Rendering/exporting with Flash

Flash is not good at exporting (at least in my experience). It's not so fun to stay up really late finishing a project and then have to wrestle with exporting!

Here's what I do (thanks to Karl Sigler for showing me ffmpeg):

1. From Flash, export your animation as a PNG sequence. Most likely you don't want transparency, so pick "24 bit" instead of "24 bit with alpha".

2. Also from Flash, export just the soundtrack as a .WAV

3. Once that's done, join up the PNGs and WAV file like so:

ffmpeg -r 24 -i cartoon%04d.png -i cartoon.wav -b 900k cartoon.avi

"-r 24" means that your source animation is 24 frames per second. This is a good framerate to work in. Make sure this matches the number you have in your Flash file, though!

"-i cartoon%04d.png" tells ffmpeg where to find the PNG files. If you haven't done much programming the "%04d" may be confusing: it means "a four digit number padded by zeroes", and ffmpeg generates the filenames starting at 1. So in this case it would generate a series of filenames like "cartoon0001.png", "cartoon0002.png" and so on.

"-i cartoon.wav" tells ffmpeg to grab the soundtrack too.

"-b 900k" tells ffmpeg that the output movie should be 900 kbps. Depending on whether you're making a DVD or uploading to YouTube, you'll want to use different values here (the higher the number the higher the quality but the bigger the file also).

"cartoon.avi" is the output filename.

AJC Mention of "Roll Yer Own" re-showing!

Jonathan Williams at AJC mentioned ASIFA-Atlanta's "Roll Yer Own" re-showing!!

http://www.accessatlanta.com/entertainment/content/printedition/2008/06/19/spike.html

Roll Yer Own Re-showing and Blowin' Smoke

By popular demand, we've booked the Five Spot again for a re-showing of "Roll Yer Own"! June 25th, 8pm, Five Spot, free!



And on July 14th at the Five Spot also for free we have "Blowin' Smoke"which will showcase Atlanta-produced commerical animation! This is an awesome opportunity to see what kinds of great animation local studios create and also meet the artists who make cartoons for a living. If you're looking for a job in animation, it might also be helpful!

Awesome flyer by John Cason:



We're currently seeking entries for this event; any animation that was done for money is fair game!

Submissions should be sent on DVD to:

ASIFA-Atlanta
410 Candler Park Dr #B3
Atlanta, GA 30307

Email me with questions: brett@fluidtoons.com

Bee Bog on Vimeo

I just noticed "Bee Bog" on Vimeo! It looks so much better than YouTube:


Bee Bog from bryab on Vimeo.

"Roll Yer Own" Re-Showing
June 25th at the Five Spot, 8pm, free! Come see independent Atlanta animation!





This is ASIFA-Atlanta's yearly showcase of local independent animation!

This is a re-showing of the same great independent animation from Atlanta that we showed on Memorial Day- a lot of people missed out because of the holiday (although the Five Spot was packed!!), so we're showing it again for more folks to see :)

The best films of the night will be sent all over the world as a part of the International Animation Day DVD exchange.

Review here:

jaycbird.blogspot.com/2008/05/roll-yer-own-2008.html

My brief review and four of the films viewable online:

fluidtoons.blogspot.com/2008/05/roll-yer-own-2008-was-awesome-wow.html

List of films:

"Roll Yer Own 2008 Intro" - Brett W. Thompson - Flash - 0:47
"Pullumo Arrives" - Solomon Mars - Flash - 4:50
"Sustainability 101" - Mark Smith - Flash - 5:00
"Code Monkey" - Jennifer Barclay - Flash - 3:20
"Knight vs Knight" - Thomas Riley - TI-86 Calculator - 1:41
"Global Warming is Your Fault" - Jerry Fuchs - Flash/Traditional - 1:30
"Hitler's Brain" - Count Lear Bunda - Stuff - 10:19
"Playtime" - Candice Ciesla - Flash/Traditional - 1:40
"Moviekiss: The Lite Brite Video" - Gina Niespodziani - Lite Brite - 4:57
"Bee Bog" - Bryan Fordney - Traditional - 2:50
"Special Delivery" - 3D - Taylor Pate - 2:02
"Farewell to Momentary Picture" - Laurence Laufer - 2D/3D/Trad - 5:48
"Maniacal" - Em Kempf - Stopmo/Traditional - 4:48
"Madagascar Taxi" - Albino Mattioli - Traditional - 1:26
"Words Won't Fail When Words Are Not Applied" - Gary Eddy - ToonBoom - 10:26
"A Mother Goose Tale" - Paige Adair - Flash - 2:05
"24 Frames" - Brad Patullo - Stopmo - 18:12
"Curtains" - Amanda Goodbread - Mixed - 2:54

Bryan Fordney posted "GETGOT" on Vimeo! It looks beautiful!


