I saw the title of this forum and I had to post. More and more, when I tell people I am an animator they assume I am a computer animator. And I have to explain to them that "No, I am an actual animator. You know with pencil and paper, having to control your motion and eases by hand. That is talent. Plus, I don't care what resolution you're rendering at, it still looks cold and emotionless.
I am a "traditional" animator and proud of it.
Now onto the topic. I'm setting up a studio for myself at home and was scheming at the cheapest yet most comprehensive and effective set-up. My best efforts yielded getting a batch scanner, probably an all-in-one device that can scan at a decent rate, and combining that with an animation layout tool like Toon Boom Studio.
The rates for this program seem pretty cheap for the quality of the software, but I never can tell if I'm getting something that's overkill for what I need it to do.
Does anyone out there have any familiarity with Toon Boom Studio 4 (the latest release) and if so, do you have any feedback for a future user?
Any help,
Neil
Neil Van Heukelem
Traditional Animator
I believe the one I was looking at was the Epson GT2500.
Its affordable enough and has a 50 page auto-doc feeder, and can run 27 ppm, which seems like a fair trade-off for the money.
Are you familiar with any other scanners that might work better? Keep in mind I'm trying to keep it under $700.
Thanks again,
Neil
Neil Van Heukelem
Traditional Animator
If you're doing pure "pencil on paper" traditional, you might want to look into Digicel's Flipbook. That might suit your needs a little better than Toon Boom which is a vector based animation program.
If you're interested in saving some trees and want to do "paperless" full traditional, look at Plastic Animation Paper.
Good luck.
www.ElusiveMoose.com
ToonBoom Studio is pretty nice.
Let me suggest you try a few others while you're making up your mind.
Coming from a traditional animation background myself, my personal favorite is TVP ANIMATION .
I like it because it can be used to do paperless animation directly into the program via a Wacom tablet , but also has a video frame grabber component so it can be used as a traditional pencil tester when hooked up to a digital video camera . (or you can load in previously scanned drawings or scan directly from a scanner into TVPaint) .
There's a free demo available . Check it out . TVPaint ANIMATION
Thanks for your direction you guys, this is why I love having communities to bounce ideas off of.
Just a couple of quick follow-up questions for anyone who can answer them:
1. All I really need is an animation "compiler". I fully intend to do all of the animation by hand, and all I need the software to do is register my drawings and sequence them, digital ink and paint and maybe some highlights and shadows. Do I need to go the Toon Boom Studio route or is this overkill?
2. I'm trying to get a relatively inexpensive setup to do what I mentioned above, and I went to the Digicel Flipbook page and in price it is comparable with the Toon Boom version I was looking at. The TV Paint Animation is a little out of my range. Is there anything cheaper or is $400 about as low as it goes for standard version software for this kind of thing?
Thanks for all your help,
Neil
Neil Van Heukelem
Traditional Animator
In that case , you would probably do well with Digicel Flipbook.
The Basic version called Digicel Flipbook Studio has 5 levels , plus a BG level , lets you shoot scenes up to 1000 frames each . You can get a plug-in for it called Auto-Scan which will automatically align drawings with the peg holes ( so you can run drawings through an Auto-Document Feed scanner , much faster than a flatbed) .
Digicel Flipbook Studio will do most of what you want. (not sure about highlights and shadows ... that might need Digicel Flipbook PRO version, because the basic version only has 5 levels, and if you start adding effects levels like tones , shadows, highlights those 5 levels aren't going to be enough.)
I noticed that Digicel is currently running a 2007 Christmas Special where you can get Digicel Flipbook Studio for $149.00 (compared to regular price of $399.00) . They are also offering the complete Digicel PRO package for $599.00 (regular cost of $1,196.00) .
http://www.digicelinc.com/special.htm
ToonBoom Studio will also work to scan your clean up drawings and do the camera work and ink & paint . Keep in mind that ToonBoom Studio vectorizes your drawings , so make sure you have crisp clean up drawings, scanned at high-res. (300 dpi) so the vectorization process will hold your line quality . (lower-res. or "messy" clean ups/semi-roughs are harder to vectorize) . I encourage you to download the demo versions of ToonBoom Studio and Digicel Flipbook Studio and do tests . See which one suits you best .
Thanks David, I probably would have gone ahead and bought Toon Boom Studio if you hadnt turned me on to Flipbook. This software is much more similar to the software I first learned on and seems to be much more intuitive.
And I got in on that $149 deal! Saved a ton of money from the regular price. Now, I was looking at adf scanner compatibility and they say Epsons work the best. I think I found a good one, but I dont have the information in front of me. I'll repost it soon though and you can let me know what you think.
Thanks for all your help and look out for a new topic string regarding the pre-production for a sci-fi action animated series I am beginning work on in "Animation Co-op"
Peace,
Neil
Neil Van Heukelem
Traditional Animator