Friday, March 1, 2013

The Feathers

Greetings Friends!

Lion with another update!  I just realized I forgot to do one last week but that doesnt mean we're Idle.  Spirit's plowing ahead with more puppet builds and I'm happy to say that Luna's build has been updated and will definitely speed some shots up. Not to mention I'll be able to replace some weird symbols with more appropriate ones.

I just finished another shot today which was problematic.  One we refer to as 'Shot 07'.  (Basically the shot where she overlooks the city)

Took me a while to come up with her acting.. way too long for a shot this short.  But at the same time I didnt want to just recycle what was done and then the wings and.. well.. too many things at once in my head.

In the end, it's the wings that really make it work. Or rather, the feathers.  Originally it was a slow and sluggish unfurling of the wings and it had no life to it.. just a lot of tweens and visible flash animation.

With her acting done without her wings I could time them better to the music too.

I even gave them a bit of a snap!

As you can see, I divided the wings in several parts which allow a more precise manipulation.  Since it's not exactly like a flap I felt it necessary to give myself more control for better subtle movements.

The red line below is my hand-drawn guide.  I've re-done several passes of other shots that way to give myself a better planning over some specific movements.

Again, we're getting there. One shot at a time :)


-Lion

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Something that Flash really really needs..

HI there!

Spirit talking to you today and bringing the morning report. 

We are presently creating our Luna puppet for the final scene (yes, we proceeded with no puppets until now, believe or not). And after creating a mountain of symbols, we spotted something that Flash could use.

A script for setting the properties of the graphics to single frame by default. I consulted other animators, and they crave that as well.  It might seem that we are lazy, but it is very time consuming to have to check something EVERY time you create a symbol. If you are managing.. let's say, 80, it is ok, but our Lulu has surpassed the 1000 (just these past two days I created about 200).  And we also have 12 children, with very different assets for each one (every child has a different blink, mouthshape...and we have two different builds for filly and colt).

So, if there is any guru out there that knows about such thing, please, please, email or comment. I would be really grateful for that.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Comparison Part 2

Greetings friends!

Lion here with another update on progress.

I got a little bit side-tracked this week due to a special request by Michael Brockhoff (The director on the Bronies documentary)

Looks like you guys will have a little selection of Special Tee-shirts at one point in some conventions!  And yes, Prof John is part of the lineup for those Tees.

Now.  Last time (last week?) I said I'd render a comparative shot between what was done before and what I modified to my new and improved standard.  I'm not 100% sure about the ending of the new version but it kinda fits the song well.

I'll ask advice to my lovely Wife-Partner when I can get a hold of her.  But for now, here's a little sneak-a-peek:


This is Before










And this is After.

If they seem out of synch, just refresh the page, they should synch up afterward.





As you can see, the movements are more circular and not as jerky. Of course, since they are on '2s' now instead of being tweened, it also means the animation more or less runs at 12 FPS. Less 'Flashy' as some would say but slightly less smooth.  It's a matter of balance, really.. can't have everything all the time but I think I'd take more lively animation over smoothness of framerate.

So let us know what you think of the improvements :)

Be safe!

-Lion

Friday, February 8, 2013

Comparison

Helloooo Everypony!

Lion here with a little update.

The blog's living again and.. well.. we never did stop living.  STILL, I thought I'd alleviate some possible concerns AND give an inside view once more.

Some of you might remember a post called 'Lipsynching' (http://firstnightmarenight.blogspot.ca/2012/07/lipsynching.html)

After working on 'Bronies' and with great feedback from a senior animator whom I shall not name (But has been a super awesome input with the betterment of my flash animation skills) I realized that: Tweening is evil.

I never really liked it BUT I thought I could tame it.

Fact is: I can't.  I should have listened to everypony including myself but I didnt and now I'm working a bit harder.  Takes a bump on the head to realize it I guess.

Tweening is a support tool.. not so awesome for prodution.

SO, I thought I'd show the difference in the timelines.  Here is a before and after screencaps of what we refer to as 'Shot 02'.




While it looks crazy, (And it is) is also means that Luna has more life to her.  Her movements don't breathe of 'flash' as much as a living entity.. at least it's the feeling I get.  I don't know what came over me to actually accept what I had first done as 'good enough'.  Everything moves now, she's got pacing and her motions are significantly more pushed.  Not just an almost static singing head like before.

In other words, I feel a lot happier about showing this animation now and a lot more confident that it will be worthy of the fandom.

And now I'll keep on trotting and show a comparison of the Gif animation that also is under the LipSynch post when Shot 03 has had its beauty cream applied :)

Be safe!


-Lion

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The News

Good say everypony, Lion here.

I have good news and bad news.

The good one is that Children of the Night is resuming.  It's still a huge task and one that took me some time to see 'one day at a time'

The bad one is that I don't like what some parts look like anymore.  It's choppy.. square.. lipsynch sucks in some areas and Luna's puppet is a gumbo that needs to be addressed.  In other words, it's nowhere near the quality that I gave for the documentary and is NOT a good representation of what I can do anymore.

So to that effect, some sections that I thought were done will have a revisit and/or will be completely redone. (Some shots, not all)

The speed should pick up however as working with JanAnimations sure helped put some things in perspective and showed me better ways of doing some shots.  Don't lose hope, we're still alive :)

-Lion

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Spirit´s birthday

Hello there Everypony!
Today is Jan 9th, and that means that Spirit is a year older today.  She will probably be busy today, as usual, but let's give her a birthday cheer!.

-Lion

Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Hearts Warming!

Hey hey you all!

The CotN team wishes you a merry Xmas and a happy new year.

We have something kinda cute to share today, and that is that Spirit has been working on some animations.

So here you have her! adult Moonie walking her way in the night.