Animation Studio Stuff for Students

Why this blog ? What will you find here ?

2011-12-02T09:04:00.000-05:00

This page is a sub-section of my blog for online animation students Academy of Art Animation Notes.

Here you will find sources and suggestions for purchasing or building traditional animation equipment. (see the links in the sidebar for companies which sell animation equipment and supplies online.)

Hand-Drawn Animation Equipment and Supplies

2011-12-02T08:47:00.001-05:00

Click on the links below to read the Topics covered :

1.) Basic Equipment for Hand-Drawn Animation

2.) Purchasing an Animation Desk or Lightbox

2.a) Purchasing an Animation Disc (options)

3.) Do-It-Yourself Animation Desk

4.) More on Do-It-Yourself Animation Desk Project

5.) Image Capture for Animation: Video Capture options

6.) Image Capture for Animation: Scanning options

7.) Inexpensive Large Format (11" x 17") Scanner

8.) Another Do-It-Yourself Animation Desk project

9.) Animation Books: Essential Reading

10.) *NEW: Animation Pencil Test capture station: SIMPLICITY CAM 5e HD DOCUMENT SCANNER

See the sidebar for Links to Traditional Animation Suppliers and Animation Software.

A new Animation Pencil Test capture station: SIMPLICITY CAM 5e HD DOCUMENT SCANNER

2011-12-01T11:55:00.005-05:00

As seen on the TVPaint Community User Forum :

This relatively new image capture station , the Simplicity Cam 5e HD Document Scanner by Recordex-USA --

This unit is compatible with both Windows and Mac OS .

Capture resolution up to 2560 x 1944 (which is actually higher than Academy Full Aperture 2K Film res. of 2048 x 1556)

Manual control of White Balance and Exposure.

Max. capture area of 12.75" x 17.25" (so this will capture the usable drawing area on 12 Field [12"w x 9"h ] and 16 Field [16" w x 12.75" h] animation paper.)

Image capture is much faster than scanning on a Flatbed scanner , but the capture resolution of the Simplicity Cam 5e is much higher than most webcams or mini-dv cameras that are typically used for pencil testing.

NOTE: the base of the unit will need to be bolted down to a table top or a board so it can't be knocked over or jarred out of position (the base is weighted, but it needs to be completely locked down for animation) .

Add a thin tape down peg bar to the shooting stage to hold your drawings in registration as they are captured,

OR if you have TVPaint Animation you can use the Peg Holes Registration FX in TVPaint to register the drawings post-capture , so you could potentially capture your images much faster by laying the drawings down flat on the shooting stage under the camera without a peg bar , but because the black backing of the shooting stage will show through the peg holes that will cause the peg hole shapes to be captured , so then when the images have all been captured into TVPaint you can run the Peg Holes Registration FX on the captured images to automatically align all the drawings in perfect registration (Some other pencil test softwares have similar types of automatic peg-hole shape alignment . Check with the Support Dept. of the software you use to see if this is an option . I can tell you that the Peg Hole Registration in TVPaint Animation is easy to use and is very accurate.)

You will need to add a set of lights as the built-in LED light that comes with it is not generally bright enough . But the lights you need for Pencil Testing are inexpensive clamp-on "shop lamps" which you can purchase at any hardware store. Use 150 watt equivalent spiral "Cool Bulb" fluorescent lights , which remain cool enough to tape a piece of plain white paper over the lamps so you will get very bright, but diffused light spread over the shooting area so your drawings are captured without hotspots in the middle or shadows at the edges which can happen when pencil testing without adequate lighting.

This kind of lighting set up shown below with inexpensive shop lamps will work fine :

On the Mac use it with CamTwist Studio for extra control over the captured images (control Brightness/Contrast/White Balance , and also Zoom-in/Zoom-out of the camera) . On Windows use the software that comes with the camera for Windows : XSight HD camera viewer software.

The Simplicity Cam 5e unit is confirmed to work for capturing high-res. b & w line art animation drawings into TVPaint Animation with both Windows and Mac OS. (given that it is an HD USB camera it should potentially work with any other kind of pencil test software such as Digicel Flipbook or Toki Line Test. But check the technical specs first with the Support Dept. from whatever software you are using)

More information here:

http://www.recordexusa.com/page152.html

Note: the manufacturer Recordex-USA does not sell directly to the public.

