TET Animation Project Updates

TET Animation Project Updates - 8th Nov 2017

TET - Bitstrips Avatar.

I'm really great at starting projects and, because of that, a lot of projects end up on the back burner or forgotten about entirely. So as not to allow that to happen, I thought it was time for a complete update on all the animation projects I've started in recent years (yes, I said years) and have still to finish or discontinue.

I'll work backwards from newest to oldest.

New Projects

These projects I've not mentioned in this blog before or have briefly mentioned in passing.

CrazyTalk Animator 3, G3, Desert Scavenger Character, and Animated Short

Desert Scavenger,
'Ma-Rey Sue'.

I briefly mentioned that I was putting together an animated parody short featuring Rey from The Force Awakens that was based upon the style of old Road Runner cartoons.

I have a partially complete script and storyboard for the project so there's still a chance this will get made. What is more certain is that the Rey character rig (who I'm naming 'Ma-Rey Sue') is currently on my drawing board and progressing daily. In fact the character is easily over 60% complete at this point.

At the time of writing I still had to go through and adjust all her hand sprites (after doing a straight import and recolor of all the hand sprites I used for Reddy the color monkey) to look more feminine. Then I have to create all her eye and mouth sprites. To finish off I need to work out how to add her flowing robes and create her staff weapon.

All going to plan she should be done by mid November.

Infinite Monkey Theorem Animated Short

First page of the Infinite
Monkey Theorem Storyboard.

This is a completely new animated short designed to showcase Reddy, one of my Color Monkeys. It's a very short, short that is a simple joke based upon Infinite Monkey Theorem (where if you put an infinite number of monkeys in a room with infinite typewriters they conceivably could type the complete works of Shakespeare).

The project has been completely rough draft, storyboarded and was waiting for me to finish creating Reddy's CTA3, G3, character rig - which I have.

Work is currently progressing daily. I'm not too sure when I expect to be finished but I'm hoping by the end of November, early Decemeber.

Reddy, Super Bluey, and The Great Greensbury

Kevin and his Color Monkeys.

Although nothing has been started script wise yet this is an ongoing project that I am definitely working toward making sure it happens. Obviously it hinges on my color monkey CTA3, G3 characters being created. Since that's done I'm definitely a step closer.

However I can't really make a start proper until I have their 'Dad' character, Kevin, made and rigged as a CTA3, G3 character. He's next in line after Ma-Rery Sue. Once he's done I can start building a series of animated shorts around him and the three monkeys.

Watch the video diary below for a little more info on the above recent projects.

Past Projects

From here on in are projects that have been mentioned in this blog and have yet to have any kind of update or closure (i.e. be officially discontinued).

Cool Fryod Animated Shorts

Cool Froyd.

I've already said this series has been discontinued for now but I just wanted to say Froyd is not forgotten and will be back in some form or another.

What I'd really like to do is redesign him entirely as a G3 quadruped character. This would allow him to walk around and generally do a lot more than just sit and talk.

The Comedian, iClone/CrazyTalk 8 Animated Short

CrazyTalk 8 version of
The Comedian.

As I've said previously I don't want to say this project is dead. I still want to get back to it with a new script. Working against it is Reallusion's release of iClone 7 earlier this year (or was it late last year?). I did upgrade from iClone 6 to 7 but, for whatever reason, Reallusion is hopeless at making it easy to port your content library between version number upgrades of their software.

I've yet to port over all my content library and projects into iClone 7 (and my library is huge, so it's not a quick task). This has put a complete hold on all iClone projects as a result. It is completely beyond me why Reallusion can't supply an app to port your content across or just use the existing folders instead of making a whole new batch each version.

Hoot Game Creation

Hoot game mechanics WIP.

May have to admit defeat on this one. I haven't looked at this in years at this point. Still hopeful I may get back to it but I'd have to relearn the game creation software before I could even make a fresh start.

JAC Cat G2 to G3 Character Conversion

CTA2, G2 JAC Turnarounds.

Creating JAC Cat as a G2 character almost broke me and my interest in creating characters for CTA2 until CTA3 and its G3 characters came along.

I'd still like to convert JAC to a G3 character rig, or maybe even complete the G2 version, since he's almost there, and CTA3 introduced a simplified facial animation system that works with G2 characters.

At this stage I haven't looked at him in years though so it may not happen at all.

Bat Storm

Bat Storm, Bat Flash, Charge Girl, and Super Charge.
All created with Muvizu.

I haven't mentioned my Bat Storm series in quite some time. The original second story was abandoned part way through the creation of episode 2 years ago, largely due to the restructure of GoAnimate (where the series was being made).

I was then going to resurrect the series using Muvizu's 3D animation studio. However Muvizu has since gone into receivership. Whilst their downloadable application and site still works I'm not confident it's a good idea to start anything new on their platform going forward.

I have not given up on Bat Storm and all the other characters that made up his stories. My plan is to include them in my color monkey series as guest characters or even spin off shows eventually. I just wanted to note that you will see Bat Storm again.

---o ---o--- o---

I think I've covered everything. If you are a long time reader or follower of my work, and have been looking forward to a project I've started at some point and appear to have completely forgotten about, please leave a comment letting me know.

Can You Learn Reallusion's Cartoon Animator 5 for Free Using Their 137 Official YouTube Video Tutorials Sorted Into a Logical Learning Order?

