I'm new to video scribe and quite struggling with the not-so-intuitive workflow...
One of the problems is when I try to move an item via morphing as explained in your tutorial (4 with the mug): a black line pops up over the line during morph?
It looks - also during the 'drawing' phase - as if a thicker mask-line is used?
Only I didn't draw a thicker transparent line or something like that??
I made just one single line, drawn in Illustrator. In orange, to see the difference with black lines from Videoscribe.
I don't understand what you are explaining in your JPG.
Please attach the one or two SVGs used in the morph You can link to a video too if you wish And please state which version of illustrator you are using
The issue is probably one or more of the following: 1) When you morph an image, ALL strokes, (including color strokes, special brush shapes, and transparent strokes) turn into 100% opaque black basic strokes during the animation. 2) a shape made with the rectangle tool may not draw the same as a square drawn with the pen or pencil tool 3) if you use illustrator CC or newer, you have to be really careful with your save settings or you get things like black fills and artifacts at intersecting lines
-Mike (videoscribe user)
J
JJ Rolf
On
Wed, 9 Mar, 2016 at 3:42 PM
OK, I tried to explain that I just used a simple line, (line settings in jpg) no special brush strokes or whatsoever.
When I export an svg there is a menu (also in the jpg) where I didn't change anything; just default settings. This menu cannot be found in any of your help files, only an older version in one of the tutorials ('creating you own svg's')
When I morph (I only want to move the item) there is a thick black line during the morph.
This line seems to have the same width (some hidden video scribe setting?) a used when I use 'draw' in stead of 'morph'. This becomes visible when lines are close together: then a part of the next line is visible during drawing of the first. When I use a filled item (see example) you can see a part of the fill during drawing.
Please find attached a .scribe file and the svg's I used for it.
The zip file you uploaded contains nothing similar to what is in your videoscribeproblem.JPG.
It contains a scribe with nothing but a drawing of a gift, two SVG clouds, and a png screenshot of a problem with one of the clouds.
The cloud did not draw for me the same way that is shown in the screenshot, but it did seem to have an oversized reveal stroke.
Using the save settings mentioned in the link in my previous post should make the cloud draw correctly although it will still become a black outline if you use morph.
-Mike (videoscribe user)
J
JJ Rolf
On
Thu, 10 Mar, 2016 at 8:14 AM
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your answer. The zip file was a new sample, addressing the same problem.
I just followed the steps in "Making SVG Images Draw Well" but the svg export settings menu is different from the one I get in Illustrator.
I'll try to explain again from start:
1) I make a simple shape with the pen tool in Illustrator CC
2) I 'export selected' to avoid exporting hidden layers or what not with the following settings (I couldn't find preferred settings for video scribe anywhere?)
3) import svg into video scribe
4) copy the clip, move it a little lower and select 'morph'
5) now, during the animation, the initial (upper) flower is replaced by a thick black line (Which I didn't draw!!) until the end of the animation, where it is replaced by the lower flower with the intended pink line.
All steps illustrated with images in the attached jpg.
Additional: As an experienced After Effects user; to me this problem seems to come from some 'hidden' and thicker mask-line that Video scribe uses internally? Indication for this thicker mask-line are given when a part of the fill is revealed in drawing a filled shape, and a part of neighboring shapes is revealed when drawing shapes close together. Both illustrated in the jpg too.
It's like this is happening 'behind the screen' (where the gray line is not drawn by me, but used as a mask by Videoscribe):
Ok I think we are on the same page now. I think there is just one problem and I think we can fix it.
(Your
gray reveal stroke in your images confused me, but now I understand. I
thought that you were actually seeing that gray stroke in videoscribe,
but if I understand correctly, you added that to suggest what
videoscribe is doing and it is not something that you actually see in
videoscribe.)
I agree that the resulting effect in videoscribe is
that videoscribe seems to be adding an oversize reveal stroke where
there is none. This is part of the same bug (mentioned in item #7 in my
previous link) that causes artifacts to appear everywhere that stroked
lines intersect or anywhere that the stroked lines are close enough to
be revealed by this imaginary reveal stroke. It is also the reason that
when you morph the black strokes look much thicker. (note: the lines
will always turn black during a morph but they should not get thicker)
SO we have identified the symptom! Now for the solution...
1)
Instead of using FILE>EXPORT SELECTION>SVG can you try
FILE>SAVE AS>SVG and see if the menu looks like the one in my
previous link? If the menu is the same then this is one way to eliminate
the phantom reveal stroke. (I realize this may require you to manually
delete extra layers before saving, which is a pain. But if this works then at least you know there is a solution that works.)
2) if the
regular SAVE AS menu no longer resembles the screenshot in my previous
link, then further testing of the new menu will be required. However
there is probably still some combination of settings that will work.
