animation tool to use with Vegas?

[Milt Lee]

I'm going to be doing some simple hand drawings and adding circles, arrows and captions - hand written - superimposed on a video track. Could somebody suggest a good software to create these items in, and then be able to add an additional track to super up these effects?

I would think that I am going to need an input pad to make the drawings. I don't really want to draw them and then just super them up. Rather I'm looking to show the drawing happening - appearing in real time, but it could be done separately and then supered.

Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Milt Lee

[Jason Robinson]

This would be very helpful for the many demonstration videos I am creating. Many times I have to resort to creating an arrow image in PSP and them importing the JPG and rotating, moving, etc the image to draw attention to parts of the screen.

[Ian Stark]

Hi Milt,

This may be of interest:

http://graphics.smithmicro.com/artic...1/794?sbss=794

I was a (novice) user of this software a few years ago when it was called Moho. Personally I think the 'Anime' title is a little misleading but aside from that I think it may do what you want (and much more besides, so it may be OTT for your needs). Basically it's a 2d animation app and without repeating all the text on their website, the bits you would be interested in are:

- Import Your Own Artwork - Draw your own or import 2D imagery, 3D imagery or video files.
- Adobe Photoshop Integration - Import layered PSD files using a Photoshop plug-in that converts files to Anime Studio format, included free with Anime Studio Pro.
- Pen Tablet Support - Draw naturally with a pen tablet and recreate the sensation of drawing on paper.

There is a 'non-pro' version for $49.99 but it doesn't specify whether you can import video.

Other options, depending on budget and whether or not it would be overkill, might be After Effects or Flash.

One final way could be to use a screen capture application together with a graphics app and record yourself actually drawing on the screen in realtime. You can then crop and composite the resulting file on your Vegas timeline.

Hope that's of use.

Cheers,

Ian . . .

[Milt Lee]

That sounds like it might really do it - I'll give it a try and report back.

Also I wanted to mention - after I did my post yesterday, I went to see if photoshop CS3 extended might do the trick. I'm not sure yet it it will, but I did discover that in CS3 you can do color correction on video. However it appears that this is limited to Quicktime videos.

I'm going to see if there is another thread that talks about that.

Thanks for the advice,
Milt

[John Rofrano]

Boris RED or Boris FX will do this quite well. I know Boris RED has support for a Wacom tablet (I'm not sure if Boris FX does 'cuz I just have RED). That means you get to use pressure as well. The paint on video support in RED and FX is really nice. You can animate it quite easily just as if you were drawing it live and you can change brushes after the fact so you can use a spray can or line drawing or whatever. I would download the trial and see if you like it.

~jr

[Scott Brickert]

I don't own it, but've been looking at it. According to the specs and reviews, ProDad Heroglyph, a V8 plugin, will do what you want.

I have a Wacom CTE-640 which works well for my graphics and photoshop work.

[Milt Lee]

excellent thoughts! I actually did a poor man's way today. Bought a Wacom tablet, opened photo shop, and then opened Snagit 8. It recorded a screencast of my drawing in photoshop, (black background, white paint) and then I supered it up over a video track. It's OK, but not great. I want to try you guys solutions.

Thanks!
Milt

[James Hooey]

I've been playing around with Toon Boom Studio trial version for the past week because of my need to do write on effects. I must say that it worked well and was pretty quick to learn. It can output in HD (I was creating 1920X1080 animations).

I think it is selling for around $350 so it's not a super cheap alternative but it's also no where near After Effects territory.

It's a little limited in the effects side of things but it keyframes well for both drawings and camera moves. Works with my Wacom Bamboo just fine.

[Milt Lee]

Just thought I would show you how it turned out. I finished this piece today and put it up on my blog: http://hollowbonefilms.manykites.org/?p=72

I ended up just using Photoshop 6, Snagit 8 and a bamboo pad from Wacom. It took some practice, but I think it looks really good. Haven't tried a bunch of colors, or pressure, or anything, but what I've got is nice.

Thanks for all the advice,
Milt

[John Rofrano]

Wow, that came out really great! I love SnagIt; use it almost every day. Thanks for sharing.

~jr

[Milt Lee]

Thanks! yep, snagit is one of those tools that really does the job. Interestingly enough, though, is that I didn't find camtastia to be that cool. I find I find I can do all the screencast stuff I want in Snagit, and then edit the films much easier in Vegas.

Thanks again,
Milt

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Milt Lee

Thanks! yep, snagit is one of those tools that really does the job. Interestingly enough, though, is that I didn't find camtastia to be that cool. I find I find I can do all the screencast stuff I want in Snagit, and then edit the films much easier in Vegas.

Thanks again,
Milt

I never liked camista. I use CamStudio for all screen capture needs.

[James Hooey]

I mentioned Toon Boom Studio as a animation software I had been fooling around with.

Here is a link to a video I created that includes animated maps created with this software.

http://www.vimeo.com/967979

Enjoy!

James

[Milt Lee]

Nice! That really looks good. I think I'll give it a try. I'm also interested in the Boris Software that James mentioned.

Milt

[James Hooey]

Originally Posted by Milt Lee

Nice! That really looks good. I think I'll give it a try. I'm also interested in the Boris Software that James mentioned.

Milt

Thanks Milt. Any question's about the software and I'll try to help with my limited experience. :)