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Animations!

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 1:26 pm
by Ameena
Recently I saw some animations done by a chap on EQ...I'd seen the first one before but now he's done two more. They're basically done with stick people and speech bubbles. I wondered if I could do similar animations and had a look at the program "Adobe ImageReady" which came with Photoshop. Ana voila! It's an animation program - woohoo! So I made a little crapp test animation and that worked. So then I made this...

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y281/A ... Hunter.gif

And then I made this...

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y281/A ... itters.gif

But I will add a little disclaimer thing now - The way these animations were done is heavily inspired by Lordnikon of (whatever server it is, I can't remember) on EQ. So if he or one of his friends ever finds out about this - don't keeeeeel me! :)

I will be doing more animations - Beo has already made another suggestion. If anyone else can think of any, just let me know!

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 3:00 pm
by Ameena

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 6:21 pm
by beowuuf
I laughed out loud twice, once at Chaos poking his head out sneakily, and again at the whole 'sword wilting looking up and down ' bit - mostly cause of the smile. So that must be good, right? : )

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 6:27 pm
by Ameena
rofl :)

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 7:03 pm
by linflas
ahaha excellent :D please continue !

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 8:24 pm
by Trantor
Yes, those are great Ameena! Please do more! :D

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 8:35 pm
by Ameena
Alrighty, here's another one. It's EQ-based though, and based on a poem I did for a guildy a few months ago.
Here's the poem...

The Ballad of Chortie and her Hero

There lived a Halfling, young and pretty,
In Rivervale, the Halfling city.
She studied hard in healing ways,
With Guildmasters she spent her days.
A Cleric wise she did become,
For healing others, rezzing some.

Yet though she travelled far and wide,
Earning coin from pelt and hide,
Making friends of other races,
Learning all their names and faces,
She felt that there was something missing,
As she sat alone while fishing.

Chortie, Chortie, Cleric true and wise,
Desiring a hero, so noble in her eyes.

She spent her time with friends assorted,
And with them, many foes she thwarted,
Healing well and rezzing fine,
On good food did they all dine.
Yet always was a great longing,
For something she sought, a belonging.

Alone she was, alone she felt,
Even though she knew friends dwelt
All around her, in this world
Of shiny jewels, earrings pearled,
World of many things, it’s true,
Yet still she sought something, she knew.

Chortie, Chortie, Cleric feeling lonely,
Desiring a hero, though preferably not homely.

One day did dawn, as Chortie travelled,
A path she found, and then unravelled,
Followed it amidst the trees,
Enjoyed the scented, soothing breeze.
For night’s dark terrors had abated,
Perhaps this night, their hunger sated.

For this forest, although still,
Was cursed, and creatures rose to kill
At night only, but now, this morning,
Chortie heard a cry...a warning?
It came again, almost a yelp,
And now she knew it – a cry for help.

Chortie, Chortie, Cleric rushing by,
Desiring a hero, as she answers the cry.

She ran past trees, ran off the track,
But knew she could find her way back,
She sought the source of the voice in pain,
Against the rumble of distant rain.
And then she saw him, by a hill,
Lying quiet, lying still.

A Dwarf he was, but battered badly.
His shield was cracked, she noticed sadly.
A Paladin, in armour gold,
Lying there, she did behold
That he was handsome, although bloody,
And if the rain came, also muddy.

Chortie, Chortie, Cleric standing there,
Desiring a hero, unconscious, unaware.

Glad that she possessed the skill
To cure all wounds and heal the ill,
A flash of blue she conjured forth,
A healing light to cure the Dwarf.
He stirred, he woke, he turned, he saw,
The Halfling, and could say no more.

For love had struck a blow so strong,
And he knew that he could not be wrong.
This Halfling, standing, smiling, glad,
Made him forget he could ever be sad.
And Chortie, looking down at him,
Felt the same, felt it deep within.

Chortie, Chortie, Cleric feeling right,
Has she met her hero, has love come at first sight?

When she was, at last, able to speak,
Her voice, it sounded shy and meek.
“I feared you dead.” she said in relief.
“No fear.” said he. “Don’t feel any grief.
I was not wise to enter here
By night when the Undead appear.”

“What is your name?” she asked as he stood.
“I am Hero. Perhaps we should leave this wood.”
“My name is Chortie.” she said as they walked.
She listened intently, for she loved how he talked.
“I knew that whatever your name, it was pretty.”
She knew that whatever he said, it was witty.

Chortie, Chortie, Cleric happy walking,
Conversing with a hero, hearing all his talking.

Away from Kithicor they went, and into Rivervale,
They entered the Fool’s Gold, he bought himself an ale.
Though he offered, she did not feel
Thirsty enough to drink like an eel.
He smiled, she blushed, and then each knew
The other was feeling like them too.

“To old Kunark I planned to head,
To enter Veksar and slay the dead.
But alone I cannot last
Long against such mobs from the past.
Perhaps you’d care to join me there?
I don’t know you well, but I know that you care.”

Chortie, Chortie, Cleric off to slay,
Hunting with a hero, they travel forth this day.

To Veksar they went, and killed many creatures.
Chortie was impressed by all Hero’s features.
He battled with courage, his acts brave and bold,
He spoke so politely, to young and to old.
He looked very handsome, gold armour he wore,
She knew she would love him, now and ever more.

She knew that he loved her as much as she him,
She noticed that her life was now never grim.
They slew many a skeleton, vampire and ghoul,
They drank in the inn of the Gold of the Fool.
He introduced her to his friends, numbered great.
She introduced him in an inn, while they ate.

