Sorry for the late reply, I missed your post

No sir. Afx is great for this. You can pipe in photoshop and premier and work on all 3 programs at the same time with live updates if your computer can handle it. I usually stick with only 2 programs at once tho lol. Afx also has nice tracking features so you can match camera movement more efficiently. You mentioned with the ufo it's more of pain to match the grit of old video, with Afx you can match that grain with animated noise, it would take you less than 10 min to apply and tweak to perfection.

The lunchbox connects via DV to your monitor directly so you can scrub your frames and have instant play back. Jeebus dude, if you spent some time setting this up you could green screen and live composite over the g1 footage as you rotoscope. hahaha now you got the wheels turning in my head

If i were you, after i blocked in the animation with the lunchbox, i would upload the raw green screen footage in premier and pipe in photoshop/afx to really get in and tweak/recomposite over the g1 footage.

Sucks those things are so damn expensive

 

Well yeah, even if I were convinced I needed them the outlay would be prohibitive... Regarding green screen, I tried that a few years ago and found it didn't work too well with all the reflective surfaces of toy robots, so I use my own system based on coloured backdrops and lighting. I can't see how rotoscoping over live footage would help, as that's generally used when I need to put toon humans in front of MPs, which in turn needs to have a clean (i.e PS edited) background to work on. I'm probably making it sound more complicated than it is; essentially I just need a background frame (or multiple if the shot has a lot of movement), then I put my photos on top, creating my new frames by turning on/off various layers. I'm still not convinced that anyone actually understands how I work - in many ways it's more like 2D cell animation but with photos. @LazyEyebrow has an insight, because I shared my recent intro shot with him so he can re-use my animated layers, but even he said I do things different!

 

That damned smile lmao!

He should have totally blasted them all after smiling.  

 

Just my 2 cents, if it ain't broke don't fix it 

 

Thought I would try making a GIF. Hope it works!

 

You succeeded!

 

That's wonderful! I love that you've made your own diorama set for it   Very creative  

 

Great! I wasn't sure about the best file size.

Thanks! I had fun making it. Your GIFs are great BTW.

 

There really is amazing talent in this thread.

 

Is that Kix cereal for the rocks?

Great work!

 

Did this gif for the Unrustables guys!



I cannot wait for these guys to drop.

 

Awesome work guys! Both of these are sick AF. Your patience and hardwork has payed off

 

Haha I thought it was kix too, some of it looks like pistachio shells?

 

LMFAO that last bit made me spit my coffee out! Thanks I needed that.

 

Thanks!

Thanks! Ha! It isn't Kix. Looks like it!

No. Close. The rocks are soybeans.

 

Are you pushing him up through the hole in the bottom? Or pulling him out? Or is it a trade secret  

 

I pushed him up from the bottom. I cut a hole in a cardboard box and taped a solo cup inside the hole. I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the cup for a wooden dowel. I put Brawn in the cup and then filled it with the beans. Pushing up on the dowel popped out Brawn and some of the beans. If you want I can post a picture of this contraption.

 

Hell yes! I love behind the scenes stuff. Thanks for sharing your technique. Are you using a remote trigger for the shutter? Going back and forth to the camera would drive me insane.

Your animation is solid but I recommend this to everyone pursuing any type of animation. The 12 commandments of Disney   doesn't matter if your animating in cg, stop motion, pencil, etc. It's universal and understanding it will up your game tremendously

The 12 Principles of Animation as Illustrated through Disney

 

Thanks for the link! I know I have a lot of room for improvement. No I am not using a remote trigger. I wish! Maybe someday I can upgrade.
All this was set on the floor level with my desktop. I had to use two cups taped together with the bottom cut out of one (Brawn was too big to fit in just one cup). The dowel runs through the box into the trash can. Doing this offered enough tension on the dowel to hold Brawn in place as I took the pictures.

 

Duuuude, that's brilliant! Hahahaha, hell yea. I almost deleted my post because I was like, it doesn't make sense, how would he push it up from the bottom, what a stupid question. Haha but my intuition was right and that is fucking clever rigging. I'm really impressed with what you achieved just using stuff laying around. You said this is your first stop-motion attempt?

You definitely need a trigger release. You shooting with your phone? Ditch it, I can show you how to teather a digital camera to your laptop and you can use the space bar to snap pictures.

I had to figure all this stuff out myself because the photography snobs around here don't want to help anybody out. But I'm not one of those, I'll tell you anything you want to know  

altho i moved into graphic design, I do have a bachelor's degree in animation and can offer you some insight