3)
if you prefer to use FILE >EXPORT SELECTION>SVG there MIGHT be
some combination of options on that menu that will eliminate the
symptom. I don't have CC so I can't test it for you.
4) any version of adobe illustrator older than the first CC (2013) version will not have the same problem
5) any version of inkscape before 2013 will not have the problem I believe
6) opening and resaving your SVGs in a version older than 2013 or running them through SVGCLeaner will probably fix the problem.
-Mike (videoscribe user)
J
JJ Rolf
On
Thu, 10 Mar, 2016 at 2:46 PM
Ok, Mike,
Thanks a lot for your detailed answer. You're right that I didn't see the gray stroke, just tried to indicate that there is 'some invisible' reveal stroke used internally in video scribe.
Perhaps a point of interest for the developers that it is so damn hard to get a shape into video scribe without all kinds of funny artifacts and workarounds. How about 'copy in Illustrator - and paste in Videoscribe ' for example? I have done this kind of animations for a long time, using After Effects and thought that video scribe would be easier and faster...
I will try your suggestions and let you know.
Thanks again,
Jurjen
J
JJ Rolf
On
Thu, 10 Mar, 2016 at 2:58 PM
Yep, SAVE-AS in stead of EXPORT solved the problem!
There is indeed a different menu when saved then when exported.... (Hip hip Hurray for Adobe) and more important: obviously the resulting svg is different!
Regards,
Jurjen
M
Mike Metcalf
On
Thu, 10 Mar, 2016 at 3:32 PM
Glad it worked for you! Thanks for sharing your results!
In this tutorial you have a black lines during animation time with a morphing effect (8:00).
I was hoping you worked out this bag? I have the same issue with my images. may be there is a work around for morphing two different images without black lines appearing.
2. If I understand it right, no black lines suppose to appear using morph with a same image in two different locations (like you showed example with a mag 3:00)? I experimented with my images but got my image move as black outlines.
I followed all of the instructions about saving svg files:
Hi, Thank you for providing all of the wonderful files! I looked at some of them and it looks like you are doing everything correctly.
Unfortunately, what you are seeing is not a bug. Here is how morphing works:
1) Morphing only animates the strokes of an SVG. 2) During a morph animation, all strokes in the source and target SVGs become black strokes at 100% opacity, and all fills are hidden. 3)This means that color strokes and transparent strokes will be visible black strokes and all fill colors will not be shown during the morph animation. 4) morphing from one SVG to a different SVG may look like line segments breaking apart and reforming into the second image, instead of a more fluid transition. 5) For the best results, you may want to use morph on SVG images that contain only black strokes, with no transparent strokes and no fills.
You may be able to think of a more effective/more "whiteboardy" way than morphing to express your message in this instance. For example, if you are expressing one idea leading to another, you could draw the first image then an arrow pointing to the second image which is then drawn. If you are explaining one idea being REPLACED by a better idea, draw an X through the first image and then draw the second image. You could also draw a check (tick) mark by the second image for additional emphasis.
Hope that helps, Mike (videoscribe user)
T
Tatiana Butler
On
Sun, 6 Nov, 2016 at 6:01 PM
Thank you, Mike for you prompt answer.
I am exploring different styles for replacing one image with another and wanted to see if I can offer morphing as style of the scribe to the client to express their original script idea. But they have corporate colors and black is Not one of them.
What I do not understand is why in my 2nd example I can keep blue outline ( or any other colors ) if I set the first image to the outline mode. But I can not control the outline (or morphing segments colors) in the 1st and 3rd examples in my video. Perhaps it is possible to control by changing the SVG code?
That would be very cool to be able to show moving of the object on the same frame. So far it is possible only for the images with black outline style and color fill without any invisible strokes. May be someone knows the workaround ?
Another style I found work well for "for replacing one image with another" is using scribble out image on top of the 1st and placing 2nd image after.
Thanks again, Tatiana
M
Mike Metcalf
On
Sun, 6 Nov, 2016 at 7:33 PM
Thanks for pointing that out.
It is interesting that the color seems to stay blue in the second example, when it is clearly black in the first example. However, I think it might just be a video glitch and not a videoscribe glitch. The blue is so close to black that it is difficult to tell if it is really being treated as blue strokes by videoscribe (I don't think so) or if that particular example just renders bluish as a byproduct of the video encoding, color shift due to video compression, the tiny size of the morph elements in the video, etc.
I could not reproduce that apparent blueness in preview mode in videoscribe using your SVGs. (I'm using an older version of videoscribe though.Maybe it only works that way in some versions.)
what if you make the strokes bright red and thicker and try to reproduce the effect with the elements larger on the canvas? Do the strokes stay red?
