Synfig Studio :: Documentation - User contributions [en]

Related Projects

2006-05-02T17:38:25Z

Maxy: /* Animation */ for completeness and for outsiders (going to link here from elsewhere)

__NOTOC__
==Animation==
* [http://www.synfig.com/ Synfig] - vector based 2D animation (this project!)
* [http://www.blender3d.org/ blender] - 3D modelling and animation
* [http://ktoon.toonka.com/ KToon] - Pixel-based 2D animation, similar layout to ToonBoom Studio

==Raster Image Manipulation==
* [http://www.gimp.org/ GIMP] - GNU image manipulation program
** the iwrap deformation tool can create (crude) animations
** layers can be saved as animated .gif
* [http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Using_GAP/ GAP] - GIMP Animation Plugin
* [http://www.cinepaint.org/ cinepaint] - a GIMP fork used for motion picture frame-by-frame retouching

==Vector Image Manipulation==
* [http://www.inkscape.org/ inkscape] - SVG-based vector graphics, animation capability scheduled for Milestone 20 - Inkscape 0.54
* [http://www.xaraxtreme.org/about/ xaralx] - vector graphic program
* [http://cvs.cinelerra.org/ Cinelerra] - video editor and compositor

==Video editing==
* [http://www.jahshaka.org/ jahshaka] - video and film compositing, editing and special fx system
* [http://developer.skolelinux.no/info/studentgrupper/2005-hig-stopmotion/ stopmotion] - create stop-motion movies
* [http://frameworks.polycrystal.org/ frameworks] - stop-motion frame capture

==TODO==
(Please verify URL, comment it, sort it)

*http://www.mdk.org.pl/articles/category/diva
*http://www.diva-project.org/wiki/Main_Page
*http://www.pitivi.org
*http://positron.sourceforge.net
*http://cuisine.bigasterisk.com
*http://lives.sourceforge.net
*http://www.kinodv.org/
*http://users.pandora.be/acp/kino/kinoplus.html
*http://dvbackup.sourceforge.net/
*http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/
*http://ronald.bitfreak.net/lvs/
*http://www.robfisher.net/video/
*http://www.theora.org/
*http://effectv.sourceforge.net/
*http://freej.dyne.org/
*http://www.allusion.net/bakasub/
*http://gsubedit.sourceforge.net/
*http://sourceforge.net/projects/ksubeditor/

*[http://freshmeat.net/browse/256/ Freshmeat Category: Non-Linear Video Editor]
* [http://dvr.sourceforge.net DVR], digital video recorder

Related Projects

2006-05-02T17:32:31Z

Maxy: /* Video editing */ frameworks

__NOTOC__
==Animation==
* [http://www.blender3d.org/ blender] - 3D modelling and animation
* [http://ktoon.toonka.com/ KToon] - Pixel-based 2D animation, similar layout to ToonBoom Studio

==Raster Image Manipulation==
* [http://www.gimp.org/ GIMP] - GNU image manipulation program
** the iwrap deformation tool can create (crude) animations
** layers can be saved as animated .gif
* [http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Using_GAP/ GAP] - GIMP Animation Plugin
* [http://www.cinepaint.org/ cinepaint] - a GIMP fork used for motion picture frame-by-frame retouching

==Vector Image Manipulation==
* [http://www.inkscape.org/ inkscape] - SVG-based vector graphics, animation capability scheduled for Milestone 20 - Inkscape 0.54
* [http://www.xaraxtreme.org/about/ xaralx] - vector graphic program
* [http://cvs.cinelerra.org/ Cinelerra] - video editor and compositor

==Video editing==
* [http://www.jahshaka.org/ jahshaka] - video and film compositing, editing and special fx system
* [http://developer.skolelinux.no/info/studentgrupper/2005-hig-stopmotion/ stopmotion] - create stop-motion movies
* [http://frameworks.polycrystal.org/ frameworks] - stop-motion frame capture

==TODO==
(Please verify URL, comment it, sort it)

*http://www.mdk.org.pl/articles/category/diva
*http://www.diva-project.org/wiki/Main_Page
*http://www.pitivi.org
*http://positron.sourceforge.net
*http://cuisine.bigasterisk.com
*http://lives.sourceforge.net
*http://www.kinodv.org/
*http://users.pandora.be/acp/kino/kinoplus.html
*http://dvbackup.sourceforge.net/
*http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/
*http://ronald.bitfreak.net/lvs/
*http://www.robfisher.net/video/
*http://www.theora.org/
*http://effectv.sourceforge.net/
*http://freej.dyne.org/
*http://www.allusion.net/bakasub/
*http://gsubedit.sourceforge.net/
*http://sourceforge.net/projects/ksubeditor/

*[http://freshmeat.net/browse/256/ Freshmeat Category: Non-Linear Video Editor]
* [http://dvr.sourceforge.net DVR], digital video recorder

Related Projects

2006-05-02T17:23:37Z

Maxy:

__NOTOC__
==Animation==
* [http://www.blender3d.org/ blender] - 3D modelling and animation
* [http://ktoon.toonka.com/ KToon] - Pixel-based 2D animation, similar layout to ToonBoom Studio

==Raster Image Manipulation==
* [http://www.gimp.org/ GIMP] - GNU image manipulation program
** the iwrap deformation tool can create (crude) animations
** layers can be saved as animated .gif
* [http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Using_GAP/ GAP] - GIMP Animation Plugin
* [http://www.cinepaint.org/ cinepaint] - a GIMP fork used for motion picture frame-by-frame retouching