Getgot from bryab on Vimeo.

Roll Yer Own 2008 was awesome!!

Wow. I'm so proud of the filmmakers here in Atlanta. Roll Yer Own went great!!

Many many thanks to Karl Sigler for doing such a great job putting together the DVD. He even made copies for all the filmmakers!!

Here's a very thorough and excellently written review by our ASIFA-Atlanta Secretary, Jay:
http://jaycbird.blogspot.com/2008/05/roll-yer-own-2008.html

Here's my intro film; I did most of it in one very late night, and the next day had Sean come over and lend me his amazing voice:

"Roll Yer Own 2008 Intro"


And here's Em Kempf's brilliant film "Maniacal":

"Maniacal"


And Bryan Fordney's absolutely gorgeous "Bee Bog", which I LOVE!! Bryan is definitely one of my favorite independent animators, and he's also my friend :)

"Bee Bog"

Bee Bog from bryab on Vimeo.

Jennifer Barclay is ASIFA-Atlanta's webmaster, and she did this awesome video:

"Code Monkey"

8pm, Five Spot, free!

Independent animation from Atlanta!!

!

"Roll Yer Own 2008 Intro" - Brett W. Thompson - Flash - 0:47
"Pullumo Arrives" - Solomon Mars - Flash - 4:50
"Sustainability 101" - Mark Smith - Flash - 5:00
"Code Monkey" - Jennifer Barclay - Flash - 3:20
"Knight vs Knight" - Thomas Riley - TI-86 Calculator - 1:41
"Global Warming is Your Fault" - Jerry Fuchs - Flash/Traditional - 1:30
"Hitler's Brain" - Count Lear Bunda - Stuff - 10:19
"Playtime" - Candice Ciesla - Flash/Traditional - 1:40
"Moviekiss: The Lite Brite Video" - Gina Niespodziani - Lite Brite - 4:57
"Bee Bog" - Bryan Fordney - Traditional - 2:50
"Special Delivery" - 3D - Taylor Pate - 2:02
"Farewell to Momentary Picture" - Laurence Laufer - 2D/3D/Trad - 5:48
"Maniacal" - Em Kempf - Stopmo/Traditional - 4:48
"Madagascar Taxi" - Albino Mattioli - Traditional - 1:26
"Words Won't Fail When Words Are Not Applied" - Gary Eddy - ToonBoom - 10:26
"A Mother Goose Tale" - Paige Adair - Flash - 2:05
"24 Frames" - Brad Patullo - Stopmo - 18:12
"Curtains" - Amanda Goodbread - Mixed - 2:54

Omelet performs Brett W Thompson at New Street Gallery

I think I have the most amazing friends in the entire universe.

OMELET is playing again tonight at Bradley's House wooo!

Fwd: ASIFA-Atlanta recommends XPT

Here's an email I sent out to ASIFA-Atlanta:

----

Although it's not strictly animation, ASIFA-Atlanta thought you might be interested in hearing about XPT, Experimental Puppetry Theater.

XPT is always very creative and imaginative and shows that Atlanta is a hub for the art of puppetry. If you appreciate animation, you might like creative puppet performances too! :)

Additionally, our very own active ASIFA-Atlanta volunteers Wes Parham and Emily Tsuboi are in performances for XPT!

See http://www.puppet.org/perform/xpt08.shtml for details.

Here's the info, courtesy of Em Kempf:

THIS THURS THROUGH SUNDAY 

FOLKS!

XPERIMENTAL PUPPETRY 

THEATER!!!

@ The Center For Puppetry Arts

(ages 18 & up only!)

1404 Spring Street N.W. @ 18th...

May 15-18 

Thurs-Sat @ 8pm Sun. @ 5pm  

http://www.puppet.org/perform/xpt08.shtml

404.873.3391

Thanks so much!

-Brett W. Thompson, President of ASIFA-Atlanta

PS Don't forget about "Roll Yer Own" on May 26th (Memorial Day) at the Five Spot! :)

Rock and Roll Lawyer Episode 1: CheerleaderCab.com

A while ago I wandered into Fellini's on McLendon (I used to go there nearly every night and kind of miss that part of my daily routine; I got a lot of good drawing done while waiting for slices of pizza to eat). One particular night my good pals Chuck and Mack happened to be there. Mack worked on Sealab 2021, Frisky Dingo, and heads the band Attractive Eighties Women, a band you must see if you haven't already. Chuck and Mack were looking for people to audition for "Rock and Roll Lawyer"!

