I just realized something. The fact that I can recognize the silhouette at 0:05 is not an amazing skill on my part; its an amazing amount of work and care from the character designers. The fact that even secondary and tertiary characters gets their own distinct form, and not just a different color scheme, says a lot about their dedication.
I've been using the same version of Flash for 8 years, and it still does exactly what I need it to do, so I never had a need to buy a newer version. I know the newer versions can do so much more, but it's not enough to make me want to spend $500 on something I pretty much already have.
The time you put into these, and the clear fact that you enjoy what you do, is actually quite inspiring. As a supervising animator, whenever we get a new animator at the studio I like to reference these videos and certain MLP scenes to demonstrate how to better their animation. Thanks for the videos!
You have a good tutorial voice and have a great sense of how to make a video that's fun to watch. Interjecting with humor and playing subtle yet fitting background music helps keep the viewers attention and allows them to become more absorbed into the video.
I written short stories, created characters and illustrated them since I was a kid but never animated anything in my life. The schools specializing in animation were way out of my budget. When I heard how mlp was created through the same program I use for graphics, I desperately searched trying to learn anything I could. Then I stumbled onto your channel. Your visual tutorials helped me understand everything clearly. Thank you Grant Beaudette for your tutorials and keep up the good work!
i can never comprehend what it is you're saying, but i still love your stuff, it puts how much work the animators of mlp into perspective for someone like me.
Thats pretty sad because your a very well animator and your videos have actually inspired me and my friends to make a huge mlp project that is still in progress, we're looking for different versions of walk cycles such as 3Q walk cycle and front view walk cycles
Uhmpf.. You really don't understand how much i appreciate this. I am going to school for animation in Vancouver, and the MLP walk cycle has had me in love since i first saw it. This just makes everything better :'3
What we still need to get done in no particular order : -official ripped assets with a proper naming convention. -no duplicated symbols, and symbols properly swapped in all pony rigs. -proper asset child/sub directories. -clean up the 360fluttershy movieclip, make generic pony rig which can be tinted for creating other ponies. -walk/skip/hop/run/idle cycles for all standard degrees of rotation. -smart pony rig, where facial expressions and mouth positions can easily be adjusted for lip syncing.
gosh I had NO IDEA how much tedium and effort is involved with animation! I find your videos really interesting, being a pony fan and an animation noob. thank you for posting!
I'd take a close look at the stuff in the resource kit. These characters are some of the most intricately broken down flash models I've ever seen, but if you see how they go together drawing out a new leg or neck or whatever isn't that difficult.
It's took so many time to find "tutor flash pony" and i'm find this, totaly worth it. Thanks for that video. To analase by myself should have took lot of time.
Thank you for this ^^ I really wanted a good tutorial so I can start animating myself. Never animated ponies, and you'd be surprised how little references there is for the faster cycles, especially the trotting stage. And the ones I do find don't really break it down, so I really appreciate this ^^
its not an app, its a program called flash animation, through which my little pony was created. the packs contain files of the cycles and other funstuff
Flash's Find and Replace feature works on colors. It can change everything in couple clicks. The advanced color you'll have to hit the old fashioned way. I'm still trying to find and/or build and extension to make that easier.
That's absolutely an option. I largely split it up this way for clarity, but depending on the animation it's nice to keep things this way so that you can change just a leg pose without keying the whole figure.
"Unless you're this guy..." FINALLY someone else notices that. My OCD just kept bugging me about it when I noticed and it seemed like I was the only one who saw that.
I'm glad to see you (gbeaudette) are still making these videos, I was worried you had stopped making them. I'm an aspiring animation student and I always look forward to these videos.
Depending on how things are set up you could use motion tweens. In this case they're just posed out like the other frames.They just need to bridge the motion between the other frames.
WOW, people are so nice letting us use their stuff. Thanks a bunch for the tutorial and all the teaching tools! Also thanks Drud 14 for collecting all that stuff and sharing it ^---^! I'm rather excited.
That's because the template that the Animators use was mistakenly made without the freckles, as with a few other Applejack templates. Since they have every walk, run, etc. in their own symbol, the Animators merely place them on the background, thus why there were so many Applejack freckle screwups in "My Little Bloopers: Mistakes are Forever". The creators of said compilation know about the template mistake, but they put in all the scenes in which they appear just for laughs.
things that gbeaudette likes: Applejack, things that are snappy, puns, ... also couldn't help but notice the "proper gallop" looks a lot like pinkie pie hopping.
