Nugget of Awesome

[tealin]

opening 2D scene - now in Quicktime!

WARNING: You may go blind from sheer awesomeness. (My eyes! It's too awesome!)

I was extremely lucky that I got to see this come together (though I didn't work on it myself). It's astonishing how much it looks like the original concept artwork, but moving. Those flags at the beginning, for example, were gestural paint strokes, but they animate like flags and still look the same! And if anyone needs a lesson in arcs they just have to look at the swooshy kung fu bits because they are perfect. All the 2D character animation and, I think, most of the effects, were done by James Baxter; the rest is AfterEffects which was animated by a very small group of likewise very talented people. I am in deepest awe.

There's also the closing credits animation (in lovely big Quicktime which you can stopframe) which I think was done after they all moved to Dreamworks.

I have to wait till next weekend to see the rest of the movie, though...

Comments

[bevinbaka.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad you posted these-- though Quicktime hates my computer and I can only hear the ending credits, I still love that opening part. Like someone else mentioned, it reminded me immediately of Samurai Jack, and I'm really surprised to find out it's 2D animation, I figured it was Flash or a similar program.

Saw it last night, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Definitely my favorite of the Dreamworks movies that have come out. I loved the backgrounds and the colors-- I wanted to go to China after watching it.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

It's mostly AfterEffects, which is ... a little bit like Flash, but with a lot more muscles, but the actually animated parts (Po's kung fu and lip synch, mostly) were done on paper.

[bevinbaka.livejournal.com]

I think I need to stop flashing my relative ignorance of animation on the internet, I usually wind up surprised by how little I actually know. But I'm glad to know I was sort of close with the program they used for it, and I'm surprised that any of it was animated on paper. It all fits so seamlessly together, I figured it was all created the same way.

Now, I'm a bit confused on one point (again displying my ignorance), but I often see traditional animation described as "2-D" animation and computer animation as "3-D". These are actally misnomers, yeah? 2-D can refer to things animated on the computer such as Flash or After Effects, as well as traditional animation on paper, or am I wrong on that point?

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Umm... honestly, I don't think it's been around long enough to have a designated name. Sometimes it's called 2D, or 'digital 2D,' but usually 2D refers to something where every frame is drawn - so something like the Brackenwood (http://www.biteycastle.com/) shorts is basically 2D even though they're done in Flash. If it's more typical Flash or AfterEffects it's usually called by the program name; e.g. Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends is a 'Flash cartoon.' They are technically 2D, I suppose, but stop-motion animation is technically 3D (even more 3D than CG is because it actually exists in space) but no one calls it that.