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A cost efficient way to create stunning animations
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Location: Blogs Fringe Theories |
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| Posted by: jdouglas |
7/2/2006 |
Theoretical Games is using a fantastic 2D cell animation software
package called Toon Boom Studio. Toon Boom Studio (TBS) has been used to create
everything from the Rugrats in Paris and Curious George movies to the
Academy Award Nominated Triplets of Belleville.
The software is designed with two work areas (now combined into one in
v3). The first operates just like the old onion-skin paper used by
hand-drawn cell animations of yesteryear, but with many tools and time
savings advantages of programs like Illustrator. Working in this area
an artist can create, cell by cell, an entire animation sequence, ink
and paint the drawings, rig the individual cell layers for keyframe
work later, and review the animation in playback (screen shot).
In this fashion, you can import a scanned copy of an artist's sketch into a TBS element (Photoshop users read: Layer). Using that as a reference you can create a vectored drawing of it and fill that drawing with a variety of paint tools and textures.
By using multiple drawings as reference, you can create a sequence of cells that, once inked and painted, create the wonderful illusion of motion.
Below, I've included two movie files. The first is a frame by frame shot showing the reference drawings placed in their relative positions for the animation sequence. The second is the finished animation at full speed so you can see the final product.
 
The downside of this method is that you must draw each and every frame (although using Cut and Paste where possible makes the process somewhat easier). The vast majority of the animation we are creating for My Bōgle is actually done by rigging characters. In the next entry I'll try to show you some rigged character animations in which still drawing elements are animated by key frames in a parent to child hierarchy (much like playing with a puppet).
P.S. Toon Boom Studio is a great bargain regularly priced at $400. We recently purchased it on sale for around $250.
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