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Response to: Which Animation to choose...?.. Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

gallop seems to fit the feel more and the style.

I think it is funnier that way

Response to: Which Animation to choose...?.. Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

ahh ok, gotcha.
I meant the 24 fps looked better, but if ist for a game, you should go teh 42 route, just space em so it looks more like the 24 fps.

just my opinion.

Response to: Which Animation to choose...?.. Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

well if it is for a game, Then should be between 40-60 (for reaction times)

and by spacing, I mean how you animate them. How you space the frames.

Here is a example of 3 animations, 12, 30 and 60 fps
all play at about the same speed.

Which Animation to choose...?..

Response to: Which Animation to choose...?.. Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

I guess the second one at 24 fps.
But my question is why 42 fps? why not just 30?

really the fps shouldn't matter,(after 24) unless your making a game,
Its all just spacing and timing.

Response to: pre 1999 animation Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

well i just use it to describe a thing of art. I didst know it had such weight behind it.
I would think the word "Pretentious" is the most over used word in the world of art.
but anyways, I digress, I will stop saying pieces to please the powers of the pox.

I also do not think it was just Disney failed on there 3D as much as the 3d movie world as a whole was just lacking at that time.
Part of the problem is 3D movies are cheaper to make then full blown traditional animated films, so it was allot easier to get get a mediocre script with some celeb voices a "Pass" to go gold.
also make no mistake the goal was probably no farther then banking off the success of Pixars films.
Guessing the average movie goer wouldn't know the difference from a Pixar, Disney. Dream works, Sony pictures film. ( Fly me to the moon a great example)
Hell ppl still refer to any 3D film as a "Pixar movie"

But allot of Pixars success was in fact using Disney s formula.
even on The incredible, they went and consulted former Disney animator (forgot his name) because most of the team had never done animation on computers before.(some never even 2d animation)
But there character story telling was influenced by Disney. They just took it to a new level. (see The Pixar story)

after that, just about all started to borrow the Pixar/Disney formula.
In fact, it wasn't till Disney left Pixar alone, that Pixar really started shining in the story telling department (Disney had some odd budgets and crazy short deadlines)

In the end we get some good movies out of it.
Although i feel that most are playing catch up with Pixar now.
Bolt, Monsters vs Aliens, Cloudy with a chance of meatballs. i found was all good, Just where Pixar was 4 years ago.

but I found Cloudy with a chance of meatballs funny as hell..i like random humor.

back around on topic, There was some really good none Disney animations in the 90's,
An American Tail being one of my favorites.
also Iron Giant is up there.
Anastasia, I didn't care for the movie its self, but the animation and art was great, I loved the background on it which brings me to Princess Mononoke. My all time fav as far as just backgrounds and settings go
and of course, perfect blue. Which just kinda refined how i looked at "Anime" and based alot of my style on Satoshi Kons work

Response to: Need animator opinions Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

At 1/30/10 12:56 PM, Bubbowrap wrote:
At 1/30/10 11:47 AM, Ani-x wrote:
also note that animating to a rhythm is a very common thing.( i dunno a animator who doesn't)
that is why when you are in a studio you see a lot of animators humming, tapping there foot or pencil
You know, it's funny. I read the Animator's Survival Kit and Richard Williams was all like 'ANIMATE IN SILENCEZ.'

And. You know. I kind of blew it off. Animating in silence can be done, and it does help concentration to an extent, but. Seriously.

I had something to add, but I'm one of those guys who has trouble critiquing others' animation because they're always like 'O WAT DO U KNO UR NOT PRO.' So.

I have read that also, and dunno how tahst done so much. more so in a studio, but to each there own.
not saying all studios play music and such, but alot of animators have there own rythm in there head or headphones on.

also to those who do the whole "'O WAT DO U KNO UR NOT PRO." ignore em.
ppl do not make animations for other animtors, nor do directors make films for for other directors(those who do are trying show off, and have crappy end results)

so if something doesn't look right, the viewer says so. its up the the maker to weigh in on rather its a valid point, or to far off.

to Xcyper33
You can use sticks, if that's what you are most confy with, and you can make it rock for you.
to each there own.
There is a such thing in animation called the line of action.
It also has a basis of rhythm to it. But most do that after a well understanding of movement and distribution.
Its also used more for comical, un natural movements. but can be used for more realistic parts.

you may want try it out.

