Image Processing Reference
In-Depth Information
duplicate frames with added grain do not feel quite so static and out of place
in running time. But, randomly placing holds in the edit process often does
not work, because when the movement begins again, there probably will be
no ease-in of the action in the next frame, so the animation will jump. You
must examine your sequence and plan carefully when you add holds.
Jeff Sias, from Handcranked Productions, describes another way to deal with
making your animation more dynamic in the editing process:
“Editing programs also have the ability to 'ramp' speeds and have variable
time changes with an editing graph. This will allow you to really tweak
a particular motion if necessary. Also related to this is the idea of 'frame
blending,' as in, if you stretch a shot out in time, you can have the program
try to create new in-between frames, either by blending frames together
or by tracking pixels and actually creating brand new frames. The latter
option can create strange and undesirable digital artifacts, but it works
well on normal and slow moving objects if you only lengthen the shot by
200-300% or less.”
Here is an exercise to give you an idea of the ability you have in the edit to
improve your timing in an animated action in a frame-by-frame film. The one
important element that you must consider when using this technique is what
else is happening in the background of the shot you are frame manipulating.
When you pull frames to add dynamic to a foreground object or person, how
does the elimination of those frames affect the background or secondary
action in the overall animation composition? Complexity in the overall
composition with multiple objects or people may prevent you from pulling
and adding frames in the editing process.
Chapter 8 has an exercise where you animate a person along a wall
frame by frame with eases for approximately 1 second of animation.
There are still holds at the head and tail of the shot. You need to create
this footage if you have not already shot it. The playback rate is 30
fps. Create an image sequence from these shots and convert it into a
Quicktime movie in Quicktime Pro. As mentioned before, Quicktime Pro
is an extremely helpful investment. You can also import this footage into
an editing program, like Final Cut or Adobe Premiere. You can do this
by either creating a Quicktime movie of the footage or importing the
individual frames from a folder after setting the “still/freeze duration” to
00:00:00:01 under Editing in the User Preferences area of Final Cut.
Once you have the frames on the timeline, use the filmstrip mode so
you can see the individual frames. Then enlarge the timeline, so you can
clearly see each frame. In the original exercise, there was a 15-frame hold
at the head. I want you to go eight frames into that hold and “rock and
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