This reseller has it listed for $178.00 (price visible if you add it to the cart) - http://www.provantage.com/recordex-sc5e~7RCDX005.htm

The Simplicity Cam 5e HD Document Scanner unit is listed for $199.00 from this retail reseller:

http://www.fullcompass.com/product/403224.html

Basic equipment for hand-drawn animation

2009-05-07T21:45:00.008-04:00

We'll go into more detail in other posts, but what are the basics you need to get started with traditional hand-drawn animation ?

1.) Animation desk with animation disc , or a lightbox with pegbar. (get the disc if you can , it's better.)

2.) Extra ACME peg bar for scanning or video testing your drawings. Get a thin, metal tape-down peg bar if possible because those are the most versatile. Lightfoot Animation or Cartoon Colour Co. has them .

3.) ACME punched animation paper. Lightfoot Animation, Chromacolour, or Cartoon Colour Co. can supply. (see links in sidebar) . Ingram Bond animation paper from Lightfoot or Cartoon Colour is recommended. Chromacolour Prograde Plus 23 lb paper is also recommended. These brands of paper are more expensive , but you'll notice the difference between this and the cheap photocopier-grade paper. Ingram Bond or Chromacolour Prograde erases better, lasts longer, holds up to repeated flipping, the surface is better for drawing, it scans better.

4.) Pencils, various. Col-Erase red and blue. Various brands of Graphite pencils , HB, B, 2B . Recommended graphite pencils include: Tombow Mono and Palomino Blackwing 602.

5.) Erasers: Soft kneaded eraser (grey) , and "Magic Eraser" (white) .

6.) Exposure Sheets (free , printable X-sheet templates from AnimationMeat.com). Pre-printed Exposure Sheets from Cartoon Colour Co.

7.) Animation frame capture software. Two are particularly recommended : TVP Animation or Digicel Flipbook Studio. Also good for pencil testing are: Toki Line Test, MonkeyJam (freeware , but for Windows PC only) .

8.) a scanner for scanning your animation drawings into TVP Animation or Digicel Flipbook

OR

8 a .) a digital video camera mounted on a down-shooter (tripod or ideally a copy stand) to capture your drawings via video feed.

I'll talk more about these items in the posts below, but in the meantime check out the Traditional Animation Materials List and these two downloadable/printable PDF resource booklets:

"Animation Student's Guide to Animation Desks"

and

"Image Capture Techniques For Hand-Drawn Animation" .

Purchasing an Animation Desk or Lightbox

2009-05-07T21:43:00.010-04:00

One of the basic items you need to animate is an animation desk or a lightbox.

There are many different configurations of desks , some of which I have shown in the web album Animation Desks gallery in the sidebar links. You can peruse that album for ideas on how you might set up your own workspace.

There is also a PDF booklet that I have prepared called "Animation Student's Guide to Animation Desks" which may be downloaded by clicking on the link.

While it is possible to purchase or build a large professional studio-style desk such as this example of a Disney Studio desk ---

(click on any of the images to view them larger)

most of use don't have the space or the funds to purchase such a large desk for our home studio. (these desks are wonderful, but take up a lot of space and are very heavy to move).

A good , portable animation desk is the one made by Colin Johnson of Vancouver, BC , available through his web site AnimationDesks.com

This desk is very good value for the money as he includes the white plexiglass animation disc , and a fluorescent backlight unit with the desk itself ( similar desks from other companies typically have the desk/lightbox unit and the animation disc as separate items which cost more.)

There are similar portable table-top animation desks available from Chromacolour , Cartoon Colour, and Lightfoot Animation , though they are more expensive.

I will mention that the Lightfoot portable lightboxes do have a smaller "footprint" (only 24" x 24" compared to 36" x 24" on the Colin Johnson table) , so if space is an issue you might want to consider one of the compact Lightfoot Easel Design Animation lightboxes :

(these compact animation lightboxes from Lightfoot Animation Supplies cost about $100.00 more than the Colin Johnson desk, and do NOT come with the animation disc included. The white plexiglass animation disc is about $70.00 - to - $80.00 extra, so the Lightfoot model would actually cost about $180.00 more than the Colin Johnson animation table.)

Even more compact would be a simple lightbox with animation pegbar (no disc).

Lightfoot Animation sells the Artograph LightTracer II 12 Field lightbox (12" x 18") with an Acme peg bar pre-installed for about $100.00 .

