Confused

[handrawn]

get a freehand sketch onto the program,[ie draw it by hand, then scan it into the computer, then covert to vectors......]

Hi Graham

Keith is right - this exactly what I do [most of the time] with xara - I draw the line work by hand and use xara to color and put together the final image.

If you want to vectorise hand sketches as part of the artwork [as opposed to just using them as an on screen reference for tracing etc] then its important to get a high contrast scan. Dense Ink [black or red] works best, pencil can be a pain.

Gnurf's tutorial is good - xhris has also done one on bitmap tracing

I was saying 12 months ago I'd do a run through of the way I do it, and I've not yet got round to it - might just get it done this time round.

If you would like to post up an example of a scan I can certainly say how I would do it. It works best with a high resolution scan at normal scanner sizes [A4/A3] - 300dpi is what I use - so it might be an idea to post it up zipped at that resolution, otherwise it might be a tad big on the screen

[Graham Bassett]

Thanks ss-Kalm. That is the sort of things I was talking about, I had no Idear that you could Trace the drawing. I have Wacon and you can put the drawing under the plastic protector & trace it that way [but I am not to good at the moment doing Freehand] or I can scan it from my scanner into Xara as a bitmap & then convert to vector [as I only want to draw a character once, and then use the computer to do most of the grunt work] Disney had a heap of people drawing his betweens, anyway thanks and anymore tips on mainly the first part of this project would be great.
I first have to sketch a 2D character, and then somehow make a vector computer graphic out of it in XaraXtreme.

[handrawn]

There are two issues here it seems to me Graham

first to create a vector drawing - xara is good for this

second to animate it - xara is very basic

Not sure what you mean by 'only drawing it once' - it is true that computers make animation a lot faster, but animation is more than just moving a picture around [tweening] - the character will have to move its limbs and legs etc like a real person.
For this you need a program that can link the seperate parts so that when you move the character these separate parts can all move independantly but as an integrated part of the whole.
This proccess ['rigging'], and similar, is where animation programs really make the difference, but it cannot be done in xara which it has no dynamic object linking.

As far as the first part of the project is concerned however, xara is a very good program in which to produce vector drawings.

If as you say you are not good at freehand drawing - then scanning in some pencil sketches to a locked layer - and then practicing on new layers with the tablet/xara pen tools - should soon firm this up.

With something like the xara shape editor tool you do not necessarily need to be a good 'sketcher'.
Bob Hahn is a master - and also does his rough sketches directly into xara with the tablet -
take a look at this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQKIbTIEAwQ
see also here for more stuff:
http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...bob+hahn+video

hope this helps

[amoore]

Steve is correct. If you want to animate characters in anything more than a very rudimentary fashion, you need an application that's designed to do that. However, an animation app may not have the best drawing tools. In fact, their tools may be awful compared to Xara's.

You can certainly create the shapes that make up your characters in Xtreme, then import them into an animation app and take it from there.

Since you're just starting out on this venture, I suggest you take a look at two inexpensive animation tools. One is KoolMoves. The other is Anime Studio (formerly Moho). I haven't worked with either of them in several years, but, of the two, my preference is Anime Studio. Other people find that KoolMoves suits their needs.

Anime Studio is more complex, but the bones and rigging actually work. I had to do an awful lot of hand tweening in KoolMoves.

With both of them, I found it much better to create the shapes in Xara and import them than to use the drawing tools provided. If animation is your goal, then you need to look at the whole picture before you start drawing. You have to see the piece you're animating both as a whole and as an assemblage of parts.

[handrawn]

I have heard good reports of Anime Studio - but have not used it myself - the animation program I know is Toon Boom - very good but expensive.

Another suggestion is creatoon - which is free, and will take your drawings from xara and let you animate them in 'cutout' style - like 'South Park' - which is more straightforward for the beginner

[Graham Bassett]

Hi Back again, Thanks guys for the advice [I really need people with experience that know what they are talking about & not trying to sell me there product]
OK this is where I am at, I just finished a lifetime of manual labour to buy a block and build a home.That's finished but my background is certainly not in computers [but hey if a 5 year old can learn, I think I can]
Now is the time to play. A few years back I bought XaraXtreme & dodled with it, ofcourse I got sidetract building the house.I did a bit over the years, and I did buy ToomBoom last year [did not have the time to learn it] and at the moment I am at the stage where I want to create my own characters.
One thing I did do 5 years back was - [with the permission of the Artists] I bought clipart of animals and tweeked them & put them on another artists backround [I did this in WORD]. I then made a kids coloring book [5 A4's folded in half & stapled] With this sample I got a grant from our goverment to start working on selling them. At the time I could not afford to do this, but I did learn a lot. The first being Draw your own Stuff, and vectors in a good program saves time by not having to draw the main thing every time. This said What do you use Illustrater?, Flash?, Coral? or maybe I can update my XaraXtreme [2.00] I would realy like to draw the sketch by hand, then get it in the computer to start out with. Sorry to ramble on but I would like to explain what going on, thanks again for the advice Graham.

