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By brothertcoleman - 9 Years Ago
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Drawplus and Flash Piplines for some of us are still too complicated .
I am not afraid of hard work but to make custom characters in CTA2 is way too complicated and time consuming especially if I use imported motions from iclone that requires the different angles.
The RL Team's super talented so I'm sure you can come up with a plugin or something for your loyal custmers.
I know there is a Flash plugin but if you don't have Flash it doesn't help us.
Please don't make us wait for CTA3,the joy of CTA2 was replaced with frustration.
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By tonk - 9 Years Ago
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Yes, I like your idea and I have an even better one:
integrate Ibis Fernandez software "Puppet Producer" as a plugin within CTA2.
Of course, I would like to pay for this plugin, but please let it be a CTA2-pluggie.
THIS would be a really great deal.
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By Ibis Fernandez - 9 Years Ago
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I appreciate the vote of confidence but at the heart of the issue is the fact that CTA does not have basic ink and paint tools. If only CTA had the ability to draw and edit images directly in the software a lot of the issues people have in customizing characters would be over. You could go into character composer, select a sprite, and just edit it at will. It's a lot easier said than done though. Anime Studio has ink and paint tools, but even drawing the simplest of things is the most difficult thing in the world. You still end up having to use Illustrator or Flash for your artwork in order to get any serious work done.
At the very least, RL should open up CTA itself to developers. Put out an API and let us roll our own solutions that work directly inside of CTA. Heck it could lead to a whole new marketplace of custom tools and widgets created by the community itself. I know i would love to build my own character design feature that works directly in CTA. I actually have a great idea for one but without access to an API, there's nothing much that can be done.
This is what Macromedia did when they enabled support for plugins. My Toon Titan, and Puppet Producer plugin, as well as some of my less popular ones like my camera system for Flash, came about as a result of us creating our own tools for Flash.
The real sad thing is that if RL waits too long it might be easier for someone one to just use a similar concept of character construction and use it to build a plugin that would allow this type of animation inside of Flash itself without the need for CTA.
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By AverageJoe - 9 Years Ago
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Ibis Fernandez (6/18/2015)
I appreciate the vote of confidence but at the heart of the issue is the fact that CTA does not have basic ink and paint tools. If only CTA had the ability to draw and edit images directly in the software a lot of the issues people have in customizing characters would be over. You could go into character composer, select a sprite, and just edit it at will. It's a lot easier said than done though. Anime Studio has ink and paint tools, but even drawing the simplest of things is the most difficult thing in the world. You still end up having to use Illustrator or Flash for your artwork in order to get any serious work done.
True, the drawing tools in Anime Studio Pro are a bit different than the typical bezier approach of illustrator, but once you've gotten use to them, creating in ASP is most certainly not the most difficult thing in the world. I find it much much easier to use than the drawing tools in Flash.
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By Ibis Fernandez - 9 Years Ago
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you shouldn't have to "get used" to it before it can be used effectively. These should be simple, essential tools that should just work without thinking about it.
In flash you select the pencil tool, and your draw lines with it. It does exactly what you expect should happen. Same thing with the brush tool. If you draw a circle and the you click it with the paint bucket tool enabled, it fills it with a color... it's what you expect should happen and it takes a split second.
In ASP. You have to define the line, enable it's visibility, adjust it's width in a different panel and define whether or not its connected to other lines. WTF? Can a brotha' just draw a freaking line? Let's not get started on the process involved if you want to fill a shape with a color.
(k so this has gotten easier in the last version)
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By AverageJoe - 9 Years Ago
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Ibis Fernandez (6/18/2015)
In ASP. You have to define the line, enable it's visibility, adjust it's width in a different panel and define whether or not its connected to other lines. WTF? Can a brotha' just draw a freaking line? Let's not get started on the process involved if you want to fill a shape with a color.
It's clear you haven't used it in a while because this isn't the case. You can click options to make it behave this way, as in a legacy mode, but it's most certainly not how it works today.
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By Ibis Fernandez - 9 Years Ago
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Any chance you can make a video of yourself drawing something basic, like an apple or a flower pot? Something super simple.
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By AverageJoe - 9 Years Ago
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When I get home from work, I'll investigate getting a screen recorder and doing so...
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By prabhatM - 9 Years Ago
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Ibis Fernandez (6/18/2015)
Any chance you can make a video of yourself drawing something basic, like an apple or a flower pot? Something super simple.
I haven't used ASP for a decade or so. I used it when it was called Moho, I guess.
You can draw an apple starting with a simple Circle and flower pot with a rectangle. Just add a node and drag. That's it.
Whatever, you do after cleaning up in flash, you do it in the very beginning in ASP. Draw with minimal line. The Bezier lines are very smooth. Assigning the line weight used to be really interesting, now I recall .
You have both Bone and vertex animations in ASP. Squash and Stretch is so easy. Animations are very organic.
