Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

[Animated Ape]

Our show, "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends," is on this month's cover of "Animation Magazine." There is also a multi page article about our show and with the show's creator, Craig McCracken. So happy reading. :)

The Ape

[fourchinnigan]

So, you are one of the people who got hired instead of me. :p

[Animated Ape]

Yep :D

The Ape

[Harvey Human]

New site:
http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/fosters/

Also note that this TV series is being done in FLASHHHHHHH.
http://www.tvtome.com/images/shows/28/1/1-12438.gif

http://www.tvtome.com/images/shows/28/1/1-12528.gif

http://www.tvtome.com/images/shows/28/1/1-12531.gif

[Animated Ape]

Thanks for the link Harvey, but the pictures you posted didn't work.

They should be adding more character bios and clips to the website in the near future. The hour and a half pilot will be airing on Cartoon Network on August 13th, with the regular series episodes being show after. I'm not too sure what time the show is airing though. They are starting to run adds on Cartoon Network now, although I have yet to see them, and you'll also start seeing advertizing on bus stops and billboards soon enough.

The Ape

[Harvey Human]

Thanks for the link Harvey, but the pictures you posted didn't work.I don't know why those images aren't showing up.
If you right-click where the images are supposed to be, select "properties," copy the web address, and paste it into a browser's address field, then the images will show.

The show premise reminds me an awful lot of Calvin and Hobbes.

[Animated Ape]

"The show premise reminds me an awful lot of Calvin and Hobbes." Thanks. That's a great complement. Not that I have anything to do with the stories. :D In what way does it remind you of Calvin and Hobbes?

The Ape

[Harvey Human]

In what way does it remind you of Calvin and Hobbes?Hobbes was an imaginary friend.

[Animated Ape]

Oh, ok Harvey. I thought you thought the simularities ran deeper than that.

The Ape

[Harvey Human]

That's a pretty big similarity. There aren't many comic strips/books or animated series whose central theme is imaginary friends. I can think of two: Calvin and Hobbes and Foster's Home.

There's a movie about imaginary friends coming out: Where the Wild Things Are, directed by Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation). It was originally going to be completely animated. Now I think just the monsters are being animated.

[Animated Ape]

There is also Mr. Snufalufagus on Seasame Street. Wasn't there also a movie called Dead Fred, about a childs imaginary friend? Fred Flintstone also had Kazoo. I could also probably stretch it a bit and include Toy Story and Toy Story 2 since to Andy, his toys were alive. It is a fun concept, with a lot of area to explore. I hope the show will be around long enough to explore some of it.

Also, if anyone is going to Comic Con down in San Diego, the show's creator, Craig McCracken, will be on the Cartoon Network pannel on Friday from 3:00 to 4:30, along with our director Craig Kellman. It should be a fun weekend.

The Ape

[Harvey Human]

Is Snufalufagus imaginary or is he just invisible to everyone but Big Bird?

In the movie, Harvey (1950), the giant rabbit is REAL, but invisible to everyone except Elwood (Jimmy Stewart).

Gazoo (Harvey Korman) was another real friend who was invisible to all but Fred and Barney.

I never saw Drop Dead Fred, but - based on what I've read - Fred is another of those invisible friends who the heroine THOUGHT was imaginary, but turned out to be real.

Hobbes is part real and part imaginary. He's a real toy that Calvin imagines having adventures with.
________
Isn't there supposed to be a special Clampett panel at ComicCon? That's where I'D be if I were going.

[Animated Ape]

Well, harvey, I think you just need to wait and see the show. It might not be as simular as you think.

The Ape

[Harvey Human]

Similar to what? Calvin and Hobbes? No, I don't have any preconceptions about Foster's similarity to Calvin and Hobbes. I'm just observing the uniqueness of imaginary friends as a central theme of a series. So far I can only think of two series in history that use imaginary friends as a central theme: Foster's Home and Calvin & Hobbes.

[phacker]

That's really cool Ape.

[Harvey Human]

Are you going to tell us what type of work you do on the show, Ape?
Lengthy detail would be appreciated.

[Animated Ape]

Thanks phacker.

I'm one of the animators of the show Harvey. We animate the whole show using Macromedia Flash, and also use Illustrator and After Effects.

Here is a show summary from Toonzone.
http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=103702

"Cartoon Network will unveil Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, a new animated series from The Powerpuff Girls-creator Craig McCracken, the network announced today. The series will debut with a 90-minute movie on Friday, July 16, and will premiere as a series on Friday, Sept. 3. The network has ordered 26 episodes.

The series is set in a rambling Victorian mansion, overseen by Madame Foster, that serves as a haven for imaginary friends who are no longer wanted or needed by their former owners. The central character is Mac, a smart, creat ive boy who lodges his own imaginary friend, Bloo, at the Home and who is in turn "adopted" by its inhabitants as their surrogate kid.

Characters on the show include: Frankie, Madame Foster’s 22-year-old granddaughter, who cooks, cleans and handles the never-ending crises; Mr. Herriman, a giant, monocle-wearing bunny who was Madame Foster’s own imaginary friend and who helps her run the establishment; Wilt, a playmate originally created for a basketball-loving boy; Eduardo, a muscular but jittery tough; and Coco, who helped a little girl stranded on a desert island, but who is now himself teetering on the edge of sanity.

"Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends is about friendship," says creator McCracken. "It’s a character-based comedy about all the fun you can have when your best buddies are a collection of oddballs and misfits. It’s a 100-percent character driven show that focuses on good stories and great jokes and takes advantage of creativity and imagination."

The series is being produced by Cartoon Network Studios."

Oh, and don't pay attention to the air dates, those are wrong. :rolleyes:

The Ape

[Harvey Human]

I'm one of the animators of the show Harvey.Are you just an all-around animator, or have to been assigned a specific character or animation task, like lip-synching?

[Animated Ape]

Harvey, all of us animators here on our show are all around animators, and some of the most talented I've seen. We are assiged shots and are responsible all animation in that shot, much like how PIXAR assigns shots. So we animate all the characters, lip-sync, facial expressions, props, camera moves, and effects animation. Some animators are better with certain characters, and are often assigned more difficult shots with thoses characters. So we touch all the main characters in each episode. I hope that helps you out Harvey.

The Ape

[Harvey Human]

That was of such great help to me.
Now I can breathe again. :D

I have more questions, but you're probably pretty busy.

[Animated Ape]

Well, Harvey, ask away. If I can answer them I will, and if I can't, well, then I can't. :D

The Ape

[Harvey Human]

What is your least favorite part of that animation process? (My least favorite thing is rigging muscle deformers. :p )

[Animated Ape]

I'd have to say my least favorite part of animation is the lip-sync. I don't hate doing it, but it's just boring. Although rigging muscle deformers doesn't sound like much fun either. :D

The Ape

[Harvey Human]

Yes, in 3D, modeling all the visemes and expressions can be tedious as well.


How many illustrators and animators are required for this Flash series?
Is it substantially fewer than the number required for a "traditional" show like Powerpuff or Dexter?
Is any outsourcing required or can you handle it all in-house?

[Animated Ape]

I'm not exactly sure how many people we have on our preproduction staff, but for sure we have an animation director, and a Flash director, 10 animators, 3 compositors, and an asset manager. With the 10 animators, we are able to complete an entire episode in roughly 5 weeks. I'd imagine our preproduction staff is about the same as other Cartoon Network shows, as we still need all the same stuff, storyboards, backgrounds, props, character designs, effects and the like.

The Ape

[swankaman]

Well just from the stuff my little girl has seen (I got the latest Animation magazine which had Fosters on the cover) She was so excited, she told me all about it, I guess they have a few previews running on Nick or Cartoon Channel and shes diggin it!
One kids view, for what its worth. I think it looks very cool but havent got to read MY magazine yet...I really am impressed by the use of Flash here.Thanks for all the info Ape.
swankaman

[Splatman]

Funny swankaman (and Ape!), but just today my son mentioned something about this cartoon as well...strange but true!

it took a second to register in my gray matter, and then I said "What? What show was that?"

And his initial critique was of a positive nature!

So Ape, it seems you have a couple of kids interested at least!

Splatman :D

[Animated Ape]

Thanks Swanka and Splat. I hope your kids really enjoy it, and I think they will. Now all we need are their pops' wallet behind the merchandizing, and we're in bussiness. :D

We just screened our most recent episode at the studio, and it was very funny. Each episode just keeps getting funnier and funnier.

For those who don't know, the show premieres August 13 at 7:30 on Cartoon Network. And here is a link to the show's site. http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/fosters/index.html It's a fun little site and is up dated weekly.

Aloha,
The Ape

[Animated Ape]

Oh yeah, Swanka and Splat, how old are your kids? Just wondering what the age group is that is interested in our show.

Mahalo,
The Ape

[Splatman]

be a wee eight years old...but a cartoon connoisseur non-the-less!

Hope it helps, and we can't wait to see it!

Splatman :D

[swankaman]

Well shes 7 (about to be 8) going on thirteen (attitude wise) with "all that sass!"Shes a great kid seriously and a bit of a cartoon expert herself it seems?
lil hipsters!?
geez...
swankaman

[Animated Ape]

Cool. Thanks Swanka and Splat. It's good to hear that both boys and girls are interested in the show. Don't forget to watch it tonight. You can just tape that Olympics thing thats also going on today and watch it later ;) I hope you and your kids enjoy our show. Oh, and remember, it's a 90 minute movie premiere. So if people are taping "Fosters" it's not just a half hour.

Mahalo,
The Ape

[Devil_3D]

Hey, I just watched the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends movie premiere(Olympics Schmolympics!) and have to say that I thought it was fantastic... it had me and my brother laughing and we're both over the age of 20! What a great concept and the characters are all quite fun. I thought it was a great touch to create the 'spanglish' speaking Eduardo... funny guy! I think the kids will like this one(me included!)... Great work, Ape! :D

[Splatman]

Sadly, I was unable to watch the WHOLE show before my wifey-poo kicked me out to do some fence work in the back yard!

I WAS able to watch up to the point of the "tour" by the tall red guy! Very funny! I plan on trying to catch the reruns to see the whole story...but what I did see was great! My son said he had watched it four times already...(can't ensure the validity of said statement, tho!)...BUT he liked it a lot!

And so did I! Great charachter design, great backgrounds and the story was engaging and sucked me right in! Nice animation, ta-boot!

You've got our vote!

Splatman :D

[gordie.lachance]

Hello Ape; i'm impatient to see that stuff on my french TV :D
You are lucky to have worked on that ! Craig McCraken is a real genius. I love his work.
4 questions :
you said it was animated in flash :
-the trailers are not in good quality, but I think that there is a "pencil" effect on the animation; how did you do that?
-why did you use Flash and not something like ToonBoom, especially made for animation ?
-were the backgrounds also designed with flash ?
-did Cartoon Network searched for flash animators or did they train traditionnal animator to flash ?