==Vector Image Manipulation==
* [http://www.inkscape.org/ inkscape] - SVG-based vector graphics, animation capability scheduled for Milestone 20 - Inkscape 0.54
* [http://www.xaraxtreme.org/about/ xaralx] - vector graphic program
* [http://cvs.cinelerra.org/ Cinelerra] - video editor and compositor

==Video editing==
* [http://www.jahshaka.org/ jahshaka] - video and film compositing, editing and special fx system
* [http://developer.skolelinux.no/info/studentgrupper/2005-hig-stopmotion/ stopmotion] - create stop-motion movies

==TODO==
(Please verify URL, comment it, sort it)

*http://www.mdk.org.pl/articles/category/diva
*http://www.diva-project.org/wiki/Main_Page
*http://www.pitivi.org
*http://positron.sourceforge.net
*http://cuisine.bigasterisk.com
*http://lives.sourceforge.net
*http://www.kinodv.org/
*http://users.pandora.be/acp/kino/kinoplus.html
*http://dvbackup.sourceforge.net/
*http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/
*http://ronald.bitfreak.net/lvs/
*http://www.robfisher.net/video/
*http://www.theora.org/
*http://effectv.sourceforge.net/
*http://freej.dyne.org/
*http://www.allusion.net/bakasub/
*http://gsubedit.sourceforge.net/
*http://sourceforge.net/projects/ksubeditor/

*[http://freshmeat.net/browse/256/ Freshmeat Category: Non-Linear Video Editor]
* [http://dvr.sourceforge.net DVR], digital video recorder

Related Projects

2006-05-02T17:23:00Z

Maxy: /* Video editing */ stopmotion

__NOTOC__
==Animation==
* [http://www.blender3d.org/ blender] - 3D modelling and animation
* [http://ktoon.toonka.com/ KToon] - Pixel-based 2D animation, similar layout to ToonBoom Studio

==Raster Image Manipulation==
* [http://www.gimp.org/ GIMP] - GNU image manipulation program
** the iwrap deformation tool can create (crude) animations
** layers can be saved as animated .gif
* [http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Using_GAP/ GAP] - GIMP Animation Plugin
* [http://www.cinepaint.org/ cinepaint] - a GIMP fork used for motion picture frame-by-frame retouching

==Vector Image Manipulation==
* [http://www.inkscape.org/ inkscape] - SVG-based vector graphics, animation capability scheduled for Milestone 20 - Inkscape 0.54
* [http://www.xaraxtreme.org/about/ xaralx] - vector graphic program
* [http://cvs.cinelerra.org/ Cinelerra] - video editor and compositor

==Video editing==
* [http://www.jahshaka.org/ jahshaka] - video and film compositing, editing and special fx system
* [http://developer.skolelinux.no/info/studentgrupper/2005-hig-stopmotion/ stopmotion] - create stop-motion movies

==TODO==
(Please verify URL, comment it, sort it)

*http://www.mdk.org.pl/articles/category/diva
*http://www.diva-project.org/wiki/Main_Page
*http://www.pitivi.org
*http://positron.sourceforge.net
*http://cuisine.bigasterisk.com
*http://lives.sourceforge.net
*http://www.kinodv.org/
*http://users.pandora.be/acp/kino/kinoplus.html
*http://dvbackup.sourceforge.net/
*http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/
*http://ronald.bitfreak.net/lvs/
*http://www.robfisher.net/video/
*http://www.theora.org/
*http://effectv.sourceforge.net/
*http://freej.dyne.org/
*http://developer.skolelinux.no/info/studentgrupper/2005-hig-stopmotion
*http://www.allusion.net/bakasub/
*http://gsubedit.sourceforge.net/
*http://sourceforge.net/projects/ksubeditor/

*[http://freshmeat.net/browse/256/ Freshmeat Category: Non-Linear Video Editor]
* [http://dvr.sourceforge.net DVR], digital video recorder

Related Projects

2006-05-02T17:13:08Z

Maxy:

__NOTOC__
==Animation==
* [http://www.blender3d.org/ blender] - 3D modelling and animation
* [http://ktoon.toonka.com/ KToon] - Pixel-based 2D animation, similar layout to ToonBoom Studio

==Raster Image Manipulation==
* [http://www.gimp.org/ GIMP] - GNU image manipulation program
** the iwrap deformation tool can create (crude) animations
** layers can be saved as animated .gif
* [http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Using_GAP/ GAP] - GIMP Animation Plugin
* [http://www.cinepaint.org/ cinepaint] - a GIMP fork used for motion picture frame-by-frame retouching

==Vector Image Manipulation==
* [http://www.inkscape.org/ inkscape] - SVG-based vector graphics, animation capability scheduled for Milestone 20 - Inkscape 0.54
* [http://www.xaraxtreme.org/about/ xaralx] - vector graphic program
* [http://cvs.cinelerra.org/ Cinelerra] - video editor and compositor

==Video editing==
* [http://www.jahshaka.org/ jahshaka] - video and film compositing, editing and special fx system

==TODO==
(Please verify URL, comment it, sort it)

