Using the Colorfill with the paint bucket command permits the Cel look with a user specified feather along the edge. From Sharpie Gets the Point. © 1999 Chris Sapyta at Sweet Pattootie Animation.

For Animators the Painting tools are of keen interest. A comparison to MetaCreations Painter is inevitable, but I feel that Commotion is better suited to motion due to its underlying foundation in speed for production. The library of FX brushes permit rapid painting and the ability to record as the stroke is made in order to replay it. It can also be set to wiggle, thereby cycling between frames for that Dr. Katz look. Another great feature for animators is a cartoon fill option with the capacity to feather the edge. A paint bucket icon is invoked and suddenly you have an alternative paint system. Klatco Animation used Commotion very effectively to complete a project. It was the ability to paint multiple frames at once that they said helped them deliver on a very tight deadline. Autopainting allows automatic repetition of brush strokes over frames to animate, cycle, or wiggle your strokes. Another handy tool is the remove dirt filter for cleaning up scans. The wire removal tools can use the previous frame for painting from and a seam mode that welds the adjoining pixels.

Matte creation is another strong suit of this tool. There are various ways that mattes can be made. The rotospline tool is very similar in function to Illustrator paths, but here they can be animated over time and a brush can run along its path as well. Multiple Splines can be animated over another as well as being seen at interactive speeds. Other methods include the keying off of a blue or green screen. Something I find extremely unique for animators is the ability to add motion blur correctly. This can really get a great look out there. The speed at which you can trace for a hand rotoscope also opens up possibilities for animation.

In fact, the possibilities are endless. A new enhancement tool is the ability to use Adobe After Effects filters that can be keyframed. Color correction, blurring and geometric image transformations can also be done. Puffin Designs also publishes plug-ins such as Knoll Lens Flare Pro, Image Lounge and Composite Wizard which seem to offer phenomenal results.

The Onion skin mode is very useful for animators to preview real-time motion. From Sharpie Gets the Point. © 1999 Chris Sapyta at Sweet Pattootie Animation

In Other Words...
This is a very deep package with the ability to composite, paint and preview moving images. I have always wondered when people would say they used Photoshop at ILM for motion sequences; I have the sneaking suspicion it was an early version of Commotion. I have seen this package grow from version 1.0 to 2.1. This is a tool I have dreamed about for both animation and visual effects. A lot of the features are only seen this side of a six-figure system and others are utterly unique. I have only scratched the surface of what this software can do. If you look at Pleasantville, and the work of Banned from The Ranch, Matte World, ILM and Klatco Animation, you can see the results. This is a must-have software product if you deal with any type of motion imagery.

Max Sims is the principal of Technolution, an Entertainment Design firm in Menlo Park, California. He wrote "The New Maya Sets Sail" in the February 1998 issue of Animation World. He has also written on Digital Studios and Content Management for Price Waterhouse's EMC Tech forecast.