[Kirok]

SECTION31, who is one of the cutting edge users of GoAnimate, has just posted something on another thread that deserves its own mention...

Quote

I have recently started posting some of my work on DeviantArt. Its mostly props that I use for animating on GoAnimate. However I made my first totally original animation made on my pc and posted it recently BATTLE OF WOLF 359

THOLIA

Nu Enterprise

Now, this is interesting for me because, although everything you guys do is awesome because you've got off your bum and created something [Kirok hangs his head in shame when thinking of the unfinished projects sitting on his harddrive!] it is especially fascinating to see how people's work develops with time.

Take GoAnimate for example. There are some great animations which have been made with it but it has its limitations, not the least of which is that you are limited to the uh, sprites[?] that are provided. Its only when you posted this that I realised that it is also a way of getting a start [if I get you right] in Flash animation by adding uh, stuff that you make yourself in Flash.

Could we find out more? Feel free to get technical as long as you keep it to an "Idiots Guide to Little Golden Books" level for me!

By the way, great new animations!

Cheers

K

[SECTI0N31]

Hi Kirok.

When I first discovered GoANimate through a trek site I had no inclinations to make animations. I saw the Star Trek theme as a way to tell a story though. Something I'd always wanted to do. But I think because the characters are quogs a lot of people can't get past the cheesy kids stuff attachment. SO it's hard to work with. There's not many trekkies there either. Most have left after the novelty wore off. My most popular and viewed animation on there was a Star Trek spoof face of the enema. I think it got popular because the kids love the poo aspect of it lol.

But something made me stick with it and try out other stuff- not just Trek or sci fi. There's a guy on there -Reddplague who made really good props and new characters he imported that I wanted. And I asked him to make a Romulan but he was too busy. I think he was the only person using flash at the time and everyone was asking him for a prop- poor guy. So I decided not pester him and learn flash myself. I've been using it since october 2009 and only now am I starting to feel comfortable using it. I spend far too much time using it, but i find its so easy to use once I've learned it. Learning it is difficult. I used youtube tutorials and manuals and Reddplague. GoAnimate Staff were very helpful and looked at my source (fla) files to see I had them correct. It's important to have the right format or else importing them to GA studio can cause the studio to crash.

GA has really changed a lot since I joined. And sometime next week there's going to be a better system where you can subscribe for a plus account with new features. The best feature so far is the character creator. It lets you choose body type and facial features clothes hair accessories with a lot of actions. Its still quite limited and could do with more actions. Overall GA has its limitations but also is a really good platform to start with for someone wanting to learn flash. It's helped me with my approach to animating a lot.

Being a Beta tester allowed me to upload flash. myself.I created the
cast of TNG I had no idea how to draw someone walking so I used cam recording software and captured all the moves of the GA characters then I took stills of each frame they moved and traced over them in flash. It was a very long and boring process. Thankfully flash has line tools which lets you moves line around to follow shapes. Rather than hand drawn even though you are hand drawing the lines. I still couldn't draw a person walking from scratch. I guess I could learn that at college. I do hope to take up web flash design this year.

More than the animating itself; GA is a really friendly site and I made a couple of really good friends. Its weird too becasue there are young children and 60 year olds all interacting which is something I've never experience online before. its a nice balance actually.

I do wonder if I'd be on that site still if I hadn't learned flash. More than likely I'd have left it as it is limited. But because it was a platfrom to test my flash props easily compared to Adobe flash studio I have grown really fond of the site. I will of course in time make my own stuff without GA. Especially with regards to a new project I have for a Spin off Trek series. But I really enjoy working with the studio on GA. And am looking forward to the new changes to the site next week.

If you check my latest work on there you can check out a lot of new props I made, like the JJ Abram's bridge and the excelsior bridge which I think look great. Also the Tholian homeworld is something I'm pleased with, and because its vector based it doesn't lose resolution if its shown on a large screen. This is also an entry into a contest to create a trailer for a film. Mine is a fantasy Trek movie The Tantalus Device

Its interesting you mention how people develop over time. I was watching STarmada my first animation with voices and its really cringeworthy looking at it now. The audio part of GA is not the best. It has 4 tracks which is limiting to what sounds you can have. And synching them is difficult sometimes. I learned a lot from that and it helped me to make the sound on Face of the Enema as close to perfect as possible.

