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Hinchu
Mar 4, 2004

Please keep a watchful eye out for hinchus. They are very slow and dumb, and make for easy roadkill.

Here is the first shot of a little animation I'm starting to work on.


The backdrop was done in Photoshop and then the rat was done in Flash. It was put together in After Effects.

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Matty D
Sep 27, 2005

Mr. Sharps posted:

Could this thread also serve as a place to put motion graphics for the designers who do such things?

Oh for sure.

Also Ratatat is appropriate for any reel about anything. I'll have some new stuff to show you guys very soon. Really close to done on the drunk cowboy, and I have some blocking done for a boy rolling down a hill in a beach ball.

j0e
Oct 23, 2009
Not a whole lot to contribute to such an excellent thread but I thought I'd try...

My first animation assignment at my school, animationmentor.com. Just a simple bouncing ball but hey, you gotta start somewhere!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM_A_3JpPsA

e-x
Oct 1, 2004

j0e posted:

Wow, small world...I used to CSR @ Mythic. Your work is really inspiring to me by the way. I am pursuing a career in animation and I currently attend animationmentor.com. I, like you, can't draw either so hopefully I'll be able to end up as good as you are now :]

Any tips for a newbie? I'm learning all the basics right now (bouncing ball, simple walk cycles, etc). I'd really appreciate it as I would love to animate for Mythic/Bethsoft one day.

By the way, Ratatat is sick! Nice song choice in the reel.

Thanks man. Sucks you probably got cleaned out with our big layoffs :( would of been fun to show you some things.

My advice would be to stick with Animation Mentor. They produce some awesome animators from what I've seen.

j0e
Oct 23, 2009

e-x posted:

Thanks man. Sucks you probably got cleaned out with our big layoffs :( would of been fun to show you some things.

My advice would be to stick with Animation Mentor. They produce some awesome animators from what I've seen.

Yeah, that's when I was let go unfortunately. From what I understand Mythic/Bethsoft use 3d Studio Max...Animation Mentor is taught through Maya. I know the principles of animation are the same regardless of what platform but were you trained in 3d Studio Max? If so, would you recommend I try doing animation in 3dsm on the side? And lastly, what kind of animations did you include in your demo reel when you sent it out to studios?

Thanks a ton for responding by the way (I would have sent this in a PM but I'm not a premium member).

-j0e

e-x
Oct 1, 2004

j0e posted:

Yeah, that's when I was let go unfortunately. From what I understand Mythic/Bethsoft use 3d Studio Max...Animation Mentor is taught through Maya. I know the principles of animation are the same regardless of what platform but were you trained in 3d Studio Max? If so, would you recommend I try doing animation in 3dsm on the side? And lastly, what kind of animations did you include in your demo reel when you sent it out to studios?

Thanks a ton for responding by the way (I would have sent this in a PM but I'm not a premium member).

-j0e

I guess you could say I was trained in 3ds max. I first got into 3d and animation when Half-Life 1 came out and since Valve used 3ds max and biped, that's what I started on. What software you use really doesn't matter anymore. Like you said the principles are the same regardless. Right now since you are learning I'd stick with Maya and focus more on becoming a great animator first. Any studio that you get hired at will understand that there is a learning curve at first while you adjust to how they do things, so don't worry about it.

For demo reel work examples, check out my post and links on the previous page. Those two reels are some of the best work I've seen, so trying to shoot for something like that is a good start.

If you have more questions, just email me. My email address is top right on my site, https://www.alexutting.com

Matty D
Sep 27, 2005
Here's a test im working on. It's a boy waving at a babe (not pictured) at the beach. Still needs some tweens on the back end / tidying up. The perspective makes more sense with the background art.

http://www.vimeo.com/7341037

Tell me what you think.

j0e
Oct 23, 2009
Pretty cool looking thus far. I'd add some frames to the bounce at the end, seems a little quick to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfpQGFWVl-8

This week's homework assignment :P

9nine
Sep 1, 2005

Matty- You've got a real knack for character animation, it's looking great so far.

j0e- The bounce at the end looks fine to me, but you might want to take away two or three frames from that initial hold in the beginning. I can't tell exactly since it's on youtube, but I think it's around frame 33 or 34 where it hovers in midair for a tad too long. Looking good, though!

Here are some pencil tests I've finished in the past few weeks:
http://vimeo.com/7397185

And here are some backgrounds for other scenes:


The bulb in that last one is cut out of the paper- when I shoot it, it will be backlit with a light box, so it will look like the bulb is actually on.

Apso
May 30, 2008

9nine: those tests look nice, great consistency with the hands

While animation isn't really my thing, I did take an intro class in college that was a lot of fun, so I thought I'd throw my final in the mix.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHYbuTx54lI

Chernabog
Apr 16, 2007



Awesome thread.