I've done a little flash movie at school. What do you think of it? I made it alone; in about 6 months.
My flash movie (http://240gp.ovh.net/~timburto/lemming/film.html)

[Harvey Human]

Great job, Gordie. It reminds me of Hoving's work ( http://www.hoving.com/ ).

I haven't seen Foster's yet. b:(:( h:(:(

[gordie.lachance]

Thanks for the link, that's nice !

[Animated Ape]

Well I'm glad a bunch of you like the show. It's always good to know that all your hard work is appreciated and makes people laugh.

Gordie, we use a combination of Flash, Illustrator, and After Effects on the show. Flash for all the animation, After Effects for compositing and some effects work, and Illustrator for the Backgrounds as well as some details on the characers. Cartoon Network specificly recruited animators who know how to work with Flash. We are all traditional animators and that helps make the show not look "internet Flashy." As far as I know, Toonboom isn't all that popular in the LA animation circles, though I could be wrong. But there are a lot more animators who are familiar with Flash than Toonboom.


Nice work on your lemming cartoon Gordie. Some really good stuff. I love seeing a more traditional animation style using the Brush tool like you did.

Aloha,
The Ape

[RedCapedPeanut]

hey, just stumbled across this forum while searching about this great new toon. I was wondering if it was done in flash, because it seemed to be done that way. Starting a web comic/cartoon myself, i found this particular one to be really inspirational. does anybody know where i could find out more about the animator? and um, hello to all :)

[RedCapedPeanut]

haha um,, reading more into it, it seems that you're involved in the production yourself, ape. do you have any tips / resources for an aspiring animator? :) and just so you know, im in high school, so this cartoon stretches to quite a range in the age spectrum. :)

[Chason]

Great work Ape i must say This has even reached high school girls, and even a few of the guys i might add.

My friend Jacklyn came to school monday excited about this show and every time a new episode airs im sure to hear something about it come class.

I am greatly inspired to work harder in flash after learning that Flash is the choice of LA animators aswell as many cartoon network animators.

Currently i am working towards animation as my career, any advice you could give a young animator?

[Animated Ape]

Hi RedCapedPeanut, and Chason, and welcome to the forums. I'm glad you both like the show, and we're not too surprised that some highschool people like it as well. And yes, it is completely animted in Macromedia Flash.

As for advice and inspiration, stay in school, eat your vegetables, get plenty of excersise. Oh not that kind of advice? :D Just draw a lot. Even if you are going into 3D animation, you need to draw. Get that pencil milage. We work in a visual medium and drawing is how we get our ideas across. A good example of this is James Camron, the drawing of the girl in Titanic, was actually a drawing that he did. But yeah, draw a lot, and draw from life. Watch how people walk and stand and act and react to people and things around them, and draw that.

As for animation, learn the basics: Weight, force, squash and stretch, moving on arcs, overlaping action, breaking joints, timing and others. Also have fun. Experiment with your animation. Wondering how a walk will look if done a different way? Try it and find out.

Aloha,
The Ape

and keep watching Fosters! :D

[Spoooze!]

Our show, "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends," is on this month's cover of "Animation Magazine." There is also a multi page article about our show and with the show's creator, Craig McCracken. So happy reading. :)

The Ape

That's cool. I like your show. It's waaaaay better than some of the crud they show like "Kids Next Door" and other stuff like that. UGGHH! It's the first show I've ever seen that uses flash for TV. I really like Craig McCrackins work like the Powerpuff Girls and (the older) Dexter's Lab.

[Chason]

thanks alot for the advice ive been taking it into practice
ive been drawing every day i of corce have to folow along with class assingments currently its pen and ink drawing from real images or still life with our own ideas on things.

[mikeparker]

Nice work Ape,
You've got a pretty envious job- I would love to work on a great project like Foster's. I've watched a couple of episodes and I'm still impressed that it's flash. Very well done.

I'm a flash animator myself www.collegeuniv.com - We focus mainly on story and writing, so most of time, the animation lacks depth. But since I'm the sole animator, I don't have the time to be as meticulous as I want.

We've been trying to get to TV for awhile now, and we recently scored the voices of Macho Man Randy Savage, Cynthia Rothrock, and the band O.A.R. - So it's always cool to see a Flash based cartoon on TV- makes me wanna work harder.

I've been wanted to do a side project of my own where the focus is the animation- Would you mind telling me the fps and screen size you use?

Thanks in advance, and again- nice work

[Animated Ape]

Hi Mike, and welcome to the Forums. I'm glad you like our show. We have a great production team working on this show, and we are trying to push the medium, and are pretty happy with the results so far. But we are by no means satisfied.

I actually applied to collegeuniv. a few years back, but then never contacted me back. It all worked out though. :D

The best way to start working on your own project is just to start. We work at 24 frames per second at 720 by 540, which I think is pretty standard. If you have any other questions feel free to ask, I'll try and answer them.

Aloha,
The Ape

[pcdoctor]

Mike,

I saw your cartoons about two plus years ago.

I think the show is great.

[mikeparker]

Hey pcdoctor,
Thanks for checkin out the show, glad you like it. We're working on the new episode now- hopefully to be out next month.

Ape-
Thanks for getting back to me, I'm sorry I never replied to your email way back- I wish I knew about it. In all fairness I've lost all my emails on several occaisions when I would change servers and whatnot...but I still wish I got back to you. Eventhough I don't make any money from the show :)

Okay cool, so 24 fps and 720x540 - Thats kinda what I thought, but for some reason I was thinking 30 fps would be better for flash to TV...but 24 makes much more sense.

I assume that each studio has it's own method to production, but I've heard that one method is to do each scene in it's own Flash file, export it to swf, and then import it into After Effects to handle any effects, or camera movements- then bring it all together with a program like Final Cut Pro, etc. Is this what you guys do?
Sorry for the long-winded post, but one more question- From what I understand you can't use movie clips for any of the animation, is that right?

Thanks again Ape, for letting me pick your brain!

Mike

[Saider E.]

Just to let u know both my neice and nephew, 4 and 5 years, like the show. Especially the character Bloo. And when they can remmember a characters name that means youve got something good!

PS i also like the shw as well. but then again i like anything Cxraig McCraken dishes out.

[Animated Ape]

Saider, I'm glad you and your family like the show. That's awsome that both boys and girls are liking the show. That's always a good feeling. Thanks.

Thats ok Mike, like I said, it all worked out. To me, 24 fps works best. It's easier to break in half, when animating on twos, and you also have less frames to animate. I do know a few studios that do animate at 30 fps.

As for compsiting, I'm really not sure what file type our guys use. I'll ask if I can remember. But yes, we do animate each scene seperately and then composit it all together in post, along with adding final sound and any FX needed.

Yep, "movie clips" bad. Always use make your symbols a "graphic." At least for animation. Not sure about website stuff. Movie clips won't animate when you export them out, so you'd have to go in and change the symbol's property to a "graphic" and it should work.

Aloha,
The Ape

[mikeparker]

Thanks again Ape- I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. I'm gonna start some preliminary sketches for my side project now...

Thanks

[Animated Ape]

I think our guys export out our shots as Quicktimes layer by layer, that way they can add effect to one part and not another if need be. But I'm not sure of the specifics as I've never used After Effects.

Aloha,
The Ape

[rumplekitty]

Hello. I just wanted to say that I just started watching the show recently, and I think it's really cool. So your show is reaching college level girls, too. Great work.

[Animated Ape]

Awsome Rumplekitty, I'm glad you like our show. It is a great show, and is a lot of fun to work on. We hope that shows in our episodes. Oh, and welcome to the AWN forums Rumplekitty.

Oh, and we also got word from Atlanta, that we are getting picked up for another 2 seasons. Go Flash Animation Group!!!

Mahalo,
the Ape

[bredlo]

Oh, and we also got word from Atlanta, that we are getting picked up for another 2 seasons. Go Flash Animation Group!!!

Longtime animator, first time poster here...

Wow, Ape. That's wonderful news, I can't wait!

I caught onto Foster's a bit later than most here, (about 2 weeks ago) but have made up for lost time by burning all 9 episodes (including pilot) that have aired since then onto DVD via TiVo.

Just a fantastic show in every sense: concept, writing, storyboarding and animation. I'm simultaneously thrilled and jealous to watch this series take off. Congrats.

Brad

[Chason]

by far my favorite cartoon on regular CN it honestly blows the rest away much love :D

[JAMESpARNELL]

My lady friend and myself, both, love the show! She isn't into cartoons as much as I am so, that's a complimant, all in itself... We are both 21, in case you were still wondering about age groups.

I love the one where blues playing the paddle game. "One! One! One!" Haha good stuff!

[Marcos]

I guess that I'm the older one here. Oh well. :D

The show is absolutely FANTASTIC, just to have something about to start: story premises, characters, plot, visual stuff( enough said, since I even wouldn't know from where to start, by the way; they aired the FHIF movie just this last Saturday here in Brazil, and I'm NOT ashamed to say that I almost had my eyes glued to the screen; kinda difficult to can watch it in such wonder and already draw fanart( laugh )for it, but I can't wait for the actual episodes - the first one will be aired this next Friday, and I just want to know more )... and everything that just don't come to my mind right now, but you can figure what I mean.

I'm aware that it can sound so very silly and pretemptious, but, as I work as a teacher here, there's something I'd highly reccomend( I know, I KNOW, it SOUNDS strange, but, what else to say? It's commendable, so what... ? )for both parents and their kids watch altogether - as for myself, though( speaking as an laready fan here ), I specially liked the way the grown-up characters( Mac's mother, Frankie and Madame Foster )were developed, too!


Congratulations!

[Spoooze!]

Very nicely done stuff :) Keep up the good work Ape!

[Animated Ape]

Thanks for the kind words Marcos and Spooze. We're glad you like our show. Actually a lot of adults like the show, esspecially ones with kids.

Just to let everyone in the states know, new episodes for the second season starts later this month in Jan 2005. Don't miss the first episode.

Aloha,
the Ape

[Stribs]

Hi, Great show! I may of missed it in previous replies, but what is your job on the show? Is your name in the credits, id look out for it! And can i just ask what Tivo is where someone said they got all the episodes from????

[Animated Ape]

My name is Erik Girndt, and I'm one of the 10 animators at our Burbank studio.

TiVo is a digital recording thing, so instead of taping shows to a vhs tape, it records it on a computer hard drive, so you can view it when ever you want. But the shows need to air in your area first.

Aloha,
the Ape

[chick]

Hi, excellent show, love watching it with the kids and husband!

I have a question. In the new episode "Partying is such Sweet Soiree" Bloo uses Madame Foster's Trans Am to find Mac. How do I get images of this car if I don't have a DVR or Tivo? I have a Trans Am and am in a local car club and loved it when this episode aired.

[pcdoctor]

Oh boy junk email.
I never thought this would show up on this forum.


