Some character designs ...

[matador]

Hands, and womens hair of all things gives me trouble. I was looking over on the Bitey Castle's website and he advices to just take a picture for reference when you can't seem to draw something the right way. I thought to myself, you know what, in art school all of our art instructers would Drive that message home, Reference, reference, reference! Somehow I lost site of that and kind of thought of it as cheating but those hands are from pics I took of my own.

The thing that still looks strange is the body of the girl, it's hard to tell the difference between front and back view. Maybe you can put a logo on her shirt.

That is what happens when you take shortcuts. The rear torso is a duplicate of the front, But you are right I should maybe add something like a logo to differentiate the 2. Although, I am currently drawing a jacket and some other clothes for her so maybe that will fix that.

The problem with the first scene is the perspective. Her whole body points towards the guy, but her head looks straight to the right. Attaching the angled back view (you know what I mean) might look better, but I'm not sure.

Excellent point, I think you are right on the money there.

[matador]

Testing out the template. Think I need to fix how the Torso and pelvis are setup.



This was done using a combo of Pose to Pose, FBF peppered with some tweens.



There is one small thing that bothers me. Looks like the leg is shaking a bit but I cannot
see it when I have it flash.

I did this following Adam Sacks tutorial on walk cycle.

[keyframer]

Nice walk cycle and character design!

[matador]

Thanks Keyframer!

[FlashQueen]

Matador,

Looks like you have been busy. Busier than me

Your walk cycle and jump look good.

[matador]

Yes I have been busy, but with Animate more than anything else. I finally learned how to animate a little better with it. Atleast, I can control the easing in and out much better and understand how the animation part works. The hardest part is just learning how to deal with the Riggin and the Pegs, once you understand that, the animation part is almost too easy. You have soooo much more control over the elements, like swinging an arm is as easy as just rotating it. No need to set key frames or select the layers it's just so practical.I love it! Flash seems clumsy to me now.

I am going chapter by chapter and not moving on until I have not only understood it but also done it. The next chapter is that Multiplane Camera, I get chills just thinking about the possibilities.

I think that girl jump and walk is the last thing I do in flash. I pre-ordered Animate 2 and it will have a text tool among other things so once that comes out I don't see anymore use for flash for me. I am not a programmer I am an artist and wannabe Animator so I think this is the best route for me to take.

Have you checked out the Toonboom site for the upcoming updates?

BTW- You are right Chris Change is Good.

[FlashQueen]

No I haven't checked out the Toon Boon site in awhile. Guess I need to do that.

I am going chapter by chapter and not moving on until I have not only understood it but also done it.

When you said you were working chapter by chapter, which book/guide are you referring to? The User Guide that comes with Animate?

[matador]

Yes not the quick start, but the Bigger Badder User Guide PDF. It's the only way to learn it.

[keyframer]

matador - is that the PDF titled "Animate_Family_User_Guide"?

[matador]

nope just userguide.pdf. there is another one that comes with it that is called the quick start guide. it is not as detailed as the other one. it just covers the basics and is good for quick reference.

According to a member on the toonboom forums some website is about to launch an 8 month or part lesson on animate.

[keyframer]

Sounds like the PDF offered in the Documentation section of this page:
http://www.toonboom.com/products/animatepro/eLearning/

[matador]

Yup, those are the ones. The quickstart pdf will get you going with the basics and it compliments the quickstart videos very well.

However, you will run into more detailed issues that are not covered in the quickstart files.

From spending more and more time, and learning how to do things in Animate, I've realized that most of the issues I've had are due to the fact that I am so used to doing things a certain way in flash.

Let me give you an example of something I learned this week.

Let's say you are doing a character turn in flash and you have all your character's views keyframes on frames. So frame 1 is front view, frame 2 is 3/4's and so on. Let's say you decide to nudge the arm up a bit in frame 2. That works fine in flash.
If you do that in animate it would move ALL of the symbols in every view/franes regardless of the fact that the other views are on keyframes. ( I think the reason is that the symbols are registered to the stage) The right way to do it is to go into the symbol and nudge it there inside the symbol. Sounds simple enough, but what you don't know can kill you. I kept chasing the elements on frames for hours until I figured I would cheat and go inside the symbol and reposition it there. Turns out, that's the right way to do it.

Small things like this is what challenge flash user the most.It's almost like you have to un-learn flash for a minute.

I read what I wrote in an earlier post and I think I sounded to harsh in regards to flash. What I meant was that I love flash, but I'm not in love with it. lol, and It seems that it's parents (Adobe) do not approve of our relationship.

If Adobe's thinking is, "well flash was never really intended for Animation" then I guess it's there right to think that way. I have no option but to move on. It is in the there's to control.

[matador]

Yup, those are the ones. The quickstart pdf will get you going with the basics and it compliments the quickstart videos very well.

However, you will run into more detailed issues that are not covered in the quickstart files.

From spending more and more time, and learning how to do things in Animate, I've realized that most of the issues I've had are due to the fact that I am so used to doing things a certain way in flash.

Let me give you an example of something I learned this week.

Let's say you are doing a character turn in flash and you have all your character's views keyframed on separate frames. So frame 1 is front view, frame 2 is 3/4's and so on. Let's say you decide to nudge the arm up a bit in frame 2. That works fine in flash.
If you do that in animate it would nudge ALL of the symbols in every view/frame regardless of the fact that the other views are on keyframes. ( I think the reason is that the symbols are registered to the stage) The right way to do it is to go into the symbol and nudge it there inside the symbol. Sounds simple enough, but what you don't know can kill you. I kept chasing the elements on frames for hours until I figured I would cheat and go inside the symbol and reposition it there. Turns out, that's the right way to do it.

Small things like this is what challenge flash user the most.It's almost like you have to un-learn flash for a minute.

I read what I wrote in an earlier post and I think I sounded to harsh in regards to flash. What I meant was that I love flash, but I'm not in love with it. lol, and It seems that it's parents (Adobe) do not approve of our relationship.

If Adobe's thinking is, "well flash was never really intended for Animation" then I guess it's there right to think that way. I have no option but to move on. It is in the there's to control.

[keyframer]

Nice tip! Thanks for that.

I can speak first hand in regards to what the Adobe team plans for Flash. They do indeed know that animators use it. I have had many conversations with Richard Galvan (Flash Product Manager) about Flash's current state, features and the future. He asked me to fly out to Adobe soon to spend time with the Flash team to show them the finer points of Flash animating so they can implement the right features (or improve the current ones).

chris

[matador]

Sounds like instead of flying you over there to spend some time, they should instead fly you over there to take over the flash team. Maybe the production manager for the animation part of it.

Regardless, it should be interesting to see what comes of it. Are you going to mention all the things you wrote in your wish list? and the things you discuss will probably have to wait until cs6? or can they still implement them into cs5?

One thing about Adobe is that when they care about something it shows in the product. I mean look at after effects,ps,illustrator,ect. Those are probably the best programs ever created. with a little guidance im sure they are capable of making flash numero uno again. The balance of the force lies with u my friend.