I have a basic question for my fellow experts on the AS forums. I've been looking into different methods of animations and am wondering what vector animation really is and how it differs from other types of animation. Is vector animation in other programs such as Flash very similar to vector animation in AS? Do all Vector animation programs use the same method using points and point motion like AS? If not, exactly how does vector animation differ from program to program.
Thanks.
Question About Vector Animation
Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger
Vector animation is very much like CGI 3D animation: first you build your character, then you move it around in time like a puppet.
Different software provides you with different tools and different grade of control over all the details in that process.
"Vector" relates to how the information of where a character is and how it is deformed is handled within the program: as a bunch of coordinates and their connections to each other. This is the opposite of "bitmap" which stores every pixel of what you see in the final output for every frame.
Different software provides you with different tools and different grade of control over all the details in that process.
"Vector" relates to how the information of where a character is and how it is deformed is handled within the program: as a bunch of coordinates and their connections to each other. This is the opposite of "bitmap" which stores every pixel of what you see in the final output for every frame.
Flash is a software which is very much alike a database: lots of separate objects (some of the vector shapes), put together in space and time and made interactive via programming. It doesn't provide the user with a comfortable interface to produce character animation easily, most prominently it misses any opportunity to "rig" a character.
Basically, vector graphics can be rescaled to any size without loss of quality (pixelation). It's used to create smooth images/animation with clean lines, etc- as most animation is. It has it's limitations- for instance you can't "blend" or "smear" as you would if you were using a raster/bitmap based software. I think vector art is suited better for anything that's actually going to be animated- but it would not be uncommon to animate vector based characters on top of a raster/bitmap created background (i.e. a watercolor-esque backdrop made in a program like Corel Paint).
Re: Question About Vector Animation
From what I've heard discussed and read about, the really significant thing distinguishing AS from other software in the category of [2D vector animation costing less than the price of a car] is its bones system, and all the related extras such as bone constraints, multiple bones affecting a single shape, single bone affecting multiple shapes, etc.Nephilim wrote:Is vector animation in other programs such as Flash very similar to vector animation in AS?
From what I've seen, most other software in the same category offers some sort of hierarchical pivot system instead, and/or point animation, and/or some variation on frame-by-frame animation.
Regards, Myles.
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted."
-- Groucho Marx
-- Groucho Marx
Fundamentally, vector means a digital line. So vector animation means drawing with lines. Since the line is a digital, it has no resolution - the same line looks good at 400*300 pixels or 4000*3000 pixels, it's resolution independent. IF you scan in a hand drawn line, it will be made up of pixels; this means it has a finite resolution, it can only be enlarged a certain amount before the pixels show and it image quality to fall.
Flash and AS are both vector animation programs. The approach to how the line is made is different: AS was specifically designed for animation, whilst Flash wasn't. In flash, modifying a line is not so easy (the line can "buckle" and kink): This is largely because it was designed to do a different job.
AS lines are much easier to manipulate and modify. It also has a fills library system so colours changes can be made later. THe biggest advantage of AS is the bones. This can make animating a character very much faster and a lot more like 3D animation. It's not perfect and tweaks must be made as you work but its light years better than animation in Flash.
The drawback of vector vs traditional animation is when the movement get complex: During head/body turns, elements appear and disappear behind other layers. Tradition drawing just lets you cheat since there is no continuity between the keys. No so in vector. Points and lines must be present during the entire scene. So if you have an arm bend which creates folds in the clothes at the elbow, you have to make sure that T shape is available from the beginning (or back animate it if you add it later).
For a small studio, vector is attractive as there is no ink and paint department: The animator is the ink and paint - composite department. That can be a strength or weakness, as not all animators are good compositors. Many commercial houses have a dedicated compositor, usually working with Mirage or Combustion, to keep the continuity between the scenes. Just like a good editor, a good compositor can save a bad film, a bad compositor can ruin a good film. The difference between good and WOW is often down to small details in the colour balance and other digital finishing.
Both hand drawn and vector have their animation places. Each have strengths and weaknesses. They are chalk and cheese and making direct comparisons is hard: They are doing different jobs, just as in the Claymation vs CGI animation arguments. Commercially, low-end TV series productions have benefited from vector due to its speed and lower staffing requirements. But the sacrifice is the look and animation quality - flash looks like flash, not Disney. AS can, as GreyKid Studios, produce a very rich/quality look. It need time and considerable experience/expertise.