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So, as each post is downloaded and the directions carefully followed, six members will be reimbursed for their participation as a List Developer with one dollar each. Your name will move up the list geometrically so that when your name reaches the #1 position you will be receiving thousands of dollars in CASH!!! What an opportunity for only $6.00 ($1.00 for each of the first six people listed above) Send it now, add your own name to the list and you're in business!

---DIRECTIONS ----- FOR HOW TO POST TO NEWSGROUPS------------
Step 1) You do not need to re-type this entire letter to do your own posting. Simply put your cursor at the beginning of this letter and drag your cursor to the bottom of this document, and select 'copy' from the edit menu. This will copy the entire letter into the computer's memory.

Step 2) Open a blank 'notepad' file and place your cursor at the top of the blank page. From the 'edit' menu select 'paste'. This will paste a copy of the letter into notepad so that you can add your name to the list.

Step 3) Save your new notepad file as a .txt file. If you want to do your postings in different settings, you'll always have this file to go back to.

Step 4) Use Netscape or Internet explorer and try searching for various newsgroups (on-line forums, message boards, chat sites, discussions.)

Step 5) Visit these message boards and post this article as a new message by highlighting the text of this letter and selecting paste from the edit menu. Fill in the Subject, this will be the header that everyone sees as they scroll through the list of postings in a particular group, click the post message button. You're done with your first one! Congratulations...THAT'S IT! All you have to do is jump to different newsgroups and post away, after you get the hang of it, it will take about 30 seconds for each newsgroup! **REMEMBER, THE MORE NEWSGROUPS YOU POST IN, THE MORE MONEY YOU WILL MAKE!! BUT YOU HAVE TO POST A MINIMUM OF 200**
That's it! You will begin receiving money from around the world within days! You may eventually want to rent a P.O.Box due to the large amount of mail you will receive. If you wish to stay anonymous, you can invent a name to use, as long as the postman will deliver it. **JUST MAKE SURE ALL THE ADDRESSES ARE CORRECT.**

Now the WHY part:
Out of 200 postings, say I receive only 5 replies (a very low example). So then I made $5.00 with my name at #6 on the letter. Now, each of the 5 persons who just sent me $1.00 make the MINIMUM 200 postings, each with my name at #5 and only 5 persons respond to each of the original 5, that is another $25.00 for me, now those 25 each make 200 MINIMUM posts with my name at #4 and only 5 replies each, I will bring in an additional $125.00! Now, those 125 persons turn around and post the MINIMUM 200 with my name at #3 and only receive 5 replies each, I will make an additional $626.00! OK, now here is the fun part, each of those 625 persons post a MINIMUM 200 letters with my name at #2 and they each only receive 5 replies, that just made me $3,125.00!!! Those 3,125 persons will all deliver this message to 200 newsgroups with my name at #1 and if still 5 persons per 200 newsgroups react I will receive $15,625,00! With an original investment of only $6.00! AMAZING! When your name is no longer on the list, you just take the latest posting in the newsgroups, and send out another $6.00 to names on the list, putting your name at number 6 again. And start posting again. The thing to remember is: do you realize that thousands of people all over the world are joining the internet and reading these articles everyday?, JUST LIKE YOU are now!! So, can you afford $6.00 and see if it really works?? I think so... People have said, &quote;what if the plan is played out and no one sends you the money? So what! What are the chances of that happening when there are tons of new honest users and new honest people who are joining the internet and newsgroups everyday and are willing to give it a try? Estimates are at 20,000 to 50,000 new users, every day, with thousands of those joining the actual internet.
Remember: play FAIRLY and HONESTLY and this will really work.

Thank you, and have a nice day! :)

[Rolf_DeWolf]

I haven't seen the show (I'm in Europe). I'm intrested in how you animate it in Flash, is it drawing after drawing, or do you use motion tweens? Also, the drawings, do you make them directly in the computer (for example, with a Wacom Intuos), or do you first do pencil art, scan it etc.? I'm really interested :D

[Animated Ape]

I know Spam posts suck pcdoctor, but thanks for quoting the whole post again. ;) Oh come on, I kid :D

I'm glad you and your whole family enjoys our show Chick. Would you mind saying how old your children are, and are they boys or girls? Thanks. I always like to know who likes our show. So far it seems pretty equal between boys and girls. As for the Maddam Foster's Firebird, I don't really know how you could get a copy of it. I think TiVo would be your best bet.

Rolf, we use every technique we can to animate our show. We work mostly with symbols, but everynow and then, we have to animate a new drawing frame by frame. Like traditional, but not on paper, straight into the computer. We do use tweens, but we also animate frame by frame with the symbols too. All the characters are designed by our character designers first on paper, then scanned in, and inked and colored. Us animators do frequently create new assets when we need them, like hands, feet, bodies, etc. So in essence all your are questons are right. We do all those things and more.

I hope that answers some of your questions, and didn't confuse you even more. :D Oh, and I believe they are starting to show "Foster's" on Cartoon Network UK, if you get that in Belgium.

Aloha,
the Ape

[Rolf_DeWolf]

Thanks for the answers! It has quenched my thirst for knowledge a bit :D We only get Nickelodeon in the part where I live in Belgium (the cable companies are evil!!) For example: if I just go to my mother's home (she lives a 40 minute drive away) you CAN get Cartoon Network. But it's the Dutch one, anyways, I'll be sure to check the listings to see if they're gonna show it. But usually the show first get dubbed in Dutch in the Netherlands. (I prefer the original English, but oh well...).

[chick]

I'm glad you and your whole family enjoys our show Chick. Would you mind saying how old your children are, and are they boys or girls? Thanks. I always like to know who likes our show. So far it seems pretty equal between boys and girls. As for the Maddam Foster's Firebird, I don't really know how you could get a copy of it. I think TiVo would be your best bet.

Thanks Ape, I'll keep my search up for clips or screenshots. ;) Our ages are:
Me: 42
Husband: 38
Boy: 9
Girl: 5

Keep up the great work!

[Poddo]

I'd jsut like to say that me and my girlfriend LOVE Foster's, and we're seniors in high school. I'd also like to ask anyone if they notice a similarity in fosters to the opening of Monster's Inc, where the monsters are going in and out of the doors. For some reason, whenI see Foster's, it makes me think of that. Anyway, great job with the show Ape :)

[pcdoctor]

You know, I started to say that the monster with the horns reminded me of Monster's Inc.

[madaman90]

i simply cannot believe that this thread is still going. :eek:

[JamFactory]

Hello everyone,

My first post here, i stumbled across this topic searching for the Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends theme!

I'm a web designer and a bit of a budding animator and when i read that Fosters is created in Flash i was blown away !!!!

I made a 37 second animation in Flasha while back for something i started and it took me 10 straight hours to do !! (if you'd like to see how i wasted 10 hours - check it out here: http://www.jam-factory.com/film/Conquisitor-Visual-WIP.mpg )

Anyways, i just wanted to give props to 'Ape' for the show, it's by far THE best thing on television (im 23 years old and all i watch is cartoons because lets face it, everything else is reality tv crap!)

Anyways, keep up the fantastic work on the funniest animated thing ive seen in along time!!!

Gav

[Animated Ape]

Thank you Jam Factory for the kind words, and I'm glad you like our show.

Just to let everyone know, new episodes are starting up again this friday the 11th. We kick off this month with two 11 minute episodes. One entitled "Bloo's Brothers" and the other one is "Sight for Sore Eyes." I belive it airs at 7 pm but check your local listings to make sure. There should be a new episode every Friday this month and they'll re-run episodes next month. Hope you enjoy the show.

Mahalo,
the Ape

[BlooJIm]

Hi, Eric. My name's James Craven and I enjoy the show. I believe that the show is the funniest cartoon on television right now.

My six-year-old nephew, Eddie, loves Bloo. I was wondering - I know there's a handful of Foster's items either out right now (on the Cartoon Network's shopping site) or coming soon (such as the Scholastic books this summer), are there plans for any new items down the road that can be bought at mass merchandisers like Toys "R" Us or Wal-Mart? Also, when will we see the new episodes and can you give us a sneak preview of the next season?

Keep up the great work you, Craig, Lauren and everyone else is doing there in Beautiful Downtown Burbank!

[Dust Buster]

Foster's Home is one of the most brilliant cartoons I've ever seen. Bloo, Eduardo, and co. are some of the most memorable characters ever.

This show makes me glad I have TiVo, so I can go to school and watch it every day. This show needs a better time slot, so more people my age (I'm 17) can appreciate it.

I actually stumbled across this when searching high and low for a clip of Bloo rocking out on air guitar (from episode 4) that I can make an animated .gif from. Can anybody help me out here? :)

[Animated Ape]

Hi Jim and Buster, I'm glad you guys like our show. Jim, I'm not sure about our merchandizing plans. I know you can get the stuff off the website, but I'm not sure when they will hit the retail stores. Sorry, I just make the stuff move :D

As for the new season, they are currently showing the second season now. They are stagering it though, so it's a month of new shows, then repeats for a month, then new shows, and so on. This month are repeats though. I don't know when season three will start to air. Not for a while though.

Sorry Buster, don't know where you could find a pic of Bloo air guitaring. It's good to see Foster's hold the interest of highschool kids too. Enjoy.

Mahalo,
the Ape

[BlooJIm]

Thanks for the info, Eric. Can't wait for the new eps in May, I think.

[acetate assassin]

I'm an animation student that just graduated and i have to say, this show makes me glad to be an animator. It is imo the greatest cartoon(if not the greatest show) on TV right now. It's consistantly funny every episode, and Bloo, Edwardo, and Frankie are really great characters. (Bloo's my favorite) And i love the moments in the show when everybodies just frantically running around for whatever reason. I also love that the show is done in flash but still retains a traditional look to it.

They had that spring break marathon on cartoon network and i was in heaven. (i set my alarm to watch every morning)

I was wondering how you guys go about coming up with the storys and jokes for each episode. Do you guys just have a bunch of genius writers or does the whole studio contribute?

[Animated Ape]

Hi acetate, congratulations on graduating. That's awesome. I take it by your name you're a 3D animator?

I'm really glad you like our show, and thanks for all the complements. As for how we come up with the stories... genius writers. We have a writing staff that write all the scripts and gags first. Some stuff is added or deleted in the storyboard phase. We actually had a big story-brainstorming session a while back where everyone on the staff was invited to toss out ideas for up coming shows. They weren't very detailed, just little ideas, or senarios or even just titles. It was a really fun experience. For the most part though, the writers write, the animators animate and the blue bird sings in the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room. :D

I hope that helps you out some. I'm glad you like Bloo, he's my favorite character to animate, and I work with him a lot.

