Animator and creator of OpenToonz tutorials, so that you too CAN learn this FREE animation software. I host weekly livestreams where I demonstrate the program, answer your questions and share OpenToonz & animation News, to keep the community updated with all things OpenToonz. So why not subscribe to be notified of my tutorials and animations. I post every Friday afternoon (UK time). That's a DarrenT !
Other freeware tools I use: Image editing/painting - Krita: krita.org/en Audio recording/editing - Audacity: www.audacityteam.org/home Video editing - Shotcut: www.shotcut.org
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I think everyone should do this for the first animation to create their own Steamboat Willie version a short sweet and to the point at least for beginners but instead of doing it with Mickey Mouse you do with your own character!
I wonder is it really possible to create a full-fledged cartoon and or animated series in OpenToonz without any Other external software besides importing and exporting the necessary graphics or media in and out? If so has anybody already attempted to do this I'm not talking about maybe long form animation more like short ones something like cow and chicken or I am weasel or even Dexter's Laboratory something of that nature and of that timeline
Great question. Yes, I think it's possible. I don't know of anyone that has made a series or short animation, apart from very short animation tests, but I look forward to the day that someone does. You can be sure that I'll be shouting about it when they do.
@@DarrenTAnims This is great! I’ve been thinking about ways to streamline the animation process, especially for smaller teams or solo developers, and I think breaking down the workload is key. For example, a typical 22-minute episode might seem overwhelming, but if you cut that in half to 11 minutes, it’s much more manageable for a small team. If you're working solo, you can reduce it even further, maybe down to 6 minutes or even 3 minutes for newcomers. Also, I’ve found it’s a good idea to work on scenes individually instead of trying to create an entire episode in one project. This way, you avoid potential issues like file corruption and it’s easier to focus on one scene at a time. I’d love to see more tutorials on how to handle this type of workflow in OpenToonz, especially for those just starting out! Thanks again for sharing your tips and content - it’s really helpful for the animation community!
I often talk about creating small scenes, 1 per shot, so they might only last 2 or 3 seconds. And then stitching the scenes together in a video editor. But breaking down your animation is key. Multiple scenes for multiple shots. Possibly creating a different project for actual scenes. Also, if you're sharing the work, having someone ONLY work on backgrounds or on a specific character and another on the effects, then a final one to combine them in the video edit. That would really help. And follow the traditional approach, which has been built up over decades to provide the smoothest way to create an animation. Storyboarding, an animatic with the audio included at that stage. That'll give everyone their timing. Then onto temporary backgrounds, keyframes, inbetweens, etc. Then onto inking, paint, effects. I hope you get chance to work on a larger animation. It'll certainly be a learning experience for you. Good luck!
are there any features that opentoonz have and tahoma dont ? or is tahoma more like opentoonz with additional feature i would like an explanation about this plz
Opentoonz had a different way to add and use perspective guides and out of the box, OpenToonz has more settings related to dpi, but I think that's about it. The features that Tahoma has in addition are listed on the Tahoma website.
The gumroad videos don't have anything in that wouldn't work in Tahoma2D. In them I try to explain each step in detail, so you can follow what I'm doing, which is why they're so long and not really suitable for RU-vid.
Ah, I see. That's been discussed a few times, but it looks like there's not much chance of it happening. The frame range full and onion skin fills are useful tools to speed up filling. Not many other animation software has those.
@@DarrenTAnims That is a shame i switched to 2d but maybe going back to greasepencil would be better than which has mutifill. Do you fill in 24 frames by hand every second i hope not. It is 2024 ! Toonboom harmony can also multifill !
Yeah it is. It sounds useful. Using the 2 tools I mentioned, it doesn't take too long. But compared to drawing the frames, colouring doesn't take too long.
Before there was a timeline in Tahoma (and OpenToonz), you'd organise your drawings in an Xsheet view, which is basically a vertical timeline. This followed the traditional layout of frames on paper (you may have seen lip sync on paper organised like this). In this orientation, these are columns. You can still use the Xsheet in Tahoma, hence the name has stuck around. To reorder them, click and drag the darker bar at the top of the column name. This video shows it, along with other options: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SgY95SbTcFQ.html
@@DarrenTAnims timeline reordering thats not what layers are. Layers show in a particular order for example you can draw a background but show it in the forground by changing the layer order.
