Animating your AD files?

[ChrisP]

Hi,

I was wondering how, if any one is, animating their creations in AD? In other words, what software are you importing it into to animate?

 

Thanks

[GaryLearnTech]

I dabble with Reallusion's CrazyTalk Animator 3 and it will import PSD files to create the current generation of characters - the so-called G3 characters.  AD is actually featured as a supported app in the "Compatible Tools" section towards the bottom of this page.  (For myself, I actually tend to use Affinity Photo when I'm tweaking, say, a prop or piece of scenery, but either works.)

If you're interested, you can get a 15 day trial version.  They also have their own community forums which can be quite helpful sometimes.

[InfoCentral]

Of course you can use Synfig Studio for FREE with Affinity Photo/Designer.

[SrPx]

If you export the main keyframes to raster, and are comfortable with raster drawing & traditional frame by frame animation, you can as well use any raster based 2D animation tool for inbetweening and etc. Or export parts and animate with bones (I don't like that, but is even imposed in 2D game companies). I like Animation Paper  https://animationpaper.com/  . Like synfig (but synfig is vector based) , is free. (if I understood well, a more modern version of Animation Paper is incoming, for 79 $. The old version, 4.0 is completely free, though.   ) 

Synfig is surely the proper tool to work with AD, since it is vector based (is also bones/parts based, somehow, although you could use any technique, I guess).  As any other vector based animation tool. So, surely Moho (Anime Studio)   and ToonBoom Harmony (but even Essentials is pricey, imo, 400) should work in some sort of workflow, as well. (is probably among the best tools)

Then you have a vectors and raster based 2D animation tool, but besides I don't love the UI, is the fact that it crashed on me from time to time, and/or lost pressure, etc.But this was years ago, surely is stable now, and might have been only my machine.  Worth a try. http://www.pencil2d.org/   Is free, open source.

There's quite some hype about something I have not yet tested, but with some very clever approaches for inbetweening and a lot of things more. Cacani .  https://cacani.sg/  More or less there's kind of an established pricing that most adhere to for the average freelancer/small studio : Around 300 to 400 bucks. About the range of this one. Other brands  include cheaper versions -or a single version-  of 40 -100 $, and some of those are more than enough ( probably you are good to go with Synfig ! It has evolved a huge lot thanks to the push of certain developer, lately. I know the story till certain level of detail.  ).

There are a bunch more, but I'd mention two more that are focused in game animations, specially in 2D for Unity game engine and the web , for professional work with them, they are very polished : Spine (a standard even to get a job in that very specific niche), and a similar one, called Spriter. The latter is quite capable, if not as powerful as the former, but with a much more friendly pricing. These are mostly thought to optimize assets handling in game, reusing character parts, combining parts, so, one basically build the character parts (for example, in AD, export as a bitmap in this case), and then are animated with or without bones. Yet though, they'll typically as well allow frame by frame full drawing animation. All of these count on onion skinning, which is so key (pun intended). My own opinion: While this is a must for many web games, phone games, etc, many Unity based, but this was common already in the times of the Flash games boom (I was there making games with a mate, indy style) . Still, this does lead to a poorer way of animating. I like more pure old animation, imo means a ton more quality and better animation quality.  But!.. .basing on vector, auto inbetweeining, parts/bones, and other tricks is often the only way to produce long content if one goes solo or with a too small team. Some content is very valuable for its story telling and critic value, so, nothing is written in stone.

Like many of these (I should have mentioned Moho has Debut, a free version) tools, count with a Lite, free version (the ones not being already fully  free, open source or not). These can be enough for you, or maybe not, depends on what you plan to do. (actually, seems Spine doesn't include one anymore....But Spriter, Moho, etc, do so. )

And lastly, there are 2D editors (painting and drawing tools, better said) counting with a certain range of 2D animation features, specially remarkable: Krita (free, open source, cross platform and very good painter, but it is not a full image editor in anyway (ie, can't really compete with Affinity Photo, by any stretch )), has quite a bunch of animation features once you trigger the UI for that, and with the advantage of having "some" image editing functions and a lot of painting ones. Also, Clip Studio Paint (a tool more focused for drawing and coloring comics, but very flexible for all sort of illustrations) , in its top version, less cheap version, the EX (I have the Pro, which I believe only allows 24 frames, lol), it allows certain number of animation features, yet is not a full blown dedicated animation UI. These two are raster based, although have some sort of vector tools as well. 

Also, for raster, you can use Opentoonz, is free. Very complete. Not my cup of tea, though.

So, while you can export as vectors, and use that cleverly to cut crazily the working hours (and disk memory for the animation, ideal for web/mobiles (bandwidth and space)) in the animation production, you could as well export the main keyframes and do inbetweeing and all in a raster based animation tool, or, export the character parts, and then do some sort of bone based/parts animation. (in games there are many reasons to do so, no only memory optimizing. Is also to exchange weapons, vests, easily build new characters by code dynamically, rag-doll physics effects, game code applied to parts (AI, etc), etc, etc, etc ). But is ugly as heck to animate so, at least for me.... Tho nothing is really ugly if its very well paid, hehehe.

[Bad_Wolf]

On this moment I am learning Blender which is open source and also 3D. Looks very promising to me.

 

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, SrPx said:

... (I should have mentioned Moho has Debut, a free version)...

Moho Debut 12 (formerly Anime Studio Debut) is not free. From Smith Micro, its price is $70 US. Among its other limitations compared to the $400 US Pro version, it does not support importing any vector format imports.

[SrPx]

I sort of remember it being free once, maybe I got it wrong in my memory.

Moho has been a lot of years around, this I remember well , at least...

[InfoCentral]

9 hours ago, SrPx said:

Synfig is surely the proper tool to work with AD, since it is vector based

It is both vector and raster based.