*http://www.mdk.org.pl/articles/category/diva
*http://www.diva-project.org/wiki/Main_Page
*http://www.pitivi.org
*http://positron.sourceforge.net
*http://cuisine.bigasterisk.com
*http://lives.sourceforge.net
*http://www.kinodv.org/
*http://users.pandora.be/acp/kino/kinoplus.html
*http://dvbackup.sourceforge.net/
*http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/
*http://ronald.bitfreak.net/lvs/
*http://www.robfisher.net/video/
*http://www.theora.org/
*http://effectv.sourceforge.net/
*http://freej.dyne.org/
*http://developer.skolelinux.no/info/studentgrupper/2005-hig-stopmotion
*http://www.allusion.net/bakasub/
*http://gsubedit.sourceforge.net/
*http://sourceforge.net/projects/ksubeditor/

*[http://freshmeat.net/browse/256/ Freshmeat Category: Non-Linear Video Editor]
* [http://dvr.sourceforge.net DVR], digital video recorder

Related Projects

2006-05-02T13:46:15Z

Maxy:

* [http://www.blender3d.org/ blender] - 3D modelling and animation

==Pixel based==
* [http://www.gimp.org/ GIMP] - GNU image manipulation program
** the iwrap deformation tool can create (crude) animations
** layers can be saved as animated .gif
* [http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Using_GAP/ GAP] - GIMP Animation Plugin
* [http://www.cinepaint.org/ cinepaint] - a GIMP fork used for motion picture frame-by-frame retouching

==Vector based==
* [http://www.inkscape.org/ inkscape] - vector graphics, no animations (AFAIK)
* [http://www.xaraxtreme.org/about/ xaralx] - vector graphic program
* [http://cvs.cinelerra.org/ Cinelerra] - video editor and compositor

==Video editing==
* [http://www.jahshaka.org/ jahshaka] - video and film compositing, editing and special fx system

==TODO==
(Please verify URL, comment it, sort it)

*http://www.mdk.org.pl/articles/category/diva
*http://www.diva-project.org/wiki/Main_Page
*http://www.pitivi.org
*http://positron.sourceforge.net
*http://cuisine.bigasterisk.com
*http://lives.sourceforge.net
*http://www.kinodv.org/
*http://users.pandora.be/acp/kino/kinoplus.html
*http://dvbackup.sourceforge.net/
*http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/
*http://ronald.bitfreak.net/lvs/
*http://www.robfisher.net/video/
*http://www.theora.org/
*http://effectv.sourceforge.net/
*http://freej.dyne.org/
*http://developer.skolelinux.no/info/studentgrupper/2005-hig-stopmotion
*http://www.allusion.net/bakasub/
*http://gsubedit.sourceforge.net/
*http://sourceforge.net/projects/ksubeditor/

*[http://freshmeat.net/browse/256/ Freshmeat Category: Non-Linear Video Editor]
* [http://dvr.sourceforge.net DVR], digital video recorder

Related Projects

2006-05-02T13:09:32Z

Maxy:

* [http://www.blender3d.org/ blender] (3D modelling, 3D animation)
* jahshaka
* xaralx
* [http://www.inkscape.org/ inkscape] (vector graphics)
* [http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Using_GAP/ GAP] - GIMP Animation Plugin (pixel based animation editing)

Dev:Wish list

2006-04-25T20:22:42Z

Maxy:

Got a great idea for a new feature, just add it here, or on the [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=144022&atid=757419 feature requests tracker].
Please add a rating of how essential this feature is to your workflow according to the following scale:
#"Well, it might be nifty. To someone."
#"I probably would make use this"
#"It's not essential, but I'd really like to have this at my disposal."
#"Synfig would be soooo much better with this change"
#"I can't/won't use Synfig without it!"

----
* '''Auto-link option in [[Draw tool]]''' (4) so that you can draw a line, and have its endpoint automatically link to a duck - or if Auto-connect is off, you can get a line object linked to the end of another line object. / I missed this too, it even should be like that by default I think. [[User:Maxy|Maxy]] 13:22, 25 Apr 2006 (PDT)

* '''Arbitrary Color Channels''' — The ability for the user to create any number of custom channels for various purposes.

* '''Autorecover History''' — It would be great if autorecover could also recover the associated history of a file in the event of a crash.

* '''[[Render Settings Dialog#Target|Render target filetype]] (could be a bit of 3, and much more of 4)''' — the ability to save as/in the Free/Open MNG (.mng) format [http://libpng.org/pub/mng/]

* '''Layer Convert''' <strike>(4)</strike> (2) — The original intent of this feature request has been solved and documented - [[How_do_I#Fill_an_outline.3F|How do I....Fill an Outline?]] - but it would still be nice to have a way to convert one sort of path layer to another. ''(Downgraded to level 2) [[User:SnapSilverlight|Snap]] 12:32, 17 Jan 2006 (PST)''

* '''Layer hide boolean parameter''' (3) — An animatable way to remove a layer from visibility and consideration in tools. And as an option, to hide the layer in the layer list while it is invisible. This crosses over functionality from the [[Amount Parameter]], the Show/Hide checkbox in the [[Layers Dialog]], and builds upon it as well, allowing the [[Layers Dialog]] to dynamically unclutter. ''(This feature request is a refactoring of the [[Amount Parameter]])''

* '''Vector fill bucket''' (3) — Like the traditional bitmap fill, but this fills the area clicked out to the nearest boundary paths with a region of that area, set to the foreground color (it actually would create a new [[region layer]]). Alternatively, a single-duck layer object, that performs a simple bitmap fill from its (animatable) location, with its stored color value. (This second approach is similar to the behavior of one of Softimage's TOONZ[http://www.google.com/search?q=softimage+TOONZ]'s tools)If this is implemented, it will probably be necessary to change the existing "fill" tool's name and icon to a "color injector" (hypodermic needle / turkey injector icon) tool, as that's closer to describing what it does.