As always your work makes me appreciate more the thought and effort that goes with the show's animation. It's very interesting to learn that the show has a unique gallop animation. I wish I knew Something feels a bit amiss with your AJ proper gallop animation. It feels like the original's (Rarity's) gallop is more "expressive", specifically the front legs movement. But maybe I'm just imagining because AJ's just moving too fast or maybe I'm too used to the show's original gallop animation.
You can check in the Library by looking in the Type column and change it by right-clicking and changing the type. Also if you have any copies on the stage there's a type selector in the properties panel. I'd check both, because changing one doesn't change the other.
I think the official animators use that "duplicating the near legs and copying them as the far legs" trick as well. mainly because of that inner-thigh cuties marks things that occasionally appear >_< Also, This helps with making ponies walk in source filmmaker as well. needs a little fine tuning still, but you get the basics.
These aren't just useful and professional, they're hilarious. I'm taking a class very demanding in flash right now...these are perfect references, thank you!!
Wonderful! Okay, last question. :) The flash resource kit along and your mouths have been great tools for building the characters. Are there any other kits that perhaps feature a front-facing character along with ponies at other angles? Or any that contain male ponies as well? Thank you so much for your help! You have provided a remarkable base for Flash and tons of helpful tips that I could not have had otherwise. You have been inspirational to say the least and introduced me to a new hobby!
At 1:43 "this guy", I think he's going in a Pass, as it's called, a (normal) horses 4th walk cycle. Since he's not an Icelandic horse, I wouldn't tall it tölt. And you can see he's walking faster than just a normal walk! Just wanted to share :D
he did a video on that...well kinda. the video name is Breaking Down a Walk Cycle- My Little Pony: FiM Animation Analysis it kinda helps? i dunno..i haven't watched it for a *long* while
1:40 actually, this is not a animation error, but special type of promenade walk that is used on parades and stuff like this. It is also use on some ponies in Winter Wrap up song because it looks more... hm, royal?
You know, I clicked on this video to see how the Ponies walked ('cause like everyone else, I was mostly curious), but when I heard it was one of those "how to" videos, I though /UGH, this is gonna be painful/, but actually, it was really good to watch, and I'm a bit ashamed for thinking it. Your voice as well is a nice voice to listen to. And the humour in it isn't too much, it's just about right. Unfortunately, I have next to no skill of... what is it, Flash? Animation. But yeah, you told me what I wanted to know and you made it entertaining, so I thank you for that. Also, just thought I'd thank you for using Applejack as well (one of my more favourable characters) =)
It's less of an issue with the Doctor seeing as he's pushing himself off the ground, adding more of a natural bounce which distracts from the issue- unlike the guard's power walk, which tends to be something you force yourself to do. At least, that's my guess.
>duplicating leg symbols for front and back I think this is actually what the real animators do. This is probably the cause of every single inner thigh cutie mark when flash fails to layer something correctly over the duplicated 'back' legs.
This gives me the shakes. It makes it look like animating walking cycles is going to be so hard. But I haven't actually tried it yet and I'm sure this info will help. A lot. -SG7 ( :) )
"Mmmmm gbeaudette hasn't made a video in a while i think it would be cool if he made a walking video" *checks yotube* YES!!!! Always great videos, I feel like they really help.
I tried to keep it simple by avoiding comps and just separating it into a few layers. Most of these cycles need frame-by-frame animation and can't be done with motion tweens anyway.
Damn, this really makes me realize how much I need to understand about animation and frames before I can truly start to get into it. I have a fairly old version of Flash but I also have the most recent version of Maya (student license), so hopefully I can get something done with that...
Maybe in the next video you could show some non-standard ways of moving, like Pinkie Pie's hooping, or... I dont know, whatever else you would find since you got some good eye for it ( never would've noticed Rarity's unique gallop ). I know that those particular animations like hooping or flying are relatively plain and simple on animation board, but they are still some of our favourites, aren't they ;)
I was referring to her running animations from the show, in flash animation they like to recycle cause its cheaper, I don't blame either because i do it too.
I'd be happy to as well I'm planning on getting a playable version out just for my school so it can be marked After that I will try and complete what i actually planned for it (may take more than a year) And again thank you for your videos
I'm interested in an analysis of a walk/ prance cycle of the cutie mark crusaders near the end of the song they sing on hearts and hooves day. It almost looks like they're hopping like bunnies and I haven't seen any other animations like it in the show.
I just realized something. The fact that I can recognize the silhouette at 0:05 is not an amazing skill on my part; its an amazing amount of work and care from the character designers. The fact that even secondary and tertiary characters gets their own distinct form, and not just a different color scheme, says a lot about their dedication.
