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Frame Tweening for the 1960's Anime (A.K.A. Manual Frame-rate Increase)

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 12:34 am
by Kitty Lue
So this is something I just wanted to touch on for now, and maybe I'll do more of this when I have more time. But anyway, I thought it'd be cool to try smoothing out the animation of some of the sections that had a rather low frame count used to represent the movement. While I'm sure that in some cases, a movement completed in a single frame was used for comedic effect, there are other cases that probably did this due to budget constraints or other reasons than aesthetics.
The example I'm going to show is from the beginning of the Frankenstein episode, where Astro watches some horses through a fence and says that he wishes he had a mother. He turns away from the fence in a single frame.
click for spoiler
Astro.Boy.s01e02.Colosso.1963.DVDRIP.XviD-TVV.00_02_52_21.Still001.png
Astro.Boy.s01e02.Colosso.1963.DVDRIP.XviD-TVV.00_02_52_21.Still001.png (179.84 KiB) Viewed 3657 times

Astro.Boy.s01e02.Colosso.1963.DVDRIP.XviD-TVV.00_02_52_22.Still002.png
Astro.Boy.s01e02.Colosso.1963.DVDRIP.XviD-TVV.00_02_52_22.Still002.png (185.61 KiB) Viewed 3657 times

Given the context of this scene, I'm sure it's safe to say that it was not for comedic effect, and a slower movement seems more natural. I loaded both of these frames into Paint Shop Pro and drew some reference lines to figure out a rotation about halfway between the two.
[img]https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B1Hi2w90qu0ZWHJwaDhpdUtMLVE[/img]
Over top of the reference lines, I drew a vector object for Astro's head at the in-between rotation. I also edited the background to hide where his head was showing from the other frames.
[img]https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B1Hi2w90qu0ZMWNyQ3VnRXN6MHM[/img]
After that, I rasterized the vector drawing of Astro's head, duplicated it, and adjusted the blur on each layer to get it to match the original 2 frames.
[img]https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B1Hi2w90qu0ZdzRXYjJ1b0dsMnM[/img]
Looking at the still frame, it's not a perfect match, but close enough that you probably can't tell that when it's animated. ...Except for the fact that I forgot to add the shiny spot on the back of Astro's head. Whoops. :d oh:
Anyway, here's a GIF of the result:
click for spoiler[img]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/KittyLue/TweeningExample_zpsssjn64ez.gif?t=1489796748[/img]

(Leaving this here in case attached images still work but the others stop displaying through Google Drive)
click for spoiler
reference lines.png
reference lines.png (100.65 KiB) Viewed 3658 times

vector added.png
vector added.png (50.03 KiB) Viewed 3657 times

blurred.png
blurred.png (57.49 KiB) Viewed 3657 times

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 1:52 am
by Juanita
This is a nice project! I'd love to see the old series' with the fluid animation of the 2003 one, but that'd take forever. Good work :)

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 2:49 am
by Tetsuwan Penguin
Wow, you seem to have a good grasp of computer animation and art tools. Have you ever tried blender? (Open source and a free download). That's a 3D computer graphic and animation tool. I wish I knew how to use this stuff, If I could get a good 3D computer model of Astro, I'd be able to print him in plastic on my 3D printer.

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 4:04 am
by DrFrag
This is really interesting! You did a good job with the vectors.

I have a suggestion, which reminds me of a joke:

A wealthy matron is so proud of a valuable antique vase that she decides to have her bedroom painted the same color as the vase. Several painters try to match the shade, but none comes close enough to satisfy the eccentric woman.

Eventually, a painter approaches who is confident he can mix the proper color. The woman is pleased with the result, and the painter becomes famous.

Years later, he retires and turns the business over to his son. "Dad," says the son, "there's something I've got to know. How did you get those walls to match the vase so perfectly?"

"Son," the father replies, "I painted the vase."


What I suggest, instead of trying to get the blur to match the key frames, is draw over the key frames with your own vectors and then apply your blur to all three (for the head at least). The key frames will still look like the originals since no one could spot the difference without a side-by-side comparison. The tween frame will perfectly match the key frames because you will have drawn both. It looks like his silhouette has a bit of black bloom so the background would probably need a bit of shopping to extend over the old foreground edgework.

