Rodney

I like the rim-lit one. It has a nice sense of depth to it. The toon would work well if you are looking for a more 2D look.

Very cool Paul. You're projects are always surprising. They keep me guessing.

I searched for the most appropriate word for some time. I was going to use 'mezmerized'. Captivated works better. Seriously... I was freaking captivated. Couldn't stop looking at him. That may be why I missed the squirrel's demise.

I like it. The tree singing was captivating. (the pacing really relaxed me) What happened to the squirrel? While you are sure to get more of a reaction to the bear intentionally squashing the butterfly it might work even better if the first one gets squashed by accident. The bear relaxing to the signing...leaning against the tree... oops. Morale: By accident we often develop a taste for things we otherwise might never consider. Anyway... nicely done!!!

Well done!

Wow, that's come a long way! Reminds me of some of those paintings I wanted to step into as a kid they felt so real. I really like the composition.

Looking forward to it David!

Wow. I'm impressed by your patience. There is some serious detail there. Looking great Eric!

I'm not trying to get in the habit of calling everyone out on their birthday here in the forum (that'd be a neverending job!) but... I had no idea Fuchur was such a young guy. Happy Birthday Fuchur!

This is one superbly entertaining music video. I hope you collect all the assets for these productions and store them in a safe place. As you obtain a mastery of lighting I have a feeling you'll want to revisit this one. As others have suggested getting the spotlight on the important element of the scene will accentuate the storytelling and take it to the next level. It'd pop the main characters out and blend the backgrounds in. The imagery is showing dark and important details are blending in with the background on my screen. (I completely missed the logo)* As much as I like the cartoon conductor I'd really love to see a version of this with live action elements of Myron doing the intricate finger work. This live action element would contrast nicely with the animated animals and really bring all the characters' personalities out. Of course this is all very easy to say while watching from the sidelines. I'm very jealous of your talents! *Side Note: In the book 'Timing for Animation' John Halas/Harold Whitaker suggest using approx 16 frames for each word in a title card to account for viewer 'reading time'. Similarly, if an object is there for less frame time, which includes being viewed in proper lighting, it may be missed and not read in time. Unlike mediums like comic books, with film you may only get that one time. Reading time must be planned into each scene. It must be intentionally designed. When there aren't enough frames available to allow for proper reading of the important details and story element the use of Anticipation can be used to attract the viewer's attention to where it needs to be at the proper time. Of course Easter Egg details (those that people love to find on repeated and more thorough viewings of a film) can have a lesser emphasis applied.

I just now got a chance to see this. I'm thoroughly impressed. Outstanding work everyone! Great job editing all the entries together Matt. Very entertaining.

You've still got the skillz! Impressive work.

Nice one Robert! I was especially pleased to see the inclusion of your 'stretch to ground' frame accenting contact with the ground. Thats such an important frame as it allows the moment of contact to properly read during animation.

Amazing. Beautiful work Stian.

I'm no where near my computer right now but... On the drop down menu there is an option to convert you image to Red/Green/Blue (RGB). Another option is CYMK where Magenta is the equivalent of Red. You copy this image via Edit/Copy and paste this in as a new Layer. Keep asking questions and my memory may return.

I don't think this is the tutorial you are looking for but they are at least on topic. Several Links in the A:M Forum to Photoshop Tutorials A whole lot of topics about Photoshop

Hey Rav, Having bought the CD at least that gives you something to return to. I keep thinking I'll buy the CD again but the subscription has worked so well for me I haven't had to. A websubscription is the price of a few trips to the movies over the span of a year... a dozen trips to McDonalds... the price of a video game or two. Insanely cheap for the features it delivers to you. If I was rich I'd buy a copy for you... but I'm not... so its all on you.

