Hello All,

I've been lurking in the forum and other SA reference areas for a couple of days and reading all manner of written information about doing animation, via drawing with a Wacom tablet (finally purchased one!) and with SA, and I have not been able to find a very step by step starting technique amidst all the discussions and explanations to do a very simple animated movie.

Can anyone suggest a workflow for a technique like the one shown in the video below (I have no idea what software/tools were used for this)? I don't want to make anything complicated because I am a beginner at drawing digitally, but just to get something very linear and straightforward like this to start my adventure in drawing on a screen would be great:

https://vimeo.com/30228526

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  • In other words, what I am looking for is not solely a way to record me drawing an image, that I have managed to do in SA, but a way to make images that I make move -- an "onion skin" view is the traditional way to do this, seeing the image previous to the one you just drew so you can make the movement more natural, but I haven't been able to understand how you can do that in SA -- use the onion skin view to see what you did right before every time so you can record the next movement accurately, and so on.

    I'm really confused, please give me some clear steps to follow from A to Z.

    Thanks, all!

  • Here's a link to a short article on Sharon Katz's hand Drawn Animation. Sharon uses Studio Artist to build up hand drawn animation frame by frame.

    I'll email Sharon and see if she will post a reply here that details the approach she uses to build up hand drawn animation in Studio Artist.

    ...

    Here's a link to 2 tips that discuss Studio Artist's movie layer features.

    Here's a link to an in-depth look at movie layers for building up hand painted animation.

    Movie layers allow you to hand paint on individual frames of a movie that is loaded into a layer in Studio Artist. You can paint on existing frames or add additional frames to a movie layer. So working with a movie layer is one way to build up hand painted animation frame by frame.

    ...

    Studio Artist has an onion skin feature, which you can use to paint on top of a transparent source image guide. The onion skin can also be used to transparently display adjacent frames in a movie layer. So if you were building up hand painted animation, your onion skin could be showing the previous and next frame if you wanted it to. this is useful if you are painting in a new frame between 2 existing painted frames. So you could define you movement in terms of hand painted keyframes, then add blank frames between your keyframes, and then paint in those blank in-between frames while still referencing the painted keyframes on either side using the onion skin features.

    This tip on movie layers in depth includes a section on the canvas movie onion skin feature.

  • A different approach to building up hand painted animation is to just paint in keyframes, and then use automatic interpolation to build up the intermediate painted frames. Studio Artist has a feature called sequential keyframe recording that you can use to help build up hand painted keyframe interpolation.

    Here's a tip on sequential keyframe recording.

  • Another approach to building up hand painted animation is to work with bezier paths. You could hand drawn painted keyframes, then use the bezier paths associated with each of the individual paint strokes in your hand painted keyframe drawing to interpolate the tween frames in your animation. Studio Artist has the ability to encapsulate a complete set of bezier paths associated with a painting into a single auto-paint action step. You can then use menu commands to normalize the number of bezier paths in each keyframe and to organize them for minimal movement in the interpolated animation.

    This is more advanced than the other approaches i discussed, but if you're willing to understand how it works it can be a big time saver for certain kinds of hand painted animation.

    Here's a link to a series of tips on working with bezier paths. included in these tips are some introductions to what you can do with bezier paths, as well as 2 tips that specificly discuss encapsulated bezier keyframe animation.

    • Thank you so much John, I will give all these methods a try!

  • Hi Jennifer, 

    I use a fairly straight forward approach to animating in StudioArtist. Here's my process in detail:

    My tools and setup for raw animation include:

    i) an iMac computer with a 27 inch screen;

    ii) a 6 X 8” Wacom tablet;

    iii) a Contour Shuttle Pro which has programmable buttons for my most common keyboard shortcuts; and 

    iv) the software Synthetik StudioArtist

    In addition, I use the following for clean-up, timing and pacing, detailed animation and special effects, syncing to sound, and video editing:

    v) the software TVPaint;

    vi) Adobe Photoshop; and

    vii) Final Cut Studio.

    Synthtik StudioArtist is my go-to tool when I start a new animation.

    A) The first thing I do is establish a ground:

    i) I choose the size of my canvas under Canvas > Resize Canvas and go with either the resolution of the final film, or a size that’s based on the aspect ratio of the final film.

    The most common resolutions are 640 X 480 (standard 4:3 television), 720 X 480 (16:9 television), 1280 X 720 (720p HDTV and Blu-ray), etc.

    ii) The next thing I do is choose a colour for the ground or canvas. I usually do this in Photoshop by creating a new file that is the dimensions of the canvas I want to work in and filling it with a colour that I like. I then save that file as, for example, BG (background).

    Or I use the default white or black. StudioArtist allows for erasing the canvas to several defaults including white, black, source image, source colour, etc. (Click on the Erase button in the bar above the canvas, or go to Canvas > Erase to... and choose your default.

    If I’m using the default white, black or source colour, then I just erase the canvas and presto it’s the default colour I want it to be.

    At this point you'll also want to open a source file if you haven't already done so. I usually go with a file that's the same dimension as my canvas, and the same colour as my ground, especially if it's not white or black, so I can simply erase the canvas when I want to get to the default ground again.

    B) Next I make the default Layer a MovieLayer by going to Canvas > MovieLayer > Convert to MovieLayer. And I make sure my Preferences > Onion are set as below:

    2472646215?profile=original

    C) Now I start to draw. One can choose a brush from among the defaults that come with StudioArtist by going to Operation > Paint Synthesizer Classic and picking a brush from among the many presets there. I always create my own set of brushes for each film though.

    Then, in the Source Area, I set the default position to Color, (or if I've previously created a palette to Palette and import my palette.)

    Then I choose a color and begin to draw out the first set of lines or shape that will be on frame 1.

    After I've completed the drawing, I save this canvas image as a frame: Canvas > MovieLayer > Record to Existing Frame...

    D) Then I insert a new frame: Canvas > MovieLayer > Insert As New Frame. Since this command is accessed with a simple keystroke, I have it programmed on my Contour Shuttle as a button.

    E) Then I turn on onionskin by ensuring that the OnionSkin preference is set to Canvas > OnionSkin > CanvasMovie and then toggling OnionSkin with OnionSkin > Toggle OnionSkin or by using the keystroke which is also programmed onto my Contour Shuttle.

    F) Then I draw the second frame, and proceed as above to the end of the segment, scene, clip or what-have-you.

    When I’ve drawn out all the frames, I export the film out of StudioArtist by going to Canvas > MovieLayer > Save Flattened Canvas Movie as... (also a programmed button on the Contour Shuttle.)

    After this I edit the clips together in Final Cut Studio and create the soundtrack in SoundTrack Pro.

    Sharon

    • Sharon thanks a million -- this is very helpful, going to try it today!

      • It works beautifully, and I can see why you got the Contour Shuttle, must think about investing in one down the line. 

        So glad to be able to use my drawing skills so easily with computer tools - this is just great!

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