Give me a few and I will make a example of it

Response to: pre 1999 animation Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

cant say pieces pox? make you tingle a bit? i know i did.

but yeah, I think Disney will always have there back bone on old tales.
From snow white to Mulan, there is always a brink of it,
they do stray off from time to time. but usually go back.
even in cases like Aladdin, its a Original-sih story, but with the whole Genie and 3 wishes (see KaZaam!)
usually all found in old tails and fairy tales.

and i wouldn't call it plagiarism because your not stealing the whole, maybe a part.(more so if you are with the company that did it)
if your doing it because you cant do better,make money/fame off its likeness or just don't want to think up your own movements, yeah, not cool.

I guess in the end, its the spirit behind it. what you did and why.

although i do think its funny how allot of ppl think Disney came up with these story's (snow white, beauty and the beast etc)

Response to: Need animator opinions Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

that woudl be awesome, I have never seen anything on that part of behind the scense
and i have seen the book: battle cry
and allot of other production tid bits.

But i can tell you that they more then likely did not use stick placement.
as i said before was probably more body shapes with weight and movement behind it, then sketched over.

The thing about using sticks is they do not display moment correctly.
Animation is all about weight and positions. movement is just the after effect.

Think of it this way, You are not moving lines, Lines are just there to tell the background from the foreground.
one of the first things in school you learn is the bouncing ball, and the sack of flour (the objects change but its always the same, light bouncy then heavy weighted)
From there is your foundation of work. you work in between.
so keep that in mind when animation. try more flushed out limbs and body's
try a fast skinny character vs a slow, strong heavy one.

try to sketch it as masses and objects, not sticks and joints.

may help, may not, each has there own way of doing things. But i think using solid objects will help with the movement

Response to: Need animator opinions Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

At 1/30/10 11:38 AM, Xcyper33 wrote: Thanks Ani-X I'm more interested in the way they fight more so how they look. I plan to incorprate my own drawing style mixed with the fighting style of Sam Champloo.

Yeah, I didn't mean so much as the look, but the art was a insight to the movement.
(you see the angles, pans, focuses and so on)

also dunno if this helps, But it is said when they animated it, They listened to a lot of Hip Hop.
Using the rhythm of break dancing, the moves and tempo.
the fight scenes (besides the angles used) had a more of a rhythm to a 4:4 rather then just a "action sequence"

Just food for thought.

also note that animating to a rhythm is a very common thing.( i dunno a animator who doesn't)
that is why when you are in a studio you see a lot of animators humming, tapping there foot or pencil

Response to: pre 1999 animation Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

Speaking of Disney reusing its animations in other movies.
Do you guys feel its lazy? Tribute, or just allot of the same animators?

I think its a little bit of same animators/ Tribute.
there has also been instances of it in Anime (bruce lee- Cowboy beebop being a famous one)
that was done as a tribute, not to find a cheap way out.

I noticed that in the Princess and the Frog there was the same dance done it that was also seen in the Robbin Hood Animation and something else (forgot where i seen it, but I have, some cat i think doing the dance)

Allot like to jump on them as Lazy or cheating, but really its not 3D, so the animation was hand drawn,Inked and colored, Even if done before. To say they rotoscoped it would be laughable, they are pros who can do something like 400-600 pages in a day.
They know there stuff, so the need to rotoscope we can trow out.

It does save time, reusing the same moves, dances and things. But when i seen it in the Princess and the Frog, I felt it was a good tribute, almost a as way to say "were back baby"

I know every artist and animator is influenced by different ppl and things, and it shows in there work.
being a fan of something does also want to bring out parts of it in your pieces.

even in the game I am working on, the ferret has this ridiculous over the top walk, I didn't look at some Disney animation to make it,but in my head wile doing it i was thinking of the old style Disney cartoons. the personality, the moments the animals had, I wanted to kinda bring that out.

even back in 2006, Luis made a thread with weekly animations to a sound bit.
mine was kinda inspired by the old style Disney cartoons (even down to the discoloring of tiles, lol)
Seen here
game of chess

I would like to think if i ever got famous or was in a big project, how awesome it would be to pay some homage to a animation that inspired me. I would do it in a heart beat.
even at the risk of being called a "cheater" or so.

What about you guys?

Response to: AMA Suggestions & Discussion Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

At 1/30/10 02:18 AM, JakBaronKing wrote: And furthermore...if an artist does reply to a comment that a blogger has made...it should automatically appear in the commenter's BBS blog link.

As to avoid scrolling down endless pages looking for a reply.

The improvements on Newgrounds' PM mail is noticeable and functionally sound.

But the BBS forums is still not the easiest to read in my opinion.

