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Annotation Tool Improvements

We use RV for a lot for writing notes on Shotgun videos and its been very useful but it would be great if it could be more robust.

The main thing is that it's not easy to see what annotations you're going to attach with a note. If you don't have "Automatically Mark Annotated Frames" turned on, there doesn't seem to be a way to know which frames have annotations until after the note is submitted. Even then, deleting them is awkward. Though you can clear an individual frame, you can't remove a single image mark and have to remove them all at once.

Ideally, you could see a clear indication of where your annotations are and an easy way to remove the annotation and mark together. Also the menu option for annotation that says "Clear all drawings" isn't clear, because it sounds like every frame would be cleared but it seems to only work on the current frame, like the Clear Frame button. 

The other thing that would be beneficial if possible is having more tools. Similar to the line, rectangle, circle and arrow tools from screening room. When supervisors use screening room they often like to use these shapes for convenience, and it would be a big help to have them in RV too.

I hope this is all clear, but I can elaborate on it if necessary.

Thanks,
Gary

6 comments

  • 0
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    Jon Morley

    Hi Gary,

    We have collected great feedback like yours about our annotation tools and how to improve them. We have a big list of items which have not been scheduled yet, but this helps us greatly. Thank you for the feedback.

    As marking frames exists today I wanted to make sure you were aware of the "m" hotkey to toggle a mark on and off for a frame.

    Lastly I will look into the "Clear All Drawings" issue you describe. It is intended to clear all annotation on all frames.

    Thanks,
    Jon

  • 0
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    Gary Chadwick

    Hi Jon,

    Thanks for the answer! I actually hadn't known about the m hotkey so that'll help a lot, cheers!

    If you need any more information let me know. In future I'll keep an eye out for a beta that introduces annotation changes.

     

    Cheers,
    Gary

  • 2
    Avatar
    Matt Diks

    Hey gang,

     

    This is my second project using Shotgun Studio and I love the way it really supports and allows artists to communicate!

    I am an Animation Director/Supervisor working on TV series work for Netflix.

     

    We review all our shots through Shotgun’s web browser or RV. The Annotation Tool is great, but I often feel that I and other animation teams could benefit from some upgrades. Have you guys seen the https://syncsketch.com/ online tool?

     

    Key features to consider:

    - Able to resend the annotated video or a section of it.

    - Ability to Hold annotations over multiple frames.

    - Ghosting ability to see a faint image of previous and next annotations.

    - Ability to select and move parts of the annotation around for adjustments.

    - Wacom/Cintiq pressure compatibly. Thickness and Opacity. Like photoshop’s basic brushes.

     

    Interesting idea: Just buy syncSketch and integrate it across Shotgun and RV.

    I know it's a big list of dreams! Thanks for listening to my thoughts.

     

    Cheers,

    Matt

  • 1
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    Alexey Borzykh

    +1 to make a quality revision of the drawing tools in RV. The one we have right now is a "bit" outdated already.

  • 1
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    Nikolas d'Andrade

    Hello,

    "The other thing that would be beneficial if possible is having more tools. Similar to the line, rectangle, circle and arrow tools from screening room. When supervisors use screening room they often like to use these shapes for convenience, and it would be a big help to have them in RV too."

    Any news about that ? maybe a date or something ?

    Cheers.

    Niko.

  • 0
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    Jagadish Kumar

    +1 for implementing basic shapes in the annotation tools for RV, also it would be good to have a way to edit the text in a previous annotation.

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