Zlogspot - animationandvideo

Toon Boom Harmony is widely considered the industry standard for primarily 2D animation. You don't get to be that if your software isn't exceptional. However, industry standard and exceptional usually translates to steep learning curve and probably contains more features than I'll ever use. So, in reviewing the latest version, Harmony 14, I'm setting out to answer two questions; How easy is it to learn the basics and is it software an independent artist/animator, like myself, should seriously consider as their go to, 2D animation studio of choice? Toon Boom were kind enough to give me a 90 day Harmony Premium license for this review (Harmony is also available in Essentials and Advanced versions) but I thought, since they offer a free 21 day trial, I'll give myself that to write this review. Will it be enough to answer my two previous questions and is a 21 day trial enough for you to make a decision as well? Let's find out... To be clear, I'm not setting out...

After a little bit of a break it's time to continue working my way through  Moho's Pro Video Tutorials  (which were actually created for Anime Studio Pro 11). After watching the next batch of video tutorials I've done a bit reorganization to my initial order of the videos, as my initial guess, based on the video titles, wasn't quite right. This week the videos I watched include: Pro - Nested Layer Controls Pro - Patch Layers Pro - Advanced Bone Rigging Pro - Bone Constraints Pro - Bone Enhancements Pro - Smart Bones Pro - Smart Bone Enhancements Pro - Smart Bones Update Nested layer Controls shows how to turn on the Nested Layer Control so that Bone and image layers can properly talk to each other  correctly. For example if you have a character rig where all the image components are buried in sub folders, turning this setting on will make sure they behave as you would expect and not become detached from the bones. Patch layers demonstrates a special kind of mask l...

Cool Froyd was originally created and rigged in the first version of CrazyTalk Animator . Now that CrazyTalk Animator 3 has added its all new G3 line of characters it's time to update Cool Froyd to take advantage of this more flexible (literally), single angle, character rig. Froyd was never designed to be an animated character. He's taken from a painting that I thought would be fun to animate. Which is largely what attracted me to CTA in the first place as, to this day, Reallusion still promotes CTA as a way to bring paintings to life. As such, the way Froyd sits is how he sits in the original painting. Non of CTA3's new motion files or character rigs for quadrupeds are front facing and therefore not suited to him specifically. However that's where CTA3's free bone characters fill in the gap. Anything that doesn't fit to a human, quadruped or spine template can still be animated with free bones. To help understand the difference between G1 and G3 characters ta...

GRRR Dog by TET. Can I animate  this guy in CrazyTalk Animator 3? CrazyTalk Animator 3 's bold claim is 'The One-for-all 2D Animation'. Does it deliver? Could it be your 'go to' 2D animation tool of choice? Before I explore those questions I feel a bit of backstory is necessary. I've been using Reallusion's CrazyTalk Animator since its original incarnation that promised quick and easy, 2D animation creation. An idea that was relative depending on what kind of animation you wanted to do. Since my focus has largely been on original character animation my experience with CTA is relative to that. If you wanted to create animated characters from your original artwork, quick and easy didn't really describe the time and effort involved. There was a lot of preparation and considerable time spent rigging its G1 characters. CTA2's Multi-Angle G2 Characters. CrazyTalk Animator 2, introduced G2, multi-angle characters, with the revolutionary technique of being a...

Continuing to work my way through Moho's Pro Video Tutorials (which were actually created for Anime Studio Pro 11) I must admit the training is becoming a bit of a grind. There's a lot to take in, with much of it being things that it's nice to be aware of but aren't entirely essential to know. As well, many of these videos rehash things already covered - which is not a bad thing and certainly helps each time I pick up from where I left off (particularly this time when it's been nearly three weeks between training sessions) The next seven videos don't contain anything particularly amazing in terms of program capability but each still contains valuable information. Below is the video titles I worked through. Pro - Advanced Fill Tools Pro - Advanced Style Palette Pro - Styles Improvements Pro - Eye Dropper Update Pro - Texture Transparency Pro - Advanced Layer Tools Pro - Layer Options Since nothing particularly stands out I'll just give a brief summary of eac...

Right now I feel like I've got a pretty good handle on Moho Pro 12 after having completed all the Anime Studio 11, Debut and Debut/Pro video tutorials . However I still have 45 videos to go for features that are Pro only (and I haven't even started on the What's new in Moho videos yet!) With so much more to learn, let's dive right in... As before, these 45 videos are not sorted into any logical order. I've made my best guess based on titles to put them in a viewing order that makes sense. If you have these same tutorials I will give you a complete list of what I think is a good viewing order that won't leave you confused. (Though I'll probably do this as I reach the last few videos). For this post I will be covering the following videos: Pro - Advanced Project Settings Pro - Advanced Workspace Tools Pro - Advanced Drawing Tools Pro - Random Line Width Pro - Image Tracing Pro - Vector Shape Selector Just by changing the depth of field and Render Style project...

In my last entry I was part way through the second batch of Moho and Anime Studio (Both) video tutorials . Twenty six videos in total, of which, I completed the first ten. This post I work my way through the remaining sixteen and discover some pretty sweet, time saving effects in the process. Continuing on from video 11 through 20, this block of videos mainly covers updates to various tools and shows you how they all work. Quite a few of the tools have already been used in earlier tutorials so it's not a big strain to take in all the information (and this post would get quite boring if I started describing everything covered in each). Videos are listed by filename. Pro and Debut Video  Tutorial Title Page Both - Freehand Update Both - Tool Updates Both - Brush Styles Both - Updated Brushes Both - Variable Width Curve Both - Multi-Shape Selection Both - Multi - Layer Editing Both - Combined Point Tools Both - Combined Bone Tools Both - Hide Bones and Points Both - Layer Outline E...