Here's an animation I made last year:
Fencing practice


And some favorites:
Ryan - A 3D animated documentary about the animator Ryan Larkin.
Sleeping betty - A bunch of creatures try to wake up sleeping betty. Limited animation but cool nonetheless and really nice character designs.
Story from north america - A catchy song with weird animation.

Hinchu
Mar 4, 2004

Please keep a watchful eye out for hinchus. They are very slow and dumb, and make for easy roadkill.
I'm having some trouble here and I was wondering if anyone could help. I'm using Adobe Premiere here at home for this animation, and I'm getting frustrated with it. Does it have no support of any modern codecs? What kind of plugins/codecs do I need to download/buy?

My workflow is Flash -> After Effects -> Export Uncompressed AVI -> Premiere. The thing about once I'm in Premiere the codecs available for rendering and playback in program are all lovely ones like Cinepack that look like poo poo and really won't play back smoothly on my computer which is perfectly decent as far as hardware goes. I have to export an uncompressed AVI and then compress it in Quicktime to get any real good finished results.

I'm looking to make this workflow have less steps. I can get the job done but it's a serious pain in the rear end. Is there any way to get modern codec support in Premiere? I've Googled this to no real avail. I'm not really sure how to frame the search.

I've definitely been a lot happier using Final Cut Pro at work...

butterypancakes
Aug 19, 2006

mmm pancakes
Doesn't Premiere have it's own uncompressed codec? I'd export a QT out of AE, using the Animation or PNG codec, then use an uncompressed preset in Premiere. Even something like DVCPRO50 or DVCPROHD should look just fine.

I haven't used Premiere in years. I don't recall exactly what codecs it ships with, you might have to go out and find your own codec. HUFFyuv maybe?

Hinchu
Mar 4, 2004

Please keep a watchful eye out for hinchus. They are very slow and dumb, and make for easy roadkill.
I don't know if I'm off base but here is how I understand these video editing suites work.


You have your source footage. In this case mine is uncompressed AVIs from After Effects. Then when you import them into your editing suite, in my case Premiere, if you add them to a sequence and then try to play them, they won't play real time as they are huge uncompressed video files. In order to edit and play them back real time in the program, Premiere needs to render the sequence, or in other words create a separate rendered video file that is compressed so that it plays real time. I guess this is the part where I want a nice codec to display the video without crappy compression artifacts everywhere and plays smoothly.


After editing the video and audio in the sequence, the video sequence needs to be exported to the ultimate format. For me this will ultimately be a video up on YouTube or Vimeo, or some such service. So in order to get them uploaded I'd like to use a high quality mpeg4 style codec. It's more of a pain in the rear end that I have to do this step as an uncompressed avi file instead of directly into a compressed video.

I feel like there are lack of options for up to date codecs, and I'm having trouble researching if any are available to add directly into Premiere.


On a side note I'm also not happy with the quality of the finished streaming video. YouTube doesn't retain my quality, even though it seems like I've seen really nicely compressed video on YouTube. I might just have to try a separate service. If anyone has some really good results they could post and explain their process I would be interested. Even using QT's H.264 I lose some of the saturation of my colors no matter what quality I do which is frustrating. I want colors that make your eyes bleed they are so saturated.

Grrr...

butterypancakes
Aug 19, 2006

mmm pancakes
Your editor is going to use a certain codec to work with, Premiere probably defaults to DV25 which is god awful.

Create a new project and choose a sequence preset that either includes an uncompressed codec or the codec you rendered out of AE with.

Ciro-Flex
Jan 28, 2009
This earned a comparison to Matthew Barney's work: http://vimeo.com/7019488

It was the most exhausting animation I've ever done

Happy the Pirate
Oct 2, 2009
I'd really like to go to cal arts, but from what I hear getting in is a bitch. (let alone financing)

Has anyone here gotten in? Any tips for what they look for in portfolios or how to get yourself accepted?

Pibborando San
Dec 11, 2004

oh yes. two kinds... of dances
Here's some inspiration. This guy is apparently a Cal Arts student. Everything about this blows me away and reeeeeeaaaally makes me want to animate again.

http://vimeo.com/4566083

And here's an older pencil test by the same guy. Much rougher but it's pretty funny.

http://vimeo.com/2209679

Hinchu
Mar 4, 2004

Please keep a watchful eye out for hinchus. They are very slow and dumb, and make for easy roadkill.

Pibborando San posted:

Here's some inspiration. This guy is apparently a Cal Arts student. Everything about this blows me away and reeeeeeaaaally makes me want to animate again.

http://vimeo.com/4566083

The sound design really sells that animation.

Hinchu
Mar 4, 2004

Please keep a watchful eye out for hinchus. They are very slow and dumb, and make for easy roadkill.

