Skip to main content

TET Animation Project Update for 2020

TET Animation Updates.
It's the start of a new year which means it's a great time to run down my own personal animation project plans for this year.

Patreon

Before the end of January I hope to be launching my Patreon Membership Account. I've been largely reluctant to go the Patreon route for funding my animated projects but it appears to be the best way to fund projects that only the smallest of audiences have any interest in.

While the majority of the work on my animated projects will still be done by me, the main goal of the Patreon is to raise funds to pay for voice artists. I don't have the vocal range to voice all of my characters. Voice changers and Text to Speech Apps aren't at a quality that sounds professional, and I want my productions to be elevated in a way that only real voice actors can.

As much as I have friends who would gladly volunteer time to voice characters, that's not a reliable system, as people get busy, and the quality of recording can vary a lot depending on recording equipment available. I'd much rather pay someone who voice acts for a living and is excited to bring my characters to life.

Watch out for the launch of my Patreon and, if you do have an interest in seeing more of my animations, please consider becoming a Patreon. There will be Patreon only benefits, which I will detail when I"m set to launch.

Upcoming Projects

Bat Storm

Bat Storm, created in iClone, is going to be my major animation project this year. It is specifically for this project that I'm launching my Patreon (though not limited to just this project). Bat Storm has a lot of characters in just the main cast alone, before even thinking about the supporting cast. I really want his stories to be a showcase of my animation work, and having access to real voice artists is a MUST.

Bat Storm, Bat Flash, and Senior Detective Smith.
Created with Reallusion's CC3 and iClone.
I've previously shown Bat Storm's character design. Since then I've created Bat Flash and Detective Smith (neither of whom I have any chance of being able to voice myself).

I think the characters look really good and they deserve to have quality voices actors bringing them to life.

While I've yet to write a complete new script for Bat Storm's next adventure I'm thinking very hard about starting with his unfinished adventure from back in his GoAnimate days called, Pain.

Other Animated Shorts

As much as I've long been interested in the 3D pixar style animation I'm using for Bat Storm, my first love is 2D animation, because all my original cartoon characters are 2D drawings.

This year I want to continue making 2D animated shorts with Cartoon Animator 4, some with my own characters but also quite a few with the characters I've bought through Reallusion's content stores and other places.

There's nothing more satisfying than having a funny idea for an animated short and putting it together as quickly as possible with whatever content you have. That's how my Water Valet animations came about, and I'd like to continue with that kind of production.

Despite the goal being quick animated shorts, I'd still like to raise the production quality with professional voice actors, so some of my Patreon funds will go towards these.

Reallusion Marketplace Store

I don't promote it a lot but I do have a Reallusion Marketplace Store. I don't want to get too ambitious and say I'll be making a lot more characters this year, but I am looking to moving my focus back to this store and stocking it with more of my original content.

Even though I'm not an official Reallusion Content Developer, I do earn a lot of DA points (basically money in the marketplace) that comes in very handy for buying additional content used in my animations.

For example, did you know a lot of the items sold in bundle packs in the Reallusion Content store can be purchased individually through the Reallusion Marketplace with DA points. That's how I purchased Bat Storm's Assassin Pack cape... as an individual item rather than having to buy the whole Assassin's pack.

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

That's it for 2020. I do have a lot of past projects, mentioned previously in this blog, that have kind of fallen by the wayside but have not necessarily been forgotten entirely. I will try to get back to them and finish them off.

However, this year, I feel it's time to focus my efforts a little more to one main project (Bat Storm) and a few smaller side projects for whenever I need a bit of a recharge with something different.

Remember that my Patreon is coming. I will definitely let you know when it launches and give you a full run down on the Patreon only benefits. I really do want you to get something worthwhile out of supporting me financially.

If you do have any thoughts for what kind of benefits I could offer that would get you to sign up please let me know in the comments below.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Infinite Monkey Theorem Animated Short - Part 5

Scene 2 from my storyboard, Infinite Monkeys. Work on my Infinite Monkey animated short is definitely back on track since my last update and my previous part 4 post . To get things moving again I've decided not to spend time creating a final draft storyboard that uses all the actual props and characters. This is something that you'd generally do if you were planning to show the storyboard to someone else for feedback. At this point I'm not planning to do that so I'm going bypass it and create and animate each scene as I go, saving a bit of time.