Some online art dealers such as Dick Blick Art have these Artograph LightTracer II lightboxes for less , so keep your eyes open . Dick Blick currently sells the 12" x 18" model for only $58.18 (compared to list price of $99.00) . Add a thin tape-down Acme peg bar from Cartoon Colour for $25.00 or Lightfoot's thin aluminum peg Acme peg bar for $20.00 and you'll have a functional animation lightbox for about $80.00 to $85.00 dollars. (the Lightfoot thin peg bar 1/16" is not quite as thin as the one from Cartoon Colour Co. , 1/32", but is thinner than the usual cheap plastic peg bar which has too much of a raised edge.)

Cartoon Colour Co. also sells a similar Light Box (with larger work surface of 18 1/2" x 15 1/4" ) for $135.00.

Very compact, these lightboxes will work ok for your animation, but overall it is much better to have the rotating animation disc if possible. It also doesn't have much of a raised slant , but you can prop it up with some books to raise the angle.

Cartoon Colour Co. sells a compact Plexiglass Lightbox unit
(21 1/2" x 21 1/2" ) with a hole precision cut to take a standard animation disc (16 1/2" diameter hole) for $175.00 .

A white translucent plexiglass animation disc would cost an additional $70.00, so one of these units from Cartoon Colour would be $245.00 complete, more than the Colin Johnson Animation Desk, but the only advantage would be if you were pressed for space and needed a lightbox with a rotating disc that occupied a smaller footprint (only 21 1/2" x 21 1/2" compared to 36" x 24" on the Colin Johnson desk)

Traditional Drafting Table adapted to Animation Table:

A step-up from a portable table-top animation desk would be to have a hole cut into a standard wooden drafting table so you can mount an animation disc on it , with a backlight unit mounted underneath. What you would give up in terms of portability and compactness you would gain in flexibility and comfort. A drafting table can be adjusted in both height and the angle of the tabletop for the maximum in drawing comfort. You can adjust the table to whatever angle is best for you. If you have the space this is really the best option for a traditional animation set up.

The Alvin Pavilion model , 42" x 31" or 36" x 24" , is a good basic drawing table. These tables are available from Utrecht.com or other art suppliers.

If you have the proper tools to make a precision cut 16 1/2" hole in the table top then you could cut the hole yourself , or hire a local woodworker who has the proper tools to make the cut for you . You may have a friend or family member who has the proper tools to do this. Be very careful when cutting the hole. It must be smooth and perfectly round so the disc will turn smoothly.

You can purchase a table like this with the hole pre-cut from Cartoon Colour Co. or Alan Gordon Enterprises for about $250.00 . The animation disc and backlight unit is sold separately. The custom-fitted backlight units sold by Cartoon Colour Co. and Alan Gordon are nice to have , but expensive . You can do fine by mounting your own fluorescent light unit under the table or use inexpensive clamp-on metal shop lamp reflector with "Cool Bulb" spiral fluorescent bulbs as a backlight unit.

Besides being able to fine-tune the height and angle of the drafting table it also gives you more space to pin up notes, model sheets, and X-sheets , especially if you use an extension panel as shown below. (the extension panel may also be used on the Colin Johnson desk to add space to clip on an X-sheet to the right or left side of the table.)

(click any image to view it larger)

(notice most of the artists have a corkboard on the
wall in front of their desks to pin up model sheets and
other notes)

If you have the extra space an over-size table top gives even more space to pin up your model sheets and other notes as shown below:

You will also find it useful to surround your drawing space with a folding table, shelves ("scene stackers") and/ or some sort of side-table unit to have a place to stack your drawings , blank paper, pencils, and other supplies, to keep them organized and close at hand.

Notice the tall scene-stacker to the right of this animator's work space. The drawings from various scenes can be kept organized in a shelving unit such as the one shown below:

This Winsor-Newton artist's tabouret shown below makes a good compact side-table unit for an animation desk. Paper can be stored in the lower shelves, while the interior drawers can be used to store pencils, erasers, peg hole reinforcements , and other supplies.

Here is another view of a typical animation scene stacker unit filled with animation drawings bound between chipboard panels and rubber-banded around the outside to protect the drawings and keep everything neatly organized. Below is a shorter scene stacker unit:

Anyone looking for ready-made Scene Stackers (for 12 field animation paper) take a look at these cube stackers available from Target:

Cube Shelf Stackers

There are other similar stacking shelf units available from different office supply and home decor stores.

