Anime Studio 7 Tracing

guilio_2010 · Post by **guilio_2010** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 1:23 am

I acquired AS7 and I see part of the import is imaging tracing. I import a PNG file and it shows up, but it doesn't seem to trace and make points on the outline. Is this function what it seems to be or is the tracing image that I'm referring to on the AS8?

Thanks,

sbtamu · Post by **sbtamu** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 2:26 am

In AS7, you can only import an image and trace over it manually. In AS8 it will actually create points.

guilio_2010 · Post by **guilio_2010** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:20 am

Thank you for the reply. That's what I was starting to think.

I'll work with AS7 for a bit and see if I like it and maybe upgrade. The auto trace is a nice feature I wish it had. I'm starting to understand the workings of the software, layers, etc...maybe a few more weeks and I'll decide.

funksmaname · Post by **funksmaname** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 9:03 pm

to be honest, auto trace is a bit useless - if your objects are so complex that you need to auto trace them then you should probably be using images if you don't want to cripple your system - otherwise its always better to reconstruct your shapes as when you get used to AS drawing tools you can achieve amazing things in very few points - which makes things MUCH easier to animate.

Having said that, AS8.1(+) is a big improvement on 7, so I would reccomend an upgrade at some point anyway - but 7 is more than capable, so have fun with it!

guilio_2010 · Post by **guilio_2010** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:44 am

funksmaname,

Thank for the info. Very very helpful. I actually thought about it when I was watching some videos on AS8 autotrace and I do have to agree that fewer points would make it easier especially if you have to select certain points to bond to others. I will probably upgrade to AS8, but don't want to spend the 200 bucks and find out that I may not like this. I was able to get a copy for much cheaper. Plus, the AS 101 videos are very very good.

Quick question. If I do a drawing of the front of a charactor, I'll have to do that for the side profiles and back also? It's only in 3D drawings that I can do one drawing and then rotate it in the different views?

Thanks,

funksmaname · Post by **funksmaname** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:51 am

'fraid so - 2D animation is much like drawing on a piece of paper. however, once you have a side view, and front view, made from the same core points (those at frame 0) you can create mixes of the two poses using blend morphs etc to create a 3/4 view (it will need some manual tweaking probably)

Wait for a sale, they usually have a couple a year where you will probably pick up an upgrade for under $100...

guilio_2010 · Post by **guilio_2010** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 3:09 am

Thats a later topic to learn then.

I started my first character. It's a bit rough but only practice will make it better. I'm doing all of this on a netbook also so it's a bit slow also.

Again, that's for the help and look forward to chatting again sometime.