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Inkthinker — Samurai Skirmish - part II
Published: 2005-05-26 11:05:05 +0000 UTC; Views: 32051; Favourites: 511; Downloads: 35487
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Description
Editing this commentary down to the basics. I've brought this up again because it serves as the basis for a segement of animation in HTF's latest short animated film, Kumo Kuro. Keep an eye out for it.-EDIT- Because of the way DA handled GIF animations back when this was uploaded, you must Download the file (which just opens it in a new browser window) to see the animation. Sorry 'bout that.
At any rate, I'm fairly satisfied with this segment, enough to call it finished. Let me know if you think there's anything that still needs attention (besides the very opening cut... I know, it's fast, but I kinda like it that way for now).
Total time taken for this was about 12-16 hours of solid work... I wasn't keeping super-close track, but I busted out about 3-4 hours a night over 4 nights to get to this point. All Easytoon and 4x5 tablet.
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Comments: 180
I've run out of compliments to give you! Dude, you rock!
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This is a really nice animation. So you hand drew every frame?
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That takes major time and patience. If I were able to do something like that I would. Right now, I am working on one with stick figures (I'm too lazy to hand draw frames and scan them one by one). I made stick figures on the computer in MSPaint and put them into combat. It's my first ever doing any kind of animation but I have no idea how to upload it to deviantart because it's from Windows Movie Maker. I don't think there's any way of getting it posted if I can't change the file into a GIF or something. Right now it's a WMV file but I don't know if I can change it to a GIF. Do you know what to do in something like this?
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Mmmm... perhaps you can take all the frames in a sequence, import them into Adobe Imageready and export as a GIF... that's how a lot of these little avatars made of movie/anime frames get built.
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Fuckin' shit! This computer don't even have Imageready >:- [ ... stupid computer that don't even have my needs... ohhh... I guess I gotta wait until I get my computer... well, thanks anyway ¦:- ] At least now I know one place to change the file.
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Wow, just....wow. Great fluidity, awesome.
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I pay money to watch stuff like this. I love the spear grab. That's the best part. Your blood splashes strike a great balance between realistic and ultra-violent.
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I forgot to crit the animation with the last comment. I have rewatched the animation a couple of more times now and I think you need to make some slowdowns in the timing. Not much, but some frames could have the double durations than the others. It feels like the whole animation melts together, the eyes never get the chance to relax and catch up to what's happening. I hope you know what I mean. The movements and combat looks superb.
Good job.
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You're not the first to mention it... I find it somewhat difficult to really manage the timing on Easytoon as easily as I can with my day-to-day work, since that stuff is done in proper PT software and I have true timing that I can mark and adjust, whereas Easytoon is more arbitrary in its "intervals", and there's no way I know of to determine how an Easytoon "interval" relates to the more traditional 24-30fps that I'm used to working with.
There's some advantages to this in practice, though, since it really forces you to work on a more instinctive level, kinda like the real old-school cats who had no easy way to shoot and test frames... they shot from the hip, knowing full well how long a fraction of a second really was, and what could be done with the time they had.
These days no-one thinks in terms of "footage" anymore, and the true etymology of the term (literally a measurement of the amount of film being used) is fading. Even a so-called "traditional" animator like myself ends up doing about 60% of the finished product in a computer, what with digital scanning, ink&
Of course, it's still "traditional" animation so long as the frames are drawn by hand, even if that means using a Cintique. The light tables and disks and punched bond will all end up, one day, as museum pieces. But there's always going to be a place for animation drawn by hand.
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Thanks for the head up. What are you working on now and what have you worked on before?
What way did you need to go to become an animator then? 
The interval in easytoon, for example 8, means 8/100th. So, let's do some math. 100/8 = 12.5. So, if every frame during an animation is 8 in delay, it would need 12.5 frames to make a second. If the delay is 10, it needs 10 frames. If it's 5, it would be 20. I think I heard somewhere that explorers like firefox and IE can only handle 6 as quickest. 16.6 fps.
Thought that you could know.
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Cool! I didn't know that... and it's nice to know that 8/100 is pretty close to 1/12 (or 24fps in twos).
I became an animator after about 6 years as an illustrator. I went to school for it (crappy diploma factory), but most of what I know I learned the hard way, real time on the light table. I'm still learning all the time.
Any artist can animate. But it helps to know a certain amount about being an artist, first (posessing certain skills in illustration, etc.). After that, it's all about learning timing and weight.
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Ah, okay. Thanks again for the head up. It seems I can't start lightly with animation now then.
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I certainly wouldn't... It's one of those jobs that only looks easy.
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Hey, I know that it's one tough job with a payment that should have been better. I know (partially) what I'm getting into. 
I love getting things into motion but I have to get better at drawing to get the flow, it's not fun needing to reedit one frame for anatomy issues when you could have spent that time on another frame.
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Holy moly, I just love it when people do something serious in EzToon/EasyToon! Care to share any facts of how you work? What basic delay do you have, 6, 7, 8? (framerate) Do you touch it up later in another program that controls the delay of a single frame? Etc. Etc.