Who is it
So it wasn't only me being crazy or so when I noticed there was something funky with the usual run cycle.
Amazing tutorials! I'm no animator, but understanding a little of how it's done can help me to appreciate all the hard work that goes into the show.
"LESS PIECES!"
"LESS COLORS!"
[insert applejack hair]
"I'M LAZY!"
I've been using the same version of Flash for 8 years, and it still does exactly what I need it to do, so I never had a need to buy a newer version.
I know the newer versions can do so much more, but it's not enough to make me want to spend $500 on something I pretty much already have.
16 now
8 years have passed, do you still use the same version of Flash?
The time you put into these, and the clear fact that you enjoy what you do, is actually quite inspiring. As a supervising animator, whenever we get a new animator at the studio I like to reference these videos and certain MLP scenes to demonstrate how to better their animation.
Thanks for the videos!
These are great references for 3D animators too.
You have a good tutorial voice and have a great sense of how to make a video that's fun to watch.
Interjecting with humor and playing subtle yet fitting background music helps keep the viewers attention and allows them to become more absorbed into the video.
I written short stories, created characters and illustrated them since I was a kid but never animated anything in my life. The schools specializing in animation were way out of my budget. When I heard how mlp was created through the same program I use for graphics, I desperately searched trying to learn anything I could. Then I stumbled onto your channel. Your visual tutorials helped me understand everything clearly. Thank you Grant Beaudette for your tutorials and keep up the good work!
I bow to you, good sir.
i can never comprehend what it is you're saying, but i still love your stuff, it puts how much work the animators of mlp into perspective for someone like me.
Thats pretty sad because your a very well animator and your videos have actually inspired me and my friends to make a huge mlp project that is still in progress, we're looking for different versions of walk cycles such as 3Q walk cycle and front view walk cycles
Uhmpf.. You really don't understand how much i appreciate this. I am going to school for animation in Vancouver, and the MLP walk cycle has had me in love since i first saw it. This just makes everything better :'3
I'd never noticed the weird way that guard walks before you pointed it out.
Now I can't stop noticing it.
Goddamnit
What we still need to get done in no particular order :
-official ripped assets with a proper naming convention.
-no duplicated symbols, and symbols properly swapped in all pony rigs.
-proper asset child/sub directories.
-clean up the 360fluttershy movieclip, make generic pony rig which can be tinted for creating other ponies.
-walk/skip/hop/run/idle cycles for all standard degrees of rotation.
-smart pony rig, where facial expressions and mouth positions can easily be adjusted for lip syncing.
gosh I had NO IDEA how much tedium and effort is involved with animation! I find your videos really interesting, being a pony fan and an animation noob. thank you for posting!
I just got a Muybridge book, and was using that as a reference, but the walk cycles in the show are totally different, this video helped a lot.
I get ultra pumped up when I see a new animation video is up.
VERY good video as always. I wish I woulda saw this before I spent all that time trying to remake a walk cycle for ponys.
I love the walking animation of these ponies. They're just so cute!
I'd take a close look at the stuff in the resource kit. These characters are some of the most intricately broken down flash models I've ever seen, but if you see how they go together drawing out a new leg or neck or whatever isn't that difficult.
how do you open the resource kit
2:43
Does anyone else think rainbow dash sounds a tad bit funny?
Not me
Nope
Noticing how their legs curve with each step made them seem the most marshmallowiest ever.
It's took so many time to find "tutor flash pony" and i'm find this, totaly worth it. Thanks for that video. To analase by myself should have took lot of time.
The song is called "Punching Holes in the Sky (Rainbow Dash's Theme)" by SherclopPones (the "Friendship is Witchcraft" guys).
Thank you for this ^^ I really wanted a good tutorial so I can start animating myself. Never animated ponies, and you'd be surprised how little references there is for the faster cycles, especially the trotting stage. And the ones I do find don't really break it down, so I really appreciate this ^^
sorry Twilight Dash say she can't get a conuter next year. And she get a Mi Tablet.
Cute_Girl_ Kelly Gaming I'm a little confused ^^' I was just thanking the maker of the video for posting it...
What app are you using? do you have to download the game? and is the pony pack free or money?
its not an app, its a program called flash animation, through which my little pony was created. the packs contain files of the cycles and other funstuff
I wouldn't hold my breath of this one. I don't even have a version of Flash with those tools available to me.
Still as awesome as ever, even for me who has never touched anything related to animation whatsoever. Thank you!
