Christmas Card

Okay ... got my Christmas card done. Not exactly the way I planned it. But it ran better than last year's. Got it done with 2 weeks to spare. Got a whopping 35 views even though I posted it on Everything Dulcimer and Facebook. Oh well. Think I'll maybe start in July next year. Got three ideas to choose from. Will try and plug in on Friends of the Dulcimer too next year. Also i think this is a case of a need to do a timing sheet. Gotta stop doing things on the fly.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here I sit full of food and thought. I have been lucky enough to have found some real good books on animation. I hve been reading Tony White's books and have Richard William's tome waiting in line. They have offered some thoughts, direction and hope. I am looking at taking the plunge in buying some equipmentdown the line. An animation light box and paper and such. There are a few programs to check out as well. Have picked up a few animation DVDs too. Things are looking up.

I just need the confidence to do.

A HAPPY CAMPER

Okay so ... it's been awhile.

Health issuses overflow. And it's led to some reavaluations. This is the second day of my vacation week. Yoko has been sick with the flu and I got a late start today. Neither of us got much sleep last night. I had planned to work on my first Dulci-Toon and hopefully complete it. That has been put on hold. I have 2 freelance projects to get under way. Yoko reminded me that last year's disaster of a Christmas card and my promise to get an earlier start.

Every year for 5 years, I have done an audio/visual Christmas card ... all with a dulcimer theme. Last year, I tried Flash using found images of angels ... primarily statues ... with the tune "Angels We Have Heard on High." I was using the paramiters given me in the book "How to Cheat in Flash." (540x720) This is larger than the largest standard size offered by the program. That and other factors created a monster of a file size that would barely load. Not good.

So this year I am doing a version of "Thank You Santa Claus." I have already done the title piece for Nothing But Coal Productions. Will start the drawings this week. The sound track I've already figured out on the dulcimer but want to see if I can lift it from the movie "Miracle on 34th Street." You may remember it. Santa sings a song with a foriegn orphan girl. Will have to see what key it is. in.

Also I have picked up some reference material ... got a lot of it today ... hence the happy camper. Got a new program that is supose to be better than Flash. It s called Anime. If the program is anything like the help file ... it sucks. Got the official guide today this might help. Also got documentaries on Chuck Jones and Walt Disney. Earlier I got some silent Felix cartoons to study and a really good book. Character Animation Crash Course was written by Eric Goldberg. Dynamite book! Disney animator who also worked for Richard Williams. Has given material to test and things to consider. Also compled a wish list of more resources ... Richard Williams' Animation Survival Guide, the Preston Blair book and a book on timing. Will make a concerted effort to get up to speed.

I'm thinking of getting a tattoo ... Tweety Bird with a skull as a head with the words "Animation aint easy!"

Delays can be a good thing.

As I sit at my keyboard, typing this, I am swollen and sore. Oral surgery has left me with one eye and a mouth that mumbles more than it speakes. This has delayed that which has already been delayed. I still haven't done the sound track but this may of been a good thing.

I have had some concerns to the editing process using the free soft ware I have been planing to use ... I figure it may take a bit of fignagalling to piece it all together. I remember the Cheat book has a section on recording. Perhaps this down time will offer a chance to explore that possiblity.

I have figured out that I need an establishing shot of Club Soundhole. So I have another picture to do and this lead to some to some changes in Yoko's dialouge.

All, hopefully for the better.

I feel sick ...

I had hoped to get the first Dulci-toons up and running but I had to do the sound track first. My throat is so sore that I am having trouble talking. Maybe next week!

DULCI-TOONS 000

As I am writing this I am uploading "Dulci-toons 000" on to Youtube. Not perfect but it's definately an improovement. I think the problem is 2 fold. One, there was a problem with the upload and 2, I shouldn't of twosied it. Still I think I will live with it. Made some real advances. With a little luck. I should have "Dulci-toons 001" up next week.

MADE IT!!! ... SORT OF

I had set a goal of having the introduction done for my birthday on July 19th. I filmed on Friday and began editing. Spent about 8 hours doing 8 seconds. Around 11 Saturday I was uploading the movie to my Youtube site. I think Yoko was going to kill me when I told her I had to do it over.

This is okay because I learned a few things that will make it better.

1.) I can make frames and past it into the time line of Pinnacle program instead of Flash. It will offer a bit more stability. Ernie though explained that if you set the X/Y axis that it will stablize the pasting in the center mode.

2.) When I made the cartoon I used a brush stroke filter after desaturating the image and then I did poser edges. Will just use poster edges. Needed to make it last 2 seconds instead of 1. This will make a smoother transition.

I have already started to redo the end and things are working out. Hope to have t done by Friday ... a week later.

WIFIE KNOWS BEST

Okay ... one of the days where you take turns on the 4 walls pounding your head. I started to do my title work redoing bits here and there and got it to the end of the intro. Then I guess the size became unmanageable.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!

