One of the first concerns individuals have when starting animation is what tools they ought to have. When considering sophisticated and fundamental choices, it might not be easy to know how to begin and what would be suitable. This article will provide you with a beautiful beginning place for the necessary tools to begin your animation adventure.
What is animation?
People often have a pretty "simple" understanding of animation: it's moving images. While this interpretation is not wrong, it cannot be a complete definition of animation.
In theory, the motion-making mechanism of animation is quite similar to movies and television. The motion is made up of many different images, which are serialized into a sequence of images. These images will create a visual illusion of motion when strung over a certain period (24 photos within 1 second). However, unlike cinema, the visual movements of animation are not made up of photography but from many different methods.
Tools for a rookie animator
Paper and pen
As DeeDee Animation Studio mentioned above, the pursuit of learning animation requires good drawing skills, especially in the two positions of background artists and animators. So, equip yourself with paper and pen so that you can practice and improve your drawing skills.
In particular, try your hand at a Sketch Journal (or Visual Diary) - a portable drawing book, so that you can easily practice drawing anywhere.
Graphics tablet
When you're ready to dive into the world of digital art, you'll have to have a graphics tablet. You may connect it to your computers and begin honing your artistic abilities by watching your drawings appear on your computer monitor.
Stylus pen
Drawing with handwriting could go a long way, though you'll have to move on to using a computer at some point. But using a stylus pen on your computer might help you become used to working with a touchscreen as your palette, making the transition to digital painting easier. This is one of the pieces of equipment needed to start an animation studio.
Computer with good graphics specs
With the field of animation today almost entirely working on computers, so if you want to learn animation and pursue this field, you should invest in designing yourself a really "terrible" computer to work on.
Especially in terms of graphics, because making animation will mainly require a lot of visuals. Working with a laptop will be very convenient because it can be carried anywhere, but a desktop computer (with a discrete graphics card) will be suitable for upgrading later. Please read and consider carefully.
Tools for a professional production house
Besides the indispensable skills of an animator, the following animation studio equipment will help a lot in the animation production process
2D Animation Software
With 2D animation, the most commonly used software today include Moho (Anime Studio) Pro, ToonBoom Harmony, CelAction 2D, Stop Motion Studio, FlipBook, Synfig.
Almost all of this software is licensed and often not cheap. However, if you are serious about learning animation and pursuing this profession, the initial investment is not redundant.
Toon Boom Harmony
Toon Boom Harmony is a must-have movement that is possible if you'd like to make spoken drawings for movies, the internet, or television. Toon Boom is a sophisticated computer program that has been used in series such as The Simpsons, Rick and Morty, Bender, Bob's Hamburgers, and Klaus, to mention a few.
It takes some practice to grasp the program, but once you do, you can use sophisticated capabilities to generate some stunning animations. They offer that in the 2D animation studio equipment curriculum since it is the method of choice for many firms. Toon Boom Harmony provides support for bitmap sketching, vector scribbling, and coloring. Traditional paper artworks may be scanned and cleaned using these tools.
Here are some of Our Work using Toon Boom Harmony
Synfig Studio
Synfig Studio is an open border program and is also available in two versions.
The first is an experimental edition, whereas the second is a stable version. The official release has fine-tuned characteristics that make it suitable for beginner animators to use. Authorized players can try out the experimental version to see what new additions have been introduced. Synfig Studio is perfect for a single artist or a select minority of artists.
It uses digital computer animation and graphics instead of conventional tweening to speed up animation development. Synfig Studio also has various layers (mathematical, attunements, and colors) that allow you to build both basic and sophisticated animations.
Besides these two animation softwares, you can also take a look at some below popular choices:
· Moho (Anime Studio) Pro
· CelAction2D
· Flipbook
· Stop Motion studio
3D Animation Software
With 3D animation, the most popular software today include Blender, Cinema4D, Maya, 3DS Max, MotionBuilder, Mixamo. However, in this article, I will review Blender and Maya in more detail
Blender
This is a free, open-source application that anybody may use without having to pay for it. Modeling, casting, animation, composing, video production, video game creation, and modeling are all possible with this application.
Blender has a robust toolkit and a suitable basis for performing complicated operations, making the animation and sculpting low. Blender also comes with a built-in route tracing engine known as Cycles. The Cycles aids in creating lifelike renderer outcomes, as well as VR and HDR lighting compatibility.
Overall, Blender is a powerful animation studio equipment with a straightforward user experience. The software comes with 3D painting and drawing skills, as well as a text editor. Python is a programming language that can be used to make your tools and impacts.
