[Kirok]

Over the past couple of years, I've seen a few examples of a type of animation that strikes me as a way of credibly animating 2D graphics, ergo my tentative naming of this thread as "animated graphics". The best way to introduce it is to introduce you to one of the best examples I've seen yet... watch this (caution, graphic violence and strong language)...



This was made by creating hand-drawn graphics in photoshop and, using different techniques, giving them the illusion of movement, the whole thing then being overlaid on the audio track from "Call of Duty', a computer game. In answer to the inevitable question, how did he do it, this was his video reply...



It should come as no surprise that "The One" lists his occupation as Graphic Designer / Ilustrator from Spain and he hasn't posted anything in a year! The guy pretty obviously was snapped up to do this commercially!

K

[Kirok]

So what does this have to do with Star Trek? Well, there have been a few examples of similar animations done by Trek fans. The ones that started my interest in this style of animation were Tony Tuthill's videos, mostly music videos, for Hailing Frequencies Open the podcast that was the genesis for Trek Radio. He's done some great work like Telekinesis with a Star Trek twist, I Think I Started a Trend and It's Now Something Else but my personal favourite will always be...



From memory (notoriously bad these days!) Tony told me one time that he did the artwork in photoshop and then animated them in Windows Movie Maker! An example of elegant simplicity!

K

[Darkwing]

Ah yes, I love that style too, I think it may be the depth. Halo Reach's menu screens employ a similar style which is very cool as well

[Kirok]

Darkwing, on 05 April 2011 - 07:40 AM, said:

Ah yes, I love that style too, I think it may be the depth. Halo Reach's menu screens employ a similar style which is very cool as well

In the end, animation is all about tricks of the eye. Have a look at this professionally made one on StarTrek.com: The Legend of Gorath

K

[Bill]

Good looking production and its holds up well for its age.

[Kirok]

Bill, on 07 April 2011 - 08:47 AM, said:

Good looking production and its holds up well for its age.

I saved the best 'til last!


Star Trek: The Motion Comic

Now, I'm normally not a big fan of crossovers - they ussually degenerate into a cliched fight to show which is better - but this is so elegantly done that I would forgive it anything! aesthetically this works for me on every level! The story is simple and I'll admit I didn't twig what it was until... um the second half. As an audio fan the lack of a voice track seemed strange to start with but once I got absorbed by the animation it just didn't matter!

So how did he do it? The artist, zombiespy, says, "I used Serif Photoplus X2 to convert the captured images to comic effect PNGs and Anime Studio Pro (SmithMicro) to create the scenes. Serif MoviePlus X3 to edit."

The first bit I can understand - Photoplus X2 is evidently graphics editing software similar to Photoshop but at a much more basic level. It sounds similar to PhotoImpact, a program I used for many years which I got from a magazine cover disk (the major source of my software!), before moving to Gimp. There are many different filters you can apply to pictures, to give them different effects - to make them look like they were made with water colours, marker pen or chalk. So what the artist has done has been to take screenshots, digitally cut them out and then apply filters to them to make them look like hand-drawn graphics.

As for the rest, I assume that Anime Studio pro assembles the graphics in such a way as to give them the illusion of depth and movement and Serif Movie Plus turns it into a video <shrugs> I know nothing about either of these programs, although I must admit that Anime Studio looks like a pretty simple way of making animated characters and Serid MoviePlus has the ability to chromakey, something which opens a myriad of possibilities!

K

[Kirok]

So where does this style of animation stand in relation to others?

I think it might appeal to someone who is artistically minded, someone who is good at photoshop perhaps but doesn't have the patience to master the dozens of adjustments that are needed to articulate a character in DAZ, Poser or even Anime Studio. It has its limitations - it probably works best with action and scenes rather than dialog although it is not impossible. it strikes me as a good entry-level technique and, especially if it were spread over a team, could be much quicker than other styles of animation.

Perhaps most promising is that it can deliver artistic results without the maker being able to "draw" as such - cut and pasted graphics could be worked on to give them a definite graphic style and then animated. I can see this style as being the perfect choice for, say, the maker of a web comic or graphic novel who wanted to take the next step.

Waddayareckon?

Kirok of L'Stok