response about anime/toon movie production

[dailan1]

awhile back a read a post about an idea for an anime/cartoon movie production that someone posted, sadly i can't seem to find the post now...so hopefully someone will recognize what i'm talking about. the post went something like, "i looked into...will cost 5k for 5 minutes..we can all chip in..etc"

anyway, I'm not sure wether that's a generic cost for hand drawn images or what... but there's a program i just got called Hash's Animation Master (their home sight is www.hash.com) sells for about 300 bucks...but it's a alot cheaper than 5k... Basically the program is a "movie style" animator...I'll let you go to site to check it out and not get into much detail, but just to give you a general idea; it has everything you need to make your own movies (and i mean EVERYTHING!) besides the actual "filming" part of the program it also has a modeler to build your charaters, props and sets, built-in actions (for triping, falling, running, walking, etc.) a great library for facial expretions, lipsinking and other sound effects...plus it gives a few different rendering options (like the obvious CG, but also toon, anime and 3-D YES! it does come with a pair of old-style red/blue len paper glasses for your veiwing pleasure) if your afraid you can't draw well enough, have no fear... another feature it has is "rotoscoping" where you can literally trace a two dimensional object into a 3-d render

now that i've givin Hash his props (no pun intended) i will say this a great opprotunity for a project... as far as cost... hey, it's your program now, won't cost a dime more (unless your buds won't laugh for free) also, I"M DYING to do a good animation, so if anyone does want to get in on one PLEASE let me know! Even if you don't have the program, there are a great deal of talented writers and artists within these forum walls. You don't need the program to draw and write (but more than one animator on any project of scope will certainly save alot of time) I guess my point, as with any great work of fiction, like Yenny or VU, for example, the next step is always the movie, we just gotta get the ball rolling

anyway, sorry for extremely long post, if you do have ideas, input, etc. good or bad, just give me a shout thanks!

 

[tj3786]

I have been using this program for a few months now (love it!), and had the same idea. So, I'd be willing to help out on this.

Just knowing how long it takes to do a project like this, and how some people have a hard time committing to a project that is too long or time consuming, it would probably be a good idea to limit the size and scope of the project considerably. Like no more than just a few minutes in length. Quality over quantity, you know? We can always do more, or add to it later. It's just good to set reasonable goals that can be accomplished.

 

[Soda Bobinski]

Brother Buffalo!

I will answer that call , dailan1! I left you a PM , so get back to me if you are serious about working w/someone on a project like this.

 

[He-Man]

Damn, that program sounds awsome. I used to love messing around with stuff like the Spider-Man and X-Men "Cartoon Maker" programs...I'd probably have tons of fun with Animation Master.

Hmm.. people on he-man.org should know 'bout this program. They were talkin about how--since the new series ended-- they'd love to keep MOTU going by making fan-films (or episodes). Using something like that would be incredible....could you imagine a 2-d Adam (based of the 2002 series..not the REALLY wimpy-looking one from the 80's 'toon) transforming into He-Man in front of a 3-d Grayskull with CG lighting, clouds, etc?

Or another Batman fan-film that looks like the "Begins" video game..Man that's the most realistic-looking video game yet...any more realistic and I wouldn't have been able to tell apart the game enviroments,characters, etc, from the video clips.

And I definately agree that it'd be cool to see things like Yenny animated. And there's stories in the story section that'd be fun to see animated too . (as well as alot of non-tickling stories on fanfiction.net)

It'd probably be impossible to run out of ideas while fooling with the program.

 

[He-Man]

Just knowing how long it takes to do a project like this, and how some people have a hard time committing to a project that is too long or time consuming, it would probably be a good idea to limit the size and scope of the project considerably. Like no more than just a few minutes in length. Quality over quantity, you know?

Yeah, for example, look at the "Batman: Dead End" fan-film. It was only..what...8 minutes at the most? Yet people were saying that it was the BEST live-action Batman film ever (I wouldn't have minded seeing the guy who played Batman in that in Bale's place...the Dead End Batman was creepy!) It doesn't need to be long to be good.