Aloha,
the Ape

[ScatteredLogical]

I dare say he's becoming the star of the show if he wasn't before. He's got the Daffy Duck charm: I am a self-centered arse but I'm not an evil villain; I am simply totally invested in my own model of the world, a world in which my behavior is considered appropriate. So not really an anti-hero...his personality is too strong. Maybe an anti-villain? lol Somewhere inbetween? If you ever meet the voice actor, he really impresses me; do me a favor and shake his hand for me vicariously...

[Animated Ape]

I didn't think of the Daffy Duck thing Scattered. Thats really cool, I love Daffy. A lot of people like Bloo because he basicaly is Mac's Id, and Mac is the superego. Bloo does and says the first thing that comes to his mind. Everything is about him. He is everything that Mac isn't. Confident, outspoken, overbearing and selfish. And who doesn't want to be those things, or at least some of them. I'm not really any of those things, well except for maybe being selfish, but I get to be those things everytime I animate him, so I try to have as much fun with it as possible. Most of the time I block in the key poses with him, then step back and push those poses even further. The way I figure, the reserved me is doing the first version, then I push to pose past what I'm comfortable with and that gives Bloo his over the topness. Any way, rambling.

Aloha,
the Ape

[ScatteredLogical]

Those are the rambles I enjoy... =)

I like what you said on two accounts. The first makes good sense that it's a facet/extension of him because it's the product of his own imagination. It's something kind of simple but I never put that exact thought into it before.

The second is using Bloo as an outlet, and tapping into your inner Bloo to "do it right" so to speak. It's almost as if the Essence of Bloo is taking over you to animate himself! "Illusion" of Life my keister!

[BlooJIm]

Now, now Eric. Tell us how you really feel. Nah, j/k.

I have to say that Frankie (voiced by Ms. Grey DeLisle) is my favorite character. Especially in Everyone Knows It's Bendy where upon hearing Bendy saying that Frankie was a total poser about punk rock and that she was a dork, we hear her wimper "I'm punk rock". That line had me ROTFLMMFAO. Her voice is a natural fit for that character.

[Animated Ape]

I'm glad someone like my ramblings Scattered. :P

In my head I have all the characters have distinct personalities and I know, at least for myself, how each character would react to a situation. This helps me animate all the characters differently, so they all don't move the same. So I'm always thinking 'character' when I'm animating, and that's what makes it fun. When you see all these different characters having their own distinct personalities, that's what makes all the hard work worth while.

Yeah, Grey is awsome as Frankie. If it wasn't her voice, she would be a totally different character. We actually have a great voice cast, and that makes our jobs sooooo much easier. When we hear their voices, it's so easy to imagine what the character is thinking and feeling. That is so very key to animation. Who cares about celebrities, if the voice acting isn't there it's not going to work. Actually Brad Bird just talked about that on NPR on Monday 4/4/05, I think, on the show "Fresh Air." If you go to their website, you should be able to hear that interview. Any way, he goes on to talk about why he chose Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter and the rest of the cast. Some really good tid bits on that show.

Rambling.

Aloha,
the Ape

[fosterslover]

i was just wondering how you came up with the idea for the look of the mansion. was it just something you thought up, or did you get different ideas from real houses?

[BlooJIm]

Well, to unofficially answer that question, they must have looked at pictures of old Victorian mansions, because I see them in my neighborhood around here before they converted them into multi-function homes for more than one family.

[Spoooze!]

Hey Ape,
I've been meaning to ask you this but is any of Fosters done over seas? Because I looked in the credits and it said: "Overseas Animation Studio" or something like that. Is it just parts being done overseas or is some done overseas and some isn't or what?

Spoooze!

[BlooJIm]

Yes, Spoozeroo, they do some work at Boulder Media Ltd in Ireland. It just so happens there's an office in LA they communicate with. Their web site is located at http://www.bouldermedia.tv.

[Spoooze!]

Okay, thank you :D

Spoooze!

[BlooJIm]

As they say on Dora The Explorer...
"De nada!"

[Animated Ape]

Actually I'm not to sure how they came up with the Foster's mansion fosterslover. It is based off of old Victorian houses like BlooJim said, but I don't know if it's based off of any one house in particular. Craig McCracken who created the show, along with our show's art director, Mike Moon, as well as others came with the whole look of our show, character design, backgrounds, color stuff like that. I'm just responsible making the characters act and move.

Which brings me to the second question from Spoooze! Yes about half of the episodes are animated by Boulder Media in Ireland. The preproduction work is done here at the Burbank Studio and is then sent to Boulder for animation, pretty much the same way all american TV animation has been done since the 70's.

Aloha,
the Ape

[ranmah]

I like the show. It starting to show in Cartoon Network Taiwan. I would like to hear the English voice actors. The Taiwanese Voice Actors do a good job.

[BlooJIm]

I was wondering, what are the character's names in Taiwan?

[ranmah]

I don't know. I don't speak chinese.

[BlooJIm]

Do any of your friends speak Chinese? Please ask them and post them in this thread.

And to Animated Ape, is there plans for a Christmas and/or Holiday episode in the works? Maybilly an Easter episode too with Mr. Herriman playing the Easter Bunny?

[ranmah]

there is a site: http://www.cartoonnetwork.com.tw

Foster's: http://www.cartoonnetwork.com.tw/jsp/minisite/fosters/main/index6.html

[BlooJIm]

I can't read Chinese letters.

[eon01]

Just thought I'ld join just to say how great the show is. cant believe its all done on flash. Here are some other great flash animaitions. http://www.tgsnt.com/tgsnt_II/pca/

forgive me if they've already been posted.

[BlooJIm]

So, the folks at Cartoon Network in the UK got a surprise yesterday (4/29) when they aired "My So-Called Wife". What is up with that?

[Animated Ape]

Yeah Bloojim, I guess Cartoon Network UK shows the whole season one right after another as opposed to here in the US were they are currently showing new episodes ever other month. Why? I have no idea. I just make em move. :D

Also this friday there will be a new episode for Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends. The episode will be "Mac Daddy," in which Mac inadvertantly creates another imaginary friend while he was asleep. Check your local listings but I believe it airs at 7:00 pm this Friday, May sixth. Happy viewing.

Mahalo,
the Ape

[BlooJIm]

To Eric, Craig, Lynn, Keith, Grey and everyone at Foster's and Boulder Media Ltd. for their two Punchinella Awards wins at the Cartoons by the Bay festival in Positano, Italy for Best Character (Blooregard Q. Kazoo) and Best Animated Series for All Audiences.

[ranmah]

I only got to see a few blurps of Fosters on Taiwan CN.

It seems like an interesting show. I don't see it that much. I guess it takes a while to translate the show into mandarin.

[echi]

i love Fosters. i think its a great but i think Craig McCracken should do a show based on teenagers because i think it will make a great show. :) What Do you guys think?

[BlooJIm]

IMHO, that'd be a longshot.

[Animated Ape]

Why would teenagers make a great show echi?

Aloha,
the Ape

[BlooJIm]

Yeah, Erik. Why would teenagers make a good show?

[ScatteredLogical]

Well, for -starters-, it's never been -done- before.

*holds in giggles for dear life*

[Spoooze!]

I think you mean done WELL right?

[ScatteredLogical]

I think I was being sarcastic.

[Doob]

Awesome lil show you've got there, Ape... :D ... Congrats!

Good 'ol creative 2D is hard to find now-a-days. Keep it alive, brutha.

*Rubs paddles together*.... CLEAR!!... *PZZzzz!*

[Spoooze!]

I think I was being sarcastic.

I know that ;) I was just adding to your post.

[Animated Ape]

Thanks Doob, glad you like the show. By the way, new episode this Friday. I can't remember which one it is though.

Sorry Echi, I didn't mean to shut you down or anything, I was just hoping for more of an explanation about the Teen thing. I'm not sure by making people older or younger makes a show better or not, it's in the writing. I think a good example is Rugrats. It was a very popular show, then they had them grow up, and I think they lost their audience. I'm sure McCracken could do a really good teen cartoon, but I'm not sure if he would want to.

Aloha,
the Ape

[pcdoctor]

I also prefer the Rugrats as babies.

Thanks Doob, glad you like the show. By the way, new episode this Friday. I can't remember which one it is though.

Sorry Echi, I didn't mean to shut you down or anything, I was just hoping for more of an explanation about the Teen thing. I'm not sure by making people older or younger makes a show better or not, it's in the writing. I think a good example is Rugrats. It was a very popular show, then they had them grow up, and I think they lost their audience. I'm sure McCracken could do a really good teen cartoon, but I'm not sure if he would want to.

Aloha,
the Ape

[BlooJIm]

BTW, Erik, it's "Sweet Stench of Success".

[pcdoctor]

IMDB, impressive.

Cbrubaker, how did you know this was Ape's real name?
I noticed that Candy Milo is one of the voices on the show.
She used to voice "The Flea", "Mama" and "The Headmistress" on Mucha Lucha.
I see that she did Dexter sometimes too.

[BlooJIm]

[Nelson Muntz]Hah-HA![/Nelson Muntz]

Never gets old.

Anywho, the final three episodes of Season Two have been scheduled for the first three weeks of July: Bye Bye Nerdy on July 1st, Bloo Done It on July 8th and My So-Called Wife on July 15th.

So, Eric, when will Season Three debut?

[Stringer]

The backdrops are beautiful, how are these created, in Illustrator as I read in a previous post ? Are these comped into Flash so you can animate with them or is it done in After Effects later ?

Sorry, not Flash savvy, hence questions if this sounds dumb.

[hel™]

Hello!

I have to say that the three of us in our family love the show! We're wondering - is it or will it be available on DVD? Our 1 year old thinks it's fantastic, she dances to the music and is mesmerised by the colours - her dad and I enjoy the finer details! We'd love a copy to have at home - mostly because when she's teething or screaming her head off, if it's on the tv it calms her down instantly!! So basically, we need a copy to save our sanity!!

Hel :p

[Animated Ape]

Yes Stringer, the BG's are created with Illustrator. If the characters need to interact with the BG or needs to be at a specific angle, we get them to animate to. If not, then we don't really need them first, and are added in durring compositing. Actually all the BG's are added durring compositing with After Effects. Don't worry about dumb sounding questions, if you don't know, you don't know. That's what these things are for, to ask questions and hopefully get answers.

Glad to hear your whole family enjoys the show Hel. It's nice to know that it appeals to a wide range of ages. As for DVD's? Your guess is as good as mine :P I haven't heard that it's going to DVD, and I'm not sure if they would tell us in advance. I'm sure it will, just don't know when. Sorry.

Aloha,
the Ape

[gabemarchionda]

YOu don't have to answer but I am just curious what do you get paid for doing this, are you like under a 2 year contract or do u get paid per episodE???????

[mikeparker]

Hi Ape-
It's Mike from College University again. I must say I am completely addicted to Foster's at this point- Bloo's facial expressions are amazing...simple, and strong and also cracks me up.

