Here’s the second installment of our “making of” tutorial series for “The Girl and the Fox.” Since I covered hand-drawn animation last week, it seemed logical to show the next step in the process: how we paint the finished animation. This step was typically handled by an entirely separate team from the animators, and is much more focused on quality of line than quality of motion. The video also shows the unique methods we used to get the “contourless” style seen throughout the film. It’s a very specific technique that’s custom-tailored to Adobe Flash, and works surprisingly well.

» Download the tutorial files right here

Also, don’t forget about our online premiere on June 4th! Join our Facebook event page or follow us on Twitter, and help spread the word!

So in an effort to promote the upcoming online release of “The Girl and the Fox” and provide some context as to how the film was made, we’ve launched our first “making-of” tutorial for “The Girl and the Fox.”  This one is all about our process for creating hand-drawn animation using Adobe Flash. It’s been over TWO YEARS since our last YouTube tutorial so I hope everyone waiting for some more Base14 secrets can now rest easy. Below you’ll find the link to download the Flash files (CS5 version). Enjoy!

» Download the tutorial files right here

It’s the day we’ve all been waiting for! The online premiere of “The Girl and the Fox” has been set for June 4th, 2012. Look for it on Vimeo and YouTube.

A lot is going into preparations for the online premiere. The entire film is being remastered in 32-bit color, animating and compositing are getting some touch-ups, and an entirely new musical score has been written just for this version! We’ll also be releasing some “Behind the Scenes” tutorials on YouTube to give fans a better idea of how the film was made.

So mark your calendars! It’s going to be an exciting month!

» Download the tutorial files right here.

This is a popular tutorial I have done for some workshops at SCAD and I have been getting requests on my YouTube Channel for some sort of follow-up to my 2D Character Animation tutorials. This video goes into detail on how to properly export character animation from Flash and import it into After Effects to combine with background and foreground elements. It also gives a handy trick of how to duplicate a character animation clip to make a convincing shadow.

Anyone who’s interested in digital animation should find it useful. Enjoy!

» Download the Basic Tutorial Files
» Download the Advanced Tutorial Files

Today’s tutorial was brought to you by Base14 apparel. Why not pre-order one of our lovely new kite shirts today? Made from 100% shirt.

First off, the tutorial posted earlier this week, “Character Animation Tutorial – Part 1,” is now not available in HD, since I discovered YouTube’s strict requirements for HD video the video rendered 6 minutes too short. Maybe I’ll switch to Vimeo for future tutorials?

Second, I’ve tossed out into cyberspace two more animation projects from my principles of animation class. We did a weighted sack assignment to practice weight and tension and a sliding seaweed assignment to practice anticipation, elasticity, waveforms and overlap. They both came out pretty well. I feel like I’m learning fast but never quite fast enough.

I’m wrestling with YouTube right now to get an HD version of the tutorial up and running. The site is mysteriously vague on how to feature HD videos… probably to keep their servers from being swamped with five thousand HD videos of cats sneezing. Update: HD version is now live!

And please take a look below at the wonderful apparel Alysha has been designing for our merch store. These shirts are gonna be all the rage in a year’s time, and you want to be able to say “I wore the shirt before it was popular!”

It is the distant future. The year 2000… Things are very different since the robotic uprising of the mid-nineties…
– Flight of the Conchords

Halloween is almost here, folks. And here at Base14 we couldn’t help but salute the much-loved HBO comedy show, Flight of the Conchords. If you haven’t been living under a rock for the last two years, you’ll know that FotC made robots cool again with their aptly titled song and music video: Robots. So of course, just as many other FotC fans are doing this season, I had to make my own Robo-Boogie Costume. The best part is: I’ve documented the entire process below, so everyone at home can follow along!

Step 1: Gather Supplies

One of the appeals of making your own FotC robot costume is it’s easy and cheap. Bret and Jemaine did us the courtesy to make the mundane appealing. So there aren’t many things you’ll need.

