PE: Smoooth Animation Tutorial: Jumping

Tue Apr 23, 2013, 10:37 AM

Smoooth Animation Tutorial: Jumping

Hi!

Today we will learn how to make smoooth animation! In this tutorial we will cover a basic movement, but sometimes difficult to look natural, jumping.

I am using a pixel black ball as the subject, but really, you can apply this tutorial to anything you want to jump! Like animals and humans (of coarse they would bend their legs instead of squish.;D)! If your animation starts to "trail", or you simply don't know how to animate, you can check out some other tutorials I have made that are linked at the bottom.

Let us begin!

Lets start with the subject. I am using a 13x13 pixel black ball, but you can use anything, even if it isn't pixeled.

Now for the squish! This is the set move to gather energy for the jump. You wouldn't jump straight legged, would you? For my ball, I made it shorter, and expanded it out some on both ends. If your subject has legs, then in this step they would just bend their legs.

And now we jump! After the subject makes it's set move, whether it be squishing or bending it's legs, give it a pretty good start off. As you can see, this ball's take off height is 2 pixels.

In the next frame it would go a little higher. Depending on how high the subject should jump, it should jump at this rate for however many frames you need it to before going to the next step. For example: in the frame, the ball travels up 3 pixels. If I wanted the ball to go higher, I would make it go 3 pixels up for as many frames until it is as high as I want it to be. Though, this ball is only going to go up at this height for 1 frame.

Now as it continues to go up, gravity starts to take hold of it, so it progresses up slower.

And now it slowly gets slower, pushing up against gravity.

Still going at the same speed as the last frame, it progresses up one last time.

Now it starts to go down. Make it goes down in the same pattern as it jumped.

Going down...

Down, down, down down...

...and I just can't believe my first love wo- Oh.>.>

Now as the subject absorbs the shock, it squishes (or bends it's legs) one last time before standing back up (This animation loops, so since it started standing normal, I don't need to make it stand normal again.).

And now we have a joyful jumping ball of fun! Now you can try to make your own!

--

Does you animation "trail"? Check out this tutorial!

Don't know how to animate? Take a look at this Gimp animation tutorial!

I hope you found this tutorial helpful! If you have any questions please ask below in the comments.

Have a nice day!

44 Comments

The Armsmasters

Mon Apr 22, 2013, 6:46 AM

Welcome once again to Film in Progress! This is a series of articles I am doing on works in progress by filmmakers and animators. Sometimes in our line of work we don't have a lot to show for a long time because lets be honest, production time for film or animation takes an awful long time so it's difficult to show people what you're working on. So what I hope to achieve in these series of articles is to give you a chance to talk about something you're working on, and if you have stills and other pieces of development work you can show it off here as well!

To take part in this project or for more information just send me a note I can talk to you (and your team if applicable) about it!

Today we have ~mikewinn with his team project, The Armsmasters!

Firstly lets hear a little about yourself, how did you get into animation and do you do it for a living?

I've always been a fan of animation but I didn't make a move towards doing it professionally until 2004 when I was accepted into the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Mi. At first I was leaning towards illustration as a major but I gave the Animation curriculum a shot and got hooked.

Today I do work professionally but as a freelancer. I have a small studio of my own and I've worked on numerous commercials, films, games, and done property development on quite a few projects and with a number of different hats on.

Scene 22 Shot 2 - Caen and Company by ~mikewinn

Wow that sounds awesome, very similar to my life story so far actually! I wonder with regards to the great range of freelance work you've done, which ones you've been the most proud of and has helped you the most so far in your career development?

Honestly, I can't say there is one single job that has influenced me over any of the others. Each job, project, etc, has brought with it a new set of experiences and things to be happy about but I can say that I was a little proud at my first bit of IMDB credit through working on a film called The Littlest Angel as a storyboard artist, and getting big screen cred on Spy Kids 4 as a member of the VFX crew responsible for the conversion to 3d. Not necessarily blockbusters but still good achievements to have made as an artist.

I have to agree with you there, as I always tell people you never stop learning in design! And being on IMDB is certainly part of the dream, well done! It's all part of the journey really! But now lets move onto this project you're working on, the Armsmaster. Some of us here have seen some of your development work for it. But for those of us who don't know anything about it, how about a little introduction to it?

Not a problem! ARMSmasters is an action fantasy property of mine that I began developing a couple of years ago. It follows the adventures of a young mercenary misfit, known to his friends as 'Riot', in a world where the presence of magic energy has given rise to a new breed of mythic warriors and super powered martial arts. It's inspired heavily by elements of action-adventure manga, gaming and even superhero comics and draws very heavily from both eastern and western influences.

