Project Updates - Things I Either Am, or Have Been, Working On

TET, hard at Work.

I've been particularly busy lately working on various projects. Scheduling my time much better so I work on several things for just an hour or two each day. I thought I'd give you a quick run down of what I've been doing of late. Starting with JAC the Cat character...

JAC Cat,
Crazy Talk Animator 2

I haven't really advanced this enough to warrant a full post dedicated to my progress on this. However I have been working on it daily, trying to solve all the body part import issues that I outlined in my Part 4 update.

JAC Cat body Parts.

I can tell you I've pretty much resolved everything with regard to importing my DrawPlus template into CrazyTalk Animator 2. Body parts are all in the right place, none are missing or color inverted.

I'm now fixing up the various joint masks - which I've discovered don't do their job nearly as well if you use a lot of gradients in your coloring. I'll need to plan my character design better next time, possibly stick to flat color.

I'm also trying to resolve the issue of the cat's tail. I've discovered I can import the tail segments but, for the moment at least, there's no way to make sure they're showing in the correct layer order. I haven't done enough with this to know if the tail is going to work as part of the character or whether I should create a tail prop and attach it to the character once it's in the scene.

Dan.

New Animation 4 Business Promotional Videos,
Crazy Talk Animator 2 and iClone 6

Speaking of CrazyTalk Animator 2, I recently completed a short promotional video for my relaunched Premium 2D service that utilizes that software instead of GoAnimate. The video focuses on the wonderful hand drawn characters and props by Australian cartoonist, Gary Pye, who I happen to have bought a sizable chunk of his content from.



My video is a little rough around the edges and is again voiced by me (personally I don't think my voice suits Gary's Dan character but it'll do for now). I'm quite happy with the animation I did on the two main characters but my attempt at humor with Wendy's changed look falls flat - better luck next time!

As I write this I'm working on a second Animation 4 Business promotional video using iClone 6. This time to promote my all new Premium 3D service. You can see a behind the scenes image from this video below. Note it is a true behind the scenes image, being a screen shot of the unfinished set I've put together and not a frame from the actual video - which I haven't even started animating yet.

Behind the scenes screenshot of my latest promotional video.

The script for this one was written by one of my Animation 4 Business contractors, Commedus, who came up with an interesting angle to showcase a little of the 3D aesthetic.

Hoot Game Creating

Hoot

Long time readers of this blog my remember Hoot, a character by TheseStars (from GoAnimate), that I helped bring to life for her animated, anagram videos.

Currently we're developing a game featuring Hoot and his Anagrams using Scirra's Construct 2 software. I can't really show you anything as yet but we're making some really great progress with our latest work in progress game file having a fully player controlled Hoot running around the screen.

I can't even speculate on a release date but if we get it done by early next year I'll be very happy. Expect the game to be available on a mobile device near you when it comes out.

I'll also write some reviews about Construct 2 and my experiences with it in the near future 2. If you're an animator interested in creating 2D games it's certainly a great option - the basic version is quite powerful and free.

Bat Storm.

That's about everything for now. I do have other upcoming projects. I particularly hope to be working on my iClone version of Bat Storm real soon too.