Still not up to Disney's standards, but I'm having fun:
2:38
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13hKYXSY5Gs
--gary
My second animation
Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger
-
temujin143
- Posts: 19
- Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 5:55 am
FUNNY! How long did it take you? I see you used some of the shortcuts talked about on the forum. ie, head turns, full body turns, (off screen) hide walk sequence, reuse animations with close ups. Very entertaining clever and instructional. And... you must have figured out masking. 
Down the hole.
Thanks
.
Bob P
Down the hole. Thanks
.
Bob P
That was very nicely done. The backgrounds have some character, the story was enjoyable and the characters were appealing. The overall style reminds me of the old UPI cartoons mixed with Hanna Barbara fare of years past. I am a big fan of both stylings, personally. Also I love characters with the simple attached black legs and feet. Reminds me of the Inspector character from the old Pink Panther cartoons.
The vocal characterizations are fun and match the characters quite well. For the most part they also sound quite natural.
The music and sound effects are well executed.
If you are looking for some comments that will help you with the animation in particular, read on. I am picking you apart here as any helpful fellow animator would in the interests of helping you become better at your craft. So please don't be offended...I am only trying to help you get better because you have a lot of potential...
- The right hand on the character that falls down the hole look backwards.
- The arm movements could be smoother and more natural looking overall. Maybe add some secondary movement on the lower arm and some tertiary movement on the hands as they swing.
- A more natural movement for the jumping and landing is required...a natural arc to the jumps is lacking.
- There is no feeling of weight to the characters as they jump and land...when they jump they need to look more like they are pushing off the jumping platform. When they land they should maybe react more to their own weight and inertia...bending the knees forward and lower...the body bending forward then back as they settle. Secondary movement on the arms and hair work well in these types of situations as well.
- I don't believe I saw the characters blink once during the whole program. Blinking makes characters more believable and is an easy effect to add.
A quick method is to simply scale the eyes into slivers and back again. This can be done over 3 frames with the first frame being open, the second closed and the third open again. or over 5 frames if you want some in betweens where the eyes are partially closed before and after the fully closed eyes.
Simply copy and paste these key frames where you want them after animating the first set (while the characters are talking, or just after the characters say something...when they land on the target...etc.).
- Moving eyebrows are also a way to add life to a character and are also generally easy to accomplish from an animation perspective.
- Adding some physics to the hair of the characters, particularly to the stringy hair of the character in green in this case, is a simple and effective way to add some life to the characters as well. Takes a few seconds to set up and the results are generally excellent.
- having the characters clench their hands into a fist would make them look more natural when they are running and jumping. You could use a switch layer for the changes from fully spread out fingers to clenched fists.
- it would be great if there was some anticipation or maybe some special attention focussed on the pushing of the button on the pole. The button could look better or cooler somehow as well. It is currently barely noticeable that the character in green even pushes a button.
- The target simply fading away at the press of a button is interesting, but doesn't make sense and seems a bit of a cheat.
If it swung open and downward like a trap door...or split down the middle and parted, each half sliding in opposite directions like futuristic doorways...or even just the whole target sliding to the right as if motorized...or even swinging upwards as if hinged on the right like a kitchen garbage pail lid...those might be better options.
- You have the basic movements in place, but the fun thing about animation is that you can control and exaggerate everything for a more comic effect. Everything from the way a character says something to the way they move in all circumstances. Use your imagination to make your characters more interesting, or the action more humorous. Basically, look within your story and animation to see where you can make it more fascinating and humorous to the audience. A professional will make an animation that is universally appealing, and not just interesting to his/her friends and relatives.
For example - When the character in blue falls down the hole, you could have him pause in space...see his fate...Pop his eyes out...kick his legs and flail his arms....then fall to his doom. Maybe have some kind of unusual falling and crashing sound effects. Or when the green character is jumping and landing on the bullseye - some kind of fun inflection in his voice when he says "Ta Daaa - 23!"
- try not to use parallel lines in character design and background creation. The fence in the background and the pole with the button on it, as well as the jumping platform come off looking uninteresting. Adding variant angles makes things look fun and interesting, without drawing undue attention to them. They also look generally more natural.
