Miracles do happen.
No I didn't finish an animated cartoons ... No My forces are still pretty scattered. I fussing over my titles. Rethinking the music.
But after 20 years I've been contacted by my good friend Walter Deanovich. Walt and I met in college, in one of my art classes. I think it was Comp I. He invited me to a friend's house. There I met Mike, Martin and Sue. And it was at Mike's, that we would gather to watch movies. No ... not DVDs! Not VHS tapes! Super 8 and 8mm! Mike would project them on a screen that was as big as his bay window. And they were silent.
Once a week we would all gather. We all collected films from Blackhawk. Mike had the biggest disposable income and wow!!! I can't believe what he collected. Walt and Mike were so knowledgeable ... I learned more from them than any of my professors at college. This was my real school.
However, when I left for Disney, we parted company. Mike moved to Ohio ... Martin and Sue left for West Virginia. Walt was left alone in St Pete. Life was not kind . I kept in sort of contact with Mike. But It wasn't until about a month ago we all reconnected with Walt.
Thank God for Facebook!!!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
A Grant
Just when things looked bleak ... it seems as if I got a royal grant for improvements to the studio. This means a new computer! I just did a wedding video for a daughter of a friend of Yoko. My valiant little laptop crashed 5 times. It just doesn't have enough chug. I had done my title bumper and while everything seemed okay in test mode it would not render the final product.
Lady Sylvia gave me a budget that was much larger than I was looking ... and words of wisdom. Don't scrimp. Still when I first started looking at buying I was amazed. Dell wanted $3000 for a top of the line computer. Ernie pointed me in the right direction and I decided because of my needs to go with the I7 processor. I found a Dell at Best Buy. And pricing around it was cheaper than all the rest of the compreable models. Even Dell!!! Why is it that the same specs on a Dell computer from THEIR site is $400 dollars more.
The new computer is up but not running. Toon Boom is loaded (something even Ernie couldn't do with the laptop.) I am getting a KVM switch cable to connect my old computer and new to the monitor, mouse and keyboard. And somewhere I need to find a mini jack y splitter with ONE female and TWO males. Sounds dirty ... huh?
Lady Sylvia gave me a budget that was much larger than I was looking ... and words of wisdom. Don't scrimp. Still when I first started looking at buying I was amazed. Dell wanted $3000 for a top of the line computer. Ernie pointed me in the right direction and I decided because of my needs to go with the I7 processor. I found a Dell at Best Buy. And pricing around it was cheaper than all the rest of the compreable models. Even Dell!!! Why is it that the same specs on a Dell computer from THEIR site is $400 dollars more.
The new computer is up but not running. Toon Boom is loaded (something even Ernie couldn't do with the laptop.) I am getting a KVM switch cable to connect my old computer and new to the monitor, mouse and keyboard. And somewhere I need to find a mini jack y splitter with ONE female and TWO males. Sounds dirty ... huh?
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
The Instructions are in Ancent Aramaric...
One of the things I am trying to do is take the segments, put them in order and publish them. So I went and got out 3 books ... and while they explain what to do ... they don't tell you what to do if you made this and saved it as itself ... on it's own.
So here's what you do.
Open the first film to be your segment. Minimize it. Open the next intended segment. Select ALL the frames and right click. From the directory choose copy frames. Then close the movie. Reopen the first. Open the windows and open segments. Open another segment ... select the first frame and right click. From the menu choose paste frames.
This will create the new segment. You repeat for each scene and then publish.
So here's what you do.
Open the first film to be your segment. Minimize it. Open the next intended segment. Select ALL the frames and right click. From the directory choose copy frames. Then close the movie. Reopen the first. Open the windows and open segments. Open another segment ... select the first frame and right click. From the menu choose paste frames.
This will create the new segment. You repeat for each scene and then publish.
Some Real Progress
This last weekend, I made some real progress.
Finally.
I redid the ihop commercial . It was basically the same material as I used the first time. But this time it was done tighter. The time bar is much slicker. I am learning.
I did the end titles. I reused and colored the black and white title holder and added the credits. It worked great.
I did the Dulci-Toon cartoon titles. I can't believe I did most of it in Flash. I'm learning to do vector work. Who would of thought it? I came out better than I thought.
I made the web page on the fldulcimer site. I set up Dulcitoons 000 on Vimeo and embedded the video on the web page.
We're getting there. Now I have to do the ACME titles ... the Zen Doodle titles ... and the cartoon itself.
We're getting there.
Finally.
I redid the ihop commercial . It was basically the same material as I used the first time. But this time it was done tighter. The time bar is much slicker. I am learning.
I did the end titles. I reused and colored the black and white title holder and added the credits. It worked great.
I did the Dulci-Toon cartoon titles. I can't believe I did most of it in Flash. I'm learning to do vector work. Who would of thought it? I came out better than I thought.
I made the web page on the fldulcimer site. I set up Dulcitoons 000 on Vimeo and embedded the video on the web page.
We're getting there. Now I have to do the ACME titles ... the Zen Doodle titles ... and the cartoon itself.
We're getting there.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
A STEP FORWARD ...
A step backward.
