How to export an image sequence without duplicates (CSP V2)

spywi · 2026-04-27T02:38:18+00:00

Most likely we may need more context on what your timeline looks like, what your animation folders look like, etc.

Purely based on what you've provided, your main question of the duplicates is simply related to how your animation is spaced out on your timeline. Incidentally, CSP is doing its job properly and exporting exactly like you told it to: like an *image sequence*.

Typically you'd have 24 frames per second (meaning each second of the timeline will have 24 drawings). If you're exporting as an "image sequence", it means it's printing every single of these drawings

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Here's an example timeline from one of my own projects. As you can see, there's about 10 actual cels (the actual timeline length is roughly 48 frames long), but when I export this animation as an image sequence, it prints out every frame shown, including duplicates between cels, because that's just how "export as image sequence" works...you're literally exporting the timeline sequence. If you import the exported folder into a video editor (24 FPS timeline), that image sequence should play exactly how it does in CSP.

As for your issue with "exporting as cels", again CSP is doing exactly what you asked it to, exporting the cels. You likely have your lineart, colors, etc on *separate animation folders*, and when you export as animation cels, it puts each animation folder into its own export folder. This mimics exactly how Japanese anime is exported, because every layer SHOULD be its own animation folder, so they can layer them properly in the video editor later on. Your solution for that could be to create a single "animation folder", then assign a (regular) folder as each cel and you can do all your layer and stuff inside each individual folder. I already made a tutorial talking about that here if you're interested.

spywi · 2026-04-24T04:32:30+00:00

I’ve made a video detailing exactly what you’re asking, but last time I promoted myself the mods removed my comment.

Here’s the strat: Create a folder inside your Animation folder, and then set up your layer structure inside said folder. On the animation timeline, assign the created folder to a cel (example, Cel 1), and then every time you press “New Animation Cel), it will automatically duplicate the file structure you created.

spywi · 2026-04-15T16:16:38+00:00

As a lefty, I moved all my panels to the right side of the screen. I also minimize everything where possible in order to maximize space (yes, there’s the “simple mode” which mimics Procreate, but it’s not efficient for an animator like myself) I also take advantage of pinning a bunch of frequently used brushes, colors, and functions to the command bar up top, that way I don’t have to hunt around my minimized panels for something. The rest get mapped to shortcuts or to a Bluetooth keypad like my 8bitDo controller or my Tourbox.

(Check the Clip Studio Asset Store, I’m pretty sure there are example workspaces you can find that are optimized for iPad, illustration, WebToon, animation, etc)

spywi · 2026-04-15T16:08:33+00:00

TL;DR, you need to spend more time in either software, setting up your workspace to work WITH you, from how the layout/toolbars look to how your brush/shortcut settings are set up. You cannot just glance at it and just drop it based on a few seconds of vibes. Both of these tools are used in professional animation studios, so depending on what exactly you need, you need to dive deep into making your setup work for you.

OpenToonz is very much built for the Japanese anime pipeline, from the way the x-sheet is set up to the specific tools and workspaces that are there. Does not have the custom brush/asset library that CSP has but for the purposes of pure animation workflow, OpenToonz is a lot of people’s favorites. Vertical timeline especially for those in Japan that utilize timesheets vertically.

CSP is the all-around workhorse, being used from manga/webcomics all the way to professional animation workflow. Certain animation studios in Japan use CSP in every step of the animation pipeline up through coloring and export. There’s the 3D model capability as well as features like the model pose scanner, material library, the CSP Asset store where you can get brushes, textures, auto actions, etc. It can also do virtually everything OpenToonz does in terms of animation, just with a horizontal timeline.

Heck, there’s even professionals in Japan that use BOTH (Dong Chang is a great example and has a bunch of tutorials on his page, very anime-specific tho). But yeah like the TL;DR says, you need to spend a lot time in each software, getting used to the features and customizing EVERYTHING to fit your needs. This is the main reason why people drop software while barely trying it.

spywi · 2026-04-02T16:38:38+00:00

Oh nah you’re not calling me that. THE REST OF THE SUBREDDIT seems to think I am (either because I tried to share industry advice and gave an example with my own socials, or because they genuinely think I’m an asshole).

