well known and deserves to be. Thanks for finding the time to give it some tender loving care again!

[peterbone]

What a nice way to implement curved segments! I'm surprised nobody asked for this before, because it looks incredibly useful. Every new feature like this opens up a lot of windows for experimentation, and there are bound to be a bunch of clever uses for curvy segments that haven't been dreamt up yet.

I wish I had some suggestions, but I can't think of any ways to improve the feature without adding complexity. It's elegant the way it is!

Since others have mentioned it, I might as well raise my hand too. I haven't used Pivot 4 much, but from the little I have, I agree: an option to disable all automatic segment snapping would come in handy, so long as there was still a convenient way to return segments to their default length and curvature.

And hey, by the way, thanks for all the memories! I don't even remember what age I was when I found your program, but the amount of enjoyment I've gotten out of it over the years is nothing short of astounding. Judging from the ginormous community that's grown around it, it looks like I'm not the only one. Heck, by chance I've met several people in person that have played around with Pivot. It's well known and deserves to be. Thanks for finding the time to give it some tender loving care again!

Thanks for your nice comments. I sometimes meet people who know Pivot as well. Very strange.

[The Black Mamba]

Pivot is huge, I wouldn't be surprised.

[Dataizm]

RIP multiple node backs.

I feel multiple back nodes are more consistent then bendy backs. If you look at flash stick figure line animation, you can still find animators that animate the back like it's a joint ( a two piece back).

Anyways these are some feature that I find will be nice in pivot:
-Ovals
-node locking ( the option to make some nodes remain in place even if you highlight them)
-zooming in/ out
-layers (more in closer to Photoshop or GIMP layers than Flash layers.)

Hope pivot 5 turns into a great success

[Coweetie]

i don't know if i can report a bug here, but i just post it though.



the preview image shows the black line underneath the white lines, while the black line is hidden in the actual frame..
here's the piv http://www.animtube.net/images/faq/previewscreen.piv

[Anton]

The preview line is not full dark, it's a little gray-ish.

I think it's due to optimization, the actual frame is not rendered exactly as the preview frames.

[Coweetie]

The preview line is not full dark, it's a little gray-ish.

I think it's due to optimization, the actual frame is not rendered exactly as the preview frames.

seems legit. :)
i never realised that though

[peterbone]

i don't know if i can report a bug here, but i just post it though.

Spoiler:

the preview image shows the black line underneath the white lines, while the black line is hidden in the actual frame..
here's the piv http://www.animtube.net/images/faq/previewscreen.piv

Thanks. I'll have a look at what's going on there. It may just be a rounding issue. To draw a line segment it has to round to the nearest pixel. So when drawing at a much smaller scale (for the preview for example) the positions can end up slightly different.

[Coweetie]

I'd have some suggestions to make animating a little more handy, don't knof if someone already suggested it.

-bigger canvas size (so that if a stickfigure gets outside of it, you can move with the scrollbars left/right/up/down to it) or a zooming feature for the whole canvas.

It sometimes happen to me that I have some figures outside the stage and press ctrl+a and then scale everything bigger(for example). that way I kinda "loose" my figures outside the stage. I have a lot of figures in the file most of the time, scrolling through with the mousewheel is not a good solution,since I don't know which figure i am currently selecting with it. selecting one part of attached segments doesnt help since i cant select the whole figure then, to get it back by for example using "move to center"



-seeing the stickfigure name when selected (maybe somewhere on the bottom? or in a sort of list of figures?) would be helpful for when a figure is outside of the canvas, and also when using lots of little sticks, especially when replacing them in every frame (I do that when I need to edit something in after I made the animation)



-whole figure is marked when selecting the center joint of a combined figure (when a figure is very big and parts get out of the canvas, but are attached to the figure- or when it has alot attached figures and you have backgroundsticks there too. can be confusing to need to select all the right joints in each frame)

-ability to change nodes color-would be helpful for multiple stick use)

-lock nodes on stage (so they cant be selected or moved the time it is locked)
would be helpful when certain sticks should stay on place while moving everything else

-A little display maybe for rotation and length information of the selected segment (would be VERY helpful for tinier movements and to get a segment back to original length. that autosnapping you implemented somehow doesnt work all the time, for example when the segment is much longer)


it maybe would be nice to edit length and rotation directly with numbers (writing in 121° to rotate it from 120 to 121)

-as often said, the polyfill for 3 or more nodes :D also the copy and paste from one frame to another, which I already saw you implementing.

Kind of a preview of one frame, where you see the output without what is around the stage (animating mode:nodes visible, preview mode: no nodes visible, and you cant move something then). the nodes sometimes cover what I need to see. exporting to an image everytime just to see what I have is time intense.






I know that you want to keep pivot simple. those are just some suggestions which could make the usage maybe a bit easier for, maybe, experienced pivot users. I find pivot a really great program, and I like the idea of it. adding stuff like the above would simplify the animating itself by reducing the time expenses.
for example:
I need half an hour for making a decent background, but only because I need to "fill" everything with segments when I want to have a color in it. I want to be creative in this program, but having to "fill" stuff like this, breaks it down enormously.. Iyes, I could use sprites, gut I want to move stuff in my backgrounds.)

Having, lets say, 50 frames done and editing a new figure in takes me about 5 to 8 times longer just because I have to reposition the figure again all the time. (but as I said, it seems you already make copypaste. : D )

I need to search for the right stick too long (in my opinion) when it happened to be outside the canvas. it happens to me when accidently resizing all figures. (once deselected- not intentionally- they're kind of lost outside.)

Selecting all joints of one stick with attached segments is in my opinion just annoying when i want to resize the whole figure.

When I have border sticks (for decoration at the borders of the stage for example) which I dont want to resize, I need to deselect them everytime / only select those I want to resize. its no big deal, until there are more than ~30 sticks in the stage (counting in the attached segments too, because you have to select all of them separately)



I hope I could give you some good ideas with this. And I hope you don't think too complicated about them, those Ideas are just suggestions to make animating in pivot more attractive and handy.

[Anton]

Kind of a preview of one frame, where you see the output without what is around the stage (animating mode:nodes visible, preview mode: no nodes visible, and you cant move something then). the nodes sometimes cover what I need to see. exporting to an image everytime just to see what I have is time intense.

I think of a keyboard key that when you hold it down, it shows the preview, and when you release it, you're back to the nodes again. Then, making/editing tiny details would be so much more confortable.

[SIFTER]

Copy-paste figures from a .piv to another and a zoom tool. This is all I need. There is the magnefier tool for that, but it's really awkward to work with. So, in-built tools are more handy dandy. Plus the ability to anti-alias sprites. I don't know if it's possible, but if it is. That would save many's lives. And what Coweetie said wouldn't neseccarily make the software look more complicated. She has very useful ideas.

[Coweetie]

Copy-paste figures from a .piv to another and a zoom tool.

you can copy and paste a frame from one piv to another, therefore you have the figure. you cant combine it though with previous frames (which I think peter is implementing, at least from one frame to another in one piv by now)
but if it is a figure with attached segments you still have to built it new in your previous frames, if you meant this...

and yes, zooming. just like in photoshop. that would be so nice

I think of a keyboard key that when you hold it down, it shows the preview, and when you release it, you're back to the nodes again. Then, making/editing tiny details would be so much more confortable.

yes, that would be a great idea!