I watch other people's flash animations on the net and I'm in awe, and hope to get to their level one day. I wish there wasn't a culture of snubbing goanimate amongst Trekkers. It must be hard to look past the Quog characters when telling a Trek story. I am planning on a new spoof TNG series -City on the Edge of a Fishfinger. It will be interesting to see what happens. If it is popular then I will know that the Quogs are best a medium of humour. I started making a non quog typeSisko. I'm too sure of the style. I don't want to carbon copy the TAS style characters.

There's a few good Trek stories and funnies on there by other people. Here's the cream of the crop

Mojochi's Enterprise Physicals
Armalarm's priceline Shantner piss take
Armalarm's Wrath of Bush
RoTV's aniamted graphic novel- Sirens Carnage- and I'm an orion girl on cover of issue 3

[Kirok]

WOW! ThankyouThankyouThankyou! You've given us enough material to answer a dozen questions and pose a gross more! I'll save most of them and skip to a couple of things I'd like to comment on.

 SECTI0N31, on 16 July 2010 - 09:24 PM, said:

When I first discovered GoANimate through a trek site I had no inclinations to make animations. I saw the Star Trek theme as a way to tell a story though. Something I'd always wanted to do. But I think because the characters are quogs a lot of people can't get past the cheesy kids stuff attachment. SO it's hard to work with. There's not many trekkies there either. Most have left after the novelty wore off. My most popular and viewed animation on there was a Star Trek spoof face of the enema. I think it got popular because the kids love the poo aspect of it lol.

[Techie question: what's a Quog? a Flash character?] Hmmm Every business has to get past that slump after the initial "rush" has finished - they need to have a definite niche, something that they can do that others can't. I think they seem to be playing on the "anyone can do it" card rather than developing it as a film-making tool - unless this new premium service could be such a development? Trekkies (and I include myself in this) aren't the best at accepting satire but it can be cool in moderation.

 SECTI0N31, on 16 July 2010 - 09:24 PM, said:

But something made me stick with it and try out other stuff- not just Trek or sci fi. There's a guy on there -Reddplague who made really good props and new characters he imported that I wanted. And I asked him to make a Romulan but he was too busy. I think he was the only person using flash at the time and everyone was asking him for a prop- poor guy. So I decided not pester him and learn flash myself. I've been using it since october 2009 and only now am I starting to feel comfortable using it. I spend far too much time using it, but i find its so easy to use once I've learned it. Learning it is difficult. I used youtube tutorials and manuals and Reddplague. GoAnimate Staff were very helpful and looked at my source (fla) files to see I had them correct. It's important to have the right format or else importing them to GA studio can cause the studio to crash.

S'truth! You can crash the site? That could make you very unpopular I'd think! What you've done, learning Flash as you have, is an amazing achievement though! It opens sooo many opportunities! I can see that you've spotted the Enterprise Flashed videos of LilRedHead, who unfortunately we have seen since 2005! He seems to be moving on to bigger and better things, all the EF episodes are still in the video gallery of his new site though. If you want some real inspiration remember, Jamie Farr started off just like you on Xombie in 2003 and he is talking to Dreamworks about a movie deal now!

 SECTI0N31, on 16 July 2010 - 09:24 PM, said:

GA has really changed a lot since I joined. And sometime next week there's going to be a better system where you can subscribe for a plus account with new features. The best feature so far is the character creator. It lets you choose body type and facial features clothes hair accessories with a lot of actions. Its still quite limited and could do with more actions. Overall GA has its limitations but also is a really good platform to start with for someone wanting to learn flash. It's helped me with my approach to animating a lot.

That's really interesting. I can't help but see a resemblence between GoAnimate and Lego - you've got standard "building blocks" that can be put together in simple or complex ways - there have been some cool Lego brick movies as well! I agree that the character generator sounds like a way of adding flexibility into the system so that its sort of like a way of making custom building blocks. As you say, it sounds like a good learning tool - one that is fun to use as well!