I'm currently working on a pilot episode of our show, and was wondering if you could tell me the dimensions for the action and title safe zones on a 720x540 screen? Or, if at all possible to send a template with just the dimensions on it?

Or does another department worry about the safe zones in post?

I've tried a search online and can't seem to find anything.

Thanks in advance, and keep up the great work!

[BlooJIm]

And...loving it.

[Animated Ape]

Hi Mike, you can download an fla with title safe from Bluehicky's website. He has a lot of great tutorials and suck on his site http://clubhouse.cartoonsolutions.com/tutorials.html

Flash used to have a template with the titlesafes already on it, but I can't seem to find them on my version, mx2004. Blue's should work, they are the same dimensions that we use on Fosters.

gabe, I can't really tell you how much we get paid, but it is a very comfortable wage to live on in the LA area. Not enough to buy a house, esspecially not in today's market, but comfortable none the less. We are considered contract workers, so we are basicly as long as there is work for us to animate.

Aloha,
the Ape

[mikeparker]

Thanks Ape!
You rock and/or roll!

I'll post some animation updates as they come along

[TarekZ]

Hey, this is my first time posting on this board! Foster's is really, really cool. I love it a lot. And I am absolutely shocked to hear that it's in flash. I hold Foster's in the highest animation respect.

I do have a question; Where can I get the theme song? It just makes me wanna dance and spin around! If there's a link or if someone has a full copy of it and can send it to me through a file, that would be so nice. Thanks!!!


Tarek

[SMD]

Seriously. I admire you so much.

I watch my two cousins three times a week, and during our two hour "sessions," Foster's is always on the agenda. I'm a 17 year-old male, my one cousin is 7 and loves the show, basically laughs hysterically. My other cousin is 3 and she loves everything Coco. As do I, I must say.

This show is ingenious. It is quality television. It makes me laugh so hard, but still appeals to younger audiences as well. It's very hard to do that IMHO.

And Coco is SOO funny.

I love the mall episode where she constantly changes "sides." Hilarious.
Also love the Terrence/Red episode. Too funny.

Great work!

[BlooJIm]

My favorite episodes are (in ramdom order):

Store Wars
Frankie My Dear
Mac Daddy
Sweet Stench of Success
Sight for Sore Eyes/Bloo's Brothers
My So-Called Wife

And TarekZ, here's a link to the theme music for you:

http://www.venablemusic.com/soundclips/fosters/fosters-main-full.mp3

Enjoy!

[DarkCrawler]

Hi all,
I'm a fan of 3D animation, since last month I'm running noncommercial website which provide multimedia content for smartphone especially short movie, till now I'm collecting stuffs from the internet (some of them i believe come from your work :p ), I would be honoured if you guys can contribute some fresh 3d animation for my site, please tak a look, and let me know if you interested, Thanks and keep ya kool work guys

[Animated Ape]

Being from Hawaii, I love Spam and all, but...huh? :confused:

[BlooJIm]

WTH? :confused: :confused: :confused:

[juako]

Erik could you tell me how the show is animated for example you put the character in the scene, then you put the keys then the in between (how would you do the in between) and then i don know maybe camera moves,...

somthing lik this i dont know if the steps are rigth or maye you need another step.thanks :)

[Animated Ape]

Hi juako and welcome to the Forums.

"...you put the character in the scene, then you put the keys then the in between..."

That's pretty much exactly how the show's animated. We inbetween the keys frame by frame, use the tween function now and then, as well as animating some out. The camera moves are done in post with After Effects.

Aloha,
the Ape

[Spoooze!]

I don't know if this has been adressed, sorry if it has,
but do you do the show frame by frame with a Wacom tablet? Or are the characters pre-made or what? It has a very traditional look for Flash...

Spoooze!

[Animated Ape]

Most of the animators use Wacoms. A couple Cintiques, and some use the mouse. What ever the animator prefers. There are model packs of the characters that have asset libraries that are used. Some actions need to be animated straight through traditionally in the computer while other shots you can reuse symbols. When I say frame by frame, I usually mean that the animator keys everyframe and does it manually versus setting two keys and then letting the computer tween the symbols.

Aloha,
the Ape

[juako]

Erik
if a character have to do something like moving his arm or another part, witch part would you move first?
I always have doubts with this when I am animating and sometimes I get messy results. :D
p.d. could you give me a good advice on timing

[Haredevil_Hare]

Our show, "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends," is on this month's cover of "Animation Magazine." There is also a multi page article about our show and with the show's creator, Craig McCracken. So happy reading. :)

The Ape

I for one would like to congradulate you and the crew on that show. Most often, I feel that Flash animation looks like 2D's retarded cousin. Even some Flash shows that people find wonderfully done, the Flash elements ruin it for me.

However, with this show, alot of those problems have been neutralized somehow. I mean, it's Flash but it looks almost as good as 2D. There's no sense that these characters are Flash robots trying to look 2D, they just look 2D and wonderful.

I won't ask you how you accomplished that because that's a trade secret and I'm sure you wouldn't want any of your competition to get wind of it. I'd just like to say "Hats off to ya! Keep up the good work." :cool:

[Animated Ape]

Thanks Haredevil. We just tried to treat it like animation, and using all the principles of animation; arcs, anticipation, squash and stretch, weight, overlapping action... all that good stuff. Of course I'm biased , but I still think it's one of the most "animated" shows out there today.

Mahalo,
the Ape

[Animated Ape]

Hi Juako. I'm not to sure I understand, but you asked about an arm moving up and then down, and what part of the arm moves first. We'll use your icon as the example. There are going to be three animation principles going on in the action. Anticipation, overlapping action, and over shoots. Though I guess technically over shoots aren't one of the 12 principles, but hey if anticipation is one, so should over shoots. Right? Huh? Huh? Anyone?

Things tend to move from the center of a body out. So with the arm being held out like you have it. First thing that's going to happen is the arm is going to relax slightly before the action. This happens because a muscle can contract more efficently from a more relaxed possition than from a contracted position. So the arm is going to drop down slightly.

Then on the way up the shoulder will rise up first, followed by the elbow and then the wrist. Each part following slightly behind the part in front. They will then stop in the same order, shoulder first, then elbow, then wrist. Nothing with multiple joints stops, and starts for that matter, all at once.

When the arm stops at the top, it will do what's called an over shoot. The arm will reach it's highest point in the movement, and then settle to a slightly lower position. Try and do the same action with your own arm and you will see what I mean. The arm will over shoot it's final ending pose and then settle back. Also for the ball, the ball will stay in the hand the whole way untill the first frame of the overshoot. In other words don't have the ball leave the hand before the arm starts coming back down. Not that you did that, but I thought I'd add it in for good measure. :D

Hope that helps you out some Juako.

Aloha,
the Ape

[juako]

That’s just perfect!!! You clear my doubt. I cant apply all the suggestion in my icon because the arm its just a single graphic, however, from now on I will animate with those ideas. I had doubts, but with “Things tend to move from the center of a body out” and “ Nothing with multiple joints stops, and starts for that matter, all at once” you clear them. I’m going to print the 13 principles :D and put them in my desk wall so I never forget them. My dream is to be able to animate like its animated Foster you don’t get an idea of how many times I watch every episode from foster and pass the action in slow motion I just love what you are making.

The first time I saw foster I was in the USA and I just love them but when I came back to Uruguay and saw them in Spanish I love them even more. Bloo´s voice in Spanish its more finnier than in English. Its my opinion maybe I like them more because its more familiar to my ears. I prefer to watch movies or tv program in English but I cant know why I prefer foster in Spanish.

I can’t wait to see your tutorials in your web!!!

[kdiddy13]

I'm dying to see it! I didn't have cable when it came out in the US and now I'm out of the country (and still with out cable). Does anyone know if it's coming out on DVD soon?

Thanks for the animation lessons, Ape. They're very helpful.

[Dizieball]

Just to add to the list, I have to say in all my days of loving cartoons, thats 21 years now, this has got to be one of the best. I love the fact that its wholesome and histarical, my flatmate and i both love watching Foster's Home!
Oh and I totally love the theme song, the kazoo is awesome, I want it as my ringtone on my mobile. Well now that ive let out my excitement, please return to your rather complicated flash production.

[Wontobe]

I'm dying to see it! I didn't have cable when it came out in the US and now I'm out of the country (and still with out cable). Does anyone know if it's coming out on DVD soon?

Thanks for the animation lessons, Ape. They're very helpful.
Check this link out.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419326/releaseinfo

[kdiddy13]

That seems to be just a "planned" release date as I can't find any info elsewhere that would indicate it's actually happened. At least it seems that they are planning a release. I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks for the link.

[Animated Ape]

Hey Juako, I'm glad that helped, and that what I wrote actually made sense. Your icon animation looks better already. Alittle variation goes a long way. The ball still looks too even. Remember to ease-in to the top pose, and to ease-out on the way down. I did alittle thumbnail of what I mean in an earlier post you can check out here. http://forums.awn.com/showthread.php?t=3100&page=5&pp=10
It's about halfway down the page.

You can keep the same timing you have, just vary up the spacing of the ball on the way up and on the way down.

As for Foster's coming out on DVD, I have know idea. I checked amazon, and they had nothing, so that release date is a bit off.

With all this hype kdiddy, you're finally gonna see it and think it's nothing special. :P

Aloha,
the Ape

[kdiddy13]

With all this hype kdiddy, you're finally gonna see it and think it's nothing special. :P

It's funny, somehow I missed your thumbnail explanation of the ball the last time it was posted (and yet I continued to argue, I've grown some since then ;)

And I doubt I'll be unimpressed. I'm a big fan of the McCracken and Tartakovsky animation style. I love how a seemingly simple animation style can be used so cinematically.

Anyway, it's nice having you give a glimpse into the exciting world of broadcast animation. I'm sure I speak for us all when I say we really appreciate it.

[juako]

Hey Erik thanks for your help, i will correct the problem with the boll , well its really a coin but its impossible to distinguish that in so low quality.
Today I was watching foster in an episode that appear a friend that’s look like it was taken from dr. Zeus books, watching how he was animated I realize that bloo´s hands are just one graphic and that graphic is over his body graphic with that they never have the problem that the hands are below his face (his eyes and mouth) they still have the problem that some graphics have lines and other not. Erik I want to know if my hypotheses are right and one more thing if you need a new graphic for the animation you draw it in flash or you ask for this graphic to another person because not always you can adapt graphics. Thanks again. IM GOING TO WATCH THE NEW EPISODE FROM FOSTER. :D :D :D :D
bye

[Animated Ape]

...watching how he was animated I realize that bloo´s hands are just one graphic and that graphic is over his body graphic with that they never have the problem that the hands are below his face (his eyes and mouth) they still have the problem that some graphics have lines and other not. Erik I want to know if my hypotheses are right...

Juako, I don't understand your question.

...if you need a new graphic for the animation you draw it in flash or you ask for this graphic to another person because not always you can adapt graphics.