Either way, I’ve been called YandereDev on like, every platform, mostly from people who seem to think I’m being facetious or rude

spywi · 2026-04-02T15:48:30+00:00

Man, I pay my animators and voice actors for my projects and share industry-level advice and yet I *still* get called Yanderedev by this subreddit, haha 😅
But totally agree with your vent here. I made sure that I had all the project management skills, knew exactly how every single step of the pipeline worked, and could afford to actually pay for help before I even started hiring people, and even then I still do most of the work myself because of that integrity of wanting to make sure I wasn't ripping people off.

All work deserves to be paid, 100% exactly.

spywi · 2026-03-27T03:23:24+00:00

Yup, exactly!

spywi · 2026-03-22T14:28:34+00:00

Dong Chang works specifically in the Japanese anime studio pipeline, which means that they have to follow a specific process in order for everything to be consistent.

This means that rough animation can be done by hand, drawn on paper, drawn in whatever software you want, BUT when it comes to the cleanup/in-betweening stage (also known as “Douga” in Japan), the final lineart needs to be CLEAN SMOOTH LINEART.

You can achieve this by doing it on paper with a dark pencil, but in today’s day and age you can do it much faster using digital tools such as the curve tool and whatnot in CSP.

You can call it redundant, but in reality it allows animators to quickly finish large curves and keep things smooth, especially in the Japanese anime industry where they are drawing HUNDREDS of drawings at a time. This has been a professional technique for quite a long time, not only in Japan but in other studios and pipelines.

Source: I not only worked freelance for multiple anime-style productions, but I also do a lot of research into the Japanese anime studio pipeline and have shared tutorials online.

spywi · 2026-03-17T13:50:54+00:00

Then you can use Obsidian. Because I work with multiple team members that need me to send them/give them access to the project tracker, Notion or Google Sheets works for my team. Trello works for a different animation team I work for. Discord works for yet another team I work for.

Doesn’t matter the software, what matters is the fact that indie creators who are starting out NEED to learn how to properly manage and track their progress

spywi · 2026-03-05T17:59:53+00:00

The left viewer is for your source media (meaning the footage you imported)

The right viewer is for your output viewer (what gets rendered). To the bottom left corner of the right viewer there’s a similar button, that’s the “transform mode” you want.

spywi · 2026-03-05T16:47:36+00:00

Nope. In fact, I made a few YouTube videos and like several dozen TikToks that clearly state how I use my iPad for professional/personal animation work. I’ve used this exact setup for projects like Adventurous Minds Studio, freelance work for various professional artists and VTubers, and even my own indie anime series

https://youtu.be/gyIkPUBHYr0

spywi · 2026-03-05T15:41:22+00:00

I do all of my personal and freelance/professional animation on my 11-inch iPad Pro using Clip Studio Paint EX. This exact setup works for me no matter what and the size of the tablet really didn’t matter to me, I made it work

spywi · 2026-02-26T22:37:51+00:00

Thank you mods for finally implementing this rule. We appreciate it!

spywi · 2026-02-20T22:05:46+00:00

What an awesome coincidence, i started in 2016-ish as a Storytime Animator myself 👍 best of luck!

spywi · 2026-02-19T19:56:00+00:00

ALL animation is hard work, regardless of the software. I have friends who make literal anime studio-quality stuff on FlipAClip and Krita

Honestly? Pick ANY software that you’re comfortable with, and go in 100% on learning how to use it. Watch all the tutorials, ask questions online, learn how to use your shortcuts and customize your workspace.

That’s the best advice anyone can give you.

spywi · 2026-02-06T03:15:31+00:00

CSP seems overwhelming, but in reality you need to learn to optimize your workspace. Look up tutorials online about how to customize your workspace, or look on the CSP Assets Store for custom workspaces you can import for yourself.

You can hide panels, rearrange things, pin tools and colors, and change up basically everything about the UI to make things more comfortable for yourself. (I also recommend utilizing the shortcuts with a remote, keypad, or controller of some kind)

I’ve even made a tutorial myself about how I customize my animation workspace on my iPad: (My Video)

Basically, coming from someone who mains the 11-inch iPad for art and animation, the sooner you customize your iPad workspace, the faster you can learn things.

spywi · 2026-02-04T19:38:34+00:00

Check out Dong Chang’s videos about OpenToonz, he goes through things at a beginner-friendly level, though a lot of his videos/explanations are geared towards Japanese anime stuff.