Anyway, this is a really nice animation, the timing is really there and all that. I'll definitely 
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I've only done a few things with Easytoon, but at the moment I work with an interval of 8 (whatever that truly means, since it seems somewhat arbitrary, but it looks to me like 8-10 is equal to about 1/12-1/15. For half-intervals I set the individual frame interval to 4, and for a touch of hesitation I set it to 12-15, but anything past that usually warrants just adding another frame.
For these animations I've produced so far, I don't use any other software... the GIFs are exported straight from Easytoon. I have fiddled with ImageReady a little, though... given that ImageReady exports QT and image seqs (actually, Easytoon can export a BMP sequence as well) it's something I've given thought to, but there's not much time for me to put towards this.
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Okay, I was stupid enough to miss the duration option in EzToon so why did I even ask about other programs for editing of single frames when it's right there in the program? D: Thanks for the info though.
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wow, awesome animation man, your really good with motion and angles.
this really kicks ass!!!
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Amazing work. I love the griity, sparse feel its B&W-ness conveys.
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nice work bro!!!!!
this is a kind of animation i prefer
PEACE and Keep the force!!!!
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makes me think of Samurai Champloo ;D, very good animation and kick ass samurai, instant +fav
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if i said im amazed its not even partly in the direction i fell when i saw this...i was speechless
so cruel-ilove it!!!
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Easytoon. Hence the bitmap look.
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yeah i reckognized...never heard of easytoon though!-is it a frame by frame animation, or how does it work?
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Is there some other way of animating besides frame by frame?
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hmm!...if you use flash for example-the program can animate some things(its calculating how the things look between a beginning and an end you set yourself), so that you dont have to animate every frame on your own...its called tweening!i guess you know it anyway...or have seen it at least!-i think that in the animation you did it would be rather hard to tween anything in flash, but maybee there are other programs that can do that...thats why im asking...
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Flash's so-called "tweening" is based on shape tracking, which is of somewhat limited usefulness in complex line animation. It tends to get confused by shapes crossing paths.
In the end, so far as I know, there are no ways to skip past doing your own 'tweens.
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yeah, thats as much as i could tell too! i just wondered if theres any easyier way to animate those motions(...or at least your tweens) you did, i dont think so...but it would really help, wouldnt it?again...- soo sweet animation...-keep on!
by the way...do you use flash sometimes and why not here..is easytoon better to use for an example like yours???
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I don't use Flash at all. I know a little, but it's not really applicable to animation the way I work.
I find Easytoon pretty easy to use, so long as I'm not bothering to try something complex. If I really want to bump it up, I do it on paper.
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thanks for the advice! i havent animated that much yet, but it looks real fun the way you do it, so i guess i will give easytoon a try as fast as i got it...and some time
-i think of doing it on paper as a very craving task, and i dont want to do that yet...,but i guess theres no way around if you want to do a slick animation...what framerates do you draw when hand-drawing...-like 12 per second or less-mooore???
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You don't think in terms of 12 or 15 fps, but rather always in terms of 24 or 30, the rate at which film and video play. True, on average each drawing is held for two frames (called running or holding "in twos"), which can lead to something that is technically running at 12 or 15... but, on occasion, you might use only a single frame to emphasize speed, or hold for three frames to sell an extreme key. You can't do this extra level of tweaking if you're thinking in terms of 12 or 15 fps... or even worse, animating at those speeds! You need those half-moments and slightly longer holds.
So all animation is conceived and assembled at 24fps (film) or 30fps (television). Anything else may limit your potential.
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this movementdetails are so crazy! is there any kind of sample you used vor it or is all this just imaginaton? i like most the fact that still (although all in this animation happens really fast) i see whats happening i loveing it... and you rock!
gabro
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HOLY S*** that is the to awesome to describe with words................................... ...............................i tinik i love the animation.
W O W
A J
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man....i really need to see you on flash now......
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keeep it coming dude~~your rocking it~~!!
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so entertaining, see i could watch this for hours!
if you ever do a series please dont try and foo foo anyone with story, just fighting every minute!
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I've always wonderd what animation program people use to do this kind of stuff?
Awsome work by the way
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*thumbs up*
I really enjoyed the overall feel of the peice. the style is wicked and characters dead on.
But as an animator all i could look at was your forced perspective * nice but you could have pushed a little more i think.
Your timeing and spaceing* so close to being incredible i was shocked- only a couple of places that were to slow for the amount of force they had. you might want to add a motion blur or cut frames
weight* well weighted no floaty characters. the staff hit to the scull needed to have more force i think.
( i loved it clearly understand what your doing. Im going to post my break dj club animation soon*just roughs* Stop by and critique it for me please )
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Good crit... I won't deny that there's timing issues here and there. The arbitrary nature of Easytoon's frame interval makes good timing a little more difficult, but I'm not opposed to going back and revising to make adjustments.
The head crush doesn't bother me, but the white ronin's block to the wrist grap definitely needs more pop to really sell the fact that he blocks the main character's lateral slash. I'll have to get around to that later. And the guy who catches the spear haft in the ribs (right after the face stab) could use better timing as well.
But just the same, it'll all have to wait a few weeks, unless I find some spare time and feel the juice to dive back in.
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