I'm working on the 4th shot of this episode. I'm finally using some of the other concepts I learned while doing some of my research this past half year. I really really enjoy being able to draw this out quick like this and get immediate visual feedback on the motion. I'm working on subtle stretch/squash, weight, doing nice arcs, easing in/out, and the motion of extremities.

I still have to make Mr. Rat eat the paper, do all of the shading, whiskers, tails, and then do the final camera comp before the shot will be done but it's getting late.

Spacedad
Sep 11, 2001

We go play orbital catch around the curvature of the earth, son.
Hi, I made this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjX3s7wBIRQ

Feedback and critique would be appreciated.

Also I can post the model sheets later.

BrokenCycle
Nov 15, 2004

A Rough Job, But...

Times posted:

Hi, I made this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjX3s7wBIRQ

Feedback and critique would be appreciated.

Also I can post the model sheets later.

That one particular random drawing in the middle, and the one at the end, shows that you can draw in a very quirky and funny style. Embrace that. I don't really know how long you've been animating, but it seems like you're a little passive to get that side of you out. But once you break through that, it can be a blast. I was the same way.

As for your animation, it really doesn't look like animation quite yet, but a series of keyframes that need to be inbetweened.

Vaporware
May 22, 2004

Still not here yet.
How do you guys troubleshoot shape tweens in flash? I'm not talking about a broken tween. My example is a long thin rectangle moving down. In the first and last frames it's proper, but in between it loses the bottom left corner and becomes a triangle. I've added shape hints and it doesn't change the behavior. I've observed similar behavior in other shape tweens, particularly in a three-keyframe sequence. It will tween fine from first to middle, but lose it's mind middle to end and no amount of shape hints will make it coherent.

I know that shape tweens are basically a black box tween, but sometimes I don't want to make a million stupid graphic symbol squares and circles in my library. I really want to like shape tweens, they are the only tween that can properly do a perspective shift while simultaneously increasing stroke thickness to simulate an object moving in 3D towards the viewer. Also, you can just draw and tween.

gmc9987
Jul 25, 2007

Vaporware posted:

How do you guys troubleshoot shape tweens in flash? I'm not talking about a broken tween. My example is a long thin rectangle moving down. In the first and last frames it's proper, but in between it loses the bottom left corner and becomes a triangle. I've added shape hints and it doesn't change the behavior. I've observed similar behavior in other shape tweens, particularly in a three-keyframe sequence. It will tween fine from first to middle, but lose it's mind middle to end and no amount of shape hints will make it coherent.

I know that shape tweens are basically a black box tween, but sometimes I don't want to make a million stupid graphic symbol squares and circles in my library. I really want to like shape tweens, they are the only tween that can properly do a perspective shift while simultaneously increasing stroke thickness to simulate an object moving in 3D towards the viewer. Also, you can just draw and tween.

You're out of luck with shape tweens, those things are super finicky and will only work when they want to. However, I've found out some tips over the years that make things a little better with them:
  • Start adding shape hints in the upper-left corner of the object. Flash calculates shape tweens starting in that corner, so starting your hints up there helps keep things in order.
  • Add your hints in a counter-clockwise direction around the object. Don't get out of order, and don't add more than you have to. If you have to go back later and add a hint in between two existing hints, shift your hints down to keep everything in a nice orderly counter-clockwise fashion.
  • Try to keep things on separate layers. Give your stroke and your fill each their own layers. Shape tweens work best on single objects, and Flash actually treats strokes and fills as two separate objects. Sometimes putting your stroke on its own layer fixes things without any other help from me.
Other than that, you're on your own. Sometimes Flash just won't let you tween a certain shape, regardless of what you do.

Vaporware
May 22, 2004

Still not here yet.
I see, I hadn't heard of separating stroke and fills, I'll give it a try.

I just spent the last week working on trying to dynamically generate and properly layer a given number of blades rotating around a hub in AS2 and now swapDepths & turbines in general are forbidden topics for office discussion. None of us are programmers :(

It looked really cool once we got it working but dynamically generating over a thousand blades and moving each of their z/depths/indexes every 90 frames wasn't even an option to export as a movie. Flash just chokes.

There were a lot of ways to look at the problem and in a production environment it really sucks to fail, but hey it wasn't that bad to do by hand, it's just not as dynamic.

The real problem in my mind is that a proper turbine blade twists as it gets longer, so the blade angle changes. I looked at doing it properly and that was at least 5 layers per blade, blah.

Happy the Pirate
Oct 2, 2009
I scored myself a tablet pc on clearance. It was defective, so it's in the mail and going to be replaced by it's warranty. But... I've gotta say, those things are fantastic for animating. So much better than ordinary graphic tablets, even if it does have a lack of pressure sensitivity.

