Panning Backgrounds

[TimothyB]

Watching this video here on panning backgrounds:
http://www.donbluthanimation.com/tips.php?c=2&t=104

There's also a 2nd look into this in the new CGP instructions just posted in a members area.

It shows how to construct a panning background, but I'm a little puzzled how to fully utilize it from there. What are the benefits of using this even though you can't exactly pan it at the speed of the pan due to the wide spacing of the peg-holes.

I take it you use it on your lightbox with your animation drawing tol help place your drawing correctly on the 12-field paper in relation to the scene? When you film your pencil test, I guess even though there are large jumps in the pan, it will still give a sense the scene has a pan. And like Don Bluth said, before constructing the pan, you might lighten some of the dark lines around the area where the character will be drawn so it doesn't get in your way.

Maybe I'm thinking about too many what-ifs, like if there was something the character had to step on or jump over that's part of a panning background, but nothing like that so far in some of the story boards, I'll have to double check that.

It just seems a scene with a panning background can get complicated really fast to where I'm not sure how easily this would help or know how to use it to do so.

I might be really mixed up on all this, I hope someone can clear things up a bit more.

[OwenWelsh]

Timothy,

I had the same questions earlier. I think its really only needed if the character is going to interact with the background, jump over something, or onto something... like you mentioned below. I can't think of any other use for it either. Perhaps Don wants us to add some entertainment into the BG for our animation where the character will interact or react to it in some way (like jumping over a rock or something). But yes, I think clarification of this point is still needed as I'm not 100% sure myself.

Watching this video here on panning backgrounds:
http://www.donbluthanimation.com/tips.php?c=2&t=104

Maybe I'm thinking about too many what-ifs, like if there was something the character had to step on or jump over that's part of a panning background, but nothing like that so far in some of the story boards, I'll have to double check that.

It just seems a scene with a panning background can get complicated really fast to where I'm not sure how easily this would help or know how to use it to do so.

I might be really mixed up on all this, I hope someone can clear things up a bit more.

[Don Bluth]

If you think of the pan move as the operation of a cameraman photographing a subject, it is easier to understand. The cameraman tries to hold the subject in the center of his view finder even when he is walking or running.
During a run, the BG environment would be panning quickly. The first round peg of the animation disc is the center. The pan-bar which carries the pan BG will move either left or right of that center at the speed desired by the animator. For example, a pan moving past the center mark at the rate of one inch per frame will be fast. A pan moving at ten hundreds of an inch per frame will be slower.

Nowadays, a software program like Digicel Flipbook can control the pan move in the computer.

See the video... (http://www.donbluthanimation.com/tips.php?c=7&t=105)

[OwenWelsh]

Thank you Don and Dave for putting that video together.

This is topic is clear to me now. I didn't know about the pan peg bar or how it was used. That could be very useful...I'd like to locate one -- anyone know where to buy one for a decent price? Otherwise I'm going to have to rely heavily on Digicel for operating the move and character interaction with the BG.

If you think of the pan move as the operation of a cameraman photographing a subject, it is easier to understand. The cameraman tries to hold the subject in the center of his view finder even when he is walking or running.
During a run, the BG environment would be panning quickly. The first round peg of the animation disc is the center. The pan-bar which carries the pan BG will move either left or right of that center at the speed desired by the animator. For example, a pan moving past the center mark at the rate of one inch per frame will be fast. A pan moving at ten hundreds of an inch per frame will be slower.

Nowadays, a software program like Digicel Flipbook can control the pan move in the computer.

See the video... (http://www.donbluthanimation.com/tips.php?c=7&t=105)

[TimothyB]

Thanks for responding. So from what I gather, it's to be used as one big guide to your scene. To plan out how you'll have your character react to the environment as he or she moves through it, plus to help know when to do something by whatever frame. Kind of like how you'd flesh out an animation in your head with thumbnails, except here you may need to plan and time your animation to certain parts of the pan.

So basically just a big tool to plan the animation better, right? We're not suppose to actually place our pans on our regular acme bars behind our 12-field paper when you do our pencil test since we can't really slide the pan each frame without a separate pan-bar. That's what had me mixed up.

[Dave]

Thanks for responding. So from what I gather, it's to be used as one big guide to your scene. To plan out how you'll have your character react to the environment as he or she moves through it, plus to help know when to do something by whatever frame. Kind of like how you'd flesh out an animation in your head with thumbnails, except here you may need to plan and time your animation to certain parts of the pan.

So basically just a big tool to plan the animation better, right? We're not suppose to actually place our pans on our regular acme bars behind our 12-field paper when you do our pencil test since we can't really slide the pan each frame without a separate pan-bar. That's what had me mixed up.

If you had an animation disc with top and bottom peg bars, the BG would be on top pegs and the character on bottom pegs. If this were the case, you would have no problem sliding your pan BG behind your bottom pegged character animation.
When you scan your pegged BG into the flipbook software, you still have to input the pan moves frame by frame.

[CanAur]

Its very interesting, but how can i make a motion blur effect with traditional camera?

[Don Bluth]

Its very interesting, but how can i make a motion blur effect with traditional camera?

The answer is simple. You have to draw the blur with your pencil, and then smudge it with your fingers. If you were to create such an effect, the people who paint will have to duplicate it. Historically, the blur was dry brushed onto the cell.

Don

[jonhoops]

Its very interesting, but how can i make a motion blur effect with traditional camera?

Don,

I think he wants to know about having a background blur like they do in CG. I suppose a directional blur filter could be used on the BG but would only look good in really fast moves.

If it is for the characters do what Don suggested (dry brush efx).

hoops

[Don Bluth]

Don,

I think he wants to know about having a background blur like they do in CG. I suppose a directional blur filter could be used on the BG but would only look good in really fast moves.

If it is for the characters do what Don suggested (dry brush efx).

hoops

Traditional Animation is a series of still drawings. If you want the BG to blur, it must be painted out of focus. It's that simple...

[jonhoops]

If you are compositing in a package like After EfX , Animo or Harmony you can add a directional blur filter in compositing to your background and not to the characters. This would make a fast panning BG smear and blur like motion blur.

If you are using a traditional animation stand and painted bgs then as Don said you would have to paint or draw the blur.

Also there is an after effects plugin called Reel Smart Motion Blur that can add motion blur to 2D animation. I am not so convinced of the effect but it might do in a pinch.

http://www.revisionfx.com/products/rsmb/gallery/

hoops

[jonhoops]

Just an addendum. Even if you do find a way of adding motion blur to 2D animation, using a filter in your compositing app as I suggested above, I don't think it would necessarily look very good. Most likely it would look like your character had grown fur or something.

Better to just animate something nice and smooth with no blur etc., and leave the motion blur to our CGI brethren.

hoops

[Luftmensch]

If you really want to be hardcore though, you could create a motion blur with multiple exposures on film. It would be a very tedious process and more than double the amount of camera work, but if you lower the camera's exposure then you could create your own motion blurs by moving the background in multiple increments per frame. It's advisable that you be careful about this, because if you use too few exposures than you'll create a nauseatingly stereoscopic effect and if you overuse the effect you'll have constantly muddy-looking backgrounds against otherwise pristine characters, but I suppose you might have the good feeling that comes with putting in extra work for a more "authentic" look.

As jonhoops said, leave these sorts of effects to your computer.