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Animation techniques; What's your modus operandi?
Topic Started: Sunday Sep 28 2008, 07:42 AM (12,403 Views)
Jacks


FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO LEARN TO DO ANIMATION - TAKE HEED.

Practice drawing a lot.

Get 'The Animator's Survival Kit' by Richard Williams under your belt. Expensive, but sure as hell worth the price. Study that thing religiously. Or alternatively, Preston Blair will help you there, look him up.

Also remember not to be too technical going from key to key (pose to pose... Makes it look awful like that CDi Zelda animation <__< ) or something like that, or worry about style. Concentrate on what makes your own drawings tick, and style will just occur naturally. (NOT the other way around!)

Okay, now for the real purpose of the topic.

-

Starting a topic on this as it was being explored a lot in Ideas, so much so we were derailing TWO topics with it. Any queries on animation technique shall be thrown this way.

I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to animation, I like to do all FBF except when moving background object around the stage.
I just feel more at home doing this; time consuming and draining as it is, it also gives the most fluid results in my opinion. It's also quite fun to experiment with the kind of squashy-stretchy element you yourself can produce, like with facial expressions too.

Except of course.. if you were moving text or still images then obviously tweens would be best.

So,

When it comes to making animations, what's your mode of work - i.e tweens here and there, or not at all, mostly pencil tool, mostly brush etc - and why? What do you like about it?

Thanks for pinning this, Wax, and thanks everyone for contributing. :)
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Wonchop
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As far as web animations go, there are things to consider.
For one, frame by frame requires a lot of redrawing. Keeping it smooth and on-model all the time is hard work, and that's before we throw in details like shading. That's why for some people, tweens allow for higher quality artwork, provided you know how to use them effectively. Easing is an important thing to learn.
There are some intermediums between the two that can be handy. One being, you can gently tweak some drawings at the beginning or end of an fbf transition using the free transform tool to provide some anticipation or to ease in or out of the start or end of the animation to make things look a lot smoother.
Also, you can create a symbol of something you're not really wanting to redraw again, like a gun, and use keyframes to move that around as opposed to just tweening it. Used right, it's just as effective as if you were to fbf it, looks a bit smoother and, since you're using the same symbol, file size friendly on the ol' swf.
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Sketchodie

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There is also elongated inbetweens and stretching (recommended by Richard Williams) where you cut all the inbetweening in half by using one frame.
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PlasmaNuke
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Whoa, this is weird, I was thinking of making the exact same topic this morning :o


I draw with the brush tool with the smoothing level set to about 40 with the zoom at 200% to draw the main outlines and whatnot but for details I draw at 400%, I've just recently started working more with fbf, it really does look smoother.
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Sketchodie

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Quote:
 
I draw with the brush tool with the smoothing level set to about 40 with the zoom at 200% to draw the main outlines and whatnot but for details I draw at 400%, I've just recently started working more with fbf, it really does look smoother.


I also animate in twos and rough the animation out first.

I have Flash MX so I really don't know how to apply smooth settings to my brush tool.
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Dave
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Brush tool, smoothness 50, frame by frame, and 30 fps. The pencil tool is for pretty and clean artwork, which really isn't my style. I prefer fbf animation for reasons I've stated way too many times before. And because of the Sonic Tribute collab's standard 30 fps, I've gotten used to that and it's become my standard as well. But because I'm so lazy, I also animate in twos (and sometimes ones for quick motions). Oh, and you'll never see something of mine without a blur or glow filter.

Never.
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GameBuddy
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I used to use the brush tool, but that was before I started using a tablet. I now use the pencil tool for lines, but I'll use the brush for backgrounds and less detailed art.

I like to use FBF, unless symbols and tweens look better. I would like to learn how to "animate in twos", but I'd need a tutorial or someone to show me.

I also <3 filters.
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Jacks


One by one.

