Super Simple Grease Pencil Animation Test in Blender 2.8
Blender 2.80 is on the way and one of the most interesting new features (except EEVEE 😊) is the Grease Pencil.
The Grease Pencil has been around in Blender for some time, mainly as annotation tool. Now, they have upgraded it and turned it in a full 2D animation toolset. This is something that is unique for Blender and there is no other software, with similar features. A 2D animation module in a 3D software . Talking about versatility!
It allows you to create awesome 2D animations directly in Blender.
I was testing this out and decided to do it in a simple manner. With a line! Transitioning from one spot to another.
But even doing this I had some setbacks. They say when you do something for a firs time do it fast and simple. Because the first time you will likely fail. So, I decide to go 100% on this philosophy with this one.
First, I had an issue to set up the environment for a 2D. The 2D layout doesn’t load by default on the top.
You need to press the plus sign at the end of the default work environments layout. Then more options will pop up, and there is the 2D animation layout.
Then I had an issue with the key frames. They don’t work exactly like 3D animation, where you just move the object from one key frame to another. Here you actually need to draw the object again. Or to not do that you can just copy the actual key frame, set onion skinning, and adjust the new look on your drawing. Then repeat!
The grease pencil objects act like any other object in Blender. You can scale them, rotate them, copy etc. Even the proportional editing tool work for them. I find this very interesting.
I’m a bit surprised about the transitioning of the 2D object. With 3D you set one position, then another and the object transits smoothly between the two positions. Here this is not the case. The object basically jumps from one position to another. So, you need to do a lot of frames to make it smooth. If anybody knows different option, please tell me.
I’m not that good at sketching, but was curious to check this out. This can be excellent tool for people who do sketching. @piotrgrafik ? 😊
All the best
@dalz
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Cool! It won't be long until there'll be 2D short animated film made with Blender (or are there any right now?). I haven't touch any part of the animation in Blender yet, I hope I'll have the basic knowledge ready when Blender 2.8 release.
On a side note, is this some kind of your principle or a code as an artist? I'm just curious, because I'm new to this and I assume some sort of 'code' to hold onto would be good.Thanks for the comment @rainite.
At this moment there are showcase for Blender Grease Pencil. An entire 2D animation.
The official video is this one.
About the "code" than you mentioned, I think this goes for everything. We tend to overestimate our abilities at first, and try to do it perfect', the first time, immediately.
The thing is it takes time and practice. You should take your time, practice, dont be afraid to fail, and improve step by step, with each iteration.
This been said I still do that mistake and over complicate things :)
Whoa I didn't know about that animation. With no dialogue and an art style that is quite simple, the overall film is so expressive and fluid. Just watching it makes me feel happy to be a part of Blender community XD
I think that's my mistake months ago that made me gave up Blender. I was afraid to fail, but I also wanted to make spectacular things immediately, which is stupid really. Good thing I'm getting the hang of it better now.
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