The one linked to above is 15" x 15" , which is big enough for 12 field paper (12.5" x 10.5") , not quite big enough for 16 field paper (16.5" x 13.5" ) . Most people use 12 field so that's no big deal. But if you expect to use 16 field you'll need to find slightly wider shelves.

These (also from Target) are wider and you could add multiple shelves to it:

Another "Scene Stacker" available from Target

Scene stackers might not be the most glamourous item on your equipment list , but you'll be surprised how handy these are for storing and keeping track of your animation drawings.

An inexpensive , functional scene stacker can be made from large size stacking file crates available from various office supply stores:

This economical file crate scene stacker could be further sub-divided into individual shelving compartments using sturdy cardboard or lightweight masonite panels held in place with wire or glued in place.

Do-It-Yourself- Animation Desk

2009-05-07T21:42:00.005-04:00

As I mentioned in the previous post you may purchase a standard wooden drafting table and cut a 16 1/2" hole in it to fit a standard animation disc.

This is probably the easiest "do-it-yourself" animation desk if you have the right tools to make a precision circular cut like that. (it's trickier than it might seem at first, so "measure twice, cut once" and be careful.)

(you can also purchase a wooden drafting table with the hole pre-cut from Alan Gordon Enterprises or Cartoon Colour Co.)

If you're skilled with woodworking you may also want to build your own portable animation table. Here is a link to some plans:

Do-It-Yourself Animation Desk plans

From Misc. Animation

Here is a link showing Sheridan College animation student Brock Gallagher making an animation desk very similar to the one shown in the plans above:

Building a Do-It-Yourself Animation Desk

Here is another do-it-yourself animation desk project with photos and detailed instructions:

How To Make An Animation Desk - Part 1 -4

The finished product from the project linked above:

(click on images to see them larger)

Here animation student Dan Caylor shows the portable desk that he refurbished and added a backlight unit to:

The Traditional Animation Desk

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UPDATE: I'm happy to say I recently heard from animation student Marty Walker who built an Animation Desk using the Jim McCaulay plans I posted above. Check out the results :

http://chipsandsolstice.blogspot.com/2009/06/we-built-animation-desk.html

Marty was also good enough to list all the Materials and Tools needed for the project . See the link to his blog for the materials list.

By the way, for those of you who may not recognize the name of Jim McCaulay he was a great teacher of animation at Sheridan College in the 1970's , 80's, and into the 90's. Jim is retired now, but he influenced many of us who attended Sheridan's Classical Animation Program during those days. Here's a photo of Jim with a student :

(teacher Jim McCaulay with animation student

Cathy Parkes at Sheridan College , about 1980.)

Jim also co-authored a book on storytelling in animation called "And Then What Happened?" with another Sheridan professor , Zack Schwartz.

Purchasing an Animation Disc

2009-05-07T21:41:00.014-04:00

As I mentioned earlier a standard flat, rectangular or square lightbox with an Acme peg bar attached will do as the bare-minimum for animating, but it is best to have a lightbox or drawing table with a hole cut to mount a rotating animation disc. Believe me, it does make a difference. Rotating the disc gives you much more control over your drawings.

In years past when animators were expected to calculate their own camera/pan moves for their scenes , metal or wooden discs with sliding , ruled peg bars were the norm.

These peg bars were ruled in 20'ths of an inch to allow very close pan moves to be calculated by the animators and notated in the Camera column on the Exposure Sheet.

A precision, metal animation disc such as this deluxe model made by Mechanical Concepts is still a worthy tool, but not as necessary as in days past.

Nowadays when most camera moves are done within a digital ink & paint or compositing program (such as TVPaint, Digicel Flipbook, or ToonBoom, etc.) it is not as necessary to have the sliding peg bars on the disc to figure out the moves.

Many modern-day animators prefer to use a lightweight, relatively inexpensive white, translucent plexiglass disc. These type of discs originally became popular at the Richard Williams Animation Studio in the 70's and 80's and have since become widely used in the industry.

Here is Richard Williams animating on a plexi-disc at his studio in London in the late 80's :

Sylvain Chomet animating on his film "The Triplets of Belleville" :

The white plexiglass disc has the advantage of being much less expensive than the traditional metal disc with sliding peg bars , as well as being light-weight enough to carry around and use for animating in casual situations such as using ambient light to shine through the back as the animator rests the disc on his knees or on the edge of a chair or table. Richard Williams mentions in his book "The Animator's Survival Kit" , page 83, how he animated some of the first scenes in the film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" in a hotel room in Wales with a plexiglass animation disc propped up on his knees.