There also seems to be some background flicker. Maybe an artifact of applying the blur?

I don't want to make more work for you, I just think this is cool and you've got me enthused. :w00t: I would give it a shot myself but my vector work isn't great. :d oh:

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 5:35 am
by Kitty Lue
Thanks everyone! Glad to see there's some interest in this project :)
Also, are there any specific parts of the anime anyone would like to see tweened? While it's quite unlikely I'd have time to do tweening for the whole series (especially given that this series has the most episodes), it'd be great to at least do this for scenes that there's a special interest in. :)

"Juanita" wrote:This is a nice project! I'd love to see the old series' with the fluid animation of the 2003 one, but that'd take forever. Good work :)
Depending on if my summer is busy or not, I may do some tweening on some longer sections. :D

"Tetsuwan Penguin" wrote:Wow, you seem to have a good grasp of computer animation and art tools. Have you ever tried blender? (Open source and a free download). That's a 3D computer graphic and animation tool. I wish I knew how to use this stuff, If I could get a good 3D computer model of Astro, I'd be able to print him in plastic on my 3D printer.

I actually started learning to use Blender back in 2014, maybe one of these days I could make a full 3D model of Astro. It's just that the only full character model I made and rigged for animation took forever. However, I did make and rig a more basic, mannequin-like Astro model for rotoscoping 2D animation. (I pile too many projects onto myself, I just can't help it xD)
click for spoilerImage
His "hair" spikes even track to the camera. :lol:

"DrFrag" wrote:This is really interesting! You did a good job with the vectors.

I have a suggestion, which reminds me of a joke:

A wealthy matron is so proud of a valuable antique vase that she decides to have her bedroom painted the same color as the vase. Several painters try to match the shade, but none comes close enough to satisfy the eccentric woman.

Eventually, a painter approaches who is confident he can mix the proper color. The woman is pleased with the result, and the painter becomes famous.

Years later, he retires and turns the business over to his son. "Dad," says the son, "there's something I've got to know. How did you get those walls to match the vase so perfectly?"

"Son," the father replies, "I painted the vase."


What I suggest, instead of trying to get the blur to match the key frames, is draw over the key frames with your own vectors and then apply your blur to all three (for the head at least). The key frames will still look like the originals since no one could spot the difference without a side-by-side comparison. The tween frame will perfectly match the key frames because you will have drawn both. It looks like his silhouette has a bit of black bloom so the background would probably need a bit of shopping to extend over the old foreground edgework.

There also seems to be some background flicker. Maybe an artifact of applying the blur?

I don't want to make more work for you, I just think this is cool and you've got me enthused. :w00t: I would give it a shot myself but my vector work isn't great. :d oh:

That joke! :lol:
I could definitely give that technique a try and compare results. :) And that background flicker is a bit of an oddity, I think it happened when I put it through a GIF-maker because I checked the GIF vs. the video in Premiere, and it didn't have the flicker in Premiere. :confused: Oh well, at least that means that an actual video output wouldn't have the flicker.

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 5:31 pm
by CommanderEVE
The middle frame is still quite jerky, try matching the texture, blur and fade of the original frames, as the new frame you added is very clean cut, smooth and bright.

Good work on noticing that though.

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 10:06 pm
by Kitty Lue
"CommanderEVE" wrote:The middle frame is still quite jerky, try matching the texture, blur and fade of the original frames, as the new frame you added is very clean cut, smooth and bright.

Good work on noticing that though.


Yeah, as a first test this tweening job is definitely showing me a lot of the things I need to watch out for when creating any more in-between frames. I think the main problem that's causing the frame to stand out, though, is that the line around Astro's eye didn't get as washed out with the blur as I thought it would, which created the illusion that his skin is brighter than it actually is. It could probably do with a thinner outline and rely on the blur to thicken the line. I should probably also work on extending the black bloom further away from Astro's "hair", since in the original frame with his face visible that black bloom did seem to make the top of his face look darker.
Anyway, thanks for pointing it out, I should be able to make much closer matches in the future. :)