Hello again everyone!
I have something exciting to show you later this week, unfortunately, I have been too busy to complete it just yet. I have been working on an animatic for the first animation.
For those who aren't familiar with that term, it is essentially an animation made using the storyboard images, in order to get a better sense of timing and layout. It is also a good way of showing people the concept behind the idea of a scene, and sometimes end up as extras on a DVD or Blu-ray.
I am over half way done with the animatic now, and it shouldn't take too much longer to complete, so I should be able to post in online, via YouTube, later this week. Of course, I will also post a new blog entry when I do.
For now, however, I want to talk about some of the tools I use to make the animations. There are a huge variety of tools, both hardware and software, that people use, and I cannot pretend to know them all. But I will give a list of a few of the ones that I do use.
Hardware:
Paper
Big surprise, I use paper to draw. I usually use 3x5 notecards for storyboards, but for all sketches, I use a sketchpad, usually by Strathmore. Green covers, marked Sketch, are the ones I use the most for sketching, while the brown covers, marked Drawing, are for final drawings, but I am always on a look out for recycled paper as well. When it comes to drawing the final images, I use drawing paper, which is usually thicker and nicer, but not as thick as Bristol board, which is used mostly for my nicer work, such as poster-style art or pen-and-ink drawings. Although I usually use Strathmore for most of my paper, sometimes I find good deals on other brands, such as the "create" style spiral bound books at Borders Books, which usually convince me to buy some of those as well. I use Bristol Board for all my nicer work, usually poster-style artwork. This current animation project is using the Create book, while the web comic I am working on is in a Strathmore Sketchbook.
Pencils
Yup, I use pencils with my paper. I find that unless I am drawing very detailed shadow work, such as following form and contours with detailed lighting, I usually just stick to mechanical pencils. They are always sharp, sturdy and easy to transport, and can be very comfortable and accurate. I like to use graphite at around HB - 2B, but I also use blue (aka non-photo blue) graphite for the initial sketch which allows me to remove any unwanted lines easier. I have also used a variety of charcoal to draw, but I usually use that for larger art pieces, and not for digital work. However, one animation, which I hope to post soon, was made entirely out of charcoal. I did not have the time to achieve the effect I desired, but I think it turned out very well despite that.
Computer
In the world of computers, there are usually 2 camps of thought, Macintosh and Windows. There are other Operating Systems out there, such as Linux, but they are not as popular overall. I do have friends that swear by Linux, but most of them also use other computers as well. As far as I am concerned, I have worked with both PCs and Macs. I have built PCs, and I grew up with Macs. I always prefer my iMac for anything important, such as work and artwork. My PCs are almost always used for gaming. I have run into several things that Macs actually do better in terms of graphics, but you will find people who will argue against it. I can say that in my experience, I have run into fewer bugs, fewer viruses, fewer compression errors, and fewer compatibility issues when I use my Mac. If you love your PC, great. I will give you some advice about things I have run into on a PC to keep a look out for, but if you have a high end machine, you should have no real issues. I currently use a 24" iMac, (although I would really love a mac tower), and also a custom built i5 processor PC. All my work here will be done on my iMac. This is mainly cause the software I use is on my iMac, and some of it is not even available on the PC (how about that for a change).
Tablet
While I don't use it as often as I should, I do have access to a relatively small graphics tablet. These are usually made by Wacom (pronounced Wack-um), and are very useful for digital artists. They are very expensive, and I need to upgrade to a newer model, but that is something I will have to save up for. Regardless, tablets are great for fine detailed work an accurate drawings in the computer. You can draw straight in the computer with one, or trace an existing drawing, or edit a scan/photograph with extreme precision.
Scanner
Having a background with National Geographic Society, I know a think or two about scanners, since my main job involved work with the scanning technicians to make the best images available. The scanners they have there are very expensive, large, and accurate. I have access only to small, cheap, and somewhat lacking scanners, but they are good enough to get the job done. I am not scanning in high quality photographs and positives/negatives, I am only scanning in drawings. To that end, I use a Canon Canoscan LiDE. It does have some artifacts, but with the right editing, they are easily removed or reduced. I use a scanner for this work because I like to draw on paper rather than straight into a computer, plus you have flexibility of mediums and techniques. I will explore direct digital drawings with tablets at a later time.
iPhone
I know I need something better, something more dedicated, but for now, until I can afford a better solution, I use my iPhone for a variety of purposes. I use it to take pictures for reference shots, I use it to record sounds outdoors if I need something like a car engine, I use it as a calculator to figuring out frame rates, etc. It is very useful, but there are better things out there for each job.
