.:pain:.
08-08-2006, 12:21 PM
I saw so many threads called "liek how do da gud anim8ors creat stk moviez?"
,so i, like a begginner, will give you some tips to animate.
You ask "liek wll u shouw us fbf anim8ting?"- no, i wont.If you want that find another thread.
Btw, this is my first tut, and it will be updated tommorow, so don't be harsh please.
-----------The main idea--------------
Be fore creating a new movie, you have to ask yourself- what will it be like?Will it be a random massacre or an intro for a new trilogy?Will it have naked stick ladies or drunk hobos as the main characters?
This is almost the trickiest part, becouse a lot of people don't like seeing things popping outta nowhere >_>
----------Your shopping list------------
Ok, so when you'll have an idea for a movie, lets say, a war movie, you have to set up things for it.I suggest making another .fla , .piv or whatever with the weapons/objects you'll need for the movie.
As i said, for the war movie thing, i suggest making ~4 weapons, ~3 different explosives(flashbang,grenade etc.), maybe a well drawn tank or some ammunition and other items, like a katana or a can of cola, so the main hero could refreshen himself after the war ^-^
So after that you say " letz skip to da anim8ing!1!!!".Wait a bit horsey, you have to make a background.This is a very hard place, becouse the background everyone will see the whole movie.Put a lot of effort into it, add trees, items so that your characters could pick them up and fight, etc.
Add a movie clip with clouds flying in the sky, and i guess some mountains would look good in the background.
K, The Scarecrow asked to put something with backgrounds for pivot.You can add just a boring line and pray for no flames.And you could add a tree.And clouds.
For the cloud thing.
Do something like this:
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/529/cloud8qv.png
The more little lines you add, the cooler it will look.
And another cloud:
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/4251/cloud22dj.png
See?Doesn't it look good?
(I guess not, but ftw)
Now for the BG (i know this is not the best, but HEY):
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/8789/bckg18yu.png
See?I added much lines, and this is the result.
The ground never is a line, and there are plants growing.
If you add the clouds to the bg, it will really look nicer then just a line.
Now i'll show you how to make a really basic stick.
Step 1:
Press edit and then file>new.
A line should appear.
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/701/step17zt.png
Step 2:
Create a very small circle, with no white space inside.
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/8074/step29cw.png
Step 3:
Resize the head with the little triangles on the middle left.
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/4703/step38yj.png
Step 4:
Resize the line.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/5176/step44ma.png
Step 5:
Put arms and legs to the stick.
So here's how your finished product should look.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/8631/finished4ma.png
This is really basic and for noobs, so don't flame me plz.
I might add more later.
Now is where the statistics begin.
------A "statistics for a beginner" part-------
Ok, if you don't know how to count, thats bad, so stop reading then.
Ok lets start, these are the varies of everything how begginners should animate:
Take effort: i suggest minimum 2 weeks for a good 1 min anim.(~3 h of animating each day)
For a 1 min anim i put ~1000 frames, that is, if you're running at 20 fps.
Then ~800 if you're running at 18 fps.
And ~500-600 frames at 15 fps.
(Sorry if i wrote the frame count wrong, i guess that should do it)
----------Choose your style---------
I guess you'll be asking, what style you should use.
If you're animating at pivot, you can't choose your style, there's just lines.
BUT, for a begginer, the easier way is to animate line.It doesn't take much time,so you don't have to redraw each frame, if your using the drag metod.You just draw a stickfigure and then take the whote arrow tool, then press on your stick and the limbs appear.Then you can push on the little dots and drag them around.
After a bit of practising, i suggest moving to brush, or still animate in line.
With brush, you can develop many styles, and with line, there's not much to choose from.
I'll give you an example.I animate non - filled head sticks with the 5th brush size and use 50 smoothing.You can experiment on these critterias.Change the smoothing, size and soon you'll have your own style.
And for line, well you can do the pivot-ish style, i mean, non-filled heads.
You can also experiment on movements, make them sloppy, or realistic, etc.
-----------------Tips-----------------------
Flash:
1)
Use onion skinning.It really shortens your work.
The onion skin button is under the timeline.It shows the last few frames of your animation.
2)
Ctrl+z- undo the last thing you did.
This is your friend.When you animate, i suggest, putting your hand on these two friends.I see too many anims with *weird* misshaped legs and stuff.Don't be afraid to undo what you did.
Ctrl+y-Redo the last thing you undoed.
3)Frame shortcuts:
F5-This adds a http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/5852/frame4ce.png
Add a "copy" of your last frame.Note: if you'll change the frame you just made by pressing F5, the whole tree (http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/4418/tree9bg.png) of frames will change.
F6-This adds a http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1584/keyframe9ah.png
Adds a copy of the last frame, but this does not change the whole tree of frames if you edit it.
F7-This adds a http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/4537/blankkeyframe2aq.png
Adds a totally empty frame.That means copies the last frame and removes everything IN the copy.
4) Ctrl+c - a fast copy shortcut.
Ctrl+v - a fast paste shortcut.
Ctrl+shift+v- paste in place.Paste what you copied in the correct place where it was, but in a new frame.
z - zoom in/ out.