A white plexiglass disc from Cartoon Colour Co. costs $70.00 . It comes with an embedded plastic peg bar. (a tape-down metal peg bar is probably better overall in the long run , but the plastic peg bar will work ok) . Most of the white plexi-discs sold by other companies are basically the same.

That said , if you can afford to purchase a traditional disc with sliding peg bars, such as the wooden animation disc made by Alan Gordon Enterprises , or the popular hard plastic molded model from Chromacolour International , or one of the various metal discs still available from Central Tool Co., Cartoon Colour Co. or Mechanical Concepts then those can still be quite useful.

Alan Gordon wooden disc with sliding peg bars costs about $300.00 -

Chromacolour hard plastic 16 Field disc with sliding peg bars costs $480.00. Smaller 12 Field version is $425.00.

Mechanical Concepts 16F metal animation disc is about $550.00 -

Here is a typical animator's workspace with the popular black Chromacolour animation disc -

Typical animator's workspace with white plexiglass disc -

Either type of disc will work , but the less-expensive white plexiglass disc is sufficient for almost any type of traditional animation job.

More on Build-It-Yourself-Animation Desk

2009-05-07T21:41:00.011-04:00

I saw a question posted on an animation forum about the type of hardware needed to make an adjustable light table, such as the one shown in the DIY Plans posted above.

The hardware is available from specialty hardware and woodworking stores . The name of this special type of hinge is a "lid stay" or "flap stay", or "lid support" .

See a variety of different kinds here:

Specialty Cabinet Supplies - Lid Stays

and here:

Rufkahr's Lid Supports

This kind available from Rufkahr's is called the X-70200/05Z Lift Up Ratchet Support.

Another kind of table support used is a Pneumatic Spring Stay :

In these photographs you can see how the Lift Up Ratchet Support is used to make a portable animation table:

In the following photograph of animator Børge Ring's animation table you can see the Pneumatic Spring Stay used to hold the table top at the proper angle:

Animation Books

2009-05-07T21:40:00.000-04:00

What books should you get as you study animation ?

At the Academy of Art University Online we have several books which are required texts for many of the traditional animation classes. Check your individual class book list to see what books are required and which books are optional recommended books.

Books which are frequently on the Required Books list:

Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life by Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston

Character Animation Crash Course by Eric Goldberg

The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams

Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair
(there is also a free downloadable verrsion of the 1st edition of Blair's book on the ASIFA Animation Archive: Preston Blair's "Animation" , 1st Edition )

Animation From Pencils to Pixels : Classical Techiques for the Digital Animator by Tony White

Simplified Drawing for Planning Animation by Wayne Gilbert

Other worthy books for your attention:

Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes Vol. 1 and 2 by Walt Stanchfield. (

Timing for Animation by Harold Whitaker

Animation Background & Layout: From Student to Professional
by Mike Fowler

Prepare to Board: Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts by Nancy Beiman

Creating Characters With Personality by Tom Bancroft

Elemental Magic: The Art of Special Effects Animation by Joseph Gilland

Animation Frame Capture - Video Capture

2009-05-07T21:39:00.007-04:00

I cover this topic in detail in the downloadable PDF booklet "Image Capture Techniques For Hand-Drawn Animation" which you can get by clicking on the link.

--------

At the pencil test stage one option for getting your hand-drawn artwork into the computer is to capture your frames with a digital video camera mounted on a down-shooter (could be a sturdy tripod, but preferably a Copy Stand). Drawings meant to be digitized for final coloring should be captured using a scanner , which I'll discuss in the next article.

The camera is pointed straight down at a shooting stage which has an Acme peg bar embedded or taped along the edge. The drawings are placed one at time under the camera and each drawing is captured as a single "frame" taken by the the animation software (i.e TVP or Digicel, etc.) via the live video feed from the camera. Digital video camera is attached to the computer via firewire (IEEE 1394) cable.

Here are photos of typical video pencil test stations with mini-dv camcorders used to shoot the drawings.

