2D animation

patrickthomas

Hi, I want to use a 2D animation software and have no idea what is available or what is really good, without too steep a learning curve. I am used to working with FinalCut Pro and Photoshop. OS can be Mac, Windows, Linux.

Also the lipsyncing is important on it as well.

I would really appreciate some input on this.

Gulliver

Adobe Flash is quite good - it has lots of help built in - onion skinning, easing, tweens. It's a good package for quick animations.

patrickthomas

Gulliver wrote: »

Adobe Flash is quite good - it has lots of help built in - onion skinning, easing, tweens. It's a good package for quick animations.

Thanks Gulliver, Adobe Flash as in Dreamweaver? (I have) or is there a standalone version for animation?

ztoical

Most animation studios are switching to TV paint over flash. It's a really great program - it's rastor based where as flash is vector based.

patrickthomas wrote: »

Thanks Gulliver, Adobe Flash as in Dreamweaver? (I have) or is there a standalone version for animation?

Flash is a different program to Dreamweaver but from the same developers.

patrickthomas

ztoical wrote: »

Most animation studios are switching to TV paint over flash. It's a really great program - it's rastor based where as flash is vector based.



Flash is a different program to Dreamweaver but from the same developers.

I'll google it now and take a look, raster based would be fine I think. Do you know what sort of a learning curve is on it........I'm getting a bit burnt out from mastering software:rolleyes:

ztoical

patrickthomas wrote: »

I'll google it now and take a look, raster based would be fine I think. Do you know what sort of a learning curve is on it........I'm getting a bit burnt out from mastering software:rolleyes:

Tv paint is geared towards classical animators so if you've any animation training it should be pretty straight forward - if you don't I'm not sure how easy or hard it would be to pick up.

patrickthomas

ztoical wrote: »

Tv paint is geared towards classical animators so if you've any animation training it should be pretty straight forward - if you don't I'm not sure how easy or hard it would be to pick up.

I don't have any animation training whatsoever, Have used a few demos over the years and realised that they are something that one would need to specialise in. I make short film and the soundtrack as well, am afraid my brain will fizzle if I try to put any more info. in.:)

I am quite happy to get a "Southpark" like effect so the background and animations would be very simple, lips-yncing is important though as it will rely heavily on dialogue.

Thanks for the replies, it is great to get other peoples experience on something like this.

ztoical

patrickthomas wrote: »

I don't have any animation training whatsoever, Have used a few demos over the years and realised that they are something that one would need to specialise in. I make short film and the soundtrack as well, am afraid my brain will fizzle if I try to put any more info. in.:)

I am quite happy to get a "Southpark" like effect so the background and animations would be very simple, lips-yncing is important though as it will rely heavily on dialogue.

Then your better of using Flash.

Gulliver

patrickthomas wrote: »

I don't have any animation training whatsoever, Have used a few demos over the years and realised that they are something that one would need to specialise in. I make short film and the soundtrack as well, am afraid my brain will fizzle if I try to put any more info. in.:)

I am quite happy to get a "Southpark" like effect so the background and animations would be very simple, lips-yncing is important though as it will rely heavily on dialogue.

Thanks for the replies, it is great to get other peoples experience on something like this.

Flash would definitely be better for beginners. You will have to do the sync frame by frame of course (or try and tween a couple of frames for South Park effect), but the arrangement of the timelines in Flash will help.

patrickthomas

I have got a demo of Toon Boom and will take a look at it, I have had Flash all along but had not used it at all. The lip-syncing seems to be the trickiest part. I used Magpie Pro a good few years ago and really liked it but it is very expensive, and there does not seem to be any "extended" demos going around.....!

There is an free app for Linux and Windows called Jlipsync and I am going to take a look at that as well. Animation is no stroll in the park is it?:eek:

I think I am going to have to set aside a corner in the studio for this as it will really take some experimitation and possibly even looking at other forms of animation although I do not really want stop-motion or using wire-frame and plasticine.

It is nice to see that there is an animation corner here and with people who are willing to participate, I will certainly bookmark here and take a look in at what ye are doing.

ztoical

patrickthomas wrote: »

Animation is no stroll in the park is it?:eek:

No it's not lol Alot of people think it's dead simple [and some basic animations can be] but if it were so simple people wouldn't need to spend years in college studying it. Animated films take an average of four years to make for a reason.

patrickthomas wrote: »

It is nice to see that there is an animation corner here and with people who are willing to participate, I will certainly bookmark here and take a look in at what ye are doing.

This forum is pretty quite as it's only a sub forum for digital art and design but there's a link in my sig to try and either move this forum or create a new one for animation. Follow the link to leave your comments on it.

patrickthomas

HA ha, never did think it was simple, It is such a powerful medium to communicate what can be very difficult to express in any other medium. Will follow the link and add a reply.

I have disabled Adblock and Flashblock but can still not see your sig, was there last night, will take a look later and see if I can see it.

Baggio...

I've been using Flash for quite a few years as an animation tool... It's pretty versatile, and has an easy enough learning curve (not too sure about the latest version though - looks quite different to previous versions).

5uspect

patrickthomas wrote: »

HA ha, never did think it was simple, It is such a powerful medium to communicate what can be very difficult to express in any other medium. Will follow the link and add a reply.

I have disabled Adblock and Flashblock but can still not see your sig, was there last night, will take a look later and see if I can see it.

You need to enable sigs in your usercp.