Skip to main content

Getting Animated Again - TET News

I've been on an extended break from this blog (and pretty much everything I do in the way of creating my own new content) not by choice but because I've been very busy in my Animation Business. I'm certainly not complaining about that but, for me at least, there does come a point in creating animations for clients where all my energy has to go into getting the best result for my client - even if it means cutting back on everything else I do.

Fortunately the work has eased up a little and I feel I can get back into, what I hope will be, regular weekly posts to this blog again. I thought I'd begin with a post about what's coming up that I would like to blog about as well as an update on projects I started but have yet to complete.

Firstly, all the paid work has allowed me to purchase quite a few software packages that I'm sure readers of this blog would like me to review including:
I've also mentioned Crazy Talk Animator Pro as software I use quite often but have yet to review it. As well I've been playing around with Xtranormal's State Software (now known as Xtranormal Desktop), the downloadable version of their online 3D animation software - which I think is well worth a look.

The major project that I announced (and thought I'd be releasing the first part of by now, if not part 2) was episode 2 of my GoAnimate series, Bat Storm. Unfortunately, after writing the script for part 1 and starting to animate the opening scenes, everything went on hold. I do hope to get back to it though and, at the very least, release the first part before the end of the year.

Previously in this blog I started a project to animate some of my own office people characters with Crazy Talk Animator. The project stalled because I've really had a difficult time learning the software. Particularly when it comes to creating vector art characters in Crazy Talk because the process isn't quite as simple as photographic, cut out style characters. However after studying many tutorials I think I know enough to continue in the near future.

As part of a job for client I started to animate a rejected Owl character in Koolmoves for my own interest - and because I  thought the rejected Owl looked better than the one the client went with. The character will eventually become available for the community on GoAnimate once I give it a few more actions. Presently he can stand and talk to camera. I previewed the owl on my Facebook page but you can see him in the image above.

I haven't released any new GoAnimations other than this very short animated writing hand prop that I created for use with GoAnimate's newest business theme called 'Stickly business'. As you can guess the theme is based on stylized stick figures but it also features a number of human hand wipe transitions and prop placements. I wanted a hand that could write and this was the result...

TETs Writing Marker Hand by etourist on GoAnimate

Animation Software - Powered by GoAnimate.

The only other animation I've made public (beyond business animations) is this animated short (below) I created of my Frog Van to introduce the first of my video updates on how the project was progressing. It was created with Crazy Talk Animator Pro. The background is my actual house where the real van is parked and yes, that's me doing the voice of the van.



Some time in the future I'm going to put together an animated web series that features myself, the Frog van, my dog, Oscar, and maybe even my partner Enigma (if I can talk her into being involved). The series will be of our animated adventures (not necessarily taken from our real lives but at least inspired by them).

I'm sure it sounds a bit egotistical to create a series based on myself but they do say you should create stories about what you know... and it's sure easier to voice myself than to have to find people to do voices for me. However that's a fair way off yet.

I think I'll leave it here for now, suffice to say I have a number of GoAnimations in various states of being worked on that may or may not also make an appearance in this blog if and when I finish them. So... there's lots to look forward too.
Topics:

Comments

  1. enjoyinglifeinseoulOctober 16, 2012 at 1:14:00 PM GMT+10:30

    From our earlier correspondence I knew you were hoping to post here more regularly. Glad to see that is still the plan. I for one like the idea of basing a series on you, your partner, Oscar and the Frog van. I could imagine the van and the dog becoming the main character's with you guys as the support roles. ;)
    PS Just got Koolmoves, see my comment on your tutorial blog here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TET (David Arandle)October 17, 2012 at 1:43:00 PM GMT+10:30

      Hey, why can't I be the star of my own animation rather than a support role!! ;-)

      I was actually thinking something along the lines of Scooby Doo cartoons but perhaps with a Time Travel element (which is actually the basis for the original version of my Extraordinary Tourist character) and more just adventures than mystery solving. There might also be an extended cast of other characters too such as some of the other dogs Oscar plays with etc. Anything's possible.

      Delete
  2. GipsyOctober 17, 2012 at 7:02:00 AM GMT+10:30

    Good to see you're back. I've been missing your posts. But gratefully it was for a great reason!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TET (David Arandle)October 17, 2012 at 1:45:00 PM GMT+10:30

      Thanks Gipsy. It's been disappointing for me not having the time to post. Especially having made that Top 100 list. I do enjoy writing this blog so I hope I can get back to posting more often.

      Delete
  3. ThesestarsOctober 18, 2012 at 2:24:00 AM GMT+10:30

    How did I miss you making the Top 100 list? What list? Love the Frog Van. You making a series using yourself is a brilliant idea.

    Glad I stopped by this was a nice post to find out what you've been up to.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

This blog is monitored by a real human. Generic or unrelated spam comments with links to sites of dubious relativity may be DELETED.

I welcome, read, and respond to genuine comments relating to each post. If your comment isn't that save me some time by not posting it.

