hi,
just some features id love to see in future AnimatePro versions:<br /><br />drag and drop support across the board!<br /> (assets, scenes, bgs, etc...)<br /><br />proper (simple/fast to use) layer support for psd, ai (ai layers dont work at all!) with correct naming of layers
resizeable vectorization preview window with middle mousebutton panning
optional mousewheel for zooming (everywhere)
optional middle mousebutton for panning (everywhere)
vector export (ai, svg, eps, etc…)
optional Animo shortcut support
all settings/defaults editable in some form like xml files or ini (for example: if i want the bitmap quality in the camera view to be ALWAYS HIGHEST for ALL elements, or if i NEVER want to make symbols while vectorizing…)
keyable "node ON/OFF"
all or most nodes Animo has/had (like mix node, order node, etc)
timed auto save function
simple ripple effect (like in Animo)
radial blur (for wheels etc)
fast graphical ease-in / out interface (again: like Animo had)
batch rendering (it doesnt have to be a real network renderer like Harmony has, just a way to queue stuff for rendering on the same machine and then when you fininshed compositing you could render all scenes in one big renderaction instead of having to re-open every scene, manually start the render, wait for it to finish and so on...)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If some of those are already in AnimatePro (and i therefore just made a fool of myself, hehe) please tell me :D<br /><br />Even without those features its a great program, but with them
my productivity (and everyone else’s i presume) would be so much greater.
thanks 
ease in and easy out have a good graphical interface.
You just expand your layer and were you see the little curve double click it.
However this only works 1 layer at a time.
Can you specify more what you’d like to see on drag and drop?
The problem with using layers and names from photoshop and illustrator files is something that we can look into, but from what I understand the problem is with the information that we can access through Illustrator. Newer versions of illustrator do not allow us to access layer information and thus the reason why we can no longer support layers. I will, however, pass this information on to our R&D team and we can see if there’s anything more we can do here.
When you say resizeable vectorisation preview window - do you mean that you’d like a full render here? you can resize the camera view (and even pull it off to a separate window) and do a full render using this.
I will ask about middle mouse-button pan and scroll wheel zoom.
For the Animo shortcut support, if you go into Edit > Preferences > Shortcuts, you could always remap the shortcuts that you use the most often with the Animo shortcuts if you like.
The team is investigating a way of creating a better interface for ease in/out.
I will pass your full list of notes on, thank you for your feedback and suggestions!
~Lilly
Toon Boom Animation
Thanks for your fast reply!
with drag and drop i mean to be able to simply drag stuff from explorer into the application. for example if i would drag an image file into the library it should directly get added to it / open the appropriate dialog.
or if i drag a psd file into the network view it should get added to the scene. (or ask what to do and how to do it)
the layer import is one of the most important features imho.
if the background artist creates complex backgrounds with overlays and underlays it is essential to be able to use them as it was intended with the relative positions intact. it is an EXTREME hassle having to export each part individually from illustrator 
also why “should” it be necessary to group each layer in photoshop… they are layers already…again: extreme hassle and time consuming
i understand this is propably some legacy/old code problem and other things had more priority in the development process, but still…
these little things add up to be extreme time-vampires if you have to process a large amount of scenes and assets.
i read in the forums that ai layers allegedly work for some people if you export it in legacy illustrator 10 format. but not for me
i tried every export option! i am greatful for any hint to solve this somehow! i also sent example scenes and screenshots to Debbie with support, but so far no solution. ai layer import also is in the manual…if it isnt possible it shouldnt be in the manual imho :-<br />
the vectorization window only shows a tiny “glimpse” of the vectorization result. like looking through a keyhole. what i meant is simply the possibility to resize this window so you can see as little or as much of the vectorization result as you wish while adjusting the settings.
i know i can change any shortcut in the preferences, but i cant create new ones. in animo i can change the timing of a cell from 1 up to 8 frames hold with simply pressing ctrl+ 1 through 8. i can set two of those in AnimatePro, but i am limited to those 2 as far as i know. <br /><br />as you can tell im an efficiency fanatic (out of necessity). i have to process around 100 short films each month, so anything that speeds up the workflow → i`m for it ;D
Thanks!
How about particles? We end up importing into AE and use particular. Anime Studio Pro has particle layers but it’s not great.
Regarding the AI/Photoshop import problem - R&D is looking into this issue. The problem however is not a legacy problem on our end - it is a problem of what information Photoshop/Illustrator themselves allow external programs to access - needless to say that the way that they program their software is out of our hands. They indeed did change this some time ago which is why for some people exporting in legacy works for them. But as you say it doesn’t always work, and we are investigating the issue to see if there is another way that we can improve this and make it work.
I will discuss this with Debbie as well as our developers and see what we can do.
~Lilly
Toon Boom Support
Thank you!
Odd maybe, but have you seen the steady stroke option on autodesk’s mudbox? nice, very nice.
Hi janusjg,
I hope you don’t mind my asking you but I was curious to read earlier that you need to create 100’s of short films per month…
Being an animator for many years (started in 2D moved into flash/toon boom…) I’ve been dismayed at the lack of work around…
Do you mind if I ask you what exactly it is that you do and how you scored such a lucky gig!
Cheers,
Michael