Moho Forum

PeverallVibez wrote:thx and i have flash but i dont like using it

Look at animation SAMPLES done in flash. You don't have to use it. Animation is the same regardless of the tools. The same skills and knowledge of the process is exactly the same whether you use Anime Studio, Flash, Maya, claymation, stick figures or cutout paper. You have to have the basic knowledge of visual story telling.

Watch as much animation as you can. Pay close attention to the timing and action and composition. You are VERY YOUNG, you have a lot of years to learn the basics. There are many other skills that can also help in animation from an art or photography class.

The audio in my opinion is probably 50% of why it's so hard to watch what you have done. You need to learn how to edit the audio. When you record in different places with different settings, the audio is all over the place and isn't unified. You need to know how to mix it and edit it properly so it sounds like it is happening in the same place.

Thx i watch animation all day family guy, american dad, bevis and butt head, simpsons, futurarma, cleveland show

I recommend to widen your horizon - your animation diet is a bit restricted in style and topic. Try these for a start:

http://shortanimatedworld.blogspot.de/
http://mubi.com/lists/eastern-europe-animation

Not every film in these lists is a masterpice, and most are pretty dated. But try to watch at least a minute of each, to get a feeling for how different animation can be.

Hayvern makes a solid point about audio. Audio is very very important. I recommend a program called Audacity. It's freeware and you can grab it off the official web sight. It's a powerful for a free program and let's you really layer your sounds for better atmosphere.
When you manipulate your camera, be mindful of the location of your audio layer. If it leaves the camera, the audio will fan to the left or right speaker which is very distracting. When you pan, be sure the audio layer follows. You can identify it as a small speaker when you have the layer selected.

There's a setting in audio layers to not pan with the camera - i've no idea why this is on by default, its a silly idea!

Audio is VERY important - you should either record each person separately equally distanced from the mic and comp them together in something like audacity or another sequencer, but you should also try and get your hands on a decent recording device or good mic...

let me also commend you on your mature attitude in the face of such harsh criticism - you do have far to go, but you've got plenty of time, and with that attitude you will get there FAR quicker than being defensive or hostile

i have a £30 mic i use anime studio pro 9 also i use audacity to record and sony vegas pro 11 to edit so i dont know whats wrong with the audio? i dont know how to mix thou but thx for the feed backs

Don't get confused. You can't solve all problems at the same time, so tackle one after another.

Sound: positioning of the mic is crucial. Some 20 cm from the voivce actor is good. Get something dampening around them, like a bed cover. Ideally build a little cabin from that (like a blanket fort). Place a pop shield between actor and mic, like a nylon over a cloth hanger.

There's books about all that in the library, and tons of tutorials online!

Thx mate for the help

the mic isn't good enough to just leave in the room while you all sit in different places and read your lines - you'll have to record each voice up close and personal and then edit them together to make it sound good.

A forum member here, D.K. taught me some amazing stuff about mixing audio.

I had mixed and edited a bunch of character dialog tracks together. Spent a lot of time on it and thought is was very good.

When DK heard it, he pointed out major errors that had to do with the "equalization" of the different tracks. Each track was recorded separately and each had different dynamic ranges. To me it sounded "okay" but after equalizing and correcting this error the difference in the sound mix and quality blew my mind. It was the difference between night and day. Sometimes you don't know it sounds like crap until you hear what it SHOULD sound.

I didn't even do that much. It was such a simple thing but it "unified" the various tracks so they sounded "the same", like they were in the same "place". It's something I didn't know about but is SO important. I probably have not explained it correctly but if you do some internet research on it you should find better instructions.

I recognize some characters from LRDaToonMan/Kartoon Management; I didn't really catch what was going on though.

im not him hes my friend and there my characters

Speaking about being new, my first animated project I did suffered the same "no plot" fate, but it gave me a place to start from. However, onto your content.

First, I watched a few minutes of episode 1 and 6, and like Danimal said, I did notice an improvement in the character design, so good job on that. However, it did seem like some of the animation in episode 6 was movement for the sake of movement, and the framing of your shot made it tough to know what I was supposed to focus on. Where the teacher and student were standing, it left a lot of room in the back, and the other guy was moving around in the back of the shot, and it drew my eye to that, taking my focus away. The sound was also very bad, to be blunt. I couldn't understand what the characters were saying, and I think a lot of that has to do with the way you record. Slowtiger nailed it though, get a pop filter and something to take away the echo.

However, understand this: You're new, you're bound to make some mistakes, but you're also bound to get better, if you put the time in. Judging by the fact that you've made 6 episodes of one series, you do want to get better, you just need some help getting there. Keep with it, read a lot, and don't take constructive criticism as an attack on you. If I can recommend a book, and I'm sure most everyone else here will agree, take a look at "The Animator's Survival Kit" by Richard Williams. Trust me.

i have books

Yo man if you like, I would like to collaborate with you on some things and we can learn together. Yes I am new to the forum and to animation but I think I know enough to help you out. Check out my cartoon and let me know if you are interested in collaborating.