Animation advice

[Nellie]

I wanted to do some animating for my game's event CGs... However, I realised it's much harder than expected!

I thought of separating the body parts (image attached below) in layers and then moving them around would do the job - but I now I realised I'd have to recolour the parts at each different position! (due to lighting effects!) ARGH! Is there any short cut or easier way? XD

[LateWhiteRabbit]

If you want quality 2D animation with full movement - which it looks like you are going for here - there is no real shortcut. Alice Madness Returns used 2D cut-outs and segmented body-parts for their "theatricals", using After Effects or a similar program to animate and zoom in and out of them. But even that is no real shortcut, and is used for aesthetic reasons more so than for labor saving ones. Notice all the unique 2D drawings they had to do, etc.

Shading 2D hand-drawn animation is HARD and time consuming. Even Disney usually doesn't shade their characters unless it is a particularly dramatic moment or if the lighting is so severe they can't get away with not shading. Observe how Tiana looked most of the time in the Princess and the Frog:

Shaded background because it doesn't move - flat colored character because she does.

Anime sometimes has simple shading, but it also usually stays as simple as possible. A 30-minute anime episode costs roughly $67,000 U.S. dollars for the art and animation (this amount ignores any costs you'd have to pay for voice actors, production, etc). So, depending on the quality you are going for in your own animated cutscenes, 2 minutes of animation in your game could be worth $2,200 if you were paying to have it created for you. So yes, it is a lot of hardwork with few shortcuts.

Animators will often do what are called "pencil tests" where they very roughly animate a scene in a messy way, blocking in the action, practicing to see what works, etc. before doing finished line drawings, thus saving a lot of effort. Glen Keane from Disney explains a lot of the process in this video. Google "pencil test" and watch a few videos to see what 2D animators go through and practice with.

Ironically, the better you get at animation, the fewer drawings you will have to make, since you will know how to make better keys. I started 2D, handdrawn animation by animating a bouncing ball. I drew something like 140 drawings. (Awful!) Later I animated a head turning and smiling for about 90 drawings. Much later I animated a leopard stalking through the grass, muscles rippling under it's skin as it's joints rolled, it's tail swishing lazily behind it, etc. and I did it in just 30 drawings!

I wish you luck!

[Junker-Kun]

Mike Inel (yes, THE Mike Inel who made cut scenes for Katawa Shoujo) has this tutorial on his DA:
http://mikeinel.deviantart.com/art/How- ... -118709076

This one is for "Draw with me". Basicaly he didn't draw shadows and highlights at all, he just used "Inner shadow" effect. But you still have to draw all frames (or using separate parts).

[clua]

which software are you using for animation..flash?

what you can do is animate it with solid colors like the screencap you posted, and export the animation as png sequence...then add the shadows at photoshop with color burn or linear burn layer blending and clipping mask(I attached an example bellow)so you can make quick strokes of shadows

if you are using flash remember not to put movie clips inside movie clips because when you export it as png sequence, those movie clips wont show animated


hope Im understrandable!

[Endorphin]

Let's see... I use the puppettool in photoshop ans it's quite nice. =o
(But that's because in my blurred/shaded coloringstyle a little more blur doesn't stand out.)
After Effects also has the puppettool which might be worth to look at since it creates the frames between the keyframes automatically.

Of course the puppettool is for things like walking, hair moving in the wind etc. - things like blinking are quick edits, and "speaking" only needs a few lip frames and a moving chin.

All I can tell you is to stay strong - it's not always easy, but it's worth it.
You can do it~ ;<

- R.

[Nellie]

Thanks for all your tips. They're very helpful.

I'll try to stay strong and not give up... But will probably be less ambitious as well xD

Will keep you updated on my progress =D