How are cartoons made?

[RESmonkey]

Do they use certain software? They can't just photoshop their sketches and put em on frame by frame, can they?

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: RESmonkey
Do they use certain software? They can't just photoshop their sketches and put em on frame by frame, can they?

most likely it goes something like this:

hand-drawn panels --> color/outline in Illustrator with a tablet --> compiled frame by frame into a movie

 

[RESmonkey]

Originally posted by: Xanis

Originally posted by: RESmonkey
Do they use certain software? They can't just photoshop their sketches and put em on frame by frame, can they?

most likely it goes something like this:

hand-drawn panels --> color/outline in Illustrator with a tablet --> compiled frame by frame into a movie

I'm guessing a on-screen tablet, like Cintiq or something?

 

[theblackbox]

depends on the type of cartoon. a lot of newer work from disney and other studios is computer animation, rendered. Hand drawn cartoons are getting scarce. In most cases hand drawn can be run through a digitizer or a tablet. software offers onion skinning to help the animator along frame to frame, and most use layers so work can be done in photoshop, illustrator or another package and brought in. Most packages use psd format.
another method that uses hand drawn animation is to shoot (with a camera) each hand drawn or painted cel.

 

[ElFenix]

southpark was once construction paper cutouts photographed frame by frame. now it's computer.

 

[RESmonkey]

is it reasonable to use Flash to make a cartoon, and then export it to say a video format?

^nonprofessional, of course. like wanting to make a small cartoon series.

 

[Locut0s]

My understanding is much of modern cartoons are mainly done in computers. Having said that much hand drawing still goes on, story boards, character designs, concepts, scripts etc etc... are probably still all done by hand even for the most elaborate Pixar creations.

A method that is often used for 2D cartoons as far as I understand it is artists will draw all the important key frame transitions which will get scanned into the computer which will then help to interpolate all the frames in between.

 

[theblackbox]

Originally posted by: RESmonkey
is it reasonable to use Flash to make a cartoon, and then export it to say a video format?

^nonprofessional, of course. like wanting to make a small cartoon series.

yes, you could use flash. i don't think toon boom studio is much different from flash. the concepts would be the same.
even anime studio works on the same prinicpal, setting up key frames and trails and then running a time line.

for good animation you are looking at a fair amount of work. if you look at claymation as example, to get smooth quality animation, you would start around 15fps and work your way up. you could go to 24-29 fps but oddly enough 15fps seems to be a sweetspot. what goes for claymation also works in handshot animation, like the original cut outs for southpark. with a digital camera, software that can capture, and some cardboard, you can do wonders. even though stop motion software is used for stop motion, at an amateur level it works really well for that kind of cartoon making, since it offers most of the features of cartoon software.

 

[IEC]

hand-drawn key frames --> color/outline in Illustrator --> draw rest of frames on comp --> compile

At least that's my understanding of a common method

 

[EGGO]

What type of animation? There's really a lot out there depending on what you want to do. 3d, illustrated, or using something like Final Cut (which is more production than animation software)?

 

[sonambulo]

Originally posted by: RESmonkey
is it reasonable to use Flash to make a cartoon, and then export it to say a video format?

^nonprofessional, of course. like wanting to make a small cartoon series.

Ah, so there's the real question. Flash is a wonderful program for amateurs. I make ridiculous joke cartoons with it all the time.

 

[Jeff7]

Outsource it to Korea.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Outsource it to Korea.

Or Japan.

 

[0roo0roo]

well for films its probably custom software now that they use more shading/simulated lighting to make things look more 3d.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nRGC720Qak

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: Spartan Niner

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Outsource it to Korea.

Or Japan.

that is rare, most are using korea or south east asia countries now since Japan is expensive.

 

[shortylickens]

I was incredibly bored once and listened to an episode of Simpsons and Futurama with the commentary turned on. Both shows now use Photoshop for a majority of their work.

Matt Groening was saying the big advantage of that is if you dont like something it takes about a minute to redo it, as opposed to the old days where you would probably have to let it go on the air less-than-perfect because theres no way you could change anything in time.

He said they also use a lot of 3D for Futurama, but they need about 5 programs to get everything they want. I forget what the most used program was.

 

[PottedMeat]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
I was incredibly bored once and listened to an episode of Simpsons and Futurama with the commentary turned on. Both shows now use Photoshop for a majority of their work.

Matt Groening was saying the big advantage of that is if you dont like something it takes about a minute to redo it, as opposed to the old days where you would probably have to let it go on the air less-than-perfect because theres no way you could change anything in time.

He said they also use a lot of 3D for Futurama, but they need about 5 programs to get everything they want. I forget what the most used program was.

What seasons were you listening to? The transition from hand-drawn to computer generated animation on the Simpsons was just one of the things I didn't like about the later seasons. This sounds weird but the CG animation just doesn't look fluid or the movement looks artificial. It reminds me of the first crappy crappy mid 90's CG cartoons.