Here Comes Another Short Film

Hey guys,

Today is the first day of class for the winter 08 quarter here at SCAD. So far it looks like I'll be having a busy but fun time. I'm in concept development class right now for my senior film and I already have a solid idea for what i want to do. The only thing is I'm having a hard time deciding what medium I'm going to animate with. I've already decided to do a 2d piece because the story is set at a dog show. I really don't want to have to build a stadium, props, a crowd, dogs, and their handlers in 3d since I suck at modeling and I'm even worse at rigging. I also have a specific look in mind for my characters which I know I personally can't pull off in 3d.

Anyway, I can't decide whether or not I should animate the good old fashioned paper and pencil way or if I should spend $300 on a copy of windows xp to put onto my mac so I can use Mirage. Both have their pro's and cons. Animating in Mirage is much faster than the traditional way because I don't have to waste time capturing drawings. Back in animation 1 I spent over an hour capturing drawings while working on my final project. Having an undo function and instant playback are also wonderful benefits of using the computer.

On the other hand, I still feel like I can draw better on paper than with the tablet. I know I have a harder time staying on model/maintaining my volumes when I animate on the computer. I also wanted to have the Sword In The Stone/Jungle Book/101 Dalmatians "scruffy lines" look and I'm not really sure how well that would work if I animated in Mirage. I plan on working on my senior project over the summer but I don't have access to a capture station at home. I'd have to scan each drawing in which will slow down my workflow significantly. Plus my scanner isn't large enough to get and entire sheet of animation bond onto it's bed.

As much as I enjoy working the traditional pencil and paper way, it looks like working directly in the computer is the most efficient method to use.