Really new to this and in need of some advice, please

[Amets]

Hey there, I just joined the community after I saw the great results with the software Anime Studio from Greykid in Rey De Soleil. That was really something, and I felt very lucky after seeing it, because it made me realize that my search for a good animation software was over.

Well, before I ask you what I need to know, I'll tell you who I am and why I joined. My name is Sebastian and I'm from Chile, together with a friend, we've got a big project in mind. We want to make an anime series, not just a simple one, but a good quality anime, like the ones we see nowadays in the tv like: Bleach, Elfen Lied, Naruto, etc.

My friend does the drawing thing, he's very good at hand-drawing japanese caricatures, he's even known at some places. I make pretty decent music, I have submitted my songs to lot of places like www.ocremix.org, www.trance.nu and have gotten good feedback. I also can work with sfx, and have a wide library that should do the the work in animation.

Basically, what we lack are voices and animation itself, the most important things in an anime. But I don't think that even, for people like us, that don't know anything about animating, this task is impossible. We are looking to invest a lot of our times in this project, so we'll do anything that's necessary to accomplish it.

At first we thought about Flash, but animations made with it would require too much knowledge if we want to match tv quality animes and too much time comparing it to other software intended to make this kind of animations. It was the when we started looking for these type of softwares, and ended up finding Anime Studio. Like I said before, when I saw the animation from Greykid "Rey de Soleil" I thought "wow, imagine what this guy could if he had the same project as me in mind!".

That's why I wanted to ask you guys, if we're walking on the right path to make our project a reality. Is Anime Studio the right program? Do we have to use it combining it with another program (I've heard a lot about Moho here)? Where can I find the tutorials and which are the ones that will be useful to us? Basically the steps one has to follow to make an anime, but in big concepts, not so detailed, because I don't want to bore you or to ask too much from you.

That's it, thanks for reading it and I'm sorry if you think that such a noob is not worth helping.

Thanks in advance!

Sebastian

[myles]

Hello Amets,

I'm just a hobbyist user, so I can't answer all of your questions, but I can answer a few.

Whether Anime Studio is for you will depend on your style of animating. If you prefer to do a frame-by-frame re-drawing cel/flipbook style of animation, Anime Studio will not be as suitable as some other products. If you prefer to set up and rig a character that you can then animate something like a shadow-puppet/flat-2D-claymation/cut-out character, Anime Studio will be perfect for you.

Do we have to use it combining it with another program (I've heard a lot about Moho here)?

Moho is what the previous versions of Anime Studio used to be called. You don't need it and Anime Studio.

You will possibly have to use Papagayo, the free lipsynching program for Anime Studio - see the Fanimetion page.

You may also need a video editing program, and possibly a sound editing program (I like Audacity).

Where can I find the tutorials and which are the ones that will be useful to us?

Make sure you do all the tutorials that come with Anime Studio - which are not so much about anime, but more about how to use the program to create and animate.

Good luck with your project - whichever software you use, animation takes work and commitment, but it can also be fun and fulfilling.

Regards, Myles.

[Amets]

Hey thanks for that fast reply. The thing I don't get is if I can actually scan a hand drawn image for example and then apply that bone thing, that Anime Studio has, to their extremities.

Whe you open Anime Studio for the first time you can see a pretty good anime animation, so I was figuring that if you put more work to it, the results should ve very good.

And another thing, I really don't understand the difference between frame by frame softwares and Anime Studio. Is there a quality defference? And which one do you think is more suitable to make an anime?

Btw, thanks myles!

[Víctor Paredes]

sebastián.
hola, mira un chileno acá.
oye, yo te puedo ayudar. de hecho, estoy preparando un taller de moho (o anime studio, ahora) en la universidad. obviamente gratis y todo eso.
bueno, estamos en contacto. si quieres.

bubu@tazatriste.cl
victorparedesufrir@hotmail.com

(con cualquiera de los dos me agregas al messenger)

bueno, no te sigo hablando en español por acá, que puede que se nos enojen. pero de verdad, cualquier cosa, contáctame.

oye, moho es la mejor elección que puedes hacer. anime studio. lo que sea.

[Víctor Paredes]

well, i'll try to explain the difference between frame by frame and animestudio. (but my knoledge and my english are bad)

in frame by frame (as toonboom works) you must draw each frame. it's like to draw on paper several pages, and organize them in time. 24 frames by second... so, 10 seconds are 240 drawings. (probably less, but i tell you this numbers to scare you).

whit anime studio it's different. you just draw one character and put a skeleton inside him.
to animate, you just move the skeleton, and the draw will move with it. so, if you want that your character raise the hand between second 1 and second 4, just move the arm bones at second 4, and they will make all the work for you.


uf, espero que se entienda.

[myles]

The thing I don't get is if I can actually scan a hand drawn image for example and then apply that bone thing, that Anime Studio has, to their extremities.

Yes and no. Yes, you can, but it usually requires more work than simply scanning in a character sketch.

For example, if you have a 3/4 view of a character, quite often part of their back arm, and possibly their leg, is partly hidden by the body or the forward limb. Similarly, their forward arm hides part of the body.

Anime Studio has no way to magically produce that hidden piece of drawing.

You need to draw and scan your characters more like pieces of a shadow puppet than like a normal sketch. See here and here.

Ibis Fernandez of Flash Filmmaker refers to these as Bosey Models - see an example here. Cartoon Solutions sells ready-made versions in .fla format - see an example towards the bottom of the page here.

However, this is an over-simplification, because Anime Studio also has bones that can "flex" a single cut-out piece, like the wire or jointed metal armature inside a clay animation model.

And another thing, I really don't understand the difference between frame by frame softwares and Anime Studio. Is there a quality defference? And which one do you think is more suitable to make an anime?

With frame by frame animation you get your movement control from the drawings themselves. With Anime Studio you get your movement control from the keyframes - it's somewhat similar to 3D (and a little like clay animation).

I think it's more a different style of animating than a quality difference. I suspect quality difference is due more to the animator's skill level and the amount of time they put into creating the animation. A good animator would probably produce good animation using either style.
Hobbyist dabblers like myself can produce poor animation in any style and any software.

Regards, Myles.