Pivot:
Coming soon
Well folks, soon coming more (i hope)
EDIT 1:Added some more key shortcuts.
,so i, like a begginner, will give you some tips to animate.
You ask "liek wll u shouw us fbf anim8ting?"- no, i wont.If you want that find another thread.
Btw, this is my first tut, and it will be updated tommorow, so don't be harsh please.
-----------The main idea--------------
Be fore creating a new movie, you have to ask yourself- what will it be like?Will it be a random massacre or an intro for a new trilogy?Will it have naked stick ladies or drunk hobos as the main characters?
This is almost the trickiest part, becouse a lot of people don't like seeing things popping outta nowhere >_>
----------Your shopping list------------
Ok, so when you'll have an idea for a movie, lets say, a war movie, you have to set up things for it.I suggest making another .fla , .piv or whatever with the weapons/objects you'll need for the movie.
As i said, for the war movie thing, i suggest making ~4 weapons, ~3 different explosives(flashbang,grenade etc.), maybe a well drawn tank or some ammunition and other items, like a katana or a can of cola, so the main hero could refreshen himself after the war ^-^
So after that you say " letz skip to da anim8ing!1!!!".Wait a bit horsey, you have to make a background.This is a very hard place, becouse the background everyone will see the whole movie.Put a lot of effort into it, add trees, items so that your characters could pick them up and fight, etc.
Add a movie clip with clouds flying in the sky, and i guess some mountains would look good in the background.
K, The Scarecrow asked to put something with backgrounds for pivot.You can add just a boring line and pray for no flames.And you could add a tree.And clouds.
For the cloud thing.
Do something like this:
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/529/cloud8qv.png
The more little lines you add, the cooler it will look.
And another cloud:
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/4251/cloud22dj.png
See?Doesn't it look good?
(I guess not, but ftw)
Now for the BG (i know this is not the best, but HEY):
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/8789/bckg18yu.png
See?I added much lines, and this is the result.
The ground never is a line, and there are plants growing.
If you add the clouds to the bg, it will really look nicer then just a line.
Now i'll show you how to make a really basic stick.
Step 1:
Press edit and then file>new.
A line should appear.
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/701/step17zt.png
Step 2:
Create a very small circle, with no white space inside.
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/8074/step29cw.png
Step 3:
Resize the head with the little triangles on the middle left.
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/4703/step38yj.png
Step 4:
Resize the line.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/5176/step44ma.png
Step 5:
Put arms and legs to the stick.
So here's how your finished product should look.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/8631/finished4ma.png
This is really basic and for noobs, so don't flame me plz.
I might add more later.
Now is where the statistics begin.
------A "statistics for a beginner" part-------
Ok, if you don't know how to count, thats bad, so stop reading then.
Ok lets start, these are the varies of everything how begginners should animate:
Take effort: i suggest minimum 2 weeks for a good 1 min anim.(~3 h of animating each day)
For a 1 min anim i put ~1000 frames, that is, if you're running at 20 fps.
Then ~800 if you're running at 18 fps.
And ~500-600 frames at 15 fps.
(Sorry if i wrote the frame count wrong, i guess that should do it)
----------Choose your style---------
I guess you'll be asking, what style you should use.
If you're animating at pivot, you can't choose your style, there's just lines.
BUT, for a begginer, the easier way is to animate line.It doesn't take much time,so you don't have to redraw each frame, if your using the drag metod.You just draw a stickfigure and then take the whote arrow tool, then press on your stick and the limbs appear.Then you can push on the little dots and drag them around.
After a bit of practising, i suggest moving to brush, or still animate in line.
With brush, you can develop many styles, and with line, there's not much to choose from.
I'll give you an example.I animate non - filled head sticks with the 5th brush size and use 50 smoothing.You can experiment on these critterias.Change the smoothing, size and soon you'll have your own style.
And for line, well you can do the pivot-ish style, i mean, non-filled heads.
You can also experiment on movements, make them sloppy, or realistic, etc.
-----------------Tips-----------------------
Flash:
1)
Use onion skinning.It really shortens your work.
The onion skin button is under the timeline.It shows the last few frames of your animation.
2)
Ctrl+z- undo the last thing you did.
This is your friend.When you animate, i suggest, putting your hand on these two friends.I see too many anims with *weird* misshaped legs and stuff.Don't be afraid to undo what you did.
Ctrl+y-Redo the last thing you undoed.
3)Frame shortcuts:
F5-This adds a http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/5852/frame4ce.png
Add a "copy" of your last frame.Note: if you'll change the frame you just made by pressing F5, the whole tree (http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/4418/tree9bg.png) of frames will change.
F6-This adds a http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1584/keyframe9ah.png
Adds a copy of the last frame, but this does not change the whole tree of frames if you edit it.
F7-This adds a http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/4537/blankkeyframe2aq.png
Adds a totally empty frame.That means copies the last frame and removes everything IN the copy.
4) Ctrl+c - a fast copy shortcut.
Ctrl+v - a fast paste shortcut.
Ctrl+shift+v- paste in place.Paste what you copied in the correct place where it was, but in a new frame.
z - zoom in/ out.
Pivot:
Coming soon
Well folks, soon coming more (i hope)
EDIT 1:Added some more key shortcuts.