CTP Pro Training Guide
CTP Pro Training Guide
CTP Pro Training Guide
CTP Pro
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Table of Contents
Airbrush ..................................................................................................... 27
Line ............................................................................................................ 27
Drag image................................................................................................. 27
Brush Size .................................................................................................. 28
Brush Smoothness ..................................................................................... 28
Brush Opacity ............................................................................................ 28
Current Color and Previous Color boxes................................................... 28
Painting with color model archives (reference images) ............................ 29
Creating a color model archive.................................................................. 29
Replacing colors on an entire painted layer .............................................. 29
Animating with camera moves ..................................................... 30
Understanding the concept of camera keyframes...................................... 30
Animating the camera................................................................................ 31
Entering numeric values ............................................................................ 31
How to interpret function curves ............................................................... 32
Creating special effects in CTP .................................................... 36
Composing large backgrounds .................................................................. 36
Finishing touches.......................................................................... 37
Outputting to video ....................................................................... 38
Managing your animated productions ......................................... 39
Saving and backing up your work ............................................................. 39
This self-training guide will show you how to set up an animated production using CTP.
It complements the information in the User’s guide, describing all the steps in which you use CTP
during the production process.
When you start up CTP, a dialog box appears that lets you create new scenes or open existing
scenes:
• To open an existing scene, select Open existing scene, select a scene from the list, then press
OK.
• To create a new scene, select Create a new scene then enter a scene name in the text box at
the bottom of the dialog box. Now press OK.
Importing artwork
There are three ways in which you can import images and drawings into CTP: using a scanner,
using video capture, or by importing computer-generated images.
Using a scanner
The Import image from scanner button opens the scanner input dialog. You can also access the
input dialog by clicking on the Insert menu and selecting the Image from scanner option. This
command lets you import images using scanners that apply to the TWAIN standard.
This is a list of options that appear in the Scanner tab in the Import image from scanner dialog:
• Source: Displays the scanner type. If you are running CTP for the first time, press the Select
File button (the one that contains three dots “...“). Now choose your scanner type from the list that
appears. Press the Preview button and scan the first image in your sequence of drawings. This
image will serve as a guide for you to make further adjustments to the scanner settings.
• Page size: Defines the maximum scanning area. You can increase the viewable area by
clicking the lower-right corner of the dialog box and dragging to resize it.
• Resolution: This feature optimizes the resolution of the scanned image, depending on how
much you plan to zoom into the image with the camera. Enter a field size that corresponds to the
maximum zoom (in fields) that you think you will need to perform on your image. The optimum
resolution for the scanned image is set automatically, depending on the field number you enter.
This feature ensures that the lines on your scanned image will not become aliased (i.e. look like a
bunch of little squares) and remain smooth, even on a tight zoom.
Note: the smaller the field size you set, the greater the resolution of the scanned image, and
therefore the greater the file size for each scanned image.
Tip: the disk-space indicator on the taskbar will tell you if you have adequate disk space available
to store high-resolution images.
• Automatic feeder: Select this option if your scanner is equipped with an automatic sheet feeder
attachment.
• Multiple pages: In conjunction with the automatic feeder option, select this option to scan
multiple pages sequentially.
Select the Sheet tab in the Import image from scanner dialog. The following options appear:
• Frame resolution: shows the current scene’s frame resolution. To change the resolution, select
the Scanner tab, and enter a new field value in the Resolution box (see Resolution in Setting up
the scanner above).
• Cell Code: lets you enter the code of the first image manually. Remember that the code number
for each successive image to be scanned will be increased incrementally from whatever number
you assign to the first scanned image.
• Image layer: selects the storage sheet layer in which you want to store the imported images.
• Shadow layer: selects the storage sheet layer in which you want to store the shadow images.
This option is available only if the Shadow Lines option in the Image tab has been selected.
Select the Line image option to import black and white line art images.