With your talent you could do great stuff in ASP. I am no way commenting on CTA. I like CTA. I am not comparing.
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By vidi - 9 Years Ago
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I must say , I realy love to draw in AS more as in Flash.
Especially , I can draw nice clean Outlines with weights and it is exportable to CTA .
In Flash I have only a straight line, or I need to draw with the brush tool or converted into Fill, For my taste not so nice and clean like in AS
Maybe it is a completely different workflow to draw as one would expect from another application , but if you know the tools it is a very nice drawing tool.
it has even a scribble mode for rought sketching.
I'm missing nothing in AS or xara.
http://city.reallusion.com/ContentPreview.aspx?i=JCTd86b9566d711ef153&g=
for a example, all that stuff in this pack is completly draw with AS .
Also I prefer xara , but it can not export line with weights.
Flash is only a means for the nice Puppetproducer tool for me. 
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By AverageJoe - 9 Years Ago
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I used to love Xara, especially it's color control was outstanding for changing colors of your stuff on the fly... I haven't used it in a loooong time, but when I did, I loved using it.
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By Ibis Fernandez - 9 Years Ago
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In the cc versions of Flash you can draw with the pencil tool and freely adjust the weight of the line. The line is also compatible with CTA (it just gets converted to brush when imported into CTA)... I dont use it much though, i prefer the brush tool. But overall I like being able to to just draw what i like directly onto the canvas without having to deal with any technical elements. I think thats the way art tools should work, they should allow the artist to just be creative without even thinking about the technical stuff that happens behind the scenes.
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By prabhatM - 9 Years Ago
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This kind of variable line width MOHO/ASP had years back.
No doubt, people use Flash a lot more for drawing these days because of the freehand drawing style.
With ASP, you could animate the same apple much better and organic way with both vertex and bone, even layer.
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By vidi - 9 Years Ago
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add PointsTool in AS is for me fun and accurate to draw. I can easily and freely shape my shape.
Anyway, also AS has a freehand tool, if you like this way more.
I can even rotate the canvas for more real artistic feeling
Funny is, I like it , if the point snap together. That make a click sound as feedback.
I think thats the way art tools should work, they should allow the artist to just be creative without even thinking about the technical stuff that happens behind the scenes.
Absolutely, therefore I hate bezier line drawing, that have the most vector tools I have no Idea which a handle I must drag.
I understand if a somebody prefer it's own tool , but AS Drawingtools are really not worse.
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By vidi - 9 Years Ago
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@ibis that line weight tool is not in my flash . I have CS5
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By AverageJoe - 9 Years Ago
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I don't do any sort of screen recording, and I can't find anything (free, since I'm only going to use it this once) that gives good enough results. But Ibis, everything you did in your Flash video (you and your damn production studio... lol) I can do in ASP as well. In fact, with the new blob brush added in version 9.5 (or was it 10?) I can do it even faster than you did.
The ASP freehand tool has been enhanced so it's easier and more convenient to work with. And version 11 even introduces point coloring (almost like a gradient mesh in Illustrator). Variable line width is easy to do, and offers far more control than Flash does since it's at a point level...
There are oodles and oodles of videos showing the drawing capabilities of ASP. In fact, one guy I know rarely uses it for animation, but does use it for all his artwork. And one other large benefit in ASP that I don't think is in Flash, is at the end of the day these curves and lines are made up of points for even more minute editing, if you so desire.
Finally, another reason I like ASP over CTA these days is I can create and animate in one application. I don't have to, but I can. CTA will most likely never offer that feature.
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By Ibis Fernandez - 9 Years Ago
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can anybody post something? Camstudio is free. I'm sure if i see how you guys do it i might be able to pick it up.
I agree with you about the preferring an app that hand handle all the functions from drawing to production. That's why I stuck to Flash almost exclusively for so many years. Its still my primary tool.
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By prabhatM - 9 Years Ago
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If I remember correctly, it even handles 3D OBJ file well. I guess it has a seamless link with Poser, not sure though. It's been a long time.
Once you get 3D human model in one could draw different angles / perspectives on another layer.
I loved animating hair, clothes with those simulated wind effect with vertex animation. Bone based Squash n Stretch was easy.
I am not a true illustrator. Never honed the talent. So I had to give it up MOHO what is known now as ASP.
I also liked the Camera. The 3D stage that you see today in CTA, MOHO had it from the day one I believe. The SWITCH ( for changing sprites ) was really powerful.
Now I believe you can extend ASP with LUA.
@Ibis
I watched your Apple drawing video. I don't see any reason why you would take longer time in ASP !!!
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By prabhatM - 9 Years Ago
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In this context, we must watch this video by Vidi for CTA .
Vidi ! Thanks a ton !
https://youtu.be/Nj0FMpGfxA4
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By AverageJoe - 9 Years Ago
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I tried several different free screen recording apps yesterday, and they were all horrible... Perhaps it's my unfamiliarity with them, but the quality on the final video was horrible... One of them I could barely read the text in the video... But it's a weekend, so I'll try out a couple more.