It really depends. If it's something quick and easy, like an arm, the animators will usually draw it themselves. If it something more complicated like a specific hand that the director wants, or a facial expression, there is a person that will draw, and flash these out for the animators.

Aloha,
the Ape

[NOOB!]

yeh that show is real nice,another one making the 2d medium look great. :D

fantasmo show!

[juako]

The question is if bloos arm and hand its just one graphic
Like this:

[Animated Ape]

I'm still not quite sure if I understand your question, but yes, Bloo's hand and arm are one symbol. Sometimes we keep it as a symbol, and other times we leave it as raw artwork and animate it out frame by frame.

Once again, I'm not sure if that answer's your question, but I hope it helps.

Aloha,
the Ape

[juako]

Thanks your answer its perfect .

[BlooJIm]

By the way, congrats to Craig, Mike and Ed on their Emmy wins. They deserve it.

[Spoooze!]

Just wondering, I was searching around IMDB and found the Foster's page and saw that the show is rated TV-Y7 for the EDITED version and rated TV-PG for the unedited...
Is it true that the show is edited for content Ape? If so what for? Are there any unedited versions released on Adult Swim or anything?

Here's the page I saw it at (scroll down):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419326/maindetails

Spoooze!

[Animated Ape]

The only different versions of the show I've seen is from the premiere showings on "Fridays" and the re-showings on other days. This is just a difference in the credits. The one's on "Fridays" don't have the cold tag running durring the end credits. The show is not ment to be aired on "Adult Swim."

Aloha,
the Ape

[Spoooze!]

Okay lol. It just suprised me what I saw on IMDB.
Spoooze!

[jettug]

Hello Ape,
Its nice to meet the guy who is responsible for this great toon!!!!! Not only do I enjoy it but my son also does. Its a show we can both sit down and enjoy. Do you have any plans on bringing cheese back. My son cant stop talking about him and actually mimick's him pretty good. Do you have any sound clips of cheese that I can use as my e-mail alert?
Keep up the good work.

[Graphiteman]

Saw this for the first time, believe it or not, this past weekend. Wonderful...charming..

[Pooryorik]

Hi Ape,

I love the show! It's so hip--the animation reminds me of graphic art from the 50s. How did you manage to stay away from--you know... the perfect vector line? Some bits look like they were drawn by hand. How'd the Foster crew do that?

[Animated Ape]

A'las Poor Yorik, I can't go around giving away all our secrets now can I? :D But they use several different methods to not make it as crisp and vector looking.

I'm glad you like the show Graphiteman. Thanks for the kind words, that means a lot. I think it's really funny how some find it "wonderful and charming" and others can find the same show "hip." Those usually don't describe the same show :)

I'm glad you and your son enjoy the show Jettug. I'm not the guy created "Fosters" I was only an animator on the show. As for more Cheese... I donno, like Bloo said, a little cheese goes a long way :P I don't know if they plan on bringing Cheese back, but you never know. He is after all Mac's neighbor.

Aloha,
the Ape

[Graphiteman]

..........I'm glad you like the show Graphiteman. Thanks for the kind words, that means a lot. I think it's really funny how some find it "wonderful and charming" and others can find the same show "hip." Those usually don't describe the same show :)

.........

It was only one; The one with Bowling Paul.*

Not being hip, I don't recognise "hip" if it bit me on the leg.
That's a good thing. Sometimes nothing sadder than a hip fortysomething.:)

*was visiting someone who subscribed to the station that has Foster's..that's why only one so far.

[blinkmetoys]

Hey, this is my first post here. I HAD to join knowing somebody who works on Fosters posts here. My teacher gave us the link to this site at the beginning of the quarter so i have been keeping up with the news and today it directed me here. (i attend the Art Institute of Seattle)

anyway...to get back on topic. fosters home for imaginary friends!

This show is great. it is hilarious. Bloo is an awesome character. Probably one of the best ever created. His cosntant personality really helps. I love the Skribbles episode. The show is just awesome. Nice style, and oh man the animation. The animation is amazing. It is amazing how much life bloo has yet he is just a little blue blob. Some of the movements actually look 3D, mainly the facial movements, when they go up and down. Mac's walk cycle and run are so cool. I am always analyzing the animation in this show to see how you guys do things.

What character do you like to animate the most? do you specialize in one character like you mentioned earlier?

[Animated Ape]

Hi Blinkme, and welcome to the Forums. What subject does your teacher teach and what's your major at Art Institute Seattle? Just wondering.

Yeah, I really like Bloo as well. He was one of my favorite characters two animate mainly because he is so maliable that I'd like to push his poses and shapes when he'd move from pose to pose. I also really enjoyed animating Mac and Frankie as well.

No, they don't assign specific characters to certain animators. It's more by what each animator is better at. Some are better at action, so they get the action scenes. Other's are better at subtle animation, so they get the subtle scenes. Then each animator is responsible for all the characters and animation in that shot they are assigned.

Aloha,
the Ape

[NOOB!]

so u gunna be upgrading to flash8 ape?

[blinkmetoys]

My teacher is a 2D animator. I have had him for intro to 2d animation and storyboarding already. He also teaches Audio for animation and portfolio classes. But the class I have him now in is Advanced 2d animation. I am majoring in animation. I just switched over into the Bachelor program after attending for a year now. "Media Arts and Animation" is what they call it.

I have some more questions about the show if thats alright. Flash was like the first thing i ever animated with. Back before i even started at the art institue. so its cool to know they actually do make shows with it. I mean i can tell some other shows that really look like they are made in flash, but Fosters doesnt really show off "hey, im made in flash"

anyway. So do you guys do hand drawn animations traditional style then scan them in and color them in flash (what we learned this quarter)? or do you just start straight from flash? Is a lot of the animation tweens? or any of it? is it frame by frame? Do you use a lot of Symbols? or movie clips, for like walks and runs? Do you usually end up with a lot of layers? like Head layer, body layer, face layer...kinda thing?

alright well, thats enough questions for now. haha. I will probably have some more depending on the answers i get :D

its time to be off to school actually, last day of the quarter!

Thanks for your time ape.

[HelterSkelter]

Hi Animated ape,

I stumbled on to this thread while browsing through other threads in the forum. I initially thought that this could be a thread posted by some "imaginary friends" fan and being a fan myself I decided to check the thread out. I was pleased to find the thread to be posted by someone who actually worked on the show, as it would give an oppurtunity to talk to an animator of a top notch animation show. I'd like you to know that show is gaining popularity in India too, and I am sure its unique look has got a lot to do with it.

I am eagerly looking forward for you to answer blinkmetoys' questions, as they are also the questions which went through my mind when I first saw the show.

Until next time,

HS.

[Animated Ape]

"So do you guys do hand drawn animations traditional style then scan them in and color them in flash (what we learned this quarter)?"

I've never done that, and not many other animators did that either. It's been done a few times, but it's not very practical to do that very often when they have to animate an entire 22 minute episode in 4 weeks.

"Is a lot of the animation tweens? or any of it? is it frame by frame? Do you use a lot of Symbols? or movie clips, for like walks and runs?"

Yes, quite a bit of the animation is tweened. We would key frame out the inbetweens if we need things move on arcs. We only use symbols, movie clips should only used for web page animation.

"Do you usually end up with a lot of layers? like Head layer, body layer, face layer...kinda thing?"

Since we use tweens, every symbol lives on their own layer. It's not uncommon to have upwards of 50 to 100 layers for very complicated scenes. :eek:

Aloha,
the Ape

[Spoooze!]

Hey Ape,
Just wondering, what's the hardest or most frustrating episode or scene you've worked on in Fosters? Are there any?

Spoooze!

[Animated Ape]

I can't remember the name of the episode. It was episode where Ed runs away and meets up with Terance and becomes a wrestler.

This was just a fustrating scene on so many levels. There was nothing too complicated about the animation, it was just a heavy, heavy, scene.

The scene starts off in a medium shot of one of the incidental teens talking to Ed, Edd and Eddy with the three of them in back 3/4 views. The first kid stops talking then Ed, Edd and Eddy turn to their opposite back 3/4 views and walk off. Then the camera trucks out some thing like 700% to reveal a huge wooden crate. Terrance comes walking in from screen left, pushing Wilt, Coco, Mac, and Bloo. Shoves them all in the crate. Slams the crate door shut. Then the crate jumps in the air with electric lightning effects all around it.

What made that scene so difficult is that with so many characters all animated in the scene, the file was so huge that it took forever to make changes. So what I ended up doing was animating each group in their own FLA. So I animated the first teen. Then I animated Ed, Edd and Eddy. Then I animated Terrance. Then animated the Foster's gang. Then had assemble them all together in on huge FLA, and Flash REALLLLLY didn't like doing that. It was no joking, copy, paste, go to lunch for an hour. What also made the scene complicated was that the first teen, and Ed, Edd, and Eddy were all incidentals and throw away gags, and were only in my scene. So I only had one pose for each character to work with. Not a big deal, as we do that a lot, but it didn't help matters any. I am pretty happy with how that sceen came out, even if it did take me two days longer than I budgeted for :D

Aloha,
the Ape

[blinkmetoys]

I have some Flash related questions if thats alright. Is there any way to link a symbol on a layer to a symbol in another? so that, for example. if i move the body of a character, their arms will go with it? Oh, and i asked a flash teacher this, and they werent sure...can you set up ease in and ease out in a tween? or do you just have to set frames between the two positions?

You mentioned above about some characters were given to you in one pose. So for each character are you given like a set of basic symbols to work with? then you create any special ones specific to the scene if need be?

How many symbols is Bloo? i mean he is just a simple shape...but he is so bendy, do you work with him as just a shape(in flash terms of what a "shape" is)? those crazy and unpredictable shape tweens? frame by frame shape movement?

and just curious, what kind of computers do you guys use? PC? Mac?

[BlooJIm]

For the record, Adam, that would be Eddie Monster.

[Animated Ape]

Blinkme, I'll answer your questions in the "Animator's Desktop" forum tomorrow. Sooo tired now..... 2 am in Germany....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. lol Check in there tomorrow and I'll post it as a new topic. Kay?

Aloha,
the Ape

[blinkmetoys]

haha. awesome new topic ape.

but i have a couple little fostersish related questions, so ill slap em in here.

Can we be expecting a Fosters DVD anytime in the future? haha.

oh and. you know on cartoon network...well...do you actually watch cartoon network? do you ever watch your own show? but anyway.....on CN they always do these little scenes before and after commercials. They have the 2d characters in shows in a 3d rendered environment doing various obscure things. (like samurai jack buying a broom. Billy and mandy digging a hole) Do you guys do the animation for the fosters characters in those?

Do you think you could get ahold of some development things from the show and give us a peek? like maybe a few storyboard panels? character designs/model sheets? a set of symbols for a character or...i dont know...just somethin kewl to look at. would make this place more Show and Tell ;)

[Pooryorik]

^ What Blinkmetoys said!