Select the Transparent color option to scan color overlays. It will treat all the white areas on a
color image as transparent areas, letting the other layers in the background show through.
Select the Color image option to import color images like painted backgrounds. This option is
usually the default option.
These are the filter options (Note: These filters can only be applied to line drawings):
• None: No filter is applied, and the image is scanned in exactly at the scanner’s default settings.
• Artistic: This filter will apply basic modifications to the highlights and shadows of an image, but
will respect any type of artistic application to the lines in your drawing. In other words, choose the
Artistic filter if you are using a calligraphic drawing style, or are drawing with lines of varying
thickness, or any time you want to preserve the artistic integrity of the line in your drawing.
• Camera: This filter works wonders on low-contrast images (usually those obtained through
camera input, but can also be used with a scanner). This is the recommended filter for camera
line-test grabbing.
• Scanner: This filter is intended for images obtained from a high-resolution input source (usually
from a scanner).
• Opaque lines: This option, only available with the scanner filter, will guarantee that the line is
always totally opaque at its center. This means that no matter how thin the line becomes, it will
remain solid, so that when you are painting the image later, the color won’t spill into other areas.
• Shadows: Modifies the darkness of the lines on the image.
• Highlights: Modifies the whiteness of the areas surrounding the lines.
• Sensitivity: Adjusts the threshold that distinguishes the lines from the background (the contrast
between the dark lines and the white areas).
• Softness: Applies a soft blur to the lines to help avoid rough edges.
Scanner Dialog Utilities
There are ten buttons inside the scanner input dialog that help you to preview and input your
artwork:
Displays images in the display area at their actual size (pixel accurate).
Fit to window
Adjusts the image size to fit the display area of the dialog box.
Show transparency
When you click on this button, all the pure white areas on the image you are scanning are
displayed in red. Wherever you see red, those areas are considered to be transparent by the CTP
software. It is these transparent areas that will be painted in later.
The red areas provide a visual reference, letting you see exactly which areas of your drawing are
truly white, and which ones are gray or off-white. Any part of your drawing that is not pure white
will be considered as part of a line or as an opaque area by the software.
The image transparency button is very useful in conjunction with the filter options, because it lets
you see the contrast between the lines and the white areas on the drawing very easily. You can
then use the filters to adjust the thickness, softness, and opacity of the lines, while simultaneously
making sure that the “fill” areas of your drawing remain pristine.
After you preview the first image to be scanned, press this button to adjust the dimensions of the
scanning area, which is defined by the red rectangle in the display area. Select the corners or the
lines of the red rectangle and drag them to the optimum size to surround the area representing
your drawing.
When you press the Show Field Chart button, a field chart is displayed over the previewed image
in the display area of the Scanner input dialog. You can drag the field guide over any part of the
display area. The field chart lets you register images that are scanned individually. In other words,
if you are not using automatic peg detection (see below) the center of the field chart represents
the center of the scanned image.
Pegs
This button lets you access the peg bar detection tools, which are used to help CTP register your
drawings precisely.
This button locks and unlocks the peg bar placement you have chosen using the Horizontal pegs
and Vertical pegs buttons (see below).
When you activate the Automatic peg detection function in the Image tab of the scanner input
dialog, the peg holes are detected by CTP and are used to register the sequence of scanned
drawings. When you preview the first scanned image, press the Pegs button to display an outline
of an ACME peg bar in the viewing area.
• Press Horizontal pegs if the peg holes on your drawing are oriented horizontally on the
scanner’s flat glass bed.
• Press Vertical pegs if the peg holes on your drawing are oriented vertically on the scanner’s flat
glass bed.
You can then drag the outline of the peg bar over the preview image’s peg holes. This will allow
CTP to narrow the search for thee peg holes to a specific area on the scanned images that will
follow, speeding up the scanning process and ensuring that all the drawings are registered
properly.
Note: If you cannot access the Horizontal pegs or Vertical pegs functions, press the Lock peg bar
button to activate the controls.
