All posts tagged cutout animation

The warmth of traditional Czech cutout films from the 70s has always fascinated us. They bring cosiness and sincerity, which are almost completely forgotten in the digital age of polished and intense visual stimulation.

Over the years, we have often wondered how closely we could emulate this look in Flash with SMR.

There are basically two approaches which can be taken. There are pros and cons with each one, but both are valid and can produce appealing results, bringing some of that lost warmth and sincerity back to cartoons. Read more
“Is there a way to rig a skirt and avoid Shape Tweens in a synced timeline?”

Smart Magnet Rigs are so flexible that they provide an effective alternative.
A simple setup of four elements allows dynamic and interactive posing, where the skirt is mostly animated at character level, and the body poses are automatically matched. Read more
The question how to rig characters with outlines has popped up multiple times.

In the world of digital cutouts outlines make life more difficult and complicate everything. This is why a large part of the character designs (and rigs) don't have any outlines at all, or only have partial in the facial area, hands, feet and some wrinkles here and there.

Ultimately, it is an artistic and stylistic choice. Read more
Smart Magnet Rigs have been around for almost a decade. While its core has remained unchanged since the inception, over this period the system has become very polished, commercially viable, extremely flexible and intuitive to use.

The goal of this article is to re-focus the attention on the interconnected tools, features and methods that will allow those who are already familiar with SMR and have experience with single-angle rigs to further their knowledge and explore a wider range of possibilities. Read more
For years we have refrained to give turnaround rigging prescriptions, because there are many IFs, and we thought that such advice has the potential to be misinterpreted.

When it comes to multi-angle rigging there are generally two possible approaches to organizing assets (or a combination of the two), and the choice is often dictated by personal preference or better suitability for a particular animation style.
The rig does not have some special intrinsic value. The meaning of its existence is to make animation faster and easier. Read more
“Can I transfer an existing animation from one character to another?”

The short answer is “Yes!”

Smart Magnet Rigs are so flexible that even this is possible. You can swap an already animated character with another one, which has different proportions and keep the animation. The process is fairly quick and straight-forward. It requires a couple of passes and some cleaning up, but is a huge time saver. Read more
When work on the traditional character build is completed, it can be easily upgraded to a Smart Magnet Rig. The only requirement for the flawless transition to SMR is that all elements should be properly registered.
Registration must always facilitate Forward Kinematics.

Users have a choice of three rigging methods:
  1. FreeStyle rigging, using the FreeStyle Rigging tool
  2. Classic (Full manual), using the Smart Magnet Rig panel
  3. Parented Layers to Smart Magnet Rig (Animate 2019+)*
Read more
SMR FK takes away all frustration and uncertainty from the default behavior of Flash / Animate tools. Selections become precise, fast and easy. Posing – enjoyable and intuitive.
SMR FK brings pleasure to animating and makes Flash and Animate relevant again in the second decade of 21st century.

SMR FK uses the great vector and tweening capabilities of Flash / Animate and provides a modern-day UX to an ever more demanding user base of animation professionals and enthusiasts.

SMR FK is all that Flash animators of the late 90s and early 2000s dreamed of and begged for, but never received from Macromedia or Adobe. Read more