A CAA Anime

[Ashley]

Hmmm...the challenge I'm facing at the moment is mass producing the number of layers used in order to make the movements crisp and smooth.

Mave, are you hand-drawing all of these layers (frames) or are you working with some kind of digital form? That makes a really huge difference in terms of time and effort,

[Mave]

Mave, are you hand-drawing all of these layers (frames) or are you working with some kind of digital form? That makes a really huge difference in terms of time and effort,

I'm doing it completely digitally with my tablet. Is it easier that way or via handdrawing? The transition between the frames is kinda driving me nuts. Ahhhh... >_<]http://www.kcome.net/host/experiment.swf[/url]

I don't even know if the file works since I don't have Macromedia on my laptop (which I'm using now). I hope it does. @_@;;

Ehh....I'm not really sure what to do next. I guess I'll just have to practise more. Any thoughts?

[uc pseudonym]

I will not be laughing; it is as good as some extremely popular internet animations I have seen in the past. The eyes are very well done, the mouth done well enough and the hair is average in the better leagues of amateur animation. Everyone is going to forgive some choppiness (though if you aim higher no one will stop you).

[Ashley]

Wow Mave, I can't believe you sound so dissatisfied with it. It's really a lot better than you give yourself credit for! By no means am I trying to say don't aim high, but keep in mind I've seen a billion times worse. Everything appears to be relatively smooth, if you ask me. Congratulations on an excellent screen test.

As for suggestions...hmm. This isn't exactly what I had in mind (er, what I'm experienced with) so I really don't know what to tell you. Maybe I'll drag a gypsy in here and ask her.

[bigsleepj]

Since I was thinking of an actual video file (not a flash or anything like that) I think I'll experiment with 24fps. Also I don't like mass produced anime like pokemon or digimon anyway, the quality is horrid. I'll see if I can put together a short sample for y'all. I have my sister who's a an amazing artist and I think she could make 5 second film real fast (that's about 120 frames right?). Also, any ideas as to what to make for a five second sample? I thought of maybe some sword moves or something similar.

I don't know if you've seen "Voices from a Distant Star" but this Anime was apparently written, directed and animated by just one guy on his AppleMac desktop. If this story is true...then it can be done!

[bigsleepj]

I'm doing it completely digitally with my tablet. Is it easier that way or via handdrawing? The transition between the frames is kinda driving me nuts. Ahhhh... >_<]http://www.kcome.net/host/experiment.swf[/url]

I don't even know if the file works since I don't have Macromedia on my laptop (which I'm using now). I hope it does. @_@;;

Ehh....I'm not really sure what to do next. I guess I'll just have to practise more. Any thoughts?

EGADS!!!!! My goodness, that brilliant! My mouth literally fell open! Wow! Keep up the GOOD WORK! Brilliant! Wooh-hah!

[Kat Walker]

I will be studying Flash, Director, and Lightwave in depth for the next 2 semesters. I'm already pretty good with Adobe Premiere. So if nothing else, maybe I can get us started on a 3D anime. x_x;

But that flash sample looks pretty good, I say!

[crossalchemist]

cool stuff guys. I'll have to get that sample done ASAP!

[Neo3DGfx]

That's great! I know I couldn't have done that, even if I had a tablet.

You know what, I just got an idea. I'll have to try it when I wake up.

[shooraijin]

bigsleepj, yes, the story is right -- one guy and a Mac.

Mave, that really is excellent animation. Really.

[bigsleepj]

bigsleepj, yes, the story is right -- one guy and a Mac.

Great!

And if everyone's enthusiasm is anything to go by, the artistic persons in this thread will top "Voices from a Distant Star" if they try hard enough. We have the talent, all we need is the will to do it!

[wiggins]

Wow, I wish I could help!
Nice animation Mave!

[Mave]

Wow....I'm terribly encouraged by you guys! I must keep trying to improve XD

I've seen very few animation files online so I'm using selected anime as the benchmark, which kinda stresses me out in a healthy way, I guess.

While working on animation for the first time...

