Ah, so this is where u hang out eh JK? Well, I went thru ur great tuts:
cutouts/rigging/etc. and the end result was good, I understand much more about TDB now. The only question left hanging was in the keyframing tut where you add a counter, and then that was never explained )or I missed it. Why did u do that, how did you, and what does it do? thx for the answer, and thx for the tuts…
Jigs
Sorry to be so slow in answering, I am so busy these days I don’t get to check the forums often enough. The counter is detailed in Perspectives and Counters on the Cartooning in ToonBoom blog. I started using it as an easy way to see the frame number when I’m blocking out and tweaking my cartoons. It is also useful for me when I’m doing tutorials and want the frame number in each screen shot. I hope this helps.
I’m planning to do some new animation work in 2010 and I hope to use that as the source of a new series of articles and tutorials. Most of my spare time is eaten up these days with my comic strip Bug Pudding, which if you haven’t seen it, you might want to give it a visit. It isn’t animated, yet, but it’s a lot of fun to read. -JK
Thx JK, yes I like your work. I’d point you to mine, but the Nepali Times had a website crash a few years back and lost all of my strip that ran from 2003-2006. Ha! So I am using TBS4.5 on a mac and trying to animate something from the Photoshops that I saved. So I look forward to your tutorials, which have helped me so far. I’ve done a ton of commercial animation using things like C4D and even Poser/Bryce, etc. but I find the ToonBoon interface to be a bit baffling and awkward. I also hate the Adobe Flash interface, so I guess that explains my fumbling. Anyway, look forward to more stuff…like something on using photoshop with tbs…I tbs had better support for adobe layers…or I understood better how to structure a PS or AI file so the layers made some sense in TBS. Cheers!
jigs
oh, thk for the counter tip…perhaps that will help with the noop timeline eh…wuz up with the timeline in TBS…it does not even keep track of the time when playing! how cheap is that?
Jiggy,
How have you been progressing? It’s been four months since you posted here. I am planning to do some new tutorials soon. I’m thinking of doing a series that goes from start to finish on a cartoon promo that I’m doing. I may include some Photoshop and Illustrator work in it. But my primary goal will be to expose as much as I can of technique and using the basic features of the TBS application. More demystifying the work flow type stuff. -JK
HI there, thx for asking! Well, my personal project of animating a short based on my 2D print strip is about 50% done - put aside as I have work that pays pisa to complete at the moment. But using your tuts (and others I think) I was able to rig and animate a few characters, get them running and dancing, and even have one lipsyncing (roughly) to the rap.
My friends at Firefly (http://fireflynepal.com/recent_works.htm) have seen the animatic of my work and are thinking of redoing the characters in 3D, and I am thinking of letting them - as working in TB is torture for me. I just don’t like the interface even after spending the time understand the basics. I also use TB Storyboard Pro and have a love-hate relationship with that as well - hate the interface, but love the final product, after the torture of getting it.
But seeing an end-to-end-workflow starting from a photoshop print strip would be fantastic, as I am not sure my workflow was optimal, as I just made it up as I went along. Basically I created sets in Poser using some scenery and backdrop runtimes, imported those into TB, rigged and overlaid the characters there (after cutting up the character artwork into legs, arms, eyes, etc. which is the biggest pain), then exported to the Final Cut Pro timeline.
So let us know when you have another great tut! thx,
Jigs
Most likely I will have more than enough questions to put you to the test; but for now, just starting- I like to say thanks for all the tips, they will come in handy I’m sure.
hey JK!
Just started your cut out tutorial but am having issues with the second part. I can not use the vector tool to trace the bird. I have tried everything. do I need to make a new layer? I feel I missed a step but I can not outline the bird ???
I see the contour used but are you using a pen or line or pencil tool with it?
When you imported the bird image did you import it to a drawing element using Import with Texture? You can’t edit a normal image only a vectorized image. Once the image is imported to a drawing element, inside a vector box, you just use the contour edit tool which is on the drawing tool pallet next to the drawing select tool. Let me know if you need additional help. -JK