Tried some other things and got a doable image. Went looking for the end title. Found out I didn't save it in the right file type.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!

Followed the Wife's advice of keeping things simple. Took the title card (blank) and put type fading in and out. Looks better than what I had.

Wifie knows best!

Got a sound effect from 2 youtube vids!!!

9 days left in my deadline.

PROGRESS

So I have made the first step on rediting the work from Pinnacle to Flash. I made good progress in setting up the title until I got to the Dulci-toon title and found out I had put it together in Pinacle ... OOOPPPSSSS!!!!! I hope to get this done by this weekend.

I have changed a concept that I inteneded as an intro piece to explain my hopes and intentions. I had origonally had a skit planned but on advice of a couple of friends from work, have decieded to simplify this just a dialouge in front of the camera. They felt since I was intending to use a Mickey and poke fun at Disney, that if the wrong Big Brother saw this harmless piece, that I might find myself fighting for my job. Did a test on a special effect and except for using a different filter and camera I was happy with the outcome.

FADES

I have had mixed feelings about doing this on Youtube as everything looks like ... hagis. One reason for that is having to put it from Flash to Premiere to Pinacle. Found out it will except Quicktime files on Youtube.

Now all I needed to do was figure out how to do a fade out/in and I'd pretty well be set. Things didn't work well when I did a bank of transitions. Today I figured it out at work.

In Flash, you put on a top layer a key frame with a symbol of a black frame. give a bit of lead time and insert another keyframe. Click Insert>Timeline Effects>Transform/Transitions>Transitions. Window will pop up and choose the desired length and unclick the wipe radio button. and there you go.

Up to speed?

Alright I have a first segement planned and ran a test to do layers moving at different speeds.





I then went to work on my studio title. This studio logo is a reminant of an old website based on a cartoon I was working on in high school. I had done this before manually in Photoshop and animated it in Pinnacle. For this one, I seperated the parts and put them through Flash animations. Using an electric dulcimer made by Bill Buffington run through a microcube I made a short studio logo.




I then worked on the begining titles. I wanted to go with a classic cartoon look so I went with a black/white/with grey tones. I did Grampa "G" in a standard bounce. Woody and Ginger are on opposites sides of the title placer. I had once again problems with the transistions in Flash and had to make some consessions on the change from "Dulci-Tunes" to "Dulci-Toons." Tried digital cut out animation with Grandpa and even drew thw beard in the Flash progam. I tacked the begining titles to studio titles in Pinnacle to see the transition and wa generally happy with the results.



Then I worked on the end titles with Grandpa doing a stationry shuffle and lettering fly on by. I put other names in there for jokes. And because I got tired of my name passing by ... will definately redo this part

Even though it was not part of the sequence I worked on a montage for Old Joe Clark to show some consultants and get some imput. The general thought was that it was too fast. Hmmmmmm.



I had another one of those moments at work. I had been watching some back episodes on the web of tv shows and thought I too needed a commercial. this was the quickest of work time so far ... 8 hours . Things went pretty smooth.

So what now? I have the illustrations for the body scanned. I need to record and mix the soundtrack. Next is to do the Flash and piece it together. Need to hunt for one more sound effect. Setting a goal of July 19th to be up and running. Will I make it?

Time will tell!!!

Fear and Loathing in Toon Town

Okay ... here are some of my fears of doing this project.

1.) I have discribed myself as a man with far too many irons in the fire. Here is a list of interests:
the mountain dulcimer, movies, animation, cartooning, comic books, books, history, writing a family history from my father's notes, writing a novella, cigar box guitars, the harmonica, the scrub board, tin whistle, beer making, ventriloquism, and puppetry. Can you see why it is hard to focus on any one thing. I blaime it on the Chinese zodiac. I'm a monkey and we are easily distracted. Oh look a butterfly!!!!

2.) I have not had a good track record. I have tried to do several projects ... having a real passion to follow ... but not to follow through.

3.) I'm broken. I use to draw all the time ... I didn't think about making time ... I just drew. Yoko shakes her head at this ... Hell! I get eye rolls! I know this is in my head but it doesn't make it any less effective or real. I had a bad experience that just really snapped me. Now I had to work myself up ... and some times I find excuses not to do the work.

4.) I'm afraid I don't know enough.

5.) I'm afraid my dulcimer skills aren't good enough. I hope to work with other people ... I don't mind working with other people. It could slow things down in some ways ... but I like the idea of having the best talent that I can. I just want to get a little experiance under my belt before I have others put in an effort.

6.) I may have to sing ... I sing like a bird ... a crow. Still I've been encouraged to push myself. I can think of people I might ask, but I need to make sure I will get their work up there.