If you're using an older certain of Tahoma or have turned off the implicit hooks feature, then you have to drag the dark bar at the top of each column header.
Morevna was a branch of code from OpenToonz. The developers of it added some extra features that they reached for their animation production and twist it to everyone else. However, they stopped developing it, so it's very out of date with the current OpenToonz.
From my point of view, neither is "better". For some systems, OpenToonz works better. For others, it's Tahoma. Use whichever is more stable for you. Tahoma has a few extra features and some layout/presentation/defaults that are different to OpenToonz, to make it easier for new users. Tahoma has 100% of the features of OpenToonz and OpenToonz has 99% of the features of Tahoma. But for most users, they only use features that are in both software anyway, so it's hard to recommend one over the other.
This is awesome! Thank you so much Darren!! Is it normal that if I drag and drop .SVG into Opentoonz and click "Import" - the edges or the boundaries won't be sharp like a vector image (if we'll zoom in). It will always be like a zig-zag kind of an outline for everything in the .SVG character/level.
I don't know what the dot features are. However, if you're not getting new features, the best thing to do is to rename your OpenToonz stuff folder before installing. Otherwise you'll still have your old commands.
Not exactly. It depends what you want out of the software. From what I've seen OpenToonz and Tahoma2D are both better for animators than Krita, but Krita is better for drawing with, so you might prefer to use that for your backgrounds. Between OpenToonz and Tahoma, I usually recommend Tahoma for newbies. But both programs are so similar that it doesn't really matter too much initially. Just jump in and try them out. You can both install OpenToonz and download and run Tahoma without choosing one over the other, so try them both out and see which you prefer. But you will need to spend some time watching videos and experimenting to get used to them. Don't expect to be able to pick them up with taking your time learning about them both.
@@DarrenTAnims itu yang semisal kita menggerakan gambar di opentoonz otomatis langsung terbuat keyframe bagaimana caranya pada saat menggerakan gambar hasil import tidak langsung terbuat keyframe di opentoonz
If you're moving the image with the animate tool it will create a keyframe. That's what you're doing. I think what you're after is to use the Selection tool (the arrow). Then you can move the image anywhere within the canvas boundary (using the animate tool, you move the column, so there is no canvas boundary)
hello Darren T* i am an animator who is trying to learn animation in open toonz software. I am facing an issue can you please help with it. problem: when i try to fill up color an object in vector level that i have drawn outside the canvas its do not fill the color. for example, i am drawing sky background with clouds in it but when i try to fill up the thing then the clouds and sky do not get fill up with color. 😔if you can please provide me with the solution how to fix this problem it will be very helpful. i am unable to start a new project due to this issue. Thank you for listing to my problem
You need to draw a closed shape for it to fill, whether inside or outside the canvas. For vector levels, OpenToonz doesn't care about the edge of the canvas. However, working with vector levels is an art in itself; especially filling of them.
Dear Darren Blender and grease pencil have an option to increase the resolution scale, which increases text and icon sizes. To access it, open Blender, go to Edit, Preferences, Interface then Display, and finally Resolution Scale. It would be nice to have such a facility in Tahoma and OpenToonz.
It would. You can change the text size, or the size of other controls by editing the themes. I've covered this here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hlFYmLRxcEU.html
Hey, great video and such a clear explanation of all the features, do you know if there is any way to remove that original copy you mentioned on the blue box at 5:55?
Thank you. No, you can't. Not in OpenToonz, at least. In Tahoma2D (an OpenToonz fork) they've changed which drawings are shown, to try to simplify the view. I've not tried it out yet though, to see the difference.
How much simpler do you want? 😁 Add 2 drawings. Add some blanks inbetween, ask Tahoma to 'tween between them. Or you could draw each drawing inbetween.