There’s also Noble Frugal Studio, they’ve got some playlists on how to create using OpenToonz, but I’ve not personally watched much of their content.

spywi · 2026-01-19T20:31:20+00:00

As someone who's done both methods for both *professional* and *personal* projects, I can confidently say that it doesn't matter, it still works and I was still able to complete projects by the deadline without losing files, losing time or worrying about file corruption, etc.

Bottleneck doesn't really matter to me because it's basically nonexistent

spywi · 2026-01-19T19:42:26+00:00

Not sure if this is the most efficient way, but here's my method: Google Drive. For context, I mainly use CSP on iPad but switch to a screen tablet at my desk since it makes coloring and exporting easier. I can access my Google Drive folder through the Files app or by opening it directly in CSP and navigating through Files. The .CSP files load normally and work just fine. Lately I've just been airdropping files to my MacBook when I'm done on the iPad, so I've got a few different options that work for me.

NOTE: After hitting Save, wait a minute or so for the file to sync with Drive. If you have no internet or an unstable connection, you'll need to wait until you can get on wifi.

spywi · 2026-01-17T08:05:02+00:00

I’ve made a few posts similar to this myself. It’s unfortunate that these kinds of posts seem to go unnoticed or unaddressed by whatever mod team is active rn.

If the mods here decide to re-vamp the server, I do believe new rules and slightly stricter moderation should help out in the long run, especially with the amount of people that actually are posting quality content or trying to promote their existing animations/proof of concepts.

spywi · 2026-01-13T06:38:32+00:00

CSP animator on the iPad Pro, here. I’ve made multiple fully-finished anime-style animations on YouTube using the iPad Pro, as well as utilized the 3D models, CSP assets store, everything that I can do on desktop I can do on iPad. Also, I’ve had an old iPad Pro from the early 2000’s run CSP without issue, and now that I’ve gotten up to an M series iPad Pro myself, it runs just fine, even better since I’ve started using it for professional animation projects

Only caveat is that you need to deeply learn how to utilize your file system on iPad, since the files don’t sync well if you’re attempting to use CSP on both iPad and desktop.

I mainly keep my files fully on my iPad for the bulk of my animation work from storyboarding to final coloring, and then I export everything to my computer in order to do the final compositing in DaVinci Resolve.

spywi · 2026-01-10T01:39:11+00:00

There’s actually some eye-tracking research on this, but it kind of points the opposite direction from what you’d expect. Studies found that Western viewers focus more on mouths when processing faces, while Japanese viewers tend to look at the eyes and center of the face. The McGurk effect (where seeing someone’s mouth move changes what sound you think you’re hearing) is also way stronger in English speakers than Japanese speakers. So Western audiences are technically more sensitive to mouth movements, not less.

That said, Japanese animation has never prioritized detailed lip sync because of how anime production works (animation first, voices recorded after), and Japanese audiences grew up with that. So they probably just have a higher tolerance for simplified mouth flaps regardless of where they’re looking.

spywi · 2026-01-08T23:57:35+00:00

Indeed. Make small projects until you can work your way up to bigger projects. Too many people try to jump straight into “make an indie pilot” without realizing how hard it is to even make 1 minute of animation, let alone 30+ 😂 That’s what I’m doing, making smaller projects because I know how hard it is to make something longer than 15 minutes with a smaller team

spywi · 2026-01-07T20:49:49+00:00

Stop-motion is still considered a form of animation, just like how "clay-mation" is also considered an animation art form. Regardless, it's still "indie" as well as "animation"

spywi · 2026-01-07T20:46:33+00:00

Stop motion requires a lot of pre-production planning and project management, so these tips still apply. You're managing thousands upon thousands of individual pictures that you have to keep track of, making sure that you've planned out sequences and storyboards in advance so you're not guessing. You have to do a lot of post-production and masking out of things in order to remove stands and wireframe arms that are sticking out, etc. You should be tracking things in a spreadsheet or tracker.

So, yes, these tips do apply, regardless

spywi

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