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redjenova posted:Here's a new question for those more experienced than I; what's a good way to go about doing pencil tests for someone who is a complete and utter beginner? Scanning is very slow unless you have a sheet-fed scanner. Scanning is usually reserved for final drawings which are ready to be colored and/or composited. Photographing is a lot quicker, especially when you have a computer doing the capturing from a live video stream. In Flipbook, you can assign the "Capture" (from TWAIN scanner or camera) to a keyboard shortcut. If your drawings have visible holes, Flipbook should also register them automatically. If you have trouble with Flipbook, call the guy on the phone and have him help you, he is very nice and offers free tech support. The tricky part is always getting the drawings to stay registered, and getting the camera to be vertical relative to the drawing stack. The other problem is consistent and very bright lighting. I futzed with this using various half-assed measures for a long time before I broke down and bought an animation stand. Nowadays I'm almost completely paperless and hardly ever use the stand. ...want to buy an animation stand?  EDIT: Hinchu posted:My question is how does that help a single person producing a piece of animation? I generally just intuitively start drawing and spacing out action and do my timing then. It seemed like charting was more about laying down instructions for assistants (which I don't have, haha). I just do it because it helps me plan. It took me way longer than it should have to understand the timing/spacing fast/slow thing, and when I plan my animation now I chart things to remind myself where I want the fast and slow parts. If you can intuitively time your actions and they look right, then you don't need to chart. neonnoodle fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Jun 28, 2011 |
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Jun 28, 2011 22:06
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redjenova posted:Can anyone shed some light on how they prefer to do this and what rigs/programs they use? The standard kit for this a line tester/animation stand/rostrum/whatever and they generally look something like this  It's just a stand with an adjustable camera mount, and they sell for ridiculous amounts of money. If you're willing to spend a few hundred on one then they're great. However, if you're willing to tinker a bit, you can usually find a second hand photo enlarger for a fraction of the price.  If you take off the head and mount your own camera then it's essentially the same thing. Dr Solway Garr fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Jun 29, 2011 |
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Jun 29, 2011 01:20
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Animation supplies are ridiculously expensive, an animation paper puncher can cost you hundreds of dollars.
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Jun 29, 2011 02:16
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Chernabog posted:Animation supplies are ridiculously expensive, an animation paper puncher can cost you hundreds of dollars. There is no good reason to use Acme pegs now. Use 3-hole pegs. *durr, edit, I should say, if you are making films by yourself and scanning and such, and not making them in a major studio with traditional camera equipment, there is no good reason to use Acme pegs. neonnoodle fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Jun 29, 2011 |
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Jun 29, 2011 03:09
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Ah. So is there some super-ghetto, way cheaper than that much money alternative? Heh. EDIT: an animator friend of mine made up a makeshift rig out of bits of wire and a webcam as far as I know (obviously more to it then that but I haven't seen it in person). Unfortunately I definitely don't have hundreds to dish out... although I wish I did! It is still pretty stunning how much animation supplies cost. mareep fucked around with this message at 04:01 on Jun 29, 2011 |
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Jun 29, 2011 03:50
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redjenova posted:Ah. So is there some super-ghetto, way cheaper than that much money alternative? Heh. The old law of the universe applies here: FAST CHEAP GOOD (pick two) FAST & GOOD (NOT CHEAP) - sheet-fed scanner - animation stand and good camera GOOD & CHEAP (NOT FAST) - flatbed scanner - welding your own animation stand from scratch FAST & CHEAP (NOT GOOD) - pegbar and a webcam/digicam Of all these options, your best first step is probably to buy a cheap digital camera and a GorillaPod. Then you can set up your pegbar on the floor, and hook your GorillaPod to the edge of a table looking downward. You will still deal with inconsistent lighting and image distortion, but you'll get good enough registration to line test.
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Jun 29, 2011 04:05
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neonnoodle posted:The old law of the universe applies here: FAST CHEAP GOOD (pick two) Thanks! This is pretty much all I ask for, because as someone who's crappy ball animation tests have been seen only on sheets of paper, I really can't afford to go off buying really nice expensive equipment, and I don't really need it to be all that good either. Down the road when I need to, I can make that investment, but for now I dunno how I'm gonna get good at it if I can never see the results of my work, but know I'm not good enough to invest in something that's quality.