For those of us who aren't in an animation class or are in a very crappy one (all we do is talk about unrelated things for 4 hours), should we start up maybe a weekly(or however long) activity that's animation-related for everyone who wants to participate in? Just for the sake of practice and fun. I have a little trouble working without guidance currently... so I know I could use something like it.

My suggestion for Vaporware... Don't even bother with tweens for the most part. You'll get better results just dragging, dropping, and rotating the images manually for each frame. If there's one thing a computer can't do as well as a human can it's having good taste. If you practice enough your dragging and dropping control really becomes automatic.

A LOVELY LAD
Feb 8, 2006

Hey man, wanna hear a secret?



College Slice

Happy the Pirate posted:


For those of us who aren't in an animation class or are in a very crappy one (all we do is talk about unrelated things for 4 hours), should we start up maybe a weekly(or however long) activity that's animation-related for everyone who wants to participate in? Just for the sake of practice and fun. I have a little trouble working without guidance currently... so I know I could use something like it.


That would be ace.

9nine
Sep 1, 2005

I just ran across this animation today and thought I'd share. It is a thing of hilarious, 8-bit beauty. Also, it's definitely :nws:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egcXvqiho4w

Elder
Oct 19, 2004

It's the Evolution Revolution.
That's awesome..I love her expression of pure disgust at 2:21 and that super bonus at the end where the dude doesn't even know what it is.

Pibborando San
Dec 11, 2004

oh yes. two kinds... of dances
That was truly one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

Chernabog
Apr 16, 2007



It reminds me a lot of the Wario ware Inc games, without the NWS stuff.

Hinchu
Mar 4, 2004

Please keep a watchful eye out for hinchus. They are very slow and dumb, and make for easy roadkill.
How is that still on YouTube?

Also what program do you do pixel stuff like that in?

Chernabog
Apr 16, 2007



The art can be done in photoshop with the pencil tool, and I guess you could export it to.... flash or after effects?

BrokenCycle
Nov 15, 2004

A Rough Job, But...
Yeah most of the animation looks incredibly Flash friendly.

Matty D
Sep 27, 2005

A LOVELY LAD posted:

Weekly activity. That would be ace.

It's like the daily drawing thread, for those of us are sick enough to draw something 10000 times and make it move!

Hmm, maybe it could be a specific exercise? Because doing complicated things like lip sync are so demanding. I would totally be down to organize such activity, maybe make it a part of the thread. Or something else entirely.

Matty D fucked around with this message at 10:18 on Nov 19, 2009

Matty D
Sep 27, 2005

Hinchu posted:


Here is the first shot of a little animation I'm starting to work on.


The backdrop was done in Photoshop and then the rat was done in Flash. It was put together in After Effects.

Sorry for the late response, I hope you don't mind if I tell you what I think!

I think the background is gorgeous, and you do a pretty good job of blending that mouse into the environment. The walk looks nice ... making a 4 legged animal move is far from easy. I do think the sit though is a little quick, some anticipation into that would work.

Happy the Pirate
Oct 2, 2009

Matty D posted:

It's like the daily drawing thread, for those of us are sick enough to draw something 10000 times and make it move!

Hmm, maybe it could be a specific exercise? Because doing complicated things like lip sync are so demanding. I would totally be down to organize such activity, maybe make it a part of the thread. Or something else entirely.
If you organized I'd try my best to participate for sure. I could see it being a lot of fun.

Chernabog
Apr 16, 2007



BrokenCycle posted:

Yeah most of the animation looks incredibly Flash friendly.

The only thing is that flash isn't so good at handling pictures. Or at least it wasn't a few years ago.

Hinchu
Mar 4, 2004

Please keep a watchful eye out for hinchus. They are very slow and dumb, and make for easy roadkill.

Matty D posted:

Sorry for the late response, I hope you don't mind if I tell you what I think!

I think the background is gorgeous, and you do a pretty good job of blending that mouse into the environment. The walk looks nice ... making a 4 legged animal move is far from easy. I do think the sit though is a little quick, some anticipation into that would work.

Thank you. I think some better anticipation would be good for the sitting. I've definitely warmed up to drawn animation a lot more since that first shot. I'm enjoying how fast this process is. I'm probably not even going to have Mr. Rat walk anymore. It's more fun and fast to have him jumping around.

This episode is nearly done. I'm sending it off to a friend to do sound here pretty soon. I'll probably finish the title and ending credits this weekend for the finished piece. It's weighing in at 25 seconds of solid animation. Not bad for 3 or so weeks of work on the side. I figure it's about an hour of production for a second of animation.

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gmc9987
Jul 25, 2007

Hinchu posted:

How is that still on YouTube?

Also what program do you do pixel stuff like that in?

Hey, for anyone who uses flash and is interested in stuff like that -

http://www.5etdemi.com/blog/archives/2005/03/pixel-tools-v2-available/

Flash plug-in that adds pixel drawing tools to your toolbar.

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