Working on images
Storage sheet
The Storage sheet is where CTP warehouses all the original artwork and sounds that you
captured or imported:
• Very few operations can be carried out in the storage sheet because we want to keep the
original material intact. If you select material in the storage sheet, the only operation you can
perform is to delete (erase) the data to discard obsolete material.
• If you add new artwork or sounds to any storage sheet layers that already contain material, the
new artwork or sounds will always be placed after the existing material.
• There are two types of storage sheet layers: image and audio. The cells in the image layers
have an orange tint, and the cells in the audio layers have a blue tint.
Moving images from the storage sheet to the exposure sheet
To actually perform any work on the material you placed in the storage sheet (such as inking and
painting, creating camera moves, etc.) you must drag the raw material from the storage sheet and
drop it into the exposure sheet.
1. Select groups of cells, entire layers, or individual frames in the storage sheet:
To select a cell, simply click on it. To select a group of cells, click and drag the cursor over a
range of cells. To select an entire layer, click on the rectangle at the top of the layer. The selected
cells are darkened, and a little rectangle appears next to the arrow cursor, indicating that your
selection has been made.
2. Click on your selection again, then drag it over a layer in the exposure sheet:
Note: You can also copy the material in the storage sheet and paste it into the exposure sheet if
you prefer, using the copy and paste commands in the edit menu.
Important: when dragging data from one sheet to another, the type of data in the storage sheet
must match the type of data in the exposure sheet layer. In other words, you can’t place a
sequence of line drawings into an audio layer, for example.
Sheet Settings
To activate the delete and drag & drop options, go to the Tools menu, and select Options. Now
click on the Sheet Settings tab in the dialog box that appears. The following options are available:
• Delete contents: Activate this option if,when deleting cells selected from the exposure sheet,
you want the sheet to remain exactly the way it was and the deleted cells replaced by empty
cells.
• Remove: Activate this option if you want the deleted cells to be replaced by successive cells of
the same layer. All cells below will be moved upwards to fill in the empty spaces.
• Insert: Activate this option if, when dragging a group of cells over another, you want to insert it
where the cursor is located, moving the current one so as to fit the new ones in.
• Replace: Activate this option if, when dragging a group of cells over another, you want the new
ones to replace the current ones.
Note: The insert and replace options can be interchanged by pressing the Shift key while
dragging the cells.
Exposure sheet
The exposure sheet area resembles a traditional director’s exposure sheet. Here are the basic
characteristics of the exposure sheet:
• The exposure sheet always has an Active frame, a frame or a cell that is highlighted in yellow.
The contents of the active frame are displayed in the viewing area, so that you can perform
operations on them (i.e. paint a character, add a camera movement, etc.):
Note: If the active selection is a frame of audio, a neutral image (purely decorative) will appear in
the viewing area.
• When you select multiple frames or entire layers in the exposure sheet, the first frame is the
active one, and all the subsequent frames are darkened:
• There are three types of exposure sheet layers: image, audio, and camera animation.
Image layers have an orange tint, audio layers have a blue tint, and camera animation layers
have a green tint.
• The camera animation layer will affect all the active image layers on its left side, up until the next
camera animation layer, which will affect all the active layers on its left, and so on.
• The top of an active layer is displayed in bright yellow with a check mark in the check box. The
top of an inactive layer is displayed in gray, with an empty check box.
Setting repetitions
1. Select a range of cells in a layer, then click on the triangle to the right of the Repeat selected
cells button, and drag down to the repetition number you want. You can also type a number
directly in the number field next to the triangle.
2. Press the Repeat selected cells button, or hit the Enter key on your keyboard. The cell
code numbers in the repeated cells are displayed in gray:
3. Important: You can also set repetitions by selecting a frame in the exposure sheet and
pressing the “+“ key on the keypad of you keyboard to add repetitions after the frame, and the “—
“ key to remove repetitions after the frame.
