Looking for a tutorial please

Hello,
Thank you for looking in. I am unsure if this is possible. I would like to know if I can just import a JPG or PSD (I have Cs6, so I have many format options)
I know I can import as a BMI or Vector…I want to be able to Animate it, or rig it.
Is that possible to just chop up a jpg or the likes of and create animation out of it? I was doing it with After Effects except The arm would go behind the body instead of the front of it.
I have Animate 2, As well as Adobe CS6 and would like to animate already done art. Can this be done? IF so please post a link to a good tutorial demonstrating it.
Thanks for your help.

Check out Tutorial 6.3. Importing PSD files as separate layers…
http://beta.toonboom.com/professionals/animating/resources/video-tutorials/gathering-content

Then assemble your characters, e.g hierarchies, pivot points etc… and start animating…

Thanks I will check it out. Funny that was the only tutorial giving me a “D” error when I tried to watch it.

P.S HEY where is the subscribe button for a thread?

So I checked out that tutorial and got stuck at 2.36 into it. The instructor shows a PNG file being imported and then shows a few different options to the vectorization properties. Is this the bump from A2 to Pro? One would think a 600$ piece if software could do what I want it to do…

“That is… import a PNG and have control over it like the tutorial does.”

When I click on my imported vector PNG The whole thing is one selection box, not many ‘little boxes’ as the instructor’s did. Like being able to move an arm or head of an import instead with mine the whole import is selected.
The instructor’s options consisted of having the option to ‘double-click’ the color or b&w of the import to adjust the vectorization properties. I do not have that option. Or I do not have it enabled. I asked Help but the manual says nothing found. When using the term ‘Vectorization Properties’. Hence me thinking that is a Pro option. Does that mean that A2 @ 600.00 cannot import a PNG and layer it so I can animate it? I find that hard to believe.

I want to import a png, vectorize it so I can animate it in animate 2…Without having to draw my own art work with in A2 rather use it as an editor/animator. Can this be done with A2? IF so why do I not have the same dialogue box open when I double click colour or B&W to then preview it and or further adjust it’s properties so I can follow along EXACTLY as the tutorial demonstrates?

Well, In Tutorial 6.3 the Instructor Ms. Lilly Vogelesang is talking in very detail about importing PSD files as separate layers…
As far as I know, she did not mentioned in any way importing PNG files…???

If you prefer using PNG images, those still have an alpha channel, but don’t provide Layers like PSD does…

Either you cut your image in Photoshop and export those single layers as PNG’s…
Or import and vectorize your whole PNG image into Animate 2, then cut that image and save those parts on different layers…
using Edit / Create Drawing from Drawing Selection…

My bad on the confusion. I meant tutorial 6.2 not 6.3 See time of 1.11 where she imports a png and at 1:57 she ‘double clicks’ the B&W to bring up properties which I do not have to follow along…

I will try your path also of … Edit>Create Drawing from Drawing selection…Like in tutorial 7.4 “I think it is?” I was hoping to follow along
exactly and when I got the point mentioned above, I could not get my PNG to work as Lilly did…? Is there a “Window Option” in A2 or is it a Pro only option?
See Tutorial 6.2 @ 1:57…

Those are the “Advanced Vectorization” features only available in Animate Pro…

This is indeed the advanced vectorisation options from Animate Pro. You don’t need to access the advanced properties if you simply want to import an image. For a colour image, you can select colour. Or if you want to keep it as a bitmap (and don’t need to use any Vector tools on that layer) then you can uncheck Vectorization entirely.

~Lilly

Nolan and Lilly thank you for confirming my question.
So those advanced vectorizations is how Lilly is able to import a PNG and then have A2, in her case A2 pro create vectored parts to then animate, or rig?

OR will A2 achieve the import and create “body parts” to Animate?

If so is there something I should be looking for, or pay closer attention too?

It seems my import vectorization does not break my PNG into usable body parts to Rig or animate. It brings the whole file in as “One” object…

Thanks for helping me understand this.

That is correct…

Neither Animate 2 Pro, nor Animate 2 cuts your single image into animatable “body-parts”
automatically during vectorization… It just transform a single bitmap- into a single vector-graphics…

Those single vector-graphics are now fully editable and can be cut into animatable “body-parts”…

So there is no short cut with Toom Boom and importing an image to rig. Other then only importing and Bitmapping it… I guess I may as well use Adobe Flash to accomplish my animating. I do not see the value other then the 600 bucks I burned and have not even used this software.
Why are you guys so fired up about this software when Cs6 Rocks it. I can bone, or animate a Jpg in AE with no experience at all. Albeit I cannot bone it like if it were in parts. Is there a superior advantage to A2 when it comes to chopping up images over Adobe? (If so enlighten me)
I was referred by a forum user over at Adobe to use A2 if I got it. As A2 would be easier to animate with it then Flash Pro… To me it looks about the same except Flash Pro will export the js html5 script to park it on an HTML page. Did I miss something here?
Sorry for the delay getting back, I’ve been editing and shooting video. And with no email notifications when I get a reply… Well I am sure you get it.

Thanks btw for your reply and confirming that A2 nor Pro will import an image and section it off. As it had appeared to do in one of the tutorials. Lilly must have had the file already ‘chopped-up’

Rigging (with Bones) and animating a bitmap image in no time with even less experience…
Check out Anime Studio… http://anime.smithmicro.com

Otherwise…
Regarding the “price-tag” of the Adobe “Creative Suite” 6 Production Premium…
You might like and have a look at Harmony Stand Alone…
http://beta.toonboom.com/professionals/harmony-stand-alone
Specially check out the Bone- and Curve-Deformers…