Hi, i'm new here and I'm also currently learning animator somewhere in Malaysia.
I know what FPS is...it's just that I would like to know how far different it is shooting in 3s and shooting in 2s (both in 24fps). I once read that the japanese film their animation in 24fps but shooting in 3s, while what I'm being thought here is 24fps and shooting in 2s. And to me, japanese anime is quite smooth in someways...and just how did they do it
Also, I wonder what are the pros & cons shooting in 3s compare to 2s...because I'm running out of time with my project, and would like to cut down drawings and time so I would finish on time...I thank anyone who is able to help.
I suggest animation on 2s. If you don't belive me watch these two movies I made on 3s and 4s. They aren't real smooth:
Monster Mash & Eleanor Rigby
And Scatteredlogical, Steamboy was pretty good. A lot of visual stuff and action but it was still cool. Great animation too. It's Miyazaki quality.
Spoooze!
Good point.
What I wrote about SB on another forum:
It was...interesting.
It started to grab me with the conflict of the father and grandfather and deeper themes emerged.
I feel the anti-war statement of the film was stronger than if set in the future or present.
But I was very disappointed with the ending.
I agree with Roger Ebert its colors were too drab.
And as much as I like Japanese animation, could they not go fuller for the big screen? Thanks to my kid raising my awareness, I've seen about 4 animes on the big screen in about as many years. I'm starting to not be so forgiving.
I much prefer sub-titles and get the expressions of the original actors.
Oh yeh...to you North American Dubbers out there; every time a character looks surprised, they don't always have to say "Huh?" "Hmmm." Ahh"..sometimes they just look surprised.
This is as annoying as all get out. I watched a few cartoons in original Japanese and then in english, they don't do this.
I liked metropolis, Spirited Away more.
The Fritz Lang film, or a different Metropolis?
This one:
http://www.sonypictures.com/cthv/metropolis/
but yeh, Lang's is better 'n' Steamboy too. ;)
It is too late now, but storyboard is a big help in building your animation project. Also, you should not worry about the project, just do the very best you can. If you log back on, you need to give us a hit as to what your story is about.
I have a similar question; I'm planning on animating a background on 3s, but the characters on 2s and 1s. Is this a bad idea? I don't know if mixing frame speeds would cause any problems
apples : oranges ::
Conventional wisdom says to match the backgrounds to the characters, especially in the case of pans and things. So at least bring it to 2s. If I'm not mistaken, I think you go a step further and bring both of them to 1s. It makes it easier to plant the feet and things like that, plus it eliminates any strobing effects you might get with wrong or mismatched counts.
if you're panning a background, best do it in singles
even if the character cycle is in two's.
this will cause some sliding but will be minimal.
the reason for this is since the bg is so big, panning it in two's
might be too jarring for the eye. any vertical element (like a post)
would cause 'strobing'.
matching bg speed and character cycles
is mainly for registering the feet to the ground.
it won't be so much of an issue if the feet are not shown (as in a waist shot),
or the feet barely touches the ground (as in a run)
but even if you're animating a bg not panning
(hence your time-saving shoot on three's)
i'd still go with Scattered's advise.
be on the safe side-- shoot everything on singles.
Don't worry. All shall be well.
I have not done this but what if the scene where give more layers. One could match the ground in what ever cycle the feet are in, while putting the background in one's.
Shooting on 3s is largely a Japanese approach to limited animation. For anything on the big screen it is especially herky-jerky. The thing with anime is that what work they lose in 3s their characters have comic book detail; tons of what is called pencil mileage...detail if u will. It's almost more about cool visuals than moving or acting. To many viewers, when they see something well drawn, they believe they are seeing good animation. Conversely I have heard first hand people dislike a A very fully animated but stylised animation because they didn't like the flatness of the designs....but as laypeople they articualte it as "bad animation". So what you see as smoothness in Japanese animation may be its visual appeal.
BTW I like Anime but am less forgiving of 3s and limited techniques on the big screen after sitting through Steam Boy.
It is possible to get away with 3s in fuller anmation but it is a rare case of something moving real slow for a short distance and very tightly spaced drawings.
As far as your project, it really depends. If you have to get it finished maybe ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Bigger projects have been known to pull drawings due to time and budget. If it means you just have to work a little harder like alll-nighters, then fully animate it.
8 drawings per second seems really restrictive when there are so many actions that seem as if they'd need near that many to be properly articulated.
How was Steam Boy? The trailer looked like eye candy to the max...