* '''[[redraw tool]]''' (4-5) — Intutive reshaping of path-based layers. See link.

* '''Restore Default Layout''' (3) — It's very difficult to put all the dialogs back where they were when you started the program, if you've closed them. In addition, with many programs, if you've done something with your window manager to take a window's position off screen, this command is sometimes the only way to bring them back.

* '''[http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/ Gnome HIG Compliance]''' — This should solve all complaints about the layout, without requiring Synfig to be "just like program (x)". See [[UI Reloaded]] for progress on this.

* '''Feedback for [[smooth move tool]]''' (3) — This tool does what a lot of folks are looking for, warping selected ducks in a "soft" fashion. But it's not very obvious what sort of effect it will have, from the tool's interface. It needs some sort of momentary center-of-action and radius indicator at the very least. Perhaps an "influence gradient" overlaid on the canvas once Synfig's core is sped up?

* '''Networkability''' (2) — Like Inkscape's "inkboard" feature (using Jabber), or Blender's Verse server [http://www.blender.org/modules/verse/index.php], or OpenCanvas's Networking option.

* '''Riding ducks''' (2) — Not chocobos. The ability to link a duck from one shape to an arbitrary position on another path, without creating an extra shape duck on that path.

* '''Intuitive tangent modification''' (3) — (BBQ Pulled Duck) Inkscape has this for still handles - basically, grab a section of the spline between handles, and pull it around, the program automatically alters the tangent handles to match. What would be really neat is if you could do the same for temporal handles - be able to grab the spline between keyframes, and yank it around, and have Synfig automatically adjust the key interpolation to match. Not sure exactly what the workflow in the UI would be for this, however.

* '''Plugin API''' (1) — Would be nice to enable additional functionality to be added to the program without it necessarily needing to be in the Synfig source tree. ''According to the Synfig 0.61.01 roadmap on [http://deepdarc.com/ deepdarc.com], there is a plugin API already implemented. So instead, this may be a [[Wiki Wish List|Wiki Wish]] for documentation, depending on how much has already been completed. [[User:SnapSilverlight|Snap]] 19:57, 13 Jan 2006 (PST)

* '''Python support''' (1) of some sort will no doubt be demanded by the userbase eventually, for studio-specific automation of tasks, noncompiled plugins, etc. I ([[User:Snap|SnapSilverlight]]) don't have any particular use for it at the moment, tho'.

* '''mod_synfig''' (1) — For Apache. Render .sif to some format like png/mng on access.

* '''synfig nsplugin''' (1) — Let Mozilla and Mozilla-based view synfig files in-browser.

* '''Image filmstrip import''' (2) — Allow import of a series of images (TGA, etc) as frames of an animation, on a layer.

* '''Bitmap Objects and Backgrounds''' <s>(5)</s>(0) — Simmilar to the above but for more than for just purely bitmap based animations. I feel that the to do production quality animations you need production quality backgrounds, foregrounds, and effects. Many of which are very difficult or even impossible to achieve with vector based graphics. I suggest support for alpha transparencies as well to make this truely useful. An example of how this could be used would be a bitmap background and a bitmap foreground that can be panned as the scene moves.
::''Static bitmaps with alpha are possible already, if that is what you mean. I have just documented it in [[How do I]]. [[User:Maxy|Maxy]] 06:35, 9 Apr 2006 (PDT)''

* '''Align function''' (3) — Align objects at a common border (as in Inkscape)

* '''Improved SVG import''' (4) — Currently, all importing an SVG does is render it in ImageMagick. What I want is the ability to import the SVG document so that all the shapes, etc. of the SVG document show up as their equivilant synfig layers - i.e. if I had put them there myself. I'm trying to write a patch for this but the codebase is mostly undocumented. [[User:KMeist|KMeist]] 16:38, 25 Feb 2006 (PST)

Dev:Source Glossary

2006-04-25T20:00:34Z

Maxy: /* Events */

===State===
Any tool in the toolbox, these define Synfig's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_%28computer_interface%29 modes].

States can be transitory ( [[state stroke|state_stroke]] is responsible only for displaying/inputting the stroke as you draw it with another tool) or they can register themselves with the Toolbox and be 'sticky'.

===Action===
I don't know yet, but there's a lot of them! [[User:SnapSilverlight|Snap]]

Probably everything that can be undone. 
?where is an action created / stored / executed?

===Events===
Synfig has an event system, using GTK's event system, I think. [[User:SnapSilverlight|Snap]]
:Here is the [http://www.gtkmm.org/docs/gtkmm-2.4/docs/ gtkmm documentation]. [[User:Maxy|Maxy]]

Dev:Source Glossary

2006-04-25T19:47:38Z

Maxy: /* Action */

Wiki Wish List

2006-04-09T13:40:14Z

Maxy:

If you've come here looking for help, and you've found its documentation hasn't been written yet, post it here. That way, we'll know what to work on documenting next!

But isn't this what Talk pages are for? [[User:Artm|artm]]

If you're looking for something to write, and nothing here strikes your fancy, take a look at [[Special:Wantedpages|Wanted Pages]] in the [[Special:Specialpages|Special Pages]] section.

(If, however, you're looking for a feature that you need in Synfig but aren't sure exists, consider listing it on the [[Wish list]] instead.)

* '''Animation Namespace''' — Should be a seperate namespace for discussing animation terminology and technique, and such, independent from description of Synfig features. For example, the "Twelve Principles Of Animation" don't really have anything to do with how to use Synfig's interface, but have everything to do with things being created in Synfig.