There you have it. The list is a long one - and I have to say that some of it is personal preference on my part - but that is not to take away from the work you have done. It is an entertaining animated feature in it's own right...but maybe it could be improved?
Regardless, I hope my comments help.
Looking forward to seeing your future productions!
The vocal characterizations are fun and match the characters quite well. For the most part they also sound quite natural.
The music and sound effects are well executed.
If you are looking for some comments that will help you with the animation in particular, read on. I am picking you apart here as any helpful fellow animator would in the interests of helping you become better at your craft. So please don't be offended...I am only trying to help you get better because you have a lot of potential...
- The right hand on the character that falls down the hole look backwards.
- The arm movements could be smoother and more natural looking overall. Maybe add some secondary movement on the lower arm and some tertiary movement on the hands as they swing.
- A more natural movement for the jumping and landing is required...a natural arc to the jumps is lacking.
- There is no feeling of weight to the characters as they jump and land...when they jump they need to look more like they are pushing off the jumping platform. When they land they should maybe react more to their own weight and inertia...bending the knees forward and lower...the body bending forward then back as they settle. Secondary movement on the arms and hair work well in these types of situations as well.
- I don't believe I saw the characters blink once during the whole program. Blinking makes characters more believable and is an easy effect to add.
A quick method is to simply scale the eyes into slivers and back again. This can be done over 3 frames with the first frame being open, the second closed and the third open again. or over 5 frames if you want some in betweens where the eyes are partially closed before and after the fully closed eyes.
Simply copy and paste these key frames where you want them after animating the first set (while the characters are talking, or just after the characters say something...when they land on the target...etc.).
- Moving eyebrows are also a way to add life to a character and are also generally easy to accomplish from an animation perspective.
- Adding some physics to the hair of the characters, particularly to the stringy hair of the character in green in this case, is a simple and effective way to add some life to the characters as well. Takes a few seconds to set up and the results are generally excellent.
- having the characters clench their hands into a fist would make them look more natural when they are running and jumping. You could use a switch layer for the changes from fully spread out fingers to clenched fists.
- it would be great if there was some anticipation or maybe some special attention focussed on the pushing of the button on the pole. The button could look better or cooler somehow as well. It is currently barely noticeable that the character in green even pushes a button.
- The target simply fading away at the press of a button is interesting, but doesn't make sense and seems a bit of a cheat.
If it swung open and downward like a trap door...or split down the middle and parted, each half sliding in opposite directions like futuristic doorways...or even just the whole target sliding to the right as if motorized...or even swinging upwards as if hinged on the right like a kitchen garbage pail lid...those might be better options.
- You have the basic movements in place, but the fun thing about animation is that you can control and exaggerate everything for a more comic effect. Everything from the way a character says something to the way they move in all circumstances. Use your imagination to make your characters more interesting, or the action more humorous. Basically, look within your story and animation to see where you can make it more fascinating and humorous to the audience. A professional will make an animation that is universally appealing, and not just interesting to his/her friends and relatives.
For example - When the character in blue falls down the hole, you could have him pause in space...see his fate...Pop his eyes out...kick his legs and flail his arms....then fall to his doom. Maybe have some kind of unusual falling and crashing sound effects. Or when the green character is jumping and landing on the bullseye - some kind of fun inflection in his voice when he says "Ta Daaa - 23!"
- try not to use parallel lines in character design and background creation. The fence in the background and the pole with the button on it, as well as the jumping platform come off looking uninteresting. Adding variant angles makes things look fun and interesting, without drawing undue attention to them. They also look generally more natural.
There you have it. The list is a long one - and I have to say that some of it is personal preference on my part - but that is not to take away from the work you have done. It is an entertaining animated feature in it's own right...but maybe it could be improved?
Regardless, I hope my comments help.
Looking forward to seeing your future productions!
Last edited by Kadoogan on Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Aut viam inveniam aut faciam
Kadoogan,
Thanks for taking the time to write that list of observations. I'm going to print it out and use it as reference to go back and work some more on the animation.