We have made some progress. I have set up a cafe press site, a Vimeo site and did a header . Settled on a frame rate. (12)Things are moving along ... I even found a program to make kaledioscopes. This should help on not only my De Fine Nations cartoons, but my Old Joe Clark. The step back in a major moonwalk is the loss of my backup drive with all the finished drawings for my cartoon. It went crashing to floor ... and that was the end of that. Tried taking it to Best Buy but no luck. I still have some the paper drawings.
Back to ... well ... square 2.
Guess I need to back up the back up!
We have made some progress. I have set up a cafe press site, a Vimeo site and did a header . Settled on a frame rate. (12)Things are moving along ... I even found a program to make kaledioscopes. This should help on not only my De Fine Nations cartoons, but my Old Joe Clark. The step back in a major moonwalk is the loss of my backup drive with all the finished drawings for my cartoon. It went crashing to floor ... and that was the end of that. Tried taking it to Best Buy but no luck. I still have some the paper drawings.
Back to ... well ... square 2.
Guess I need to back up the back up!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Sweatbox001
A sweatbox in animation terms was a projection room where the director and animators would review and cirtique the dailies and pencil tests.
Friday, January 1, 2010
THE LAST HOORAH!!!
Okay ... today is New Year's Day ... the time to make those yearly resolutions. I have to draw in my horns and stop spending. Today was my last ... for a awhile.
Even though my degree is in Fine Arts specializing in Cinematography, further specializing in Animation, I felt ill equipt to do my Dulci-Toons cartoons. So I've made a major splurge of books, DVDs and supplies. Yoko thinks I don't need these things. And maybe I don't need everything. She thinks I could teach the class. And maybe that's the problem. I did. When I was in college, I did a 6 minute cartoon using a friend's character. Cannibas Cat was a bell bottom wearing 30s styled character. I used this character in the hopes that when Walt saw his character up on the screen ... he would get off his duff and do what I knew was in him. It didn't work. But I did. I can remember all the work. I spent days. I would get up eat breakfast and go back to my dorm room work until lunch ... go back work until dinner and after dinner work untill bed time. I was doing double frames or 12 drawings a second. Then I went back and inked them in. After that was done it took an 18 hour day to film it.
When I think about it I am amazed that I was able to do this. I animated straight ahead. I didn't see any pencil tests. Hell I was lucky to have a camera to do my project. I had to check out a camera ... a 16mm Bolex. The technology was circa 1912. I used paper and the cut and slash system. When my peers at college saw this work, I became a big fish in a little pond. Shortly after this I attended an animation course ... the only one that USF offered. I require a filp book and to watch cartoons. When there was a question it was directed to me and not the grad student teaching the course. I didn't learn anything.
And that was 30 years ago. Technology has advance. I remember as I was leaving they were getting something called a video camera. Now days I can do everything I need with a computer. The scanner is my camera and I don't even have to wait for the film to be process. Back then the Preston Foster book was it. Today I have 2 great animator's books. The DVDs will give me access to some of the greatest cartoons ever made. I can watch them frame by frame. I finally have an animation table rather than my Father's tracing box the use to write lesson plans on acetate rolls.
My education is finally about to begin.
I have made one more purchase. .. sort of ... I am trying ... if I can get the credit card company to co-operate ... I am buying the master class series of Richard Williams.
http://www.theanimatorssurvivalkit.com/index.html
Light a candle for me please.
Even though my degree is in Fine Arts specializing in Cinematography, further specializing in Animation, I felt ill equipt to do my Dulci-Toons cartoons. So I've made a major splurge of books, DVDs and supplies. Yoko thinks I don't need these things. And maybe I don't need everything. She thinks I could teach the class. And maybe that's the problem. I did. When I was in college, I did a 6 minute cartoon using a friend's character. Cannibas Cat was a bell bottom wearing 30s styled character. I used this character in the hopes that when Walt saw his character up on the screen ... he would get off his duff and do what I knew was in him. It didn't work. But I did. I can remember all the work. I spent days. I would get up eat breakfast and go back to my dorm room work until lunch ... go back work until dinner and after dinner work untill bed time. I was doing double frames or 12 drawings a second. Then I went back and inked them in. After that was done it took an 18 hour day to film it.
When I think about it I am amazed that I was able to do this. I animated straight ahead. I didn't see any pencil tests. Hell I was lucky to have a camera to do my project. I had to check out a camera ... a 16mm Bolex. The technology was circa 1912. I used paper and the cut and slash system. When my peers at college saw this work, I became a big fish in a little pond. Shortly after this I attended an animation course ... the only one that USF offered. I require a filp book and to watch cartoons. When there was a question it was directed to me and not the grad student teaching the course. I didn't learn anything.
And that was 30 years ago. Technology has advance. I remember as I was leaving they were getting something called a video camera. Now days I can do everything I need with a computer. The scanner is my camera and I don't even have to wait for the film to be process. Back then the Preston Foster book was it. Today I have 2 great animator's books. The DVDs will give me access to some of the greatest cartoons ever made. I can watch them frame by frame. I finally have an animation table rather than my Father's tracing box the use to write lesson plans on acetate rolls.
My education is finally about to begin.
I have made one more purchase. .. sort of ... I am trying ... if I can get the credit card company to co-operate ... I am buying the master class series of Richard Williams.
http://www.theanimatorssurvivalkit.com/index.html
Light a candle for me please.
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