May 27, 2003
-
Gadgets Wanted!
Wacom’s Cintiq tablet. We first saw this about 3 years ago at an animation studio in Brooklyn NY, and the $4000 price tag had us abandoning the idea completely. Until now – I think the price has dropped, and…
Mark Zoeller, whom we met recently (who is a new storyboard artist on ML) draws his storyboards directly ON a Cintiq. His boards are done using Toonboom Studio (Why not Flash? – Because the drawing process feels more spontaneous with Toonboom and there’s a virtual “animation disc” you can swivel, according to Mark). I noticed there is NO PAPER AT ALL on his desk with the exception of reference modelsheets.
One can imagine the possibilities. And I think this is where a Cintiq comes in really handy. Storyboarding directly into Toonboom/Flash not only means saving paper, it means you have an instant animatic. Easy to pace and time the whole show.
Drawing directly on a Cintiq using the pressure-sensitive pen seems to feel very natural to traditional animators. In fact, the Cintiq 18sx can even rotate 180 degrees in either direction just like an animator’s table. Using a Cintiq is a fast and intuitive way to work with professional 2D animation software such as ToonBoom Studio, USAnimation and Flash.
Animation sequences sketched out in Toonboom can then be imported as swfs into Flash and ‘cleaned-up’ using predesigned library assets/symbols. BGs can be done using a combination of Flash and Expression (vector illustration program). And then bring everything back into Toonboom for final compositing, effects and camera moves … No paper used at all. Just a notebook computer and a Cintiq.
But I am really thinking of independent animators, especially the nomadic type who don’t want to lug around lots of hardware and keep track of paperwork. At the end of the day, a big studio production needs storyboards and artwork delivered on paper for approvals and revisions. PLUS nothing beats drawing with pencil and paper and flippin’ that paper…
Anyway, I still want a Cintiq!
TDK’s “I’mASpeaker” A symptom of jetlag is getting up at six in the morning and watching tacky breakfast/infomercial-type shows and awful cartoons. This cool item caught my eye the other morning on Channel 7′s Sunrise program. It’s a CD carry-case that doubles as audio speakers if you attach it to your CD-walkman. It looks like an ordinary CD case with soft black covering and it costs a mere FIFTY BUCKS. Now tell me this isn’t a cool. I wonder what the sound quality is like.
CD duplicator. Spotted in Skymall magazine on the way to Vegas. It looks so easy to use. I can see this would be PERFECT for AOTM trading anywhere anytime.
Cool link: www.base58.com
Downloadable mp3s with lotsa links to other sites with downloadable mp3s. (Click on Tunes). Eddie also recommends the Gabba site (Click on amp link)
