Hello,
I'm exploring the possibility of using Cinelerra as part of my process
for making animated films and I'm hoping for some guidance from those
who may have done this sort of thing before.
First, some background on my approach, in case it helps. I'm drawing
individual frames in Inkscape and/or GIMP and then exporting png
sequences which I then import into Cinelerra (where I can obviously edit
them together, add sound, etc.). I did find a nice little python
utility that helps with the png sequence import step and that has really
helped. (I'm also studying python in my spare time with an eye towards
possibly creating some additional helper scripts, but I'm not ready to
do that sort of thing just yet.)
So far I've successfully imported png sequences, synced them up with
sound, and put out short test clips. I've also been able to import
background mattes (done in the GIMP) and use Cinelerra's panning ability
to create moving backgrounds. In essence, I'm convinced at this point
that I can use this approach to create animated films. What I'm working
on now is streamlining the process and that's where I'm hoping for some
pointers.
Has anybody else done this sort of thing and, if so, can you share what
you learned so that I can minimize my amount of wheel reinventing?
My next step is to try to "pan" a walk cycle. That is, I'm trying to
pan an imported and repeating png sequence of a character with an
alpha/transparent background (the walk cycle) over a separately
imported, static background image. I already know I can pan the
background while the png sequence stays put and if I can pull it off the
other way around, it's the sort of thing that can save me loads of time.
So, again, any guidance will be much appreciated and my apologies if
this seems a little vague and general, but I'm still new at the whole
process. I guess I'm basically looking for ways to translate the
standard animation shortcuts and tricks into this Inkscape/GIMP =>
Cinelerra workflow.
Oh, I'm on Ubuntu Edgy. And I should also add that I'm aware of some
dedicated animation packages out there (like Synfig and Ktoon), but none
of them seem ready for production work or likely to be so any time soon,
which is why I'm trying to work out this alternate approach.
Thanks in advance,
Matt Jordan
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