Separating Character & Background

[toshiyori]

I want to move the camera from the one character that is facing you to a zoomed in back ground to another character, then return to the 1st character in a side view. Is this possible ? Changing the characters position (Facing, Side, back) within the time line is too sudden, changing the scene, then coming back to the character at a different position would look normal.

[Greenlaw]

Can you show your storyboard? It's a little hard to exactly imagine the scene based on what you've written.

It sounds like you want the first character to pan off camera as the camera moves into a second character, and then you pull back to a wider shot to include both characters, but you also want to camera to rotate around the environment...is that correct? If so, you may want to set the scene up as a 3D shot (in ASP) and swap out the first character for a front view to a side view version during the moment the character is off-camera. You could also cheat this entirely in 2D by using a wide panoramic BG. If the artwork BG art is vector and simple enough, you might even animate the perspective change to simulate a camera move. The preferred method may depend on the style of your animation.

(For me personally, a sweeping camera move like that would be easier to set up and animate in a 3D animation program but if you rig the camera properly, it could be done in ASP too. BTW, as you might have gathered from the above, I feel it's be easier to physically move the camera as opposed to using a zoom. When you start manipulating the zoom while moving the camera, you can get weird results. This can be true for 2D or 3D.)

Again, it's a little hard to visualize what you want to do but showing the storyboard would help.

G.

[funksmaname]

the way I read it I thought he meant cutting away to disguise a switch from front to side view so that the turn doesn't have to be animated (and a straight switch looks bad).
This is possible, just use 'step' interpolation on the camera to cut away, switch the character, then cut back...

[mattchee]

Based on the subject line - Separating Character & Background - I'm wondering if what was meant was more about using z-space to accomplish this.

Meaning: Character 1 is closest to the camera. Charcter 2 is in the shot but further away from the camera. The background is the furthest. toshiyori wants to zoom in to Character 2, effectively putting Character 1 BEHIND the camera, so that the switch can take place, and then pull the camera back to reveal the change.

If toshiyori doesn't have the three elements set up 3 dimensionally in z-space, then I could see how this would be a problem (you could do it in 2D, but it would look flat - go figure!). Anyhow from the subject line, it sounds like maybe toshiyori doesn't know how to set the layers up in z-space.

IF that's the case - you can easily push layers back (or forward) in Z space by selecting the layer you want to move, and then using the Transform Layer tool to move it. Once you have the Transform Layer tool selected you can edit the Z position on the top bar. Negative numbers push it back, positive numbers bring it forward. Alternately, you can just grab the layer with the tool (click and hold) and move it back "manually". In both cases (especially the latter) you should orbit your view of the workspace as you do this (Worspace tools: Orbit - then just click and hold anywhere and move the mouse to orbit your view), so you can see what the heck you're doing.

Again, not 100% sure if this is what is being asked for, but I'm throwing it out there in case it is, or as an alternative option. If it does actually involve camera turns, personally, with AS, I'd skip the complicated turns shoot everything with straight forward shots, and then edit it to cut from Character 1 to Character 2 and then back again.

[Greenlaw]

Yeah, that's more or less what I was thinking but I also wondered if I wasn't overthinking it. There are a lot of ways to interpret the OP's written description. Showing pictures or a diagram would be better.

After nearly 15 years of working in commercials, game cinematics and other short format productions, I've learned that the simplest thumbnail sketch can make sure everybody (i.e., artists, supervisors, agency and client,) is on the same page before any actual production work gets started.

G.

[toshiyori]

Greenlaw, Mattchee, I'm confused, the acronym's "ASP, BTW" are foreign to me. also "Setup Layers In Z-Space" is unknown. I'll look for a tutorial regarding this function. However, if you know have any instructions in this I would greatly appreciate in.

[jahnocli]

Greenlaw, Mattchee, I'm confused, the acronym's "ASP, BTW" are foreign to me. also "Setup Layers In Z-Space" is unknown. I'll look for a tutorial regarding this function. However, if you know have any instructions in this I would greatly appreciate in.

I can help you with a couple of those things. ASP is "Anime Studio Pro", and BTW is "by the way" (which is quite a common one).

[Greenlaw]

"Setup Layers In Z-Space" is unknown. I'll look for a tutorial regarding this function.

By that, we just mean pushing your layers apart to give them three dimensional depth. As you may know, X and Y represent horizontal and vertical coordinates relative to the camera view; Z is your third dimension, a point moving away or towards the camera.

In traditional animation, separating the layers in z-space is called multi-planing. In the old days, when animation cels were shot with a real film camera through glass, you could stack several layers of glass and shoot through them for depth. The physical device that was used was called a multi-plane camera. One big advantage we have now by doing this inside the computer is that we're not limited to only moving the camera forward and backwards--now we can actually turn the camera around and move through the 'glass' sideways if we want to. We can even make the 'cels' (layers) always face the camera as we move around the 3D space so we never see them rotate and disappear--this may be useful, for example, if you have forest with lots of trees, or a field of flowers.

Hope that helps clarify some of the terminology. You can read more about how to set up an ASP scene in 3D in the manuals under Help.

G.

[dueyftw]

I only skimmed through this post but:

No matter what software your using: CAMERA MOVES ARE LAST!!!!.

No matter how much your are temped to move the camera, DON'T. Not until you have done all the animation. If you have a separated cameras from the rendering camera then use them. Leave the rendering camera alone. When you have done all the animation, then move the rendering camera. Not following this simple rule has caused me a lot of headaches.

Anime Studio has a user script to save camera animation that can make up for not having more than one camera.

There are some who have never had a problem with moving the camera while animating and may have a different opinion. But I can tell you have lost tons of time until I figure out this.

Dale

[Greenlaw]

In general, I do agree but I think this also depends on the project and the nature of the shots you're creating. When I have big sweeping shots (like I did in a freelance project last spring,) I often animate the camera early on so I can be sure my overall scene layout matches my animatic. (I'll see if I can post an example tonight.)

This really hasn't been a big issue for me but, yeah, it would be great if the camera animation could be switched on and off as needed.

G.

[slowtiger]

+1. My workaround is to select all camera keys and move them to the right temporarily, but that's clumsy.
(Idea: would it be possible to script this? MoveCamKeysRight and Movecamkeysleft could be 2 scripts, like buttons?)

Sometimes a scene or a whole film needs to be planned around a certain camera movement, like this one:


This is often the case for advertising or info spots with lots of constant camera movement. But in general I agree: do your animation first, camera last.