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Jun 29, 2011 04:31
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neonnoodle posted:There is no good reason to use Acme pegs now. Use 3-hole pegs. Yeah, I guess this is true, but the extra toughness of the long peg is nice.
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Jun 29, 2011 05:54
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I want to buy an animation stand. I used to have a stand for an old camera, but I didn't think I'd need it. I tossed it out and only last year did I realize how absolutely useful it was.
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Jun 29, 2011 08:55
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrNPeb3ftfc Toom Boom crashed before I had a chance to save, so the spacing is super bad at the beginning of the first arc and in the middle of the second. The little bit at the end was mostly me dicking around. edit: My ball volume is all over the map too. NINbuntu 64 fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Jun 29, 2011 |
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Jun 29, 2011 09:49
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Another little doodle I did. Probably about four hours or so. Character is from GastroPhobia.
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Jun 29, 2011 21:08
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Nate Breakman posted:Another little doodle I did. Probably about four hours or so. Nice! You should send it to the Gastrophobia artist... So, I've been writing a tutorial about building an animated segment from a "comic strip" skeleton. It's sort of a distillation of the approach Richard Williams recommends, but a bit modified. I will post a link here when I put it up on my site.
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Jul 1, 2011 13:43
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Just got Animator's Survival Kit, and my god this is a wonderful, wonderful book. The Illusion of Life is a wonderful book, too, but ASK seems more broken down and appealing to me. After a brief history, it really goes into "this is how you animate, period", without going into "why Disney is the best". By page 60, I've learned about the difference between keys, extremes, passing frame, in-betweens, time, spacing, straight-forward style, pose-to-pose, and the combo thereof. The layout is also better, in my opinion, as it's broken up with diagrams and examples and chunks of text explaining things. I know where to refer to. So, as a technical guide, I'm preferring ASK. Illusion of Life seems really great as a history book and philosophy guide to a certain breed of animation. Thanks for the recommendation, thread. I've wanted to be an animator since I was small and the process always seemed just beyond my grasp. I can do little rinky dink animations that seem expressive enough, but could never figure out how to fully realize things. This is fantastic. I'm going to post stuff within the year.
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Jul 10, 2011 02:52
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blurry! posted:Just got Animator's Survival Kit, and my god this is a wonderful, wonderful book. The Illusion of Life is a wonderful book, too, but ASK seems more broken down and appealing to me. After a brief history, it really goes into "this is how you animate, period", without going into "why Disney is the best". By page 60, I've learned about the difference between keys, extremes, passing frame, in-betweens, time, spacing, straight-forward style, pose-to-pose, and the combo thereof. The layout is also better, in my opinion, as it's broken up with diagrams and examples and chunks of text explaining things. I know where to refer to. So, as a technical guide, I'm preferring ASK. Illusion of Life seems really great as a history book and philosophy guide to a certain breed of animation. http://www.jrawebinar.com/index.php/resources/ramp-up-tutorials.html I just got around to watching these and highly recommend them as well. They seem super basic judging from the ones I've watched, but I just learned a few little things about spacing/timing that I didn't realize right off the bat and already feel like I'm more prepared to start learning basic animation. Also, neonnoodle, totally waiting for my GorillaPod to get here. I've actually been doing "pencil tests", the roughest of the rough, by photographing with my iPhone, but both this method and my actual tests are extremely rudimentary. Also, anyone who is considering attending or has a chance to attend any future Pixar Masterclasses, that is, these, and has $500 to spare, I can't recommend it enough. Kind of a mindblowing experience, especially if you're a Pixar fan.
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Jul 12, 2011 21:14
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So this is the first time I'm getting my feet wet with animating stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYvCQ7Tx2uA Flash is way less scary than I thought!
