Moho Forum

DK wrote: For the legs I create switch layer groups. One group will consist of two layers for each leg in a walk cycled, the other group is for still standing positions so that I can stop and start the walk cycles at any place on the timeline.

Hi David,

I hope this not asking for too much, but could you please share any simple sample character which describes your character setup.

Hi Magic.
Here's a sample fie of Erectus. You can see how all the parts are broken up into switch layers so that I can change any feature at any point on the timeline. Often I will just make a new arm or expression on the fly when animating if needed and then incorporate it straight away. Some of my switch layes were getting 20-30 vector layers deep, especially the facial expressions.

http://www.wienertoonz.com/DKsample.anme

Cheers
D.K

Thank you David, the file has been very helpful in understanding the character setup.

Did you use bones for any of the characters or were all of them done using switch layers.

Hi Magic.
I tossed and turned about using bones but decided against it and opted to use switch layers for 2 reasons.

1. Speed. I needed to churn out the animation really quickly and setting up bones every time I needed a new hand position etc would have slowed me down immensly.

2. I wanted the character animation to be fast and this suited fast switching btween layers as opposed to the slower movement you tend to get with bone animation.

In my next project I experimented with using cut out images and bone animation to get a completely different look.

Cheers
D.K

Good job DK. I loooooooooove it !!!!
And thanks for this useful file.
________
BONGO

No Problem DominiqueBray.


D.K

Hey DK, is this you on Aniboom? Or is this someone posting your animation?
http://www.aniboom.com/animation-video/393712/Erectus/

Hey that s me J I forgot I uploaded it there.
Thanks so much for reminding me.

Cheers
D.K

DK wrote:Hey that s me J I forgot I uploaded it there.
Thanks so much for reminding me.

Cheers
D.K

Cool! I rated you and subscribed. You need an avatar on there.

Hey thanks J Do you have anything up?

Cheers
D.K

DK wrote:Hey thanks J Do you have anything up?

Cheers
D.K

I'm re-uploading mine right now. I originally uploaded a 1280x720 video but since Aniboom down sizes to 594x334, it looked kind of weird. So I just re-encoded it to wmv at 594x334. It should be up shortly. It's the animated short, "Don't Kiss the Frog" I made.

Cool J. Post a link when you're done

Cheers
D.K

that's how i break all of my characters up to! It's a very simple, organized, and effective way to gather different poses for all of the limbs and such.

DK wrote:Cool J. Post a link when you're done

Cheers
D.K

Here it is DK, http://www.aniboom.com/animator-portfolio/PoseMotion

Oh and by the way. I have to say your Erectus cartoon has to be one of my favorite cartoons that was made with this program. It has that vintage look and sound. Not that I don't like newer styles. But most cartoons these days just aren't up to par to what they use to be.

DK wrote:It's a pilot for a TV series produced in the old road runner style with a twist. It took me 4 weeks to create including music. Comments are welcome.
D.K

Very nice. For some reason, it reminds me more of the Pink Panther shorts from the 60s.

At the beginning, it would've been nice to crumble the big bone in pieces rather than as a wipe. But I understand the time constraint. Amazing that you did this in 4-weeks.

Thanks for posting the sample anme file. I hadn't considered NOT using bones, so maybe this will speed up my own workflow.