Best Program For Animating?

Gorosaurus · 07-11-2017, 05:53 AM

Hey all- I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for animation programs. I am specifically looking for one that can work well enough with onion-skinning, not necessarily an inbetweening program.

I'm sure there's a workaround way to get Photoshop to do onionskinning, but that's what I want your opinions on-- what do real people actually use?

It sounds silly, but the best case scenario would be the closest thing to v3dmm-- where I can import different pieces and animate them independently. Any suggestions? Right now I just do things in photoshop, export them frame by frame, and then reassemble each frame in a gif program. That's pretty stupid for simple animations, especially because I can't find a good way to see my before/after frames.

THX!

Bobby Swisha · 07-11-2017, 03:32 PM

What version of Photoshop do you have? Photoshop can animate and save Gifs quite well nowadays. It's what I've made all my gifs in, and supposedly it's gotten even better lately, to the point that you can animate entire animations in it (?) I think even with sound. (So basically v3dmm)

Then there's Adobe Animate, which is like the new version of Flash ... Basically probably the best thing for onion skinning. The negative is that Animate has a certain drawing style which not everybody likes (that's sort of vector-ish) but I think they've worked on decreasing this and letting users have different "Brushes" lately, but I'm not sure how all that's worked out for the style.
Plus side: Very easy to use once you know it, easy to incorporate sounds, if you know how to use Flash you can use it almost instantly... You can combine Animate and Photoshop now too in some ways, and Adobe has a bunch of other products that can combine with Photoshop and Animate (AfterEffects, Premier, etc) and they increasingly make these things easier and easier to use.

I bought the whole Adobe package, I got a discount on the first year and it came out to like $250. I've only used it a short amount so far, though, and need to get going on learning it. It's going to cost me ~$700 next year after the discount ends and I'm going to try to find a way to get around it and stay at the same price, because I can't justify spending almost $700. BUT, if you wanted to do it the legit way, you can just drop the $250 for the first year and see where it goes from there.

For 3D animation from scratch I would recommend Blender because it's free to use and free to publish (forever). It can also actually do 2D animation now and I haven't looked into this. I know the basics of making 3D models in Blender so I could potentially teach you those. Con side to this is Blender's learning curve, but I can help you through some of that if that's the way you decide to go, just know I don't know how to do 2D in it.

Bobby Swisha · 07-11-2017, 03:41 PM

As far as onion skinning in photoshop... I just change the opacity to 50% each time I'm on a different frame, and then change them all back to 100% when I'm done. Really tedious, and probably not the best way to do it.

Appearantly there is a way to do it but I've never done it:

Gorosaurus · 07-11-2017, 07:01 PM

Thanks for the info!

Yeah, I do the same opacity trick with photoshop, but I figured I was just kind of fitting a square peg in a round hole. I did not know that photoshop could actually do GIFs, though-- I'll have to look at that. I think I have CC, but I'd have to check.

The biggest problem with a lot of these programs is, like Flash, when they look too cookie-cutter. I'd much rather use real brush/pencil strokes, or at least ones that look like that

Bobby Swisha · 07-11-2017, 10:55 PM

Hmm, yeah. I think the pro way would be to freehand it, scan it, then digitize it.

Gorosaurus · 07-19-2017, 09:14 PM

Any idea how pros manage to scan all of the frames in- and then align them properly?

That sounds like an incredible amount of unnecessary work, but the more I learn the more I find that you're right

Evil Ash · 07-20-2017, 01:02 AM

Pro way is actually on a tablet in Harmony. Ain't nobody got time for scanning in shit that'd take a billion years.

Edit: Or RETAS or Toonz are other examples.

But for shit you can actually afford I'd recommend Moho or what BR said, Adobe Animate.

Get Adobe Animate CC and I think it's like $15/month?

Moho is like $300.

OmniromX · 08-21-2017, 12:07 AM

I've heard from experienced animators that Krita and TVpaint are good.