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Jul 12, 2011 22:18
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I am also new to Flash animation, especially compared to some of you folks. But, here are some of my little projects. I think I could learn more if I had some formal training, but here are my attempts. http://megaswf.com/serve/1002817 My very first Flash animation. Nothing spectacular, but that's to be expected. http://megaswf.com/serve/1002820 This one was made as an example for a friend's class last winter. They were to use some very basic actionscript using their own graphics, and animate a character waving. He showed me of the projects he got back and they were hilarious. http://megaswf.com/serve/1002815 Another example file made for my friend's class. They were to make walking cycles. I jazzed mine up a tiny bit to make a Christmas card. http://megaswf.com/serve/1006956 A test done with an animated character and moving background. It um...didn't quite turn out as well as I wanted, but at least the little girl is cute?  http://megaswf.com/serve/105833/ If you keep watching this, a couple small things happen. It's a peaceful little park. This one was another one just for fun.
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Jul 16, 2011 03:09
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QUEEN CAUCUS posted:http://megaswf.com/serve/105833/ I really liked this one. I almost want a game where I get to run around in it and splash around the river.
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Jul 16, 2011 04:42
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In case anyone is interested: the animation subreddit is having a weekend GIF Rush. This week's theme is: ANIMALS.
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Jul 16, 2011 19:58
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OK so I'm working on my submission for the 11 second club. Can I get some feedback on where it's at so far? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMOb75cZjdg
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Jul 21, 2011 15:54
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neonnoodle posted:OK so I'm working on my submission for the 11 second club. Can I get some feedback on where it's at so far? It's looking good, but I have to say that the energy level in the acting is quite far beyond what the voice is giving out in the first half. I'd honestly say his gestures need to be 10% of that size, and closer up. You're using 4 big poses and gestures on 'you', 'possibly', 'be' and 'dumber' that don't really vary in size or direction. In fact his right arm does the same motion each time. You'd want to break this up quite a lot otherwise the large gestures become redundant and drown each other out as there's no contrast, just big. You've also got completely locked and squared up feet for these large gestures which is limiting what you could do physically and acting wise. It's an unnatural stance that doesn't really read as to how he's feeling. The 2nd half is way better because the energy level is matching up great, he's moving nicely and his stance at the end works, although his hips are perhaps a bit too twisted towards the camera. Also don't neglect anticipation on big gestures like 'redeem'. Honestly I think the root of the problem in the first half is your staging. It's a quiet spoken piece there and having a wide shot of both characters, showing full body is just awkward and needless, with a bunch of wasted space. Cuts are awesome for big changes in energy or tempo or revealing jokes, etc. They're also a great cheat, so use them! You're always going to animate slightly differently depending on how the staging is working, and I think you shoeboxed yourself into acting choices that were clear and visible in such a wide shot, that may not quite be the right acting choices overall.
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Jul 21, 2011 21:43
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tuna posted:It's looking good, but I have to say that the energy level in the acting is quite far beyond what the voice is giving out in the first half. I'd honestly say his gestures need to be 10% of that size, and closer up. Thanks for the advice! It's interesting to hear you say that, because I felt better about the beginning part than the second half. However, I think you are right on w/r/t the staging and camera choices being a limitation. Thinking about camera placement/shot design has always been the most difficult thing for me. I get very caught up in the technical demands of character movement and forget about basic filmmaking principles. I think I'm going to have to finish cleanup on this one as it is (warts and all) and submit it, because while your other criticisms of it are correct, I won't have enough time to really re-think and re-do by the 31st. I made some big workflow breakthroughs this time around, so I am more optimistic about my ability to plan out and execute something better next month.
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Jul 21, 2011 21:57
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neonnoodle posted:I think I'm going to have to finish cleanup on this one as it is (warts and all) and submit it, because while your other criticisms of it are correct, I won't have enough time to really re-think and re-do by the 31st. I made some big workflow breakthroughs this time around, so I am more optimistic about my ability to plan out and execute something better next month. Yeah that's definitely what you should do. The actual technical animation is getting along great, so seeing that through is the best idea. Getting feedback early as possible is something that's super important. You said you got some workflow breakthroughs, which is always important because it definitely helps you confidently schedule your time on a shot like this in the future. Not worrying about how you're going to be able to actually animate a certain action or nail a pose or whatever, is going to benefit you as you won't feel pressured into diving into that as soon, and you'll ultimately spend more and more time in 1st pass and planning, which is (IMO) the most fun and definitely most important part of the process. I've had shots where I'm joining a show late, or for whatever reason I'm rushed getting out initial blocking or cycles and from then on it is nothing but pain trying to fix errors all the way through the rest of the show. Even if it doesn't feel like you're making any progress, getting good solid planning and blocking is by far the best method for a smooth ride. I also struggle with staging and camera moves the most as it's the least character driven part of the process and deals on a broader narrative that will take a back seat on tests like these, such as the 11sec competition, which are the most fun tests!
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Jul 21, 2011 22:25
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I'm getting close to finishing up Episode 2 of The Adventures of Mr. Rat. In the meantime here's a shot breakdown in case anyone is interested. Click here.
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Aug 3, 2011 04:31
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I've been animating for a couple months now, and seriously love it. I'm trying to get a YouTube channel going with it. Here's my latest animation, a TMNT Parody... let me know what you think! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh3acumyXLY Thanks, Jared
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Aug 7, 2011 21:12
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I did this animation a few months ago, figured you guys might enjoy it. I managed to get 5 groups of people (ranging from ages 5 to 20 somethings, but a majority being kids) and simulated evolution with them in an hour. To do this I used a game of 'visual telephone,' in which I drew the first picture, they drew pictures based off of that (mutations) and then I made a majority extinct and had them pick which creature should continue to start the next generation (selection). Here's a completed lineage, with my drawing at the left and with progressive progenitor species going towards the right there. The center left creature was selected for a desert climate, then forest, then ice age for the final two.  http://i.imgur.com/ac3qV.jpg (larger image link) Here's the entire tree with each groups drawings branching out from my own. I can pull some images from this if you'd like to see any close up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8X-j0dbZWs And this is the actual animation. I want to go through and replace all the drawings with the animals from each group, but I'm sure how long this will take. This animation has the drawings in the upper left hand corner of that tree there.
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Aug 8, 2011 01:00
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Sparr posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8X-j0dbZWs This is "2.5D" at it's finest, I think. The kids must have loved it! 
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Aug 8, 2011 03:04
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cocoavalley posted:This is "2.5D" at it's finest, I think. The kids must have loved it! Yeah, they sang me a song about hamburgers afterwards.
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Aug 8, 2011 06:19
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Sparr posted:I did this animation a few months ago, figured you guys might enjoy it. I managed to get 5 groups of people (ranging from ages 5 to 20 somethings, but a majority being kids) and simulated evolution with them in an hour. To do this I used a game of 'visual telephone,' in which I drew the first picture, they drew pictures based off of that (mutations) and then I made a majority extinct and had them pick which creature should continue to start the next generation (selection). That is great! I love the sound design on it, too. What program did you use to do the animation in?
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Aug 8, 2011 23:46
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Hey 2d animator goons. I've been finding out more and more than 2d animators are becoming more scarce, as was said a few times throughout this thread. I'm a 3d artist myself, but an upcoming short I'm scripting out is one that's a little "out there" I guess. It's going to be primarily 3d, but with a lot of 2d animation subtly stitched in to really give it a unique flavor and help it come to life a little. I'm not very good at drawing, and it would take years to get to the level that I want this short to be output at, so I'm looking for outside help. I live in a remote area which is much like an artistic desert, so friends is not an option. 1.) Are there any specific places to look for quality artists to work on projects together? This isn't something I could pay somebody to do because I don't have any money, and also it's more like a group project rather than something I'm commissioning somebody to do. 2.) Would any 2d animators in here be up for the project? It's (hopefully) going to be a whimsical short clocking around 3 or 4 minutes with a pretty distorted perspective on proportions and how things really look. I have most of a story written out, but anybody involved will be able to give their own creative input also. I don't have PMs so I'll just be checking this thread and I'll give out an email if anybody feels like it's something up their ally or needs more details.