@ Wonchop: This has been bugging me for a bit so I'll just throw it out there. I apologise if I seem like an ignorant bastard. I don't want to demonise you or Insector's styles of work with the whole tween bashing. You're obviously more educated in the field than I, and tweens seem to work for the shorts style that you do and you do it very smoothly. Admittedly I'm clueless when it comes to internet-based work as opposed to traditional. Even then I've still got a way to go <_< So.. eh, sorry. D:

I'll keep in mind that about exporting into swf, making it smaller. I think I could stand to do lipsync on another layer from time to time instead of redrawing masssssses of data, haha.

I partly agree about the quality thing but generally, the consensus according to Richard Williams is not to be fussed overly about the line quality but more about the volumes. (well. taking into account that if line quality is really bad in one that'd just drag it down of course. Think I still need to fix part of my short in regards to that...). Though... very time consuming to redraw AND SHADE every frame of course. I guess what you're getting at is for the field you're in- Internet animation- is it really worth redrawing every frame when it just looks a bit wonky the next time as you get tired of it, and takes up so much damn space, time and just distracts from the point of the sketch anyway, which is to make people laugh? Still, you have a way of making it look good with the easing/tweening skills. To each their own, and your method is pretty damn good.

@ Sketchodie: Animator's Survival Kit is a real Bible! :D I picked up on the elongated in-tween thing when doing Sonic run cycle in my short. It's rather fun to play around with, and the effect is usually pretty slick.

Ditto the twos, I animate in twos on my short. I always make sure I get my keys so I can go straight ahead without going too far off course.

@ TUNS: lol didn't mean to steal your thunder :) hehe. Ooh, brushes! I hadn't thought about changing the smoothness level. Never knew how to handle brushes properly. Hence why I use the pencil. xD

@ Kaizoku: Interesting, and I second your principle on FBF :) Though to be fair I wouldn't put animating in twos down to laziness. If you think about it, 30fps is more than is actually needed for working in film. They only use 24fps for the 'persistence of vision'. ..Which kindof puzzles me that we're working in 30. Although when moving backgrounds 30fps is VERY smooth as opposed to the 24 which was jittery. I must have missed on something. Like 30fps being a standard for Internet viewing or... IDK. *rambling*

Twos is pretty much the standard for walking and talking and.. general movement I think. In the project I'm doing at the moment we're all animating in twos, with the occasional ones if we want.

Lol I use the pencil tool all the time, though I wouldn't call each frame 'pretty' really xD I just like the outlines being constant. Otherwise I worry about getting them messed up. I have zero control over the damn brush tool sometimes D:

@ GameBuddy: Another pencil user! :) and animating in twos is just FBF but same frame repeated twice. Just for slower motions like walking, talking, moving something. With this you just got to experiment and exaggerate passing positions for the desired walk effect for example, so it'll flow nice and slow-ish but still have a lot of bounce. Get the Animator's Survival Kit to start practicing with. It's a bible <3

I have no idea how to use filters properly. Is that on a newer version of Flash? Mine's 2004.
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PlasmaNuke
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I <3 Animator's Survival Kit, my older sister bought it for me when I turned 13. :D
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Jacks


ThisUserNameSucks
Sep 29 2008, 06:44 PM
I <3 Animator's Survival Kit, my older sister bought it for me when I turned 13. :D

My mum got me it as a birthday present. Along with a 15-field animation desk which made that like a birthday and Christmas present. Said desk is with me in my flat at Uni right now :D
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PlasmaNuke
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Luckyyy
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Gryphon
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ThisUserNameSucks
Sep 29 2008, 07:02 PM
Well, I don't currently have my own computer (duh), so I'm using the family desk :P

I am currently using something that closely may resemble a desk.
Deviantart

Tumblr's

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Jacks


ThisUserNameSucks
 
Well, I don't currently have my own computer (duh),[I] so I'm using the family desk [/I]


er... sorry to sound thick but.. what do you mean? xD

I was referring to an animation desk.
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PlasmaNuke
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EDIT: Nevermind, I got a bit mixed up, sorry >.<
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Jacks


No problem, happens to the best of us. :)


Thanks for the response you guys! Oooh... anyone else care to add? .... *coughcoughboozermancough* :)
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