Recruting Animator

[SaberXJ]

like in the topic "Recruting BG/CG/and Sprite Artist for New Galaxy Angel Game " I am making a new Galaxy Angel Game Galaxy Angel A New Dawn... and of course with a new game comes new Animations!! so I am recruting anyone who has some skill with Animation even if it's just a little. pleas post here if you have any interest at all in this project.

[LVUER]

I think I can, a little bit (you can look at one example from my own avatar, quite old, but still...). Would you explain more on what animation do you need?

[SaberXJ]

Happily though I rather doubt anyone would be able to recreate such an anime looking scene.... but of course I am not looking for perfection but I do wish for something respectable.... well basically I have a bout 22 or so scenes that need to be animated some are as short as 22 seconds and I know at least 1 is about 1 min and 30 sec... that's the opening for the game..... but they vary from scene to scene.... but here is an example of an Opening from a prior game and I wish for something like it....... -----> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYlPiccxZkA ..... Like I said I am not expecting perfection.... in fact I don't even expect something even half as good but I would like something that can resemble it..... of course mine will be different from that one in many ways so don't think that I want something EXACTLY like that...... really I don't mind if it looks like CRAP compared to that.... I just want you to give it your best.... if you want me to go into more detail about the scenes PM me and I can give you more info......

oh and here's the song I will be using for the opening -----> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KysW-C1A-ro

[Elze]

...well basically I have a bout 22 or so scenes that need to be animated some are as short as 22 seconds and I know at least 1 is about 1 min and 30 sec.....

22 or so scenes and some are as short as 22 seconds?? No offence, but do you actually know how much work is involved in animation? A normal animation goes by 25 frames per second, and animators usually key on every 2 frames. That means 12 drawings per second which makes it 264 drawings for one of your scenes that last for "as short as 22 seconds". Even going by anime standards whereby animators key on every 3 frames, that means 176 drawings just for one of these "short scenes". I don't think it's humanly possible for any singular animator to animate 22 scenes, all lasting at least 22 seconds long, within a reasonable time frame for the project to be published.

Edit: Okay, I took a look at the vid you linked and saw that it involves 2d AND 3d. That's insane. That means you'll need to model those robots, texture them, rig them, animate them and render them. Then animate the 2d scenes and colour them, afterwards needing to piece both the 2d and 3d animations together in post production. That is an insane amount of work.

I suggest you stick to motion graphics instead. Ie. still images moving across a background, with several cuts. Kind of like a comic in motion.

[SaberXJ]

.....*Sigh* pleas refrain from yelling.... I was asked what I wanted animated and I said so, I was merely answering the question.... and of course I don't expect 3D animation as you say "That's Insane!" so pleas stop yelling.... I plan to stick with 2D for the animations......(Though I secretly cry inside... T.T) and no you are not exactly accurate about the FPS..... when I tried to reverse an animated scene using windows movie maker and taking a snap shot of each frame so I could reverse it.. it actually turned out to be about 1 frame for every third of a second..... I know this would be "Insane" however thank GOD we have computers.... we can copy images and make slight changes to each copy and then sequence them... I know it's hard and tedious but... I may be willing to pay for a good job... $$$

[LVUER]

Sorry for late reply, different time zone...

Depending on the animation (or what kind of animation I have to make), it could be not that difficult (but still not easy). SNES-like animation is far easier than full-blown frame-to-frame animation (like what we see in normal anime).

Actually, 3D animation could be easier to some extent (as long as it doesn't involve too many objects or SFX), but the problem for me is that I don't have PC that strong enough to make 3D movie (no money). My laptop could even barely run Sketch-Up.

@SaberXJ:
Right now I'm in the middle of taking an animation challenge. If I finished the animation, I will send the link to you so you could see it... though I must say that I'm a slow worker (since I have a real job that doesn't involve drawing at all).

[Elze]

I wasn't yelling. Apart from my first sentence which ended with 2 question marks, I don't think the rest of my lines can constitute for yelling at all. For starters, I didn't use exclamation marks. Neither did I use capslock. IF I YELL, IT'S MORE LIKE SOMETHING LIKE THIS!!!!

Ehh. There must be something wrong with the animation scene you reversed. With 3fps, the whole thing will be jerking, not animating. Although anime has a significantly lower frame rate, it's still a figure of about 8fps for moving objects (8 drawings in one second). Most films go by DV-PAL or NSTC format for tv, 25fps for the actual film, so that means keying on every 3 frames. We usually animate by 12fps, since we key on every 2 frames, which is the international animation standard. Go google up "anime fps".