I think that there is a suggestion thread (for moving color objects) in the Suggestions section. If you find it you can "LIKE" the opening post of the thread in order to encourage sparkol to focus on that issue sooner.
Hi,
I'm new to video scribe and quite struggling with the not-so-intuitive workflow...
One of the problems is when I try to move an item via morphing as explained in your tutorial (4 with the mug): a black line pops up over the line during morph?
It looks - also during the 'drawing' phase - as if a thicker mask-line is used?
Only I didn't draw a thicker transparent line or something like that??
I made just one single line, drawn in Illustrator. In orange, to see the difference with black lines from Videoscribe.
I have tried to illustrate in the attached jpg.
Hope someone can help me.
Thanks a lot.
Jurjen Rolf
I don't understand what you are explaining in your JPG.
Please attach the one or two SVGs used in the morph
You can link to a video too if you wish
And please state which version of illustrator you are using
The issue is probably one or more of the following:
1) When you morph an image, ALL strokes, (including color strokes, special brush shapes, and transparent strokes) turn into 100% opaque black basic strokes during the animation.
2) a shape made with the rectangle tool may not draw the same as a square drawn with the pen or pencil tool
3) if you use illustrator CC or newer, you have to be really careful with your save settings or you get things like black fills and artifacts at intersecting lines
-Mike (videoscribe user)
OK, I tried to explain that I just used a simple line, (line settings in jpg) no special brush strokes or whatsoever.
When I export an svg there is a menu (also in the jpg) where I didn't change anything; just default settings. This menu cannot be found in any of your help files, only an older version in one of the tutorials ('creating you own svg's')
When I morph (I only want to move the item) there is a thick black line during the morph.
This line seems to have the same width (some hidden video scribe setting?) a used when I use 'draw' in stead of 'morph'. This becomes visible when lines are close together: then a part of the next line is visible during drawing of the first. When I use a filled item (see example) you can see a part of the fill during drawing.
Please find attached a .scribe file and the svg's I used for it.
Oh, and indeed I use the latest Illustrator CC.
I can't find any info on how to be careful with settings??
Here is a list of tips including some save settings for CC: Making SVG Images Draw Well (2015 update)
It contains a scribe with nothing but a drawing of a gift, two SVG clouds, and a png screenshot of a problem with one of the clouds.
The cloud did not draw for me the same way that is shown in the screenshot, but it did seem to have an oversized reveal stroke.
Using the save settings mentioned in the link in my previous post should make the cloud draw correctly although it will still become a black outline if you use morph.
-Mike (videoscribe user)
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your answer. The zip file was a new sample, addressing the same problem.
I just followed the steps in "Making SVG Images Draw Well" but the svg export settings menu is different from the one I get in Illustrator.
I'll try to explain again from start:
1) I make a simple shape with the pen tool in Illustrator CC
2) I 'export selected' to avoid exporting hidden layers or what not with the following settings (I couldn't find preferred settings for video scribe anywhere?)
3) import svg into video scribe
4) copy the clip, move it a little lower and select 'morph'
5) now, during the animation, the initial (upper) flower is replaced by a thick black line (Which I didn't draw!!) until the end of the animation, where it is replaced by the lower flower with the intended pink line.
All steps illustrated with images in the attached jpg.
Additional: As an experienced After Effects user; to me this problem seems to come from some 'hidden' and thicker mask-line that Video scribe uses internally? Indication for this thicker mask-line are given when a part of the fill is revealed in drawing a filled shape, and a part of neighboring shapes is revealed when drawing shapes close together. Both illustrated in the jpg too.
It's like this is happening 'behind the screen' (where the gray line is not drawn by me, but used as a mask by Videoscribe):
Ok I think we are on the same page now. I think there is just one problem and I think we can fix it.
(Your gray reveal stroke in your images confused me, but now I understand. I thought that you were actually seeing that gray stroke in videoscribe, but if I understand correctly, you added that to suggest what videoscribe is doing and it is not something that you actually see in videoscribe.)
I agree that the resulting effect in videoscribe is that videoscribe seems to be adding an oversize reveal stroke where there is none. This is part of the same bug (mentioned in item #7 in my previous link) that causes artifacts to appear everywhere that stroked lines intersect or anywhere that the stroked lines are close enough to be revealed by this imaginary reveal stroke. It is also the reason that when you morph the black strokes look much thicker. (note: the lines will always turn black during a morph but they should not get thicker)
SO we have identified the symptom! Now for the solution...
1) Instead of using FILE>EXPORT SELECTION>SVG can you try FILE>SAVE AS>SVG and see if the menu looks like the one in my previous link? If the menu is the same then this is one way to eliminate the phantom reveal stroke. (I realize this may require you to manually delete extra layers before saving, which is a pain. But if this works then at least you know there is a solution that works.)
