From: Jack_Palevich@Taligent.com (Jack Palevich)
Subject: Re: Repost: Looking for a MAC based 2D "flipbook" animator
Followup-To: comp.graphics.animation
Organization: Taligent, Inc.
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 20:09:14 GMT

In article <Bz3LAM.7zH@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>,
jrkrause@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Jim Krause) wrote:
 
> I am looking for a Mac-based 2D animation program. I want
> something suitable for creating cartoons which will be output to
> videotape (NTSC).
> 
> Ideally I would like something that is basically a paint program
> geared to deal with multiple frames. Features such as a "light table" or
> "onionskin" function allowing me to see one frame while working
> on another would be nice.
> 

I don't think I've seen onion-skinning on Mac animation programs. One
reason is that most Mac programs have to run in 1-bit, where it's harder to
render the underneath images. Instead, some Mac animation programs have an
alternative interface: You can see the _actual_ animation running on one
part of the screen at the same time as you edit the frames on another part
of the screen. IMHO this is even better.

Here are some choices to consider:

1) HyperCard.

Benefits: Free. You already have it.
Problems: No Color, crude.

What to do: Create a stack. Create a card for each frame of your animation.
Draw on each frame using HyperCard's paint tools. Use the background for
limited onion-skin effects. Use the "Show All Cards" command to flip
through all the frames. Film off the screen.

2) Macromedia Director (aka Macromind Director aka VideoWorks)

Benefits: Kitchen sink interface. Very well supported by 3rd-party
dump-to-tape hardware.
Problems: Costs around $ 500 to $1000.

Macromind Director is "the" 2d animation program for the Mac. It has every
feature known to man, and they add more features every year. Of course,
they raise the price every year, too!

3) AddMotion tries to be Director with a simpler interface and a lower
price. I haven't used it.
Benefits: Cheaper than MMD
Problems: Fewer features, less support

4) "Studio 1" is a B&W paint program with some animation capability. 
Benefits: Cheap
Problems: No color.

5) Paint the individual frames in a paint program, then assemble them with
a QuickTime editing program. (Some programs like Adobe Premier even allow
you to
put several frames into one picture file to make it easier to do effects
which
involve multiple frames)
Benefits: Cheap if you already have the pieces
Problems: Tedious because you're doing everything by hand.

Then there's the problem of dumping to video tape. Some soloutions:

1) Film right off the screen.
Benefits: Free if you have a camera. Cropping the image to fit the whole
frame is easy. Zooming in and panning is easy. Anti-aliasing is free.
Problems: You have to play the animation back in real-time. You can get hum
bars or flicker, depending upon the frequency of refresh of your monitor.

2) Make a QuickTime movie.
Benefits: It's cheap. It's easy.
Problems: You may have to make the image small to make it play back in real
time. Only people with computers can see your animation.

3) Run the video card at NTSC rates, and dump to tape in real-time.
Benefits: Don't have to worry about lighting conditions.
Problems: You have to play the animation back in real-time and at full
screen size. Not all video cards support running at NTSC rates. While
running at NTSC rates the screen is often a different size than when
running at normal rates. Most Mac monitors (e.g. the ones from Apple) can't
display NTSC rate video, so you have to find a second monitor. Most video
cards don't do vertical convoloution in NTSC mode, so thin horizontal lines
flicker. You have to buy or make a special cable. You have to settle for a
monochrome image from the Green Channel, or you have to buy an RGB-to-NTSC
converter ($300 or so).

4) Run the video card at NTSC rates, and dump to tape a frame at a time.
Benefits: Same as #3, plus it doesn't have to animate in real time.
Costs: $4K to $6K for the frame-at-a-time VCR. Or 35 to 50 cents a frame
when you use a service. ( 5 minutes = 30 * 5 = 600 frames = $300.)