 SECTI0N31, on 16 July 2010 - 09:24 PM, said:

Being a Beta tester allowed me to upload flash. myself.I created the
cast of TNG I had no idea how to draw someone walking so I used cam recording software and captured all the moves of the GA characters then I took stills of each frame they moved and traced over them in flash. It was a very long and boring process. Thankfully flash has line tools which lets you moves line around to follow shapes. Rather than hand drawn even though you are hand drawing the lines. I still couldn't draw a person walking from scratch. I guess I could learn that at college. I do hope to take up web flash design this year.

What you've done sounds like rotoscoping - so you are following in the footsteps of professional animators there! Don't for a second think you are cutting corners or that your work is any less creative than someone else's - You could even say that it is a sort of amateur MoCap system! I'm incredibly impressed!

 SECTI0N31, on 16 July 2010 - 09:24 PM, said:

More than the animating itself; GA is a really friendly site and I made a couple of really good friends. Its weird too becasue there are young children and 60 year olds all interacting which is something I've never experience online before. its a nice balance actually.

I hope you'll find TrekUnited just as friendly!

 SECTI0N31, on 16 July 2010 - 09:24 PM, said:

I do wonder if I'd be on that site still if I hadn't learned flash. More than likely I'd have left it as it is limited. But because it was a platfrom to test my flash props easily compared to Adobe flash studio I have grown really fond of the site. I will of course in time make my own stuff without GA. Especially with regards to a new project I have for a Spin off Trek series. But I really enjoy working with the studio on GA. And am looking forward to the new changes to the site next week.

You'll have to keep us posted about your projects otherwise I will have to send out the agents of the House of L'Stok to spy on you!

 SECTI0N31, on 16 July 2010 - 09:24 PM, said:

If you check my latest work on there you can check out a lot of new props I made, like the JJ Abram's bridge and the excelsior bridge which I think look great. Also the Tholian homeworld is something I'm pleased with, and because its vector based it doesn't lose resolution if its shown on a large screen. This is also an entry into a contest to create a trailer for a film. Mine is a fantasy Trek movie The Tantalus Device

I'll check it out shortly - good luck!

 SECTI0N31, on 16 July 2010 - 09:24 PM, said:

Its interesting you mention how people develop over time. I was watching STarmada my first animation with voices and its really cringeworthy looking at it now. The audio part of GA is not the best. It has 4 tracks which is limiting to what sounds you can have. And synching them is difficult sometimes. I learned a lot from that and it helped me to make the sound on Face of the Enema as close to perfect as possible.

I know you will be tempted to change it but please don't! Your real fans will judge you on your current work and the rest of mere mortals need encouragement that everyone has to start somewhere! (Even Jamie Farr says that about his first episode!)

 SECTI0N31, on 16 July 2010 - 09:24 PM, said:

I watch other people's flash animations on the net and I'm in awe, and hope to get to their level one day. I wish there wasn't a culture of snubbing goanimate amongst Trekkers. It must be hard to look past the Quog characters when telling a Trek story. I am planning on a new spoof TNG series -City on the Edge of a Fishfinger. It will be interesting to see what happens. If it is popular then I will know that the Quogs are best a medium of humour. I started making a non quog typeSisko. I'm too sure of the style. I don't want to carbon copy the TAS style characters.

I'll tell the truth. There are so many GoAnimate clips around that are, well, not as good as they could be, that it tends to stereotype the whole thing - take heart that it is like fan fiction in that respect! But, like fan fiction, this makes the good ones stand out!

 SECTI0N31, on 16 July 2010 - 09:24 PM, said:

There's a few good Trek stories and funnies on there by other people. Here's the cream of the crop

Mojochi's Enterprise Physicals
Armalarm's priceline Shantner piss take
Armalarm's Wrath of Bush
RoTV's aniamted graphic novel- Sirens Carnage- and I'm an orion girl on cover of issue 3

I think I've seen that first one, it was good, and I've seen RoTV's animated graphic novel - he's another animator who is taking the GoAnimate tool and using it in an original way! I'll have to catch up with the rest.