2. If you only want to play back a portion of the animation, select a range of cells. It doesn’t matter
if you select cells in other layers, because only the active layers will be played back. If you want
to play back all of the contents of the active layers, you don’t need to select the cells — proceed
to step 3.
The active layers will be played back in sequence. If you have selected a specific range of cells,
all the selected frames in all the active layers will be played back.
To activate the Onion Skinning or the Reference Layers features, click on the Reference button
above the viewing controls:
2. To change the Onion Skinning and Reference Layers options, go to the Tools menu and select
Options. Now click on the Reference tab in the dialog box that appears:
Selector
Use this tool to select any color, either from the display area or from the color model archive area
(for more information on color model archives, see page 23). The color is inserted in the current
color box, and becomes the active color that is used by the Fill, Paintbrush, Airbrush, and Line
tools.
Fill
The fill tool lets you change the color of any line art, or fill closed areas in a drawing.
• To change the color of line art, you should be in line mode, and click on any part of the line art.
The color change will be extended to all the lines that are interconnected.
• If you click on a line while pressing the Shift key, the color change will be carried out on all the
lines throughout the entire drawing. It doesn’t matter where on the drawing you click; the color will
be applied to the entire cell. If you are satisfied with the color change, press the ok! button. If you
have selected multiple cells, the color change will be extended to all the selected cells.
• To fill a drawing, you should be in Show line & color mode. Click on a closed area (that is, a
part of the drawing that is completely enclosed by lines) and the color will fill the entire area. If
you click on an area that is already filled, the old color will be replaced by the current color you
are using.
• You can also adjust the sensitivity of the fill (i.e. how thoroughly the paint fills the closed area).
To change the fill sensitivity, go to the Tools menu, and select Options. Now click on the
Painting options tab in the dialog box that appears. In the Fill Color section, there is a check box
labeled Sensitive by default. If this check box is active, then the fill tool will automatically try to
fill in the area as thoroughly as possible, even between lines that are very close together. You
can toggle between sensitive fill and standard fill at any time by pressing the Shift button while
clicking on the part of the drawing you want to paint.
• The box fill feature is used to fill several closed areas at the same time. To perform a box fill,
select the fill tool, press the Ctrl key and drag the cursor over the artwork.
Eraser
This tool lets you erase painted areas or lines.
• If you are in Show line & color mode, keep in mind that only the painted areas of the images
will be erased, not the line art.
• If you are in Show line mode, only the line art will be erased.
• When you are in Show line & color mode, you can erase all the painted areas of the cell by
pressing the Shift button on your keyboard and clicking the eraser anywhere in the viewing area.
If you have selected multiple cells, the color erase will be extended to all the selected cells once
you press the ok! button.
• When you are in Show line mode, you can erase all the line art in the cell by pressing the Shift
button on your keyboard and clicking the eraser anywhere in the viewing area. If you have
selected multiple cells, the line erase will be extended to all the selected cells once you press the
ok! button.
Paintbrush
Selects the paintbrush tool. You can adjust the following parameters:
• Size: To adjust the size of the paintbrush, click on the brush size button and drag up or down in
the brush parameters’ viewing area.
• Smoothness: To adjust the sharpness or blur around the edges of the brush, click on the
smoothness button and drag up or down in the brush parameters’ viewing area.
• Opacity: To adjust the transparency of the color, click on the opacity button and drag up or
down in the brush parameters’ viewing area.
Airbrush
Selects the airbrush tool.
• The airbrush uses the same formats as the paintbrush (size, smoothness, and opacity) but
applies the paint in a pressure-sensitive manner just like a real airbrush.
• If you are in Show line mode, you can use the airbrush to selectively change the color of the
lines.
Line
Selects the line-drawing tool. The line tool uses the same formats as the paintbrush (size,
smoothness, and opacity) to determine the kind of line that will be drawn. To draw a line, click at
the starting point and drag in the direction you want the line to be drawn.