*stares at YnM/FMA screencaps* T_T "How did they do it?! So much details and action....Wahhh Lord, my God, how on earth am I going to pull this off? Pls help me!!"

I figured that if God is with us, surely we can do many great things on his behalf. But we need to take that first step. I see this idea of a project as a real step of faith for all of us.

PS: I really must check out "Voices from a Distant Star."

[Syreth]

This is really exciting, guys. I'm impressed with your first try at animation, Mave. It will be cool to see what the Lord wants to do with this. I'll be praying for all of you guys who are involved and will be involved.

[Neo3DGfx]

Don't tell me nobody's posted in this thread for almost a week!?

[Mave]

Let's just say that my attention was focused on a certain goof off thread for the last few days (something to do with an annual tournament)

[Cap'n Nick]

Word to that! I'd hate to see everybody get all worked up to start this and then just let it lose steam. Is there anything going on behind the scenes that isn't being posted here? I know it might be tedious, but visible indications of progress are a great morale booster, even if it's just a post saying "I'm working on it!"

So, how are things going? Does this project have a head? Do we have a solid talent inventory so we can see what we have to work with and what we need that we don't have?

[Neo3DGfx]

Word to that! I'd hate to see everybody get all worked up to start this and then just let it lose steam. Is there anything going on behind the scenes that isn't being posted here? I know it might be tedious, but visible indications of progress are a great morale booster, even if it's just a post saying "I'm working on it!"

So, how are things going? Does this project have a head? Do we have a solid talent inventory so we can see what we have to work with and what we need that we don't have?

I agree.

I can't be working on this untill March because of a robotics competition.

This will not be forgotten, thought.

You know, I had no idea how much Flash cost.

[Mave]

Hmmm....I could get something going but I would need some time. The last file I posted took me hours to complete alone and it would take some time to form a team of some sort (but it's something I would definitely consider!).

Hang on there, let me settle into my new academic semester and do some scheduling first. Pls keep bumping this every now and then for we could use some pushing. Thanks! ^_^

[Cap'n Nick]

Mave, does this mean you're taking the reins of this thing? That's cool, but don't overdo it - I know you've got a lot of other projects and that pesky "life" thing to take care of.

[Mave]

yeah that's why I need time to settle down into this semester and schedule before making any other commitments. ^__^ Thanks for your kind concern, though!

[Bobtheduck]

More accurately, 8 new frames. Film runs at 24fps. The detail of animation depends on how many of them show motion and how many are stills. In anime, maybe 1 of 3 frames show movement while the others don't move. Cheaper than US animation.

This isn't a universal thing, by the way. Many anime, mostly TV anime, are that, but some are full frames, and some are just in between...

Besides that, there are some american shows that have lower framerates. GI Joe is one that comes to mind. Generally, you have 3 main factors: Animation, art, and money. You can pick two out of three for what you will keep. You can keep money and animation and have simplified art. This is the idea behind much american animation. You can keep money and art and sacrifice animation. This is what is more commonly seen in Anime. The other solution is you can keep art and animation and sacrifice money. This is seen primarily in "blockbuster features" made by respected, well known companies attempting at reaching out to a child audience and their parents. Disney and Dreamworks come to mind, with their yearly or so features.

The realm of vector art is a bit of a cheat (hahaha) because the computer is the inbetweener. That cuts out an enormous amount of the cost. Vector figures are reusable, as are whole portions of animation. Even if you want relatively high quality art, you don't have to sacrafice animation except realizing it looks much more mechanical than hand drawn or even raster drawn animation. So, you are really sacrificing the 4th unknown quality, because it wasn't an issue before vector animation.

For a low budget, vector animation is the best bet. I will be looking forward to some flash cartoons for CAA... For great justice!

[Mave]

The realm of vector art is a bit of a cheat (hahaha) because the computer is the inbetweener. That cuts out an enormous amount of the cost. Vector figures are reusable, as are whole portions of animation. Even if you want relatively high quality art, you don't have to sacrafice animation except realizing it looks much more mechanical than hand drawn or even raster drawn animation. So, you are really sacrificing the 4th unknown quality, because it wasn't an issue before vector animation.