Robert illustrates a very significant point in how we learn through personal experience. Many would scoff at the idea of doing such simple exercises first. "I don't want to learn this stuff... open/close... open/close? I wanna work for Pixar!" All of the keys to learning are important; First Learned Best Remembered, Repetition, Most Current, Questioning, Ownership etc. etc.. I want to attack this from a slightly different perspective though. We really need to consider for a moment how we can help others in our own effort to learn. Straight forward lessons with clearly defined objects are wonderful aids in helping others help us work through a problem, discover a new process, gain experience and learn. The more variables those that WANT to help are exposed to the less likely they'll be able to assist us in reaching our goal. The K.I.S.S. principle, 'Keep It Simple Stupid'... works. The folks at Animation Mentor certainly know this. Once the basic lesson is learned, other lessons are added in building block fashion to increase our understanding and enhance and augment our learning. One of the best ways to articulate where you are and what you current know to others is to ask and answer questions. The asking helps define the goal. The answering helps lock our understanding and help us vector in and adjust the course toward ever changing longer term goals. Walter started this topic out appropriately enough by asking this question: A:M's Dopesheet and the Preston Blair phoneme set is the introduction to a method combining a classic technique with modern day technology. In understanding at least the surface how that works we have a reference point from which to explore. (This is stating the obvious for many but for those that have the need to know.)

The principle of 'Less is More' works. If nothing else it lays a solid foundation to build upon. When we start out trying to make the next 'Star Wars' (and most of us do) inevitably we are overwhelmed by it all. It's good to start with clear, definable goals. (Working through TaoA:M helps condition us for that workflow) Distill the important/essential/critical elements and stop there. After working on something over a concentrated period of hard work take a break from it. Then look back and get a clear sense of where you are. You may need to refocus and the important/essential/critical elements or you may have already surpassed your goal.

I think your friend's advice was spot on for 'Sister Mary'. There are a lot of hooks that help our brains fill in the gaps and a healthy suspension of disbelief certainly helps too. In general the more realistic the character the more accurate the lipsync will be expected to be. Clear staging of the dialogue is important. Its important that when a character is speaking there are visual clues that its person A who is talking versus person B. Taking time to establish a standard and making sure its crystal clear whose voice is being heard is important. The same is true in opposite terms if you are wanting to heighten the sense of discontinuity. As we intentionly drop and manipulate the visual clues the audience will experience more of that confusion. Its also good to think in terms of contrast. Where possible we should stage our shots in such a way as to direct the eye to the visual cue. For instance, if you've got two characters in a shot with one talking and one giving out only non-verbal clues. The audience will easily pick up which character is 'speaking' due to that contrast alone. Then the change resounds all the more vibrantly when the roles reverse.

Very impressive Glenn.

One of the secrets of using the Dopesheet for Lipsync is the Timeline. Launching the dopesheet to create lipsync is equivalent to doing about 80% of the job. The good news... that leaves only 20% left! The bad news... that 20% is really important... its what will really sell the lipsyncing effect. After creating your animated lipsync with the Dopesheet crack open the Timeline and look at the channels and keyframes that have been created. - Experiment with these Keyframes and channels to find the optimum settings that perfect the sync of the dialogue with the movement of the character's mouth. - Try selecting all of the keyframes and changing the interpolation to Linear. (shortcut key for Peaking is P) - Select a few appropriate keyframes and change the interpolation to Spline. (shortcut key for Smoothing is O) (The shortcut key for snapping the Keyframe to a frame is the apostrophe) Try manually adjusting the Bias of some Keyframes so that the articulation of the mouth Eases open or Eases closed. Try to accentuate the key words and phrases through your adjustments. Add new Keyframes if you must. Then scrap that experiment and try it all over again. In no time at all you'll develop a very fast and efficient lipsyncing workflow.

If you enjoy reading about the approach to animating lipsync you may enjoy this: Disney animator Eric Larsen discussed Dialogue for Animation with his animators. (Link to PDF document at www.animationmeat.com) For those that don't want to follow the link he concludes his dialogue with the following observations: Of course if we have no control of the script or the dialogue we've got to do the best with what we have.

Something else to consider... Depending on what you are animating the 'Puppet Method' may work well for you. This method is what is used to articulate the mouths of puppets to the delight of people everywhere. The best known example of the method is with Jim Henson's Muppets. When watching these characters no one tends to complain about the lipsync. Quite the contrary... we love watching these characters communicate with each other and us. Of course when there is less movement of the mouth the language of the head and body of these characters is all the more important.

Tell me you are recording your progress as you create these. Very cool. Looking great Stian!