Suggestion about animation tutorial?

[Sigit]

I want to learn about creating animation in 2d(flash) and 3d . I think that many people in this forum would like to learn about animation too. So I would like to suggest that the forum had some tutorial from the pro and maybe some exercise weekly? And after the deadline we all discuss the result like in the community activities.

[TheDirtSyndicate]

hmm... sounds cool
only problem is i dont know flash or 3d to save my life. wanna know about aftereffects? i can help you out there.

[egerie]

I think knowing animation foundation is more important than learning tools such as Flash, or any other 3d packages. On the other hand, you could throw students into a package as long as it's extremely well structured and the same for everyone. Animation Mentor does that...
Since we're an online community, our activities work well because most people here use photoshop or painter and have a minimum understanding of the packages. The only way we could pull off the same kind of thing for motion is by keeping it as simple as possible and focus on what the people really want to learn. In this case, is it learn to animate or learn to use Flash / Maya...

[TheDirtSyndicate]

OR, give a topic like the community activities
cow, chow, eow, etc.... this could be the AOW, animation of the week.
then just let people fend for themselves. if you know flash, do an animation in flash, if you know maya, do an animation in maya, if you know aftereffects do and animation in aftereffects.

[egerie]

That too yup. As long as it doesn't turn into a "How do you do this in X softwaaaaare?", etc.

[LORD M]

I am trying animating for the first time. I just wanna know some things so I can proceed.

What kind of free animation programs exist? For example, I am drawing square for square and I need something to make all the squares go together - and background music and effects would be nice too. What should I use?

Thank you.

[Sigit]

complete2 I agree with you, we should suggest this to the moderators.
egerie I think person who ask that question should write personal message to the one who create that work
LORD M I think that depends on what you want to create 2d or 3d. For 3d there is blender

[jinxtigr]

I'm very fond of the 2D animation software, Pencil. I don't think it's anything like you describe but this is a good place to mention it.

It's got onionskinning, multiple layers, you can make the window transparent to trace over something in another program's window, you can use vector or bitmap...

In bitmap what you draw is normally over transparency, you can fill your shapes to create solid forms, you can lock the mask of the shape to draw within what's already there without ruining the transparency mask...

Which means (and I specifically asked for this part and the author was able to deliver) you can do a filled shape, then choose a soft brush in black and 'airbrush shadows' or a turning edge onto your flat forms as if you were an old school Disney animator. Also, you can use a sort of brush mode similar to this, where it will not draw past an edge until the center of the brush goes over that edge. Really convenient method for solid color fill of irregular forms if you have a steady hand- you just go right up to the edge of the form and allow the brush to flow up against the line, for something like a brush-contained floodfill.

Damn, I'd forgotten how cool Pencil is got to get back into that. It's been too long (been taking care of other stuff tho)

[xisco cabrer]

Completely agree with the idea of making community activities about animation, I would like to participate.
Has anyone talked yet with the moderators about this?

[stilts]

that sounds like fun, and thanks for the link Jin.

[WhiteShadow]

I like the idea of having a weekly animation challenge. I was thinking of pushing for one myself a few months back, but then work got hectic and I lost all personal time .

There are a few animation challenges out there already, like 11 second club and cg talks animation session, but I tend to find them a bit limiting and/or time intensive. The topics in animation session are generally very specific, which I find a bit limiting on the creative side. And as great as 11 second club is, I never find enough time after animating all day at work to fit another 11 seconds in a month, especially if it’s a 2d animation.

I like the idea of a topic that’s more open to interpretation; one word like an emotion or an object. Animators can run with that, and make something as long and detailed as they want.

I hope that makes sense. It’s Friday and I’m not awake yet. I plan to collect all the links to great animation tutorials and animation blogs in my favorites list and post them soon. Probably stick it in a new post so others can add to the list as well.

@ LORD M - I was chatting to one of the animation seniors at work who is ex-Disney, and he says he uses http://www.toonboom.com
I haven't used it myself (my 2d skills are very much lacking), but it looks like it’s a great piece of software. Not free tho

[TheDirtSyndicate]

my only concern is the topis... if it is left open like to an emotion... we'll run out of topics pretty soon..
maybe some of us are poets. put up a poem, or even take lyrics from a song... or a short story. animate a short scene from that. i dunno, just throwing out ideas. since i do motion graphics, basically graphic design thats animated, it would be nice to have type to work with, thus the idea of a poem or song lyrics. i can run with that, and i think character animators could do the same.
bah, im just rambling...

[Sigit]

I agree with complete2 . We need topic or maybe even a storyboard to make it easier

[WhiteShadow]

Yeah, I like the idea of having a poem or some sort of literature as a topic. As long as it allows for interpretation. Just my preference really, but I’d like to see it move away from specific stuff like “character angrily opens door” or “catches frisbee and throws it back”.

Storyboards are very specific, and would also require the comp moderator to have new storyboards each week. Story boards will lead to every animation being almost the same. Ah like I said, just my rambling and preferences.

I just want to see animation session go ahead and we’ll evolve and adjust as necessary to make it fun.

[Sigit]

I have a suggestion , how about using song lyric then create the animation. Or even we create the animation 1 person 1 line. I think that will create a various ways in interpreting the lyric

[egerie]

Sigit: That's interesting... A bit of a cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse), but with animation!

This would also prevent the animators to go too ambitious with their animation. One week for anything more than 10 seconds is too much for part time work.

[Black Spot]

I am trying animating for the first time. I just wanna know some things so I can proceed.

What kind of free animation programs exist? For example, I am drawing square for square and I need something to make all the squares go together - and background music and effects would be nice too. What should I use?

Thank you.

I use Serif Drawplus - 4 is free without scaling lines, but 8 gets offered very cheaply if you register. It doesn't have a sound option, but you should be able to storyboard that out. It's vector based and very easy to use.

[Onir]

Sigit: That's interesting... A bit of a cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse), but with animation!

This would also prevent the animators to go too ambitious with their animation. One week for anything more than 10 seconds is too much for part time work.

Ya know, we did this in one of my classes with storyboarding; was a lot of fun and you get some really great, interesting stories out of it. 10 seconds sounds like a great time limit too, great length for simple actions or plots. Either way, I'm definitely down for an animation of the week, great way to get practice and demo reel material.

I like WhiteShadow's idea of going with a single word as well; object words like book or hammer or simple actions like jump or pull can hold a great number of possibilities. I'm also not averse to reusing words or emotions, as it can give a person multiple attempts at creating different situations or pushing their poses/expressions further along.

I'm with WhiteShadow on just going ahead with it though; I'm sure we can adjust it pretty quickly if it seems like it's not working right

[Sigit]

but another problem is do we split into 2d and 3d or just mix it?? Another problem is that if for example we are animating a song, is it ok to use to song here???