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[anarky]

I think I have the same problem you do, Pete. I seem to put in more time in designing rather than coding. I also wish to get into a bit of entertainment, like comics, cartoons, etc. But the dilemma I have is I prefer the interactivity of games...

>anarky - Press any key to continue...

[Pete]

then my question is how can SB Emails be made in one week?

Stong Bad emails are very simple to animate.... it's the same background and same character every week, so they just re-use the same graphics week after week. There's no drawing, except for new text on the screen.

There's also very little motion, so the animation process is really easy. And they don't even deal with lip-synching, since we don't see Strong Bad's mouth.

Animating a show with multiple characters, multiple locations, lots of movement and lip-synching takes waaaaaaay longer.

[seph]

1) strong bad emails take place in many settings, and very often introduce brand new settings like the moon, or some coffee shop for example.

2) strong bad's mouth does move.. it is a square that is distorted to match what he is saying (specifically sounds like "Ooh" and "Ahh" and "Uhh" etc) ... that looks like a very tedious process unless you have some sort of technique that beginners dont know.

3) and as for "lots of movement", well look at them all walk. very complex leg movement, usually including the knee bending at some point. as far as i know, thats something you cant copy/paste throughout a walking scene...


take a second look and you will see these are right

[Pete]

Sorry, didn't realize that Strong Bad emails took place in many settings and had walk cycles, etc. All the ones that I've seen are just Strong Bad sitting in front of his computer, typing, with his head positioned so that it blocks his mouth in the reflection. (I don't think they're the least bit funny, so I can't say that I watch them very often.)

Anyway, Stong Bad emails are relatively simple to make because:
(1) they're short
(2) they re-use the same graphics and animation loops over and over again. ie: every time Strong Bad walks, it's the same walk cycle.
(3) the lip-synching on Stong Bad is, as you described, just a square changing shape, not necessarily matching up the phonemes of what he is saying, so it's easier than painstakingly matching mouth shapes to sounds.

I'm sure that Stong Bad emails take a fair amount of time, but making a full half hour narrative cartoon is in a whole different league...