Posts Tagged ‘cartoon’

MonkeyJam is a free digital pencil test program that runs on the Windows operating system. It lets you capture images from a webcam, camcorder, or scanner and assemble the separate frames into an animation. You can also import existing images and sound files from your computer. Although it is designed for pencil and paper, MonkeyJam can also be used for stop-motion animation. Once you have created your movie it can be exported as an AVI file.

MonkeyJam information panel (click pic to enlarge)

The MonkeyJam software downloaded and installed on my PC without problems. The program starts with a window containing an information panel and a frame list. There is a help file with a quick start section to give the basics.

The first step is to select a folder to store your image files. The nest step is to select a method of adding your images to the frame list. This can be from a video source such as webcam or from a scanner. Alternatively you can import existing image files that you already have on you computer.

For the purposed of this test I decided to use the stills that I had created for my bouncing ball demonstration. It was simply a matter of selecting the images from the computer and clicking the import button. To view the animation you select Preview from the Tools menu and the software builds your movie and opens another window to play it back. It is as simple as that. You can then export your movie to an AVI file for sharing with others, such as uploading to YouTube.

MonkeyJam preview window (click pic to enlarge)

You can add sound to your movie in the form of WAV or MP3 audio files. Once imported into MonkeyJam the audio file is displayed as a waveform to the right of the frame numbers. The audio can be scrubbed in the exposure-sheet by running the mouse curser along it, played with the animation in the Preview window and exported as part of the AVI.

You can’t adjust the sound file once it is in MonkeyJam. Only one sound file can be imported per exposure-sheet and it always starts on frame one. This is fine if you are animating to a pre-existing sound track. If you want to fit the sound to pre-existing animation you need to use another program to edit the sound.

I can recommend this program as a straightforward line test and frame capture program, especially as it is free. If you want something with more sound and image editing capabilities then I would suggest you look at purchasing something like Stop Motion Pro.

Visit the MonkeyJam website to download the free software.

If you found this review useful please let us know in a comment to this post.

Mother of Many

Emma Lazenby’s film “Mother of Many” has just been nominated for a BAFTA in the Best Short Animation category. Emma has documented the making of her film in a fascinating blog called MoM written under the pen name of ElsieDarkwinter.

“Mother of Many” is based around the rhythms of a baby inside the womb and the rhythms and day to day routine of the midwife being calm and controlled – leading women through the most life-changing and challenging event of their lives. It was made using real recordings of childbirths and foetal heartbeats, combining painting on glass, hand drawn animation, Flash and After-Effects.

The blog starts back in March 2009 where we find Emma doing rewrites for her script. She writes; “I am having a lot of difficulty. I have written a script – first second and now on my third draft. It feels like I just rewrite the same script every time. It is changing slowly, but with the constant deadlines, I feel I have to keep finishing each script and never address any of the things that are bothering me. I just rush, panic, fluster and beat myself up a bit.”

Emma tells how she got the idea for the film; “The film is about midwifery, and is a celebration of my mum, who did this job for 30 years – delivering thousands of babies and a large percentage of the local population. I started thinking about it a year ago when she retired. It feels like an idea with some point, the point being to do a job with meaning.”

By the middle of April ‘09 the script is coming together. Emma writes; “…all the people (the funding ones) have said they are much happier with the new script (third draft) and I have been storyboarding roughly, doing some more work on design.”

Early May ’09 finds Emma working on her animatic. She says: “Animatics are nice – because you see the film, but not so nice, because the drawings are all so scrappy.”

By mid-May the animatic has been approved and Emma announces; “Today has been the start of making the film. I designed some pregnant women, made a list of things I have to do and how each scene works.”

In June ’09 Emma talks about the sound track. She has given her recording machine to an independent midwife in the hope of getting some authentic sound. She writes that she is “…waiting for women to pop who will let us record them grunting and screaming or just breathing calmly depending on how the births go.”

Emma Lazenby painting under camera (picture from MoM blog).

In July ’09 Emma has some animators working on her film but she wishes she could find the time to animate herself. She seems to be constantly on call to make decisions, emailing, talking and designing. She is determined to find a way; “This week I am in a little room away from email and everybody and everything – painting and playing under camera to make nice womb textures and contractions – it is lovely.”

By mid-September ’09 the film is nearing completion. Emma writes; “I am going to London tomorrow to help with the sound mix at Fonic. I am really looking forward to seeing it with proper sound instead of my cobbled together stuff.”

In late September the film is finally finished and Emma has mixed feelings. She writes; “I have no idea what I have made or what it looks like – if it is good or bad – whether I like it or not. I feel rather weird really but so excited. It is so odd to get to the end.”

The film’s BAFTA nomination is announced in January 2010 and Emma makes a blog post. She begins; “I am really quite shocked and it is only sinking in that my film has been nominated for a BAFTA. It is ridiculously exciting.”

You can read the full account of the making of “Mother of Many” in Emma Lazenby’s blog MoM.

Watch a clip of “Mother of Many” on YouTube.

See the full list of BAFTA award nominations.

Postscript (23 Feb 2010): Congratulations to Emma Lazenby on winning the BAFTA Short Animation award for with Mother of Many. Watch the winner interview.

Have you seen “Mother of Many”? Please share your thoughts on the movie in a comment to this post.

Exaggerated squash and stretch is a great way to add amusement and believability to your animation. I have created a demonstration using a bouncing ball made of very flexible rubber.

This demonstrates Newton’s third law of motion, more commonly called action reaction. For every action in one direction, there is an equal and opposite reaction in the opposite direction; even if the object does not move.

In this case the moving ball hits the stationary ground with such force that the top of the ball keeps going downwards when the bottom has stopped. The ball keeps the same volume so the sides move outwards. The amount of squash will depend on the material the ball is made of. The energy of the moving ball is not absorbed by the ground; instead it translates into a reverse thrust and causes the ball to fly upwards. Now the ball becomes long and thin as it stretches up. Near the top of the bounce gravity takes over and starts to pull down on the ball. Making the ball squash a little at the top of its bounce gives the illusion of opposite forces acting on the ball.

I created the ball animation in CorelDRAW, which is a vector based drawing program. I made just one drawing and then squashed and stretched the ball with the resizing tools that are part of the program. After each transformation I exported the picture to a jpg file. These picture files were imported into Windows Movie Maker and dragged onto the timeline. The sound track was made with a boing.wav that I found with an Internet search. I dragged two boing sounds onto the timeline and adjusted their position to match with the ball hitting the ground.

Here is the movie that I made. Please let me have your thoughts in a comment to this post.

Bouncing ball