* '''MediaWiki's TeX math rendering''' system isn't turned on. There've been a few times I've wanted to use it.

* '''MediaWiki Skin''' matched to www.synfig.com, or specific to this wiki. (See the variation used on [http://www.tango-project.org/ http://www.tango-project.org/] for an example of what can be done.)

* This wiki needs to be relicenced to the GPL so we can freely copy stuff between synfig and the wiki. I've said on my [[User:PaulWise|user page]] that stuff I contribute here is public domain.

* '''Synfig Internals''' — I'm trying to debug synfig and I'm getting lost in all those templates and classes. Would be nice if there was a page (or a namespace, whatever that is) explaining what all those things do and why. ([[User:Artm|Artm]] 07:04, 2 Feb 2006 (PST))
::I got lost there too. [[User:Maxy|Maxy]] 06:40, 9 Apr 2006 (PDT)

Dev:Wish list

2006-04-09T13:35:10Z

Maxy:

Got a great idea for a new feature, just add it here, or on the [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=144022&atid=757419 feature requests tracker].
Please add a rating of how essential this feature is to your workflow according to the following scale:
#"Well, it might be nifty. To someone."
#"I probably would make use this"
#"It's not essential, but I'd really like to have this at my disposal."
#"Synfig would be soooo much better with this change"
#"I can't/won't use Synfig without it!"

----

* '''Arbitrary Color Channels''' — The ability for the user to create any number of custom channels for various purposes.

* '''Autorecover History''' — It would be great if autorecover could also recover the associated history of a file in the event of a crash.

* '''[[Render Settings Dialog#Target|Render target filetype]] (could be a bit of 3, and much more of 4)''' — the ability to save as/in the Free/Open MNG (.mng) format [http://libpng.org/pub/mng/]

* '''Layer Convert''' <strike>(4)</strike> (2) — The original intent of this feature request has been solved and documented - [[How_do_I#Fill_an_outline.3F|How do I....Fill an Outline?]] - but it would still be nice to have a way to convert one sort of path layer to another. ''(Downgraded to level 2) [[User:SnapSilverlight|Snap]] 12:32, 17 Jan 2006 (PST)''

* '''Layer hide boolean parameter''' (3) — An animatable way to remove a layer from visibility and consideration in tools. And as an option, to hide the layer in the layer list while it is invisible. This crosses over functionality from the [[Amount Parameter]], the Show/Hide checkbox in the [[Layers Dialog]], and builds upon it as well, allowing the [[Layers Dialog]] to dynamically unclutter. ''(This feature request is a refactoring of the [[Amount Parameter]])''

* '''Vector fill bucket''' (3) — Like the traditional bitmap fill, but this fills the area clicked out to the nearest boundary paths with a region of that area, set to the foreground color (it actually would create a new [[region layer]]). Alternatively, a single-duck layer object, that performs a simple bitmap fill from its (animatable) location, with its stored color value. (This second approach is similar to the behavior of one of Softimage's TOONZ[http://www.google.com/search?q=softimage+TOONZ]'s tools)If this is implemented, it will probably be necessary to change the existing "fill" tool's name and icon to a "color injector" (hypodermic needle / turkey injector icon) tool, as that's closer to describing what it does.

* '''[[redraw tool]]''' (4-5) — Intutive reshaping of path-based layers. See link.

* '''Restore Default Layout''' (3) — It's very difficult to put all the dialogs back where they were when you started the program, if you've closed them. In addition, with many programs, if you've done something with your window manager to take a window's position off screen, this command is sometimes the only way to bring them back.

* '''[http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/ Gnome HIG Compliance]''' — This should solve all complaints about the layout, without requiring Synfig to be "just like program (x)". See [[UI Reloaded]] for progress on this.

* '''Feedback for [[smooth move tool]]''' (3) — This tool does what a lot of folks are looking for, warping selected ducks in a "soft" fashion. But it's not very obvious what sort of effect it will have, from the tool's interface. It needs some sort of momentary center-of-action and radius indicator at the very least. Perhaps an "influence gradient" overlaid on the canvas once Synfig's core is sped up?

* '''Networkability''' (2) — Like Inkscape's "inkboard" feature (using Jabber), or Blender's Verse server [http://www.blender.org/modules/verse/index.php], or OpenCanvas's Networking option.

* '''Riding ducks''' (2) — Not chocobos. The ability to link a duck from one shape to an arbitrary position on another path, without creating an extra shape duck on that path.

* '''Intuitive tangent modification''' (3) — (BBQ Pulled Duck) Inkscape has this for still handles - basically, grab a section of the spline between handles, and pull it around, the program automatically alters the tangent handles to match. What would be really neat is if you could do the same for temporal handles - be able to grab the spline between keyframes, and yank it around, and have Synfig automatically adjust the key interpolation to match. Not sure exactly what the workflow in the UI would be for this, however.

* '''Plugin API''' (1) — Would be nice to enable additional functionality to be added to the program without it necessarily needing to be in the Synfig source tree. ''According to the Synfig 0.61.01 roadmap on [http://deepdarc.com/ deepdarc.com], there is a plugin API already implemented. So instead, this may be a [[Wiki Wish List|Wiki Wish]] for documentation, depending on how much has already been completed. [[User:SnapSilverlight|Snap]] 19:57, 13 Jan 2006 (PST)

* '''Python support''' (1) of some sort will no doubt be demanded by the userbase eventually, for studio-specific automation of tasks, noncompiled plugins, etc. I ([[User:Snap|SnapSilverlight]]) don't have any particular use for it at the moment, tho'.

