Re: FLASH: Need a Flash character animator, part 2

[rodney entwisle]

Hi there,


Just in case you havent been watching your email. I did send you a detailed

email off the list.


I have experience running a studio from an artistic point. I have ben a head

animator and Artistic Director.


$70-$150 is independant contractor amounts. If this is ongoing and full time

work.. and five minutes at low quality a month is full time work for one

person. But the hard part is that you seem to want a charachter animator

with flash experience. Im my experience I am the only head animator who I am

aware of who has spent any time becoming very adept at computer software

(and I have met well over a hundred)... you see not many people have the

skill and time to master two feilds... and I take it that the charachter

animation is more important to you than flash ability... So in most cases

you will probably need a full time animator and part time digital monkey.


Unfortunatly I don't have a clue where to find that peice of animation you

quoted. So Ill break down the lowest costs a studio will work for in NZ...

and the cost outside USA is less than half that in USA.


Per second 12.5 frames per second $700 NZ ($350) If you break that into

frames and then times it by any frame rate you can think of.. well yu can

work it out. 3D is far more expencive because its that crossover.. not to

mention more work.   But remember that this is tyhe absolute lowes pice I

have ever seen quoted and is half the usual price... and you get what you

pay for... This stuff has to be coloured in the Phillipenes (2.5 US cents

per frame coloured) but that means it is on Cell... so you need to orginise

a camera operator a camera bench and then you need to digitise film to

computer and then the flash stuff needs to be done.


Disney expects an lower animator (tweener) to complete 20 frames a day. For

Animaniac style that can be almost twice that. Simple animation even more...

but these are tweeners frames... they dont need to work on the key frames...

and their output is rough and needs to be cleaned up. So you are looking at

halving the productivity... and that doesnt include backgrounds and

coulouring the frames. So you can see how the whole process is like pulling

teeth.... And then finaly someone has to scan it in and build the animation

in flash. This is why you will NEED a head animator with knowledge of

computer software to get your moneys worth... As a head animator I know how

to set up a shot to utilise every trick in the book to reduce the framecount

needed to get the same result... not to mention make it look more visualy

exiting. A basic animator (tweener or clean up artist as we know them in the

industry) may be good but have no experience in setting up shots or even

keyframes (important poses for the charachter to start and finish in)


Of course you might have a different perception of charachter animation, but

the process for real charachter animation is long and complicated... why

crossover people like myself are rarer than hens teeth... even animators who

switch to 3D software have support staff who do the monkeywork and they only

have to learn one program and dont have to think about net transfer rates or

even where the new images are being saved to.


So given that art 12.5 frames per second you are asking for 3750 pictures

per month all coloured and animated in flash you will have an idea of how

much it will cost. Of course there are people that are experienced like

myself who could cut this down to 2000 frames without anyone noticing and

could probably be pushed to complete this amount of work solo... well the

frame rate will have to drop to 9 frames a second which most animators will

not drop below... you loose all illusion of movement at 6 frames a second

and anything below 9 is just nasty anyway.


Hope this hasnt been to depressing for you.



Rodney




----- Original Message -----

From: Tim Doherty <

tkd9mediaone [dot] net

>

To: <

flasherchinwag [dot] com

>

Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2000 4:39 AM

Subject: FLASH: Need a Flash character animator, part 2



> My previous post requested info about rates for a Flash character

> animator.  The responses I received range from $70-150/hour.

>

> I still don't have a handle on how this translates to schedules and

budgets

> for an actual production.  I'd like to ask those knowledgeable in the

field

> for some input.

>

> Take a look at Whirl Girl.  Excluding audio, how many people do you

> estimate are required to create one episode?  Over what time frame and at

> what cost?

>

>

> flasher is generously supported by...

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>      flashforward2000 and the Flash(tm) Film Festival

>  July 24-26, 2000, NEW YORK CITY, Hammerstein Ballroom

>                   www.flashforward2000.com

>    Produced by United Digital Artists and lynda.com

>  Sponsored by Macromedia, Adobe Systems, Fusion, Inc, AtomFilms,

>            shockwave.com and Electric Rain.

>  1.877.4.FLASH.4  or (1.805.640.6679 outside the US and Canada)

>  Register before June 30 and save $200!!-- www.flashforward2000.com

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> To unsubscribe or change your list settings go to

>

http://www.chinwag.com/flasher or email helpchinwag [dot] com

>




flasher is generously supported by...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     flashforward2000 and the Flash(tm) Film Festival

 July 24-26, 2000, NEW YORK CITY, Hammerstein Ballroom

                  www.flashforward2000.com

   Produced by United Digital Artists and lynda.com

 Sponsored by Macromedia, Adobe Systems, Fusion, Inc, AtomFilms,

           shockwave.com and Electric Rain.

 1.877.4.FLASH.4  or (1.805.640.6679 outside the US and Canada)

 Register before June 30 and save $200!!-- www.flashforward2000.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To unsubscribe or change your list settings go to

http://www.chinwag.com/flasher or email

helpchinwag [dot] com