Backgrounds & Lighting (and other questions)

[MJL]

As a guitar instructor, I sometimes forget to remember that the knowledge of some basic things that I take for granted, they have yet to learn.

I've had no experience with animation of any kind, but the concepts of posing and lines of motion & force, along with exaggeration and how to make an animated character behave like a real actor are understandable to me.

 

 

I'm about to approach ToaA:M exercises again. There are a few things I don't quite understand:

 

Scene & Background: sky & ground, how to change & manipulate

 

Lighting: Tutorials?

 

Cameras: Tutorials

 

Editing: The steps for turning the animations I make into "film" form

 

On the HASH Resources for learning animation page, thei link shortcuts to "History of Animation" and "Evolution of 3d Animation Tools on the Desktop" do not seem to work.

 

Now that Anzovin studios has ceased it's HASH support. How can I get my hands on the tutorials that they used to offer?

 

As I gain more knowldge and understanding I'm sure my questions will become more specific.

 

Thanks

[Rodney]

Myron,

As with many things in life there are different approaches to take that vary the results and determine the end state. One person picks up a guitar and plays country music while another pursues his own thing.

 

Similarly you'll find different approaches to take in animation and filmmaking. In the end only you can best determine your approach.

 

I'll run through your specific questions and see what springs to mind. Others can add their thoughts too. If you are waiting for someone to create a tutorial that answers all your questions though... you are going to be waiting a very long time. Better to dig in and experiment. The lessons learned will sink in even more.

 

Scene & Background: sky & ground, how to change & manipulate

 

TaoA:M (the manual) will answer this question (both sky and ground manipulation) but the answer is going to depend on what you want to do.

 

Ground

The default ground plane in A:M is a model. Replace or change that and you have a different ground.

 

Sky

You can add elements into your scene to render as the sky or you can set up your projects with transparency (Alpha Channels) in order to add the Sky at a later time. The answer is going to depend on whether you want to modify the sky 'in scene' or set it up for manipulation at a later time.

 

One good method a learning is to learn from the work of others.

Find a scene/project file that you are interested in and dig through the options. What did they do with the ground and sky? You'll learn a lot from looking at the work of others.

 

Lighting: Tutorials?

 

It takes a lifetime to master all the varied aspects of lighting but there are some tried and true techniques. A:M comes with a basic 3 point lighting setup by default but you can add and manipulate lights as needed.

 

Run a search for 'lighting' here in the forum and you are sure to get some great information. Digging deep into tutorials by the likes of Yves Poissant will keep you occupied for years.

 

I would suggest that you keep this very simple at first.

Then add to your storehouse of knowledge as you go.

 

Cameras: Tutorials

 

Most of the tutorials that deal with Cameras that I'm aware of don't focus (ha... get it?) on cameras alone. They deal more with how you use a camera to accomplish another more specific goal; adding your cartoon characters into a Live Action scene for instance.

 

Besides working through TaoA:M, which will give you a good basic introduction to the camera open up the Camera's properties and experiment... break stuff!!!

Save often and incrementally (project001.prj, project002.prj or something similar) if you want to keep what you've got.

 

Editing: The steps for turning the animations I make into "film" form

 

There are entire websites devoted to the art of filmmaking.

I recommend approaching your projects with an eye for connecting the various parts of your film (shots and sequences) into scenes which will form your final film. Look into the recent TWO project here in the forum for an example of how that works.

 

You can edit shots, sequences and scenes together in A:M or in other video applications. There are considerations when taking your film to final release that I would suggest you consult with those that have been there. If your film will only be shown on Youtube... the requirements will be minimal. If you are creating the next Star Wars... expect to spend a lot more time in research and development. Again, those that have been there can help.

 

On the HASH Resources for learning animation page, thei link shortcuts to "History of Animation" and "Evolution of 3d Animation Tools on the Desktop" do not seem to work.

 

I believe the resources there are being updated.

Not sure... I'll check.

 

There is a lot of good information on animation history out on the internet.

Those links primary dealt with where Animation:Master fit in.

As you look into the history of animation it should be fairly obvious where A:M fits in. Hash Inc has been in the business for 20 years now and we are the beneficiaries.

 

Now that Anzovin studios has ceased it's HASH support. How can I get my hands on the tutorials that they used to offer?

 

Short of working with Anzovin to get access to the tutorials I would suggest looking for A:M User Groups or A:M Users in your area. The tutorials have been in circulation for many years so a lot of A:M Users have them.

 

As I gain more knowldge and understanding I'm sure my questions will become more specific.

 

Bring it on!

 

We are all in this crazy world together. Might as well animate.

[c-wheeler]

---encouregment mode----

As an instructor you will understand that the more you practice, the better you get and to try not to be discouraged if you cant do everything you want to straight away -it takes a lot of time and effort to be a virtuoso. I have been animating for some time and there are lots of things I still dont understand -I just know a bit more than when I started.

---end encouregment mode----

sky & ground The ground colour is just the default colouron the lights - try shortcut to rim/colour/change it.

In the default mode in the choreography window the "sky"is just the background colour of the camera

open the CHO window, go to cameras,background,click on the colour and change it.For further effects you could try importing a picture into am, then dropping it onto the cho as a layer. You can then manouver it around till it looksa right -experiment -use google heres one I found on layers

http://www.mossor.org/Desktop/Tutorials/Layers/layers.html

Lighting is a huge concept.The three lights in the cho system is,suprisingly, known as three point lighting- try googling....http://www.3drender.com/light/3point.html explains it well.Digital Lighting & Rendering

By Jeremy Birn is one of my most thumbed books

 

Cameras: Tutorials try googling cinematography tutorial

Render to fle/format/quick time movie

Chris

[Rodney]

Just a follow up to the links that were reported broken on the video tutorials page.

 

As far as I can tell the only link broken right now is the 'html version' link under 'History of Animation Lecture'.

You should be able to view the SWF versions online or download the zipped contents of the lecture for offline viewing.

 

http://www.hash.com/2007web/vm.htm

 

These videos provide a nice overview of basic history of animation and where A:M fits into the history of it all.

[MJL]

Thanks You Guys,

 

I'll digest this and return with more questions

 

Myron