Redbox Ninjas - New D&D

[chluaid]

This is a severely edited version but I'll be allowed to release the "Director's Cut", which is almost 4 minutes long, in a few days.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/C2aV_pIS4rY?fs=1&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/C2aV_pIS4rY?fs=1&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

*EDIT - here's my original uncut version

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/xORRCQWgbvA?fs=1&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/xORRCQWgbvA?fs=1&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

[Copper Valentine]

Haha I love it.
I always love your work, Adam.
Is this what you're doing with D&D, making these shorts about it? I've never played, but I was sure it was only a board/imagination game and was wondering what an animator was doing with it. 

[boundless]

Your subtle tweening has really been improving. You can do a lot with so little. Btw, How many hours does a short like that take?

[chluaid]

Thanks guys

Is this what you're doing with D&D, making these shorts about it?

yeah it all started when they approached me to do some animation and cut scenes for a game called Goblinz: UnCivilized (or something like that) but when Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition came along, they asked if I could to do 6 promo shorts in Flash. As the shorts (and the Gnome) became more and more popular with the D&D community, Wizards asked if I'd like to make them indefinitely, so now I do a few of them every year - and I also use ToonBoom Animate Pro now instead of Flash.

Your subtle tweening has really been improving. You can do a lot with so little. Btw, How many hours does a short like that take?

Thanks man! This one took three or four weeks of solid work, usually between 8-12 hours a day. I know it doesn't look like it at this stage but the uncut version (which I'll release on YouTube next week) has loads of stuff that they wanted me to edit out at the 11th hour, because they weren't happy with the comic timing in parts of their script. Almost 4 minutes long it was, now it's 2½ min.

[Copper Valentine]

This one took three or four weeks of solid work, usually between 8-12 hours a day.

Wow, so it takes about a week for a 1 minute frame by frame animation? at 8 to 12 hours a day?
I was wondering how long that took. I'm sure it also varies with how much is going on in that minute also, right?

[Jeemanx]

Fantastic stuff, as always. Very fluid, Adam. Did you use fully drawn frames for everything? I know you used ToonBoom, but the King seems more trad flash (mix of cut-out and full anim) whereas the ninjas seem more fully animated. Was that a conscious thing, moving in and out of the game world - and differentiating between styles for each?

[chluaid]

I'm sure it also varies with how much is going on in that minute also, right?

Yeah a minute per week is what I usually tell clients I'm capable of, but you're right, it depends on the complexity of the animation in each minute. With 14 animated characters, this one is quite complex so I had to put in some long hours in order to get my minute per week.

Did you use fully drawn frames for everything? I know you used ToonBoom, but the King seems more trad flash (mix of cut-out and full anim) whereas the ninjas seem more fully animated. Was that a conscious thing, moving in and out of the game world - and differentiating between styles for each?

Thanks Jeemanx. I drew as little as possible in order to get it done on time, so actually the ninjas are more limited than the King. Most of the fluidity comes from using skew and rotate for the antics between poses. Every time one of the characters moves, even if it's a simple hand gesture, I tween the entire body very subtly before and after the movement, to give it some sense of weight with anticipation and settle.

The contrast between the styles was a conscious decision too, but I decided to do something different by having the "real world" characters (ninjas) flat and stylised, while the "fantasy world" characters (King etc) had more depth and detail. I did hand-drawn lighting effects in the fantasy world, but in the real world, I used gradients and digital tone/rimlight effects.

[Jeemanx]

The contrast between the styles was a conscious decision too, but I decided to do something different by having the "real world" characters (ninjas) flat and stylised, while the "fantasy world" characters (King etc) had more depth and detail. I did hand-drawn lighting effects in the fantasy world, but in the real world, I used gradients and digital tone/rimlight effects.

Very clever. So, the game world seems more colourful, vibrant and exciting than the real world, which is of course what D&D is all about.

Subtle tweening eh? Well, it works a treat. I still have to settle into a layers/nested symbols system that will allow me to have that kind of control without getting lost in the hierarchy. Plenty of practice and it will come in time, I'm hoping.

Cheers,

Gary.

[chluaid]

the hierarchical deal is much easier when you're using ToonBoom, which is what I used for Redbox Ninjas. It's a complete nightmare in Flash.

[chluaid]

Edited my original post to include the uncut version of the video

[Copper Valentine]

The uncut version is hilarious 

That's a huge reason why I could never animate for other people. I just couldn't handle people cutting away the work I did. You are a much stronger person than I - I'd be bawling and cussing up a horrible mess. Ha!

[chluaid]

Unfortunately, such unforeseen edits are a part of the life of a freelancer. As long as I'm paid for the work I did, I don't care how much they cut out
In fact I have done entire projects that never saw the light of day because the client changed their mind, paid me for my work and cancelled the job.

[NOOB!]

so what kinda reference did you find to get the amount of detail in the daughter that gets sliced in half? hahah. gruesome

[Pieter]

Shame of the daughters... they were hot!

Really love this one Adma! Can't wait for future episodes
Have gotten any fanmail from Dnd players?

[chluaid]

so what kinda reference did you find to get the amount of detail in the daughter that gets sliced in half? hahah. gruesome

I didn't actually use any reference for that scene, I just guessed where everything should be so there's bound to be loads of anatomical inconsistencies haha. btw, if you didn't notice, that "daughter" is Mike in drag - he's the interviewer who dies is all the previous D&D shorts. With more time I would have put some spurting blood, cerebral and spinal fluids... maybe some steam

Have gotten any fanmail from Dnd players?

Only on YouTube really.. although back when I did Tiefling & Gnome, I got some emails from D&D fans who wanted the Tiefling's phone number