Overview

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Synfig Studio is open-source 2D vector animation software. It is designed to produce film-quality animation with fewer people and resources.
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Synfig Studio is an open-source, 2D vector animation software. It is designed to produce film-quality animation with fewer people and resources.
  
As you probably know, animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images in order to create an illusion of movement. Traditionally 2D animation is created by drawing each displayed image individually. Those images are called "frames" and thus such method called "frame-by-frame animation". To create good illusion of movement you need to draw many frames, that's why his method requires a lot of time and resources.
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As you probably know, animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images creating the illusion of movement. Traditionally 2D animation is created by drawing each image individually. These images are called "frames". This method is called "frame-by-frame animation". The illusion of movement requires many such frames. This method is slow, requiring a lot of time and resources.
 
<!-- TODO: Insert illustration of frame-by-frame animation here -->
 
<!-- TODO: Insert illustration of frame-by-frame animation here -->
  
Synfig Studio is built to eliminate the need to draw each frame individually. There are two techniques for that:
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Synfig Studio uses two techniques to draw these frames:
 
* Morphing animation
 
* Morphing animation
 
* Cutout animation
 
* Cutout animation
  
'''Morphing''' is a technique that takes two images and creates a smooth transition between them. In the process of transition one shape is deformed into another and this transformation is usually defined by control points. In Synfig Studio images constructed from vector shapes and the morphing is done in automatic way. That allows to create animation by drawing only key positions at relatively wide time intervals. You can draw as many frames as he need to create basic sense of motion for the scene and Synfig Studio takes responsibility to create in-between frames.
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'''Morphing''' takes two images and creates a smooth transition between them. This is done by changing one shape into another, often assisted by the use of '''control points'''. Synfig Studio morphs vector shapes automatically. Animation is done simply by supplying drawings in key positions at relatively wide time intervals. The artist supplies as many frames as needed to create the basic sense of motion for a scene. Synfig Studio takes care of creating the in-between frames.
 
<!-- TODO: Insert illustration of morphing animation here -->
 
<!-- TODO: Insert illustration of morphing animation here -->
  
'''Cutout animation''' is created by splitting objects into parts and applying some simple transformations to them (like translation, rotation or scale) at different moments of time. Synfig Studio uses those values to interpolate the motion for in-between frames. Cutout animation can be produced from bitmap images or vector graphics.
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'''Cutout animation''' is created by splitting objects into parts and applying some simple transformations to them (like translation, rotation or scale) at different points in time. Synfig Studio uses those values to interpolate the motion for in-between frames. Cutout animation can be produced from '''bitmap images''' or '''vector graphics'''.
 
<!-- TODO: Insert illustration of cutout animation here -->
 
<!-- TODO: Insert illustration of cutout animation here -->
  
In both cases the role of Synfig Studio is to fill the gaps between the drawn frames (also called "keyframes") and produce smooth and fluid animation. This process is called "tweening". But tweening is not the only advantage of Synfig Studio.
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In either case Synfig Studio's role is to fill the gaps between frames (also called "keyframes") to produce smooth, fluid animation. This process is called "tweening". But tweening is not the only advantage of Synfig Studio.
  
Although Synfig Studio is not directly intended to draw animation frame-by-frame, it can be used to bring your hand-drawn frame-by-frame animation to the film-quality level by converting bitmap data of each frame into vector format. This process is called "tracing" and usually done by hand by constructing vector shapes on top of bitmap image. In the process of construction you can apply a lot of fascinating effects built into Synfig Studio to achieve a professional look for your animations.
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Although Synfig Studio is not directly intended to draw animation frame-by-frame, it can be used to bring your hand-drawn frame-by-frame animation to film-quality level. The artist converts each frame's bitmap data into vector format. This process, called "tracing", is usually done by hand by constructing vector shapes on top of bitmap images. Some fun and fascinating effects can be applied during the creation process to achieve a professional animation look.
 
