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Introduction

TVPaint Animation is a 2D animation software using bitmap technology. It offers artists a complete and intuitive set of tools, dedicated to helping them bring their projects to life, while providing a drawing experience as close as possible to traditional, paper-based animation techniques.

This User Manual covers about everything there is to know about TVPaint. It features both text and images to explain how the software's various tools work. Video tutorials are also available for the more complex tools. Finally, the user manual also makes use of example projects which you can download to gain practical knowledge as well.

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This user manual is still a work in progress and will be updated with additional explanations and screenshots to match the latest TVPaint version features. It will also be available in French, Japanese and Chinese later on.

Credits​

We would like to thank the artists below for their contributions to this user manual. In alphabetical order:

  • Pauline Bertrand (character drawing for the Scan Cleaner Color effect section, snake drawing for the Transition effect section, street drawing for the Bump and Displacement Mapping sectio, girl and fennec drawing for the Optical Flow section and cow with cats drawing used throughout the user manual)
  • Loup Bouchet (cook drawing on the user manual homepage)
  • Alain Charrier (design and drawing of the Running-Kid project, used throughout the manual)
  • Rose Doschke (elephant drawing on the Interface section of the user manual)
  • Tévy Dubray (Lilly, John, Bob, Lady Guidelines, Palette, Multiplane Camera (Angkor), 2D Camera, Drawing Recorder, Decor Intérieur projects and Llama -Warp Tool- drawing, used throughout the manual)
  • Chad Essley (Monster Walk and Sun Talk projects, used throughout the manual but especially for the Animation Layers and Sound sections)
  • Léo Fernandez (Francis Fox, Regis Racoon, Ramona Crow, Travel Notebook, Summer Vibes, 2D Camera projects, used throughout the manual)
  • Raymond Gourrier (animation of the Running Kid project, used throughout the manual, and the Scan Cleaner effect project)
  • Kimarmelade / Kim Orosz (thinking animator drawing on the user manual homepage)
  • Leffiesart (fairy and mole drawing on the user manual homepage and used for the Drawing Modes section)
  • Olivier Michon (3D-Butterfly project, used for the Keyframer section)
  • David Nethery (Mouse drawing for the Fill Inside colorize section, Shaker FX example project and general recommendations)
  • Sidonie Vidal (rabbit drawing for Color Replacer effect section)
  • Peter Wassink (The Skull drawing for the Warp Grid section and the Multiplane Camera Tracking project)
  • Manuel Zander (creater of the Particle Generator's presets)
  • We would also like to thank Jérôme Lorin (TVPaint 12 icons' designer), Danas (for his recommendations), Dave Cockburn (who had the original idea for the Sketch Panel), Nicolas Geley and Benoit St-Moulin.
  • All other images (screenshots, panels...) are protected by copyright of TVPaint Développement

Download the example projects​

The aforementioned projects are used throughout this user manual to showcase TVPaint Animation’s features.

They can be downloaded here, along with additional example projects.

Using them as you go through the lessons will allow you to apply what you’ll be learning, thus making the experience a bit more practical and fun!