TupiTube Documentation

This is the module where you design every frame of your animation projects. From here, you will draw every detail of your characters and scenarios as you are adding new frames to the timeline of your story. In other words, we could say that this is where the magic happens.

;#; Fig 12. Animation Module Interface ;#;

Tip: To switch to the Animation module from other module tabs, use the shortcut Ctrl+1.

In the previous section, we described the general components of Tupi's interface. Now let's go in deep into the Animation module, starting from the elements inside the Animation tab.

The Animation tab is formed by a clean canvas (1) in the center (think of it as a paper sheet if you wish), that's the drawing area specifically where frames are created. This canvas is surrounded by two rulers (2) at top border and at left border. Additionally, the Animation tab contains two toolbars: one at top (3) containing a set of edition tools and one at left (4) full of drawing and miscellaneous utilities. At right, there is a properties panel (5) containing features related to the selected tool from the left toolbar. And finally, at bottom, you will see a toolbar (6) with several controls related to the canvas behavior.

;#; Fig 13. Animation Tab ;#;

This toolbar includes several utilities:

• The control to switch from Frames, Static Background and Dynamic modes.
• Drawing edit tools like Do, Undo, Copy, Paste, Cut and Delete.
• Onion skin tools to enable previous and next frames over the drawing canvas and to set the onion skin opacity level.

;#; Fig 14. Animation Tab Top Toolbar ;#;

This toolbar includes all the drawing/painting resources: Pencil, Ink tool, Polyline, Primitive tools (Rectangle, Ellipse, Line), Object Selection, Node Selection, Fill tools, Tweening tools and a complementary set of Miscellaneous tools (Export frame as Image, Storyboard settings, Camera and Papagayo lip-sync files).

;#; Fig 15. Animation Tab Left Toolbar ;#;

This toolbar includes several controls and utilities related to the canvas behavior like: Grid, Zoom, Canvas Rotation, Full Screen mode and some status displays (Current Pen Color, Background Color, Current Tool).

;#; Fig 16. Animation Tab Bottom Toolbar ;#;

Ok, now let's review the panels located at Tupi's sidebars and their relationship with the Animation module.

;#; Fig 17. Tupi Sidebar Resources ;#;

As its name suggest, this is the panel where we choose the color that we want for our drawing regardless of the shape or form that we are going to trace. It is important to note that while not modifying the current color, absolutely everything drawn keeps the same color, until you select a different one for the next shape.

;#; Fig 18. Color Palette ;#;

The “Pen” tool in our context is the type of tool you use to draw. You may want to think about the pen as the type of tip you're going to use for your pencil. This panel allows you to modify characteristics of the boom, it's thickness, type of edges and the endings of the strokes and the continuity of the line (for example, you can make plot points, if you wish).

;#; Fig 19. Pen Properties ;#;

The function of this component is to allow you to store a copy of those figures or images that are part of our project and we want to reuse in other frames of the same animation or other project. This resource is useful in animation where you know that some of the components that you draw will appear again and again in further scenes.

;#; Fig 20. Library ;#;

¿Do you know what is a scene? Let's give a simple definition: think about a movie or a TV commercial, have you notice the they are composed of many small fragments sorted in a special way that tells an story? These fragments use to be recognized easily because the camera position or your view point of the story changes. Understanding this concept, it's easier to describe this component: using this panel we can create and remove every one of the scenes that we want to include in our animation project.

Tip: Before you start your animation project, it's very important to list all the scenes you want to create and define the sequence you want for them. Pay attention to the advises given in the section “First the first!” of our basic example.

;#; Fig 21. Scenes Manager ;#;

The Exposure Sheet is a vital resource to illustrate each of the “moments” that are part of your animation. Through it, you can add or delete new frames and new layers to each of your scenes. In addition, this panel have the control to select the frames you want to edit in the Workspace from a single click. This functionality combined with the option of Onion Skin feature in Editing Panel will offer the necessary elements to make your animations look fluid. This will be much easier to understand, after you review the example of the next chapter.

;#; Fig 22. Exposure Sheet ;#;

This component is one of the most emblematic in the world of digital animation and is the most popular among animation software. It performs functions similar to those in Exposure Sheet, with the difference that this component can preview your animation. For <b>Tupi</b>, this component is still under development but we hope to have ready in future releases.

;#; Fig 23. Time Line ;#;

;#; Back to Basic Manual ;#;