Eight 2D Animation Apps For Your Phone or Tablet Mobile Device

M obile productivity apps have become so capable that they can be great alternatives to their PC/MAC equivalents or serve as great tools in their own right when you're away from your desk. While some apps simply mimic their desktop counterparts, others offer well thought out, touch-friendly interfaces that are easier and more fun to use. Every so often I check out what's available for 2D animation for Android devices, since that's what I use, that can complement my workflow with Reallusion's Cartoon Animator 5. Some may be available for Apple devices as well. Below I've listed six free (F) apps (with optional paid (P) upgrades) on the Google Play Store that you might want to explore. Some are just fun apps on their own while others may be useful as part of your workflow on bigger animation projects. Not all are exclusively animation apps and could be used on any production. JotterPad (F/P) The name JotterPad makes this sound like a notepad application but it's ...

Wonder Unit Storyboarder - Free Storyboarding Software for People Who Can (or Can't) Draw

Wonder Unit Storyboarder.  As an independent and solo animator I'm always tempted to try and skip storyboarding my animated shorts because they're usually only single scene sketch comedy type jokes. As a result I have many unfinished projects that kind of petered out due to having no clear finishing line. Storyboarding your productions, no matter how small, gives you a step by step guide of every shot that needs to be completed (no planning shots as you animate). It also allows you to create an animatic that gives you a rough preview of the finished production. In short, you shouldn't skip storyboards as they, generally, increase the chance of the project being completed. Disclaimer - I'm Not a Fan of Storyboarder Upfront, Wonder Unit's Storyboarder  is not my preferred storyboarding software. However it's completely free, has a number of very compelling featu...

Inochi2D - Free Open Source 2D VTuber Avatar Rigging and Puppeteering Software (Part 2 - Inochi2D Session)

In part one of my deep dive into the free VTuber software, Inochi2D , I focused mainly on Inochi2D Creator, which is used for rigging your character avatar in the correct file format for use with Inochi2D Session, the puppeteering part of the software. The two sides of the software are still very much in development and the documentation, particularly for Session, is very thin on the ground. To the point where I don't think I could even do a comprehensive tutorial because I'm not sure I'm even doing things right, and the software could change significantly in a single update. As a result, in this part of my Inochi2D deep dive I'm changing tact from presenting my finished Cartoon Animator TET Avatar, and will be summarizing my experience of getting Session up and running using OpenSeeFace as the recommended webcam motion capture software. To do this I will be using  the TET avatar I created in my review of Mannequin , since that can be exported as a full, ready to go r...

Prome AI Sketch Render Tool - Your Tradigital Clean Up and Colorist Artist for Character and Background Design

Random character head, Biro sketches drawn by TET (left). Render by PromeAI (right) using Prome's Sketch Render tool set to 'Comon:Cartoon, Render Mode: Outline'. W hile I don't do New Year Resolutions, one of my plans for the year ahead is to do more of my own art. Specifically character design drawn in an actual, physical sketchbook.  To that end, I have been spending the last half hour of most days drawing a page or two of random biro sketches in my sketchbook and posting the pages to my Instagram account  (this link will take you to one of my posts). These sketches are mostly practicing my skills because I don't really draw regularly anymore. Here is a tip, if you do this kind of sketching, and push yourself to keep doing it, you will see many drawings that could be taken further, even if you don't have anything they're suited for just at the moment. Which is where my second favorite AI Image Tool (after Leonardo.ai )  PromeAI comes into play. PromeAI ...

Reallusion's Cartoon Animator 4 Released - Not So Crazy Anymore

If you're the kind of 2D animator that needs to get high quality work out fast then you should be taking a serious look at Reallusion's Cartoon Animator 4 because that is the key feature that informs almost everything this application is capable of. Formerly known as CrazyTalk Animator 3, the release of Cartoon Animator 4 (CA4) reveals an application that goes out of its way to make high end 2D puppet rig and motion graphic animations easier to create quickly, and as intuitively as possible. That's not to say there isn't a learning curve but another great strength of CA4 is that you won't get lost in a sea of icons, tools, menus and more. The initial user interface is less complicated and more logically laid out than one may have used to put together a powerpoint presentation.

Inochi2D - Free Open Source 2D VTuber Avatar Rigging and Puppeteering Software (Part 1)

Inochi2D Creator - Free Open Source VTuber Software. If you've been looking for a way to live perform as a 2D cartoon avatar on camera, whether it be for a live stream or for pre-recorded content like educational videos, then VTuber software is a low cost (or even no cost) option worth looking into. In my previous post, How to Become a VTuber - 2D and 3D Software for Creating and Controlling Your Avatar , I took a brief look at the relatively new but completely free and open source Inochi2D  which I thought showed great potential for my own needs of creating a live performance character rig for my own TET Avatar that I use for all my promotional materials. While it is possible to live perform my character using Cartoon Animator itself, Reallusion's MotionLive2D capture system isn't great - with lip sync in particular. More importantly though, I can't exactly teach people how to use Cartoon Animator if I'm using Cartoon Animator to control my Avatar. What is Inochi2D...