Smart Graphic Control panel (SGC)

Commands / Smart Graphic Control panel (SGC)

16 May, 2018

Tags: frame picker, help, Keyframe Caddy, panel, Smart Graphic Control, support, v.7.0

by vlad

Description

Interactive panel which allows users to create Thumbnails for each frame of the content of a Graphic Symbol and then to control the 'looping' setting and 'first frame' for a particular Symbol Instance, by clicking on the desired thumbnail. Properties such as Single Frame, Play Once and Loop can also be controlled simultaneously.

During the initial thumbnail creation, the panel assigns metadata to a symbol instance and later uses it to control it, which allows the users to automatically generate keyframes without the need to make a Timeline selection; to synchronize the instance with other instance(s) and to have all kinds of combinations where an object controls other synced object(s), but is also itself synced to other 'masters'.

Suggested use

Character animation – Lip syncing, hand gestures, turnarounds, blinks and other eye or facial expressions

Where does it work?

A single instance on Stage or a single keyframe on Timeline must be selected for the initial creation of Thumbnails. After that no selection is required. The panel works in the current frame in the current Timeline.

EDAP Tools shortcut

n/a; open SGC Panel(s) from Window menu > Other Panels (Extensions in Animate) > SGC1, SGC2, …, etc.

Interactions

Click on a Thumbnail to set the first frame property of the controlled instance.

Buttons, Dropdowns

Full description

SCG panel

Top:
Panel Title – can be edited and renamed from the menu at the top-right corner (Thumbnail Settings…)
Menu with various selection options:

Create New Panel – creates another panel which can be open simultaneously to control a different instance
Delete this Panel – deletes the current panel, if there are more than one
Delete Timeline Thumbnails… – deletes all thumbnails associated with the current Timeline
Clear Panel – removes the currently loaded thumbnails

Below panel Title:
Checkbox for enabling or disabling the Auto Key function
Radio buttons to control the Looping setting at the key

Main panel area where Thumbnails appear. Clicking on a Thumbnail makes it current and affects the associated Symbol Instance on the Timeline.
Shift-clicking on a Thumbnail will hide if from view.

Buttons at the bottom:

Load or create Thumbnails – a Symbol instance needs to be selected to create Thumbnails. If there is nothing loaded and no selection and the button is pressed, it will look for potential existing metadata sets to load and if such are present will pop a list to choose from.
Refresh Thumbnails – to reflect edits made after the creation of Thumbnails.
Sync selected instance – requires a selected instance on Stage or key in Timeline. Allows to synchronize and control other elements in sync with the 'master' symbol. For example a mask that has to be synced with the eyes. Multiple synced elements can be added.
Roll Over current thumbnails… – a command which enables users to transfer metadata from the currently loaded set of thumbnails to any other symbol instances (range of keys) selected in Timeline.
Remove Thumbnail info and Synchronization Linkage – erases metadata from selected instances in the Timeline
Thumbnail Filter – a drop-down which allows users to choose what Thumbnails to display in the panel. The options are All Frames , Keyframes and Labels (only displays thumbnails for frames that have labels added to them).

Notes

Multiple panels can be created and open at the same time

Defining a Frame Range
In order to exclude a portion of the timeline from displaying as Thumbnails, you can use the Create Frame Range command.

Known issues

Incorrect number and size of thumbnails (Flash 8, CS3, CS5, CS5.5 only)
In older versions of Flash thumbnail generation is affected by the settings chosen for the last exported PNG.
Read more…

Thumbnails with solid background (Flash 8, CS3, CS5, CS5.5 only)
If you have noticed that thumbnails get generated with a solid background color (instead of transparent) and you cannot change this via Thumbnail Settings in the panel drop-down menu, there is an easy fix. In these older versions of Flash the image export is dependent on the PNG export setting in File menu. To change this go to File > Export > Export Image… and export one PNG, choosing “24-bit with alpha channel”. Flash will remember this setting. Then refresh your Thumbnails in SGC panel.

Lost metadata: (Animate versions earlier than 2019.2) Due to a bug in Flash CC and Animate CC the default Convert to Keyframes function does not retain the Smart Graphic Control (and SMR) metadata in the newly created keys.
To be able to use SGC in Flash/Animate, CC users have to switch completely to Convert To Keyframe Advanced.

edit: 5 April 2019. The issue described above was finally fixed in Adobe Animate CC 2019.2, released on 3 April 2019. If you have Animate CC 2019.2 or newer you should be able to use the default Convert to keyframes, Break Apart and drag in the Timeline to create keys without losing the Thumbnail and Synchronization metadata.

Video demonstrations

This panel is part of the Flanimate Power Tools package. Get the latest version from Downloads.

gokul raj

17 September, 2021 at 9:59 pm

how to load multiple thumnails , please help i can load only one symbol in sgc
help us in loading more thumnail in sgc panel

nick

17 September, 2021 at 10:04 pm

Your graphic symbol has to contain multiple frames inside.
Please, watch the videos and follow the instructions.

If you want to use with more than one symbol at a time, create more SGC panels from the hamburger menu in the upper right-hand corner > Create New Panel.

John

14 December, 2021 at 4:17 am

Did I see somewhere that you can name the thumbnails? I'm specifically looking to name the mouth shapes. Thanks! Love these tools – so much to learn.

14 December, 2021 at 8:25 am

Hi John,
Thanks so much for the kind words! We're really glad you like the tools.

Unfortunately there is no way to name the thumbnails in the panel. No one had ever requested it so far.
You can make the thumbnails larger to see them better, if you need.

And here is a workaround how you can name the mouth positions:

Create a new layer inside the mouth symbol and on it type the names that you like for each frame: A, E, O, U, L, etc.
Go outside and refresh the thumbnails by holding down Ctrl + pressing the button on the SGC panel. This will re-create the thumbnails with the labels on.
Go back inside the mouth symbol and guide the text layer. (You can press Alt+F3.) This will hide the labels from the actual mouth symbol, but they will remain on the thumbnails until you refresh them again.

Hope this helps!

Enjoy using EDAP Tools!

[Edit, 3 Jan 2022: Added a video, demonstrating the procedure.]

Ellis02

21 July, 2022 at 1:55 pm

So the limit to this feature is up to 100 thumbnails per instance, is there a way to go beyond 100?

21 July, 2022 at 2:54 pm

Hi Ellis,
Maybe you are trying to use this tool for something that it is not designed for?
If you need, split the content at 99 and symbol swap.

14 January, 2023 at 1:02 pm

The 100 thumbnails limit was removed in EDAPT v.6.8.0.1, released today.

25 June, 2024 at 6:11 am

I'm curious if there are specific practical uses for the Roll Over Thumbnails command instead of syncing the instances you want.

25 July, 2024 at 12:18 pm

Hi RK,

Sorry about the late reply! For some reason I only saw your question today.

Roll Over Thumbnails is intended to transfer the thumbnail metadata to a different timeline, so it is a maintenance feature rather than anything else. A common use case might be if you have several views of the head symbol to only tag the mouth in one of the views and then Roll Over to the other in your rig master files. In this way when you switch timelines/views you will not need to reload the thumbnails and everything will still work.

Syncing is just a general-use feature, handy for synced masks and such.