Flipbook Island: Concepts

Showing posts with label Concepts. Show all posts

Understanding Objects

Alright now, you've heard mentioned the terminology known as "Objects" thrown around quite a bit, by this point. What if I said to you that an object is anything on screen that keeps a consistent set of characteristics. Would you know what that meant?

What if that "screen" meant somewhere in the sector of a page within a flipbook timeline? I wonder if you would understand those terminologies.

Being capable of comprehending terminologies in the context they're being used is what makes it possible for you to use the skills unlocked by those ideas. If you were into Zen literature, you will find that it's full of that. Flipbook Island is applied zen.

Resolution (PPS)

This is a page also related to resolution, and it's known as Pages Per Second. You can try this at home, just do it yourself.

Read this page real closely. It will give you some ideas on how to make your flipbooks totally awesome.

If you have a high-resolution flipbook, the objects on it both contain a detailed number of lines within their pages. As well, the movement within the book itself is not very distant from page to page.

The distance in objects between their locations from one page to another determines the frame resolution that defines the quality of the animation.

The intelligence level of the flipbook is determined by whether each line follows a course of action that is consistent in its design by the direction and flow of its movement.

Resolution that are followed in the flips to come will be quite detailed in their design. You will see a sharp contrast between the difference in their styles as your skills progress. It may take time, but that's what you learn when drawing high-res flipbooks: life is really, really long.

Inanimate Objects

Try not to draw too many inanimate objects. They're real pointless. You can go on for pages, drawing the same square in exactly the same space, but why on earth would you ever want to go ahead and do something like that?

Once you can imagine that you can do anything, that's when things really start to have life when you see them on page. Without the animate, there is no life. That's what the Zen teach with flipbooks.

So, stay away from inanimate objects. Learn how to avoid those unchanging shapes by picking up the way that a unit can go through an animation loop constantly. Find out how to create panning, where the scenery can change at different speeds. Put together this little puzzle in your head. I know you can do it. Just make sure that you follow all the rules, except the ones you have written.

Sets: The Background Layer

In order to design your own videogame world, you must design sets. These are like stages and act as themes in the background of your flipbooks.

Arguably, you might consider the concept that runs as the theme for a flipbook to contain all of the elements of a set. But just remember that it's necessary to consider that you can't have too many inanimate objects in a flipbook or else it will become tedious to draw.

The philosophy of a flipbook can be quite extensive. Remember the concepts of Analog Basic.

Terminology: Aria

Aria is a term that was devised to describe the organic shakiness that has become a distinguishing characteristic of a truly hand-drawn flipbook.

It encompasses the way that the human eye makes an effort to correct the differences in frame-by-frame which are caused by human error. That difference in itself is what makes us like flipbooks over the smooth automation of a computerized animation sequence.

Analog Basic

Does "Analog Basic" actually replace phonetic written language? Not sure, but if my theory is correct, symbols could replace what we see on paper. Language impacts the way that we see the world. So much of what we write is subjective, even this very paragraph. Could we unify the world with one universal language? Possibly. Maybe. Then some would argue that the world is already united, if not by love, then by these digital communication devices.

Either way, Analog Basic defines the graphical style developed by the Original Analogues for the next Age. You may already be somewhat literate if you can draw a picture of an apple, and have others identify that symbol as an "apple" without any phonetic language in place to assist.

That is the meaning behind Analog Basic.
See Also: Objects, Symbols.

Object Dependency

Concepts: The Rule of Lines

Okay, so there are a few simple rules that Kid Analog artists abide by when illustrating things.

Here is the "Rule of Lines."

According to the Rule of Lines, it should require fewer penstrokes to compose the drawing. Illustrations should become easier to compose on paper than the phonetic symbols.

Read below to understand.

Concepts: What is a vector?

You can learn how to understand vector graphics.

"Vector" is a term used to describe geometric visualization.
May of the greatest discoveries in Astronomy were made using vector lines.

"Vector Lines" contain mathematical properties. The properties are:

Length. Quantify how long your line is, in units.
Angle. What is the angle in relation to the grid?
Intersects. Where do lines cross? At what angle?
Curve. Does the line have any curve to it?

ALSO... Can you name any additional properties of a line?
For example: color, thickness...

F(x) Animation: Vector Animation Properties

Over the duration of time, a vector image can change any of its properties.

The properties can stay the same, or change intermittently. They also can change irregularly, but it looks very choppy when you do that. The smoothness of an animation all depends on how regular (patterns) the changes in the lines' properties are.

Serious flip-bookers also relate the changes in properties to the changes in other elements.
Get flippant!

Understanding Concepts Part 4

On another episode...
Of...

Flipbook Island!!!

Hey, flippers. You are probably out there, somewhere, searching for ideas on how to make your flipbook just a little bit better. Maybe even simpler to draw. I'm here to help you wtih that.

The position of one object in a flipbook can be greatly influenced, if not entirely based on the position of another. That's known as "Object Dependency." It's where one object is dependent on another.

In order for the basketball to move correctly, this head belonging to the basketball player "King Solomon" needs to be in coordination with its position. Zoom in on the little drawing below and see what i'm trying to describe.

Use Existing Objects

Breakdancing Robot For Beginners

So anyway, I try to make it ineresting by showing you various different ways of animating things. You can make a robot dance any way you want, but the kind of important thing to remember is that ultimately, people have to identify it as a robot. Therefore I offer the following visual suggestions in standardizing the appearance of "the bot."

First, his head must be square. I like him to have very simple eyes. Usually I use 2 or 3 shades of gray:

(prismacolors)
warm grey 20%, 30%.
cool grey 30%, 40%.

Now you have your own super disco breakin' robot.
It costs you only a couple bucks to buy a rhodia.
And you can make it do anything. So get started.

Intermediate

Advanced

Layering is an advanced Concept.

Giving Life To A Drawing.

This is how to give life to a drawing with mathematics. If you can give an illustration life with math, imagine what we can do in science for the human condition!

Oscillation is just one pattern of movement for making things appear to have life. You can use it in many different ways, such as in the Rolling Hills aspect of flipbooks, as an oscilloscope in those flippers, which are quite good, or many other processes and scopes of creating amazing drawings.

Go for it! I'm sure it seems confusing but if you think about it, it's not. Your mind is just trying to grasp the parameters of how complicated it can think. And by pushing the limits of what it is capable of, you can help yourself become smarter.