using bones as a guide for FBF

[funksmaname]

Hey guys! My friend mocked me on facebook chat so i thought i'd try some fbf with it. I've never been good at fbf - i can draw, but keeping volumes is REALLY hard. So I figured why not try to build a box rig just to guide my timing and volumes for fbf? I think it works quite well... This is the opposite to using fbf as a rough for rigged animation

here is my first, fbf only straight ahead... (took about an hour all in)



Kinda lifeless.

SO here is my rig version: (took about 10 minutes)



and finally my trace (took about 1.5 hours - more drawings than the other, but had a really good guide)



Let me know what you think!

[Víctor Paredes]

Love this kind of experimentation. I think one of the best things about having FBF inside AS is the ability to combine both fbf and rigged worlds. Your example really explains the power of this. Thanks for sharing!

[Greenlaw]

LOL!

I love seeing the evolution of each version. The animation in the final one was terrific! Thanks for sharing that.

G.

[funksmaname]

Thanks for the encouragement
This was definitely intended as a quick experiment. I wonder if with the box rig, if i'd left smooth interpolation on, it would even help with the inbetweens. It's probably a quicker way of doing a rough pass that's quite tight than simply scribbling? Either way, after 1.5 hours of drawing frames and getting a bit of a hand ache, i think in general I will probably stick to rig animation!! too much hard work

[funksmaname]

Incidentally, I found that what seemed perfectly synced in the preview playback, on export the audio seemed to lag. I put it 5 frames forward in the sequencer before export and it was better.

[Ronbo]

Wow, that's a great idea, funksmaname! You're absolutely right about maintaining volumes. I think I'll give this a try.

[Greenlaw]

Incidentally, I found that what seemed perfectly synced in the preview playback, on export the audio seemed to lag. I put it 5 frames forward in the sequencer before export and it was better.

I mentioned this in another thread but it may possibly be related to this issue too. The lag might have to do with the audio format or quality setting. If the audio file is compressed, it may not be frame accurate for scrubbing or realtime playback. If the file is uncompressed, it's possible that it might take up a lot of RAM but that's unlikely to be a real problem unless it's a very long audio file. In any case, the only way to insure synchronised playback, especially for a complicated scene, is to render a preview movie. But there are things you can do to improve the sync for realtime playback.

What I like to do is save uncompressed audio at a lower bit depth for my temp track so it stays in sync, and I save the final quality audio for the final render. Normally that would be from my video editing program, but it could be just as well be from ASP if I were exporting final from that program.

If the lower bit depth/quality is still an issue, try reducing some of the display features, like bitmap textures (especially if you're using very high res textures.)

These are just personal thoughts as I haven't actually tested the above. What I've described is just my normal workflow based on past experience with other animation programs, and these habits just carried over when I started using ASP.

For all I know, the lag you're experiencing might not have anything to do with this but hopefully some of this info helps.

G.

[strider2000]

Super cool funksmaname Your last version definitely had a lot of life. The box rig made me think of art mannequins. Maybe that's what you were thinking too. The more we play with FBF and rigging the more power I see

I agree that drawing for the final animation is a ton of work (at least for me ), but my son really likes that style and your approach definitely seems like it would be a great guide for FBF. It makes me think of a gesture man that I created so that I could do quick animations when I don't have full rigs. I should add more volume like you do.



Regarding the synch, I'm not sure if this is it, but I read somewhere that some of the original Disney animators realized that they needed to have the audio trail the image by 3 to 4 frames. Don't know if that's a different issue and just coincidentally the same result, but I do lip synch in time in the workspace and then shift the audio by 4 frames on the render. That seems to align with what you're seeing. I don't know the technical reason for it, just know this kind of issue is not only in Anime Studio.

[slowtiger]

That's the reason why you should render some additional 10 frames at beginning and end of each scene: so you can shift it in the video editor to get the best sync.

Aside: in traditional 35 mm editing you could have an accuracy of 1/4 frame, because you could shift the sound as little as only 1 sprocket hole, and there are 4 holes per frame.

[nagualnoor]

Idols for animatic