Anime Studio 8 Questions and Answers
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I'm currently using AS 5.6. I do my animation drawings on paper, then scan them into Photoshop Elements, where I edit them. From there, they eventually are loaded into AS, one by one. Finally, the resulting scenes go into Final Cut.
My question: why should I buy AS 8, that is: what does it do for "traditional" animators like me?
My question: why should I buy AS 8, that is: what does it do for "traditional" animators like me?
What do you do with your drawings when they are imported into AS?
If you don't use AS to manipulate your drawings in any way not only do you not need to upgrade, you don't even need AS. You can import them directly into Final Cut Pro as a scene (like most video editors, FCP will import image sequences as an animated movie). If you are using AS to manipulate them in some manner, then it depends on how and what you are doing as to whether an upgrade would help or not.
If you don't use AS to manipulate your drawings in any way not only do you not need to upgrade, you don't even need AS. You can import them directly into Final Cut Pro as a scene (like most video editors, FCP will import image sequences as an animated movie). If you are using AS to manipulate them in some manner, then it depends on how and what you are doing as to whether an upgrade would help or not.
I do manipulate the drawings: I use the camera features, layer ordering, switch layers, actually quite a bit. And occasionally I use vector layers, for smoke effects for example.
I guess I'm wondering how AS 8 has evolved since 5.6. Right now I have to manually load each drawing into AS -- perhaps there's a mass load feature to ease that pain somewhat? I'm just wondering if AS has started to accommodate the sort of "traditional" animator that I am, or if it has moved even more towards the kind of "flashy" animator.
I guess I'm wondering how AS 8 has evolved since 5.6. Right now I have to manually load each drawing into AS -- perhaps there's a mass load feature to ease that pain somewhat? I'm just wondering if AS has started to accommodate the sort of "traditional" animator that I am, or if it has moved even more towards the kind of "flashy" animator.
You can definitely load more than one image at a time -- worse comes to worst you could even write a script using new features in 8 that do this automagically (I'm not sure how long ago it happened, but at some point you could just drag over multiple drawings from Explorer so even without a script you can do this).
Version 7 and on allow easier manipulation of multiple layers, so it's easy to select many and drag to a switch or group layer, for example. Based on what you are doing this alone might be worth the upgrade cost.
However, there is no getting around that AS is not a frame by frame (FBF) animation program. Animators used to that approach are not going to benefit as much for anything in AS, let alone anything new. Many new features have been added that are primarily for those without talent -- and it doesn't sound as if this describes you at all.
But you don't have to speculate on any of this -- there is a free demo version you can try out to see if it meets your needs. Test it out and you should know within a short period of time if you want to upgrade (and you have 30 days for a full money back refund even then).
Version 7 and on allow easier manipulation of multiple layers, so it's easy to select many and drag to a switch or group layer, for example. Based on what you are doing this alone might be worth the upgrade cost.
However, there is no getting around that AS is not a frame by frame (FBF) animation program. Animators used to that approach are not going to benefit as much for anything in AS, let alone anything new. Many new features have been added that are primarily for those without talent -- and it doesn't sound as if this describes you at all.
But you don't have to speculate on any of this -- there is a free demo version you can try out to see if it meets your needs. Test it out and you should know within a short period of time if you want to upgrade (and you have 30 days for a full money back refund even then).
Yeah, thanks. I'll definitely try that first. I skipped versions 6 and 7 at the time (6 because of a HD issue, a bug in the software), but the other day I was thinking: It has been about 3 years now, maybe it's time for an upgrade.
I'm aware of the Import Image Sequence feature, but my file names are often too wacky to be able to consistently rely on that.
There is an app called TVPaint, which is supposedly suited more towards traditional animators, but its price is pretty steep and, having tested it out, I'm not so sure I'd benefit from it *that* much. I do the bulk of my work behind my desk anyway.
I'm aware of the Import Image Sequence feature, but my file names are often too wacky to be able to consistently rely on that.
There is an app called TVPaint, which is supposedly suited more towards traditional animators, but its price is pretty steep and, having tested it out, I'm not so sure I'd benefit from it *that* much. I do the bulk of my work behind my desk anyway.
- Lost Marble
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I'm not familiar with Photoshop Elements, but does it save out layered PSD files like the regular version of Photoshop? If so, the ability to load layered PSD files may be useful for a user like you. (This is a feature of Pro, but not Debut.)Debo wrote:My question: why should I buy AS 8, that is: what does it do for "traditional" animators like me?
It kind of depends if you're "traditional", or "semi-traditional". For example, if you layer different eye and mouth shapes on top of a head and want to switch out different facial features, this could be very useful to you. If you draw each frame in its entirety, this may not be quite as useful, but it could still serve some purpose.
Here's a cool video done by Mike Scott, using Anime Studio Pro 8 and layered Photoshop files (combined with other techniques too):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-tNUur2YoU
A "making of" video too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz1_MQnw5WA
Like I said, I'm not familiar with Photoshop Elements, so I don't know for sure if the PSD feature would be useful to you. I would suggest checking out the trial version to be sure.
-Mike
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Mike, thanks for sharing those links!Lost Marble wrote:I'm not familiar with Photoshop Elements, but does it save out layered PSD files like the regular version of Photoshop? If so, the ability to load layered PSD files may be useful for a user like you. (This is a feature of Pro, but not Debut.)Debo wrote:My question: why should I buy AS 8, that is: what does it do for "traditional" animators like me?
It kind of depends if you're "traditional", or "semi-traditional". For example, if you layer different eye and mouth shapes on top of a head and want to switch out different facial features, this could be very useful to you. If you draw each frame in its entirety, this may not be quite as useful, but it could still serve some purpose.
Here's a cool video done by Mike Scott, using Anime Studio Pro 8 and layered Photoshop files (combined with other techniques too):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-tNUur2YoU
A "making of" video too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz1_MQnw5WA
Like I said, I'm not familiar with Photoshop Elements, so I don't know for sure if the PSD feature would be useful to you. I would suggest checking out the trial version to be sure.
-Mike
This one is very interesting too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pblMKuup ... er&list=UL
.
Definitely. But AS doesn't recognize layered PSD files from Photoshop Elements. It's Photoshop only. That was actually one of my great disappointments when I first bought the software, about three years ago. I had just supposed there wouldn't be a difference there.Lost Marble wrote:I'm not familiar with Photoshop Elements, but does it save out layered PSD files like the regular version of Photoshop? If so, the ability to load layered PSD files may be useful for a user like you. (This is a feature of Pro, but not Debut.)
Yeah, semi-traditional by that definition. (I'm not a Luddite.) I use Switch Layers a lot in this way. But Group Layers too, and occasionally Vector Layers. The main reason I want to stick with AS and not switch to another app is that I have established a workflow that, well, works.It kind of depends if you're "traditional", or "semi-traditional". For example, if you layer different eye and mouth shapes on top of a head and want to switch out different facial features, this could be very useful to you. If you draw each frame in its entirety, this may not be quite as useful, but it could still serve some purpose.
Thanks for the videos, I'll check them out.
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- neeters_guy
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Yeah, we're talking about different things. Version 5.6 can't read psd files directly, of course, but can import layers via a Photoshop script (version 8 or later).ponysmasher wrote:Perhaps we're talking about different things, I'm talking about this:
That's new right? Otherwise I've been wasting a lot of time...
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?