Moho Forum

Can anyone show me how to make a nice set of speed or action lines. Thanks......

that is a still cartoon construct/convention[is it not?]

why would you want to


use it in an animation.....................................

It really depends on what sort of animation you are doing? I use action lines in my animation all the time because they suit the style of animation I do which is very cartoony. They are basically a form of motion blur but you can get a much more animated exaggeration of movement by using cartoon motion lines as opposed to motion blur. Watch some of Chuck Jones and Tex Avery's work and you'll see that action lines are an essential part of their animation style.

They are pretty easy to make yourself in AS. Here's a snap of some of mine.



D.K

Here's a small scene from a TV series I'm working on at the moment that uses a lot of motion lines.

http://www.wienertoonz.com/scn002B.mov

Cheers
D.K

live and learn.

I find them distracting. I'd do it more in the style of a classic vibration/smear, but at least in the same colour as the tail has.

I'd do it more in the style of a classic vibration/smear, but at least in the same colour as the tail has.

Yes...sorry. That example was a test file. Normally I take the white out or at least make the white fill of the motion the same colour as the object being blurred.

D.K

I Just updated the mov file with the final scene using the coloured action lines.

http://www.wienertoonz.com/scn002B.mov

D.K

D.K.

Love your animation but, truly, the action lines in it detract from it. I don't know if that's because how they're done, or because of the angle we're looking at the character (straight on) but they just don't look right. It looks like some kind of wires hanging off the tail.

(Smoke at the end, OTOH, looks perfect!)

Without trying to examine anything my memory (and at best it ain't that good) of older cartoons using such lines is they are only used as a sort of "memory" device -- that is, the character is mostly gone and you see the lines to remind you of their movement. And the line use is very quick.

The use of them on that tail doesn't work (just IMHO, of course) because it's repetitive -- I have the time to examine the effect and it looks very odd as my mind tries to make sense of it. It's more than possible the exact same use of lines would work as long as it was only used once.

In addition to mkelley who is absolutely right:

Count frames. You'll find that you have the tail visible on one frame at its extreme position, then several frames of speed lines, then one frame again with the tail at the opposite position, and again many frames with speed lines. This creates the illusion of something with horizontal lines standing behind the dog, with an occasional glimpse of a tail on each side. Not good.

Have a look at http://klangley.blogspot.com/2007/07/bo ... -boys.html for a different way to treat a situation like this. This is called "smear" and can be very effective.

the dog? I though it was a dinosaur...

Looks fine to me? I guess It's just my style...that's the way I animate movement.
In the Road Runner cartoons (my model) you'll find this effect used in many scenes. Not as harsh a treatment as I give it with the darker outlines but very similar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqGhIftKrno

D.K

I think your dinosaur looks fine. The actions lines seem to fit the style well. IMHO. I love the swipe of the eyes. Uh, it looks like the chin exposes the teeth at one point. Aside from that it's great.

Thanks for pointing that error out synthsin75. I will fix it straight away.

EDIT:

Ok....I've taken Slowtigers and kelly's advice and adjusted the colour of the action lines from black outlines to something that matches the colour of the tail more closely. I think you guys are. It does look better not as harsh.

http://www.wienertoonz.com/scn002B.mov

D.K

Definitely better.