Importing updated templates problem

This thread suggest a behaviour that I’[m not seeing:

https://forums.toonboom.com/toon-boom-animate-family/support-and-troubleshooting/changing-templates--symbols

If the structure of the rig is exactly the same, and it’s only the drawings that change, you can update the drawings by dragging the new template on top of the existing one in the scene. By default, when you do this, it only copies drawings that don’t exist.

For example, let’s say I’m animating in an unfinished rig. I have hands 1, 2, and 3 that I was provided with. I make a new hand, 4. Then my rigger gives me a new rig, and that rig has hands 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. When I drag the new template on, it looks in the scene, sees that drawing 4 already exists, so it only copies over drawing 5. Even though the 4 in the template is a different hand, it doesn’t know this.

  1. I create a template.
  2. I drag template to the timeline.
  3. I edit template to add a new detail, (ear, frame, etc).
  4. I drag the changed template onto the existing template layer. Nothing happens.
  5. I drag the changed template onto a new layer, and now I can see the new changes, but not on the existing layer.

So if I add new hands, etc., can I not add them to a pre-existing layer with the character, or do I have to start that from scratch?

So you can hold down Ctrl as you drag your template in, which brings up the Drag Special options, and you can choose Always Create Drawings. But if you do this, it will make all the drawings that are imported into new drawings on those drawing layers. If this is what you want, then you can go ahead and do this. You could always go back and delete drawings that you don’t want, to remove them from the library.

I hold down CTRL as I drag the template to the timeline or stage, but nothing happens.

Many thanks - You weren’t kidding about CTRL being tricky - I still can’t do it! Followed your steps very carefully, but I still see no paste special.

Good news is I can work around it with r-click on the library object / copy, then r-click on the timeline to manually select paste special; it’s a bit more clunky, but at least I can get the frames in now.

Anyone have any idea what else might be going wrong re: the drag method?

There is a video made by Toon Boom covering this.

It may be a Tip of the Week or it could be one of the detailed tutorials.

I have to leave or I would track it down and post more information.

I think it is the Tip of the Week on Master Templates.

(Note: There is a part 1 and part 2.)

I have not read the quoted text carefully but it is possible that something is not described perfectly while you can listen to a different explanation while watching it being done on the video.

Thanks; I did watch that, but the section on the nature of master temps was still a little unclear to me. I understand that there’s a limit on the changes that can be made, but when reading the section quoted in my OP it does seem that you can add a drawing to a master template and then return it to the existing timeline; perhaps I’m misreading it?

My question would be then, if my timeline contains layers for a character which I’ll name:

A1

(which I drag to the library as a master template, which I’ll call):

B1

Can I then edit that B1 Master Template by adding a hand, say, then drag it back to the timeline to add that extra hand, to A1, so that it drops the changes onto those frames already on the timeline? Or, do I have to drag it to a completely new instance on the timeline, which I’ll call

A2

In which case I’d have to recreate the animation on the timeline previously occupied by A1, using the A2 instance on the timeline.

It seems strange that I should be locked out like this. Again, Lilly’s quote above:

you can update the drawings by dragging the new template on top of the existing one in the scene. By default, when you do this, it only copies drawings that don’t exist.

I’m seeing nothing that resembles this.

Holding Ctrl while dragging the edited template from the Library is a tricky procedure. If you do it simultaneously it is the equivalent of a right click mouse action. Instead you want to start by dragging the template thumbnail out of the Library until you are outside the Library window. Then press and hold Ctrl, continue dragging the edited template which by now has become a small rectangle under the mouse cursor, and then drop the little rectangle onto the existing template drawing layer. This opens a window called “Paste Special” (not “Drag Special” as Lilly described it in the quoted post).

BTW, the Toon Boom documentation states hold the Command key for Mac. That doesn’t work. Lilly was correct. It is the Ctrl key that opens the Paste Special window.

From the User Guide => Paste Special Advanced options:
http://docs.toonboom.com/help/animate-pro/#HAR/Stage/010_Library/045_H2_Using_Paste_Special.html%3FTocPath%3DToon%20Boom%20Animate%20Pro%20User%20Guide|Toon%20Boom%20Animate%20Pro%203%20User%20Guide|Chapter%2011%3A%20Library|Importing%20Symbols%20and%20Templates|_____7

Never create drawing files: When adding exposures to a drawing layer, drawing files will not be created.

Only create drawing files when they do not exist: When adding exposures to a drawing layer, new drawings will be created only when drawings with the same name do not already exist in the destination.

Always create drawing files: When adding exposures to a drawing layer, new drawings will always be created. If drawing files with the same name already exist, Animate will create a new name for the drawing.

I am not clear whether you are replacing drawings or just adding optional parts. If you are interested in my opinion, I would use #2 if I only added a collection of optional parts and/or posed parts. I would use #3 if I changed/replaced parts and maybe created an additional collection of optional parts as well. I don’t believe #1 applies to your situation. I hope the way I described the edited template possibilities is clear enough to understand.