2) if the regular SAVE AS menu no longer resembles the screenshot in my previous link, then further testing of the new menu will be required. However there is probably still some combination of settings that will work.
3) if you prefer to use FILE >EXPORT SELECTION>SVG there MIGHT be some combination of options on that menu that will eliminate the symptom. I don't have CC so I can't test it for you.
4) any version of adobe illustrator older than the first CC (2013) version will not have the same problem
5) any version of inkscape before 2013 will not have the problem I believe
6) opening and resaving your SVGs in a version older than 2013 or running them through SVGCLeaner will probably fix the problem.
-Mike (videoscribe user)
Ok, Mike,
Thanks a lot for your detailed answer. You're right that I didn't see the gray stroke, just tried to indicate that there is 'some invisible' reveal stroke used internally in video scribe.
Perhaps a point of interest for the developers that it is so damn hard to get a shape into video scribe without all kinds of funny artifacts and workarounds. How about 'copy in Illustrator - and paste in Videoscribe ' for example? I have done this kind of animations for a long time, using After Effects and thought that video scribe would be easier and faster...
I will try your suggestions and let you know.
Thanks again,
Jurjen
Yep, SAVE-AS in stead of EXPORT solved the problem!
There is indeed a different menu when saved then when exported.... (Hip hip Hurray for Adobe) and more important: obviously the resulting svg is different!
Regards,
Jurjen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHP4YoRLPMw
In this tutorial you have a black lines during animation time with a morphing effect (8:00).
I was hoping you worked out this bag? I have the same issue with my images. may be there is a work around for morphing two different images without black lines appearing.
2. If I understand it right, no black lines suppose to appear using morph with a same image in two different locations (like you showed example with a mag 3:00)? I experimented with my images but got my image move as black outlines.
I followed all of the instructions about saving svg files:
Here is screen shot of my black outline problem:
Here is my video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-2Z_CEAMJ8
I also attached ai, svg and screen shot of the saving as Svg file.
I hope you can help me figure this one out,
Thank you
Thank you for providing all of the wonderful files! I looked at some of them and it looks like you are doing everything correctly.
Unfortunately, what you are seeing is not a bug. Here is how morphing works:
1) Morphing only animates the strokes of an SVG.
2) During a morph animation, all strokes in the source and target SVGs become black strokes at 100% opacity, and all fills are hidden.
3)This means that color strokes and transparent strokes will be visible black strokes and all fill colors will not be shown during the morph animation.
4) morphing from one SVG to a different SVG may look like line segments breaking apart and reforming into the second image, instead of a more fluid transition.
5) For the best results, you may want to use morph on SVG images that contain only black strokes, with no transparent strokes and no fills.
You may be able to think of a more effective/more "whiteboardy" way than morphing to express your message in this instance.
For example, if you are expressing one idea leading to another, you could draw the first image then an arrow pointing to the second image which is then drawn.
If you are explaining one idea being REPLACED by a better idea, draw an X through the first image and then draw the second image. You could also draw a check (tick) mark by the second image for additional emphasis.
Hope that helps,
Mike (videoscribe user)
I am exploring different styles for replacing one image with another and wanted to see if I can offer morphing as style of the scribe to the client to express their original script idea. But they have corporate colors and black is Not one of them.
What I do not understand is why in my 2nd example I can keep blue outline ( or any other colors ) if I set the first image to the outline mode. But I can not control the outline (or morphing segments colors) in the 1st and 3rd examples in my video. Perhaps it is possible to control by changing the SVG code?
That would be very cool to be able to show moving of the object on the same frame. So far it is possible only for the images with black outline style and color fill without any invisible strokes. May be someone knows the workaround ?
Another style I found work well for "for replacing one image with another" is using scribble out image on top of the 1st and placing 2nd image after.
Thanks again,
Tatiana
Thanks for pointing that out.
It is interesting that the color seems to stay blue in the second example, when it is clearly black in the first example. However, I think it might just be a video glitch and not a videoscribe glitch. The blue is so close to black that it is difficult to tell if it is really being treated as blue strokes by videoscribe (I don't think so) or if that particular example just renders bluish as a byproduct of the video encoding, color shift due to video compression, the tiny size of the morph elements in the video, etc.
I could not reproduce that apparent blueness in preview mode in videoscribe using your SVGs. (I'm using an older version of videoscribe though.Maybe it only works that way in some versions.)
what if you make the strokes bright red and thicker and try to reproduce the effect with the elements larger on the canvas? Do the strokes stay red?
I think that there is a suggestion thread (for moving color objects) in the Suggestions section. If you find it you can "LIKE" the opening post of the thread in order to encourage sparkol to focus on that issue sooner.
-Mike (videoscribe user)