ArtRage Animation Pro

[Twaager]

Here is a great ide of turning ArtRage into a simple, but still effective, animation software. The ArtRage Animation Pro is to make pencil tests, painting and making short animated sequences. The animated sequences must be assembled in animation software outside AR. Like in StopMotion Pro, After Effects, Premiere, Final Cut, Anime Studio or whatever you can afford or like.
Here is the idea how to turn ArtRage Pro into ArtRage Animation Pro:

1. Turn the layers into frames by starting the software in animation mode.
2. Turn on the onion skinning, 2, 3, 4, 5 frames, whatever you like.
3. Use the scroll buttons (the keybord arrows) to scrub the animation frames to see how the movement in the animation looks.
4. After making some seconds of animation; export the frames as single png-files in sequence (or as an animation video file).
5. The pngs are rendered as an animation outside ArtRage Animation Pro.

This is a very good and easy animation software idea, similar to the one in Painter. But this will of course be much better…

[Nickillus]

Hi Twaager,
You're far from alone in hoping that AR will some day have an animation biased incarnation, as it seems so obviously ripe for it. I should say straight off I am not an animator but always intend to dabble seriously - in all my spare time, haha.

There is Pencil Check Pro (ToonBoom - http://beta.toonboom.com/professionals/pencil-check-pro) and the free Plastic Animation Pro (that is no longer supported I don't think - http://plasticanimationpaper.dk/). There is also PD Howler (http://www.thebest3d.com/howler/index.html) which I've purchased recently but find very unintuitive, with terminology that comletely baffles my simple needs - OK I'm thick and admit it. Supposedly it covers painting and full blown animation including special effects and such and at a price within most pockets, so I want to get a handle on it. And those are only the ones I've looked at.

Yet if AR could offer some basic animation options I would always lean towards wanting to use that first, based on the underlying ethos of aiming at the best user experience.

[Twaager]

Hej Nickillus,

here are som findings of mine. I use them now and then.

http://monkeyjam.org/

Above adress is to the free great pencil test software MonkeyJam.

http://www.pencil-animation.org/

Pencil is probably not under development any longer. But still it can be used and it is free.

Serif Movie Plus (version 6 right now) is a great software to assemble animations. I use it often for panoramics on multiple layers just like Walter Disney explains in this great video.

Anime Studio is also good for assembling videos with artwork painted in ArtRage. The drawing tools in AnimeStudio are craps (as I see it). But the software is great with its 2.5 dimensional setup, in the Pro version.

And there are the AfterEffects as a dedicated animation program. And there is TvPaint. And Retas. And ToonBoom Animate. All are too expensive and too much for me.

And there is a small program called Animation-ish. Great fun! really.

PAP is dicontinued and I have tried it out. It is too confusing to me. Also the PD Howler. I have tried it and disliked it. I don't want to use it at all. But ArtRage and Painter. I like a lot.

[semd74]

I beg to differ here. Opinions are like noses and everybody has one. I don't wish to see this fantastic program ever become an animation tool...just saying

[Twaager]

I beg to differ here. Opinions are like noses and everybody has one. I don't wish to see this fantastic program ever become an animation tool...just saying

Just saying...ArtRage Animation Pro was suggested as another tool that you buy if you are interested in it. Just like there are some variations of AR today to choose from. You buy ArtRage Animation Pro if you want, else you stick with the ArtRage "just paint" application. How about that?

By the way, I remember Deluxe Paint, a fantastic paint / animation program from Electronic Art. It was a beauty! I also remember Disney Animation Studio, a very simple computer software with a lot to learn from, created by the Disney company. Eric W. Schwartz was the true computer animation master of that time, in the mid 80s, teaching us computer nerds and animation wannabes how to do it. That kind of software does not exist any more and that kind of enthusiasm does not seem to be around any more. I want an animation program cheap enough and simple enough for me as an enthusiasts and amateurs to play with and to learn from. ArtRage Animation Pro has a mission here, a gap to fill. A need to fill. And some money to make.