Drag image
This feature is used in conjunction with the Compose cells button to create composite images
(that is, two images that are placed together to create one larger image). This is useful for
stitching together two or more background images to create one large background. To use the
Compose cells and Drag image commands, do the following:
1. Drag the two images you want to stitch together from the storage sheet into the exposure
sheet.
2. Select one of the cells.
3. Press the Compose cells button.
4. Select the other cell. The Drag image button is activated automatically, and the second image
is superimposed over the first image. The second image appears semi-transparent.
5. Click on the semi-transparent image and drag it to align roughly with the first image.
6. Use the arrow keys to align the pixels of the two images exactly.
7. Press the ok! button. The two images are now combined into one seamless image.
Note: If you are scanning a large background in several parts, because it is too large to be
scanned in one
pass, always make each image overlap with the other a little bit. It makes it easier to align the
pixels later.
Brush Size
To adjust the size of the paintbrush, click on the width button and drag up or down in the brush
parameters’ viewing area.
Brush Smoothness
To adjust the sharpness or blur around the edges of the brush, click on the blur button and drag
up or down in the brush parameters’ viewing area.
Brush Opacity
To adjust the transparency of the color, click on the opacity button and drag up or down in the
brush parameters’ viewing area.
Current Color and Previous Color boxes
• The upper color box displays the current color that will be applied by the paint tools.
• The lower color box displays the previously selected color. Clicking on the lower box will swap
the contents of the previous color with the current color.
User palette
The user palette stores a series of colors that you can define.
• To select any one of the colors, simply click on one of the boxes in the palette. The contents of
the current color box will change to match the color you just selected.
• To change the color of any of the boxes in the user palette, first select the color box to be
changed, then use the color selector to choose the color you want (see Color Selector below).
The new color appears in the current color box. Now double-click on the current color box. The
contents of the palette box will change to match the current color.
• Whenever you use the same set of colors repeatedly, it can be a bit tiresome to return to the
palette and select new colors. To speed up the color selection process, you can set up the palette
to use the keyboard to shuffle through the colors you use the most:
1. Click on a color box while pressing the Shift key to select colors individually. The selected
color boxes contain a check mark.
2. To select a row of adjacent color boxes, click on the leftmost color box while pressing the Shift
key, then drag towards the right until you reach the last color box in the row. Each color box in the
row will contain a check mark.
3. Once you have selected the colors, use the Q and W keys to cycle between the color boxes.
The Q key will select the colors from right to left, and the W key will select the colors from left to
right.
4. To de-select any of the color boxes, click on the color box while pressing the Shift key.
1. To create a new color model archive (or CMA for short) go to the File menu and scroll down to
New CMA. A blank area will appear under the exposure sheet.
2. Select any imported color image or colored frame from the exposure sheet or the storage sheet
3. Drag the color image or colored frame into the column on the left-hand side of the color model
archive area. You can drag as many images into the archive area as you like.
4. Select a cell in the exposure sheet that you want to paint.
5. Select the fill tool (the little bucket), and drag it over the color model archive. Notice that the
little bucket icon turns into the eyedropper-shaped color selector.
6. Click on any colored area on the color model archive. The color is matched and placed into the
current color box above the user palette.
7. Press the Save CMA button to save the changes you make to your color model archive.
Importing a color model archive (reference image)
1. Press the Open color model archive button, and select an existing color models archive using
the browser. A reference image appears under the exposure sheet.
2. Select a cell in the exposure sheet that you want to paint.
3. Select the fill tool (the little bucket), and drag it over the color model archive. Notice that the
little bucket icon turns into the eyedropper-shaped color selector.
4. Click on any colored area on the color model archive. The color is matched and placed in the
current color area above the user palette.
the flat line means that the car doesn’t move. The camera is stuck at one position, and it stays at
that position over time, so the automobile looks like it is standing still.
