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speed lines

By bossmonkey | Thursday, February 23, 2006 at 6:09am

fun in comic books, but how do you do them in animation? examples/tutorials?

and just to disambiguate from other kinds of "speed lines": http://www.ribaldyouth.com/krishna/anim/seniorproject/Untitled-24.jpg

also, is anyone else having a problem in the forums where the buttons stop working sometimes?

DSB's picture
Submitted by DSB on

I think the "clickables" at the top left of the page are currently non-functional, due to the "Mirromask" ad that expands when you mouse over it.

If that's what you're referring to...;)

wontobe's picture
Submitted by wontobe on

Nice drawing. As for speed lines in animations you can check out the old bugs, roadrunner stuff. I am sure the guys have better examples. You make your mark then you streach it or you could leave a series of little marks as the character moves off.

spacemonkey's picture

I havd done speed lines, can get to see one of the examples on at the www.thedevilsgarage.com . go to the animation links and choose the 3rd button , the circus . the end part of the anaimtion has the speed linesmay be you could use that for reference

Wade K's picture
Submitted by Wade K on

Nice drawing. As for speed lines in animations you can check out the old bugs, roadrunner stuff. I am sure the guys have better examples. You make your mark then you streach it or you could leave a series of little marks as the character moves off.

Nice drawing??? Sorry, but I am confused as to what it is. I see the speed lines, but what is that in the middle?

You will seldom see these speed line FX in North American stuff, but in Anime, they use them all the time while holding on a shaky pose, animating colours zipping back into the distance. The lines themselves will not convey the movement.

"Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon

Ken Davis's picture
Submitted by Ken Davis on

Why not just stop-frame an animation sample with speed-lines in it and see how the animator solved that particular drawing and timing problem?
With lots of DVD samples out there this should be very easy to do.

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

Animated Ape's picture

Depending on the effect you want, do a two frame loop where frame one has a bunch of lines, and on frame two you have different lines in different places. You don't really have to be that percise for these things because it's implied movement versus some thing real, like an arm or building moving.

I love that angle you have on the character. Really well done.

Aloha,
the Ape

...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."

Graphiteman's picture
Submitted by Graphiteman on

That sort of manga example you gave, lines radiating to a vanishing point, I would do 3 or 4 drawings of the lines traveling a path to the vanishing point behind the character. It doesn't have to be precise, line per line animated but random line placement animating down the path. SO there is a primary movement and a random element secondarily. quick n dirty e.g:
http://www3.telus.net/drard/crap.html
On ones at 24fps.
As for other speedlines and dry brush effects, after images and smears; always on ones and fast, never holding or overlapping too much. The whole point is you are emulating a blur that happens in movie photogrphy that moves too fast for the rate of exposure.

I love Art Davis' cartoons but his are an example of over use of speedlines.