Chortie, Chortie, Cleric true and wise,
Now she has her Hero, so noble in her eyes.

Chortie, Chortie, Cleric wise and true,
Her Hero such a hero, now she is never blue.

Chortie, Chortie, Cleric lonely? Never!
For she loves her Hero, for now and forever.


And here's the animation...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y281/A ... r-Hero.gif

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 8:49 pm
by Florent
Excellent Ameena, bravo !

Btw, is the guy with the beard inspired by Mophus ? ;)

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 8:50 pm
by Ameena
Not inspired by, no. More than that. It's a DM comic after all...if the Blue Troll is a Blue Troll, the Red Dragon is the Red Dragon, and Lord Chaos is Lord Chaos, who do you think Mophus is? :)

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 8:56 pm
by THE Materializer
I like those, it would be cool to see one of the original DM story (yknow at the beginning of the manual).

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 9:01 pm
by Ameena
Have never read that...am doing another DM animation atm, another humorous one :).

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 9:25 pm
by THE Materializer
awesome, cant wait to see it!

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 10:55 pm
by beowuuf
LOL, great balad! Glad you shared!

Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 12:04 pm
by Florent
Heh, didn't take the time to read the ballad last time, very funny and witty ! :P

Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 12:55 pm
by Ameena
I wrote a bunch more EQ poems...they were a month or two before I started on the DM ones. Not done any new poems for a while now, though, since I've been doing other stuff and besides, I didn't have any really cool ideas for a new one. Halfway through another animation atm.

Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 4:12 pm
by Ameena
Woohoo, finished it at last - the most tedious of the animations so far and thus the one that's taken me the longest.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y281/A ... Boring.gif
I still think the "Look behind you" one is probably funnier, but pfft...

Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 4:14 pm
by beowuuf
LOL, that's why they look mad when you disturb that level and put out the flames! It's all so obvious now!

Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 4:23 pm
by Trantor
Indeed Beo, now we finally know! Thanks for the insider info Ameena! So, it isn't a broom that Chaos is hiding under his cloak...

Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 4:24 pm
by Ameena
Hehe not that time no. I think he magicked that from nowhere though...he's a magic master after all...

Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 6:33 pm
by Florent
LOL, very good ! Nice work Ameena, funny how the characters are easy to recognize, even that simply drawn !

Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 7:54 pm
by Ameena
Hehe well that's what I was aiming for. C'mon, someone, gimme a challenge...something that features characters or mobs (or both)...as you may have noticed I'm not much for scenery, mainly 'cause it'd be such an arse having to keep rubbing bits out and redraw them each frame as people move :P. Was bad enough having to redraw the Fire Elemental in every single frame of the previous animation...

Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 7:57 pm
by Gambit37
If you're using Imageready, you don't need to redraw scenery each time. Put it on it's own layer at the bottom of the pile and make sure it's switched on for every frame.

Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 8:10 pm
by beowuuf
What the groups of mummies trolins and rock monsters do in the third level before the party ocmes along...

Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 1:50 am
by Ameena
Gambit, I think for that idea to work I'd therefore need to make every layer after the bottom one transparent in order to see it. But the problem is, atm I have it on "Make new layer with new frame" thingy, since before, editing one frame would change the ones before it (dunno why). If I had to make the layers transparent, you'd see the previous frames underneath...unless there's a way to rub them out in the future frames. Or something.
I think my current method is more simple, hehe :).
And the reason I had to edit the Fire Elemental in the last animation was 'cause it's made of fire - it moves :).

Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 1:56 am
by Dark
Try Flash MX really good animating program

Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 9:44 am
by Ameena
I'ev heard of the animating program Flash before...on the TLK Fanart Archive a lot of people use it to do their animations...well a lot of those people who do animations anyway :).
Dunno where you get Flash animator (if it's posssible to get it free)...I already have the Flash player for Internet games and stuff but of course this must be something different. The "MX" makes it sound eeeevil like WinMX (which gets you loads of Spyware and crap on yuor computer, as my friend found out) but I'm sure it's nothing to do with it since it's an animation program, not a downlady-musicy-filmy-program.
Woo haven't had a waffle of crap like that for ages have I, hehehe...well anyway, I'm doing alright with ImageReady for now...the basics were easy enough to figure out in a minute or so. I don't have any ideas for another animation atm anyway.

Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 10:09 am
by linflas
animating with flash is easier than imageready because flash has been coded for : as you work with vectors, you can apply transformations, move objects on rails, etc.
it's not free... but there's a trial version.

Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 10:17 am
by Gambit37
Ameena, you've missed a very important point in ImageReady: When making your animation, the visible elements on each frame are controlled by the 'eye' icons next to each layer.

So to have something appear on that frame, the eye should be visible -- to remove it from that frame, turn the eye off. It sounds like your making life much harder for yourself and doing too much extra work.

But anyway, Flash is a better bet all round as it's a proper animation tool. Imageready is really only good for simple stuff.

Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 11:46 am
by Ameena
Ahh, well simple stuff is what I'm doing so that's okay :). I don't think I could get away with doing any less drawing in each frame than I am atm, but I'll check out that eye thing. I'm at college atm so I can't do anything, then I have a shitload of assignments to do which all have to be in this week...but Beo has given me his latest idea for an animated scene, so when I have some time (and since I technically finish college this week apart from a little extra time in Animal Unit after half term, I'm gonna have lots coming up :D) I'll get on with that.

Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 3:34 pm
by Dark
www.flash.com DL the trial, there are some simple tutorials here www.flashkit.com