Making Animations

[Genepool 224]

I'm extremely hesitant to do this since I'm still a newbie/amateur, however, nothing ventured nothing gained as they say.

 

I've been practicing, learning, etc... since the show came around and i've definitely improved from my horribly bad photography of screen capping then "enhancing" said screen caps. Right now i'm branching out into animations where I trace out vectors from screen caps then animate them using minor details.

 

( If anyone has animation tutorial links for Photoshop CS5 (Using 64bit version) i'm happy to take a look. )

 

Going to open myself up to your generous criticism, ideas, opinions, and such to improve myself further. If anyone would like to have their OC or a character from the show animated please feel free to make a request. (Please no alicorn OCs, or OCs with super detailed features. Have novice understanding of Photoshop.)

 

Now for the bad part, I don't want to crush anyone's expectations. There are a few rules/conditions that I will have to put forth.

 

1. I use photoshop CS5 and have no access to Flash nor do I plan to use flash. This is a double edged sword since I can get some unique details with photoshop that are probably not possible in Flash. At the same time I don't have the nice, "Smooth" control you find in Flash.

 

2. Simple Animations *Look below at my links*: If you do request an animation, please make sure to keep the details for it as smooth and simple as possible. I'm still learning things, and more than happy to experiment, but please keep it simple. For me to animate a gif of Celestia's hair flowing, a tree blowing/shifting in the wind, a leaf falling, and the sun going down in an arc would be very difficult for me to try. Not only that, but the file size would be quite large.

 

That isn't to say i'm against it, but simple is best for me at the moment. I'll be chosing the ideas then testing them out.

 

Animations that are tricky/hard/currently impossible for me (Examples):

 

-Wing flapping: I've seen how this is done with several sequential shots, but it is still tricky since I have to draw each shot then include inbetweens done by hand.

 

-Flowing Hair: This is easier to do than wing flapping, though it is still difficult. If a person requests flowing hair I will probably limit it to just that unless there's a small other detail. Something going across the screen with no animation like a flying ball is easy, a pony in the background walking is difficult.

 

-Walk Animations: Have absolutely no idea on how to make this work in Photoshop GIFs, so i'm going to make these off limits for the time being. A hoof motion is a different story entirely. Example of a hoof animation would be a hinge point like we see in episode 18 of season 2 with cranky shooing Pinky away, or a pony waving with one or both hooves.

 

3. Please, please keep in mind that these are request. I will be using this experience to learn. Refuse to put out a piece of garbage since it feels degrading to not on the request, but myself. However, on the other hand, i'm not a professional, so keep that in mind.

 

Here are a few examples of animations that I have made:

 

1. Animation Test 2, Twilight: Read me a story w/ shining eyes

 

2. Animation Blip Test

 

3. Pendulum Test

 

4. Spining Blades

 

 

Sorry for the rules and such, but I don't want to get peoples hopes up of show quality animation with me delivering amateur level material. I will upload results to here for people to nab. The Twilight test animation is done with a transparent background and as you see it is jagged, just a heads up for those requesting transparent backgrounds.