Please check out my very first website and very first animation at: itshumanplusnature.com.
The video is at the Gallery link.
It all starts with an idea. In Februrary of this year an idea for a new adult themed animation came to me. Prior to the idea I had no experience with animating or anything associated with the world of animation. You gotta start somewhere, so I began reasearching software and in March discovered Toon Boom Studio. I downloaded the PLE version and tooled around in it and found it to be a fairly easy program to work with so I bought the licensed version. After becoming familiar with the Studio software and general animation concepts I felt that I could tackle the Animate product. I downloaded the PLE version, tooled around in it, and ultimately bought the product. From there I’ve moved on to using Animate PRO.
The progression from ground zero to where I am at today is a testament to the ease of use and intuitiveness of the Toon Boom software and the great support team that the company has. A key resource for me has been the Animate forum. A lot of questions that I have had I have been able to find answers for by going through the message strings in the forum postings. For questions or problems that stumped me, I posted the issue(s) to the forum board and the issues were addressed. A big thanks to Ugo and his help/guidance and skills to be able to provide the solutions in layman terms – he is and was a great resource for all things Animate related.
So in the short span of 8 months using the Toom Boom products I have gone from not a clue-in-the-world-about-animation to posting my first clip, which I invite everyone to go check out. I know it is “basic” and doesn’t come close to exibiting the real power of Animate PRO, but that will all come in time as I progress with the software.
In addition to the Toon Boom products, there were several other products/skills that I had to learn at the same time to bring the idea to fruition:
Adobe products: Illustrator and Premiere Pro, Encore, and Flash. In particular Premiere Pro, to combine the individual scenes together and add the sound, making the final clip. No prior knowledge or skills, with any Adobe or similar products.
Learning about and applying for trademarks and copyrights. No prior knowledge or skills
How to build and work with a website. No prior knowledge or skills.
Just about everything that it took to produce the website and the animation video I did myself over the course of 8 months. I know that there is still much to do to get it to the level that I want it to be and to get the show picked up by Adult Swim, but it’s a testament for everyone out there that you can make what you want to happen, happen.
Please check out my very first website and very first animation at: itshumanplusnature.com.
The video is the show’s character introduction, and is posted at the Gallery link. Please take a second to sign the guestbook while you are visiting!
Again, thanks to the great folks at Toom Boom, Ugo for his advice and knowledge, and all of the great folks here on the forum.
nice first try.
If i were you i would try to stick to making one scene look really good.
Like in the first scene you have a road over hills and the way you drew it isn’t how it happens in reality. The road should disappear when approaching the valley and reappear at the top of the hill. That alone would make it look so much better at the start. Obviously a nice wheel rotation would be the next step, maybe some wind in your charaters antenna’s to sway then a bit to get the feeling he is driving etc etc
you get the idea.
Thanks TheRaider, I appreciate the input. Re wheel rotation, its about the hardest thing that I’ve encountered trying to do with Animate. The hard part is trying to get the center point for the circles/wheels; I’ve not discovered an easy way to snap to the center point…
assuming you build your wheel initially from the circle shape then it should automatically be in the middle when you rotate. You just just make a simple 3 or 4 frame loopable rotate as a symbol which you can just cycle as your moving. That said you don’t even need to turn the wheel, just the markings and spokes which the onion skin would be good for.
You also should do the same for the front wheel (you just need to animate the treads disspearing at the bottom and reappearing at the top as loop).
The skateboard tut with animate is probably a good starting point for learning how to do this (obviously it is a bit different, but easily adapted to spin the spokes of a wheel etc).
I have to say this is pretty good for a First try. Imagine how good you will be a year from now.
Thanks Matador.
I said about your wheel treads from the front view but i realised you have tried to animate them. You need an extra frame of animation in my opinion cause it looks like it is going up and down not around.
Also when trying to watch your animation loading and watching it really sucks for me. Maybe put it on youtube?