[Animated Ape]

I'm glad you like the new thread Blinkme. By all means keep posting Foster's questions and comments here. I just wanted to make a new thread that pertains more toward character animation.

Can we be expecting a Fosters DVD anytime in the future? haha.
I'm sure eventually they will put the seasons out on DVD. I don't know when though.

They have the 2d characters in shows in a 3d rendered environment doing various obscure things. (like samurai jack buying a broom. Billy and mandy digging a hole) Do you guys do the animation for the fosters characters in those?
Those 3D/2D bumpers are not animated by us. They are animated by a studio in Australia, but their name escapes me at the moment. They have posted job listing on AWN though.

Do you think you could get ahold of some development things from the show and give us a peek? like maybe a few storyboard panels? character designs/model sheets? a set of symbols for a character or...i dont know...just somethin kewl to look at. would make this place more Show and Tell ;)
No.

Aloha,
the Ape

[BlooJIm]

The group Erik was trying to tell you about is Animated Logic in Sydney, Australia if you know what I speak of.

[Spoooze!]

Do you think you could get ahold of some development things from the show and give us a peek? like maybe a few storyboard panels? character designs/model sheets? a set of symbols for a character or...i dont know...just somethin kewl to look at. would make this place more Show and Tell

Isn't that illegal lol?
Spoooze!

[Animated Ape]

Those are the guys Jim. Thanks. You can check out their work here: http://www.animallogic.com/home.html

I don't know about illegal Spooze, but it wouldn't be very professional of me. Besides, I think I tell you all enough don't I? :p

Aloha,
the Ape

[Spoooze!]

Those are the guys Jim. Thanks. You can check out their work here: http://www.animallogic.com/home.html

I don't know about illegal Spooze, but it wouldn't be very professional of me. Besides, I think I tell you all enough don't I?

Aloha,
the Ape

Those little "spots" on CN look great. I find it hard to belive those backgrounds are CG! They look like they are built by hand and shot with a camera!

lol ya illegal is not the best word now that i think of it. You probably would get in trouble with CN if you posted that stuff though. It is confidential am I right?

Spoooze!

[blinkmetoys]

well i didnt mean he would steal them and post away. Get aproval or whatever need be. I mean game studios post concept art and whatnot. Animation handouts ive gotten have simpsons storyboard panels and model sheets.

im just saying. i understand though. tis ok.

Do you animators get much face time with the shows creator, Craig McCracken? (sp?)

[Animated Ape]

McCracken is a very nice guy and very busy. He often busy with meetings, working on the story and script, and storyboards, and all that stuff. So he doesn't really have the time to look over every shot with every animator. But I'd see him pretty often in passing.

Aloha,
the Ape

[Spoooze!]

What's he like? Is he a good guy to work with (when you work with him that is)? Does he supervise any of the animation at all? Or is that another guys job and he works on the story?

Spoooze!

[blinkmetoys]

Do you guys actually do the audio (sfx. voices. etc.) in flash? like is the final audio from the flash file? or put in after with another program?

for you to sync up motion with sound is sound put in a flash file for you before you guys get to work on it? or do you actually slap them in and time it all out?

I guess i am also curious how timing things out works in this development. Since you have different people working on different parts is there somebody who dedicates how long this scene is and you fill it with the content?

Do you animators have meetings with the storyboard artist and or other people to review the episode and what needs to get done and how long?

[Animated Ape]

The audio is recorded in the recording studio. I'm not sure what software they use for that. Then the animatic ( storyboards timed out with the dialogue) is put together in After Effects I believe, but I'm not sure about that one. Then that gets chopped up in to scenes with the dialogue to be handed out to all the animators. The sound FX and music is added in post.

Lauren Faust is the Animation Director, and she goes over all the animation and if the animators have questions, they can ask her about it. McCracken has final say over everything though. He views the animation in batches about every week.

Aloha,
the Ape

[Spoooze!]

Lauren Faust is the Animation Director, and she goes over all the animation and if the animators have questions, they can ask her about it. McCracken has final say over everything though. He views the animation in batches about every week.

Okay thanks :D
Lauren Faust....
I've seen that name a lot on Foster's.

Speaking of which, I just saw the new one animated by Boulder Media. The one where Dutchess is adopted and Bloo and Mac try to get her back into Fosters.
LOL! FUNNY Lord of the Rings spoof :D
Madam Foster: Show no mercy, for if she get's back in, YOU SURE AS HECK WON'T GET ANY!

Wilt doing the skateboard thing was funny too.

Does Craig McCracken like Lord of the Rings? He seems to like spoofing it lol..

He's very creative.

Spoooze!

[blinkmetoys]

haha, yah that episode was cool. It was a nice little surprise. I totally was not expecting it then BAM. Quite dramatic. Good stuff.

attack of the killer tomatoes!

[blinkmetoys]

Oh man, Fosters is playing all the time now on cartoon network. it is awesome.

what framerate do you guys animate on?

[skinnylizard]

hi,
animated ape asked me to have a look here in response to one of my questions in another thread. i think this is easily one of the best reads on this forum. great stuff.
i do have a question though :) how is your animation process like you have explained different from something like Powerpuff girls or another flash show? (assuming u have the info)
thanx and congrats on a wicked job.

[Animated Ape]

The show is animated at 24 frames per second Blinkme.

Skinny, Power Puff Girls wasn't animated in Flash, it's a traditionally animated show, so it differs quite a bit. The process that is used on Fosters is pretty close to how some of the other Flash to broadcast show's are animated, with slight variations here and there. Thanks for the complement Skinny.

Aloha,
the Ape

[skinnylizard]

dude, do you ever sleep?
:)

why dont some of the traditional animators do the keys, digitise them and do the IBs in Flash, it can save some time
is there a drawback to that or do people already do that?
sorry if this is OT

[Ontaious]

Sleep? Is that a Yetish word or something? I don't understand... ;)

[Animated Ape]

Sleep does not compute.

If the animators drew ever key frame it would be a much slower process that what they do now. That way each new keyframe and part would have to be re Flashed out. What they do is have full turn arounds of the characters, along with a munch of and and mouth shapes. The animators then use those assests to make up the keys. That way things just need to be created once.

Aloha,
the Ape

[blinkmetoys]

it must be nice to have the stuff created and you just animate it.

In school it is pretty much all self designed, self made/drawn/modeled, self animated.

[skinnylizard]

Sleep does not compute.

If the animators drew ever key frame it would be a much slower process that what they do now. That way each new keyframe and part would have to be re Flashed out. What they do is have full turn arounds of the characters, along with a munch of and and mouth shapes. The animators then use those assests to make up the keys. That way things just need to be created once.

Aloha,
the Ape

well that makes sense but how does that work for angle changes? also arent the keys always different considering the myriad actions that would be taking place.

[Animated Ape]

Limited animated shows don't have very many high and low camera angles. As for moving the camera left and right, thats what the turn arounds are for. With the flat graphic style of the animation, side, front, 3/4, back 3/4 and back views cover everything the animators need.

Blinkme, I've worked at a bunch of places where, we the animators, had to create all the assets as well as animate. But yes, it is nice :) By learning to do everything, it will give you a better idea of what does and doesn't work later on. Also it gives you a better appreciation of what it takes when others are doing these jobs.

Thats one thing I've found, is when people haven't done everything, they tend to not understand what it takes to do a certain job. Also they tend to not know the terminology to comunicate properly. So learning every part of production is helpful and useful even if you aren't directly envolved with certain parts.

Aloha,
the Ape

[blinkmetoys]

Hey, ape. My friend as well is into fosters, and i was just talking to him over InstantMessanger when he was in the middle of watching an episode.

so he asks me "is dutchess 2d?"

then i was like "oh....good question"

Because i notice when dutches turns she goes flat then faces the other direction. Just like when you tween a flash symbol facing the opposite way.

So why is dutchess animated this way? is she paper thin in relation to the fosters world?

[skinnylizard]

Limited animated shows don't have very many high and low camera angles. As for moving the camera left and right, thats what the turn arounds are for. With the flat graphic style of the animation, side, front, 3/4, back 3/4 and back views cover everything the animators need.

Blinkme, I've worked at a bunch of places where, we the animators, had to create all the assets as well as animate. But yes, it is nice :) By learning to do everything, it will give you a better idea of what does and doesn't work later on. Also it gives you a better appreciation of what it takes when others are doing these jobs.

Thats one thing I've found, is when people haven't done everything, they tend to not understand what it takes to do a certain job. Also they tend to not know the terminology to comunicate properly. So learning every part of production is helpful and useful even if you aren't directly envolved with certain parts.

Aloha,
the Ape


oh yeah. that makes a whole lotta sense now. but i think the way your show in particular flows in and out it dosent make it feel like a limited animation show simply coz of its pace.
wicked. im gonna have to think a lot on this one.

[Animated Ape]

You pretty much nailed it Blink. She was created as a modern art/cubist imaginary friend and that's why she is treated very flat and ridgid when she moves.

Aloha,
the Ape

[streakofpiss]

hey, i'm new to the forum, a flash animator myself, and first of all i'd like to say i think the show rocks :)

I heard a rumour that in the pilot episode, there were members of the clockcrew in photos on the walls? is this true?

[blinkmetoys]

ooo, now im thinking about character backgrounds.

Is there any like reasoning Wilt is like missing most of on of his arms? or is it just in the character design, no real meaning or reason.

It is something i have always been asking myself when i see him: "whats the deal with his arm?"

[Animated Ape]

Glad you like the show Streak, and welcome to the Forums. I don't know who the Clockcrew is, pluss the Pilot wasn't animated by the Burbank team, so I don't know if they are in the pilot or not.

All the imaginary friends have back stories. ;) Take a good look at Coco and try and figure out her backstory :)

Aloha,
the Ape

[streakofpiss]

It's hard to believe the program is done in flash, made a great job of it, everything just works so well... my animations don't tend to flow so well in flash.

Do you have any other flash animations i could look at?

EDIT: and a question on the animation, from the looks of the animation most is just moving symbols? but are the symbols moved frame by frame or with motion tweens?

[blinkmetoys]

All the imaginary friends have back stories. Take a good look at Coco and try and figure out her backstory
the product of a child loving sugar/chocolate/candy? haha.

or should i read farther into it?

like maybe her head is a cocoa tree, and her body is like a plane that exports the cocoa to other parts of the world...or...whatever the history of cocoa is. and shes a bird because a coocoo bird has kind of a similar name? plus there is the whole COO COO for COCOA PUFFS bird.