(click on the images to see them larger)

You can still find relatively simple, inexpensive Copy Stands at photography supply stores and on eBay. A popular line of copy stands that have been used for pencil test stations are the CS-3 and CS-2 line of copy stands made by Testrite Co.

Testrite CS-3 copy stand being used for shooting pencil tests:

The Testrite CS-3 an CS-2 copy stands are no longer in production, but they show up often eBay. Other brands of copy stands made by Bencher, Kaiser, Beseler, and Bogen will work equally well. You do not need to get one of the super-expensive models with a geared column and professional quality photo lights. Basically all you need is a sturdy column to hold your camera securely in place and a platform or "stage" underneath to tape-down your Acme peg bar. (the "stage" should be large enough to accommodate standard 12 and/or 16 field size animation paper.)

A tripod may also be pressed into service to shoot your animation. Be sure that the legs are secured so that they don't get moved during a shoot.

Lighting is very important when shooting your pencil tests. You should have bright, diffused lighting aimed down at the artwork at about a 45° angle to eliminate any shadows or over-exposed hotspots on the artwork. Adjust the lights and the manual exposure and white balance of the video camera until you have an image where the white of the paper is as light as possible , but the image of your pencil drawing is sharp and clear.

The spiral type of fluorescent bulbs called "Cool Bulbs" which are about 150 watt-equivalent can be used with inexpensive metal reflectors (clamp-on shop lamps) with ordinary white paper taped over the lamps to diffuse the light. If you have any open windows or other strong light sources other than the light you are shining on your animation drawings you should mask off the windows with heavy shades or black paper taped over the window , and/or mask off the shooting area so stray light does not fall on your shooting surface.

(click image to see it larger)

A regular consumer-level mini-dv camera such as the Canon ZR-960, most cameras in the Sony HandyCam line, or the Panasonic PV-GS320, PV-GS90 or PV-GS80 cameras can be used for video frame capture. (as long as the camera has an IEEE 1394/firewire out port it should work fine)

Canon mini-dv camera mounted on Kaiser copy stand.
Pencil line test system shown is Toki Line Test:

Many other types of mini-dv cameras will be usable too. The main thing is that the dv camera should have an IEEE 1394 "firewire" interface and your computer will need a firewire port to plug it in. You should also make sure that any dv camera you plan to use for shooting your animation has manual override of focus, exposure, and white balance and that it will operate without a video tape or disc loaded in the camera (some brands will not operate or will not stay on continuously if there is not a video tape in the camera. You want to get one which will operate continuously providing a live video feed without a tape or disc loaded, because you are NOT recording directly to the tape or disc. For animation frame capture purposes you are only using the live video signal feed that is provided by the camera.)

You may even use a webcam such as the UniBrain Fire-i web cam although you should be aware that web cams are lower resolution (typically 640 x 480 max. resolution) and will not give as high an image quality as a DV camera.

The aGent V5 webcam will also work fine for shooting pencil tests with TVP or Digicel.

Some webcams do not allow manual over-ride of the focus or exposure, so are not usable because they will constantly be "searching" for a focus point because the flat, white surface of the paper does not give the camera anything to grab on to for focus. Your images may go in-and-out of focus from frame to frame if you can no lock down the focus to a fixed focus point. Better to use a digital video camcorder if possible, or a webcam such as the aGent V5 or Unibrain Fire-i which have manual focus.

If you can find a CCD "security camera" type of video camera will tend to give higher quality images for your pencil tests than a typical consumer-quality digital video or mini-dv camera. Sometimes these types of cameras can be purchased inexpensively from electronics surplus stores or from eBay. Purchased new they are typically more expensive than most consumer-level dv cameras and can be more trouble to hook up and run (and to purchase the necessary analog video-to-digital adapter) , but these cameras do have higher resolution and will give a better image quality overall. (though not as good as a scanner, which we'll discuss below.)

B&W "security monitor camera" mounted on copy stand:

Look for a surveillance/security camera with these features:

1.) S-Video Out connection if possible. (many have BNC "composite video" connection out , but S-Video is better quality than BNC, although BNC can work if you can find the right kind of adapter to get the feed to interface with your computer. )

2.) Manual over-ride on the lens shutter to adjust exposure

3.) Manual focus on the lens. Lens should be able to focus in range down to 12 inches.

4.) A zoom lens is helpful, though not necessary if the column on the copy-stand can be adjusted up and down.

