Ministry of Science

[Astro Forever]

Everything seems fine to me, too. :huh:

[jeffbert]

I am sure the golden robot's name was Hilter. I remember that because at first it sounded like Hitler! 'Xeron' seems unfamiliar.

[DrFrag]

He's definately called Xeron. Hilter sounds vaguely familiar though, could it be from the Canadian version or the 60s series?

[jeffbert]

Maybe the manga. I will check.

[Strange Wings]

I just did some further Atlas composites. I don't know if they might be for any use to your websites and perhaps you already have them, but nonetheless I thought of giving it a shot and post them here. However, I'm not fully pleased with the quality they're showing and partly you even can see the edges of the layered frames, but since I haven't got any DVD player in my PC I'm bound to connect my extern player via WIN TV USB, a device for converting VHS tapes into mpeg files. Hence the players' digital output gets converted into analogous to eventually getting changed into digital again - utter rubbish, haha!!
Well, I did my best to smoothe out the most obvious faults using WindowsPaint, but still the pics are far away from being perfect.

Taken from 'The Runaway Subway Train':

(This one's a candidate for the mistakes thread. I don't think I need to tell why. )

Same episode:

My appologies about the disturbing square, but the camera was wandering down on Atlas in a slight diagonal way while zooming on his sword , so I had to crop the last frame a bit to adapt it to the first frame's size, hence the square was bound to happen anyway.

Same episode:

A good exemple of the layered frames' rough edges showing in the middle. With frames directly taken from a PC's DVD player, this wouldn't have turned out that bad I guess . Also, just as a side note: gray color is the lythographic pressman's nightmare to print. :wacko:

Taken from 'Atlas Forever':

I love that one! IMO, this pic is coming over very romantic AND dramatic at the same time. It also could be used as a good pattern for photoshop/picture game contests.


Hope you can use 'em.

[Astro Forever]

Good job, Strange Wings! :wahah: I didn't realize it at the time, but I have used one of your previous Atlas composite in the Photoshop game thread!

I may be a little off topic, but this makes me think of a question I've had for a long time. When they draw those images, do they use cels that are a lot bigger than a recular cel for the backgrounds, and then just move a regular cel over it? It seems that it would be a lot easier to draw this way... Do you understand what I mean? I'm not even sure if I'm clear... :huh:

I love DrFrag's site, I find it useful, especially for the characters' names that I often get wrong because of the langage!

[Strange Wings]

Originally posted by Astro forever@Sep 24 2005, 10:09 PM
Good job, Strange Wings! :wahah: I didn't realize it at the time, but I have used one of your previous Atlas composite in the Photoshop game thread!

I may be a little off topic, but this makes me think of a question I've had for a long time. When they draw those images, do they use cels that are a lot bigger than a recular cel for the backgrounds, and then just move a regular cel over it? It seems that it would be a lot easier to draw this way... Do you understand what I mean? I'm not even sure if I'm clear... :huh:

I love DrFrag's site, I find it useful, especially for the characters' names that I often get wrong because of the langage!

Yeah, I think I know what you mean. Well, I'm no expert in animation, but I think that the cels are all equal in size. IMO, the animators just are focussing the camera by using a macro-lens and with it wandering slowly across those cels while filming. An exemple for better understanding: Just like a tourist who wants to shoot the Eiffel Tower in its entire glory by using his Sony Handicam, he too has to move his camera from upwards to below (or vice-versa).
However, I may be wrong with this. I'm sure DrFrag would know the correct answer for your question.

I too love DrFrag's site. I always happen to check it out when I'm wondering about a particular character. B)

[DrFrag]

This is how to smooth out edges of composites:
Use a paint programme that supports layers (I use Paint Shop Pro). Take a bunch of overlapping screenshots and make each one a layer. Line them up so they look like the final image. Using a blurred-edge eraser, erase the joining edges (and any black DVD borders). This will make the layers blur into each other and reduce lines across the composite.

As for panning cels, they usually use a larger piece of plastic. I have one and it's exactly twice as big as a regular cel. If they zoom in too much the black lines begin to look noticeably thicker.

[Astro Forever]

Thanks DrFrag!

[jeffbert]

I just took another look at your site Doc, & noticed "Thanks to Jeffbert for additional assistance."
at the bottom of your manga listing page. I know we discussed sharing stuff & I sent a few copies of
some of my written reviews to you, but really do not remember my giving any assistance. What
did I do? (Thanks for the credit).

PS (I really like the way you formatted your table. I have a ton of stuff written, but do not think
I will actually get around to publishing it for a long time. I would like you to publish some of it. I just
do not have the time to deal with it now.)