Zlogspot - animationandvideo

I first reviewed video creation site Renderforest back in November of 2017 . Since then they have been adding more and more content packs/tools to their cloud based video creation studio, branching into animated explainer video territory in the process (as well as logo and website design too). This review is focussed on their 3D Explainer Toolkit , but keep in mind, along with several different animated toolkits (including whiteboard), Renderforest has toolkit/templates to suit almost any video need from logo stings and music visualizations, through to complete video templates that can be highly customized with your own content. Click here to browse their template library. I am planning to review some of their other animated toolkits in the future but their 3D Explainer Toolkit particularly caught my eye because few (if any?) similar cloud animation services offer 3D animated styles. Global animation customizations in Renderforest's Studio. Renderforest's editing studio revol...

This image was made with a stock DW photo and text added. I uploaded the semi transparent DW logo. If you create any kind of content, product or service online or off, whether you're a social media influencer, running a small business, writing a blog, making online video, or any number of other activities Design Wizard may be the cloud based graphics app for you. What is it? Design Wizard speeds up the graphic design process by giving you a library of pre designed templates, you can customize, suited to almost any situation. The process is simple. Choose a template size suited to the type of graphic you're designing. For example a Facebook Page Banner image or a Youtube Channel page image. Select a design along the lines of the style you're going for, then tweak and customize the design with your own text and/or graphics. There are templates for almost every conceivable graphic design situation from Facebook cover pages right through to DL print flyers and more. Templates ...

Penguin Jump Pencil Roughs by TET. Hand drawn 2D animation, more commonly described as 'traditional' animation, where each character movement is meticulously drawn frame by frame is still one of the most versatile forms of the art. Essentially, if you can draw it, then it can be animated. There's really no limits other than your own drawing and animation skills. If you already have a digital drawing tablet or pen display monitor and want to get into hand drawn, 2D digital animation then these three applications are a great starting point and they're all completely free. Pencil2D Pencil 2D's User Interface is clean and very easy to learn. Pencil2D has been around for many years. In fact I first wrote about it here in 2009. It's an application that was a great idea but wasn't fully developed and could be buggy. After many years with no updates a new team appears to have taken on the task of developing the software further with a few upgrades. I took some tim...

Work on my Infinite Monkey Theorem, animated short has mostly stalled in the last few weeks. Readers of my other blog will know I've been struggling with a neck injury (sometimes referred to as 'Computer Neck') that has made doing any kind of lengthy computer work a literal pain in the neck. I'm getting through it but, if you spend a lot of time in front of a computer, I highly recommend you take five minute breaks, at least every 30 minutes, to walk around and do some neck stretching exercises. Anyway, to get this project back on track, I'm trying something a little new to create my video diary of my latest work. Recently I purchased a new Logitech HD webcam (my old webcam was a pre HD relic) which I've teamed with OBS studio , a free application staple, used by live streamers everywhere. OBS Studio allows you to not just stream but also record to a single video file, multiple video/audio sources into a single production. Kind of like a TV studio recording a ...

If you're a one person team or you just need a video presentation done yesterday a tool like Render Forest can be a real time saver. Render Forest is a free, cloud based intros, animations, slideshows and music visualizations creator. They provide professionally designed templates to which you just insert your text, photos and videos, add licensed music (that doesn't sound awful) and your video is done. Free videos are watermarked. If you want to remove this you can purchase your video, in your choice of resolutions, at very reasonable price points, or you can purchase an annual subscription to have them removed on all videos. At this point I've only used Render Forest to create slide show style presentations, so this review is limited to that experience (and this is not a paid review), however there is so much more you can do. Check out Render Forest's video below for a complete overview of the possibilities. I wanted to create a dynamic slide show presentation of my ...

Good Storyboarding software is hard to come by at the low end of the market. So when I heard about Wonder Unit's Free Storyboarder application I was immediately interested. Springboard  has been my work horse storyboarding application for years. It's the cheapest, fully featured storyboarding software I know about, but it's getting old, and hasn't been updated since before I started using it. Storyboarder is an all new application put out into the world for free by Wonder Unit who say the market for their software is too niche to make money from selling it (I beg to differ but only very quietly because I like free stuff for creatives). Plus they make money from making movies so... there! (Sorry, there's an attitude of quirky jabs within this software and its documentation that's infectious). First Impressions Pretty darn nice. After getting through the welcome screen the actual user interface is clean and clear. Right away I can see drawing tools, a timeline, ...

Motion Den claims to be the world's simplest video maker of intros and slideshow style animated videos. I needed an animated slide show to promote my etourist Skateboards online store , which I planned to make myself with one of the many video editing applications I have, but, after being directed to Motion Den by a spammy, completely unrelated comment on this very blog (which I've since deleted), I thought I'll give them a try. The site is free to sign up and make videos with. Any published videos will have the Motion Den watermark. If you wish to remove this you can purchase individual videos or sign up for one of their plans, which give you a certain amount of credits each month to purchase videos with. Note that you can't actually do anything with a published free video other than view it in your account. There are no share options and you can't download it (making the watermark almost pointless). A selection of Motion Den's Templates. Motion Den is a temp...

The Rogue Animator . Premium Training by 2D Animation 101. 2D Animation 101's Premium Video Course, The Rogue Animator , aspires to teach you how to create your own 2D animated short in ten days. To do this, course instructor, Mark Diaz, takes you through his entire process of creating one of his animated shorts, then, helps you through the same process using your own idea for a production. The course is targeted at beginner to intermediate animators (or anyone struggling to achieve an efficient work flow), who are generally one person teams, looking to get their own ideas into the world through video sites like YouTube. About the Course In the introduction video Mark explains exactly how much time you'll need to set aside each day to complete the course in ten days. He also understands that not everyone will have that much time to spare so offers some alternative, longer timeline examples. The key point being, that you need to take the time to watch the videos and apply the co...

I recently purchased two online drawing courses created by former Disney Animator, Aaron Blaise , including How to Draw Human Anatomy , and Character Design . Both courses were included in Aaron's Figure Drawing and Character Design Bundle , pack deal. My own drawing style is heavily influenced by early Disney animated classics (think pre digital animation), which you can see in the more rounded lines of my characters - as opposed to the more angular character design lines you find in Marvel and DC comics etc. I wasn't sure how much I'd learn from either of these courses, baring in mind I've already studied both topics in detail in Art School, and have been designing my own characters since I was in primary school, but Aaron's a veteran and easily out classes my animation skills. Both courses are entirely presented as video tutorials with Aaron, at his desk, speaking to camera, cut with video captures of his drawing (all in real time). Aaron speaks very clearly and ...

The  Parblo Coast22 21.5" Graphic Drawing Tablet Monitor is the largest sub AU$1000.00 pen display monitor I could find that met all my other criteria. When it comes to drawing surfaces I believe the bigger the better, hence my choice. I know there are bigger displays but my budget didn't stretch that far. I also know WACOM pen display tablets are generally better quality products but I didn't want to settle for the 13.3" screen of the Cintiq 13HD , the only one of their tablets in my price range. It should be noted that this is my first Pen Display monitor. Prior to this I was using a WACOM Intuos 4 Drawing Tablet (which is no longer available but is similar to the Intuos Pro Tablets ). This was a factor in my choice not to stick with a smaller WACOM display tablet. I figure, what I don't know I won't miss. Even if a WACOM 13HD is better for drawing - I'm not going to know. That said, I can still compare the Parblo Coast22 to my WACOM Intuos. If you want...