"La Linea" style by Osvaldo Cavandoli in AS

[funksmaname]

A couple of years back I had a project come up that i thought would work nicely in a style similar to 'La Linea' (check YouTube if you're too young to have seen it!

I couldn't work out how to do it. I even posted here and no-one seemed to have any ideas how i might do it.

Today i thought "ooh, Selgin's 'bitten apple' face turn technique might just do the trick" - i was sure the solution was some sort of complex masking set up... I spent 30 minutes with Ramons 'Lost Layer' tool to try every masking combination i could think of, before finally achieving the result i was after...

...upon closer inspection, the combination was 'no masking' at all lol

here's the test animation:


So - here's how: (i'll probably do a screencast later)

i used fazeks mesh instance script (or Ramon's modded version to include point curvature) to duplicate the ground layer, and the character layer - where the top layers don't have an outline, just a fill (to act as a mask effectively) and the outline is widened on the layer below to make it a desirable width (you can use the line width tool as normal)

I made the background colour the same as the fill to make it look 'hollow'

that's it! here's a screenshot:




Related post: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=17196&p=96734#p96734

[Víctor Paredes]

nice, very nice!
We had a conversation about that style and how it could be achieved with AS. We never got a good solution (in our defense I can say we were younger and never take the challenge seriously... ).

Your way looks very interesting, congratulations. Please keep sharing that tests.

[slowtiger]

This is not The Right Way To Do. That would be to use one line only, with many points, and do all animation with point motion only.
*looks dead serious*

[funksmaname]

hehehe... this is the lazy-man's way i KNEW this would get your attention tiger

[JCook]

Excellent! Now let's see him walk up those stairs!

Jack

[slowtiger]

Let's make him walk. I bet you soon get into trouble as the legs blend into the overall black shape, and there's an additional empty shape forming between them.

[Víctor Paredes]

Let's make him walk. I bet you soon get into trouble as the legs blend into the overall black shape, and there's an additional empty shape forming between them.

You can fill that emptiness with a new shape which always covers the whole between legs. I haven't tested it in La línea style, but at least works in theory.

[funksmaname]

well, he doesn't have to be made of a single shape like in this screenshot - if you look at the other demo/screencast i made, the character has two legs that mask eachother out, but leave solid shapes where they create holes...

here's a little walk test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH5WXRf3iFY

[v_aviles]

I did it using another way, which I think is easier:

Create a group layer containing to vector layers: one for the character and one for the background. Draw the character and background with no outline.

On Group Layer Settings --> Shadows, enter the following values:

- Shadow On (checked)
- Offset - 0
- Blur - 0
- Expansion - 2

Then select white as the shadow color with an alpha value of 255.

[slowtiger]

That's the trick! The character can have as many layers as needed, it's just all black, and the shadow setting on the parend layer creates the outline.

In fact this is something early video art used a lot, especially "Crossings and Meetings" by Ed Emshviller ca 1977 which I liked a lot.

[funksmaname]

Hey v_aviles,
Thanks for posting!

While this is an option, and is easier, you have no control over the line width on the character (you set an overall expansion for the line width, but can't have line thick and thin across the character) so the result isn't as good imo (or 'different' at least - when the line itself is the character, you need the control)

[DarthFurby]

You're on fire with these videos funk. Really great technique.

[thehj]

that's smart! well done