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By Ibis Fernandez - 9 Years Ago
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BTW, I just bought Anime Studio 11 Pro
I came across this $99 offer which I couldn't refuse. I had an old version but this was cheaper than upgrading. Also cheap enough that i dont mind the expense for something im provably just gonna use to play with for a few days.
I would also point out that the offer is just a marketing gimmick, even if you dont have a Toon Boom serial you can pretty much just type anything that looks like a TBS serial, it will let you purchase it for that price. A TBS serial looks like this: XXXy-yXyX-XXXy where X is any number you want and Y is any lowercase letter. 
http://my.smithmicro.com/trade-in-toonboom-for-anime-studio.html
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By jasonacton - 9 Years Ago
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Even though you currently cannot access the API for CTA2 I am still intrigued by the tools you have created for working with CTA2 in Flash.
Toon Titan and Puppet Producer.
I was blown away by this video showing how Toon Titan allows gradients and shading to be appplied https://youtu.be/Ygtebgy1dkA
And equally impressed with your Character Rigging Plugin
https://youtu.be/fxUFQIBI7cI
I am pretty much sold but my only question is why are you not offering these tools in the RL marketplace? Its been a while since you had a promo code for Puppet Producer. Is there an update in the horizon?
Is there potential for a bundle deal for both plugins?
Wallet's pretty close to open on these plugins, just curious.
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By tonk - 9 Years Ago
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I agree.
Are there any plans to offer a new promocode for PP ?
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By AverageJoe - 9 Years Ago
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Ibis Fernandez (6/26/2015)
BTW, I just bought Anime Studio 11 Pro I came across this $99 offer which I couldn't refuse. I had an old version but this was cheaper than upgrading. Also cheap enough that i dont mind the expense for something im provably just gonna use to play with for a few days. I would also point out that the offer is just a marketing gimmick, even if you dont have a Toon Boom serial you can pretty much just type anything that looks like a TBS serial, it will let you purchase it for that price. A TBS serial looks like this: XXXy-yXyX-XXXy where X is any number you want and Y is any lowercase letter.
http://my.smithmicro.com/trade-in-toonboom-for-anime-studio.html
After you've spent some time with it Ibis, I'd be interested in hearing (reading) your thoughts on it...
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By prabhatM - 9 Years Ago
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wizaerd (6/29/2015)
Ibis Fernandez (6/26/2015)
BTW, I just bought Anime Studio 11 Pro I came across this $99 offer which I couldn't refuse. I had an old version but this was cheaper than upgrading. Also cheap enough that i dont mind the expense for something im provably just gonna use to play with for a few days. I would also point out that the offer is just a marketing gimmick, even if you dont have a Toon Boom serial you can pretty much just type anything that looks like a TBS serial, it will let you purchase it for that price. A TBS serial looks like this: XXXy-yXyX-XXXy where X is any number you want and Y is any lowercase letter.
http://my.smithmicro.com/trade-in-toonboom-for-anime-studio.html
After you've spent some time with it Ibis, I'd be interested in hearing (reading) your thoughts on it...
One line description : In Anime Studio, anything can move easily and gracefully.
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By Ibis Fernandez - 9 Years Ago
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There's a promo code floating around on YouTube.
RL doesn't have a mechanism for selling stuff like this in the marketplace. I was told they were gonna have the ability to offer files in zip format. That would make it possible, but this was months ago.
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By vidi - 9 Years Ago
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Apropos Anime Studio
I just get a message I can grab all infiniteskills tutorial on udemy for 5 $.
I'm a Udemy User and love this side
I have already these tutorial , so I can say it is absolut great 
Mark Bremmer is a great teacher . 10 hour Tutorial about all facets in Anime Studio Pro 10
https://www.udemy.com/anime-studio-pro-10/?dtcode=Tn8AWxV3e7hz
redeem this code 8822, but it is only for a limited time. I don't know how long.
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By AverageJoe - 9 Years Ago
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I've taken this course, and it is quite good. I wish they'd update it for version 11 though...
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By alemar - 9 Years Ago
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I use Anime Studio for many years since Moho...AS 11 have nice drawing tools now , very similar to Flash. Bones tecnology in AS are the best on the market based in B spline curves... I bought CTA2 when it was released but is very far from AS, but I believe RL can compete if do the right choices.Vidi video in Youtube show a lot of intersting ideas. RL should watch...
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By garrypye - 8 Years Ago
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I'm with Tonk. If there is somewhere I can sign a petition to get Puppet Producer as part of a future version of CTA, count me in. Ibis Fernandez, when it comes to character building, you sir, are the man. No one does it better.
Having said that, Ibis' comment about the need for drawing capabilities directly inside CTA is also a great idea. Even if I draw a component in another program and import it in to CTA, it would nice to be able to tweak it in there.
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