I Love Mocap

If you are trying to create your very own anime you could definately get more done using MOCAP.

I have been in love with MOCAP for years.  While I do love Keyframe animation, I love MOCAP because it can help me tell a story so much quicker.

Remember this sight is designed to help even those with very limited skills be able to create their own anime.  MOCAP can be a key.

MOCAP used to be only for the big studios with money but now things have changed.  There are all types of systems now ranging from free, to in program, to even a cheap but effective wearable mocap.

Here are 5 cheap MOCAP tools you could get your hands on.

Looks what’s new! Moho Studio

What’s new in Moho 12?  Looks pretty cool.  Here is a pretty cool tool you can use.  I especially like the puppet style tools.

If you think puppet animation is not cool, then see what you could do below.   They use a similar method.

Seoul Station and how to make your own

One good way to learn how to create your own animation is to study others.    I am still trying to figure out how this director creates his animation but I kind of have a good idea.  It looks like he is using some cell shading and actual animation on the faces.

I think it is something like this

And this

Could you use something like POSER by Smith Micro?  Animate the characters and trace over the characters especially if you do not know how to draw as well.  You can trace?  Better yet…Poser 11 has a great new line tool that Brian Haberlin often uses.  You could do this for a manga or an anime as well.

What do you think?

The Power of Real Time rendering

IF you wanted to make an animated series that looks good but without all the render time then look no further than real time.

If you have checked out UE4 you know what I’m talking about.

Making of a Toon!

I have bee keeping up with this really awesome Youtube channel called Art Sandwich.  They have been making some really cool spoofs of different movies.  I wanted to share their making of video because it breaks down the process pretty good and possibly could give you an idea on how to make your anime.   You could possibly use your own footage and actors and draw over them like these guys do.

Always think outside the box.

Here is some of their awesome work.

Enjoy the Real Time Renders

I have been seeing some pretty great real time rendered CG films.

Check these out! And if you have more please share.

This one is cute!

Both are done in realtime engines saving rendertime.  If you are doing things yourself as a one man team, speed is important.

Ureal Engine 4, Unity and the Best of Real time rendering

So when working on my upcoming secret projects I have been looking for several different pipelines that would lend to the speed and quality of my animation.    I have worked on 2 different pipelines for both my manga and my Cinematic comics.

I am using UE4.  If you have seen some of the quality coming out of it and others it seems pretty fit to tell a good story with good visuals and add to the SPEED of creating good looking art.

Paragon was a recent game featured on Unreal Engines Youtube page and they shared their animation techniques.

So here is a pipeline you can possibly use.

Daz for characters > Iclone for animation and scene setup>Export to Ue4 for realtime render.

Or you can have someone model your characters and have it rigged for DAZ and Iclone to export into Ue4, Unity or Cry Engine.

Right now Ue4 is best for me due to the upgrade in their cinematic program, Sequencer.

How to Animate!

If you are going to make your own anime, you have to be able to animate.   One of the tools of choice is non-other than Flash, now called Adobe Animate or something of that nature.  I wanted to post this step by step guide for some of your newer guys just trying to collect information on how to animate.

Flash is where I started and I still have it on my hard drive today.  It is easy to use and was just what I originally started using as well as many Animators out there.

Adobe Animate is now available for around $20 bucks a month.  But if you cannot afford it there are tons of cool, free animation tools.

Here is the same creator above using FREE Tools.

The tutorials above are by Jesse Jones.  I ran into his work when several artists were animating an entire episode of Dragoball.  It was a fun project.

Follow the link below to check it out.

Can’t draw?

I know there are a ton of people out there who love anime and have so many stories in their minds ready to be told.     I’m sure the dream is to go to Japan, find a company they can submit to and have their stuff made into anime.

They wish they could make their own but lack the actual talent to do so.  Plus no money.  This concept is also the same if you are trying to make a comic or manga.  It is still a challenge for the person who can’t draw.  So what can you do?

Collab?  Nope folks won’t really collab with you.  I know.  I tried.  So what can you do?

Well you may have to spend some money but maybe not as much as you think.

Brian Haberlin showed a really cool way to make comics.  I posted here earlier about it using Poser.

This is a great way to make a comic/manga without knowing necessarily how to draw.

But what if you don’t want to use the standard Poser characters?  Hire someone to model and rig the characters for you.  Now I know it costs money for this but the cool thing is this.   You can find modelers out there who will work with you.   Start simple and work your way up.

Sketchfab is a great place to find some modelers.

I’m doing a search right now for my newest characters and my current comic.

This was just plain cool.

I can tell this has 3d but some of the moves are as smooth as 3d.  This guy is a great animator.

Enjoy!

I’m asking him for a making of!