I’m still learning art and something I have noticed is when animating, making different layers with different time frames, it can be at times confusing to sync 2 or more different animations which are on different layers.
I am developing a extension that will enable syncing animations at different paces easier. I wanted to ask how many of y’all would actually find this useful. This extension would essentially allow you to animate 2 different layers (in a single file) without having the need to manually create buffer frames or linked cels.
For example:
The cat has 5 frames of animation and I wanted it to be 500ms per frame.
The sign however, should have irregular intervals of 1500ms, 50ms, 75ms, 875ms, 1500ms per frame. (Also 5 frames).
Manually calculating these layers can be a hassle. Essentially what the plugin will do, is split any value higher than 500ms (the fixed speed of the cat layers) into equal intervals (500 in this case). Effectively creating buffer frames of 500, 500, 500, 50, 75, 375, 500, 500, 500, 500
In the first 3 frames the sign layers will remain static, whereas the cat layers will be changing each frame as intended.
Before using the extension:
| Cat layers frame count | Cat layers frame duration | Cat layers frames | Sign layers frame count | Sign layers frame duration | Sign layers frames | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 500ms | Frame 1 | 1 | 1500ms | Frame 1 | |
| 2 | 500ms | Frame 2 | 2 | 50ms | Frame 2 | |
| 3 | 500ms | Frame 3 | 3 | 75ms | Frame 3 | |
| 4 | 500ms | Frame 4 | 4 | 875ms | Frame 4 | |
| 5 | 500ms | Frame 5 | 5 | 1500ms | Frame 5 | |
| 6 | 500ms | Frame 4 | Empty Frame | |||
| 7 | 500ms | Frame 3 | Empty Frame | |||
| 8 | 500ms | Frame 2 | Empty Frame | |||
| Total Duration | 4000ms | 4000ms |
After using the extension:
| Frame Count | Synchronous Duration | Cat layers frames | Sign layers frames |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 500ms | Frame 1 | Frame 1 |
| 2 | 500ms | Frame 2 | Frame 1 |
| 3 | 500ms | Frame 3 | Frame 1 |
| 4 | 50ms | Frame 4 | Frame 2 |
| 5 | 75ms | Frame 4 | Frame 3 |
| 6 | 375ms | Frame 4 | Frame 4 |
| 7 | 500ms | Frame 5 | Frame 4 |
| 8 | 500ms | Frame 4 | Frame 5 |
| 9 | 500ms | Frame 3 | Frame 5 |
| 10 | 500ms | Frame 2 | Frame 5 |
Total Duration: 4000ms
Note: For animations where the total duration of layers in the frames are different. The shorter animated layer will freeze at it’s end allowing the other layers to continue. I could also add different options depending on what you guys might require.
For animations where larger frames aren’t precisely divisible by the shorter interval (e.g. 1569 ms frame and intervals of 500ms), I could implement auto rounding the duration of the frame to the nearest divisible interval.
Feel free to offer suggestions and input : )