Tuesday, 12 September 2017

SO WHAT’S THE FUSS ABOUT ANIMATION SOFTWARE?



Often time, I have visited Blogs, read various articles and even watched videos on which animation technique, from the traditional styles to the 2D, 3D even the hybrid or software is better; ranging from the free / open source to the paid versions.  But the truth is, or I’ll rather say that in my own opinion, that no matter how well an animated work is, even with the best visual effects or rendering, if it has a badly scripted storyline, then it would be flawed.

So the first thing a good animation producer would want to consider is how to perfect his storylines. Then he will have fewer things to worry about, even if it involves tweaking it over and over again it is worth the effort.
Now to the software part, it all depends on what one aims to achieve. If it is a quick TV series, then both the traditional and 2d animation styles are good because they are faster. That does not mean 3d animation cannot be used, but it is rather a more tedious and time consuming process that requires more animators, sometimes it can take years to produce. Today, full 3d animation have become the industry standard for a full length Western animation movie, while the Easterners on the other hand still retain their 2d and traditional styles; partly because they believe that it is more creative and more anime like. Well, as much as I would like to agree with the later school of thought, I would also not want to take the credits away from those 3d styles. Although they are basically CGs, I see them as a creative reflection of the artists behind. Basically I think all works of arts, animations included, are creative processes, down to the stop-motion type. 



It is a laboriously creative process no matter how you want to look at it. And if one is not careful it can be a sort of drudgery and a boring task. So it is the purpose of streamlining and simplifying these tasks that these software applications were created. From the free, paid and proprietary animation software, learning how they work can be a challenging exercise at first. And that is the hurdle all modern day animators would want to surmount. However, it is only one’s creativity and ingenuity that would stand one out. For the independent animator, the eventual goal would be to create something awesome for the world to see, no matter how poorly done it might be at first, there are always rooms for improvements. I have seen some animated shorts that some experts in the industry would have considered a scrappy animation went on top of YouTube rating, even some winning several international awards, while some very well done ones still battle for recognition.

Conclusively, no matter which road you take, remember that it is not really the tool that does the job; rather it is the man/woman behind the tool. Just don’t get discouraged and always give that little ideas of yours a try, no matter how improbable. As no expert can really predict what will go viral on the social media and what would eventually be accepted by millions of people around the world, both on cable channels and the internet. Forget about PAID Ads initially, they would only needlessly boost your ego and give you a fake perception of the acceptance of your works. If you haven’t got to where you intend to, keep trying. It is an opportunity to keep learning and improving on your skills. Learn from others in the industry and try and see what works and what doesn’t, in the end they all eventually add up to your repertoire of knowledge and make you stronger.

Have fun animating.

Go guy
goguyone@gmail.com


No comments:

Post a Comment