The Commotion About Puffin's
New Software
(coninued from page 1)
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
