All posts tagged UI

Redesigning the TVPaint Animation interface

TVPaint Animation 11 interface (before/after)

At the beginning of the month, TVPaint Développement released the 11th version of its technology and from all the new features and improvements, we are going to focus on the major redesign of its user interface.

It’s no surprise, TVPaint dévelopement knew they had to rethink the look of TVPaint Animation (which comes from a long history back in the 90’s), the interface has been subject to discussion for years, since it doesn’t quite follow familiar UI patterns.

Everything in its right place

To make matters worse, the lack of consistency + overuse of gradients + loads of empty space did not make sense for new users who didn’t see the potential of the software at first.

Hence the need to refine the most of the interface, make it clean and organized, while keeping in mind a bit of restrictions related to the engine and development priorities.

TVPaint Animation 11 + Wacom Cintiq 27HD = (♥ヮ♥)Now, you have the option to scale the interface up to three sizes. This way, the icons aren’t too small in high resolution and it will handle future devices (such as 4K screens or latest Wacom tablets).

Engaging experience

Besides the entire icons redesign, a new color scheme called Orage has been done from scratch, a dark flat design that brings a more modern look and feel to get straight down to the point.

There are a lot of visual tweaks too and even if there is still room for improvement, this release is the most appealing version so far. 🙂

A couple of feedbacks after the official launch:

Keeping to simple design was the key, mission accomplished! \o/


TVPaint Animation is a drawing package for graphic design and 2D animation, used by students, studios and freelance artists around the world for feature-films, short movies, TV shows, advertising, storyboard / animatic, video games, …

TVPaint Développement is a human sized company (based in Metz, France) founded by Hervé Adam.

Available for Microsoft Windows, Apple OSX, Linux and Android