Symbol animating

[Skrupsakken]

I guess you all know the Symbol Animating technique. You know, the one using symbols to animate the characters, much like JohnnyUtah does with his flash submissions.

My question is: How do you symbol animate? Do you know any ways of doing it? Got any tips?

I usually split the character up in different parts (of course). The head, jaw/mouth, torso, shoulder-elbows, arms, hands, thigh-knees, legs, feet.
Then I just tween the characters motion (and change the graphics-symbols, with the single frame function, to make it look natural).

[Wolfos]

well, I used to do that, but I prefer frame by frame.
hand drawn just looks so much better than tweened.

[Skrupsakken]

At 2/2/10 12:37 PM, robin1232 wrote: hand drawn just looks so much better than tweened.

Well, mostly FBF looks better, but if you know how to do the SA, you'd be able to make some pretty cool stuff, I think.

[Xcyper33]

At 2/2/10 12:59 PM, Skrupsakken wrote:

At 2/2/10 12:37 PM, robin1232 wrote: hand drawn just looks so much better than tweened.

Well, mostly FBF looks better, but if you know how to do the SA, you'd be able to make some pretty cool stuff, I think.

Mixing both Tweens and Frame by Frame effectively makes your flash look way better than a flash that tries to do one technique.

[V-K]

If the characters are just talking or so then Symbols are okay.
FBF of course looks better but you have to be a good drawer otherwise it looks weird lol

[ChannelInfinity]

Usually for symbol animation you have movie clips, graphics, whatever you use, and separate them into layers. Although I never do a lot of symbol animation, because in my opinion the animation is too stiff.
Why not take a look at every one of JohnnyUtah's animations again.

[Innermike]

At 2/2/10 05:30 PM, V-K wrote: If the characters are just talking or so then Symbols are okay.

How , unless your going for some crappy anime mouth movements then its not , much better to do FBF on talking and get the full effect and emotion

[Skrupsakken]

At 2/2/10 05:54 PM, HDXmike wrote: How , unless your going for some crappy anime mouth movements then its not , much better to do FBF on talking and get the full effect and emotion

Not neccesarily. If you're good at it and know how to get the whole character into talking (body language), you'd probably be able to create some pretty cool stuff.

[ArthurGhostIy]

This conversation is pretty silly.

If an object is remaining the same, then a symbol works. Chins for example, can be safely put as an object as it will only go up and down.

Lip movement would probably be best as a combination of frame by frame and just general symbol swapping.

An object as a symbol doesn't mean it has to be tweened, by the way. It's still frame by framing if you're swapping the symbols on keyframes.

[Skrupsakken]

ArthurGhostIy:
Yeah, that's the concept of Symbol animating? So, well.. The actual discussion's about how to make it look good (tips and such).

So actually. You're the one who's silly, bitch.

[M-Shack]

If you have CS4 you can use the joint tool to do what you're asking. If you don't you can go frame by frame and move the symbols around, just make sure you have the pivot points at the correct spot. Or you can set up the character's body in a movie clip and go in and move everything when you need to. Frame by Frame does look nice, but the truth is, 90% of people fail at it cuz they don't know how to draw and keep proportions together and lines from being shaky. A lot of cartoons are rarely FBF now a days because it simply isnt worth the extra effort. If you know what you are doing, you can have very life like animations using either method.

[Skrupsakken]

M-Shack:
I agree :P

Hello

[MC-Booga]

Yeah, anyone wanting to get into frame-by-frame animation would be better off using the money they would be spending on Flash now on some sketchbooks, a couple different pens (uniball, marker, brush pen) and spending two years drawing real people doing stuff. Then worry about learning how to animate.

Seriously. It'll prepare you way more than you could ever hope to while using Flash.

[Wolfos]

At 2/2/10 07:08 PM, M-Shack wrote: If you have CS4 you can use the joint tool

wait, what?
are there actually people that use that?
it works like shit

[Skrupsakken]

At 2/3/10 02:59 AM, robin1232 wrote: it works like shit

I've got CS4 and yeah, it really works like shit. Go wiith normal SA instead, that's my advice. :P

[HolyKonni]

At 2/2/10 12:37 PM, robin1232 wrote: well, I used to do that, but I prefer frame by frame.
hand drawn just looks so much better than tweened.

agreed. its more fun too.

[Skrupsakken]

At 2/3/10 09:16 AM, HolyKonni wrote: agreed. its more fun too.

More fun? I guess it's different from person to person.
Oh, and by the way. This thread's not even about that! It's about tips to create good SA's.

Bitch

[V-K]

At 2/2/10 05:54 PM, HDXmike wrote:

At 2/2/10 05:30 PM, V-K wrote: If the characters are just talking or so then Symbols are okay.

How , unless your going for some crappy anime mouth movements then its not , much better to do FBF on talking and get the full effect and emotion

Have you seen Jonnyutahs Tankmen videos?
He probably used symbols there.

[Skrupsakken]

JohnnyUtah's a great example of someone fully mastering the art of SA.

That's how some Kung Fu japanese would've said.

JohnnyUtah's great, dude.

NG style

[GKoolaid]

i personally like to use frame by fframe symbol swapping. and i think it looks just fine :P

[JoSilver]

At 2/3/10 02:52 PM, GKoolaid wrote: i personally like to use frame by fframe symbol swapping. and i think it looks just fine :P

That works!

[JoSilver]

At 2/2/10 07:08 PM, M-Shack wrote:

If you know what you are doing, you can have very life like animations using either method.

INDEED!