Animation Megathread

[Tophius]

Introduction
Hi. The purpose of this thread is to share amongst each other any animated works that we may have produced - from traditional or stop-motion, to 3D or computer-aided animation.

Crash Course
I'm no expert on the subject of animation, but over the times I have been able to pick up some very useful guides that could help one become a better animator.

   Principles
Whatever your medium, be it paper and graphite or clay, the following principles are absolutely essential towards a better understanding behind the act of good animation itself - almost every successful animator acknowledges and abides by these principles:
http://www.evl.uic.edu/ralph/508S99/anticipa.html
http://www.animationtoolworks.com/library/article9.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_basic_principles_of_animation

   Guides
Other additional resources to further your knowledge (most of these are based on 2D animation - being a particular fan of this type of animation they are of course the main types guides I am familiar with, but the basics are the same):
http://www.angryanimator.com/word/
http://www.karmatoons.com/drawing/drawing.htm

   Books
Books! Books are fantastic and very valuable learning resources. Sure, they cost a little more than your free internet guide, but they're well worth the money (again, mostly 2D-based):
  -The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation - I own this book myself; I am not yet done with reading it, but I can tell you that it contains a very in-depth peek into the inner workings of traditional Disney animation. There's quite a lot of Disney history in there too; very interesting to read.
  -Cartoon Animation - I do not own this one but I have heard of many recommendations towards it; I do hope to get my hands on it soon, though.


That's it! Please, if any of you have any useful guides or resources towards animation and which are not listed above, feel free to share them and I'll gladly add them to the OP.


Been too long since I did one of these, and seeing as I don't do much of them either that's not a good thing. This is actually my most complex piece of animation thus far:

[Ad Bot]

[Unwritten Calender]

Did he just pull a -


nevermind.

[Tom Gunn]

Did he just pull a -


nevermind.

I was going to say...

[Treynolds416]

How I watched that animation

1) K, one big guy and one small (angry) guy
2) Small guy pulls sommatt out of pocket in a cartoonish way
3) Likin' it sofar
4) Small guy hits big guy with... a bag
5) K, lets see where it goes..
6) Big guy looks at little guy
7) K, guess nowhere

I do understand that it is a complex animation, but I would have liked some more closure (i.e. small guy getting beat up)

[PlasticArmy]

Very nice animation. I've been considering doing animations for a while now, but have never really gotten around to it. What did you use to make it into a gif?

[Daedalus]

Very nice animation. I've been considering doing animations for a while now, but have never really gotten around to it. What did you use to make it into a gif?

Feel free to laugh at me, but honestly I like using Photoshop. Lots of freedom to edit each frame.

[Masterlegodude]

Tiny baby man can not break arm!

[Tophius]

Thanks for the replies. The small dude's supposed to be bringing out a baseball bat, breaking it upon impact with the bigger guy - I was too lazy to animate the other half breaking off but you can see it for a split second as the bat hits the guy, haha.

How I watched that animation

1) K, one big guy and one small (angry) guy
2) Small guy pulls sommatt out of pocket in a cartoonish way
3) Likin' it sofar
4) Small guy hits big guy with... a bag
5) K, lets see where it goes..
6) Big guy looks at little guy
7) K, guess nowhere

I do understand that it is a complex animation, but I would have liked some more closure (i.e. small guy getting beat up)

Thanks for the feedback. This animation doesn't really serve a purpose solely for entertainment but was also supposed to be a demonstration of some animation principles, mostly as practice. I was going to have the large guy grab the other one by the neck and throw him out but of course, I grew lazy. Might do that another day though.

Very nice animation. I've been considering doing animations for a while now, but have never really gotten around to it. What did you use to make it into a gif?

Thanks, I used a program similar to flash to draw the individual frames and play back the animation as I developed it and imported the finished frames into GIMP, where I then exported as a .gif. I used to use Photoshop but I found that I didn't have as much control over the frame rate as I would've liked.
Also, I'd really enjoy seeing some little animations from you, especially considering your interesting art style, hahaha.

Going to be working on another animation in my free time. I've been asked to do a ~15 second animation with a deadline at the end of this week, woo!

[JD]

The big guy didn't even move when he got hit :[

[PlasticArmy]

I think I'll bump this thread with my first attempt at hand drawn animation!



It's certainly not good, but I personally think it's a decent start. I should really get something other than a gif making website for animation before I get too into this.

[Malestrom]

That's really nice. It could use improvements, but since I probably couldn't do any better, I'd rather not be harsh. It's cute and witty. The shortness does leave something to be desired, but other than that, it is something I giggled at.

[Tophius]

Bump! I think I'm going to change the purpose of this thread a little - if only to spark off more interest.

I think I'll bump this thread with my first attempt at hand drawn animation!



It's certainly not good, but I personally think it's a decent start. I should really get something other than a gif making website for animation before I get too into this.

Not bad. I suggest though you might want to take a look at some real-life examples of gunfire recoil and the effects it has on the shooter. It feels very unnatural for only the arm to react in recoil like that - I believe the rest of the body should be forced back appropriately. 
  However, I greatly encourage you to begin working on a few animations geared more towards the practice of the fundamentals and principles of animation. Simple stuff like a bouncing ball (to illustrate squash and stretch, arcs, and slow-ins and outs) or the classic flour sack exercise (more advanced).

Which reminds me, I think It's about time I take a refresher course on some of these exercises too; my early efforts were mediocre at best, haha.

That's really nice. It could use improvements, but since I probably couldn't do any better, I'd rather not be harsh. It's cute and witty. The shortness does leave something to be desired, but other than that, it is something I giggled at.

Thank you very much for the input. Don't worry about being harsh - as long as your input is not intentionally derogatory and serves a constructive purpose, then I completely encourage you to bluntly tell me what you do not like.


Anyway, that ~15 second animation? I got it down a few weeks ago. It's an advertisement for this student project thing at my school - I was asked to animate something to promote this "GibDrive" thing, which is essentially a USB flash drive in the shape of our town's most iconic landmark - aimed at tourists:
http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/ff290/MattWorms/?action=view&current=GibDriveMov2.mp4

It's ridiculously silly and without context makes absolutely no sense - but of course the other students made sure to give some (I hope).
Oh, and spare me your thoughts about the poor use of sound effects! That part was literally a last-minute job. :P

[Banana]

Hand Drawn Animation 1 - Glass Shatter
Hand Drawn Animation 2 - Airplane Crash
Hand Drawn Animation 3 - Car Crash

Posted these in my own thread, that you also posted that clubby bonk-thing in. (It's really cool, me gusta)

BLOCKLAND FORUMS, GET ME ANOTHER VIEWER WAVE NOW! MAKE HASTE!

[Alex Man!]

I can animate, but i suck. IF ONLY I KNEW SOMEONE WHO COULD ANIMATE. *smashes head against wall*

[Puggles]

I can animate, but i suck. IF ONLY I KNEW SOMEONE WHO COULD ANIMATE. *smashes head against wall*

i puggles can adimate and smash my head on my desk or my locker