Sorry I can't talk more, I'll PM you in a sec, but you've given me a new take on GoAnimate that makes me want to try something on it! Thanks again for the wealth of information.

K

[SECTI0N31]

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[Techie question: what's a Quog? a Flash character?]

Quogsare cute cartoony versions of characters with big heads. Not just Star Trek. Paramount endorsed them and then later on GoAnimate got the franchise.

Flash characters are one character with a group of different actions. Like standing still. Or walking, running etc. You have to animated each action and upload it and then when they're all done you can click and choose the one you want for the scene. Flash is just the type of file the character was made in. GA only supports flash.

Quote

S'truth! You can crash the site?

Not the whole site lol. Certainly the studio I am in at the time. I found a flash resource site called flashkit.com where I extracted some effects from open source royalty free downloads and they weren't compatible and caused lots of weird things to happen- Mainly its because they weren't on a 24 frame per second ration. It can make the studio in general unstable.

Quote

I know you will be tempted to change it but please don't! Your real fans will judge you on your current work and the rest of mere mortals need encouragement that everyone has to start somewhere! (Even Jamie Farr says that about his first episode!)

Oops! Too late I slightly altered it. Just with a new version of the Phallusian dreadnought. The original was a png cut out crop drawn in photoshop before I owned a graphic tablet and it looks awful. I'm not going to mess with anything else. (It worth taking note that an all flash asset animation plays better than with PNG/Jpeg assets. Because png are actual pictures with all the detail and are a whole lot bigger in file size than a flash (SWF) file. Your pc has to do more work to show a png or jpeg image and can lag and slow down the pc sometimes.)


It's nice to see someone interested in the mechanics of GA.

Oh and I have found this site very friendly unlike a few other trek sites I can mention lol.

[barbreader]

Hi, guys... a two thoughts I want to share as a cataloguer. First, thank you for pointing me in a few directions, as the Go!Animate Trek offerings are vast, and finding the ones I'd like to point my readers to is a great amount of work. It's not clear, at a glance, to the outsider, what's what. Section 31, RoTV, and DMAC6806 all have notable work, and I'll be checking the work you've pointed out more carefully soon.

Second, Lilredhead Studios also has produced a series of videos trying to teach the use of Flash. They are the source of Enterprise Flashed, which has a heading at this website. This is their website: http://lilredheadstudios.com/ . He hasn't done any Trek work in some time, though, as I have corresponded with him about putting together his webpage at Star Trek Reviewed (vis: http://startrekrevie...2009/06/13.html )

[Kirok]

 barbreader, on 17 July 2010 - 03:22 PM, said:

Hi, guys... a two thoughts I want to share as a cataloguer. First, thank you for pointing me in a few directions, as the Go!Animate Trek offerings are vast, and finding the ones I'd like to point my readers to is a great amount of work. It's not clear, at a glance, to the outsider, what's what. Section 31, RoTV, and DMAC6806 all have notable work, and I'll be checking the work you've pointed out more carefully soon.

The ideal thing would be a fan of GoAnimate who would link casual viewers to the best that comes out. Just as we had this conversation about fan fiction, the GoAnimate videos suffer from having to wade through too many videos to get to the really good ones that are worth watching and this does everyone a disservice by driving possible fans away.

 barbreader, on 17 July 2010 - 03:22 PM, said:

Second, Lilredhead Studios also has produced a series of videos trying to teach the use of Flash. They are the source of Enterprise Flashed, which has a heading at this website. This is their website: http://lilredheadstudios.com/ . He hasn't done any Trek work in some time, though, as I have corresponded with him about putting together his webpage at Star Trek Reviewed (vis: http://startrekrevie...2009/06/13.html )

Noone can fault the guy for wanting to move on and spread his wings, its good that he's trying to help other with instructional videos. Perhaps I'm over-simplifying things but Flash strikes me as an efficient way of creating 2D cartoon-type videos and GoAnimate as the perfect way of trying your hand at it for free. Maybe things have changed, but when I looked at getting a copy - it was after I watched some of Kinneas's videos - it was just too expensive.

K