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Maya has gotten a lot of press. With this program, users may contribute to and build 3D applications, video games, conferences, movies, and video content. The application comes with several engaging plugins that make it simple to create projects and displays. Modeling, animation, texturing, shading, and visualization are all possible with this software.
The application has a screenshot editor that is pro and non-destructive, allowing users to create accurate and elevated cartoons. With Autodesk Maya, we could also do excellent cloth simulations with reliable results and deliverables. The application is updated regularly and is full of new and exciting things to use.
You can also use these for 3D animation:
Cinema4D
3DS Max
MotionBuilder
Mixamo
Stop-Motion Software
Similar to the above two types, stop-motion also has many support tools, typically among them are frame and heron animation.
Frames (Paid)
Whenever it relates to stopping motion animation studio equipment, this company is unrivaled. The program is ideal for all sorts of cartoons. Frames may be used to produce various films with fluid movements and appealing graphics, ranging from animations to video content.
For your organization, the program also allows you to create clay animations and send and receive messages. It features a very user-friendly interface, and the control panel is very well-designed.
The program has received several accolades and is accessible in a variety of languages.
Heron Animation (Free)
Heron Animation is indeed a free time-lapse animation program. It works with all operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. You can use a camera to snap photographs and produce stop motion cartoons with an application that is entirely focused on consumer experience and practicalities.
The method is straightforward and straightforward; nevertheless, the program is robust and packed with the most powerful tools for creating beautiful stop motion videos.
Beginners and experienced animators will both enjoy Heron. Every shot may be gathered in real-time. Its straightforward user interface makes it possible to create it quickly and efficiently.
What skills are needed to do animation?
Besides the tools, artists also need to have the skills to produce animation. Here are some basic skills that every animator needs to have:
Basic art
Knowing how to draw people and landscapes fundamentally will help you reliably draw characters and special effects when making drawings move in space (regardless of 2D, 3D, or animation style. from simple to complex).
12 principles of animation
Walt Disney synthesized the 12 principles of animation from his experience in the early 20th century, but so far, it is still an excellent foundation in the field of energy. Therefore, mastering the 12 principles of animation is also an indispensable step in learning animation.
Cinema knowledge
Animation is cinema, a "material,” not a "genre,” It must meet the minimum principles required of cinema such as storytelling techniques, camera processing, etc. shooting, composition, lighting, and the significance of such things in cinematic storytelling.
Computer skill
All animation is produced using computers, including movies made with traditional paper drawing or stop motion methods. Skills in utilizing essential computer software are required to quickly learn/self-study support software for different animation production processes.
Writing skill
This is a skill for writers who create stories. If this is the direction you are looking to pursue, you can educate yourself and learn how to write and present a screenplay, but most importantly, are still the basic principles and structure of a script.
Organized skill
Art is also science, and requires people in that process, when working together, to have the skills to self-organize and systematize their work logically and scientifically. Thanks to that, a team of many people, we can cooperate and work together in different stages smoothly and avoid confusion.
So, before deciding to pursue and learn animation, develop your own practical and disciplined working skills.
Patience
Making a minute of high-quality animation can take a few weeks is… too normal. Therefore, making animation is not a profession that can be done quickly and immediately, but requires animators to have patience and persistence in pursuing a long-term animation project.
History of cinema, animation, art
The only way to make new products is to look to the past to learn from the people who came before, like any other profession. Not only learning the quintessence, which has been summarized into the basics, but also learning from the not-so-good and bad things that the masters have encountered so that they can draw experience for themselves.
But most importantly, learn history to learn to respect the work we are doing at present, to know that today we have favorable conditions and knowledge that was created by our predecessors to be available and developed. Avoid learning through the speakers and then making superficial, quality products.
About DeeDee Animation Studio advanced technology and equipment
DeeDee uses the latest software and maximum support from the world's leading animation software maker Toon Boom, including Toon Boom Harmony and Toon Boom Storyboard Pro.
In particular, Toon Boom Harmony Premium is a powerful animation software that allows studios to create animations and drawings for all types of projects. It comes with many of the tools and features needed to generate studio-quality animations. The award-winning software has become the global standard in production and scripting. And Toon Boom Storyboard Pro is the industry standard for storyboarding. Storyboard software combines drawing and animation tools with camera control.
In addition, with an international standard production process, the studio is providing a complete solution for animation services from pre-production, production to post-production. DeeDee has also proven its advanced management technology through a series of successful projects from animated series, MV, to TVC advertising. Highlights can include the TVCs for brands such as Unilever, Honda, and agencies such as Dentsu, Ogilvy.