Animation Post #6-The Pitfalls of Animation [And what to do to avoid them]

Animation Post #6

        With your early testmations, you may have been displeased by several things which plague all of us animators.

LIGHT FLASH--Aaaaghhh!!! It's the worst! Light flash is what will show up in your animation where a single frame will have a different light tone than the rest, resulting in a light 'flicker'. This is very obnoxious and will probably have you tearing your hair out with frustration if you're a perfectionist. To avoid this never use natural sunlight in your animation. Natural light [the sun, for example] is constantly changing in just how 'yellow' its light is, based on where it is in the sky. For good animations, you must use lamps. I recommend crane-neck lamps because they can be bent and stretched to angle toward your objects. Some of the best crane-necks can be bought at Wal-Mart, because the lamps they sell are cheap and don't overheat. [pictured below right]

CAMERA SHAKE--Also a major problem to us animators. Be sure to use a tripod to hold the camera still. I recommend getting a Gorillapod--a super-flexible little tripod [pictured below left]. I bought mine at Sports Authority for about $20. You can also get rid of camera shake in iMovie by using the 'stabilize video' function.
      

   Using these tools, you can be a whole lot more successful in your animations.

 

These are the two main things that will really be a problem during early animation. Camera shake is almost unavoidable if you're clicking the camera manually for every frame. Light flash can be reduced also by wearing dark-colored clothing and not moving about much while animating. By following these rules, you'll be much more productive.

     In the next post, I'll go over video sharing to popular media websites.

---Noah Master, 2011

Animation Howto Post #5-Adding Sound Effects [Mac]

Animation Post #5

       Alrighty, you Mac users. Let's add some sound effects to that animation!

Head into iMovie. This is a nice video editing program that should come with any Mac computer. In this post, I'm going to be talking to you people who have iMovie '09, '10, or '11. Let's get started.

      First, open iMovie and click 'File', and then 'Import'. Search for your video clip, and import it. It should appear in your video footage bay at the bottom of the screen.

 


The video footage bay.





   Second, click and select the entire clip and drag it into the timeline. If you run your mouse over it, you'll be able to see the video play. You can go to clip adjustments and color-correct it if you want.
 

   Third, bring your sound effects folder into iMovie. You can open a Finder window, and locate your sound effects folders. Then, drag them into your 'Music' bay.



Your music and sound effects bay.

    Your sound effects folder will appear in the bay. If you click on it, you'll see the names of your sound effects. You can click and play the sound effects there. When you find the right one, drag it onto your video footage. It should appear as a green bar under your video.


The screenshot at below shows a bunch of sound effects added to a video bar.

 
       The sound effect probably won't be exactly where you want it but you can drag it around with the mouse until it's exactly where you want it under the video. You can play the video at any time to see how the sound and video look together. Pretty cool! Remember, you can add as many sound effects as you want.
        Keep adding sound effects until you're satisfied with how your animation sounds, and then click 'Share', and 'Export Movie'. You can select a graphics level [I recommend HD] and export a final video clip. Congrats! You just added sound to video on a Mac!

       In the next post, I'll go over the pitfalls of animation and how to avoid them. Also, have a Merry Christmas!

---Noah Master

Animation Howto Post #4-Adding Sound Effects [PC]

Post #4

     So.....you've got some good sound effects, and you'd like to add them into your video footage, so that it will appear your object is making noise.

  Let's give it a go.  :]

PC Users: Head into Windows Movie Maker and click the 'Import' button.

It'll look something like this.

        Search for and find the sound effect files you're looking for [it's a good idea to create one big sound effect folder], select them, and import.

        They will appear in your media bay. Now take a look at your video bar.

        See that slot labeled 'Audio/Music'? That's where you'll be placing your sound effects. Take your little animation video clip and bring it into the Video slot.
      Then grab a your desired sound effect [you can preview them by clicking them once and hitting the 'play' button] and drag them into the 'Audio/Music' timeline where you want the sound to play. Wallah! Play the clip and watch the sound play at the same time as your video, giving the appearance of sound. Isn't it cool?
          Now you should tweak the timing of your sound effect by dragging it around the Audio/Music bar until it's at the exact place you want it to be. Then you can add more sound in at other places in the video.  Congratulations--you just added sound to an animated video clip you created yourself.  :]
     In the next post, I'll go over how to add sound effects for those of you with Macs.

--Noah Master

Animation Howto Post #3-Sound Effects and Where to Get Them.

Post #3.

   Alright, people, so now you've got a little animation, but you'd like to add one of the major things which makes any film come to life---sound. Sound is what makes people really look. If you've got a great animation, but can't do good sound design, the video just won't look good.

   Also, if you've got amazing sound design, but rotten animation, it won't look good either. A good video has to be a clean mixture of both.

   So let's get started.  :]

You can't add sound effects without having sound effects. I don't ever recommend buying sound effects, there are thousands of great sound FX out there without having to pay money. Here are some great websites to download sound effects:

          #1. http://www.freesound.org/  This website will require you to create a [free] membership, but it has the best free sound effect compilation on the web.

          #2. http://www.findsounds.com/  This website is completely-free sound, no membership required.

          #3. http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/  This is the greatest royalty-free music website I've found. Definitely check them out.

       Using these sites, you can get hundreds of sound effects, and build up a 'library' of sound. If you don't know how to download sound effects, all the sites I listed will be able to show you how.

   In the next post, I'll go over how to add the sound to your video.

--Noah Master