7.)Medical issues: Earlier this year I found out I am getting cataracts. Then I found out I have diabetes. And my teeth became an issue. At this point including all indiviguals involved I have 6 doctors. Every weekend I have one of them to go see.

8.) Which brings me to time! That most precious of human possesions and the thing that is spent so unwisely. 10 hours a day, 5 days a week are spent in hotel hell (okay technically it's Purgatory.) My schedule is not fixed so week to week I have to adjust. I have to go to the doctors ... I'm suppose to exercise. I don't do it as much as I should ... but I'm going to have to do more. Then there's rest and sleep. Family time. I don't have to do a pie chart for you to see I don't have much time to work on this. just to show you I've done a test for Old Joe Clark montages and figured it took me to just over 30 hours to do 30 seconds. So given that, it theoretically takes an hour a second.

9.) Doubts of ever being seen. I have to wonder if after all of this work will turn out to be me with my finger to my lip going, "bibbabibbabibbaibba!" all alone in cyberspace. It's the way I've felt before. I wondered how many of people ... even friends were paying attention. Maybe it didn't merit being viewed ... does count as ten?

The first step is admitting your fears.

BACKSTORY : part six

In high school, I once had to recite a poem by John Milton. It took me 10 minutes for me to stutter my way through. I was so glad to get to the end that the last line has always stuck with me.

"They also serve who only stand and wait."

We do a lot of that in my line of work. I'm a bellman. and there can be some down time between work orders. I have been writing down ideas in a journal. (A habit that I got into in jr. college ... Thanks Mr. Hagenbuckle!)

So between work orders, I have created characters, storyboards and even new lyrics to old songs. I know ... just what the world needs more lyrics to "Old Joe Clark!"

My lovely wife, Yoko says that I make things too complicated. And I guess this is true. I have tried to simplfy these cartoons so as to make them managable. It is my intention to to use limited animation, flash techniques and found images to make these films. Hopefully I will be able to do this.

Flash Resources

Here are three books I got on Flash:

This is a good basic book that if you buy 2nd hand on Amazon it will cost ou more to ship it than the price of the book. It is a basic book that with some trial and error will get you up and running. It has step by step instructions but sometimes takes a little bit to figure out the quirkiness you are dealing with. It also has faq at the end of every section.

This is the latest book I got ... another basic info book. It also has tips at the end of chapters. This one seems to be a bit more detailed ... though the illustrations are in b/w and a little less slick.

The "Cheating" book is the bomb!!! Done by Chris Georgenes, he uses his proffessional expierence to show you tricks of the trade. This is not a basics kind of book, but some thing to build on your skills. It includes a cd to to further explain his process. Worth the price!!!

BACKSTORY : part five

They say, "Pride goeth before a fall."

So with a good deal of confidence I decided to do my Christmas card for 2008 using Flash again with found images. I decieded to do the song, " Angels We have Heard on High." The images would be images of statues of angels I would find on Yahoo and Google. This seemed expediant because I had percastinated and Christmas was soon approaching. So I did my recording on my Timbre Hill Dulcimer ( http://www.timbrehilldulcimers.com/ ) my David Lynch soprano dulcimer ( http://www.strothers.com/SW_Dulcimers.htm ) and a harmonica using Audiocity and placed it on the sound track level in Flash. The recording is perhaps a little hot and the instruments need to be staggered. Edited all the pictures I had collected and put it together. Things went together pretty well after a few false starts. I had trouble using ... or should I say trying to use the transitions in Flash ... so I manually did them by twossing it in Photoshop and then keyframing the animatin. Then I tried to up load it.

It took forever.

It was hogging to much space. So I redid it. Still it bogged down. So I redid it again and still it was too slow. Talk about frustrated.

Then enlightenment came to me ... almost too late. First Flash works with images at 72dpi (dots per inch) I was importing images at 100dpi and scaling then in Flash to work. With 30 images this bogged down things when it came to streaming the film on the web. Secondly on the site I uploaded to, I was using Dreamweaver CS3 that works with Flash to upload the cartoon as a Flash document rather than converting it to a mp4. However best quality is the default that the web design program uploads the film ... so as I was trying to decrease the file size ... it was bringing it up.

So having to make compromise I upoaded to the site just in time for Christmas. It is still too hoggy so you have to let it load and then play. Sorry

http://www.fldulcimer.com/christmascard08.html

BACKSTORY : part four

As mentioned in previous posts, I was trying to do my animation using Pinnacle10/Photoshop/Painter programs. Using these programs things were do-able but very hoggy in the use of space and time. They certainly have their places. I use the later two to do cartoons for the Dulcimer Players News. Dan Landrum beat me to the punch by having somebody do single panel cartoons for his magazine. I don't know who did them but I'm guessing he didn't play a dulcimer. I've been doing cartoons for about a year for Dan and the DPN.