* '''mod_synfig''' (1) — For Apache. Render .sif to some format like png/mng on access.

* '''synfig nsplugin''' (1) — Let Mozilla and Mozilla-based view synfig files in-browser.

* '''Image filmstrip import''' (2) — Allow import of a series of images (TGA, etc) as frames of an animation, on a layer.

* '''Bitmap Objects and Backgrounds''' <s>(5)</s>(0) — Simmilar to the above but for more than for just purely bitmap based animations. I feel that the to do production quality animations you need production quality backgrounds, foregrounds, and effects. Many of which are very difficult or even impossible to achieve with vector based graphics. I suggest support for alpha transparencies as well to make this truely useful. An example of how this could be used would be a bitmap background and a bitmap foreground that can be panned as the scene moves.
::''Static bitmaps with alpha are possible already, if that is what you mean. I have just documented it in [[How do I]]. [[User:Maxy|Maxy]] 06:35, 9 Apr 2006 (PDT)''

* '''Align function''' (3) — Align objects at a common border (as in Inkscape)

* '''Improved SVG import''' (4) — Currently, all importing an SVG does is render it in ImageMagick. What I want is the ability to import the SVG document so that all the shapes, etc. of the SVG document show up as their equivilant synfig layers - i.e. if I had put them there myself. I'm trying to write a patch for this but the codebase is mostly undocumented. [[User:KMeist|KMeist]] 16:38, 25 Feb 2006 (PST)

Doc:How Do I

2006-04-09T13:26:18Z

Maxy: Use an external Bitmap?

Feel free to add your own questions here. Or put them on the [[Wiki Wish List]].

__TOC__

== Apply a gradient to an object instead of the entire canvas? ==

# Create the region you want to fill with a gradient, and the gradient layer, if you haven't already.
# Make sure that the gradient layer is above the region layer in the [[Layers Dialog]].
# Select both layers, right click, and select [[Encapsulate]].
# Expand the new [[Inline Canvas]] layer if it's not already, and select your gradient layer.
# In the [[Params Dialog]] select the [[Blend Method]] parameter, and choose [[Blend Method#Onto|Onto]] from the drop-down menu.

The gradient will clip to the visible area of the region below it inside the [[Inline Canvas]]. (and any other layers in that section).

==Show or hide a layer, or fade the effect of a blur?==
In the [[Params Dialog]], look for an option labeled [[Amount Parameter|Amount]] - this controls how much of the blended result of the layer is composited with the blend of the layers beneath it.

In other words, for a typical layer, this will 'fade it out'. For a [[Blur Layer]] set to "[[Blend Method#Straight|Straight]]", this will fade ''between'' the blurred version and the unblurred version of the canvas. If you want it to become less blurry, adjust the [[Blur Layer#Size|Blur Layer's 'size' parameter]].

== Fill an outline? == (Requested by [[User:Karlb|Karlb]])

There are several options:
* The easiest way is to link a new region layer to the outline's shape.
*# Create the [[Outline Layer|outline]] you want to fill.
*# From the [[Layer Menu]] (either context-click on the [[Layers Dialog]] or use the [[Canvas Menu Caret]]) create a new [[Region Layer]]
*# Make '''sure''' that the [[Region Layer]] is above the [[Outline Layer]] in the [[Layers Dialog]] - this affects which layer's shape remains after the link.
*# Select both layers in the [[Layers Dialog]] This will display only the parameters shared by both layers in the [[Params Dialog]].
*# Context-click on the [[Vertices Parameter]], and select [[Linking|Link]].
*# The [[Region Layer]] will snap to the shape of the [[Outline Layer]].
* When you create an [[Outline Layer|outline]] with the [[bline tool]] that you intend to be a filled area as well, make sure you select the Fill checkbox in the [[bline tool#Options|tool options dialog]]. Obviously, this doesn't help much if you realise later that you needed a fill here.
* If you are using the [[draw tool]], there is a button at the bottom of the [[draw tool#Options|tool options dialog]] labeled "Fill Last Stroke", which creates a new [[Region Layer]] and links its shape to the previously drawn outline. Unfortunately, it doesn't work as of Synfig Studio v0.61.04
* Create a [[Region Layer|region]] with the same number of ducks, and manually link each duck. If you want a region that depends on multiple outline layers, this is really your only choice for now.

==Dock Together Windows?==

*To dock (join) separate windows into one you must drag the tab ''icons'' for each of the tools into another window.
*You can create subdivisions inside the windows by dragging the icons into the side tabs (located around the edges, the look like rectangles).
*Tool tabs inside the window can be arranged by dragging them on top of one another, therefore changing the order.

==Use an external Bitmap?==
* In the image menu (>) choose file-->import. PNG with alpha channel works fine.
* To animate it without accidental stretching, right-click on the layer and choose encapsulate. You can then animate the position of the new "Inline Canvas" layer instead of the bbox.

Dev:Wish list

2006-04-09T13:17:34Z

Maxy:

Got a great idea for a new feature, just add it here, or on the [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=144022&atid=757419 feature requests tracker].
Please add a rating of how essential this feature is to your workflow according to the following scale:
#"Well, it might be nifty. To someone."
#"I probably would make use this"
#"It's not essential, but I'd really like to have this at my disposal."
#"Synfig would be soooo much better with this change"
#"I can't/won't use Synfig without it!"

----

* '''Arbitrary Color Channels''' — The ability for the user to create any number of custom channels for various purposes.