For a low budget, vector animation is the best bet. I will be looking forward to some flash cartoons for CAA... For great justice!

OK this is a really dumb question, how does one do vector animation? And how do I tell the difference between vector art and non-vector art? Does it have something to do with gif vs jpg files or something?

[Ashley]

I can tell you the difference between vector art and non-vector art. Non-vector art came first digitally--it's based on pixels. Pretty much anything you scan or copy off online is non-vector art. If you blow it up big enough, eventually it will simply "pixel out". Non-vector art is the next step--the lines and colors aren't based on pixels but a complex mathematical equation that allows you to scale the art to any size without EVER pixeling out. Meaning I could take your avatar and put it on a billboard and it would still be crisp, clean, and smooth.

If you want an example, there's a wallpaper in the gallery MyrrhLynn did of Takuto that is vector based. You can tell immediately because it's almost like cel-shaded rather than realistically done, and everything is even and smooth.

Adobe Illustrator and I believe Corel Draw (possibly Bryce?) are vector-based. The only way I know to make vector-based animation would be to produce the frames entirely in Illustrator (including color them) on seperate layers and then use the animation command to turn those layers into frames for flash.

For the record, I'm taking a fundamental graphic comm. class this semester and I expect to be doing some animation...so I may be a little more knowledgable on this if you give me a few months.

[Bobtheduck]

Yeah... raster graphics are what outputs to your screen and things like bitmaps and Jpegs and photoshop files. Vector graphics are shapes that are designed mathematically. This includes 2d vectors, like illustrator and flash, and 3d vectors, like Toy Story and Shrek (I used names of projects using 3d vectors rather than programs because while many artists know illustrator and a most hardcore net users know flash, few people know Maya, Lightwave, or 3ds Max)

[Neo3DGfx]

Oh, I know about them. I even have used 3ds max 6 and 7 for my robotics team. I want Maya, but that costs waaaay to much.

Now, what most non-tecnical people don't know is Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk VIS, and other tools in the ADA.

Anyways, the point is that I'm going to have to model people for our animation, and I might be able to use the tutorial I find to make charicters for this.

[Mave]

Oh nuts, vector graphics sound so..... geometric. So, can we actually generate anime in vector form? >_<;; sorry, this is terribly technical for me. I've only seen ppl do anime the traditional way.

Let's take an example: If you were to draw someone walking....what is drawn? A body drawn in shapes or drawn full-fleged?

EDIT: I'll scan what I'm thinking of, if no one understood my question above. Meanwhile, I'll go and mess around with Adobe Illustrator.

[Ashley]

Oh nuts, vector graphics sound so..... geometric. So, can we actually generate anime in vector form? >_<;; sorry, this is terribly technical for me. I've only seen ppl do anime the traditional way

Actually, vector graphics aren't terribly difficult; the computer does all the complicated math FOR you.

Let's take an example: If you were to draw someone walking....what is drawn? A body drawn in shapes or drawn full-fleged?

Well, if it were me (by no means the greatest artist of our time XD), I would draw the head, and start off with the basic layout, like you would on a pen and ink drawing. Once that was finished, I would go in and combine shapes to create thights, knees, hips, chest, upper arms, lower arms, neck, hands, feet and head. I would do it like this so in the next frames, I could move any of those joints freely. Next, I would create an outline of the hair and eyes, some sort of nose and lips, then color all of these in as appropriate.

To create walking, I'd position the figure as I wanted, then position his legs and arms as appropriate. Duplicate the layer and then move the knees/hands as appropriate, and duplicate again. Etc. til you have enough frames to be satisfied. That's just my own personal experience though.

If you have any questions about illustrator or its tools, please let me know. I don't have it on this computer, per se, but I've worked with it a lot.

[Kisa]

Hehe this would be so cool... ^^

[Neo3DGfx]

It sounds like that might work.

I might want to print those frames out, and draw over them, kindof use them as a way to see what your animation will look like when put together.

So it would be like this:

1. Create the animation on the PC
2. Use them as a refrence for drawing indivudal frames
3. Scan, color and mux