Learning Anime Studio

354 Pages·2014·10.41 MB·English

by  Chad Troftgruben

Learning Anime Studio
Bring life to your imagination with the power of
Anime Studio
Chad Troftgruben
BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Learning Anime Studio
Copyright © 2014 Packt Publishing
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First published: April 2014
Production Reference: 1260314
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
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Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.
ISBN 978-1-84969-957-0
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Cover Image by Smith Micro Software
Credits
Author Copy Editors
Chad Troftgruben Janbal Dharmaraj
Sayanee Mukherjee
Reviewers Karuna Narayanan
Charles Brandt
Alfida Paiva
Shawn Briscoe
Laxmi Subramanian
Jim Mills
Timothy Sanders
Project Coordinator
Tom Thompson Kranti Berde
Acquisition Editors Proofreaders
Pramila Balan Ameesha Green
Nikhil Karkal Kelly Hutchinson
Dan McMahon
Content Development Editor
Priya Singh
Indexer
Monica Ajmera Mehta
Technical Editors
Dennis John
Production Coordinator
Pankaj Kadam Arvindkumar Gupta
Adrian Raposo
Gaurav Thingalaya Cover Work
Arvindkumar Gupta
About the Author
Chad Troftgruben is a freelance media designer who has been working with
Flash, Anime Studio, and other various software for a number of years. By applying
methods from his cartoon animation and filmmaking background, Chad provides a
simplistic yet creative approach to each lesson he teaches.
Beginning in 1996 with a program called Microsoft's 3D Movie Maker, Chad cut
his teeth on the basics of animation, eventually graduating to Flash in 2002 and
then Anime Studio in 2010. Live-action filmmaking was also a big part of Chad's
life as he made short films with his friends throughout high school and college.
In 2007, Chad started providing free online video tutorials on Flash and other
software. Since then, his tutorials have been viewed by millions of people, including
entrepreneurs, teachers, students, and many others. In 2010, Chad was hired by
LearnKey to present their Flash CS5 learning series, which was a six-hour course
detailing the entire feature set of the software. Since then, he has been keeping busy
with various animation and tutorial projects, such as creating Smith Micro's official
Anime Studio 10 tutorial series and authoring for Virtual Training Company.
Acknowledgments
First, I would like to thank all the hardworking individuals at Packt Publishing for
keeping me on track, raising the bar high in terms of quality, and allowing me the
creative freedom in delivering my very first book to the masses.
I would also like to acknowledge Fahim Niaz and the hardworking team at Smith
Micro for giving us reviewer copies of Anime Studio to keep the writing process
going. Not to mention, their software is amazing!
One of the first books on animation I ever read (way back in the olden days) was
Flash 5 Cartooning, Mark Clarkson, Wiley. I loved the style and approach of the book,
and in some ways I hope my book will harken back to that easy-to-learn style
Clarkson tapped into. Special thanks go out to Mark Clarkson for writing such a
great book and helping me learn computer animation. Here's hoping I can do Anime
Studio the same justice he did with teaching Flash animation!
Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Stephenie. Without her love and support, it's
safe to say that this book wouldn't have been possible. I love you, Stephers.
About the Reviewers
Charles Brandt always loved animation, but he grew up on a rural farm far away
from anyone who knew anything about it. Luckily, the Internet was invented, and
with some determination and the help of some wonderful artists he met along the
way, he has managed to figure it out. Since then, he has gone on to create animations
on everything, from the existential crisis of a duck to the adventures of a team of
crime-fighting Internet cyber cadets. Still very much in love with animation, he
continues his work exploring the new frontiers of animating for handheld devices
and creating tools to make animation quicker and simpler for everyone.
I would like to thank my animation mentor Brian Schrank, without
whom I would have had no idea where to begin.
Shawn Briscoe pursued an art-related career from an early age, inspired by
Japanese animation, also known as Anime. He majored in Graphic Design at
Harding University in 1998, studied 3D Animation with Maya at New York Film
Academy in the summer of 2003, and finally earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in
Animation from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2007. Upon moving to the
greater Los Angeles area, he found work as a freelance artist, working in graphic
design, web design / development, motion graphics, animation, visual effects,
interactive design, and teaching 3D animation with Maya. With his passion being
animation, he pursues motion-related work and has worked primarily in motion
graphics, visual effects, and animation for over seven years.
Jim Mills was born in Culver City, California. By the age of three, he was already
displaying a preternatural understanding of drawing and art. But he found himself
drawn to the beauty of cinema. Toiling away with his high school friends, what
once seemed like an after-school hobby became a tangible dream. His hard work
soon paid off with the release of Switch Killer, which was distributed by Lionsgate
Entertainment. Soon after, his passion for drawing and films collided, which set Jim
on the path of expanding into the realm of animation. With his recent partnership
with renowned musical artist Ginuwine, Jim is currently working on a new animated
series in hopes of bringing it to television. Along with freelancing and producing
animation tutorials on the side, Jim is repeating history by carving a name for
himself in a subsection of the industry he originally developed a passion for.
Timothy Sanders is a software designer and developer from Prince Edward
Island, Canada. An Interactive Multimedia graduate, he was drawn into the world
of computing by his love for story-telling through animation.
He has tried his hand at television, desktop programming, web design, animation,
and video editing. Having recently completed a desktop/mobile software suite that
controls his employer's staff schedules, invoices, and commissions, his attention is
now turning toward artificial intelligence systems and returning to school for his
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. He also hopes to complete the game engine
he started working on two years ago with C++ and DirectX.
I would like to thank my mom and dad; brother, Lee; sister-in-law,
Joy; grandma, and best friend/partner Mary-Helen for their constant
love and support through all my endeavors (no matter how big
or small). Thanks to my friends, especially Andy K. (head of our
Member Services division) and Dana (gaming companion) for
helping me stay grounded... well, mostly grounded. And of course,
thanks to my friend and employer, Catherine Arsenault of Atlantic
Business Alliance for the lab and resources she trusts me to work
and experiment with. Oh Piggly...!
Tom Thompson works in the field of e-commerce, marketing, and web design.
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Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: Stepping into the World of Animation 5
Constructing your animation blueprint 5
Coming up with ideas 6
Identifying what is funny 7
Writing down your ideas 7
Piecing together the storm 9
Writing your story 10
Constructing terrible first drafts 12
Illustrating a storyboard 13
Recording dialog 14
Differing techniques offer various experiences 16
Analyzing animation on the Internet 18
Breaking down frame-by-frame animation 18
Exploring cut-out, tweening, and bone animation 19
Introducing Anime Studio 20
Choosing between Anime Studio Debut and Pro 21
Installing Anime Studio 22
Working with the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 24
Opening Anime Studio for the first time 24
Creating your content folder 25
Playing with the startup file 26
Editing Anime Studio preferences 28
Exploring the Options tab 28
Using the Web Uploads tab 29
Modifying properties with the Editor Colors and GUI Colors tabs 30