Creating a Sailor Moon style cartoon with Anime Studio Pro?

AstroGear · Post by **AstroGear** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 9:33 pm

Greetings

I was wondering... is it prossible to create cartoons such as Sailor Moon, or Yu-Gi-Oh, or Ninja Turtles..? With the impression that the character is 3d, and can move around, rotate e.t.c.

If yes, then could you please inform me about any tutorial which can teach me how to make character turn left, right, and act "normal" with their moves? Like the above cartoons...

Thanks for your time!

Neil · Post by **Neil** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 10:03 pm

Hmmm... I think I know what you're getting at. You mean something like this?

My biggest piece advice would be simply to avoid using bones - that's what I do, although maybe someone who's better at using bones than I am would disagree. For me, they kind of get in the way if you're going for depth, so it's easier to go without them.

AstroGear · Post by **AstroGear** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 10:09 pm

Thanks a lot!! Yeah something like this i mean!

I would be grateful if you could suggest me any tutorial that can help me in that direction!

Greetings!

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:05 am

viewtopic.php?t=8301
Hey check out Darth Furby's tutorial on turns using actions here. This applies to any kind of turns.

AstroGear · Post by **AstroGear** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 12:45 pm

Thank you, it looks very interesting

i will check it right away!

Rudiger · Post by **Rudiger** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:42 pm

Don't forget that "Sailor Moon" and most other Anime is done by drawing each frame by hand, so they are able to create any turn or action they require. With a vector animation program like Anime Studio, the process is very much different, even if you want to end up with the same result. You have to spend a lot of time constructing the character so that features can slide across the face and body in a way that looks like it's turning in 3D.

There are already a fair few tutorials of different ways to do this, some using point animation and some using bones. I personally recommend using a combination of point animation and bones, as they work fine together and then you get the best of both worlds.

If you also want to replicate the hand-drawn ink style of Anime, I've found that you can get pretty close by turning down the alpha and using the "Splotchy" effect. It's just that if you have perfect black lines, it instantly stands out as a digital job. I just wish Mike would give us more control over the line style, like variable transparency and round line ends, to make it look even more authentic.

Anyway, you've got a long but fascinating road ahead of you. Good luck!

By the way, that's some impressive work, Neil.

AstroGear · Post by **AstroGear** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:03 am

Rudiger wrote:Don't forget that "Sailor Moon" and most other Anime is done by drawing each frame by hand, so they are able to create any turn or action they require.

But it must be thousands of frames for each episode! 25 frames per second... so 25*60=1500 per minute. So 1500*20=30000 frames per episode!! And they drew each of this frames by hand?
I suppose to draw its frame by hand requires really high accurasy! It is really impressive...

Rudiger wrote:Anyway, you've got a long but fascinating road ahead of you. Good luck!

I like very much this line! Arigato!!!

Patmals · Post by **Patmals** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:27 am

消えた

Rudiger · Post by **Rudiger** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 5:56 am

As well as only drawing 1/3 of the required frames, they also use every trick in the book to limit the amount of animation they have to do to get the story across. They use lots of close-ups while a character is speaking so you don't have to show hand-gestures, only one mouth position of lip-syncing, lots of wide shots where the camera zooms and pans across what it essentially a still, and they always reuse animation and backgrounds wherever possible.

The good news is that just being faithful to the Anime style will save you a lot of time by limiting the amount of actual animation you have to do.

Neil · Post by **Neil** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:49 pm

Rudiger wrote:Don't forget that "Sailor Moon" and most other Anime is done by drawing each frame by hand, so they are able to create any turn or action they require. With a vector animation program like Anime Studio, the process is very much different, even if you want to end up with the same result. You have to spend a lot of time constructing the character so that features can slide across the face and body in a way that looks like it's turning in 3D.

The way I do it is by using a mixture of frame-by-frame and standard ASP cutout-style animation - drawing multiple versions of certain body parts and flipping between them when the character turns.

Rudiger wrote:By the way, that's some impressive work, Neil.

Thanks =D

Rhoel · Post by **Rhoel** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 5:00 pm

Rudiger wrote:I just wish Mike would give us more control over the line style, like variable transparency and round line ends, to make it look even more authentic.

Coincidentally, I just posted this a s future feature request - I am seeing line problems in HD/2K testing, especially where 3 line co-join.

Rhoel

Rasheed · Post by **Rasheed** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:55 pm

About keyframing. I did some research on a small clip from Aang, The Last Airbender.

(click to view on ImageShack)

In this clip there are keyframes on 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 19, 21, 25, 27, 29, 30, 32, 35, 36. I get the idea the clip is synced on lipsync, instead of on a steady keyframe rate.

Although, strictly speaking, The Last Airbender isn't anime (because it isn't produced in Japan), it is strongly influenced by anime.

Also notice the very limited animation, which is possible to recreate with Anime Studio Pro.

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:39 pm

Rasheed wrote:
Although, strictly speaking, The Last Airbender isn't anime (because it isn't produced in Japan)

What?

Does that mean expressionism is only authentic if done by French painters?

-vern

Rasheed · Post by **Rasheed** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:27 pm

Rasheed wrote:Although, strictly speaking, The Last Airbender isn't anime (because it isn't produced in Japan)

heyvern wrote:What? Does that mean expressionism is only authentic if done by French painters?

Currently I'm immersing myself in the anime phenomena. Actually, anime is the Japanese word for animation. In Japan it means "animation". In the Western world, anime means "Japanese animation", a subclass of animation.

So it seems to be a cultural thing, not a style (if there is such a thing as style). The funny thing is that, originally, anime was based on Disney animation (flims like Bambi). Only, the Japanese animators didn't have the budget of Disney available, so they had to invent their own method of creating animation (limited, instead of full animation). Of course, anime is fully immersed in Japanese culture and beliefs, which are different from Western culture and beliefs.

You may use elements of anime, and create your own animation genre (Western anime?), but it will never become anime, as true fans (otaku) refer to anime.

Of course, I could be completely wrong, because I'm still learning.

Furthermore, I'm a bit limited, because anime isn't that big here in The Netherlands as it is in the States. Most anime I have to watch through crappy arrg, because it hasn't been released here. And as we all know, you can't do too much arrg, because, otherwise, your ISP begins to throttle your traffic, and, finally, sending you letters telling to stop misusing their bandwidth for arrg.

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 1:13 am

My understanding is that "Anime" is independent of culture or geography. It is a style.

Yes it "originated" in Japan. Wasn't it originally called "Japanimation"? I saw that term many many years before I heard the term "Anime" or it even existed. I don't think Anime was called Anime when I watched Speed Racer as a child.

I also could be wrong but... considering you don't have to be "Japanese" to create "Anime" it makes sense to me.

-vern