Its original incarnation was as a short film that was done for my senior thesis back in 2008. Following that, several opportunities occurred that allowed me to get solid professional feedback on it from individuals who were active movers and shakers at the major networks and the prospect of actually developing it into a full on animated I.P. arose . I started working on it in earnest to that degree around 2010 and now we have a fully developed pitch bible, presentation package and are tackling doing a more elaborate 2d animated proof of concept/short film while continuing to make head way with various contacts out in the industry.

That's awesome, I can definitely see the manga inspired action in your development work! Your experience is yet another great example of the benefits professional networking. This is no meager task though, no doubt you have a solid team behind you! How many people are working with you on this? And when do you reckon you guys will finish this? I'm sure many of us are quite eager to see the finished product!

I'm extremely blessed to have made some great friends and life long relationships when I was in school. We've a core group of maybe five or six of us with a few peripherals but everyone's time is precious and a passion project like this must give way to the realities of freelance and full time work and so people tend to rotate in and out and help out where they can. Right now we're hoping to have a first pass at the updated sizzle reel/short film finished by this fall. This means there will be continued tweaking and polishing up of it but that is our general deadline in accordance with our first run on Kickstarter. Before then, though, we'll be releasing steady updates of animatics and pencil test reels as content starts getting more polished and finished. I hope to have the first of those ready to show by the first of June.

This past fall we went onto Kickstarter and were successful in raising just over 8,000! This might seem like a small drop in the bucket when compared to the normal costs of animation production but it was a huge boost for us and we were enormously thankful for all who supported us. The money went towards supplies, enabling us to meet with potential larger sponsors, rent and much more. We'll likely be attempting a second fund raiser in the near future.

Absolutely, as mentioned networking gets us creatives reaching further than we could possibly imagine! I'm sure a lot of us here can relate to long personal projects like that, we all reach that hump in the middle where you aren't sure where it is going to go anymore.

Well you and your crew are obviously very talented, and I for one cannot wait to see this finished! It might be good to conclude this by asking what tips and advice would you give to all the young animators/filmmakers who are reading?

I think right now is such an awesome time for creators and designers that I almost wouldn't know where to begin in terms of giving advice and suggestions! It seems we're getting hit left and right with bad news and major shakeups in the animation industry between layoffs at Disney and Dreamworks and shut downs of major VFX offices but this medium is alive and kicking and all sorts of opportunities are out there if you're willing to grind. Sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have made it easier then ever to get your ideas out there in front of others while gaining support in the process. Set a blog or tumblr up and create a web comic. Start building your portfolio of industry contacts and involve yourself in the community wherever you can be it on sites like DeviantART or Vimeo. As mentioned, networking is absolutely essential to this process and these days animation is a global thing.

I agree with you all the way, economy downturn has certainly hit many areas in creative industries pretty hard but we're definitely seeing a rise in creativity as a result of it. And as you quite rightly said this sort of work is a global thing now (thanks Internet!).

Thank you very much for your time ~mikewinn. Please keep in touch and let us know when you and your team finish The Armsmaster! Looking forward to seeing the fruits of your labour!

_{Project Website

Vimeo Channel

Project Group}

10 Comments

Film and Animation April DD Roundup

Tue Apr 30, 2013, 4:41 PM

It's that time of the month again so here are April's awesome pieces of work, great job everyone!

The Boxer by ~mernolan

Tyr vs Braun Animatic Test by ~mikewinn

Masks Animation by ~PatSmith

LifeStream shortfilm by *Unodu

The Light Collector by ~SkyWheel

8 Comments

Flash DD Roundup #3: May already?

Tue Apr 30, 2013, 5:41 PM

Hello everyone! ♥

Today is the 1st of May for us aussies and wow has it come fast, its almost winter-time for us which is my favorite time of year (I'm not a fan of the sweltering heat)

The long awaited release of my ice cream game should come about in the next few weeks I'm hoping. It is a collaborative project with myself and my friend Minyan who lives in Canada so when there is a team of two of you it can be sometimes hard to juggle daily work life and get things done quickly. I'm still really excited to finally upload it!

I'm also currently working on a big project right now which I hope you will love. More on that soon! Lets get onto these lovely Flash Daily Deviations!

Flash Daily Deviations Round #3

There was only three this time ;o; I'll be on the hunt for some amazing flash pieces to showcase and with everyone else's help of suggesting we can continue to show more brilliant flash works! If you see something that you think is worthy of a DD please dont hesitate to send me your suggestions. Self-suggestions are also highly encouraged by all of the staff.

Daily Deviations

Also, remember! If you come across any artwork that is in the flash category that you think is worthy of a Daily Deviation send a note my way.

I'm always on the hunt for flash pieces to feature.

