interactive flash face
Posted by dermot on April 5, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Here’s a cool interactive face (click on image for link):
richard williams & walks
Posted by dermot on March 30, 2009 at 11:34 am
I got into animation in 1988 - fortunately, Don Bluth had recently set up his animation studio in Dublin around 1986; otherwise there would have been no way to enter the profession. One of the major inspirations at the time was “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (1988).
The animation director for that film was Richard Williams, who you probably know, is something of a legend. This documentary aired around the time, and was one of the factors that lured me into this dubious career.
Dick’s book “The animators survival kit” is a must-have. While the book is flawed (not enough about acting for example), you’ll have all the walk cycle inspiration needed for a lifetime. Clearly, Dick is a bit OCD about walks - as you’ll see in the above clip. Here’s the amazing animation created for the cover of his book:
And a short clip from his masterclass on walk cycles:
the chinese are coming!
Posted by dermot on March 18, 2009 at 12:35 pm
OK kiddos, here’s a word of warning…
One of the long running trends in animation since the 1980s has been the out-sourcing of work to Asia and other cheaper sources. In general, this has resulted in an appalling lack of quality - but the suits and bean-counters haven’t cared about quality for decades.
In the 80s there was a union strike on behalf of the cel-painters, who were underpaid for a pretty skilled job. Result? The work was shipped off to Korea and Japan, then China. So, from being underpaid to not paid.
Oops.
Anyhow, the trend has continued…and we have some pretty heinous animation to show for it:
Until recently, when Flash allowed character animation to be created in the US - albeit at a much lower pay rate than traditional or 3D. The last few years have been kind - with plenty of work for talented animators.
Until…
Currently I’m directing a small (5 minute) project. Can’t be more specific, due to an NDA.
We shipped the work to three sources:
1. Canadian animators - people I worked with before.
2. Chinese animators - a studio in Beijing, run by a talented American animator.
3. LA animator, with 20 years experience working in the BIG studios, and a local Flash house.
Guess what the quality scale was?
Well, the Canadians kicked ass - their work was fantastic - no surpise there.
The LA animator’s work was, fair to say, mediocre at best. No overlapping action, no drag on the hair -had you shown me his scenes without telling me who had done what, I’d have sworn that his were from China.
The Chinese animators blew me away. They took my rigs and really pushed them, creating a high quality performance - and their work has only improved as the project has progressed.
So - watch out. If this is any guide, the Chinese are coming. And when they do, it’ll suck to be a Flash animator in Hollywood.
I’ll be brushing up on After Effects and Toonboom’s Storyboard Pro. The only people who can survive in a devasted industry are those in the first and last phases of the production pipeline. The jobs in the middle (animators in particular) can be disposed of.
destroy the world with nanobots!
Posted by dermot on March 16, 2009 at 3:24 pm
“Be Amazing” - a slick short about how to be an evil genius - and how to destroy the world with nanobots! This is a great use of mocap (motion capture). It took a small team of animators a year to complete:
Found on mentalfloss.
1948 scene converted to Flash
Posted by dermot on March 4, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Here’s a scene from the 1940s animated propaganda cartoon “Going Places”.
I wanted to use this footage in my movie (a 30 minute animated documentary about oil, & growth), but as my film is in Flash, the lineweight and style just didn’t match. The best resolution I could find of the original was also too poor. The solution was to reanimated the scene in Flash, using the extreme poses as reference for Flash puppets. Re-animating the scene in Flash, using mostly shape tweening, too a full week. Here’s the Flash version.
The advantage of this process is that I have the scene in vector format, allowing me to reposition the characters and render the final shot at any resolution. It’s not an easy process, but keeping the film in one unified style forced the decision.
The palette in the second shot is too desaturated; I’ll be making it a bit bolder, as well as performing a “beauty pass” in After Effects to give the final shot more of a texture - a faux film grain - or something to make it look less “Flashy”…as the Flash renders tend to be a bit lifeless and flat.
flash and after effects
Posted by dermot on February 5, 2009 at 4:34 pm
A good friend (and a very talented animation veteran) recommended the following book to me. She’s a friend of the author, who’s a gifted artist himself:
Flash and After Effects by Chris Jackson
I’ve been using Flash for about 8 years, and am pretty fatigued by the creaking hulk. Don’t misunderstand: you can do amazing things with the program - but there have been few meaningful updates to the program since 2000 (version 4). Worse - the latest version (CS4) has been a bit of a disappointment, to say the least. So, I’ve been looking at After Effects, and perhaps Toonboom as more artist-friendly alternatives. 3D would be fun, but a very steep learning curve at the moment.
I’ll continue to use Flash - as in some areas it’s still the best. However, certain effects and shots are just too unwieldy if not impossible in Flash - therefore the need to diversify.
This book is being added to my shopping list!