[Col. Phorbin]

Hiya Ape,

I love the show. The best and most animated show on TV and finally a show with characters that are pleasing to the eye. I've got one question for you.
You say the characters are animated in Flash then composited with the backgrounds in After Effects. So when you are done animating in Flash how do you output the animation to easily use it wth After Effects? Do you use a colored background in Flash that is cut out in AE or do you make a mask or something in AE? Thanks for answering all the questions it has been exetremely informative and keep up the great work! :)

[skinnylizard]

im going to say this is one of the better Flash made shows on tv and i think its more so because the production studio is within and closely allied to the creative team and the supervision is immediate.
while this must be f****** expensive, the result is there to see.

[DeadSquid]

I don't know if i've comented here yet. but I love Foster's. It's a great inspritation.

My two favorite episodes have to be the one with Blue's party. Mac hopped up on all that sugar, hilarious!

Number two, is the one where Mac and Blue spent the whole episode trying to get downstairs and always ending up back on the roof. hehe.

Oh, and the episode with Cheese.

[Animated Ape]

I don't know After Effects Phorbin, I just animated and let the compositing team work their voodoo.

The animation costs are pretty close to shipping it overseas, so thats not a big issue.

Mahalo,
the Ape

[Tazz]

Hi All,

Actually there is an awesome tool to do just that. You can have an unlimited number of layers in Flash. Then choose export, it will export in 3 formats, SWF, Quicktime, and PNG with alpha support. You can select frame ranges, and layers to export to. It even has the ability to change DPI upon export. An awesome tool, go to: http://www.4gsw.com


--
Tazz, animator

[chick]

As for more Cheese... I donno, like Bloo said, a little cheese goes a long way :P I don't know if they plan on bringing Cheese back, but you never know. He is after all Mac's neighbor.

I actually came back to this thread because of Cheese. That episode alone is going to get me to buy a DVR (that and Madame Foster's "Smokey and the Bandit" Trans Am images)! Just wanted to let you know that almost everytime I am on campus at my kids elementary school, I hear some kid quoting a "Foster's" line, especially "I like chocolate milk..." in character as Cheese. lol!

I hope they have considered another Cheese episode, it would be great to see him again.

[skinnylizard]

Ape. quik question and i hope you are free to answer it. Is your version of Flash the same as the one bought off the shelf ? or do you have some custom plug ins created or third party stuff you use for Flash?

[Animated Ape]

It's the straight consumer version.

Aloha,
the Ape

[skinnylizard]

man, you guys are ****** ***** ***** good.

[madmanmarco]

I think Foster's is great!

[ghDude]

I like Goo... saw the episode 3 times.
hope you bring her back in future episodes.

[DIEMERAS Dark Angel]

Our show, "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends," is on this month's cover of "Animation Magazine." There is also a multi page article about our show and with the show's creator, Craig McCracken. So happy reading. :)

The Ape
Some how I can't relate to that show, althogh it has interesting concepts.........ENJOY it while you can, come the fall of next year, MY CARTOON WILL BECOME THE NEW "FAD."
My Marketing approach will send other "it" cartoons scampering back to the drawing boards, DARE DEFY? OR DE-FEND!
Contest is what I want, it will only make me enjoy what I do even more, I didn't mean to sound rash, but I'm just excited, from one producer to another, understand :)

[Animated Ape]

Some how I can't relate to that show, althogh it has interesting concepts.........ENJOY it while you can, come the fall of next year, MY CARTOON WILL BECOME THE NEW "FAD."
My Marketing approach will send other "it" cartoons scampering back to the drawing boards, DARE DEFY? OR DE-FEND!
Contest is what I want, it will only make me enjoy what I do even more, I didn't mean to sound rash, but I'm just excited, from one producer to another, understand :)

Sorry Diemeras, I don't quite understand what you're talking about. I hope your new show does really well.

ghDude, Goo's a semi-main character, so she won't be in all the shows, she'll be popping in and out of the show from time to time.

Aloha,
the Ape

[GregorCZ]

Hey ape, great show :D Well, I've only seen one episode. The one where (sorry if I get this wrong, it was a while ago) the pink new girl imaginary friend falls in love with the blue dude, and he always forgets what she's called. That is so hilarious, I'm 16 and I still was laughing. Reminded me a lot of an expierience I have seen with my friend and this girl :P Almost the exact same thing happened haha. :D

[DIEMERAS Dark Angel]

Sorry Diemeras, I don't quite understand what you're talking about. I hope your new show does really well.

ghDude, Goo's a semi-main character, so she won't be in all the shows, she'll be popping in and out of the show from time to time.

Aloha,
the Ape
Don't worry, I was only being a little too in the moment, but I will be looking to start some drama when my cartoon hits the air, and I ain't playing, some people's shows are gonna get hurt :cool: you better hear that.

[BlooJIm]

The Christmas special - A Lost Claus - was awesome!

No doubt Lauren was inspired by the perennial chesnut A Charlie Brown Christmas what with the reference to Snoopy's Doghouse and the puny little tree and the jazz rendetion of the theme.

[zephyr]

any way i can get him or lauren tom to consider having the kankers guest star in a future episode, since they managed to get the eds in one?

because just once i'd like to see them in that show for a laugh.

[babar]

Also note that this TV series is being done in FLASHHHHHHH.


hmmm, i was wondering, just out of curiosity, how do you format a flash animation to display at standard broadcast aspect ratios? i know you can set the display res and all that jazz, but didnt know you could choose the aspect ratio. can you do that in flash? if flash can do this ima start animatin right now:)

btw, thx for the info on this. if this has already been explained (im lazy and dont want to read all of the replies), just point me to the reply.....grats:)

[Animated Ape]

You can change the window size in the "Properties" box under "Size." So what ever size you need to export your animation out as, thats what you set it at.

Now get to animatin'! :p

Aloha,
the Ape

[babar]

You can change the window size in the "Properties" box under "Size." So what ever size you need to export your animation out as, thats what you set it at. Now get to animatin'!

DOH! thats what i get for not playin with flash, darn it all, thx again AA!
i will start animating emediatly!

one more thing, i know i cant ask you to explain too much w/o me going back to school lol, but what is the appropriate kewframe timing for a 24/frame/sec animation? is it event dependant? in other words, do you use less keyframes when animating slower events? or more when your animating faster events, like fighting? this has always bugged me and kept me from playing with flash, cause i really dont know where and when to put a keyframe, after the first one of course....

[Animated Ape]

I'm not entirely clear about what you mean Babar, but I'll give it a guess.

You always keep your frame rate at 24fps, or 30 if you want to work at that rate. For slower actions like people just walking you animate on 2's so a new drawing, or key frame in Flash, every two frames. For fast actions like fast runs or fights or walks with a panning BG you animate on one's. So a new Flash keyframe ever frame. I hope that answers you questions, if I even understood them correctly.

Aloha,
the Ape

[grega]

I animate at 25 frames a second which is standard uk pal. When I've sent things to the states I've had to convert to 30 frames a second - luckily After Effects does a good job of this.

I agree on the 2's and 1's thing. it's all down to the action and timing as to which you go for - and sometimes the budget.

http://fuggyfuggy.com/

[skinnylizard]

stick to 25 myself. i have rendered stuff in different fps for compression and size issues and the only one that stood out blatantly was the 15fps.

i guess it depends on the quantity of animation. i did animate a limited animtion bit in 25fps and then rendered it at 15 and it looked ok. not too bad.

[Animated Ape]

Why would you animate at 25 fps then export it at 15fps? Why don't you just animate it at 15 fps and save yourself the work?

Aloha,
the Ape

[grega]

I export at 15 for mobile content

[skinnylizard]

Why would you animate at 25 fps then export it at 15fps? Why don't you just animate it at 15 fps and save yourself the work?

Aloha,
the Ape

:p

maybe i wasnt clear. its meant for cinematic broadcast and tv. but i compressed it down to distribute on handhelds and over the web and it worked at 15fps.

[Animated Ape]

Ahhhhhhh. Gotcha.

Mahalo,
the Ape

[blinkmetoys]

hows the worklife on fosters treatin yah ape?

any shenanigans or inhouse hoopla worth mentioning?

[skinnylizard]

hows the worklife on fosters treatin yah ape?

any shenanigans or inhouse hoopla worth mentioning?


i think he has moved on to Renegade animation from Fosters.

How is it different from Fosters Ape?

[Animated Ape]

Hi Blink, like Skinny said, I'm no longer on "Foster's." I'm now at Renegade Animation animating on "Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi," but my friends on Foster's say they're still humming along on seasons three and four.

As for the differences, Renegade has a heavier production schedual so we have a higher quota to get done. Also Puffy is writen in seven minute episodes instead of 22 minutes so I'm sometimes animating on two episodes a week.

Aloha,
the Ape

[skinnylizard]

im not sure if this is inappropriate to ask but how does it differ in terms of approach? i.e. the way the two approach the work?

[Animated Ape]

Not all that different Skinny. The pipeline and process if basicly the same. The only bigish difference is that on "Foster's" all the animation was directed by Craig McCracken, and Animation Director Craig Kellman. The new animation Director is now Lauren Faust. Where as on "Puffy," the storyboarders are the directors of their own episodes, so we have about four different directors with slightly different styles. Then the overall head honcho Darrell Van Citters has the final say on how it all looks so that the look doesn't stray to much from episode to episode.

Aloha,
the Ape

[skinnylizard]

Not all that different Skinny. The pipeline and process if basicly the same. The only bigish difference is that on "Foster's" all the animation was directed by Craig McCracken, and Animation Director Craig Kellman. The new animation Director is now Lauren Faust. Where as on "Puffy," the storyboarders are the directors of their own episodes, so we have about four different directors with slightly different styles. Then the overall head honcho Darrell Van Citters has the final say on how it all looks so that the look doesn't stray to much from episode to episode.

Aloha,
the Ape


aah. thats a very interesting tid bit there.

[pcdoctor]

Ape,

I wanted to know if you know a guy named Andre Moore?
This is an awesome picture that he drew.
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6184/986/1600/mac%20and%20blue.jpg

[blinkmetoys]

wont let us see that link!

[pcdoctor]

Try it now.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6184/986/320/mac%20and%20blue.jpg

If it still doesn't work, go here and look for the picture of Bloo (SP?) and what's his name. I never can remember the kids name.
http://andremoore.blogspot.com/2005/12/122005.html

[blinkmetoys]

yah gotta use the second link. saw it.

how could you forget his name! its Mac! good ol mac.

[Animated Ape]

Nope, I don't know the guy. Looks like he's working out of the Atlanta studio. He has some really nice work though.

Aloha,
the Ape

[lty]

not bad, but not really attractive

Great work Ape i must say This has even reached high school girls, and even a few of the guys i might add.

My friend Jacklyn came to school monday excited about this show and every time a new episode airs im sure to hear something about it come class.

I am greatly inspired to work harder in flash after learning that Flash is the choice of LA animators aswell as many cartoon network animators.

Currently i am working towards animation as my career, any advice you could give a young animator?

[ghDude]

hey Ape,
there's a posting you might be interested in.
Fosters or flash production pipeline
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=354216