Animating with pictures, a la Jib Jab

Wondering how to accomplish a certain animation task? Ask here.

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zamboknee
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2010 11:31 pm

Animating with pictures, a la Jib Jab

Post by zamboknee »

How do I do animation using just pictures? Kinda like Jib Jab.
Just the first few instructions would be helpful.
Thank you
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Ronbo
Posts: 233
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 12:09 am
Location: Maine, USA

Post by Ronbo »

When you say "pictures" I assume you mean video and still images?

The first thing to do is prepare your head(s) in a program like Photoshop or Gimp. Each head should be saved as a head file and a lower jaw file on transparent backgrounds, i.e. PNG files. Import your video, head, and lower jaw into ASP.

From here you would add bones to animate the head & jaw to follow the video. This should get you started, assuming you have a basic working knowledge of ASP.
rogermate
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Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:53 am
Location: Mars

Re: Animating with pictures, a la Jib Jab

Post by rogermate »

zamboknee wrote:How do I do animation using just pictures? Kinda like Jib Jab.
Just the first few instructions would be helpful.
Thank you
Welcome to the forum.

I'm usually excited with a new app and really want to hit the ground running, start right away. Manuals? We don't need no stinkin' badges...

But seriously, I highly recommend the included tutorials. Animation can be different than other graphics apps, for sure. And one of Anime Studio's biggest strengths is the simplicity of the drawing and the bones. However, since they are easier / more powerful "once you learn them" they are going to act differently than you might expect.

If all you are going to do is cut out photos, you could skip to that tutorial. Also check out youtube lots of free tutorials.

You could do a full episode without using bones, but bones are pretty usefull.

This application is really powerful, it is very open. There are many different approaches.

This forum is a great resource. Another reason for the tutorials and manuals is because you learn the words used, every field has its own vocabulary. This way you know what to ask, and can really use responses.

good luck.
Midlad
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 11:38 am

Similar situation

Post by Midlad »

I am in a similar situation: I am going to do an animation, not with pictures but with imges drawn with photoshop (which I export in PNG) Therefore I exported individually every body part and made a different layer for each. Then I Bind every Layer to it's bone with the bind layer tool but I cannot manage to put two bones on the same layer without getting this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STeBnMeh6Sw
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slowtiger
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Post by slowtiger »

Layer binding can only bend a layer to ONE bone. The layer will act as a rigid shape then.

In order to bend your images (the legs and arms), you need to bind them via Flexible binding - which is the default one. Just put your images layers into the bone layer, and Flexible works.

Now how to get this work correctly ...

1. Place your images into that bone layer. Place them far apart from each other!
2. Draw your bones on top of each limb.
3. Use the Offset bone tool to grab the top bone of an extremity and drag it to its final place.
4. Test movement with Z.

You'll need to play around with Bone strength to fine-tune all the bone's influence on each image.

You eventually will notice that your extremities don't look good while bent. Maybe in that case you'll need to further break it down, like Upper arm, Lower arm, Hand.
Midlad
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Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 11:38 am

Post by Midlad »

Flexible binding? What's that? If you mean the "Bind Points" tool It won't work on a png.

I found in the menu "Bone" the Flexi-Bind Layer" Button but it won't do anything...
rogermate
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Location: Mars

Post by rogermate »

Midlad wrote:Flexible binding? What's that? If you mean the "Bind Points" tool It won't work on a png.

I found in the menu "Bone" the Flexi-Bind Layer" Button but it won't do anything...
flexible binding is less work. Did you try the tutorials?

Unfortunately, this software, and animation in particular, is not nearly as easy to just use without manuals & tutorials. I could do that with image editing, spreadsheets, and world processing. But animation is too deep, and from what I hear Anime Studio works a bit differently than some other animation software, which makes it easier for newbies.

Besides the tutorials that come with the software, there are a lot of tutorials listed on this forum. Try searching. Some posts are nothing but links to other tutorials.

--

As slowtiger said, you'd want your images in the bone layer, and make sure your didn't de-select "warp images to bones". Flexible binding will be on by default. It should work right away. But you will notice that some bones are reflected some body parts when you don't want it.

Then you use the "off set" bone tool. A tutorial specifically covers this better than I could. Essentially, you have the body parts split far apart in the first design frame (frame 0). Then you use the offset bone tool to align them were you want them. This way, the bones will only affect the parts that you want.
Midlad
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Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 11:38 am

Post by Midlad »

mmmh, I think I got to do what you suggested, thank you. Though what I was using as a default method WAS flexible binding, what I needed to use was region binding, and it worked for hair, body and legs (it didn't really work on the arms 'cause I need them to bend 360°)

Thank you for your time and kindness! Have a nice day! :D
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