Those are good points to keep in mind for future animations as well.
Re: hands, I'm having trouble learning how to make hands look right. It will probably take a lot more practice.
Re: the hole disappearing, yes that was a cheat. I really did want it to open up like a trap door, but I haven't figured out how to accomplish that yet. There's either a lot of tricky masking involved, or else a lot of point by point animation.
I have no prior animation experience so excuse me for displaying my ignorance. "Secondary movement?" What does that mean?
Thanks again for your thoughtful and helpful comments.
--gary
Thanks for taking the time to write that list of observations. I'm going to print it out and use it as reference to go back and work some more on the animation.
Those are good points to keep in mind for future animations as well.
Re: hands, I'm having trouble learning how to make hands look right. It will probably take a lot more practice.
Re: the hole disappearing, yes that was a cheat. I really did want it to open up like a trap door, but I haven't figured out how to accomplish that yet. There's either a lot of tricky masking involved, or else a lot of point by point animation.
I have no prior animation experience so excuse me for displaying my ignorance. "Secondary movement?" What does that mean?
Thanks again for your thoughtful and helpful comments.
--gary
I want to add my thanks for the pointers as well. I already printed them out.Kadoogan,
Thanks for taking the time to write that list of observations. I'm going to print it out and use it as reference to go back and work some more on the animation.
Those are good points to keep in mind for future animations as well.
Gary
I really appreciate all that Gary is doing.
.
Bob P
Hey, some not-so-quick thoughts....
Masking doesn't have to be the way to do the whole thing, you can use layers and positioning to get the same effect. Just by overlapping separate elements...since it is 2D, nobody would know the difference if the ground with the lower half of the hole were on one layer, and the rest of the background were on another, the foreground layer would be positioned in front of the character when he falls into the hole, effectively covering him as he slips behind it. This is the way you would have to do it if it were done traditionally, or pre-computer. A lot of those techniques can still be applied digitally.
Secondary movement is when parts of an object being animated move or are effected by the main object being animated that they are attached to. It is also called overlapping motion.
An example would be a a character waving a pole with a flag on it....the pole moves first, then the flag, which is controlled by the pole, moves along with it. Because a flag is cloth, it moves with a flowing motion as it follows the flag.
Bone physics create automated secondary motions...something you did incidentally with your wishing tree animation. The body of the tree moves, then the branches and leaves move slightly later, because they only move as a result of the main body movement. I know you used physics on that particular animation, but the effect is the same as if you had animated every branch yourself.
With arms and hands you might have the hands get to their final position slightly later then the arms do.
probably the best online free place to get great info about drawing and animating is at the following link:
http://www.karmatoons.com/drawing/drawing.htm
you can find the section on Secondary motion at the following link directly:
http://www.karmatoons.com/drawing/17a.htm
There are various parts in the course about drawing hands as well.
The info is presented by a professional animator named Doug Compton. His online quick course in animation is taken almost verbatim from the Disney's book The Illusion of Life - the must have book for anyone serious about animating (it is worth every penny you may spend on it - if you can find it). I personally have a large library of books on animation. I have probably lost or misplaced more books an the subject than many people own. The illusion of Life is the centerpiece of my collection. it contains years of research and experimentation listed and tested by Disney's best old school animators.
Compton's online free course is definitely worth looking over. It will help fill in the gaps in your knowledge regarding classical animation. Almost all that you will learn from his course will be applicable to anything you do in Anime Studio, or any other software package that lets you animate, including 3D animation.
Anyone can move bones around and get a character from A to B. This type of knowledge separates the men from the boys. Hope it helps!
Masking doesn't have to be the way to do the whole thing, you can use layers and positioning to get the same effect. Just by overlapping separate elements...since it is 2D, nobody would know the difference if the ground with the lower half of the hole were on one layer, and the rest of the background were on another, the foreground layer would be positioned in front of the character when he falls into the hole, effectively covering him as he slips behind it. This is the way you would have to do it if it were done traditionally, or pre-computer. A lot of those techniques can still be applied digitally.