 

[Oblesklk]

awhile back a read a post about an idea for an anime/cartoon movie production that someone posted, sadly i can't seem to find the post now...so hopefully someone will recognize what i'm talking about. the post went something like, "i looked into...will cost 5k for 5 minutes..we can all chip in..etc"

If you're talking recently, it was a proposition I had put forth last month in the artwork forum, to gauge interest.

The quotes I'd received from reputable animation studios do indeed put us at about $1000/minute.

The reason I didn't go with people from the community is this kind of venture will never be a profitable one, it's merely for artistic reasons. And while that's cool, it's hard to convince people to stay on a project for a year when they know there's no payment involved (or very little payment). And that runs the risk of the project terminating early because school starts up, jobs get complex, relationships required more time in real life, etc.

But if you can get a good animation team together that you're fairly convinced can get the job done, I will definitely help in whatever capacity I can (seeking voice talent, providing aid with a script, etc).

 

[Bagelfather]

Yeah, for example, look at the "Batman: Dead End" fan-film. It was only..what...8 minutes at the most? Yet people were saying that it was the BEST live-action Batman film ever (I wouldn't have minded seeing the guy who played Batman in that in Bale's place...the Dead End Batman was creepy!) It doesn't need to be long to be good.

By the way it cost over $25k to produce Batman Dead End so short is not necessarily cheap.

HASH is a great program. I know someone who uses it and it can produce antimation comperable to the $3k and above programs. There is also a very active discussion board where you can get help with this program as well.

 

[He-Man]

Whoohoo, got my Animation Master program today.............aw, crap, I can only put stuff in the "choreography window", but can't zoom in or click on anything in the window, or else the program freezes up!...Anyone else using this program have this problem when trying the first exercise in the manual? (damn and here I was hopin to eventually make some tickling animations, eventually...)

 

[tj3786]

can't zoom in or click on anything in the window, or else the program freezes up

Hmm.. that doesn't sound good. You may want to post your problems over on the Animation Master forums( www.hash.com/forums). They have a very active and helpful community of users (both professional and hobbyists) that would be better able to help you out!

Good luck!

 

[He-Man]

Hmm.. that doesn't sound good. You may want to post your problems over on the Animation Master forums( www.hash.com/forums). They have a very active and helpful community of users (both professional and hobbyists) that would be better able to help you out!

Good luck!

Well, I found out stuff works when I switch from choreography mode to model or skeleton mode (I can move em when in skeleton mode)...so i guess the problem was just me havin the program in the wrong mode for the wrong thing.

 

[tj3786]

Ok, cool!

Hang in there, man. You'll get it!

 

[dailan1]

when i first got the program, i had problems with the rotoscope fuctions... the forums online at Hash's websites (i scanned posts that had mentioned they were having the same difficulty), suggested i upgrade the video card, it is after all a very video intense program... so i did and haven't had any problems... other than it running a bit slower...my guess is i have to upgrade my RAM now.

By the way, congrats on your purchase! it would really do my heart good if it was this thread that go you motivated... It's a tough program to learn though, so i just bought a bool from the Sheerwood Forest site (you can get to it via the community window in AM) it called..Animation Master:complete guide, by David Rogers... you can get them pretty cheap used... my god it's a 600 page text book! And i though Calc was bad...

 

[He-Man]

The program might be tough to learn, but I find it easier than MilkShape 3D (or whatever the modeling program is called) and easier than Gamespace (you can find the second one on darkbasic.com, I think)....well, at least it's easier to understand.

Yeah I'll probably have to upgrade my video card and RAM, too. That might actually be the problem, since I found that after I wait a minute or two, the problems I have stop..almost like the program is just slow, maybe.

Only prob is I got one of those EMachines computers and I think someone mentioned they aren't too upgradable(maybe it was on another forum I go to..not sure, though)...not to mention it's my only computer, and I haven't ugraded one before, so I'm not too sure if I can do it without accidentally frying the computer lol.

Hmm...maybe I should just get a good laptop computer to use the program on and just use this one for the 'net. Probably gonna get one, anyway.


And it kinda was this thread that got me to purchase it...mostly because I'd been looking for something easier to understand than the programs mentioned above.