Pixelation
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: pkjo on October 03, 2010, 04:59:24 am
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Hi, I'm new here! ;D
After making my first animation on iaza a few weeks ago http://yfrog.com/59finalbigdontaskwhatthisg ,I was wondering if I there was another way to animate, on another program. Iaza's fine, but what if I want to make something longer than 50 frames? I'm concerned that at one point in time, I'll need more. Is this anything to worry about? Do small games even have any animations that are longer than 50 frames?
I also want to try working with layers rather than making multiple images and then animating, like I do currently with Graphicsgale and Iaza. How's Mtpaint? Or Pro Motion 6? Ai said that he recommends Grafx2 and I was 'sold' until he said that "It lacks for animation support." What programs would you guys recommend?
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For animating, GIMP provides basic one-layer-per-animation-frame support;
the GIMP-GAP plugin provides astoundingly powerful one-file-per-frame support (no need to manually load frames, the navigation system does that for you) with a lot of niceties like onionskinning, move individually animated object over path, ..
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I also want to try working with layers rather than making multiple images and then animating, like I do currently with Graphicsgale and Iaza.
Are you mad?
Well gimp will do what you ask for but after knowing better, it's kind of backwards to do this.
Oh well, cold showers can be exciting for who only knows hot water I guess...
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But games don't use .gif ? Not that I know of.
I rarely go over 50, I think I've only ever done one animation over 50 frames, which was a character picking up an apple, eating it, and tossing the core at with a frame delay of 1/6th a second.
Are you using Iaza for anything other than displaying on the web? I get by with just GG, in fact I don't even think the full version is necessary to make games. It sounds kinda like you're relying on Iaza to compile separately made images to be able to preview the animation, when GG has pretty powerful animation tools inside of it.
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You can still save GG anmations as .gal :3
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I also want to try working with layers rather than making multiple images and then animating, like I do currently with Graphicsgale and Iaza.
Are you mad?
Well gimp will do what you ask for but after knowing better, it's kind of backwards to do this.
Oh well, cold showers can be exciting for who only knows hot water I guess...
Would you say that it is much better/easier/more efficient to use multiple images and then animating instead of layering? How? What have your experiences been?
But games don't use .gif ? Not that I know of.
Are you using Iaza for anything other than displaying on the web? I get by with just GG, in fact I don't even think the full version is necessary to make games. It sounds kinda like you're relying on Iaza to compile separately made images to be able to preview the animation, when GG has pretty powerful animation tools inside of it.
Games don't use gifs? You must forgive me, I am very new to making games...
To answer your other question, yes, I use GG for making pixel art, but Iaza for animating since I cannot figure out how GG's animating system works. I'd really like to know how to, but there aren't any Graphicsgale animation tutorials, none that I can find anyway :sry:
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Would you say that it is much better/easier/more efficient to use multiple images and then animating instead of layering? How? What have your experiences been?
What do you mean by "multiple images"?
I thought you meant a program that actually lets you make frames which are treated as sepparate images, layers included, instead of painstakingly going with layers = frames.
You know, the way you can do it in graphics gale.
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Press F1.
The help file will tell you nearly everything you need to know. Some of the English is a little off but it is very clear and readable with lots of pictures (depending on the section, but animation is covered with plenty of graphics).
Read a bit of it each day. Flip between reading and testing. When you are finished with a section apply what you know to an exercise. Make a few pieces of art. Compare them. If you have more time move on to the next section.
Almost every program comes with a help file. Some are very dry and pictureless. Some a very well linked and detailed. But almost all will teach you the tools and concepts to using the program.
Part of being a pro is learning how to learn. :)
If you're looking for a good personalized "this is how I do it" tutorial I understand. Getting direct answers from a user is generally fast and directed.
GraphicsGale is awesome for animation. It lets you see your animation as you draw it. This will allow you to edit accurately. (other programs might do this as well. Animanitee for DS is the only other I know of. Tell me some if you know. I love to learn software). It does not have an infinitely robust tool set but it is definitely one of my favorite programs to animate in.
Good hotkeys, pre-process, frame building, and comparison are essential. Always keep in mind that aside from creating animation with theory and principles you must also create animation by pushing a series of buttons. Find reasons to push the buttons in different ways. Whether it be more, less, faster, slower, in isolation or in combination.
Check my blog from my profile. I'm not the best artist in the world but I have a clear process of how to make animation in GG. When I get time I will write a tutorial. But currently I have way too much to study. Anyone else with more time should beat me to it.
For now-------->F1
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Would you say that it is much better/easier/more efficient to use multiple images and then animating instead of layering? How? What have your experiences been?
What do you mean by "multiple images"?
I thought you meant a program that actually lets you make frames which are treated as sepparate images, layers included, instead of painstakingly going with layers = frames.
You know, the way you can do it in graphics gale.
I mean, making an image (frame 1), making an identical image then editing it slightly (frame 2) and repeating until I have the full animation, but for now I'll see what I can do with F1.
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I'm sure I'll get some haters from this post, but I did a short animation for pgil for xmas 09 that was 209 frames with... drum roll...
"adobe image ready"
I know there isn't a lot of love for this particular program but I like it. Not only does it have multiple undo's which is nice, It has alot of features that come with being familiar with P.S.
I think alot of people find the layering aspect to be cumbersome but I find it to be helpful sometimes. just me.
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pkjo: ah, that's a *workflow* question.
(incidentally, it's completely orthogonal to the question of whether you work with 1 layer/frame or 1 image / frame.)
What you describe is a very common process among animators, because that is a pretty effective method.
I used it to make this yesterday: (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/neota/skina/swirlexplode.gif)
however, it has larger stages. As a rule, first the key frames are done, then the same process is used to fill in in-between frames, and once the whole animation is looking good, it's rendered (previously being just outline, thumbnails, silhouette or flat colors)
If you're talking about multiple independently-animating objects, these are usually individually animated then inserted into the animation as an animation (on their own layer or similar.). I definitely recommend something advanced like GIMP-GAP for such an application. Layers and comfortable support for 'sub-animations' are a must for such projects.
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What you describe is a very common process among animators, because that is a pretty effective method.
I used it to make this yesterday: (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/neota/skina/swirlexplode.gif)
Just to clarify, you're referring to the editing images and not the layering method right?
Key frames? I thought that was something usually done with the layering technique. I guess it's something all animators do. Personally I've never tried but it seems like an efficient method. I'll be sure to give key frames a go :)
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Just to clarify, you're referring to the editing images and not the layering method right?
Yes, I did that with GIMP-GAP, which uses 1 image per frame.
I used to use the layers method, but I found it too limited (and somewhat awkward)
Key frames? I thought that was something usually done with the layering technique.
You may be thinking of onion-skinning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_skinning) (which is certainly a vital tool when drawing keyframes).