17 replies to this topic

[Crasto]

Hey all, trying to get my head around how to achieve this kind of effect?

0:00 - 0:02 Green fluid motion and the smoke, and also 1:29 - 1:32.

Love the showreel.

I have a project this style would work nicely on, struggling to achieve it.

Any tips on where to start?

Cheers.

[krpdesign]

It definitely looks like cel-animation, but was probably done in Flash.
I don't think there are any tricks per se... just good, old-fashioned animation techniques.

Here's a link to a site with some tutorials and tips on animating smoke and water FX...
http://flashfx.blogs...12/2-smoke.html

[theta]

In the comments he mentions cell animation and drawing on paper, scanning and bringing it into illustrator

[xllr8]

On that note, for anyone with flash experience, the big advantage of flash (for cel) is? The main advantage I see is the ability to tween between keyframes, which one gets in after effects (for shape/masks), but of course having it all in one environment is super. I remember DK did a presentation 4 NAB's ago on a more flipbook (still awesome) style animation. Man I wish flash hadn't confused the crap out of me out back in the day. Either way ... you can hand draw or animate right in Photoshop too. I'll have to admit, I haven't customized it enough to fast & friendly (hotkey wise).
IF you look at the old three legged legs site they have a quick breakdown of a project they used this technique on.
Anyone else have experiences here?

[anothername]

Anyone else have experiences here?

I've done some stuff hand drawn using wacom and photoshop. Using the animation timeline in Photoshop is a pretty handy way to do it as you can onion skin and easily flip/pencil test your frames.</div>
I've also done stuff on paper and then scanned and done clean up in photoshop.

I know a lot of the hand drawn 2D shows I've worked on were done in flash, which gives you more clean vector look and access to tweening.

All the approaches really come down to old fashion frame by frame animation and using whatever software is going to give you a bit of a hand with that.

Edited by anothername, 16 April 2012 - 08:33 PM.

[xllr8]

so, with something like this (I just blocked this out), I'd probably just continue and manually fill in tweens, huh?
dunno, I may have to look at flash again XP.


http://dl.dropbox.co...108/quickie.mov

[Crasto]

looking nice that. I'll do some test this week and post them up.

[boy.finley]

Keep in mind that I'm a completely self-taught hack, but my understanding is that the advantages of Flash are less to do with tweening and more to do with cutting out the scan/clean-up stage and leaving you with an incredibly versatile vector animation to comp with.

I wish I knew how to use it properly, I ended up doing this piece in AE with vector masks -

[xllr8]

@Crasto
awesome can't wait to see it.

@ boy finley
Dude! seriously cool work. I'm constantly in awe of the power masks.Any chance on getting a look at that project file?
I did look into flash and found 3 types of tween, a couple that might be useful (shape & classic), but yeah I see your point. They way it "smooths" similar to the blob brush in Illustrator, creating a vector version of your drawing is pretty swift. Hey, Maybe CS7 illustrator will get an animation panel like Photoshop.
For example I saw this & started wondering if porting it too illustrator was worth the effort. I'm really curious to know what advantage it even conferred.

[Crasto]

Dont blink, and watch in HD. Quick test I did this afternoon.

[xllr8]

Like it; pure photoshop, or scan & trace? Man almost easier than thinking my way through several hundred layers of afx...
Now I'm pumped to try another piece later tonight.
thanks for sharing.

Edited by xllr8, 18 April 2012 - 08:16 PM.

[Crasto]

Flash, hand drawn I tried pure illustrator, that seemed a little...off. Also tried pure hand drawn in PS but didn't like it. Takes a bit to get used to though. I have got some sketchbook drawn stuff I need to pop in. Not a very good illustrator tbh so its my weak point, but it suits that T4 piece I'm doing.

[xllr8]

Gotcha. don't worry bout the illustration skills, as long you keep drawing & refining time will see you through .
I also just saw this, am watching now. looks very promising.

[Crasto]

Sorry to bring this back up but I have finished a piece I was working on when i started this topic here it is

[s.edwards2]

@Castro Those T4 stings are really cool. I've been interested in this style for a while but just had no idea where to start. On a side note are these officially for T4? I just started working for Princess (the production company that makes T4) last week so I'm sure I'll see them this end!

[Crasto]

@Castro Those T4 stings are really cool. I've been interested in this style for a while but just had no idea where to start. On a side note are these officially for T4? I just started working for Princess (the production company that makes T4) last week so I'm sure I'll see them this end!

Hey man, thanks. Nah it aint official. I would love it if they were! Just my last student project

[hamax1]

@xllr8

I loike Alex Grigg's tutorial but much prefer the timeline method as opposed to the layer stacking method.

Check out my horrible quality tutorial for a real quick way to get started in Photoshop Frame by Frame:



ALSO: I'd love to create a new tutorial for CS6, so please drop me some feedback of what would make it a better tutorial!

Edited by hamax1, 24 May 2012 - 01:11 AM.

[s.edwards2]

Hey man, thanks. Nah it aint official. I would love it if they were! Just my last student project

They are cool! I wish I was doing stuff as good as that in my student days! I don't think I even discovered After Effects until last few months of third year.