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Nancy Beiman · Joined: 17 Mar 2007 Posts: 50

I'm currently working on my second film in After Effects.

I tried Mirage, but did not like the interface. Since I am reasonably familiar with AE, I'm using it for my latest hand drawn production. The advantages over FLASH are obvious: you can work in bmp or photoshop files for a painterly look (the film will look like animated pastels) and you have the 'parenting' command which allows you to joint animated figures like cutout puppets instead of moving all of the segments individually. This saves time, I can tell you.
AE also has some marvellous 3D additions that really allow you to get some depth of field. I just saw a student film yesterday in AE that was in the style of the Michel Ocelot FAIRY TALES (which if you have not seen, get 'em). Nice work, done very quiickly with great effect except for the lack of flexibility in one element (which was not the fault of the program.)

My own 'film' , if it turns out adequately, willl certainly be sent to the festival circuit later in the year. If not, it's an exercise in AE.

The profs here tell me that no one has used AE in quite this way before, which cannot possibly be true; it remains to be seen if the film is any good or not. But I find AE very pleasant to tuse, unlike MAYA, which I loathe.
_________________
Animation isn't the illusion of life. Animation IS life. --Chuck Jones

2Dee · Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 7 Location: Batam, Indonesia

Hello Nancy,
Yeah, mostly here in Indonesia we used AE for processing 2D animation. It is a very simple, complete, and time saving. I just don't think if it is the right tool to use since we scan our drawings and paint them in photoshop first.
Maybe i need one tool that can simplified all of these complex workflows in 2D traditional animation. That's all that I have been thinkin' all these years. An affordable software, not as expensive as Solo or Harmony :(
Nice to meet you here anyway :)

Nancy Beiman · Joined: 17 Mar 2007 Posts: 50

If you're in animation production on series, AE is not the right tool for assembling the art--but obviously your bosses think that it's a good deal since it's an easy program to learn. I like the "Kilroy' button that hides levels.
Most programs are incomprehensible and are written only for computer programmers; a few, like Painter, Photoshop and AE, are written for artists. Good job.
And pleased to meet you as well, or as Stan Laurel said, "Neither do I, too."
_________________
Animation isn't the illusion of life. Animation IS life. --Chuck Jones

Patrick McClure · Joined: 29 Apr 2007 Posts: 1 Location: Singapore

Anyone using Retas HD?
I spend most of my time in 3D (Max/Maya) but love to draw. Mr Whites book is an inspiration, but 'in betweening' suggests hefty workloads!
I have been trying Mirage, which is as mentioned very reasonably priced.
As so many programs, it lacks the 'talent on' button!
Patrick McClure

MarkBorok · Joined: 17 Jun 2007 Posts: 15

I use just about everything. Currently I'm working in Flash, but as soon as that project is finished (if it ever is), I'm switching to Toon Boom Studio. For rough animation I used to use Painter, but have just now got Mirage. Painter is great, but the animation features are extremely lacking. I use Lightwave for 3D when making complex backgrounds and animated objects. I sometimes use Poser to figure out a complex pose (if you know your basic anatomy, it's quite useful). I'm using Garageband to record audio. I also have used AfterEffects and Moho (currently Anime Studio). I love any program that's designed with artists in mind, and that includes Moho and Painter. Flash started out as an artist-oriented program, but quickly became a programming environment.

I've also played around with Manga Studio. That's another program that takes the artist's needs into consideration (i.e. it assumes that the user likes to draw, rather than digitally manipulate graphics). Unfortunately the interface is extremely arcane.

Scuzzbopper · Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 20 Location: Vancouver BC

This is a useful thread! I could use some advice from everyone on the digital compositing/coloring stages for my film 'Storytime with Nigel'.

Up to this point, I have a big-ass stack of scenes all animated traditionally, full animation on paper. My pencil tests have slowly replaced the storyboard drawings in my Leica Reel which has been edited in Adobe Premiere.

The next big step will be scanning all of the drawings, for which I'm planning to recruit students at VanArts for weekend shifts. I will be bribing them with free food and a credit on the film, since I don't really have a "budget" per se. I will likely have the images scanned at HD resolution so that they can be scaled down to 720x480 for DVD and still look good. Do you agree?

For the digital ink & paint, and compositing with watercolor backgrounds, I've been torn between using ToonBoom's Opus or just Photoshop & After Effects. Both options have been suggested to me by equally reliable sources, so whatever the majority of you suggest I may end up going with. I'm only marginally familiar with both... so this is all grunt work which I am planning to farm out to students or colleagues willing to help, and just trying to direct it so that everything works the way I want it to. All of the camera moves are relatively simple, just pans and zooms, and many shots with no camera movement at all.

The look I want to go for is XEROX-ERA DISNEY...films like Winnie the Pooh, Rescuers, Robin Hood, etc, where you can see all of the construction lines and sketchiness. I've done all of my clean-ups over top of my roughs, so inbetweens are more "clean" than the keys. I'm torn on whether I want to implement shadows or highlights into the drawings....I'm inclined to think NO...just flat color for less work and hassle. I want to get this thing in the can!

There also needs to be an easy way to match the exposure sheets in terms of levels, drawings on ones, twos, etc. So any suggestions for which softwares will most closely retain the look of my drawings without 'vectorizing', and be the most effective for everything else?

Thanks in advance.
_________________
Ken Priebe
Author, 'The Art of Stop-Motion Animation'
Senior Advisor/Instructor, VanArts
& Murkworks Head Writer
www.scuzzbopper.blogspot.com
www.storytimewithnigel.blogspot.com
www.vanarts.com

"I can move! I can talk! I can walk!"

idragosani · Joined: 22 Sep 2006 Posts: 85 Location: Germantown MD

Scuzzbopper · Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 20 Location: Vancouver BC

No I haven't looked into Mirage or TV Paint, but if they are recommended I would like to know more.
_________________
Ken Priebe
Author, 'The Art of Stop-Motion Animation'
Senior Advisor/Instructor, VanArts
& Murkworks Head Writer
www.scuzzbopper.blogspot.com
www.storytimewithnigel.blogspot.com
www.vanarts.com

"I can move! I can talk! I can walk!"

idragosani · Joined: 22 Sep 2006 Posts: 85 Location: Germantown MD