Home Theater
I use my HDTV with 7.1 surround sound home theater to test my animations when they are done. I can play things on my PS3, either as files or DVDs (I cannot make Blu-rays yet). It is a great way of seeing the final product and showing it off, especially when playing with surround sound.
Accessories
I have a lot of accessories I use as well. For example, I use a PowerMate, by Griffon Technology, for "scrubbing" and navigating timelines. I also have a variety of hard drives, including La Cie drives, and Western Digital drives, not to mention a MyBook drive used as backup. The grand total of space I have right now is around 1.75TB, but I backup only 1.5 of it. I am only using around 500GB at the moment, but it is good to have breathing space. I also have JBL speakers, surround sound headphones, several USB mics, and much more.
Software:
Adobe Photoshop
I use Photoshop CS4, but in all honesty, most people don't need something that new or advanced. For basic editing, you only need Photoshop Elements. However, for animation, having Photoshop is great. I am used to it, I know it very well, and I use a lot of the advanced tools all the time. You can easily use CS, CS2, or CS3 as well, having CS4 only adds a few new nice features which you don't need. Unless you do medical work, or 3D work, there is NO REASON in the world you should get the extended edition. It is great, and I do have it, but I never use the extended features.
Adobe After Effects
Again, I use After Effects CS4. It has been a while since I used After Effects, so I am relearning some of the tools, and I find that it is a very good program. I used to use CS, but have been out of the loop ever since. I will be exploring some of the newer features, and experimenting with it. But After Effects is essential to these animation, because it is the main program that puts all the elements together into an animation.
Adobe Flash
Once again, I have Flash CS4. I am not familiar with Flash, in terms of animation and programming. So for me, it will all be a learning experience. I will not start out with Flash at first, since I am trying to get back into animation after such a long hiatus, and want to stick with things I am familiar with.
Apple Final Cut Pro
I am not using the latest Final Cut, but it is still sufficient for my needs. This is the program that takes all the scenes, the music, the text, etc., and put them together, and renders it into one single file ready to burn onto a disc. I have the entire suite, but I have to figure out how to use more of it since I only ever focused on 2 of the programs in it before. This is not available on the PC, but the Mac/PC equivalent, which I will also explore and experiment with, is called Adobe Premier. Premier advertises that it burns Blu-ray discs, but Apple computers lack the hardware at the moment. (Then again, so does my PC).
DVD Studio Pro
The second program I learned in the Final Cut Suite. Also not available on PC, this program lets you create the menus and options for use on a DVD. You can burn a final product with this program. I think that Adobe Encore is the Mac/PC equivalent to this, but I must explore it more.
Maya
This is for people who want to explore world outside the second dimension. For 3D modeling and animation, Maya is a must-have. While many companies have their own software (Pixar uses Marionette), they are not available to the general public, and learning Maya is usually the best way to get a head start in the right direction. This is a very advanced, expensive, and complicated tool. I am trying desperately to better familiarize myself with it, but it will be a while before I can really dig my teeth into it. I need to get a few 2D animations out first to get the workflow organized and refined better. You can also use Studio Max and other software to create 3D effects and models. Maya comes with MotionBuilder, which I fully intend to explore, and also Combustion, which I am not familiar with... yet. There are other tools 3D artists use, such as ZBrush, which gives you more refined control over various aspects of the modeling and animation process. ZBrush lets you brush in details to a model with ease and accuracy. I need to save up to get this.
Other
There are lots of other programs I use. I use Quicktime and Sound Studio to record audio, but I may be exploring other options. I use Soundtrack Pro also, for mixing sounds. I use Firefox, Safari, and Chrome when I do web work, as well as Dreamweaver for creating websites, which I will probably not use much for this project.
Well, that is it for now. Another long post, but a there is lots of information in it. If anyone wants more information about what tools I will be using, or have suggestions for any tools you use that might work better, please send me an email. And no anti-mac/anti-pc spam please. I use both, I like both, I just prefer my Mac. If you prefer your PC, more power to you.
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