And with the AMA thread going about...fellow commenters would want to see if their comments were replied readily and easily.

maybe with a added feature to multi-quote users (not every one knows how to do it) it could make it easier to read the artist.

Response to: Frame by Frame / Tweening balance. Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

At 1/30/10 10:29 AM, PBass wrote:
At 1/30/10 10:25 AM, Ani-x wrote: So if my frames are spaced at 3 or 4 apart, I will start each new drawn segment on that frame, where the tween is, or around. I don't follow the tween to the exact position.
Ah, okay. I thought you rigidly followed the spacing the tweens and was wondering how you get your animations to look fluid that way, haha.

You have a very interesting system, I'll have to try it out sometime.

yeah, its really not that hard, You follow the same princibles of animation, you just have a tweened guide.
I don't do it all the time, just sometimes (its like animating over a moving story board)

Response to: pre 1999 animation Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

At 1/30/10 10:26 AM, PBass wrote:
At 1/30/10 10:15 AM, Ani-x wrote: haha yeah.
Most of those straight to dvd sequels was done cheap by korean animators.
Didn't the Australia studio animate some of them, or at least take care of the keyframing? I know they used to. I think Adam Phillips worked on a few of them as well.

Yeah, some, Those that was Disney In house studios. Australia and France i believe was under Disney Toon studios
But allot of them didn't do every single aspect. rest was done by contracted studios ( I think was HanHo studios, I will have to check)

I also remember in the past, another studio was contracted in Korea, But they didn't work out long because wasnt paid enough or something.

Response to: Frame by Frame / Tweening balance. Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

At 1/30/10 10:03 AM, PBass wrote:
At 1/30/10 09:59 AM, Ani-x wrote: fro a rotation I will have a simpel 1 image that will move to what ever angle (giving you are not rotating in place)
I will then fbf around it.
also for slow motion, I will also just tween the image to where i want it to start and end, then fbf that
Do you usually keep the same spacing that the tweens give you, or do you change it up after you're done? I figure it'd make the movement really mechanical if you didn't.

I change them to make sure it still flows and the timing of the animation is held.
I will also have certain guide lines on there own layers to keep everything proportionate when I fbf, Because tweening a whole image from point A to B. The image will become off and loose all bounds.

as a rule of thumb when I animate, I will do certain parts at a time, Say arms, for how many frames is needed, Then go back and do legs, body head etc. This also helps keep it from being to stiff and also allowing me to adjust the proportions.
Its also good to note, You will not be drawling every single frame the tween gives you.
So if my frames are spaced at 3 or 4 apart, I will start each new drawn segment on that frame, where the tween is, or around. I don't follow the tween to the exact position.

Response to: pre 1999 animation Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

At 1/30/10 10:05 AM, PBass wrote:
At 1/30/10 09:24 AM, Ani-x wrote: One of the problems was the then president at the time of Disney animations
turned his back to hand animation in favor of 3D (the Disney vs Pixar debuckle)
Giving next to no financial resource to the animations studios.
Not to mention he kept churning out those terrible Disney sequels simply to capitalize on the originals. While the mechanics of the characters are still decent, the animation is soulless and disturbing in the direct to video sequels. ugh.

haha yeah.
Most of those straight to dvd sequels was done cheap by korean animators.
also the simple fact was they was published under disney, but not the animation studio, they was headed by the marketing teams, so they mostly just went hand in hand with toys, games or promotions.
They rarely even had anything to do with the original movies other then the characters and maybe some small story plots.

I think the last of a full Disney animation studio spin off was the toy story series, But even that had nothing to do with the movie at all.

Response to: Frame by Frame / Tweening balance. Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

At 1/29/10 10:29 PM, HDXmike wrote:
At 1/29/10 08:33 PM, fatape wrote: I think for a blance the mind chamber route is probaly best, just make sure to draw a new body part when needed.
Not really , i think it depends , you wouldnt be able to get away tih it if say you were doing a slow mo scene where the camera rotated partially around the character it would be way to much hassle , in some cases its good though

But then again everything mindchamber does is good :)

I do em with rotation also.
and with slow mo.

You just apply a different technique to each.

fro a rotation I will have a simpel 1 image that will move to what ever angle (giving you are not rotating in place)
I will then fbf around it.
also for slow motion, I will also just tween the image to where i want it to start and end, then fbf that

Crude example
you will see the motion tween guide, Then with out the guide
its not done yet, but you get the idea

these freaking ferrets are everywhere

Ferret-Applo Death

Response to: Weeklies 3 run cycles Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

At 1/29/10 05:06 PM, Twilight wrote: Old.

