• Adobe After Effects

  2D animation

  Posted by Paul Hamilton on June 13, 2008 at 11:14 am

  Hi there.

  We’re embarking on a 2D animation short film. The person I have working with me is familiar with After effects and is considering using it for the bulk of the project. Does anyone have experience doing basic character animation (and I mean basic) in after effects, or would there be a better programme that you could recommend?

  Kind regards, Paul

  David Bogie replied 18 years, 1 month ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Ron Coy

  June 13, 2008 at 2:45 pm

  there are a few programs that many people use for this kind of thing, Flash being a major one. After Effects can certainly do it, but if you’re doing an entire project of character animation, I would consider using something like Anime Studio. It’s not just for Anime type stuff, but it’s really good for 2D animation. It has a bones system, and content management tools that make managing all your assets easier. The Pro version adds features like 3D coordinates and 3D object support, and onion skinning.

  https://graphics.smithmicro.com/article/articleview/1913/1/793?sbss=793

  one caveat – I haven’t actually used the program, I just know of it and it’s features, because I was researching it for another project. I may get it eventually.
• 

  David Bogie

  June 13, 2008 at 3:12 pm

  Yar, you can do flat art animation in AE and you can use distortion, puppets, expressions, parenting for beautifully stylized character animation. But AE would be where you do your compositing and effects.
  Do your character development in an application specifically designed for the task.

  I’d examine your goals and work backwards. “2D animation” is a b-i-g realm with more than a century of arts and practices behind it. Your tool of choice will depend on your competence with these arts and techniques. And you must develop your project’s style before you can decide on the tool to use.

  If you base your project development by deciding on a tool first, you are constrained by what you know about After Effects before you even start storyboarding.

  Keyframe-based tools like AE do not lend themselves to the same kind of personal expression as free-form drawing applications and there is no onion-skinning facility immediately available in AE.

  bogiesan

  This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

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