* '''Autorecover History''' — It would be great if autorecover could also recover the associated history of a file in the event of a crash.

* '''[[Render Settings Dialog#Target|Render target filetype]] (could be a bit of 3, and much more of 4)''' — the ability to save as/in the Free/Open MNG (.mng) format [http://libpng.org/pub/mng/]

* '''Layer Convert''' <strike>(4)</strike> (2) — The original intent of this feature request has been solved and documented - [[How_do_I#Fill_an_outline.3F|How do I....Fill an Outline?]] - but it would still be nice to have a way to convert one sort of path layer to another. ''(Downgraded to level 2) [[User:SnapSilverlight|Snap]] 12:32, 17 Jan 2006 (PST)''

* '''Layer hide boolean parameter''' (3) — An animatable way to remove a layer from visibility and consideration in tools. And as an option, to hide the layer in the layer list while it is invisible. This crosses over functionality from the [[Amount Parameter]], the Show/Hide checkbox in the [[Layers Dialog]], and builds upon it as well, allowing the [[Layers Dialog]] to dynamically unclutter. ''(This feature request is a refactoring of the [[Amount Parameter]])''

* '''Vector fill bucket''' (3) — Like the traditional bitmap fill, but this fills the area clicked out to the nearest boundary paths with a region of that area, set to the foreground color (it actually would create a new [[region layer]]). Alternatively, a single-duck layer object, that performs a simple bitmap fill from its (animatable) location, with its stored color value. (This second approach is similar to the behavior of one of Softimage's TOONZ[http://www.google.com/search?q=softimage+TOONZ]'s tools)If this is implemented, it will probably be necessary to change the existing "fill" tool's name and icon to a "color injector" (hypodermic needle / turkey injector icon) tool, as that's closer to describing what it does.

* '''[[redraw tool]]''' (4-5) — Intutive reshaping of path-based layers. See link.

* '''Restore Default Layout''' (3) — It's very difficult to put all the dialogs back where they were when you started the program, if you've closed them. In addition, with many programs, if you've done something with your window manager to take a window's position off screen, this command is sometimes the only way to bring them back.

* '''[http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/ Gnome HIG Compliance]''' — This should solve all complaints about the layout, without requiring Synfig to be "just like program (x)". See [[UI Reloaded]] for progress on this.

* '''Feedback for [[smooth move tool]]''' (3) — This tool does what a lot of folks are looking for, warping selected ducks in a "soft" fashion. But it's not very obvious what sort of effect it will have, from the tool's interface. It needs some sort of momentary center-of-action and radius indicator at the very least. Perhaps an "influence gradient" overlaid on the canvas once Synfig's core is sped up?

* '''Networkability''' (2) — Like Inkscape's "inkboard" feature (using Jabber), or Blender's Verse server [http://www.blender.org/modules/verse/index.php], or OpenCanvas's Networking option.

* '''Riding ducks''' (2) — Not chocobos. The ability to link a duck from one shape to an arbitrary position on another path, without creating an extra shape duck on that path.

* '''Intuitive tangent modification''' (3) — (BBQ Pulled Duck) Inkscape has this for still handles - basically, grab a section of the spline between handles, and pull it around, the program automatically alters the tangent handles to match. What would be really neat is if you could do the same for temporal handles - be able to grab the spline between keyframes, and yank it around, and have Synfig automatically adjust the key interpolation to match. Not sure exactly what the workflow in the UI would be for this, however.

* '''Plugin API''' (1) — Would be nice to enable additional functionality to be added to the program without it necessarily needing to be in the Synfig source tree. ''According to the Synfig 0.61.01 roadmap on [http://deepdarc.com/ deepdarc.com], there is a plugin API already implemented. So instead, this may be a [[Wiki Wish List|Wiki Wish]] for documentation, depending on how much has already been completed. [[User:SnapSilverlight|Snap]] 19:57, 13 Jan 2006 (PST)

* '''Python support''' (1) of some sort will no doubt be demanded by the userbase eventually, for studio-specific automation of tasks, noncompiled plugins, etc. I ([[User:Snap|SnapSilverlight]]) don't have any particular use for it at the moment, tho'.

* '''mod_synfig''' (1) — For Apache. Render .sif to some format like png/mng on access.

* '''synfig nsplugin''' (1) — Let Mozilla and Mozilla-based view synfig files in-browser.

* '''Image filmstrip import''' (2) — Allow import of a series of images (TGA, etc) as frames of an animation, on a layer.

* '''Bitmap Objects and Backgrounds''' (5) — Simmilar to the above but for more than for just purely bitmap based animations. I feel that the to do production quality animations you need production quality backgrounds, foregrounds, and effects. Many of which are very difficult or even impossible to achieve with vector based graphics. I suggest support for alpha transparencies as well to make this truely useful. An example of how this could be used would be a bitmap background and a bitmap foreground that can be panned as the scene moves.
::''Static bitmaps with alpha are possible already, if that is what you mean: use file->import menu. You can animate (move) them if you encapsulate the layer. I guess new layer -> default -> paste canvas should do the same, but it just causes a crash here. [[User:Maxy|Maxy]] 06:17, 9 Apr 2006 (PDT)''

* '''Align function''' (3) — Align objects at a common border (as in Inkscape)

* '''Improved SVG import''' (4) — Currently, all importing an SVG does is render it in ImageMagick. What I want is the ability to import the SVG document so that all the shapes, etc. of the SVG document show up as their equivilant synfig layers - i.e. if I had put them there myself. I'm trying to write a patch for this but the codebase is mostly undocumented. [[User:KMeist|KMeist]] 16:38, 25 Feb 2006 (PST)