Secondary movement is when parts of an object being animated move or are effected by the main object being animated that they are attached to. It is also called overlapping motion.
An example would be a a character waving a pole with a flag on it....the pole moves first, then the flag, which is controlled by the pole, moves along with it. Because a flag is cloth, it moves with a flowing motion as it follows the flag.
Bone physics create automated secondary motions...something you did incidentally with your wishing tree animation. The body of the tree moves, then the branches and leaves move slightly later, because they only move as a result of the main body movement. I know you used physics on that particular animation, but the effect is the same as if you had animated every branch yourself.
With arms and hands you might have the hands get to their final position slightly later then the arms do.
probably the best online free place to get great info about drawing and animating is at the following link:
http://www.karmatoons.com/drawing/drawing.htm
you can find the section on Secondary motion at the following link directly:
http://www.karmatoons.com/drawing/17a.htm
There are various parts in the course about drawing hands as well.
The info is presented by a professional animator named Doug Compton. His online quick course in animation is taken almost verbatim from the Disney's book The Illusion of Life - the must have book for anyone serious about animating (it is worth every penny you may spend on it - if you can find it). I personally have a large library of books on animation. I have probably lost or misplaced more books an the subject than many people own. The illusion of Life is the centerpiece of my collection. it contains years of research and experimentation listed and tested by Disney's best old school animators.
Compton's online free course is definitely worth looking over. It will help fill in the gaps in your knowledge regarding classical animation. Almost all that you will learn from his course will be applicable to anything you do in Anime Studio, or any other software package that lets you animate, including 3D animation.
Anyone can move bones around and get a character from A to B. This type of knowledge separates the men from the boys. Hope it helps!
Aut viam inveniam aut faciam
Well, I wouldn't necessarily say that you have to think about the characters in 3 dimensions all the time. It certainly helps in certain situations. Depends on the character and what you want them to do.
You were experimenting with limited animation techniques, so I may have been a little hard on you - but then again, maybe not
The key is to know how to animate using the basic principles so that even the simplest characters have life and are interesting.
The Flintstones are my favorite examples of rather 2D characters that are reasonably appealing in look, and have been loved by generations not just because of the way they are animated, but because of the humor and interesting storylines. Hanna Barbara animations generally are a good source of examples regarding how to do a fun animation within a time constraint and budget.
Anime Studio is particularly excellent at TV style animation because it takes the grunt work out of much of the process. How far you go beyond that is your call.
You could easily continue doing things the way you are. Your stories are fun and the characters (particularly in this latest effort) are appealing. And you can get an animation out in a reasonable time frame.
You have plenty of fine kudos from others here and elsewhere regarding your productions. It's basically up to you as to where you want to go with it all and how far you want to take it.
As I mentioned earlier, I look forward to your future endeavours. I think they will improve dramatically as you do them.
I think Anime Studio is one of the single best tools out there for animating in 2D. Good to see you and so many others enjoying it as well.
You were experimenting with limited animation techniques, so I may have been a little hard on you - but then again, maybe not
The key is to know how to animate using the basic principles so that even the simplest characters have life and are interesting.
The Flintstones are my favorite examples of rather 2D characters that are reasonably appealing in look, and have been loved by generations not just because of the way they are animated, but because of the humor and interesting storylines. Hanna Barbara animations generally are a good source of examples regarding how to do a fun animation within a time constraint and budget.
Anime Studio is particularly excellent at TV style animation because it takes the grunt work out of much of the process. How far you go beyond that is your call.
You could easily continue doing things the way you are. Your stories are fun and the characters (particularly in this latest effort) are appealing. And you can get an animation out in a reasonable time frame.
You have plenty of fine kudos from others here and elsewhere regarding your productions. It's basically up to you as to where you want to go with it all and how far you want to take it.
As I mentioned earlier, I look forward to your future endeavours. I think they will improve dramatically as you do them.
I think Anime Studio is one of the single best tools out there for animating in 2D. Good to see you and so many others enjoying it as well.
Aut viam inveniam aut faciam