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Aug 9, 2011 01:42
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Hinchu posted:That is great! I love the sound design on it, too. What program did you use to do the animation in? It's all After Effects.
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Aug 10, 2011 01:38
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I recently started trying my hand at animating, so I figured I may as well throw my beginner attempts in here in case anyone cares to give some much needed feedback! Head rotation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMbf0kGjScc Repeat pan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4g7_LEp5gM A 'take': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbyhQ31WWw0 (I fudged up line testing this one, so every time I added a new layer it significantly darkened the picture) First walk cycle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYwH4ZO4PB4 So yup, that's some of my work so far. I'm loving this thread to bits; the amount and quality of information being offered is amazing. Mr. Frustration Man fucked around with this message at 10:24 on Aug 12, 2011 |
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Aug 12, 2011 07:40
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Mr. Frustration Man posted:beginner attempts Wow, you're off to a great start, you've got a really impressive sense of form. How many hours did you put in on the rotation and the take?
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Aug 12, 2011 08:10
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Mr. Frustration Man posted:I recently started trying my hand at animating, so I figured I may as well throw my beginner attempts in here in case anyone cares to give some much needed feedback! These are beginner attempts?  Please teach me everything you know.
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Aug 12, 2011 08:47
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Aw man, thanks guys! Maybe I should rephrase 'beginner attempts' though; I pretty recently began an animation program, so I have access to a lot of resources to help me out. I tried to muddle through animation on my own instruction before and had a completely abysmal time and gave up almost immediately. As for hours, it's really tough to say since I chip away at them here and there...probably ~15-20 hours for the head rotation since it was a huge pain in the rear end, and maybe ~10 for the take? Both of them I stared over at least once since I had a fair bit of trouble initially with both, and even still all I can see are the problems. Mr. Frustration Man fucked around with this message at 10:31 on Aug 12, 2011 |
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Aug 12, 2011 10:20
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http://megaswf.com/serve/1161058 This is a mock-up of a Flash game whose assets I am still making. Not done the cinematic for it yet, though. Was mostly an excuse to practice some moving background type stuff. http://megaswf.com/serve/1161057 My blurb: You are a little bat trying to get home. Gameplay includes an appetite bar, as being a flying mammal is tough work and requires near-constant consumption of insects to refill it. Your sonar attack also consumes your energy, and though you'll need it to take down the owls and other predators you face, you'll need to manage yourself carefully in the dangerous night skies. I ran into SO many problems while working. I had to cut down some nice animations because of complications of switching graphic and movie symbols and just oh god I spent like 10 hours trying to get that one goddamn bat just right.  But on the whole, I also learned a ton while doing it and loving up every which way. Frustrating, but I honestly feel very accomplished just now knowing what mistakes I managed to work through.I'm probably getting over-ambitious, but I already have some more mock-levels in the works; including a rainstorm level and a showdown with a great horned owl boss.
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Aug 13, 2011 11:26
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Is that a Silverwing game? (Does anyone even know what those books are?)
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Aug 13, 2011 21:58
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redjenova posted:Is that a Silverwing game? (Does anyone even know what those books are?) I didn't know what Silverwing was, so I looked it up. The books sound cute, but I just made my game because bats are my favorite animals. 
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Aug 13, 2011 23:07
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QUEEN CAUCUS posted:I didn't know what Silverwing was, so I looked it up. The books sound cute, but I just made my game because bats are my favorite animals. Yeah, it was just a blast from my past with the whole bats vs. owls concept of those books (which I'd completely forgotten about since I stole them accidentally from my 5th grade teacher). Would have been a funny coincidence  bats are also my favorite animals and the game looks pretty good, especially working on it by yourself!
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Aug 16, 2011 19:03
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Here's a Twilight Parody I've been working on. Let me know what you think! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAJpk-oH3CE Thanks, Jared
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Aug 21, 2011 20:16
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 Started doing some animation on paper. It'll be interesting to see how it will go.
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Aug 23, 2011 20:15
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