Or you could just buy The Lazy Animator Beginner's Guide to Cartoon Animator . While Reallusion's Cartoon Animator is one of the easiest 2D animation studios to get up and running with quickly, learning it from all of the official, free, video tutorials can be more overwhelming than helpful. With more than 137 videos totaling more than 28 and a half hours of tutorials, spread across three generations of the software (Cartoon Animator 3 through 5) it's hard to know if what you're learning is a current or legacy feature that you either need to know or can be skipped. Many of the official tutorials only teach specific features of the software and don't relate at all to previous or later tutorials. As a result there are many features either not mentioned or are hard to find. To make your learning easier, on this page, I've collected together all of the essential, official, free video tutorials and sorted them into a learning order that makes sense. Simply start at

TimeBolt: Fast Video Editing for Anyone Creating Online Courses, Podcasts, or Vlogs.

I resisted making tutorial videos for a long time because I don't like editing. Specifically I don't like editing me teaching as I step students through a process during a screen record. I have a tendency to insert long pauses not just in the middle of sentences but between multiple words in the middle of sentences as my pace matches what I'm doing onscreen. This makes for very long and very slow paced video tutorials. To counteract this I have to edit out all the pauses. This can take hours, or even days on particularly long tutorials. For example, when I created my main course, The Lazy Animator Beginner's Guide to Cartoon Animator , I literally injured the thumb on my right hand, operating my mouse, as I spent weeks taking out all my pauses (seriously, I had to wear a thumb brace for a few weeks to fix the pain). Recently I came across TimeBolt , a very affordable, fast editing application with the featured purpose of removing all the pauses from your video (and even

Make Disney/Pixar Style Characters with Reallusion's Character Creator and Toon Figure Bases

The Extraordinary Tourist Classic Coat outfit created using Reallusion's Toon Designer for CC3. I've talked before how I've wanted to get into 3D Disney/Pixar style character animation since I first saw the animated cutscenes for the very first Tomb Raider game back in 1996. It's why I initially bought Reallusion's iClone 3D studio app as soon as I could afford a computer that would run it. But then Reallusion released their 3D Character Creator (CC) for iClone and I wanted to create my characters with that (and I did try with Bat Storm ). But the focus of CC was realism, even with ToKoMotion's stylised body morphs . Now with Reallusion's Cartoon Designer bundle for CC3 which features two packs, Toon Figures , and Toon Hair , designing Disney/Pixar style 3D characters just got a whole lot quicker. The two packs are the bare essentials for creating Toon style characters. Five body morphs (2 male, 2 female, and one adolescent body morph that w

Review: Headshot Plugin for Reallusion's Character Creator 3

Headshot for CC3. Quite possibly the best 3D Avatar I've made of myself in any 3D application. Creating a realistic 3D human avatar is a whole lot easier with Reallusion's new Headshot Plugin for Character Creator 3. The plugin is an AI powered extension that can generate 3D digital humans from one photo. Which sounds like an amazing proposition but, in practice, if you're trying to achieve a specific likeness to an actual person, Headshot will give you an excellent base to work from. Headshot has two modes, Auto and Pro. Auto Mode Auto is well worth a try if you have an ideal photo of a front facing person that is properly lit and posed to Headshot's optimum requirements. It's also the only mode that will take a crack at generating a hair model. I grabbed an image of Harrison Ford, dragged it into Headshot without changing any of the default settings (other than specifying 'male' and selecting an 'old male' setting) and this is what I

AE Juice - Animation Presets, Motion Graphics, Templates, Transitions for After Effects, Premiere Pro, and Other Video Applications

Level up you video edits and animations with AE Juice's motion graphics and templates. Some days you just don't have the time to create flashy motion graphics for your latest video or animation. For some of us it's more a question of our own artistic abilities being a little less than the awesome we'd like them to be. Whatever reason a resource like AE Juice's animation presets, motion graphics, templates, and transitions packs for After Effects , Premiere Pro , and other video applications can really make your work stand out very quickly. AE Juice gives you access to an instant library of free, premade content elements and sound effects, which you can add to with additional purchases of various themed packs from their store. There are three ways to manage their content, all of which can be used in commercial projects . The AE Juice Standalone Package Manager makes it easy to browse previews of all your pack contents and to download and find just the elements yo

KIT Scenarist - Free, Open Source, Screenwriting Software that Helps Research Your Ideas Too

KIT Scenarist Script Writing Software's Mascot, Alexander Cat. While you can write a script in any word processing app, if you're writing stories (screenplays) that feature characters and dialogue, a dedicated script writing app can save a lot of time formatting, letting you focus more on the actual story. Script writing apps are also very useful if you plan to send your screenplays out to production companies, or if you're collaborating with actors and other production people, who are used to scripts being in a particular standard format. [Note: In case you're wondering there are reasons scripts follow a standard format and are always written in Courier (typewriter) font, including but not limited to; being easy to read by actors, plenty of space for notes, and the general rule that one page of a script (in this format) equals approximately one minute of screen time.] KIT Scenarist , in my opinion, is one of the best script writing apps out there for ease of use, simp

Voice All Your Own Animated Characters with Voice Changer

Voice Changer by AVSoft is real time voice manipulation software that can be used for a wide range of purposes including (according to their website); Voice-over and voice dubbing for audio/video clips, presentations, narrations, voice messages, voice mails, E-greeting cards, broadcasting, etc.; mimic the voice of any person, create animal sounds, change/replace/remove voices in songs, videos,etc. I bought it for the specific purpose of changing my own voice, to extend my vocal range, for voicing characters in my own animations. I was fortunate enough to get this software at a significant discount that made it difficult to refuse, given that I'd never tried it, or even heard of it before. I'm not sure if I would have bought it at the full price given that much of what it can do (for my needs) can also be done with the freeware audio program, Audacity . AV Voice Changer Interface. Voice Changer is relatively easy to install and set up. Once installed simply

Animation and Video Life

Search This Blog