A small animation

aussiemick wrote on 6/20/2002, 6:26 PM
What I was looking for was some ideas to produce a small animation to go with a promotional video.Part of the animation will be the empting of a wheelbarrow.I have the drawings, but I am not sure how many I need and if I use keyframing to impart motion,what drawings do I need to make it realistic.
I do not need a Bugs Bunny quality animation,but good enough to look at.If it is impossible just say so and I will head in another direction.Thanks to anyone who can help.

Comments

FadeToBlack wrote on 6/20/2002, 6:51 PM
Tyler.Durden wrote on 6/20/2002, 9:07 PM
You might also try cutting the 'barrow out with an alpha-mask, save as a .png file and use track motion to move and tip (if the barrow is drawn in profile).

HTH, MPH
SonyDennis wrote on 6/22/2002, 12:22 AM
Neat idea, GG. I've noticed a lot of the sketch-like "rotoscoped" look things these days just have three or four pictures that get cycled between, so it's not like you need hundreds of pictures for a "held" shot.
///d@
FadeToBlack wrote on 6/22/2002, 1:41 AM
SonyDennis wrote on 6/22/2002, 7:44 AM
That would look pretty cool too. And you can use transitions on the head and tails of event to animate them on and off screen in interesting ways that can match to "look" of the video.
///d@
Spirit wrote on 6/22/2002, 8:23 AM
I'd use Flash to do this - it's exactly the sort of thing that Flash is good for. An old copy will be cheap and enable you to do simple graphics and drawing. You can also combine on-screen drawing with scanned bitmap underlays.
jpresley wrote on 6/22/2002, 10:25 AM
Another method is to use a program called swish.
www.swishzone.com - no connection to company -
I have used it successfully with titles.

jpresley
jpresley wrote on 6/22/2002, 10:25 AM
Another method is to use a program called swish.
www.swishzone.com - no connection to company -
I have used it successfully with titles.
Converts to avi with ease.
jpresley
FadeToBlack wrote on 6/22/2002, 1:20 PM
jpresley wrote on 6/22/2002, 1:47 PM
GG:
I haven't experimented with alpha. Titles have been composed within Swish with effects, ported to avi, then loaded into my project in Vegas. The title was composed in Swish at 720 X 480 at a frame rate of 12. The only adjustment in Vegas for the Swish import was to change the properties of the imported AVI to a Pixel Aspect Ratio of .9091 (NTSC DV). Then the frame matched the digital video without black bands. Swish has a trial and it is a simple program without taking over the OS. I can email you a Swish generated AVI if you wish.
The Swish avi export file is 58kbps, 24bit, Cinepak Codec. No other info.
jpresley
FadeToBlack wrote on 6/22/2002, 2:05 PM
jpresley wrote on 6/22/2002, 2:27 PM
GG:
It can do 30fps. A 4 sec title is 267 kbps and a total avi file size of 1.09 mb.
I chose the background color, title, and motion in Swish before exporting to avi.
It imports as a ready-made clip and transitions into the avi with ease.
Yes, it is a flash alternative program made for web page design. The avi export is a nice extra for the program.
When I get time tonight I will see if Chien will upload a sample file to his site.

jpresley
Sr_C wrote on 6/22/2002, 5:02 PM
WOW! I just downloaded the demo for swish and it is very cool. Very easy to use too. I will for juse be purchasing the full version. I tried flash before and while I think you can do more complex animations Swish is way easier and you can export to avi!! very nice
tserface wrote on 6/23/2002, 1:37 AM
I typically create titles with Swish using a pure blue background and then I can easily use the chroma-key filter to filter out the blue. It works really well and can give some pretty cool, low cost, effects. I also just do 655x480 right from Swish.

Tom
Spirit wrote on 6/23/2002, 3:42 AM
I do all my titles in SWFX from Wildform ( www.wildform.com ) US$30

I then import the .swf file into Flash and then export from Flash as a AVI

It's a shame VV3 can't import swf files but that would be hoping for a miracle !
SonyDennis wrote on 6/23/2002, 10:16 AM
Tom:

> I typically create titles with Swish using a pure blue background and then I can easily use the chroma-key filter to filter out the blue.

You could also do white text on a black background, and use it to mask a solid color track (of the color of your choice).

This might be cleaner (and faster) than using the Chroma Keyer.

///d@
jpresley wrote on 6/23/2002, 3:11 PM
GG:
Swish does have configuration options for avi export and different codecs.
Alpha channel is available with the Indeo Video 5.10 encoder.
Other options are Keyframe number insertion, data rate, scalability, compression quality and an access key.
jpresley