Dream sequence telephone desert

[slowtiger]

I'm still sick, but the fever dreams at least gave me the idea for a dream sequence. I did the first scene in AS, with drawn elements from TVPaint.

http://www.enigmation.de/fonpol.html



Moving the telephone handle in perspective should be such an elementary task for any animation software, but alas, it isn't. In TVP I tried but got a horrible result, mainly because I can't assign a size parameter in %, but have to use Z axis values, which will change all X and Y values.

In AS I used my old trick of placing the handle at the start position and place the origin point over the vanishing point. Now I could just use the scale tool to create the movement. But still there was no wy to get the right speed automatically. I ended up placing keys ever 4 frames and adjust the position with the help of onionskinning. (Remember: a constant movement in perspective can be constructed easily with this method, just use the same overlap of the object at the same interval of frames.)

[AmigaMan]

I hope you are feeling better now?
That's a very surreal bit of animation and looks great! Is it part of a forthcoming film or just an illustration of part of your dream?

[slowtiger]

If I continue with it, it will be a whole sequence (of about half a minute) in the final film.

[Mikdog]

WOAH! Awesome! Love it! I watched it while some other music was playing and it looked like part of an awesome music video. Was like the bone handles were hitting the phone on every hi-hat hit for this drum 'n bassy song.

ha ha. MOAR PLEEZ!

[toonertime]

Dali would be delighted!

[neeters_guy]

Awesome. I love how you can make animations that don't look like they were made in Anime Studio.

[slowtiger]

Well, technically they weren't entirely made in AS. As I said, I used TVPaint for drawing and compositing. I could've done the compositing in AS, but it would've taken much longer (fiddling with masks takes more time than erasing a bitmap). And the chalk-like appearance is something I can't achieve in AS.

The project is done in HDTV (each frame will be 7 MB when rendered). Have a look at this close-up in 100% size:

You'll notice the light rim around the "fork" elements. That comes from repeated exporting with alpha. If I export from TVP and import into TVP again, nothing is visible. If I export from TVP, import into AS, and export from there into TVP again, I get this rim. I guess it's because I don't have any "pre-multiply" options during bitmap import into AS. Oh, well, it's good enough for me as long as it's in the range of half a pixel, and it fits into this certain style. But I already noticed that I can't export a heavily blurred layer form AS: it is simply unuseable because of the much more prominent light rim.

[christopherjd]

that's nice.. I know sometimes trying to get the required texture in ASP is like looking for the holy grail.. I've never heard of TVPaint so I shall look it up. Look forward to seeing this in a bigger picture.

[mental!droid]

awesomee phone hanged haha!:)

[uddhava]

Thanks for sharing the "dream" animation. It will be interesting to find out what happens or what is happening. Is the moving phone a threatening phone call or a friend, etc. I like the look of images being used in ASP also.
I was wondering, could you explain a little more the two points I marked from your first post? Thank you and hope that you are well soon.

udd.

1.In AS I used my old trick of placing the handle at the start position and place the origin point over the vanishing point. Now I could just use the scale tool to create the movement. But still there was no way to get the right speed automatically. I ended up placing keys ever 4 frames and adjust the position with the help of onionskinning.

2.(Remember: a constant movement in perspective can be constructed easily with this method, just use the same overlap of the object at the same interval of frames.)

[slowtiger]

OK, here you are:

First image shows the perspective lines (green) and the vanishing point. Create some setup like this in AS. I made a yellow box to illustrate my point, as you see, it's origin is right in the center of the box - not very useful for us.

Second image shows where you have to drag the origin point ("0" tool): right over the vanishing point. Now select the layer scale tool ("2") and use it - you will notice that this way the box will always be aligned to the perspective lines, while changing size, and change distance from the vanishing point.

Third image illustrates how to construct a steady movement by placing the element in always the same relative distance to each other.

This isn't really a secret since you'll find that recipe in every decent book about perspective. Even most animation books mention it.

I use this kind of "scaffolding" a lot when planning scenes: perspective lines and some hints where I want some elements to be placed. I also use grids (exponential ones) to control wether the automatic tweening is correct or not. No use to fiddle around with some inferior controls, much faster to just place stuff where it belongs.

[uddhava]

Thanks so much for the useful information. I will try it out.
Good luck with the rest of the animation.

udd

[rogermate]

Nice illustration. At first I understood maybe 62% or more

But with that illustration of the perspective, I'm well over 96% understanding.

Thanks for the extra step.

I like the animation as well.

I remember once looking at your website where you were doing a Berlin based animation. Is that still in progress or maybe out?

[slowtiger]

That's still "in progress" if you call "search for funding" as "progress" ... The telephone sequence will be part of it.

[J. Baker]

Nicely done so far!