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Welcome to Dragon

Welcome to Dragon 1.1

Welcome to Dragon 1.1

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Welcome

Welcome
Dragon is a stop-motion solution created by professional animators——for professional animators. It’’s designed to complement how the pros animate. We hope this manual helps you get up to speed with Dragon quickly. The sections that follow give you all the information you need to know to getproficient with Dragon: •• •• ““New Features for this Version”” on page 5 lists the features added for this release, and links to the sections explaining each feature in depth. ““Getting to Know Dragon”” on page 11 gives a quick introduction to Dragon’’s windows, menus, and features. It also links to sections explaining each feature in more depth. ““Setting up Video and Capture Sources”” on page 36 helpsyou understand how to connect your cameras to Dragon. ““Managing Your Project and Files”” on page 42 explains how to create new scenes and takes, then walks you through Dragon’’s file organization. ““Setting Up Your Shot”” on page 57 explains how to use the Cinematography window to take test shots, and adjust exposure and camera settings. ““Capturing, Navigating, and Deleting Frames”” on page 67gets you started capturing frames. ““Adjusting the View in the View Pane”” helps you use features like mirror, rotate, or pan. ““Controlling Playback”” on page 82 introduces you to Dragon’’s various playback features, including reverse, toggle, and memory management. ““Working with Multiple Layers”” on page 88 explains some advanced features, including drawing on the View pane, Onionskin, ChromaKey, and Roto Layers. ““Using the X-Sheet”” on page 119 helps you set up and manage the Dragon’’s exposure sheets. 3

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Welcome to Dragon 1.1 •• •• •• •• •• ““Adding and Editing Audio Clips”” on page 97 explains Dragon’’s audio editing features. ““Adding Exposures Per Frame”” on page 107 helps you create multiple passes for your scene. ““Adding Hand-Cranked CameraMoves”” on page 113 helps you take advantage of Dragon’’s hand-cranked camera move capability. ““Settings”” on page 125 gives an overview of the Preferences dialog. ““Troubleshooting”” on page 130 addresses some problems you may run into when using Dragon.

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New Features for this Version

New Features for this Version
We’’re always striving to improve Dragon’’s features and addcapabilities that make it more useful. We invite your suggestions; email us at support@dragonstopmotion.com. For this release, we’’re pleased to introduce the following improvements: •• The Cinematography window increases the power of version 1.0’’s Capture Check window. Not only can you view your full-res frames, you can take test shots, adjust camera settings, use a digital densitometer, and set upexposures with their own camera settings. See page 57. Import QuickTime as line-up layer (roto-scoping). See page 92. Memory management helps Dragon create seamless playback of your frames——even if your scene is very long or your computer is running low on RAM. See page 86. Capture-only shooting allows you to use Dragon without a video source. See page 69. Shoot on twos allow you to set up your scene toonly capture oddnumbered frames. See page 121. Scene settings import allows you to import important camera, animation and sound settings from other scenes. See page 48. Improved QuickTime export. See page 50. Time-lapse sequences. See page 71. A mask push in protects extra margins for post-production work. See page 80. Multiple dialogue tracks for greater control over dialogue. See page 104.Access to automatic downloads of Dragon updates. See page 127. Improved warnings and alerts help you troubleshoot Dragon. See page 131. 5

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Welcome to Dragon 1.1

Table of Contents

Getting Acquainted with the Animation Window.................................................................................11 Getting Acquainted with the Cinematography...