• Large cardboard box (approx. 80cm x 50cm x 30cm)
• Small cardboard box (approx. 25cm x 25cm x 25cm)
• Duct tape
• Silver spray paint
• 4-inch diameter dryer vent tubes
• 6-inch diameter dryer vent tubes
• Wire coat hanger
• Bright red paint
• Turquoise paint
• Empty water bottles
• Other old bottles/cans/bottle caps

Step 2: Make Blueprints

Now, if you’re one of those impulsive types that likes to jump into things with no planning, proceed to step 3. Otherwise, make sure you have a good schematic for you costume design. I took screen shots from the show and used the water bottle diameter as a ratio for determining the dimensions of the rest of the costume. Yeah, I’m that analytical. Here’s the final schematic. I had to nudge the numbers a bit to match my box and fit my body type. So adjust appropriately.

Step 3: Cut Out the Body

We’ll start with the robot’s body. I took a box and cut it down to fit the dimensions I wanted, then flattened it out into one sheet so I could cut out the arm holes. I used a compass to get nice clean circles, and cut them out with a mat knife.

Step 4: Add Function Buttons

Another important thing to add while the body is still flat is the function buttons. I am not sure what they used on the show (my best bet is Bret’s buttons are bottle caps and Jemaine’s buttons are the bottoms of 20-liter soda bottles). I took some artistic license and used the bottoms of aluminum cans, due to their smooth, button-like qualities. I suggest you just use whatever you’ve got lying around. These would be best attached with hot glue, but I don’t have a glue gun so I improvised with duct tape.

Step 5: Assemble Body

Once your holes are cut and function buttons affixed, it’s time to assemble the body. The more duct tape used in the step, the better. I needed extra cardboard to make the top of the body, so I built it separately with reinforced corners.  I designed it to fit the circumference of the body precisely. Then I wrapped the body sides around the top piece and taped them up to get a nice, strong body.

Step 6: Build the Head

Now that the body has been built, it’s time to construct the head. For this it’s good to find a single, small box that’s nearly a cube. I had to pull up the flaps on mine to get the right shape, but it worked.

Once you’ve got your box, there’s three main features to add: face hole, side bolts and top antenna. Make the face hole close to a square, leaving a little bit more room on the forehead for colored stripes. The most important thing, though, is just to make sure you can see out. After that attach the head bolts, which are the bottoms of water bottles. Again, hot glue would be ideal for this, but I got by with duck tape. Don’t worry that they’re clear now, the spray paint will make them opaque. Finally, I used a wire hanger to make a head antenna. If you want an antenna like Bret’s, you should find a broken TV set with one of those circular antennas.

Step 7: Paint

Well, now that all the construction is done, it’s time to paint this sucker! Myself and a friend who made his own robot costume both found a full can of spray paint barely covers the entire suit. So if you want a really heavy coat, I suggest you buy two cans. I let mine dry overnight before the next step.

Step 8: Final Touches

With the costume painted, it’s time for some final touches! The thing really comes to life with the addition of a bit of color, so I went out and bought the cheapest acrylic paint I could find and colored the function buttons red and blue. I also painted some tape red and put it on the helmet forehead, but if you have red tape to begin with, that’s even better. Finally, don’t forget the extremely important dryer vents for arms and legs. Through careful research, I decided that the arms should be 4-inch diameter vents and the legs 6-inch diameter vents. I got cheap and only bought the 4-inch, so my legs went un-robotized. I suspect that to keep the leg vents help up, one would need to make a duct tape belt or suspenders of some sort. It was difficult enough keeping the arm vents from slipping down. This issue requires further research.

Step 9: Boogie!

Robo-Boogie, that is. With the final touches your costume is complete and you’re ready to hit the town. Make sure to practice your dances before heading out, because the suit does cut down your mobility a bit. But if you use it to your advantage, you’ll be the hippest post-apocalyptic mechanical being on the scene.

Photo by: Tobias Beidermühle

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