Popular posts from this blog

Inochi2D - Free Open Source 2D VTuber Avatar Rigging and Puppeteering Software (Part 1)

Inochi2D Creator - Free Open Source VTuber Software. If you've been looking for a way to live perform as a 2D cartoon avatar on camera, whether it be for a live stream or for pre-recorded content like educational videos, then VTuber software is a low cost (or even no cost) option worth looking into. In my previous post, How to Become a VTuber - 2D and 3D Software for Creating and Controlling Your Avatar , I took a brief look at the relatively new but completely free and open source Inochi2D  which I thought showed great potential for my own needs of creating a live performance character rig for my own TET Avatar that I use for all my promotional materials. While it is possible to live perform my character using Cartoon Animator itself, Reallusion's MotionLive2D capture system isn't great - with lip sync in particular. More importantly though, I can't exactly teach people how to use Cartoon Animator if I'm using Cartoon Animator to control my Avatar. What is Inochi2D
1 comment
Continue Reading »

Learn Reallusion's Cartoon Animator 5 Fast by Creating Fun, 2D, Animated Christmas Holiday Messages - Free Course by The Lazy Animator

H ave you ever wanted to send your friends and family fun, 2D animated, holiday messages, or just create 2D animated characters that you can make move and talk without learning difficult to master animation skills or spending hours drawing frame by frame? Reallusion's Cartoon Animator 5 is a professional quality, 2D animation studio software that is also very easy to produce impressive results with, even if you've never animated before, or can't draw. Don't Have Cartoon Animator 5 Download a free, 30 day trial . Easy Beginner Course I've created a completely free beginners course that teaches you my fast, easy way to rig and animate your first 2D custom character in Cartoon Animator 5 without complicated templates or any drawing skills at all. My online video course includes everything you need, including eight AI generated character sprite graphics, and four AI generated Human voice samples, so you can start learning right away. Eight AI generated character image
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Glif (Alpha) - Make Your Own Tiny AI Powered Niche Image Generator Apps

I  first heard about Glif through a YouTube video that mentioned you could get access to Flux Pro (the latest 'game changer AI' generative image model) through the site for free. While I had a vague notion from the video of what Glif was, I wasn't expecting it to be so easy to get started with, and so good with my very first results. Glif is an easy to use, low-code platform for creating tiny AI-powered generators called Glifs. While that may not sound inspiring, what Glifs allow you to do is create a tiny app that niches down to a specific type of AI generation that the user modifies with their own inputs. The best way to really understand is with an example.  My First Glif I've recently been using VivaGo's AI platform  (free and unlimited at the time of writing) to consistently generate full body characters in a front facing T-Pose that I can rig as front facing characters in Cartoon Animator. Unfortunately it can be a bit hit or miss maintaining the T-Pose part
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

The Ultimate Independent Animator's App and Resource List - Animation and Video Life

Image created with Cartoon Animator 4. Being an independent animator is not like a studio animation job. There's so much more to do that is indirectly related to the actual task of animating. Over the years I've sought out many apps, tools, and services that can help me achieve that one single task, expressing myself through animation. Below is my Ultimate Independent Animator's Resource List for 2024 (last updated Oct 2024). It started out as a list of free or low cost apps that could help you in every stage of producing either 2D or 3D animation, and then just kind of grew from there. You may not have been looking for a Time Management App as much as you needed something to get you started in 3D animation but when those commissioned projects start coming in you'll have a head start on maximizing your time. All the apps and services on this list had to meet two main criteria: They had to be useful and relevant to an Indy Animator/artist. The base app/se
9 comments
Continue Reading »

Krita AI Diffusion - Generative Image AI For Krita is Seriously Useful, Powerful and Free (If You Can Install it Locally)

Generative AI sequence of a woman in a business suit. From sketch to refined image using Krita AI Diffusion - by TET G enerative image AI, where you describe an image with a text prompt to an Artificial Intelligence model and it produces a new image based on your prompt, is gaining a strong hold as a tool for many artists. Krita AI Diffusion brings generative AI image tools right into your favourite free and opensource, graphics editor, Krita. Not only that, if you have a computer with decent specs (and at least 10GB of hard drive space), Krita AI Diffusion is completely free. What If I Don't Have a Powerful Computer? If you're in my situation, with a computer that was around before anyone in the mainstream had even heard of generative AI, you can still access Krita AI Diffusion for free, using a cloud based AI server, Interstice  and 300 tokens, to get you started. Once your initial tokens run out, purchase 5000 more for 10€ (approx US$11.00). Tokens never expire. I would
1 comment
Continue Reading »

Wonder Unit Storyboarder - Free Storyboarding Software for People Who Can (or Can't) Draw

Wonder Unit Storyboarder.  As an independent and solo animator I'm always tempted to try and skip storyboarding my animated shorts because they're usually only single scene sketch comedy type jokes. As a result I have many unfinished projects that kind of petered out due to having no clear finishing line. Storyboarding your productions, no matter how small, gives you a step by step guide of every shot that needs to be completed (no planning shots as you animate). It also allows you to create an animatic that gives you a rough preview of the finished production. In short, you shouldn't skip storyboards as they, generally, increase the chance of the project being completed. Disclaimer - I'm Not a Fan of Storyboarder Upfront, Wonder Unit's Storyboarder  is not my preferred storyboarding software. However it's completely free, has a number of very compelling featu
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Using Avatar Maker with Cartoon Animator - Free Vector Cartoon Avatar Creator with Four Art Styles

I'm always on the lookout for cartoon avatar makers of any kind, whether it be ones that 'cartoonify' your photo, or ones that let you build a cartoon likeness from a library of individual features.  Free Avatar Maker  falls into the latter category and can be used for making head and shoulder cartoon avatars. While it doesn't have an extensive library of character features (you may struggle to get a good likeness), uniquely it will make your avatar in four different art styles concurrently, allowing you to save the one you like most, or even all four.  I wasn't overly impressed how my TET avatar looked in the first two styles, but style three is quite possibly the coolest looking version of my avatar I've ever seen in a third party avatar creator. It's a very contemporary style. Style four, line art, is also not too bad. Avatar Maker's User Interface. Switch between the four different art styles shown across the top at any time. I particularly like the
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »