Many animators like to "flip" their drawings to check out how an action is progressing. There is a little talked about trick in TBS that is a great alternative to traditional "flipping" . If you highlight a sequence of cells in one or more elements in your exposure sheet or on the time line and then press the Shift + Enter key, TBS will just render a preview of just that sequence of cells and by using the "loop" button on the render viewer, you can watch them flip over and over and see how the action is looking. This is much nicer than trying to use the A and S keys to manually flip through a sequence. It is a really fast way to flip through any sequence of cells you select. One more of those little animator friendly features in Toon Boom Studio.

[ The following excellent approach and creative ideas have been contributed by David Nethery ]

Another technique for "flipping" or "rolling" between drawings in ToonBoom Studio 4.0 is to use a Griffin Powermate USB controller . Assign the A and S key shortcuts to the Powermate, so when you turn it clockwise it will advance frame-by-frame through the drawings on the timeline or X-sheet or if you turn it counter-clockwise it will go back up the X-sheet or timeline frame-by-frame. By rocking back and forth with the Powermate knob you can simulate "flipping" between drawings as on a traditional animation disc. I also have mine set up so that it returns to the First Frame by pushing down on the Powermate knob ( The key shortcut I use is Shift+B ; you can use any unassigned key shortcut you want in the Toon Boom Preferences, then assign it to the Griffin Powermate controller. )





This photo shows a single Powermate in use with an Intous tablet as a "flipping" controller to rock back-and-forth along the timeline .




I like to use a second Powermate which can be assigned the V and C key shortcuts to rotate the drawing area . Shift+C returns the image to it's original orientation. The Powermate can be programmed with multiple key shortcuts depending on how you turn it or if you click the knob or click and turn at the same time.




These days I use a Cintiq tablet more than the Intous , so here is a photo showing my dual-Powermate set up with my Cintiq and animation desk. However, a dual-Powermate set up can be used with a regular Intous Tablet , too, with the Powermates resting on the edge of the tablet or on the surface of your work table in front of you computer monitor.

(I have my Cintiq retrofitted into a traditional animation desk . If you have a Cintiq and want to retrofit it to a desk you can get the mount from TurnTablet.Com . )

In the photo the upper Powermate controls the rotation of the workspace and the lower Powermate controls the scrubbing of the timeline for the "flipping" effect. It is much easier to simply reach over and give the knob a little turn to perform these functions than to reach to the keyboard to find the keys for the rotation or the flipping funcitons. I can reach over and control it with the Griffin Powermate knob without looking away from my drawing. (Note: in this photo the open application shown is TVPaint , not ToonBoom Studio, but the function of the Powermate knobs is the same for both applications -- one for scrubbing the timeline, the other for rotating the workspace. )



Another way of controlling the flipping (scrubbing) and/or rotation with the Cintiq tablet or the Intous 3 Tablets which have the express keys and touchstrips is to program one of the touchstrips with A and S key shortcuts so that simply running your finger over the touchstrip will "flip" between drawings on the timeline and you can program the other touchstrip with V and C to rotate the drawing space .

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