Flash like-Timeline script for Photoshop?
polycounter lvl 10
Hello,guys there are some custom effects I want to animate in Photoshop so I wanted to ask if there are any scripts that can be used to create the animation timeline in Flash for Photoshop.Don't know why Adobe hasn't added this feature yet.
Replies
Whereas Flash has all this features but my problem with FL is its vector based and I prefer raster as it looks better graphically and u have better painting and drawing freedom.
I have tried Toonboom,not as good as PS graphically and less intuitive.
http://plasticanimationpaper.dk/
I think most of the animation in Legend of Korra started as hand drawn animations, sort of the classic way. I'm guessing the clean up could have been done in a number of programs, either it being ToonBoom or something like Retas Pro http://www.celsys.co.jp/en/products/retas/index.html
Overall though it might be a little hard to figure out what software they use since there is a bit of the production that is outsourced to different studios in Korea and stuff, so they might be using programs I don't know about.
I have tried Retas,its a good software but it uses the XSheet only and CoreRetas has less compositing features compared to After Effects.Paintman Pro also doesn't paint as good as Photoshop,u can't create custom bushes,neither can u blend colors like Photoshop.The same thing with ToonBoom.I am suspecting Adobe Photoshop and After effects.It seems like what they are using these days.I am not really sure.
I think you might be over thinking the overall animation workflow by thinking that there is some easier way to achieve what the animation studios do.
I'm just curious why you would need custom brushes, when I feel those custom brushes and the color blending would make for a very long and tedious and not so consistent look in your animation. Unless of course your going for a similar look to Braid, where it seems like each frame has a different painty touch.
Though you can use After Effects to add the sort of final touch, here is a breakdown that was done for a pretty good animation thing. I mean he used Photoshop and After Effects, but there wasn't any real fancy blending or anything done in Photoshop that would make it the only choice.
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Btw,are u a 2d animator?Yeah..I have watched that video before and thats what gave me the idea that PS is quite good for animation especially when u think of what u can create graphically,and it also helps one improve your painting skills and familiarity with the app since its vastly used in a lot of studios.
I am really hoping someone can make a kinda script or plugin that enables a Flash type of timeline in PS rather than what PS has right now(PS CS3).This will be gold for most ps animators.
I've been wanting to explore traditional animation for a while, therefore I tried many apps, all supposed to be awesome at it. Turns out, it seemed to me that none of them offers a fully integrated and intuitive solution.
My advice would be : do your roughs in a decent animation package with good realtime preview/scrubbing (I chose Flash), do your inbetweens there too, and then do the final cleanup, frame by frame, in Photoshop. You can then regularly export to video from PS to check if sequence holds up properly, as you are cleaning it up.
Hope this helps!
I was able to do a little better with photoshop, but even then I felt like it was too much work to get consistent lines.
So far my personal preference is just doing traditional animation on paper, scanning it in, then cleaning of the line work in Illustrator, using each layer as a different frame. After a while I felt like it worked well for the inbetweens too since I could just nudge my lines around a little in spots.
But I guess that's all a matter of preference.
Though in the ends I feel like stuff like god rays and effects can be done using 3d lighting in AfterEffects when compositing your scene.
Though for most 2D Particle effects I normally layer the shading, and if need be using gradients with transparency to get the effect of blending/shading/lighting.
And I'm personally a mix of a 2D animation and 3d modeler. I went to school for 2D animation and graphic design, and also played around with stuff at home. Mostly trying to experiment with different workflows.
In terms of getting backgrounds to look right with your animation what I would do is keep the original background in its own layer that I could turn on and off to get the feel of it while cleaning up animation. In terms of lining up interactions it's a cheap way but you can use 3d layers in AfterEffects to line things up with your main characters/animations and whatnot.
Hey,have I not seen u on conceptart.org forums?Thanks for the advice.I am thinking of using Flash only for my animations and AE for compositing.I loved ToonBoom but its not very intuitive as Flash,some things I don't like about it.Flash is simple and clean.The only problem is its vector but that means I don't lose resolution when I want to do a camera zoom in which is an advantage,if it was raster I have to redraw the frames. Problem is Flash sucks when it comes to blur or soft shading cause its vector so thats where AE will come in.Until Photoshop gets a good animation timeline that is animation friendly,I will have to do away with it.Will paint my backgrounds in Flash too.For things I need to blur or soften,I will use PS or AE.I am not a big fan of switching from one software to another to get things done.It kinda unsettling.I prefer an app I use for almost everything and then maybe another for touch up or polishing.
@Shadownami92
Not crazy at all.Some people still prefer drawing by hand and scaning to computer.Flash does have a problem with lines especially if u try to use the smooth pencil tool (the line moves slightly)so I am learning how to draw smooth lines with pencil using the ink option.Will definitely be using the AE Lighting effects.
It gets a little trickier if you wanted objects with sharp outlines to have soft shading, but it's doable by giving a blurred movieclip a vector mask. Not as intuitive as the raster approach, but at least you can do it all without leaving Flash.