• . the straight line means that the camera pan moves at a constant rate. From the first keyframe
to the second keyframe, the camera panned 10 fields over 60 frames, at a constant speed. So
our little automobile appears to move across the screen by ten fields in about two seconds,
without speeding up or slowing down.
If the line is curved, however, the rate of change is no longer constant — the steeper the slope of
the line, the faster the rate of change, and the shallower the slope of the line, the slower the rate
of change. For example, if the line is curved like this...
it means that the automobile appears to start off at a fast speed, slow down over time, then stop.
This is because the slope of the line is reduced gradually until finally it flattens out completely. In
the same way, if the line is curved like this...
it means that the automobile appears to start off slowly and gradually speed up. Now, if the line is
curved like this...
• it means that the automobile appears to start off slowly, pick up speed, slow down, and then
stop. This curve represents what is traditionally called an “ease-in, ease-out” camera move.
it means that the automobile appears to start off slowly, pick up speed, slow down, stop, start off
again, pick up speed, slow down, and stop a second time.
See if you can guess what would happen to our little automobile if the function curve of the
camera pan were shaped like this:
When the line curves back downwards, the value of the parameter that is being animated (the
pan, zoom, or rotation of the camera) returns closer to the value at the start of the curve. So in
the case of our camera pan on the little automobile, according to the curve it would appear to
start off slowly, pick up speed, slow down, then stop. But this time, as the curve slopes back
downwards, the car appears to start moving backwards. The car picks up speed driving in
reverse, then finally slows down and stops at its original position.
The example of the camera pan on our little automobile can be applied just as easily to a camera
zoom, or a rotation. The slope of the curve dictates the rate of change of the camera movement,
whether it is a pan, zoom, or rotation. Therefore, If you change the shape of the curve, you
change the rate of the camera animation.
Note: There are certain types of curve that are impossible to create. For example, you would
never get function curves that look like this:
The reason that these curves are impossible to produce is because time is a constant value,
always moving in one direction. Curves shaped like these would imply that the value of the
animated parameter loops backwards in time. While cartoon characters themselves can violate
the space-time continuum whenever they like, unfortunately, computers aren’t as flexible!
Editing the slope of the function curve is a matter of dragging the tension points at each
keyframe. The tension points look like little handles on each keyframe that run off from the
function curve at a tangent:
Here are some shortcuts to help you edit function curves:
• Space bar: Press the space bar over the function curves viewing area and drag to pan along
the viewable area of the function curves. If you right-click at the same time as you press the
space bar, then drag the cursor in the viewing area, you can zoom in and out of the function
curves viewing area.
• Ctrl key: To add keyframes directly to the curve, hold the Ctrl key and click on the curve. You
can use this same method to remove unwanted keyframes directly from the curve.
• Shift key: To move keyframes in time from one frame to another, press the Shift key and drag
the keyframe to the desired position. If you wish to level a keyframe’s tension points horizontally,
press the Shift key and drag one of the tension points.
Finishing touches
Performing an animation test
Activate the layer or layers you want to test by clicking on the check box at the top of the layer. If
you want to perform the test on a single layer, deactivate any other layers. If you want to perform
the test on multiple layers, activate the appropriate layers.
2. If you only want to play back a portion of the animation, select a range of cells. It doesn’t matter
if you select cells in other layers, because only the active layers will be played back. If you want
to play back all of the contents of the active layers, you don’t need to select the cells — proceed
to step 3.
3. Press the Play Forward button in the view area controls:
The active layers will be played back in sequence. If you have selected a specific range of cells,
all the selected frames in all the active layers will be played back.
Outputting to video
I. Activate the layer or layers you want to output by clicking on the check box at the top of the
layer:
3. A dialog box appears, letting you generate a video according to the parameters of your video
output card.
1. Activate the layer or layers you want to output by clicking on the check box at the top of the
layer.
2. Go to the File menu and scroll down to Export Frames.
3. A dialog box appears, letting you save a sequence of composited images anywhere on your
computer’s file system.