You can check what category an artwork is in by looking underneath the title and artist name of the deviation. I've added a screenshot as an example :3

How to check a deviation category

6 Comments

Flash Tutorial: Making a Game

Journal Entry: Sat May 18, 2013, 2:19 PM

Buttons to change colours must ALWAYS be on the same layer with the thing you want it to change the colour of or it will not work

I am using MacromediaFlash8

Explanation:
Code needed after adding keyframes inside of a moiveclip(only used onkeyframes):

stop();

Doing this stops the clip from running like a normal animation

Code for items that need to be draged and droped(only used on movieclips):

on(press) {
startDrag(this);
}
on(release)
{
stopDrag();
Mouse.show();
}

This allows you to move things, use this on the clothing items or accessories.

Code to change colour (only used on buttons):

on (press) {
_root.instantname.gotoAndStop(1);
}

the instant name that you gave to your movie clip will replace "instantname" between root. and .goto
The frame number that the colour you want the button to lead to will go inbetween the ( );

When you have an item that you can drag and drop and change colour
- turn it into a button, then a movie clip
-give movieclip an instant name
-right click the movie clip and click actions, add:

on(press) {
startDrag(this);
}
on(release)
{
stopDrag();
Mouse.show();
}

-Then double click the clip to edit the keyframes inside it
-add keyframes with F6
-right click the drawing in each of those keyframe, all but the first one, and click "break apart"
this will allow you to draw on it
-edit the colours
-go out of the clip and add buttons
-select buttons and press F8 and change them into a button
-then right click, then actions and paste:

on (press) {
_root.instantname.gotoAndStop(1);
}

-Put the instant name you gave the moiveclip in the instante name spot, and the number of keyframes in was in the clip
-Press ctrl enter to view your game and make sure it works

Make sure you save reguarly
to publish, you can go to: file, publish
or press ctrl F12

(finished game here:

)

No Comments

Angel Of Darkness

by ~KassyStar, 1 week, 4 days ago
Journals / Art News / Animation

6 Comments

Journal Dolls

by ~DreamBurn, May 5, 2013, 6:57:16 AM
Journals / Art News / Animation

I've gotten kinda good at those, I think :3
And an update I have a lot of commissions to do :I so requests come last unless they are paper-drawn (I can do those quickly)

And I keep getting questions in my comments about how to make one.
I don't know how any other program works, so if you're that interested about it, I would suggest downloading GIMP, specifically GIMP 2.8 [link]
No, this does not tell you how to animate on GIMP 2.8 in general, just journal dolls. But if you find out how to make those, you might get an idea about how to animate on it.

HOW TO MAKE A JOURNAL DOLL ON GIMP 2.8:
*Make the canvas size at the max 200x200 pixels = Click "image" - "canvas size..." - type whatever width and height you'd like for the doll (this is so it can make a preview, try 150x150 if you wanna be sure, and if it doesn't work, you can scale the doll by clicking "Image" - "Scale Image..." if you have already drawn it)
*Draw the pic you would like on a layer (if it takes multiple layers, that's fine, but save the pic then merge them when it's done)
*Hit "image" - "transparency..." - "add alpha channel" (if this is not an option, you already have this one so skip this step)
*Erase whatever parts you would like transparent (I'd suggest using the "Fuzzy Select Tool" in the toolbox, experiment with it

)

IF YOU WANT TO ANIMATE THE DOLL:
*Duplicate the layer
*On the duplicated layer use the free select tool to select any desired parts of the doll, hit edit - cut - paste, then move it where you want to, then anchor it by clicking a different tool or click away from the selected area)
*Save it as a GIF file, and make sure the layers are replaced as they switch, it is an animation, and it loops forever

I'm a sucky instructor

so if you still have questions, please comment them and I will try to help you (I am VERY VERY BUSY LATELY...)

4 Comments

3DS FC

by =0Shiny0, 1 week, 17 hours ago
Journals / Art News / Animation

Hand out your FC to people if you want here!

8 Comments

Ursa Major

by ~TBWPlum, Apr 26, 2013, 1:47:17 PM
Journals / Art News / Animation

Oy, there goes the 25th, another missed deadline-these things take a lot longer than I anticipate every time.

But it's okay, because I can totally share a preview of the storyboard before the climactic moment. It'd be kind of redundant to post the full thing since I'm going to do that with the animatic a few days later anyhow.

Now if I can only get those voices.

3 Comments

Animators/Voice-ers ( is that a word? ) Needed!

by ~Thelittleweaboo, 17 hours, 52 minutes ago
Journals / Art News / Animation

( the i in the top font looks like a zombie ) I need animators/ voice-ers for a short little story I wrote that I want animated called....'SYBER' ( Dun Dun ) I'm not paying anybody. If you want to 'apply' for the 'job' email 123kittenlane@mailinator.com ( I don't want to use my real address )

No Comments

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