More Practical Tutorials

[wizaerd]

The tutorials in the manual are great for learning the basics. Learning to draw shapes, how the CPs work, fills and outlines, basic rigging, basic lipsynching, timeline, effects...

But now I'd like to see more tutorials focusing on practical things. Easy to follow, concise, and with lots of pictures or even preferably video (or swf) tutorials demonstrating common yet advanced topics. Characters interacting with their environment mostly. Picking up items, carrying items, handing items to other characters. How to best make use of Actions. Walking through doors. The swith layers necessary, the changing of a layers Z-Order.

Then there's walking. Walking is covered in basics, but producing a non floating walk cycle is almost like voodoo. Having your character move from point A to Point B smoothly is ever elusive for newbie to intermediate users.

Looking at the included examples (or any other example moho or as project) shows what it looks like when it's complete, but determining how it was put together, those are the missing steps.

I use a couple other programs that have put together some nice swf tutorials. I'm more of a visual person, and seeing something done is far more efficient to pick up techniques than to read instructions.

Now that there should be some additional resources for this application, perhaps someone could put some more tutorials or excercises for making the most out of this application.

[bupaje]

Don't want to pirate your response but you triggered a thought. ZBrush has a thing called ZScripts which, among other things, allows a user to record their actions and then edit the recorded file to turn it into a step by step tutorial. In other words you automate the process and add popups and so on so people can run the actions interactively "now click the crcle tool which is blinking and enter a diameter ...., good now rotate the circle using the layer rotation tool (blinking)..." etc

Not sure if AS can do similar using Lua but it may be a goal a future version. This allows all users to easily generate interactive tutorials content or macro like scripts of any cool thing they come up with. By having a built in mechanism to make generating tutorials easy for all users you could have a load of community created tools/tips.

[Patmals]

Portalgraphics' OpenCanvas also has a similar thing, called an event - and its cool!

http://www.portalgraphics.net/en/

[jahnocli]

Try Eclectic Academy. Forum member Ingie has been through the Moho course, which is pretty much identical to Anime Studio Pro at the moment. Not free, but not very expensive, either.

Hope this helps.

J

[wizaerd]

Try Eclectic Academy. Forum member Ingie has been through the Moho course, which is pretty much identical to Anime Studio Pro at the moment. Not free, but not very expensive, either.

I've seen this before, but quite frankly, I'm not looking for a formalized, structured, classroom setting for learning this app. I have no desires to become a professional, I've been working in my own field way too long to jump careers now. I'm a hobbyist, with some ideas for movies I want to make, and no idea how to proceed. Again, specifically when it comes to characters interacting with each other and/or their environment.

Besides, by the course description listed, it sounds like the tutorials already found in the manual. I can already do these things. What I can't do is have a chartacter pick up items, move them, carry them around, give them to other characters, walking through a doorway... heck, just walking...

Are these things possible in AS? Absolutely. As has been said time and time again, with enough experimentation and creative thinking, anything is possible. It's just that my brain is not geared towards original creative animation work-a-arounds, hence my hope that more advanced tutorials will find there way here...

There's more to creating a movie than a character moving their arms and legs around. These are the techniques I'd like to see in a tutorial.