07-11-2017, 05:53 AM	#1
Gorosaurus Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 16,146	Best Program For Animating? Hey all- I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for animation programs. I am specifically looking for one that can work well enough with onion-skinning, not necessarily an inbetweening program. I'm sure there's a workaround way to get Photoshop to do onionskinning, but that's what I want your opinions on-- what do real people actually use? It sounds silly, but the best case scenario would be the closest thing to v3dmm-- where I can import different pieces and animate them independently. Any suggestions? Right now I just do things in photoshop, export them frame by frame, and then reassemble each frame in a gif program. That's pretty stupid for simple animations, especially because I can't find a good way to see my before/after frames. THX!

07-20-2017, 01:02 AM	#7
Evil Ash Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 15,534	Pro way is actually on a tablet in Harmony. Ain't nobody got time for scanning in shit that'd take a billion years. Edit: Or RETAS or Toonz are other examples. But for shit you can actually afford I'd recommend Moho or what BR said, Adobe Animate. Get Adobe Animate CC and I think it's like $15/month? Moho is like $300.
Evil Ash Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 15,534

08-21-2017, 12:07 AM	#8
OmniromX Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Posts: 824	I've heard from experienced animators that Krita and TVpaint are good.
OmniromX Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Posts: 824

07-11-2017, 03:32 PM	#2
Bobby Swisha Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 46,012	What version of Photoshop do you have? Photoshop can animate and save Gifs quite well nowadays. It's what I've made all my gifs in, and supposedly it's gotten even better lately, to the point that you can animate entire animations in it (?) I think even with sound. (So basically v3dmm) Then there's Adobe Animate, which is like the new version of Flash ... Basically probably the best thing for onion skinning. The negative is that Animate has a certain drawing style which not everybody likes (that's sort of vector-ish) but I think they've worked on decreasing this and letting users have different "Brushes" lately, but I'm not sure how all that's worked out for the style. Plus side: Very easy to use once you know it, easy to incorporate sounds, if you know how to use Flash you can use it almost instantly... You can combine Animate and Photoshop now too in some ways, and Adobe has a bunch of other products that can combine with Photoshop and Animate (AfterEffects, Premier, etc) and they increasingly make these things easier and easier to use. I bought the whole Adobe package, I got a discount on the first year and it came out to like $250. I've only used it a short amount so far, though, and need to get going on learning it. It's going to cost me ~$700 next year after the discount ends and I'm going to try to find a way to get around it and stay at the same price, because I can't justify spending almost $700. BUT, if you wanted to do it the legit way, you can just drop the $250 for the first year and see where it goes from there. For 3D animation from scratch I would recommend Blender because it's free to use and free to publish (forever). It can also actually do 2D animation now and I haven't looked into this. I know the basics of making 3D models in Blender so I could potentially teach you those. Con side to this is Blender's learning curve, but I can help you through some of that if that's the way you decide to go, just know I don't know how to do 2D in it.

07-11-2017, 03:41 PM	#3
Bobby Swisha Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 46,012	As far as onion skinning in photoshop... I just change the opacity to 50% each time I'm on a different frame, and then change them all back to 100% when I'm done. Really tedious, and probably not the best way to do it. Appearantly there is a way to do it but I've never done it:

07-11-2017, 07:01 PM	#4
Gorosaurus Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 16,146	Thanks for the info! Yeah, I do the same opacity trick with photoshop, but I figured I was just kind of fitting a square peg in a round hole. I did not know that photoshop could actually do GIFs, though-- I'll have to look at that. I think I have CC, but I'd have to check. The biggest problem with a lot of these programs is, like Flash, when they look too cookie-cutter. I'd much rather use real brush/pencil strokes, or at least ones that look like that

07-11-2017, 10:55 PM	#5
Bobby Swisha Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 46,012	Hmm, yeah. I think the pro way would be to freehand it, scan it, then digitize it.

07-19-2017, 09:14 PM	#6
Gorosaurus Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 16,146	Any idea how pros manage to scan all of the frames in- and then align them properly? That sounds like an incredible amount of unnecessary work, but the more I learn the more I find that you're right