Anime Studio Pro instead of CelAction2D

[Francis Seven]

Hi, this is my first post on this forum. I'm an independent animator and I actually started using Anime Studio Pro 10 because I wanted something that could do what CelAction2D could do. And I want to hear from others if they think Anime Studio Pro can animate in the same manner.

Is there anything at all that CelAction2D can do that Anime Studio Pro can't? Some of my daughter's favourite shows are made on Celaction2D. But when I looked at the how CA2D works, it didn't seem that different from ASP, except that you can't really draw in CA2D. This probably accounts for why the characters in "Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies" have lines that look hand-drawn. The art was likely scanned in and inked. In Ben & Holly, on the other hand, everything looks like it was made in Illustrator. Not sure about Humf. Humf seems to have pretty consistent line weights, a hand-drawn quality to the characters but the animation is definitely cut-out.

Could any of those have been produced in ASP? I can't get anyone from CelAction to send me a demo. I know I'm not their target customer base so maybe they think I'm not worth a trial version? But if ASP does all it does, I won't feel held back.

[slowtiger]

Have a look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-cb6GEYfBg


Jo and Jack was entirely produced in AS. Outlines were vectors with a brush effect, fills were lots of scanned-in watercolour pics.

[Víctor Paredes]

It's hard to find "real" information about CelAction, but from what I have seen, it doesn't do anything AS can't. Actually, most of their fancy rotating characters have no stroke, so maybe they are not as easy to control as they are in Anime Studio. Of course, that is just speculation.
I remember this discussion where people from CelAction appeared to talk about the advantages of their software. Looking it in perspective, I think they were right about CelAction had better bone locking than AS. But current AS version already solved that with target bones, plus a huge amount of improvements on rigging and animation:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=18780

Just this week someone from LA wrote me looking for animators for a series they are making. It is made on Celaction, but he told me he actually don't see any quality difference between you can get with other software as Anime Studio.

[Francis Seven]

Have a look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-cb6GEYfBg
Jo and Jack was entirely produced in AS. Outlines were vectors with a brush effect, fills were lots of scanned-in watercolour pics.

Hi slowtiger! Thanks for the reply. I had never heard of Joe and Jack, this is the first time I hear not only of this show, but of a series being made with ASP. It's good to know.

I did some looking around after seeing your post and I found the demo reel of animator Claire Morley, who's worked on that show and also on shows that used Celaction2D:
https://vimeo.com/119282715

The reel also contained an example of animation done in Flash. The worst of them was the Flash clip. The CelAction stuff seemed to animate as expected from a TV show. The ASP stuff in that one reel seemed to move a bit more awkwardly, I don't know why that was. But it still looked good.

Since no one has any info on the workflow with CelAction2D it's hard to guess how they pull it off.

[Francis Seven]

It's hard to find "real" information about CelAction, but from what I have seen, it doesn't do anything AS can't. Actually, most of their fancy rotating characters have no stroke, so maybe they are not as easy to control as they are in Anime Studio. Of course, that is just speculation.
I remember this discussion where people from CelAction appeared to talk about the advantages of their software. Looking it in perspective, I think they were right about CelAction had better bone locking than AS. But current AS version already solved that with target bones, plus a huge amount of improvements on rigging and animation:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=18780

Just this week someone from LA wrote me looking for animators for a series they are making. It is made on Celaction, but he told me he actually don't see any quality difference between you can get with other software as Anime Studio.

Hi selgin, thank you for the reply. I looked at the Humf you made on ASP on the other thread and it looked great! You're correct, I did read something about the feet sliding and the textures not moving with the character, but that thread is years old, like you said.

I'm currently learning the drawing process in ASP and I'm loving some of it, hating other parts. For example, the "styles" drop down menu keeps changing and I still have no idea how to simply change the colour of a stroke on a layer. But I'll get there, I hope.

[Francis Seven]

I just thought of something. FILMATION would have loved ASP! All those repeated shots in everything from TARZAN to He-Man, etc...

[GCharb]

I just thought of something. FILMATION would have loved ASP! All those repeated shots in everything from TARZAN to He-Man, etc...

Anime Studio is much more then repeating shots or just cut-outs, and I did use CelAction2d in the past, liked it too, but there is nothing it can do that AS cant in my opinion, and the upcoming V4 doesn't change my mind about that, and AS has a much bigger user base and much more tutorials around the web, not to mention that it is much more affordable, just saying!

[amanandink]

Hey guys, I just thought I'd add something here since we were actually the studio that produced Joe&Jack. Yeah slow tiger is right, it is entirely ASP but it was back in version 8 or 9 I think. So no smart bones, but the latest show I'm working on Puffin Rock https://vimeo.com/116147567 is also entirely ASP and takes full advantage of v10, although we know a few animators working on CelAction shows and they do envy our smart bones and head turning, they just can't get it with the same ease as we do in ASP. So I would say that this is something that ASP has over most 2D animation packages, if not all.

But we have found that as a studio celection is better equipped for a pipeline, it's very much geared towards studios, hence why you can't get a trial, the cost is based on the number of seats you would like to have and its a license based payment scheme. So you just rent it for your production. At least I think I remember this is how it works from the last pitching session we had with them.

The pipeline issue is changing and it is improving in ASP and I don't think it will be long before ASP is an extremely powerful tool for both home users and studios alike. I would say Francis there is absolutely no need to feel held back with ASP, with a bit of work, training and help from the users on the forum here, ASP will be able to do everything you want it to.

[Nahmani]

Hey guys, I just thought I'd add something here since we were actually the studio that produced Joe&Jack. Yeah slow tiger is right, it is entirely ASP but it was back in version 8 or 9 I think. So no smart bones, but the latest show I'm working on Puffin Rock

Finally! Someone who is working on an actual broadcast show!

Could you look at my thread http://lostmarble.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=27146 and give your opinions please?

[Dodgy]

Great stuff Amanandink!