"Do you want to be an actor for us?" they asked.
I said, "Sure!"

At the time of shooting, I didn't think I did very well at all, but I want to hug whomever did the editing because they enhanced it a lot! Thank you, whoever did the editing! I have no formal training as an actor or in improv, so I was very worried and thought the performance was awkward but seeing it now I'm really happy I was part of this project :)

I play a slightly exaggerated/twisted version of myself, haha.

John Cason, who did the brilliant design for the Roll Yer Own flyer (May 26th at the Five Spot, come come come!!), also auditioned and was given a part!

Take a look and tell me what you think:



Many thanks to Chuck for posting the video and Kate McManus for telling me it was up- I think she liked it :) Like Chuck, she's in LA. Also a huge thanks to Erni Crews for introducing me to this group of friends- Erni's in LA too!! But she is ultimately from Jacksonville, FL (DUUUU-VAL!).

Here's the trailer for "Rock and Roll Lawyer"; John's the first guy you see, who shot a dog:



In other news, I might be doing a tiny bit of animation at work, which would be a dream come true! I'm also hoping to have something short done for Roll Yer Own but I've been having some trouble focusing lately.

Here's a tiny sample though:



That's all for now!

Two Links to Blog Posts, Brief NYC Trip Blurb

So thanks to the generosity of Charles Judson, Gabriel Wardell, and Dan Krovich (of IMAGE Film & Video who do the hard work of putting on the Atlanta Film Fesival, which is no small task), I got to do the filmmaker Q&A and a brief introduction to "Animation Extravaganza"! I particularly loved the Q&A part- asking filmmakers questions was fun!

My pal Jay stayed the whole time and wrote up an excellent review of the event. Thanks Jay! :) In fact he wrote reviews of every day of the entire fest. He's dedicated!

The other link I want to share with you is Tim Rauch's email to me turned blog post where he describes in fascinating detail his process behind his animated film Germans in the Woods. Tim is doing a series of these films based on StoryCorps which you might've heard on NPR. It's incredible- the story is a real (and intense) experience narrated by a real WWII veteran. I would love to show it at this year's Animation Attack... I can't wait to see more of these- the material Tim is working with is so heartfelt and it comes through in his drawings. Tim and his brother Mike have a page for their studio at rauchbrothers.com.

I had the pleasure of meeting Tim when I visited NYC and went to the ASIFA-East board meeting, thanks to the kindness of David Levy (ASIFA-East's awesome President). Thanks again ASIFA-East folks for being so welcoming! :)

I had a great time in NYC! Tim was one of several amazing folks I got to meet when I was up there. I also got to stop by Augenblick Studios briefly- they're working really hard on my new favorite series Superjail, created by the unbelievably talented Christy Karacas. We actually showed Christy's incredible films Space War and Bar Fight here in Atlanta at the 2007 Animation Attack, part of the Atlanta Underground Film Festival; they're two of my favorite shorts ever. Many many thanks to Aaron Augenblick, Christy Karacas, and Vanessa Riegel for their kindness!

I was SO excited to meet Aaron and Vanessa and Chris Conforti and several others at a bar in Brooklyn- all because of my good pal Stephen Schor, who gave me a couch to crash on and is good friends with Vanessa. In my mind he is a hero. The fact that Aaron liked my drawings meant so much to me. Maybe I'll post a picture or two another time!

That's it for now! Don't forget about Roll Yer Own! :)

I have been busy!

I'm now President of ASIFA-Atlanta. Joe Peery, our previous President, did an awesome job, and it's an honor to take over from him.

"Roll Yer Own" is coming up again! Please submit or come and watch! It's free! May 26th, Five Spot. I would venture to say it's the most important event for independent Atlanta animation so far. Beautiful flyer by John Cason:



Recently it was Bryan's birthday. I drew this for him on a two-by-two foot board, something I learned to do from Hand Job:



I drew two of Bryan's characters seen prominently in his masterpiece GETGOT. Can you spot them?

And somehow Emer got ahold of the piece momentarily at Estoria, resulting in this picture, which I freakin' LOVE. It's so perfect:



Also: come to the Atlanta Film Festival's "Animation Extravaganza", at Midtown Art Cinema, April 18th, 9:30pm! I might be handling the filmmaker Q&A.

Art Show at Tilt!

Pieces of art by me, Thom Foolery, and Jeffrey Lerner!



The opening is this Friday (1/25/08) and starts at 7pm or so. It'll be part of the Castleberry Hills art walk! Tilt is at 274 Walker St, across the street from Marcia Wood and Ty Stokes (Google Maps link).

