Hey everyone. I'm probably the member with the dubious distinctions of both the least talent and the least knowledge. I'm trying to produce a few animated cartoons, and I'd like to work in 2d. I'm a student, and I have the student version of Toonboom animate pro as well as Anime Studio 10. I'm not worried as much about the quality of my animations, though I want to avoid weird looking distractions, such as a character walking but not going anywhere or talking with terrible lip sync. I looked at Crazytalkanimator 2, which has some appealing and easy to use features, but the program's development looks like it's been abandoned by Reallusion as glaring issues have not been addressed.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I realize this is a big undertaking, but I'm willing to put forth many hours. What's the easiest way to animate?
A newbie getting started...
Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger
-
herbert123
- Posts: 217
- Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2013 1:06 am
Re: A newbie getting started...
The easiest way to animate is to... animate. I realize this sounds like a cop-out, but that is really all there is to it.
Animate, animate, animate. Keep doing it, and read as much (practical) animation theory you can. Get "the Animator's Survival Kit" by Richard Williams, read Preston Blair's book(s),
Richard William also did a complete course on animation, and that course is great as well.
Applications like Anime Studio and ToonBoom will help you in becoming more efficient and generally speed up your workflow, but doing good animation still takes a lot of effort and time.
Without knowing how to animate, and understanding the principles of timing, spacing, etc., you may have access to the most expensive animation software in the world, but it will not help at all to do proper looking animation.
Trying to animate talking characters without learning the basics of animation is like trying to paint an oil painting without ever even having picked up a pencil and learning to draw.
Then again, I have no idea what your current experience level is. Have you animated before?
Animate, animate, animate. Keep doing it, and read as much (practical) animation theory you can. Get "the Animator's Survival Kit" by Richard Williams, read Preston Blair's book(s),
Richard William also did a complete course on animation, and that course is great as well.
Applications like Anime Studio and ToonBoom will help you in becoming more efficient and generally speed up your workflow, but doing good animation still takes a lot of effort and time.
Without knowing how to animate, and understanding the principles of timing, spacing, etc., you may have access to the most expensive animation software in the world, but it will not help at all to do proper looking animation.
Trying to animate talking characters without learning the basics of animation is like trying to paint an oil painting without ever even having picked up a pencil and learning to draw.
Then again, I have no idea what your current experience level is. Have you animated before?
Re: A newbie getting started...
No. I hardly know the sharp end of a pencil from the eraser. It's painfully obvious to me that there's no fast way to succeed at this. It's gonna clearly be a long slog, but if I don't put one foot in front of the other, I'll never get there. I'm confident that the thing to do is learn ASP 10 after looking at other software. To that end, I'm banging away.
Your advice is well taken. Also working a bit with Adobe Illustrator and working with a few books on basic drawing. Hoping to get somewhere in a few months. At the moment, it's information overload.
Your advice is well taken. Also working a bit with Adobe Illustrator and working with a few books on basic drawing. Hoping to get somewhere in a few months. At the moment, it's information overload.
-
herbert123
- Posts: 217
- Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2013 1:06 am
Re: A newbie getting started...
A long and interesting journey starts but with a single step!
The things most worthwhile to do take the most effort - especially creative work. There are no shortcuts. But the pay-off and personal satisfaction can be incredible.
The things most worthwhile to do take the most effort - especially creative work. There are no shortcuts. But the pay-off and personal satisfaction can be incredible.
-
rodneydavis79
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Thu May 14, 2015 9:40 pm
Re: A newbie getting started...
I'm just getting started too. Encouraging words!herbert123 wrote:A long and interesting journey starts but with a single step!
The things most worthwhile to do take the most effort - especially creative work. There are no shortcuts. But the pay-off and personal satisfaction can be incredible.