Drawing In ASP

superanimatrix · Post by **superanimatrix** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 9:32 pm

heyvern wrote:
LOL Laughing I first thought the same about you Vern. I thought you were just trying to be mean or just piss me off.
I sort of was . I now realize that was a mistake and unfair. Yes that picture you posted explained EVERYTHING.

I can be a "jerk" on this forum sometimes and often make wrong assumptions and mistakes. I am very pig headed and stubborn sometimes. The one thing that drives me over the edge is when someone gives up trying to use the drawing tools in AS or says they are "useless" or no good or "why can't it work like Adobe Illustrator or Flash?". I often wish Flash or AI's tools were like the tools in Anime Studio! I like them better now.

Of course if I hadn't gotten "annoyed" and "jerky" I would have just dropped it and moved on...

All's well that ends well!

Just a heads up for you... the "lines" or curves in AS are totally completely different from Flash or Adobe Illustrator. Completely different.

This is why AS animates so well... this is also why importing EPS or AI format is not so good. Until efrontier adds in a "new" type of vector layer that uses a different curve description it is still better to draw in AS then importing. (must be a new vector layer type since it would "break" ALL old files if they replaced the current type.)

-vern

That's ok. I'm just glad you stuck in there and helped me. I'm glad I can do all of this with the tools in AS rather than spend a grand on photoshop.

BonAp · Post by **BonAp** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 11:56 pm

About video-tutorials. - Have you seen this thred?
viewtopic.php?t=8905[url]

BonAp[/url]

superanimatrix · Post by **superanimatrix** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 7:15 am

BonAp wrote:About video-tutorials. - Have you seen this thred?
viewtopic.php?t=8905[url]

BonAp[/url]

WOW

Thanks so much for that link. I think you may have saved my life. Now I can take the rope from around my neck LOL. This is what I am talking about. I wish the software came with all video tutorilas from start to finish. I hope he makes more because this will save us beginners so much more time when we have clients waiting for projects to get done. Thanks so much for your help my friend

- London

BlueAjay · Post by **BlueAjay** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 3:21 pm

Greetings!

I've been lurking here for some time. Medigs this forum, it ASP's secret weapon!

I have purchased ASP and I've worked my way through the tutorials in the manual but I've yet to do much with it. My drawing skills are borderline wretched and I've been struggling to learn basic drawing skills before attempting to proceed. I think animation is an amazing and limitless medium and I have ideas that are struggling to burst out of my skull, but I won't be able to do much without some rudimentary drawing skills.

Anyway, introductions aside, I just wanted to say that I found this particular thread to be very beneficial. The fact that the participants exercised enough patience and civility

to work your way to the core questions and ultimately their answers is commendable. Forums can be a frustrating medium; you held it together for the benefit of us all.

Thanks, I learned stuff and stuff.

donnie · Post by **donnie** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 5:52 pm

Hey Guys- Interesting thread- enjoyed reading.

Right now im with Heyvern in that I have previously used both Flash and Illustrator's drawing tools, and was frustrated with Anime Studio's at first, but now actually like As's drawing tools better as I have gotten quite used to them (thats not to say I would'nt love AS to have bezier handles

).
So like Heyvern said- persist with AS and hopefully you'll begin to like it.

-Genete, that 3d eye you posted was amazing, do you think it would be entirely possible to recreate this in AS?

I can see how you could most definately get the vector lids/ eyebrow and shading, but the bit that puzzles me is how much the eyeball looks like a BALL! - That is the pupil/iris distort when it looks to the side, and even the 'veins' and shading on the white of the eye look like they are performing in a truly '3d'-like manner.

Any suggestions anyone? I know you could probaly hand animate the points but I was thinking more of a way the eyeball could be rigged so that just moving one control would automate the 3d effect.

Thanks for reading!

Donnie.

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 7:05 pm

Here's an eye file I did a while back:

(click image for animation)

(This is a "Moho" file but it still works with Anime Studio)
http://www.lowrestv.com/moho_stuff/eye.moho

-vern

JimmyC · Post by **JimmyC** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 7:35 pm

Thanks for sharing the file.

Genete · Post by **Genete** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 8:02 pm

-Genete, that 3d eye you posted was amazing, do you think it would be entirely possible to recreate this in AS?

The main goal of that eye is the gradient effects it has. The animation itself could be done using AS perfectly but the complexity on the gradients (they rotate with the eye...) cannot be achieved with AS (although heyvern's eye is fantastic!) due to the poor capabilities of gradients it has. I'm lately playing a lot with synfig (I miss to it the AS's bones structure) and I feel it is great for background animations where effects and shadows are crucial...
-G

FCSnow · Post by **FCSnow** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 2:12 pm

I have no idea how Heyvern actually did it, but it I attemped the same thing, I would use an image layer between the eye ball and eye lids.

The image layer would represent the shadows and light reflextions. Then I would set the image layer to 50% or less opacity.

But then I wouldn't even attemp it, if I didn't need a closeup of the eye.

F.C.Snow

Freakish Kid · Post by **Freakish Kid** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 7:12 pm

Wow guys, reading this was like watch a soap opera!

To clear things up and as heyvern said, we draw and animate everything in AS.

We comp, camera, vfx and render everything in Combustion - only because we've been using it for years and it has more options than AS.

Nice to hear our work is causing debate though!

GK

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 4:49 am

Wow guys, reading this was like watch a soap opera!

Things unfortunately got a little woolly in another thread and superanimatrix, who started this thread, stomped off in a huff. (Some people just don't like it when you tell them to read the manual.

)

I'm glad you dropped in to clarify. I was pretty sure that Greykid Pictures drew and animated in AS. From my own experience it didn't seem that surprising to me.

To be honest though... Greykid does make using AS look like they have magical powers or some "secret software".

p.s. I have been trying to attend the Magical Secret Software Power® meetings but just haven't had the time.

-vern