Hello all, newbie here. This forum seems to be a great resource- hope to stick around and lurk for a bit.
I'm currently a film major- just switched. I've studied drawing and painting for as long as I can remember and always aspired to animate. (blah blah, I know). I figured the way to go was through studio art, then learn the animation trade. Then low and behold when Disney animators got the axe and my dreams were shattered. Later I decided that my passion was with art direction/ production design, and to do that, I need to establish myself by making my own short films. So now I'm tapping back into my drawing background mainly because once I pay the upfront cost of software, it's the cheapest way to create my own films and allows the most control- both creatively and enviornmentaly.
After some hard core research, I decided ToonBoom is the way to go for my budget. Hey students- did you know the full version can be purchased for $130? Anyhow, I was under the impression I could just scan in the drawings I already have and just go from there. Then ToonBoom tells me I should use a Wacom tablet, convienently another couple hundred bucks. Now I can't decide if this is just a marketing ploy, or if it's necessary. So, is my scanning thing out of the question? I can't just make my drawing move from their original source? Also, from what I've read here I think more RAM is a must, though I have a new computer? Sorry for the ignorance, any help is greatly appreciated.
And on a side note: after experiencing the world of film and animation, I wonder why the two are so divided? I've learned a lot from film theory that I hope to apply to animation. And film students would do well to learn from traditional artist. Any ideas on why this is?
"Every boy is a snake is a lily. Every pearl is a lynx is a girl," Bjork, Medulla.
I've been doing a lot of animation with Toon Boom by drawing my animation the old way, then scanning it, followed by (finally in TBS) import and vectorize. Had to mess around wiht the settings to get it where I wanted it, but it works better now.
What I've been doing more lately is scanning my roughs and tracing them in TBS with the Wacom. It's taken some time and practice to get to where that doesnt' double the time it took with pencil, but I'm much happier with the line quality.
Shoot me an email or pop some more questions here. I've gotten pretty good at TBS and enjoy working with others on the learning curve. I'm a teacher by trade, so it's sorta my nature to try to help folks figger stuff out.
Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...
There are quite a few different programmes where you can use your own drawings, here's a list (and their websites):
www.cambridgeanimation.com - Animo
www.tapptoons.com - Tapptoons Animation Studio, Tapptoons Linetester (free!) - this one is JUST a linetester
www.retas.com - Retas! Pro (Studio Ghibli uses this one!!!)
www.toonz.com - Toonz
I hope that this helps you!
About your question...
I think that the lack of connection between film and animation is due to the fact that there are still many film people that (wrongly) think that animation is a lesser art, and animation people that either accept that or turn their backs on film because they think that they're the bee's knees and that film isn't artistic enough. Stupid, sad, but true!
When I was at university, the film students had the most interesting and the best workshops and lectures, and always ended their courses with films that not only where better shot, had better finishes but, also had more support from the university itself.
I think that animators and filmmakers stand to profit from learning not only from each other, but also from other forms of art... It is just a shame that most people are too much up they're own .... (better not write that word!) to realise that!
"check it out, you know it makes sense!" http://miaumau.blogspot.com/
Hello.
You might want to check out Flipbook - it does pencil tests- is extremely easy to use and offers ink and paint, camera moves, multi-plane type moves, etc. and it's $99.00 and up - and if you say your from the forum they may throw in a discount.
Thanks.
Larry
web site
http://tooninst[URL=http://tooninstitute.awn.com]itute.awn.com
[/URL]blog:
[U]http://www.awm.com/blogs/always-animated
[/U] email:
larry.lauria@gmail.com
Fazendinha to complete your list
www.bauhaussoftware.com - Mirage
(you can use your paper drawings or draw directly into it(bitmap))
Peter Wassink - Digital 2D Animator
Mirage is really great. I recently downloaded the demo version from their website and went through it with the help of the manual. It gives you a nice analog look even if you draw with a Wacom tablet into the computer. You can also import Flash files and work on top of those to give it more of a natural media feel.
If any of you do try it out, give it a good effort and read up on how to do things. The program is set up in a way that is quite different than most programs, but Mirage is the most sensible of them all! Once you figure out how to do the different things, it's a breeze.
I'm going to buy it for sure when I save up some money.