________________________________Perpetual Motion________________________________
Anyone ever seen Tarzan (or any other later 'traditional' Disney Animations)?
Well they use an effect in that movie with the 'Deep Canvas' software which i think worked extremeley well. As i'm currently working on a trad ani project, or more specifically, the 'pre-phase' (working out the look and feel of the animation & the story), i was looking into obtaining such a program, for the same feel in my work.
As i know it was specifically created by Disney for Tarzan, the actual Deep Canvas program is no doubt not commerically available and soley for Disney (or perhaps was, after the big Animation reshuffle).
Is there any way to do this, or any program/software that can create this effect, or a similar effect (where the brush strokes are 'remembered' and the canvas is geometric thus enabling the background artist to paint parts previously unseeable). Or even better, has this software now been leaked/sold off from Disney after the reshuffle, and is now available to purchase?
Thanks, Rich.
I think that's a proprietary software developed by Disney and probably not cheap.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
It's not exactly what you're looking for, but the closest commercial product to Deep Canvas is probably zBrush.
Untested Theoretical Alternatives
These are my untested theories on the alternatives to Deep Canvas:
I always thought that you could maybe mimic the effect of Deep Paint using the paint tools and the z-depth abilities in Adobe After Effects or Autodesk Combustion. Painting on layers and placing them in 3D space. It would be incredibly time consuming as each paint stroke is vector layer . It's something I would try out if I had more time on my hands.
Another alternative would be to use a 3D model with a transparency map hiding the mesh but showing your paint strokes on its surface.
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Claire O'Brien.com
Alright thanks, i'll check them out.
Anyone know anything about 'Deep Paint 3D'? I found that the other day on my seach for a Deep Canvas type software. It is intergrated with Adobe products too. Anyone know if this program would be anything like what i need as i know little about it?
Thanks.
________________________________Perpetual Motion________________________________
i remember it being called Deep Background. i also recall communicating with a journo who wrote about it.
she said it was prop disney software unavailable outside..
edit: here is my thread about it view
yeah i had little hope of Disney releasing it commerically. Was more hoping there was a program/software that could immitate the effect or enable you to do a Deep Canvas enviroment.
I have Tarzan on dvd and the extras has a segment on Deep canvas. It seems relativley simple in idea (and looks that way when they show you it on the dvd extra: used wacom tablet to paint on a manouerverable 3-Dimensional geometric background). I was just hoping that since it was created c.1997 that someone had incorporated that idea into a commerically accesable program by now (although i suppose being a Disney patented idea the software coude be hard to copy for commerical use).
I suppose also as it is a very specific software (created for making animation backgrounds only) that commerically it wouldn't be in great demand, but i would damn sure like to get my hand's on it!
Just to ask again, anyone know more about this Right Hemisphere's Deep Paint 3D?
Thanks, Rich.
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i dont know the tech bits of it, but im sure it can be done using a bunch of diff softwares rather than one single one (which is where Disney have the advtg)
i tried looking for something like this because it would have saved us time but at the end of the day decided to stick to the trad method coz it was simply cheaper to hire another layout designer then to go changing my pipeline.
From what I've read and hav heard, Deep Canvas was proprietary and very, very expensive and that is why it was never used again in any Disney production. Looked great though.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
Flash Deep Canvas (sort of)
Here's what I've done in Flash that works a little like the Deep Canvas technique (although it's a vector approach, there ARE ways to texture shapes with bitmaps):
- Turn on "Object Drawing" under Options on the Toolbar (every brushstroke will be preserved as a grouped object)
- now you can draw several strokes (say a bunch of blades of grass)
- careful! Work in sections; maybe one row across the screen
- Select all, then hit F8 and make that selection a library symbol*
- click into the new symbol to edit it
- select all your blades of grass again (if they aren't already selected)
- go to the menu item Modify < Timeline < Distribute to Layers
- this will pop each blade into it's own layer (stacked in the order that you drew them
- now you can apply timeline effects (i.e. add frames, keyframes to make the grass wave in the wind or whatever.
*I group things like this in library symbols as they generate a lot of layers--you won't want to do all this on the main timeline. As with anything in animation, you'll want to plan out what you want to do.
Ted Nunes - www.tedtoons.com
On (a long search) for Deep Canvas/Deep Canvas substitute i havn't really found a dead cert for the Deep Canvas style application.
So far i've been directed to 2 programs called Satori and Deep Paint 3D, and i'm fairly sure they cannot achieve what Deep canvas was created for. Of course, this is only based on studying specs, i havnt actually used them. So could anyone inform me if they have used these 2, and more importantly, if these programs can simulate a Deep Canvas work area?
Disney did use the software again in both Atlantis and in Treasure Planet, but you are probably correct in saying it does cost more to use, no doubt simply because the program requires extended work time by the background artist. It is in present unused, as it is a 2d/trad animation application, and Disney are currently only working on 3D projects at the mo (maybe it will again be 'fetched from storage' for a a trad feature animation that i heard was buzzing around the Disney studios in it's early concepts).
As a trad animator working on a trad animation project, Deep Canvas does seem to be the ultimate in trad animation background/character interaction enabling beautiful shots that a multiplane (the next step down in technology for this area) simply can't achieve. It would be greatly appreciated if someone could assist in anyway possible for this hunt, even if it is just simply to keep alive the beauty and progression that can be created in trad animation.
thanks,
Rich.
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