Be aware that if you use this type of camera you will need to purchase an adapter such as the PYRO A-V LINK to feed the S-Video out or BNC Video out connection cable to your computer. Another suitable adapter is the Canopus 77010150100 ADVC110 Converter . The adapter will convert the analog S-Video or BNC Video signal to a digital signal that can be inputted to your computer. Be sure that the animation application you are using can read the signal . (if in doubt ask the Tech Support Dept. of the software you are using for frame capture.)

Image Capture for Animation - Scanning

2009-05-07T21:38:00.015-04:00

Video capture is typically used to make fast frame captures for pencil tests. Video has the advantage of speed .

However, when image quality needs to be very high (for instance when scanning drawings which will be colored) a scanner should be used, with the resolution set at least 300 dpi or higher.

A scanner may also be used for making pencil line tests as well , although it will typically take longer to scan a set of drawings than to shoot the pencil test with a video downshooter.

If you do use a scanner for pencil tests you will find that the scans go faster and create smaller file sizes if you scan in B&W mode or Greyscale mode. For rough-rough pencil tests the resolution of the scans can be lower, such as 72 - 96 DPI , especially if the intended output for the pencil test is a simple 640 x 480 Quicktime movie file.
(but for final scans which will be colored use at least 300 DPI resolution.)

The scanner will produce much cleaner images with less "grey" or "yellow" picked up from the paper, especially if you are careful to adjust the brightness and contrast (threshold) settings on the scanner before scanning your drawings.

Use a thin metal peg bar taped-down securely along the edge of the scanner , outside of the glass area.

(click image to see it larger)

A typical scanner only allows you to scan an area of 8.5" x 11" or 8.5" x 14" at most. Some brands of these flatbed scanners , such as the Canon LIDE 90 pictured above will allow you to capture up to about 10.5 or 11 field area of a standard 12 Field piece of paper , or if you are using smaller 10 Field paper you can capture the entire piece of paper from edge to edge.

Here's an article on "Scanning 12 Field Size paper using a regular Letter-size (11" x 8.5") Scanner" which shows how up to 11 Field can be scanned using certain models of scanner , such as the Canon LiDE series.

If you are using full-size 12 field or larger 16 field paper you will need a large-format "tabloid" scanner which will capture a maximum image of about 12" x 17".

Examples of large format flatbed scanners are the Epson Expression 10000XL or the Microtek 9800XL scanner. Other brands include Richoh and Fujitsu.

The large-format flatbed scanners are MUCH more expensive than the standard office size scanners.

Even more expensive are the 11" x 17" tabloid size Auto-Document Feed (ADF) scanners. Usually the large format ADF scanners cost between $4,000 - $8,000 and are built for industrial level production. These are beyond the level that most individual animators or students would need or be able to afford.

However , there is now a relatively inexpensive ADF 11" x 17" scanner on the market, the Brother MFC-6490 CW scanner. I cover this in more detail in the next post after this one.

(Fujitsu ADF scanner for high speed, high volume scanning)

The advantage of Auto-Doc Feed scanners is SPEED , so if you are scanning a large number of drawings and time is of the essence then an Auto-Doc Feed scanner can be worth it . Be aware that your software must have the ability to recognize and automatically register peg hole shapes on the scanned drawings, since the drawings are scanned through on rollers , off-pegs. The drawings will jitter and shake unless the software is able to automatically recognize the peg holes and line them up . (The "2-Point Stabilization Pixel Tracker" in TVP Animation v.9.0 will align peg holes and the soon-to-be-released TVP Animation v. 9.5 has an improved automatic Peg Hole Registration feature which makes this process even faster. Digicel Flipbook's "Auto-Scan" plug-in also performs this function. Some (not all) versions of ToonBoom will auto-align peg holes on drawings scanned with auto-feed scanners.)

If you work on smaller 10 Field paper you may use a regular 8.5" x 11" size Auto-Document Feed scanner to speed scan your drawings. The regular size ADF scanners are much less expensive than the tabloid size 11" x 17" ADF scanners. The same conditions apply when using any ADF scanner: the animation software you use must be able to recognize and auto-align the scanned peg-hole shapes. Otherwise you must use a regular flatbed scanner and scan ON PEGS.

There is also a third-party plug in called SCAN-FIX written by Duane Palyka at RIT , which will re-align drawings scanned through an ADF scanner.

"When animators scan using an ADF bulk scanner, the scanned drawings lose their alignment due to being scanned off-pegs . Their digitized frames are offset relative to each other by the scanning process. SCAN-FIX will realign peg holes on ADF bulk-scanned animation frames so they match the original pre-scanned alignment."

If you use SCAN-FIX you will scan and save all your drawings to a folder, run the SCAN-FIX program on the batch of scanned drawings and then Import the Scan-Fixed drawings into your animation application .

Again, refer to the downloadable PDF booklet "Image Capture Techniques for Hand-Drawn Animation".

Inexpensive Large Format Scanner for Animation

2009-05-07T21:30:00.002-04:00

If you've ever priced out large format (11" x 17" tabloid size) scanners you know that they are generally very expensive (starting at $1,200 for basic 11" x 17" flatbed scanner , ranging up to $4,000 to $8,000 for an industrial strength Auto-Document Feed 11" x 17" scanner) .

However, there is a new 11" x 17" scanner on the market --- the Brother MFC-6490 CW scanner --- which retails for about $299.00 (although I've seen it for as low as $199.00 - to -$219.00 after a mail-in rebate).

As you know if you've priced out an 11 x 17 scanner, until now this was really unheard of to find such an inexpensive 11 x 17 size scanner which can handle full-sized 12 Field animation paper fed through an Auto-Document Feeder (ADF) for very fast scanning .

Combined with an Auto Peg Hole Recognition system in software such as TVP Animation, Digicel Flipbook, or ToonBoom Animate , this new Brother MFC-6490 CW scanner is a great tool for independent animators or students. The Brother MFC-6490 CW scanner is aimed at the small business and home-office user, so I doubt that it is necessarily built to hold up for a long time under heavy-duty feature film or tv production use, but for the student or the independent animator on a tight budget this product at least puts an 11" x 17" scanner within an affordable price range. At this price you could actually replace it several times over if it broke down before it would cost you as much as the usual 11 x 17 ADF scanners from Epson, Fujitsu, Ricoh, Canon, etc.

Animation student Dan Caylor first alerted me to the existence of this relatively low-cost 11" x 17" scanner. Here is Dan's review of the scanner on his site:

Review of Brother MFC-6490 CW scanner

Dan is using it with Digicel Flipbook, but this auto-document feed scanner should work with any animation software that has Auto Peg Hole Alignment (such as TVP Animation.) I've personally tested it with TVP Animation and it works fine. If you're looking for a relatively low-cost 11" x 17" ADF scanner for your animation drawings then you might want to consider it.

*UPDATE 04/20/2011 - There is now a new model 11 x 17 scanner from Brother , the Brother MFC J651-DW scanner . Same general price range as the MFC 6490-CW. Relatively low-priced for an 11" x 17" scanner.

I haven't used it , but I expect it's functions are similar to the MFC 6490-CW scanner. For traditional hand-drawn animation our interest in these scanners is that they are relatively inexpensive scanners that can handle full-size 12 Field animation paper. (and also cut-down 16 Field paper . Standard 16 Field paper is 16.5" x 13.5" , which won't quite fit in the auto-document feeder which takes paper up to 17" x 11" . But , for example if you use HD 16:9 aspect ratio your 16 field scannable area will be within an area approx. 16" x 9.75" , so 16 field paper that has had the top lopped-off so it is cut down to 16.5" x 11" size will run through the Brother's auto-document feeder or fit on the flatbed.)

Another Do-It-Yourself Animation Desk project

2009-05-07T21:26:00.005-04:00

For those of you with the right tools and the do-it-yourself motivation here is another project to inspire you to build your own animation desk . Click on this link to see details:

How We Built My Animation Desk

This one starts with a base adapted from an old computer desk :

The rest of the desk is built on top of the computer desk with the typical wood railing system which raises and lowers the angle of the desk top as desired. (or you could also use the ratcheted lid stay hardware shown in one of the posts above in place of the wood railing to raise and lower the table top.)

And here are a couple of photos of the finished product .

Pretty nice !

This desk has a useful feature that many desks lack: the hole for the disc is off-set so there is plenty of space to one side to place the X-sheet, models sheets, or any of the other dozens of little Post-It Notes and other scraps of papers that animators accumulate while animating. (also the optional pencil holder , available from Lightfoot Animation .)

More details and photos of building this desk at the original link:

http://cartoonmeltingpot.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/how-we-built-my-animation-desk/

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