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Thread: Anime background art......

  1. #1
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    Anyone got any tips or techniques on how to do nice anime style backgrounds within flash??
    Is it possible, or will it have to be something done in photoshop and then imported into flash?
    Any hints at all would help.
    Oh, by the way. My name is Jeff. I have been lurking around the boards for awhile but this is the first time that i have posted something. You guys are great and I've learned alot from all of you. Esp Naoneo (very cute), CNO, Thundachunk and Ibis. Thanks. Hopefully I'll be posting more often.
    PBM
    http://www.mindgamesstudios.com

  2. #2
    Indefatigable JohnnySix's Avatar
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    Hi there! Glad to know you've found these boards constructive..!

    Traditionally anime backgrounds tend to be very complex and highly realistic, and perhaps the best route would be to find real life images to trace, either in flash or in a package like photoshop or photopaint.

    Experiment! That's the best advice I can give you, and have a look at what other people are doing. The FKCAP backgrounds thread would be a good start, there's some great work by RiceRaver in there, I'm not sure what software he's using, but he's created some great mountainous landscpes.

    Cheers

    John

  3. #3
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    I had the same question in mind about backgrounds. I've seen some traced in Flash and some look they're done in Photoshop. I probably don't have the best opinion, but as an audience member, I'm kinda stuck on the idea of seeing backgrounds that match themes.

    For some reason, when I think of Flash anime with fun children's themes or comedy, I imagine the background being done in Flash (all vector). Don't know why. Maybe because it looks more playful to me.

    And when I see serious, dark or adult themes, I imagine backgrounds done in Photoshop (all raster). A JPEG or something that has a very painterly look. Dramatic.

    But, then JPEGs increase the file size of an animation, huh? Darn. Someday, I hope loading screens become totally obsolete - no more complications over file size. Yay.

    All I know is, when the day comes that web animation runs like DVD quality in an instant, I'll be a happy, happy boy.

  4. #4
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    Lightbulb Sometimes Raster is better...

    In some occasions I have seen, the vector art can far surpass the actual size of the raster image that your are trying to to trace to keep down the file size.
    Flash is getting better at compressing bmp, jpg, gif..etc..files. SO sometimes its BETTER to use the original raster file in lieu of tracing it out.
    I'm not sure about what programs were best for creating realistic backgrounds with. I heard that Bryce 4 was capable of doing really sweet realistic 3d ones tho.
    I need to get that.
    Thanks for the tips so far guys..keep em comin!!
    PBM

  5. #5
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    Thanks for mentioning that. I hadn't thought of vector images surpassing the file size of raster. Cool! Maybe now I don't have to think of JPEGs like guilty pleasures!

  6. #6
    Indefatigable JohnnySix's Avatar
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    Originally posted by chairo01
    Thanks for mentioning that. I hadn't thought of vector images surpassing the file size of raster. Cool! Maybe now I don't have to think of JPEGs like guilty pleasures!
    Yeah, if you can make if work it can look fantastic.

    A great shortcut is to put photo's through an "artistic" filter in your favourite bitmap editing software and apply either a charcoal or oil painting effect, as this can achieve (almost) the same sort of effect..

    Though it's always more rewarding in the long run creating your own from scratch..!

    Cheers


    John

  7. #7
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    Yeah, from what I've seen, the stuff that actually animates and changes shape, etc, tends to be made of simpler colors, like vector art. Then the stuff that is sitting still, like the background scene, tends to be the more detailed and nuanced artwork, with more sophisticated coloring and shading.

    I'm sure you can see that when you have to animate something, it would be impossible to do very sophisticated coloring and shading for something that is changing shape from one frame to the next. But when you are talking about the background scene, it tends to be a still image -- altho it may be broken up into multiple layers. So the background can then afford the nicer, painterly art look.

    In Flash, I have seen people do the backgrounds both ways. They have done them as vector art, and they have done them as JPG. As was said above, I would go with "bang for the buck". The more detailed the background is, the less advantage that vector art gives you on filesize, because the more geometry points it's storing. The only advantage of vector is its scalability. With raster format (JPG), you can get much more subtlety on shading and coloring, at the cost of filesize.

    So I would mainly go with the quality of art that you're looking to display. If you don't need high-quality backgrounds, then go with vector art. But if you want to make it look like a professional anime, then use JPGs for your background art.

    If you want to see the absolute state-of-the-art in making incredible-looking painterly background images, then visit

    http://www.informatix.co.uk

    Their Piranesi plugin is the most advanced at generating painterly scenes from 3D data. It's mainly used by the architectural industry, but it's attracted a lot of interest and investment from Japan. As you can imagine, this thing could be used for the animation industry there.

    Something like this could be used to generate all kinds of spectacular background artwork for anime. Check out their gallery, and you'll be amazed.





  8. #8
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    or...

    there's a filter in photoshop or photopaint, not really sure among the 2, that makes a jpg pic look like vectorize, its cool like ur having a vectorize image thats in jpg format, filesize wise =)

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