Dev:UI Reloaded

2006-03-14T19:10:09Z

Maxy: /* Render Preview */

These are images of some re-designed Synfig dialog. None of these dialogs can be considered final. Some lack some final touch (e.g. incorrect spacing) All changes have been made to make Synfig a better experience for the user! :)

== Changes to Existing Dialogs ==

=== The Waypoint Editor ===

The old dialog, as we all know it:

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e27/droden/software/synfig/cbe5f774.png

A preview for a revamped version:

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e27/droden/software/synfig/724a0495.png

The “TCB Parameter” section should probably be disabled when none of the interpolation type fields are set to “TCB”. Also, the separator still has to be removed and the button spacing and order is not yet correct.

=== Render Preview ===

Old:

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e27/droden/software/synfig/57786027.png

Preview:

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e27/droden/software/synfig/ac411a1c.png

Another separator bar that still has to be removed. Also, I’m not sure whether disabling the edit fields for start and end time is the right way. I think that functionality should be replaced by simply entering the clip’s start and end time into the fields as default values.

:Maybe not: when you change the start/end value here, later change the duration of the animation, then you might want either the old values, or the new maximum values. [[User:Maxy|Maxy]] 11:10, 14 Mar 2006 (PST)

== New Dialogs ==

'''Note: These are only my ([[User:Bombe|Bombe]]’s)) ideas of how things could be done! For most of these dialogs some partially serious coding has to be done so it’s quite unlikely there will be simple patches for these dialogs (unless I start to like C++ which is doubtful :).'''

=== Create New Clip ===

This dialog should appear when the user selects the File->New command (or uses the corresponding toolbar button). Note that creation of a new document can be cancelled by clicking the “Cancel” button (who’d have guessed that).

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e27/droden/software/synfig/bf5c8c53.png

I’m still not sure about how to handle image aspect ratios or pixel aspect ratios in this dialog. But I am quite sure that I want separated editor and output settings and that I want both to have different aspect ratios, if needed (e.g. work on a clip in 1024x768, PAR 1:1, and for rendering use 720x576, PAR 1.42:1 to create bitmaps that can be used in DVD production without any further rescaling). Though, asking for output settings in the “Create New Clip” dialog might be misplaced, I admit that. :)

The edit fields for the work area and focus point are completely gone — on purpose. The FPS field is also gone (the Synfig of the future uses a notion of FPS only for preview, output, and the snap-keyframe-to-time feature) but the start and end fields should probably be in this dialog as well.

=== Scale ===

This dialog lets you scale the work area in the editor.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e27/droden/software/synfig/new/a4ff1442.png

Width and height values are adjusted automatically, according to the current aspect ratio. “Current aspect ratio” means the aspect ratio for the editor if “Keep aspect ratio” is unchecked, or the aspect ratio given in the dialog if it is chcked.

=== Resize ===

The resize dialog changes the size of the working area without changing the size of the objects. Cropping is also possible with this dialog.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e27/droden/software/synfig/new/962671f8.png

The horizontal and vertical offsets work just like the corresponding files in The GIMP’s resize function.

== Comments & Remarks ==

All this thinking about pixels and resizing and aspect ratios made me wonder whether that is all necessary. As Synfig is resolution-independent the only thing needed for the working area is the aspect ratio. The working area will always be scaled from (0.0, 0.0) to (1.0, 1.0). Scaling/Resizing would then only affect the pixel location values in all layers. (Would that actually work? I have to think about that some more.)

Talk:Main Page

2006-03-14T00:46:17Z

Maxy: renaming myself (IRC nick)

==Spam==

Maybe move the contents of this page into a template, with a html-comment for users where to edit, and then protect it? (spambots...) [[User:Maxy|Maxy]] 11:43, 12 Mar 2006 (PST)

I'm not familiar with MediaWiki, how would I do that? [[User:PaulWise|PaulWise]] 15:50, 13 Mar 2006 (+800)

I have done it, you can protect it now. Let's hope this spambot is not smart enough. At least it doesn't get the most prominent linking location any more this way. [[User:Maxy|Maxy]] 15:30, 13 Mar 2006 (PST)

Timetrack Panel

2006-03-14T00:43:41Z

Maxy: sig

:Since there seems no documentation at all for this I just write what I have figured out. Someone should correct me and then remove this comment. [[User:Maxy|Maxy]] 16:43, 13 Mar 2006 (PST)

The Timetrack tab shows a symbol (usually a green dot) for every <s>keyframe</s> ?waypoint? in the timeline.

When you change an object property while in ''Animate Editing Mode'', for example by moving an object, a ?waypoint? is inserted. The columns of the Timetrack tab are aligned with the ''Params'' tab. If you are animating the individual vertices, you have to expand the vertices list to see them individually.

You can drag those ?waypoints? through time, and you can change their interpolation method by right-clicking (eg. a sudden step change instead of a smooth transition).

TODO: describe meaning of keyframes - maybe in [[Keyframes Dialog]]. They seem to control what happens when adding a new ?waypoint?, but how?

User:Maxy

2006-03-14T00:41:47Z

Maxy:

My own software projects:
*[http://people.ee.ethz.ch/~mrenold/mypaint/ MyPaint]
*[http://mass.sourceforge.net/ Mass]

User:Maxy

2006-03-14T00:37:34Z

Maxy: