Another cleaned up old animation

(click to see animation)

Here's another quick animation that I worked on in Flash to try to learn the Pencil tool after playing with the Brush tool on that last animation. I'm eager to get onto some new animations so it's just b&w for this one. Tried to control lineweight and stay cleaner than the last one.

Btw, if you can find it in your neighborhood, go see Secret of Kells!

Flash, updated (with a little assist from After Effects)

(click to view movie)

I dropped the little run cycle from yesterday into After Effects and built a little set for him to run through, complete w/ fake 3D parallax. Gotta love the Grid and Motion Tile effects! Also, I'm surprised how well Magic Bullet Looks helps tie the whole thing together.

I might start doing some more tests like this over the weekend.

still rocking the slots...

click picture for link

So I left a job working on slot machines, and what's one of my first projects at the new job? That's right, making a slot machine: I just can't quit you, gambling world... :)

Seriously though, it was a real quick & dirty assignment that turned out to be a lot of fun. the slot is just something from iStockPhoto.com, and I went in and added highlights, glows, some meter text, and the reel spinners after the fact. I'm learning a new 3D program in my spare time, Maxon's Cinema4D, and this was my first chance to use it at the new job. Surprisingly, the 3D text was accomplished not in C4D but in After Effects, through the use of Maltaanon's ingenious little CE Shape Extruder script.

I love After Effects a little more each day.

Getting crazy with FlipBoom...

What's this? Mr Effects & Filters actually animating? :) I started playing with a tiny little program called FlipBoom (even though I already have Flash) since I always wanted to be a 2D animator when I was a kid. It's a really intuitive and graceful little program that makes doodling some animations really easy and fun. After mucking around for 20-30 minutes I got a little blink and a smile, and a whole boatload of ideas for other little tests. I'll probably post some up in the next week or two.

In other news, I saw a midnight showing of Cloverfield (awesome!), got shoved across an intersection I was walking across by an Escalade (no broken bones), and I'm ready to see a concert in the 8º weather tonight.(Bang!Bang!)