3 ways to keep animation drawings consistent, including Shift and Trace in OpenToonz

This video shows 3 techniques to copy a drawing to keep its size consistent. The first 2 can be used with any software, the 3rd is available in some software, including OpenToonz.

First, using copy/paste. Copy and pasting works, but can make the image feel too stiff, too mechanical, which can be fine for something that is actually mechanical, but not for everything in an animation, especially living characters.

Second, using trace and shift. This is a simple technique of tracing over the previous drawing, then 'shifting' it to the new position and is the one I favour most of the time for larger parts of a drawing.

Finally, I show the 'Shift and Trace' commands in OpenToonz, to temporarily move the drawing, allowing you to trace over it at the location you want the final image to be in. This can be used when you want to draw an inbetween between 2 drawings that are quite far away form each other. Seeing them on top of, or closer to, each other can be really useful. Or for drawing part of a drawing that doesn't move (for copying a pattern on clothes or tattoos for instance, when that body part moves)

Contents:
00:00 Intro
00:44 Using Copy/Paste to copy the previous drawing
02:15 Using Trace & Shift to copy the previous drawing
03:23 Shift and Trace
04:15 Copying the Shift & Trace commands to a toolbar
05:13 Using Shift & Trace to copy the previous drawing
07:20 Using Shift & Trace to draw in inbetween 2 drawings
08:06 Renumbering the drawings to match the frame numbers
09:55 A quick look at the "Path" feature of Shift & Trace

#OpenToonz #ShiftAndTrace #Inbetweening

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Want to learn more about OpenToonz? Check out my Udemy course.
A complete guide to OpenToonz for traditional 2D animation: http://bit.ly/OpenToonzCourse

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Check out useful OpenToonz-companion software you can download or purchase:
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The kit I use and recommendations of useful books:
http://kit.co/DarrenT

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