I hate doing running and walking cycles.

you should do em till you learn to love it.

Because walk and run cycles are the back bone of animation, and you will come across them in almost everything.
To avoid them or dread me will only hurt your growth and effect your animations.

I do not think anyone one liked them at first, But animation is movement, so it is needed.
I didn't like em to start, now i do em like second nature.

One day so will you

Response to: Need animator opinions Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

well its hard to see just by your stick proportion, But you do have a nice flow.
I would snuggest ditching the circles and lines and use more limb's weight. (draw like wooden dummys, not sticks)

We once did a samurai champloo animation for a collab (was more my pro then me)
But look at my profile and see the Anime Collab.

I don't have the FLA here, but if i can get it, I will gladly pass it on to you, to show you some of the early versions of it that had the fleshed out animations with out the lines and color to give you a example.

if you like that style of "Anime" (more close to our style also)
I suggest you looking into some of Satoshi Kon's work. And also just studding the production art and model sheets of the studio who did samurai chamloo (thats what we did)

The Art of Samurai Champloo

Response to: pre 1999 animation Posted January 30th, 2010 in Animation

One of the problems was the then president at the time of Disney animations
turned his back to hand animation in favor of 3D (the Disney vs Pixar debuckle)
Giving next to no financial resource to the animations studios.
Then John Lasseter and Ed Catmull took charge of the Burbank studio's,
Giving traditional animation full force again and leaving the 3D to Pixar (they are now joint)

Check out Dan Lund's documentary "Dream On, Silly Dreamer"
(he was the behind beauty and the beast, Lion king and so on and now the new Princess and the frog)
Its explains the fall of the tradition.

Also if you are into Disney animation but not all that stupid singing crap. ( I always hated the singing)
check out David Hand's "Animaland"
He was behind snow white, Bambi and so on.

As far as animation goes, as a animator its hard not to love Disney and what they did for the "biz"
They revolutionized animation and gave it the over the top, high budgets you see in blockbuster films (after more then a normal movie)
With the best animators, effect engineers and directors in the world.

although there style may not be wide spread and used by everyone. From America to Japan, Korea and to the world, there probably is not a single animator who went to school who hadn't met, learned or practiced a used techniques by Disney and its animators.

Its influence is also so wide spread and function that is seen even in Anime.
Even 3D movies wouldn't be where they are with out "Disney effect"
(see early 3D movies like Final Fantasy Spirits within" as a example.)

Response to: disappearing medals Posted January 30th, 2010 in General

same problem here,
Using firefox.
either java is off, adblocker is blocking or you have no script.

make sure to allow cpmstar.
it has the adds and medals all bundled up there.

Response to: Ohio Meet-Up 2010 (Hopefully) Posted January 28th, 2010 in General

I dunno, I think maybe Cinci would be a better option. They also Kings Island (for roller coasters)
Plus as far as drinking and such, you have the riverfront.

I may be biased though because i never really liked Cleveland and the flats to much.

But i would be down with what ever.
Or if we do go Cleveland, Those who have pass ports, we can always go to put in bay, Those islands are good for drinking and such.

Response to: Flash to Youtube Posted January 28th, 2010 in Animation

At 1/28/10 05:12 AM, grabbelfant wrote: the big problem I know from exporting a flashfile to a mov, is that animated movieclips don't play. So if you, for example. have a movieclip with animated rain on top of your movie. You will see some drops hanging in front of your movie without moving. In most cases you can convert the movie clip to a graphic.

This method wont look the best, But is free.
Use a free screen recording program, Like Cam Studio, or Fraps.
Play your animation wile recording it,
save and edit the recorder movie, use that to put on youtube,

There are also other free snag recording programs, But usually if you want great quality you will need pay for something.

Response to: Animation: Main. should it be done? Posted January 28th, 2010 in Animation

Wile animation kinda has the whole martial arts "do what is comfortable, trow out what is not"
There are some things that can be universal to help with animations.
Things like sound syncing and types.
Organization and folders.
using masks.
font effects.
Blur options(using photoshop, using flash 8 filters, Soft fills, the old school copy and past alpha layers etc.)
Shading and lighting tips.
duplicating movie-clips. or even just forms of using Movie clips or graphic symbols.

It can be done...but not like a list of "This is how you animate" just more of a rough guideline for some things.
Or animators can just make tutorials on effects or how they achieve things.
JAZZA recently talked about light glare effects, Adam Phillip was always talking about little tid bits on how he did things over at brakenwoods castle.