<!-- TODO: Illustration - bitmap image and same image traced in Synfig Studio -->
 
<!-- TODO: Illustration - bitmap image and same image traced in Synfig Studio -->
  
Whether you do  frame-by frame animation or not, Synfig Studio gives you flexible control over the repeated data, such as colors, outline characteristics, textures, images and many more - even animation trajectories and their sets (actions). Reusing repeated data is achieved via linking. This is a power of Synfig Studio, which is especially important for big animation projects.
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Synfig Studio gives you flexible control over repeated data, such as colors, outline characteristics, textures, images and many more - even animation trajectories and their actions (sets). Re-using repeated data is done by linking. And for serious animation projects, Synfig Studio has the power to deliver to your satisfaction.
  
 
Among the plain linking pieces of artwork data you can also define relations between them using a set of functions. That allows to create automatic animation based on the defined laws and bring whole animation process to the new level.
 
Among the plain linking pieces of artwork data you can also define relations between them using a set of functions. That allows to create automatic animation based on the defined laws and bring whole animation process to the new level.
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<!-- TODO: Write a few lines here that Synfig can be used to produce simple animations too -->
 
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All those features of Synfig Studio are covered in detail in the chapters of this manual.
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Synfig Studio's features are covered in detail within this manual.
  
  
 
<!-- TODO: About this manual/Structure of this manual: The purpose of first chapter is to give you overview of the animation creation process using Synfig Studio. Without diving deep into details it will guide you through the basic concepts and offer few exercises that help you to understand how this software works. -->
 
<!-- TODO: About this manual/Structure of this manual: The purpose of first chapter is to give you overview of the animation creation process using Synfig Studio. Without diving deep into details it will guide you through the basic concepts and offer few exercises that help you to understand how this software works. -->
 
{{Navigation|Category:Manual|Doc:Getting Started}}
 
{{Navigation|Category:Manual|Doc:Getting Started}}
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Revision as of 06:56, 21 November 2010

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Synfig Studio is an open-source, 2D vector animation software. It is designed to produce film-quality animation with fewer people and resources.

As you probably know, animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images creating the illusion of movement. Traditionally 2D animation is created by drawing each image individually. These images are called "frames". This method is called "frame-by-frame animation". The illusion of movement requires many such frames. This method is slow, requiring a lot of time and resources.

Synfig Studio uses two techniques to draw these frames:

  • Morphing animation
  • Cutout animation

Morphing takes two images and creates a smooth transition between them. This is done by changing one shape into another, often assisted by the use of control points. Synfig Studio morphs vector shapes automatically. Animation is done simply by supplying drawings in key positions at relatively wide time intervals. The artist supplies as many frames as needed to create the basic sense of motion for a scene. Synfig Studio takes care of creating the in-between frames.

Cutout animation is created by splitting objects into parts and applying some simple transformations to them (like translation, rotation or scale) at different points in time. Synfig Studio uses those values to interpolate the motion for in-between frames. Cutout animation can be produced from bitmap images or vector graphics.

In either case Synfig Studio's role is to fill the gaps between frames (also called "keyframes") to produce smooth, fluid animation. This process is called "tweening". But tweening is not the only advantage of Synfig Studio.

Although Synfig Studio is not directly intended to draw animation frame-by-frame, it can be used to bring your hand-drawn frame-by-frame animation to film-quality level. The artist converts each frame's bitmap data into vector format. This process, called "tracing", is usually done by hand by constructing vector shapes on top of bitmap images. Some fun and fascinating effects can be applied during the creation process to achieve a professional animation look.

Synfig Studio gives you flexible control over repeated data, such as colors, outline characteristics, textures, images and many more - even animation trajectories and their actions (sets). Re-using repeated data is done by linking. And for serious animation projects, Synfig Studio has the power to deliver to your satisfaction.

Among the plain linking pieces of artwork data you can also define relations between them using a set of functions. That allows to create automatic animation based on the defined laws and bring whole animation process to the new level.

Synfig Studio's features are covered in detail within this manual.


Navigation Navigation:  Manual>>