I pencil in the drawing and using a light box, I ink in the drawing on a paper place over the pencil sketch. (I could be doing this on a the Wacom tablet but I haven't gotten that use to it yet to go completely digital ... but that's the plan.) I then scan it into a computer and import it into my drawing programs, clean up the image and then add color. Finally I add the wording ... as needed.

I was about to give up the project when I lucked into a used copy of Flash CS3. Flash is a program designed specifically for animation. If you see cartoons on the web ... then you are probably watchin Flash. It has some pretty neat tricks to speed up the process.

Full animation requires drawings for 24 frames per second for film (30 frames for video ... yes I know there are no frames in video but thats the rate of pictures anyway. ) In the old days they would twosie it pictures ... or take 2 frames for each drawing. This would give you smooth movement for half the work. Traditionally in an animation studio, the head animators would do key drawings with an assistant doing the inbetween drawings.

Flash allows you to work on a time line and pick a frame to start a movement and further down the timeline choose an ending point and let the computer do the inbetween work. The program allows for transparancies to simulate a digital cell. The negative is that there is a hell of a learning curve and it has it's quirky little moments. Things are done by trial and error. In my case mostly error.

My first Flash piece was for a really nice local dulcimer festival in Mt. Dora, FL, called the Central Florida Dulcimer and Autoharp Festival. For th last two years Ruth has let our Florida Sunshine Dulcimer Society ( www.fldulcimer.com ) host her festival info. The second year I took the lap and did a header using Flash. ( http://www.fldulcimer.com/2009cfldandaf.html ) This was done with found images of dulcimers and instructors. Ruth was pleased and so was I.

Things began to look up.

BACKSTORY : part three

My wicked stepmother, Sylvia decided to sell the house that my Dad and herself bought together when they got married. She moved into a nice little apartment. She was nice enough to give us a share. Most we put into savings so that Yoko could go to culanary school but I talked her into letting me buy a lap top to dedicate to the use of my art projects. But the best thing was one of those fancy drawing tablets. I have always wanted one of these ever since I got a computer, but I could never justify the cost. Luckily, Wacom came out with a smaller tablet that comes with a price that was more in my grasp.

Here are a couple of videos to give you an idea of just why I bought one.



Trust me when I openned the box it wasn't anwhere as long as this guy took!



This really set me on the right track.

BACKSTORY : part two

This was my second attempt at using the Pinnacle 10 program to do animation (though it's more of a slide show.)



First off let me say that I must say this was very much a rush job. Every year for the past 5 Christmases, I have done a cartoon/card for the holiday season with a dulcimer accomplishment. This has to be perhaps my most viewed card. I has gotten over 3,000 views at this posting. Please note I attribute this to the fact of it's labeling, "I'm Getting Nothin' For Christmas." The pictures are actual family photos with my Mother, Father, Auntie Gretchen and my older brother, Rusty (the dog) appearing. Again I am scanning the images into my computer, and editing them in Photoshop/Painter and publishing in Pinnacle. Sound again is in Audicity, but the volume problem is from the preamp I am using. This is definately a learning curve.

BACKSTORY : part one

This all started as a thread on the best dulcimer site, Everything Dulcimer perhaps 2 and a half years ago ... more or less. I can't remember who started it or wrote the statement that got me thinking, but basically they said that someone should do a cartoon for dulcimer players. I decided then and there to do this project.

I started by redoing an old cartoon that I had done years ago. It was based on a personal experience, I had been very sick and had been reading the works of H.P. Lovecraft. I had been up late reading and was on the toilet. Because of the accoustics of the room, I read outloud an enchanment for summoning the Cthulu gods. Then the toilet in answer gurgled. Boy! did that startle me. This inspired me to do a piece on a little boy reading Lovecraft under the bed sheats.



I reedited the pictures in both Photoshop and Paint and imported them into Pinnacle Studio 10 but found it lacked the frame to frame control I was looking for. I have later found that one can create a close up of the time line so that editing frame by frame is probably made easier. I like the ease of editing and the use of trasition. However frame by frame even done in Photoshop seemed to be a bit clunky. The problem is this program is really ment for editing and not animation.

For the sound program I used Audicity, a free sound recording/editing program from Soundforge. It works wonders but the sound track's faults lay not in the program but my inexperiance. I did all the voices except for the mother which was done by Yoko, my wife. The music was made with a diggeree do, a small drum and a Casio key board using the soundtrack and glass harmonica modes.

It is a starting point.

And aaaawwwwaaaay we go!

Well this is the cart before the horse. I have of this date posted nothing. Nor have I finished anything. But I thought I would try and blog my process, my concerns and problems in creating this cartoon of the same name. It is a record for myself and for anyone that is interested.

For the sake of self disclosure ... I have tried this blogging activity before (on this and other subjects) and have to admit that they have fell by the waysides. The least I can say is that my intentions are good.