Making an animation is not as easy as copying and altering images. You need to redraw every image unless you're talking about SNES animation, like LUVER mentioned above. For the normal fps animation, animators stick by the good old 12 rules: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_basic_p ... _animation Limited animation (and cut-out animation), like in Family Dog and The Simpsons where they move only their mouths and bend their bodies, for example, will be much easier than traditional Disney-style animation.

I just wanted to let you know that animation really isn't as easy as you're making it sound. It requires a lot of thinking, estimation and redrawing everything over and over rather than simply editing and replicating previous images. There's the follow through, secondary action and timing to consider, for starters. If you don't consider any of the 12 principles and just sequence the frames, all you're going to get is a very stiff and lifeless animation whereby everything looks unnatural.

"I may be willing to pay for a good job"
Well, it seems like LUVER is keen on trying it out so good luck with that. Just remember to give him his due credit because animation is no easy chore. 22 seconds is never short for 2d animation. Most student films are only a few minutes long and they take a whole year to polish it to perfection.

[SaberXJ]

*Sigh* I feel like I must appologize... I have had some recent... 'flame' issues over my project and I have become very sensitive about such things... so I am sorry... also you seem to be quite knowledgeable in the Animation department... why is that? are you an animator yourself? also, Luver, I would love to see it once you're done... but there is no need to rush this project has been droped and resumed multiple times over the last 7 months or so so it's not like we need it NOW.... can't wait to see... and good luck. =)

[LVUER]

Just FYI, I'm not angry or feel offended by and to anyone ^_^

I know how difficult it is how to make animation. I learn a bit about 3D animation while for 2D animation, I learn it all by myself (the hard way). And please take note that I'm not going to make a full 12FPS animation. I'm going to "cheat" a lot... if that's alright with SaberXJ.

Oh, and Elze, thanks for the link to Wikipedia. I just know that I use most of the principles even though I don't know about the 12 principles...

[Elze]

It's cool. I might have over reacted on my part too. It's just that animation really is hard work and when people roll their eyes after hearing that we spend months on something that only lasts for a minute, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Actually, the information is easily available over the internet. I'm not an animator. Or at least not yet. I'm just an animation student.

Lvuer > I just realized that I'd misspelled your name twice in my previous post. Sorry about that. & the 12 principles are really more of guidelines than rules. They're very good for when you're starting off, but after a while it just comes to you mentally, like in your case you kinda know about them even though you don't tick them off a checklist while animating. I'm still learning so I try to stick to the 12 principles as faithfully as I can though. Good luck with animation! I wish I had your dedication. *feels like chucking my anim stuff out of the window*

[Strum]

Well, well, well, long time no see. Actually regarding the 3D sequences, its actually not that hard. It looks impressive but its actually simple. The problem is that its time consuming work modelling, creating and applying textures, getting the lighting just right then animating the whole thing. You need someone who has 3D Studio Max, Maya or some other 3D modelling software and those things aren't cheap. They literally cost thousands of dollars. The only free software I know of is Blender, but that's rubbish.

After having your 2D and 3D footages you'll need a video editor to arrang it in time with the background music, more painstaking work.

Also regarding your need for a RTS programmer, don't you already have the services of the best person around? By that I mean PyTom, according to your site http://project-dawn.webs.com/apps/calen ... =117292438

Sometime during this time the creator of Ren'Py will be helping me to resume programing of Galaxy Angel A New Dawn.

If anyone can pull it off its PyTom, you don't need anyone else.

Your project is grand, perhaps a little too grand. It'll be interesting to see if you can pull it off. Anyway, good luck.

[kinougames]

About Blender:

I've actually just made friends with a professional 3-D animator, and saw some work he did in Blender...and it's pretty darn high level and perfect. Blender isn't rubbish if you know how to use it.

[LVUER]

Blender is not bad. It's quite good, and especially good at cell-shading. Not to mention there's a large community behind it. And don't forget... it's free and not a resource hog.

Also other 3D program also isn't that bad. And remember that tool is only as good as the people who use it. I used to underestimate SketchUp until Mugenjohncel showed us what he can do with it...

[SaberXJ]

*SIGH*... don't talk strum.... he can only help me RECONSTRUCT the files you made..... he told me he probably can't get some of it back (which is kidda sad if you think about it... him not being able to decompile a file made by his own program...) but he can't help me with the RTS because he said it is way too time consuming and he already has a lot on his plate, but he did say it was possible for someone to make an RTS using RenPy... I actually don't care HOW it gets done, you can do it any way you want weather you want to do the 3D thing is completely up to the person doing it... or people if others wish to help... since there are like 22 scenes and all.....

[Strum]

Lol, no need to post the same message on my website. I'm actually surprised you still have the link. Anyway, in terms of programmers, what happened to shahab96? Wasn't he suppose to be making your game?
So PyTom is going to salvage that old code. There's really no real need to salvage it, would be quicker to make a new one from scratch.