Tech Question:char anim's: what do you guys use?

[esper]

Hi all.
Ã,  This isn't really a technical question, per se, but I was just wondering: how do you guys do animations? Especially walkcycles (and no one link me to any one of the multitudinous other threads or tutes out there, this is a different question)...
Ã,  In ESPER: Town on the Edge of Darkness, I used Flash MX, but the person whose copy I used has just moved away and I no longer have access to it. Even though he was probably using a pirated copy, I don't want to do that (even though, technically, by using his, if it really was pirated, which it might not have been since his brother was a graphic artist, I WAS), so I guess I'm Flash-less... In Flash, you can use onion skins to compare your frames, and you can set keyframes and actually watch the animtion being displayed, and you can export as a sequential BMP or JPG...
Ã,  Ã, I have DogWaffle, GIMP, and an older version of Photoshop that came with my tablet. I have no idea how to make animations, least of all walkcycles, with them. What do you guys do? Which program do you use? How do you test them out? How do you compare your present cel to past cels so you know how your character should be moving in this frame?
Ã,  Ã, I tried drawing a stationary character and then erasing parts of him and moving them a little bit, but that is really coming out lousy, and it doesn't give you a good frame of reference when drawing over an empty space as to where everything was in the last frame in the place you just erased. Oh, how I long for onion skins in some other program...

Ã,  Ã, Then, I tried making a simple stick figure and then drawing the character in over it. That worked well, and the stick figure was kickass, but then I couldn't get the character to look exactly the same in every frame. From some of the other games I'v eseen, especially Apprentice, BJ, and some of the walkcycles in the Critic's Lounge, you guys can get some really smooth, nice animations....

Ã,  Ã, So please... What's the secret?

[Ashen]

Like you said, not a tech question.

Perhaps these threads can help:
Tutorials Thread
Big List of Paint Programs (To get an idea what others recommend.)

Or, do a forum search.

[RickJ]

You may want to give GraphicsGale a try.  It features a preview window to view the animation, frames, and layers.  It allows an animation to be exported/impoirted as individual images making it ideal for AGS IMHO.   It's weakness lies in it's lack some of the more advanced painting features.

[InCreator]

For simpler style, AGS & MSPaint combo.

Mspaint > quick and simple for character drawing, with some skill, the outcome looks as good as any other program.

AGS > As I draw the frames, I paste them into some random AGS project, where I can instantly see them all and quickly test the animation by assigning it into view and seeing preview. This is a good way IMO, because I need to know how animations feel in my games, and testing in some animation software may change the feeling. Some otherwise nicely working gif images won't look that good as game animations. And vice versa.

[IM NOT TEH SPAM]

I just use my older brother 

[TheYak]

I'm only fixing/coloring a hand-drawn page-flip animation done by someone else.  When I do animate, it's often in Gif Animator 4.  It's free if you can find it (versus 5 which is trialware) and has various little tweaks, very basic imaging tools and onion-skinning. 

Moho's highly recommended but a bit of a learning curve if you aren't used to vector-drawing and managing separate objects.

This is kind of the wrong forum, since there's no actual product to critique.  The forum pickiness seems arbitrary until you get used to it.

[esper]

HAH!!! That's pretty funny you should say that. I had originally put this in tech questions, since, although it wasn't a tech question for AGS it was a "how do you guys do this" question... A moderator moved me here...

Nips: Get your brother on the phone for me.

Thanks guys, I'll lok into some of these progs...

[Scummbuddy]

I moved it here, as this is a place to discuss artistic ways. That's why we have the sticky thread at the top of the critics lounge for 'technical discussions". It's just not often that someone posts technical art questions, so it seems out of place.

And King,  your post was not helpful... come on now.

[IM NOT TEH SPAM]

I don't see how it's not.  I mean, that was essentially "I can get my brother to make an animation for you, if I convince him".  His computer has Photoshop, and that photoshop animator program, plus he's better than me at drawing on the computer. 

My point was not to be useless, but to try to offer help and be funny at the same time.

[InCreator]

Gen-gen!
If replied many times -
next stage: popular threads

This is typical "what colored pants do you wear" poll.

It's just co-incidence that we happen to be mostly artists and game developers so the question kind of seem to fit in CL.

[esper]

It isn't really... I'm not asking what program people use, I'm asking what technique they use to make their animations. How do they do them in programs that don't have onion skinning, like Flash does? I think Scummy changed the name from "What do you guys do" to "What do you guys USE..." There already are plenteous threads for that.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

What do you mean 'what do you do?'  Most programs that handle animation do it in frames.  You decide on a number (usually 6 in my case), draw a sprite in frame 1, and manipulate or redraw it on consecutive frames.  I'm not sure what you're looking for here, a tutorial on how to animate? 

[esper]

No... Check it out: I am used to animating w/ Flash. I don't have access to it anymore. In Flash, I had onion skins and could see the last frame I was working on so I could move everything ever so slightly. Now, I can't friggin' animate anymore because I ca't se the last frame I was working on. It's like trying to draw six different pics with your eyes closed and hoping they all come out looking vaguely similar. And then, I have no way of testing them out without running them directly through AGS to see how the end result looks. I was interested to know how other people animate using programs that don't have all the features of Flash.

[Pet Terry]

Two things: layers and keyframes.

Kafka's koffee to the rescue! (once again): http://kafkaskoffee.com/tutorials.shtml Look for animation tutorials. Even though they are mainly for pixel art, you can apply the same technique on hi-res art, too.