I've not used AA for years. How do they make it simpler? (This is the simplest it can be in Tahoma or OpenToonz though. There's not likely to be any more changes for quite some time)
Sadly, that's the way we have to do it in OpenToonz, because it creates actual drawings, so you need the blanks. In AA they calculate the differences to show.
Hopefully, the video shows that it works. It depends what you want to do with it and whether you want to animate this way. I've not tried to animate a full carton this way. OpenToonz isn't really made for full rigging, but it seemed to work pretty smoothly for this small test.
Darren, is there any way to have more than just the centre of an object following a path - like a snake with bones, or a truck with its trailer/s? Unable to find a thing online that answers this problem! There's got to be some way!
Great question. The short answer is no. The longer answer is, you could have multiple parts of your truck or snake filtering the same path, just a frame or 2 behind each other. Or you could follow the path with the head of your snake and apply a plastic tool mesh to it and animate that separately.
Thanks Darren - your second suggestion is the conclusion I came to, but it sure feels like a "work-around" solution. I thought if anyone figured it out, you will have. In animation I guess, "needs must"! Keep up the good work!
@Darren T, I am new to animation and very interested in creating my own animations. Watching this video made me subscribe to your channel. Now, I’m confused about whether to choose OpenToonz or Tahoma2D. I would really appreciate your suggestions and any resources you recommend for learning the suggested one. Thank you from Ghana!
Thx a million for creating these videos about Tahioma2D. As a result, I just purchased an iMac Intel 27" 2020 for a bargain price and cannot wait to load Tahoma2D for my animation needs. I used to be a Macromedia Flash user and was searching for a 2D-only bitmap cutout animation software (no need for vector graphics) that was closest to Flash. MOHO Pro was going to be my choice lately but Tahoma2D, being free and open source, is enough to start with and getting better every week. I just hope they stick to 2D only and offer an efficient UI while allowing expansion through use of plugins. The folks at Tahoma2D are doing a great job in dev deployment and I will offer some time for suggesting improvements, etc. DT, you rock! Subscribed, and cannot wait for more of your videos on Tahoma2D.
If the image is smaller when you import it, it's usually because the dpi is set differently to how OpenToonz expects. You can either change the dpi before you export it or there's a setting in the OpenToonz preferences to change the dpi. I can't remember what it's called. Or you can change the size with the Animate tool. What I tend to do is to create a raster level in OpenToonz and then draw in that.
Tahoma keeps impressing with each update! A warp transformation tool like Krita's would be a game-changer for animation. Hopefully, it’s something we’ll see soon. It’s exciting to watch the software evolve!
is it allowed to use plastic tool on different layers? I tried it but it only apply on the layer I set the bones. I also tried to collapse it and then create a mesh ontop, but it lagged and desappeared from screen. on the schematic I tried to make some hierachy but it does not worked.
You can use the plastic tool on any layer (column) and on any number of columns. When you mention bones, if you mean the joints to move the poetic to, then you apply the joints after the mesh. And yes, you can collapse multiple columns into a subxsheet and apply a plastic tool mesh to that. If you create a test scene and add a couple of columns, then apply the plastic tool mesh to one of them. It's worth looking at the stage schematic to understand what that means and how it's shown on there.
@@DarrenTAnims I have tried to collapse some colluns and then create a mesh, I change it to animation mode and everything desappeared, saw I clicked on the preview button, then it shows again. but if I try to make a new collun next to it. I cant draw anymore unless the preview button is checked. I noticed after some attempts that I need to hide the collapsed collun from the view port to make everything work as spected.
I'm not sure what's happened there. I'd need to see some screenshots or a video to understand. If you wanted to join me on my Discord, you can share them there.
oh this eraser features was for sure what I was begging on. it makes me lose some considerable time to resize the eraser everytime I have small areas to erase. your version is 1.4.3 , dev version? mine is 1.4.4 but still does not have this option..
It's not in the official version on the download page, but that version is 18 months out of date. It's in the nightly builds (on the same page). I'd always recommend using a nightly build over the official one as it has all of the latest features and bug fixes in it.