Vector has brought animation to every desktop and opened up animation to everyone with the need for light boxes, peg bars and heaps of post animation tools.
And that can only be good.
Rhoel
Flash and AS are both vector animation programs. The approach to how the line is made is different: AS was specifically designed for animation, whilst Flash wasn't. In flash, modifying a line is not so easy (the line can "buckle" and kink): This is largely because it was designed to do a different job.
AS lines are much easier to manipulate and modify. It also has a fills library system so colours changes can be made later. THe biggest advantage of AS is the bones. This can make animating a character very much faster and a lot more like 3D animation. It's not perfect and tweaks must be made as you work but its light years better than animation in Flash.
The drawback of vector vs traditional animation is when the movement get complex: During head/body turns, elements appear and disappear behind other layers. Tradition drawing just lets you cheat since there is no continuity between the keys. No so in vector. Points and lines must be present during the entire scene. So if you have an arm bend which creates folds in the clothes at the elbow, you have to make sure that T shape is available from the beginning (or back animate it if you add it later).
For a small studio, vector is attractive as there is no ink and paint department: The animator is the ink and paint - composite department. That can be a strength or weakness, as not all animators are good compositors. Many commercial houses have a dedicated compositor, usually working with Mirage or Combustion, to keep the continuity between the scenes. Just like a good editor, a good compositor can save a bad film, a bad compositor can ruin a good film. The difference between good and WOW is often down to small details in the colour balance and other digital finishing.
Both hand drawn and vector have their animation places. Each have strengths and weaknesses. They are chalk and cheese and making direct comparisons is hard: They are doing different jobs, just as in the Claymation vs CGI animation arguments. Commercially, low-end TV series productions have benefited from vector due to its speed and lower staffing requirements. But the sacrifice is the look and animation quality - flash looks like flash, not Disney. AS can, as GreyKid Studios, produce a very rich/quality look. It need time and considerable experience/expertise.
Vector has brought animation to every desktop and opened up animation to everyone with the need for light boxes, peg bars and heaps of post animation tools.
And that can only be good.
Rhoel
Yeehaaa!
Rhoel, I tried to write a response here to explain the difference between Flash "vectors" and AS "vectors" and never got it quite right. Great explanation for the whole thing.
Another thing... in my mind "vector animation" can be interpreted (misinterpreted?)
Is vector animation the artistic "style" of the animation or the technique that is used to produce it?
For instance many people ask about doing a "South Park" style animation. South Park is done in Maya:
From Wikipedia -
-vern
Rhoel, I tried to write a response here to explain the difference between Flash "vectors" and AS "vectors" and never got it quite right. Great explanation for the whole thing.
Another thing... in my mind "vector animation" can be interpreted (misinterpreted?)
Is vector animation the artistic "style" of the animation or the technique that is used to produce it?
For instance many people ask about doing a "South Park" style animation. South Park is done in Maya:
From Wikipedia -
I think they even go so far as to add jagged edges and subtle shadows to the "paper" characters to make it look "real". Amazing.Current episodes duplicate the original, amateurish look using modern computer animation tools — first PowerAnimator and then Maya, which Parker and Stone described as "building a sandcastle with a bulldozer".
-vern
Forgot to mention one important thing:
All bitmap programs allow the user to animate frame by frame, in the sense that in each frame he can start with a blank screen and draw whatever he likes. The same is true for Flash and ToonBoom.
AS doesn't allow this. An object exists for the whole length of the timeline and can only be deformed, transferred outside the visible area, or having its visibility switched on and off.
All bitmap programs allow the user to animate frame by frame, in the sense that in each frame he can start with a blank screen and draw whatever he likes. The same is true for Flash and ToonBoom.
AS doesn't allow this. An object exists for the whole length of the timeline and can only be deformed, transferred outside the visible area, or having its visibility switched on and off.
The same can be said for 3D applications as well. 3D software "doesn't allow this" either. That is precisely the same limitations of any high end 3D application. You can't "draw" on each frame in a 3D program but you can animate frame to frame which is what those other applications focus on. Total control.AS doesn't allow this. An object exists for the whole length of the timeline and can only be deformed, transferred outside the visible area, or having its visibility switched on and off.
I see AS as a unique "2.5D" animation package. It bridges that gap between 2D and 3D. I don't mean 2.5D as far as dimensions, but in how you create and animate "drawn" characters. You can set them up and control them just like in a 3D application. I'm too lazy to draw all those frames by hand.
-vern