This rendering from OpenToonz represents a number of interesting features and methodologies… too many to keep track of… so I’m posting this as a general reminder to cue my memory in case I ever need them.  Here are a few:

A ‘render as lines’ methodology for vector levels

The key to usage is transparency.  Draw or import/convert images with standard color lines used for highlights and shadows and then simply make those lines go away.

This makes the workflow with vector lines almost the same as when working with raster and Toonz raster levels which is very quick and efficient

A secondary ‘feature’ of vector ‘autopaint lines’ is that they can be animated over time.  This is important because it provides a feature that raster and Toonz raster cannot in that the lines and shapes themselves can be animated rather than having to create new drawings.  As such this methodology is optimal for auto-inbetweening.  Nice.

Animated Color Styles!

I knew OpenToonz should be capable of this but hadn’t tried it until now)  Color Styles are already a powerful tool but adding the element of Time literally and figuratively brings a new dimension to it.

In theory a single color chip/style could be used to color all objects in a scene.  The key (literally keyframe) would simply be dialed in to the color desired. As this would largely defeat the purpose and power of palette styles its probably not the right way to go but it could be a nice alternative.

More basically, the usage here is for surfaces that need their color to change over time.

For instance, a character’s colors could be setup to be one color during daytime, another during night and inbetween shades of that same color at dusk and daybreak.  In this way multiple color chips wouldn’t have to be maintained.  Setup a 24 hour clock (24 frames) and then specify what that color will look like at specific intervals throughout the day.

Directional Blur

Not much to see here but I hadn’t used it before so… now I have.   I can definitely see where that will be useful.

Behind the Scenes (not evident in the image): 

Multiple Schematic Outputs

I also explored some of the multiple Output nodes of the Schematic and reminded myself about how to turn nodes on/off for the purpose of pass throughs where that particular node should be ignored for a specific output.

In the case of the attached image there is one output that bypasses the directional blur while the route traveled to get this output included the blur.

There is much to learn about the Schematic and workflow there.  Enough to keep us exploring for a very long time.