How to enhance custom animations?

[wan2no]

I normally do my animations in Adobe Image Ready. Such animations like writing out a word or drawing out something. When I do it, i looks really good on the pc; however, when i put it on dvd and I actually see it on tv the animations sometimes look etchy. How do I get around this?

I thought of blurring the image but i am not too sure about that? I have also considered using a different program but i do not know any other programs that do that. I have also considered doing the animation in 3d but the problem with that is that 3D animation seems to be hard to me. I have 3dmax 8.

[guns1inger]

What format are you outputting to ?
What resolution do you work in ?
What sort of animations do you want to do ?

Basic animation in Max is pretty straight forward - define a length, set a starting keyframe, move the object, set the next keyframe etc., then render. It is all covered in the help files.

However, unless you need 3D, it is overkill for simple titles.

Provide more information about what you are doing in image ready and we might be able to help you fix your technique.

[wan2no]

the output is .gif

300 resolution

I have done simple animations such as drawing out a line, spelling out a name and taking a picture of a dove and making the dove fly.

I normally make the animations against a transparent background.

with the 3dmax, i have found that when i rendered a frame as a bitmap one by one that my animation looks alot crystal clear than it does when i set it up as an avi file

ah what else ....

that is about it

[guns1inger]

Problem 1 : resolution

you need to create your animations at 720 x 756 (non-square pixels) @72 dpi for your animations. Otherwise they will be scaled up, and they will look horrible - as you have found.

Problem 2 : gif

The gif format only allows for 265 colours, which means banding, aliasing and generally low quality.

In short, you are using the wrong tools to produce animation at the wrong resolution, and in the wrong format.

You need to work in something that can out put as an avi file, at least, and even better if it can output an mpeg file.

You might want to look at Project Dogwaffle for a free alternative

[wan2no]

Okay, i guess that really sums up alot of things. Thanks alot. well i have animations done already so i will try to get them on a 720 x 756 canvas @ 72 dpi. However, i do not have anything other programs that would do 2D animations.

what about a worthy alternative. I do not mind investing in a stellar program.

[guns1inger]

Project Dogwaffle has a free version, which does some of the animation that the full version does.

If you are really serious then you should look at something like ToonBoom Studio : http://www.toonboom.com/products/toonBoomStudio/?WT.mc_id=e_homepage_pdt_TBS