So i dunno if there should be some "Official list" but a small maybe even off-site links to those who made parts or tutorials on how they did, or do things.

Response to: Creative Inspiration Pool Posted January 28th, 2010 in Animation

One Broken Summer

This flash came out about 2004-2005ish
Itzcartoon is long gone but this animation they made inspires me to this day.
It was the first time i seen a animation done in flash, along with photoshop to look so amazing.
It really inspired me to push my self and flash.
Keep in mind when this came out, It was done on Flash MX, Photoshop 8, And i believe 3d max or blender for the small parts of 3d (which i didn't care for much in this animation)

This music video i think just set the bar for integrating photos and flash, plus just a solid animation done with the pencil tool.

One of the biggest things that inspired me about this, was the use of colors. the dull, pale pallet really was something I always had a problem with , but loved. fit so well with that over all gritty feel.
The backgrounds also was such a great setting.

Creative Inspiration Pool

Response to: Weeklies 3 run cycles Posted January 27th, 2010 in Animation

At 1/27/10 10:24 PM, TheBoogley wrote:
At 1/27/10 08:59 PM, Luis wrote: You should get in the habit of not having it go across the screen, its useful for when youre making game sprites. plus it breeds good discipline in terms of being able to seamlessly loop and reuse cycles.
I disagree, I used to do all mine walking on the spot, but I find it looks and feels much more natural moving the character across the screen. If I then need to put it on the spot I then bring the drawings together keeping them at the same height and overlapping them at the hips.

The problem I found is that when I took an on the spot looping walk and tweened it across the screen it dragged it's feet, because when we walk we don't move forward at an even pace.

But then again, I don't make games, so huuuuurrrrrr... it's hard for me to say this... but maybe Luis has a point... vomit XU

I'll have to remake my walk tutorial and see what you think of my technique Luis

I learned to do walk cycles to go across the screen, or where you want them to go.
It was really hard for me to sit and do a nested animation when it came to doing sprites for games, so what I did, and sometimes still do Is animate the walk with the weight and bounce I like for the feel that is needed.
Then using the onion layer, I just put them in one place.
Here is a example:
here I re spread it out, But you get the idea.

The Ferret again

Response to: Weeklies 3 run cycles Posted January 27th, 2010 in Animation

At 1/27/10 05:22 PM, HDXmike wrote:
At 1/27/10 05:19 PM, Luis wrote: heres my contribution to this week.
WIN ...

...

as usual :P

Its interesting how you get such a good effect with such few frames

Its all just rhythm and timing,

some of the best animations are in fact those of very few frames.

Response to: Weeklies 3 run cycles Posted January 27th, 2010 in Animation

At 1/27/10 09:56 AM, HDXmike wrote:
At 1/27/10 09:00 AM, masamu wrote: mine was crap
Yes , very :)

Ani X i think it was going a little too fast

Yeah, well its a fast game, with even the slowest (tired) animation still being at a good speed.
Just something I had on hand.

I will do something with weight on the back when i get some more free time

Response to: AMA Suggestions & Discussion Posted January 27th, 2010 in Animation

This is a awesome idea.
I know me personally, I loved reading about NG animators and such from the old articles. ( The Swain being last i read)

I think the first and most obvious suggestion would be some of the NG staff, like luis, MC and so on.
But as far as up and comers as well as regulars on the forum, I would like to see JAZZA get a proper AMA,
Along with Neo-Light and AlmightyHans (interesting style, along with humor)

Response to: Weeklies 3 run cycles Posted January 27th, 2010 in Animation

From my game i am working on

Can't really make it a gif, dunno if its because the FPS or just old flash version

Ferret Runszz

Response to: Ani-mations Posted January 27th, 2010 in Animation

Next up.
This is a video the song "Drama"
Its a play on korean drama's.

Was something i just wanted to do one weekend, but never fully finished (thank flash for corrupting the FLA)
I eventually picked it back up and got allot done on it.
Its a very simple, But i feel funny animation.
Maybe if i get enough ppl bugging me ill finish it and submit it.

Here I will show you my super sloppy sketch work.
This will serve as a example of how not to plan out your projects.

Drama

Fun fact*
Most of this was done in 1 day, Wile drunk.
The more refined sketches was day 2 wile sober trying figure out just what the fuck i was trying to do in the sketch.

The more finished version has some things redone, and replaced