Anime Studio Pro Problems

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Retrobolt
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2015 9:40 pm

Anime Studio Pro Problems

Post by Retrobolt »

I've been using anime studio debut 11 for sometime now and I've finally upgraded to the pro version thanks to the wonderful cyber Monday sale.I spent an entire day watching 60 videos in the ASP playlist on smith micros youtube page and others.Now ready to move my current project over (From debut to Pro.) and continue it there,I've run into a few problems.

1.Unselected layers are automatically blurred.

I've looked all over AS settings and I can't really find anything that will undo this.The only thing that works is split screen mode,but I want to find a real solution.
Heres the layer selected
https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=56E54B37

And heres it is unselected (When the background is detailed it's more noticeable.)
https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=56F77892

2.Pixel art sprites being blurry
Same problem here,but the difference is unlike the layers only being blurry in the display and not the render this time the pixel art is blurry in both the display and render.

This is a major problem for me because the majority of my next cartoon is is pixel art.In split screen mode things look normal but then in the final render it's blurry.

(The first one you can't really tell here,but see the next ones.)
https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=56E626BD

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=56EBA8A7

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=56F44F31

(Heres how it looks in split screen mode.)
Sharp as ever,but blurry in the render.
https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=56E75313

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=56EDB014

I'm also going to include the original sprites.
https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=56F3B34A

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=56F561C0

So if anyone can help me with these problems it would be very appreciated.
Thank you
madriver
Posts: 101
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2006 6:11 am

Re: Anime Studio Pro Problems

Post by madriver »

As far as the pixel art blurriness:

Are they raster images? if so, check your project settings to make sure that the render output isn't too big to accommodate the original image when you move in close (perhaps)?

Also, don't know if they have depth of field in debut, but those settings could be affecting your focus in pro.
User avatar
PRIMAL MORON
Posts: 43
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 3:22 pm

Re: Anime Studio Pro Problems

Post by PRIMAL MORON »

Oh my god! Undertale! Sans!
Wow, kudos for the interesting choice of work in Anime Studio, not every day someone does sprite work here.

I can answer part of your issue, when you start Anime Studio Pro, open your project, and apparently, you know where the split screen button is, right? just past the 4 way split screen is a "Display Quality" dropdown list, select it, if this option is checked: "GPU Acceleration" Uncheck it, what this will do in theory, is stop the blurriness on screen while you're still in design mode (working in anime studio regularly) GPU Acceleration adds extra effects to make the work look like the final piece a bit more, by pre-rendering the layers as images, almost like a super fast render.

And looking into your sprites, i see the problem is a bit more serious, they're jpegs... Which do not have very good quality. Jpegs are designed to make big images small in filesize by actually taking the quality down each time they are saved. what you sent us is essentially useless for editing, from now on, make sure you start and end with PNG images, not only for the sake of quality, but for the transparency to work, too.

Back to the problem of blurriness, this is caused by a factor called upscaling, which is taking a raster (non-vector, non-text, or non-3d layer) image and blowing it up to a bigger size, because the image was designed at a smaller size, it distorts, whether you have png or jpeg. Sprites are naturally very small, they were designed for small characters that were very simple at first. (As small as 8 pixels tall and 8 pixels wide, usually smaller, but they got more sizable as time went on) They became complex when people got better at animating them, but were always designed to be quick and easy, even sometimes more so than 3d. (just because it looks nicer doesn't mean it's always better, even today sprites prove this with games like Undertale, Terraria, and Shovel Knight.)

But what good would i be if i didn't help solve your problem entirely, right? Well, here's a list of possible solutions you can try from easiest most time consuming, but keep in mind, that also means from the quickest fix to the best solution.

Fix #1: Cut and Render- Basically, you take the sprites, make sure they are transparent, if not, use the magic wand tool (under image tools when editing an image layer) and click near the spots that are solid, but don't belong in the sprite. Render as a video, particularly a mp4, and set the qaulity to 100. Run and test for errors, if it looks acceptable, publish at your leisure~

Fix #2- Outline the Problem, Make a Crisp Solution- This one is a little bit hard, but will pay off more. Go to the sprite's layer settings (the 3 dots on the top of the layer panel) Below the name, you should see "Outline (Animated)", Check the Checkbox on in that section to turn on the outline for the layer. What this will do, is make an outline around the whole layer in a color and thickness of your choosing. Here's where you gotta be careful... It doesn't go up in decimals (0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and so on) it goes up in whole numbers (1, 2, 3, and so on) so the results may be a little hard to pinpoint... Try and work at a larger size with this one, because even if it's on "1" size of that sprite, it will look like a huuuge outline. Then, make a reference layer above the current sprite of the sprite. and set the blend mode (at the bottom of layer settings, it's a dropdown list) to "Multiply" (for darker color) or "Add" (for brighter color) Drop the opacity of this layer to about 50-75% (play with it, it'll look good if you expriement and find a percentage you're comfortable with there) by combining a black outline on the image, a second clone of it via the reference layer, and the blend mode to brighten or darken the colors, it will look a lot more crisp and give off a more cinematic effect to boot!

Fix #3 Redraw, Redraw, Redraw, Rinse, and Repeat! This one's the hardest, but the most rewarding, go to the "View" taskbar at the top and press "Enable Grid". This will create a snap to grid, if the squares look too big compared to each pixel on your sprites, go back to View and click "Grid settings", then select your size, bigger numbers make the squares larger, and make the snapping take up more space, while the lower the number, the less space and distance between snapped parts. when you find a size you're comfortable with, use the point creation tool and play a game of connect the dots around the outline of each sprite, do this and layer each color properly, it will look just like the sprite if you do it correctly, only now, you got pieces you can upscale or downscale as much as you want, with no lost quality! Here's the drawback, you gotta do this for every sprite image you have, and keep scaling and animation in mind, too! But, the results will put a lot of control in your hands as a payoff, as well.

And there you have it, I covered everything that can help you through this transition to pro, and offered a few skills you can use if you want to do your very best! From an in-depth explanation of your problem to a full solution set that gives you choices, I hope you find this useful.

Best regards,
-Matt

PS- If you need any other help setting up these ideas, PM me or feel free to keep discussion open for other great ideas from the other members, as well!
Retrobolt
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2015 9:40 pm

Re: Anime Studio Pro Problems

Post by Retrobolt »

Thanks,for your advice.Heres the final product.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCeWrbe ... k1Ir8dhtv5
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