XSheet

(Exposure Sheet George Script Generator)

Written By Ray Foster

Xsheet is meant to emulate a traditional animator's exposure sheet.

To use Xsheet put it in any folder and run it. You might want to drag a copy of its icon onto the desktop. It is a stand-alone application and doesn't require Aura to be running but it works very nicely under Aura when attached to a function key with Jeff White's VI Keys. Enter the filenames of your drawings in the appropriate cells on the grid. The programs assumes that all the drawings exist and are of the same type (i.e. have the same extension, like ".dip" or ".tga"). The are 500 lines. This is an abitrary limit. It could just as easily be any number of lines but 4 layers of 500 lines should be sufficient.

Under the File menu there are sub-menus to select the filename extension (the default is ".dip"), save the xsheet and to export it to a George script. The supported file types are "dip", "iff", "tga", "bmp". The program makes a xsheet directory in your George directory and this is where the saves and exports default to. The xsheet file has the extension ".exp". You have to save the xsheet file if you want to reload it later for changes, and if you change it you have to re-generate the George script to reflect the changes.

Copy copies the contents of the currently selected cell and Paste pastes whatever is in the copy buffer to the currently selected cell.

Begin selects the beginning of a range a column. End selects the end of a range in the same column. A range can only exist in 1 column (i.e. layer 1 lines 10 to 20). Range copies the selected range beginning at the currently selected cell.

Delete deletes the currently selected cell or if a range has been selected it will delete the range.

Insert Line inserts a new empty line across all the layers at the currently selected cell.

Under the Hold menu item are sub menus from 2 to 10. Selecting any of these, then entering a filename in a cell and pressing the return key, will copy the contents of that cell to whatever number of cells that the Hold sub menu is set. This setting remains in effect until it is changed but only applies if the Enter key is pressed.

For holds other than or instead of those under the Hold menu item you can type the filename into a cell, followed by a SPACE, followed by the number of frames you want the hold to last and the filename will be copied to that number of cells.

When you've finished filling in the xsheet Save it and then Export it.

You'll be prompted to provide a filename (the name of the scene) and to select a file from the source directory for the drawings or images. The program will generate a George script with that filename and the extension ".grg" in the xsheets sub-directory in your George directory.

In Aura select the George script and execute it and the files will load onto the timeline in xsheet order. Up to 4 layers are supported.

Save the project as an Aura project file.

Click Here to Download XSheet.zip

Well that does it for this one, till next time...

To contact Ray Foster you can E-Mail him at rfoster@idirect.com