[handrawn]

Early on you are going to have to decide which program you wish to animate in.

This is because moving vectors from one program to another is more problematic than with bitmaps. And as mentioned - animation needs a lot of forward planning.

Toon Boom will vectorise your scanned drawings directly into the program, so if like me you are happy doing all the line drawing on paper this is one way to go.

If you wish to do the drawings in xtreme 2 - then try a test to see if your Toon Boom version will import the xara .ai export as a vector [Which version of TB is it by the way?].

If you upgrade to xtremepro it will give you more flexibility - but at this stage it isn't necessary if you can get your vectors into the chosen animation program.

Depending on which TB you have, manipulating the vectors may be easier in xara - you can vectorise your scanned line drawings either by tracing over by hand with a pen/shape-editor tool or by using an automatic bitmap tracer.

The advantage of the pen/shape-editor approach is the sketches can be rough and ready as they do not form part of the drawing. The disadvantage is that you need to shape the lines in the program, which is a different approach. You can use a tablet to draw with pressure sensitivity in real time - but vector programs by and large are not geared up for this - could use photoshop or painter - but then you still have to vectorise the lines as these are not vector programs - so maybe not. Toon Boom will allow you to draw a pressure sensitive vector line in real time.

The advantage of the bitmap tracer tools is that you get scanned line drawings to vector in one go. However you need to learn how they work and results are very dependant upon the quality of the drawing and scan.

I use xara, inkscape and Toon Boom Studio [also photshop and painter - non vector].

I have an old version of illustrator but really only use it these days for converting svg/ai files not for drawing.

Never got on with corel draw.

I am only an occasional animator [sadly] but I do love it, and I think the investment of time and money in a professional program is always worth it and it shows in the result.

Be nice to see an example of what you are hoping to vectorise

[Graham Bassett]

Thankyou Steve j this is why I am confused, too much to sort out without advice [and everyone wants to sell you there product]. I did watch sofafire awhile back, I found it on Youtube and watched all his videos [and they where great] I also found How to Draw The Flash by Gardner & Harry Lampert, and after watching these videos I bought ToomBoom [only Studio Express] but had no time to get into it. Now I do, I am doing my home work - as you can spend a lot of money & end up with the wrong program. $800 for Adobe Illustrator.
And I do really understand about deciding what graphic I want to draw - to start with I think I would like to draw on paper [as that’s easier to start with] then somehow get this bitmap into the computer. Then I was really impressed with what I could do in just Microsoft WORD & with the clipart I bought from artists, [i.e. resize, make bigger, wider, taller, combine shapes etc] so I think to start with I would like to - when that character is in the computer change it into a vector [so I can do more with the drawing] This is as far as I have got, but I only started last week.
As for the drawing part, I found that buying someone’s art & combining them to make an original was a nightmare when you come to reselling, & the amount of work I put in I might as well try to draw it myself and get the satisfaction of some thing I created. Now the drawing - the thing I am doing at the moment is surfing the web to see what style that I like. That in itself is a learning curve, to Google a cartoon you end up with different types of cartoons i.e.] classic, 2D, 3D, But I do like the type of art in the Elf Quest books & now I am looking into Tutorials into drawing that sort of art, as I say early days. This is where I am at; it’s a bit like the Hydra, cut one head off & 2 more pop up. Thanks for the tips Steve; at this stage I need them. Graham.

[handrawn]

Well thing to concentrate on is developing a style

Grab a lot of cheap paper and some pencils and draw draw draw - don't be afraid to draw badly - a bad drawing is only an unfinished good one - ok so you have to start over but there will always be times like that, no matter how good you get , they will just become a lot less frequent.

Try to join some drawing groups locally if you can and read books - you don't have to regard everything as written in tablets of stone, indeed you should be sceptical up to a point and of course test for yourself what you are told - but to see and learn how to draw in a live environment can save a heck of a lot of head scratching even if you go totally your own way.

Start by emulating what you like - collect a lot of references - and investigate as wide a range of possibilities as you can

Although I am formally trained in art, I draw mostly cartoons - the people who's style over the years I most admire are: Gerald Scarfe, Ronald Searle, Berke[ley] Breathed, Nick Anderson and Wiley Miller - and whilst there are strong similarities [all satirists for a start] there are also strong differences

Concentrate too much on one reference and unless you are bursting with natural talent, you may find it difficult to get your own voice.

But there will likely be a common factor in all you really like - once you know what that is you're on your way..

Enough rabbit from me - let us know how you get on

[handrawn]

PS - a quick google produced these - which you may already know about - but in case:

Elfquest Art Tips
elfquest on deviantART
Amazon.com: The Big Elfquest Gatherum: Richard Pini: Books