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All new users of Toon Boom invariably run across the well-maintained forums at ToonBoom.com. Likewise, all visitors to the forum will have a conversation with JK. He is the wise Yoda-esque voice of reason and knowledge on the forums, and is the true definition of a power user of Toon Boom.
In honor of Episode 3 being released on cable this week (as if I needed a reason), let’s spend some time using Toon Boom Studio to recreate some of the most interesting special effects from the Star Wars saga. Of course, you can’t talk about Star Wars special effects without starting with the lightsaber.
Flash has become a popular animation tool in its own right, as anybody that follows Aaron Simpson’s blog Cold Hard Flash can tell you. Even with this surge in popularity the question remains — how does Flash compare with a more formal animation program such as Toon Boom?
I know what you’re thinking. Why would I want to know how to make an animated gif? Didn’t that stop being cool in 1998? Absolutely. However, when used properly an animated gif can be a useful and entertaining tool in your Toon Boom arsenal. In addition, animated gifs are actually recognized by Google and Yahoo. Links inside SWF files continue to elude the search engines.
Toon Boom has issued their biggest Studio release yet with the announcement of Toon Boom Studio 4. Let’s take a look at the new features and improvements in this release of Toon Boom’s most popular animation application.
Toon Boom today announced that they have a new animation program in time for the holidays this year. The program is called Flip Boom, and it’s clearly targeted at a young audience.
Toon Boom is a very powerful animation program, and like many programs it is not always as user-friendly as it should be. This is a very basic Toon Boom tutorial, and will show you how to create your own cartoon of a nice looping walk cycle, shown here. We’ll also cover the basics of creating parent/child relationships and adjusting pivot points.
Animating is far more enjoyable when the characters you’re working with have a strong personality, and the recorded voice audio is of high quality. Cheese is an amazingly funny character from Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, a great show on Cartoon Network. This Toon Boom tutorial will walk you through recreating this short commercial found on YouTube:
In a previous animation tutorial we discussed the steps necessary to create your own cartoon. I’ve since come to the conclusion that the article, while complete, was a bit too complex for a beginner and contained too many steps. The animation tutorial has been condensed into a more succinct five steps that will be used in the future. All Calico Monkey animation projects will follow this five step plan from now on, so expect to be referred to this page in the future.
This development entry will show the process of creating a scene, and its evolution from sketch into full blown animation. The scene I’m detailing is when Sparky turns quickly to face Meat, and then rushes towards him.
The first step has been shown before, creating the storyboard: