next »

[jctwood]

Looking forward to the rotoscoping post... What are you building the game in Swift?

[Yxven]

This seems like a really unique idea. I like where you're going with it.

[Alex Higgins]

This is some dope animation work!

[Franklin's Ghost]

@JctWood - Game is being built in flash and I'm working on the rotoscoping post but just not sure how I'm going to show it. Been playing with gifs recording the process and think that might be the way to go. Will try and post it in the next few days.

@Yxven - Thanks wanted to try and make something a bit different and unique so glad people are liking it so far.

@Alex Higgins - Cheers more to come.

Here's the work in progress animation for the throne seat. I was going to do a lot more animation with the throne but have kept it a simple transition fade for now and can come back later on to improve on it.

PELVIS SWIPE DOWN

[jamesprimate]

http://killscreendaily.com/articles/we-literally-cant-stop-watching-animated-gifs-guy-doing-regular-things/

[oldblood]

http://killscreendaily.com/articles/we-literally-cant-stop-watching-animated-gifs-guy-doing-regular-things/

Badass... so awesome to see all these Tig's I follow getting press recently...

[ashtonmorris]

I am also really enjoying this. These animations are mesmerizing  

[Franklin's Ghost]

http://killscreendaily.com/articles/we-literally-cant-stop-watching-animated-gifs-guy-doing-regular-things/

@jamesprimate - thanks again for pointing me to this. Such a great surprise and so well written. Made my week and couldn't stop showing it off to people I know.

@oldblood - yeah is definitely a nice thing seeing people you know getting press, first full article for me so that was fun.

@ashtonmorris & LastQuarter Studios - thanks guys, glad to hear it and more coming soon.

Have my process post almost ready and will try and get it up at the end of the week or early next week, depending on how Ludum Dare goes for me.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Ludum Dare and weekend away killed my productivity but have the rotoscoping process post almost ready. Should be able to put it up this weekend but to tide everyone over till then, here's a musical interlude.

LEFT HAND SWIPE RIGHT

[Moth]

This is so awesome and well-made, every gif is a treat! Congrats on the coverage too!

[Franklin's Ghost]

@Moth - thanks was nice surprise to see some coverage, a great motivator.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Okay finally have sometime to do my rotoscoping post. I'll keep it very straightforward and if people have any further questions feel free to ask them and I'll answer as best as I can.

I'm going to break this down into two posts since it'll be so gif heavy. First part will cover the preparation for the new animation. (the ukulele)

Part 1:

Step 1: Film the action that you'll be animating and import it into Flash. Try and stay consistent with your figure position since it'll make the smooth transition between animations easier e.g feet position, hand location, camera angle and level.

Step 2: Grab existing idle animation that will flow into new animation. This is the base frame for all new animations and is a guide for how the figure will be starting all new actions. I like to generally draw most things again but there is times where that will be overkill since segments won't move much e.g.the legs may stay in position. Tweaking with real animation will also be done later to smooth transitions between actions.

Step 3: Place idle animation over video and move video around until you have it synced as best as you can. This will save alot of future workload.



Okay that's it for part one and the preparation for new animation. I'll post part 2 soon.

[oldblood]

This is great. Thanks for sharing, looking forward to seeing your whole process. I'd likely never try it myself but it's really interesting to see and the end results look amazing...

[Franklin's Ghost]

@oldblood - thanks and yeah it is definitely really time consuming. I've been using the technique for years so have gotten pretty fast at it but still takes ages. Patience I'd say is a necessity.

Part 2:

Step 4: Breakdown idle animation over film by removing parts that will need to be rotscoped again.

Step 5: Turn off video layer to see how figure looks with removed parts. This will give you a better idea of what needs adjusting and what works

Step 6: Now you need to rotoscope the body parts using a new layer above the video. I've found the fastest technique for me is to work in segments. Drawing the whole figure each frame before moving on means you have to move your hand all over the place. I find that using a short movement with my fingers on the keys to go between frames quickly works well. Draw a line then flick to next frame and so on till you get to the end, then go back and start the next segment. Also helps with smoothness of animation because you know exactly how the last part went. Onion skin on between previous and next frame also assists in knowing where the lines should go.



I'll post the final part soon with a list of tips to help with the whole process.

[troyduguid]

hahaha I love this project! Such a great, instantly charming idea

[Franklin's Ghost]

@troyduguid - thanks always nice to see new people interested in what I'm doing. Also looking forward to seeing your game progress with the chaos aspect.

I've been working on a few new animations the last few days but have had issues filming. Definitely need to do final process post and write out useful tips so I can remind myself not to keep doing stupid mistakes.

Looking forward to showing some new animations soon.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Final process post.

Part 3:

Step 7: Once you've finished drawing over video in the new layer, just play it back to make sure it all looks okay and nothing has been missed or needs adjustment.

Step 8: Turn off video layer to see final rotoscoping result.

   

[oldblood]

Excellent read. What a process, almost feels tedious but the results are quite amazing. Thanks for sharing your process, its a unique approach for sure.

How many more animations do you plan to do? Or I should say how far into the 29 are you?

[Franklin's Ghost]

@oldblood - process is definitely very tedious at times but I look at it as more of a meditative thing for me now. I've been doing it for so long that when I now do it I go into my little zone. For me it's about knowing what I'm putting into each animation and the feel of the piece.

The number 29 was actually the amount of animations I'd pretty much finished at that point (without final polish e.g effects). I actually just finished my 33rd animation now, but some life stuff has come up that has made me take a bit of time off to regroup.

I'll post one of the new animations up when I get the chance next.

[Franklin's Ghost]

I've started implementing a new feature that is going to make certain animations play at specific times/days/dates.

This will work as follows:
-Interact with figure and an animation plays that reveals a time/day/date.
-If you then open the game at that specific moment an animation will play out.

AN EXAMPLE OF THIS REVEAL