Thanks soooo much to Annie for curating this show and making the flyer!

Warde Thing Cartoons, Art Show

I have an art show with Thom Foolery and Jeffrey Lerner at Tilt in Castleberry Hills on the 25th (it's part of the art walk!). I'll be posting a flyer once Annie at Tilt makes one. Annie curates shows there and made this one happen- thanks Annie!!!

Also, Ryan sent me two cartoons he just did, and I think he is a genius!! They're minimal but very beautiful and strange (a great combination!) cartoons. I really love his character designs, colors, and trippy neon backgrounds!!

He's been practicing drawing and I can see it! And he's always been really good with color and strange ideas!

What do you think, would you watch these on Adult Swim? I would- I really really love them!! :)

Warde Thang Cartoon #1, by Ryan



Warde Thang Cartoon #2, by Ryan

Upcoming Events!

Fun things that are happening soon!! I would love to see you come to any of these- I've helped make them happen (except Hoo Hah) and appreciate your support of course!

This Saturday, Eyedrum, 9pm: "Hoo Hah"! There will be a play, a fashion show, and two beautiful animated videos by my friend Kristin Jarvis- she is brilliant :)

My dear friend Jacqueline put this together, and the last event she threw at the Eyedrum ("Daddy, I Want a Pony") was incredible and is the only place in Atlanta I've seen an actual pony, so I won't be missing this one. More info here!

December 17th, Five Spot, 8pm: It's an ASIFA-Atlanta party! We'll be showing beautiful international animation we didn't get to show at the High because it came too late: France, China, and Argentina! I'm super excited about France particularly :) And the Floating Coats are going to play music!

Janurary 20th, Eyedrum, 9pm or so: Brandon's going to do his puppet show "The Horrible and Tortuous Report" (I did a tiny bit of animation for it) and my friend Andre's going to play music with Isia Cooper and Gary Eddy and some others- really beautiful music!

Feburary 19th, the Plaza, 7:30pm: Clay Croker, the voice of Zorak from Space Ghost and brilliant animator, has hand-picked twelve cartoons from his 16mm collection- all themed around Hitler! Don't miss "TO HELL WITH HITLER", it'll be awesome!

And last night I did live drawing at the Five Spot for Hand Job, an event from the mastermind of Mr. Thom Foolery! It was a blast, and you should come next month :) Sean Jarrett was kind enough to swing by and videotape the three of us drawing (it was myself, Chris Hamer of URBN-POP, and Ted Murphy of Adult Swim). We used my Dreamcast to let people play NES games on the projector while we drew and painted on stage. Photos here!

I also sold a piece last night! Woo! Here it is (I might be able to find a better picture):



Thanks for reading!

Polar Bear Sketch

So I'm working with my two extremely talented friends
Ryan and Bryan on a new cartoon. Ryan's designing the main character, a polar bear! He just posted some new drawings of the bear, and they're great!

Anyway, based on Ryan's drawing, I sketched the character before starting to work on the storyboards.




He's not perfect- he definitely looks a bit stiff, but he is kind of an uptight character. It felt SO good to finally put some time into working on a cartoon.

Thanks to Ryan for telling me to go ahead and post this sketch!

Sammi Shredd on CartoonBrew!!

Wow!!!

So you know the video I posted last entry? My pal Sammi got it on cartoonbrew.com, holy smoke!!

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/music-videos/tom-jerry-metal

SO cool! :D

Wow. My very talented friend Sammi Shredd used his powers of metal guitar to re-perform the soundtrack to a Tom and Jerry cartoon, it's amazing!

"Cat and Mouse"


More info here

He even did the sound effects, on his guitar! Eeee! :)

Edit: updated so the video's embedded. Also, my manager digs it, wow!!

The Chameleon, Part 1


Part 2: http://youtube.com/watch?v=sNAaHRwV_Bk
Part 3: http://youtube.com/watch?v=HMNS0GHuqPQ
Part 4: http://youtube.com/watch?v=3EnUpm9E8lA

I'm only in the first part but I find the whole thing amazing.

This was a blast to do!! Len took great care of me and Jed did a great job shooting and editing, and I loved working with Matt. It was pretty hot out and Matt and I ran quite a lot- at the end of the shoot I was exhausted, haha. If you see my mouth really wide open in any shots, that's because I'm trying to get more air! :)

We went and got smoothies afterwards which felt great.

This film was screened at a small theatre in Sarasota where Colby worked at the time.

I really love seeing my friends in it. Cameron is hilarious as a caveman (and a crazy future guy), and Catlan as The General really cracks me up- he does this really funny, gruff voice.

Thanks so much to Jed for posting this on YouTube!