With the sliding versions of the cycles you simply animate the symbol itself sliding across the stage while the cycles plays inside the symbol.
He did. In one of his videos he says he has used the same mouth movement technique on every single animation class he took.
The 'run' is in fact a canter, as horses have 4 gaits. it is only in the gallop (fastest) that all 4 legs are off the ground with traditional horses.
It's all in Adobe Flash. As for acquiring it, you're on your own. I've enjoyed Adobe's Creative Cloud subscription so far.
That's part of the planning process. Once voices are recorded and storyboards are drawn you can start cutting it together and time things out.
"Well, unless you're this guy." And cue the laughter. I feel a tad bit sad I don't pick up on these things until they're poked at by others.
Flash's Find and Replace feature works on colors. It can change everything in couple clicks. The advanced color you'll have to hit the old fashioned way. I'm still trying to find and/or build and extension to make that easier.
The best way is to have the same number of points for both keys if you can. Shape Hints also help.
That's absolutely an option. I largely split it up this way for clarity, but depending on the animation it's nice to keep things this way so that you can change just a leg pose without keying the whole figure.
The resource kit linked in the description is the closest thing to show assets you can get. They are show assets, but the organization is all shot.
These asset packs are a godsend. I've been asked to help with an animation project over the summer and they'll help me greatly. :D
"Unless you're this guy..."
FINALLY someone else notices that.
My OCD just kept bugging me about it when I noticed and it seemed like I was the only one who saw that.
You have no idea how long I've been waiting for a walk, trot and run sequence!!! Thank you!!
I'm glad to see you (gbeaudette) are still making these videos, I was worried you had stopped making them. I'm an aspiring animation student and I always look forward to these videos.
All those lines are converted to fills so that they're shapes. Then you can trim off the ends.
Depending on how things are set up you could use motion tweens. In this case they're just posed out like the other frames.They just need to bridge the motion between the other frames.
WOW, people are so nice letting us use their stuff. Thanks a bunch for the tutorial and all the teaching tools! Also thanks Drud 14 for collecting all that stuff and sharing it ^---^! I'm rather excited.
Modify>Shape>Convert Lines to Fills. I suggest setting a hot key for it, since it's a pretty useful action.
Any tapered lines you see have been converted to fills so they can be altered.
That's because the template that the Animators use was mistakenly made without the freckles, as with a few other Applejack templates. Since they have every walk, run, etc. in their own symbol, the Animators merely place them on the background, thus why there were so many Applejack freckle screwups in "My Little Bloopers: Mistakes are Forever". The creators of said compilation know about the template mistake, but they put in all the scenes in which they appear just for laughs.
things that gbeaudette likes: Applejack, things that are snappy, puns, ...
also couldn't help but notice the "proper gallop" looks a lot like pinkie pie hopping.
Man! Um- I mean, colt! This is extremely handy on my part, for such an old video. 😊 thanks 🙏
Also, Applejack's running animation doesn't have freckles. I'm glad you included them in your example.
As always your work makes me appreciate more the thought and effort that goes with the show's animation.
It's very interesting to learn that the show has a unique gallop animation. I wish I knew
Something feels a bit amiss with your AJ proper gallop animation. It feels like the original's (Rarity's) gallop is more "expressive", specifically the front legs movement. But maybe I'm just imagining because AJ's just moving too fast or maybe I'm too used to the show's original gallop animation.
I'm no animator, but I love these in-depth analysis videos all the same ^_^
You can check in the Library by looking in the Type column and change it by right-clicking and changing the type. Also if you have any copies on the stage there's a type selector in the properties panel. I'd check both, because changing one doesn't change the other.
I'm not an animator, but I still find this series very intresting. It's fun to see how the animation actually works. Keep up the good job!
I tuned out when FiW Rainbow Dash theme started, because it's too awesome.
Yeah, I have played it.
There's a bunch of things like it that use pony sprites.
Thank you for your support.
You can alter the color of symbols in properties panel. There you can use the Advanced color setting to set or remove the shadow color.
your aj run ACTUALLY HAS FRECKLES!!!! I applaud you, not even Studio B did that.
I think the official animators use that "duplicating the near legs and copying them as the far legs" trick as well. mainly because of that inner-thigh cuties marks things that occasionally appear >_<
Also, This helps with making ponies walk in source filmmaker as well. needs a little fine tuning still, but you get the basics.
These aren't just useful and professional, they're hilarious. I'm taking a class very demanding in flash right now...these are perfect references, thank you!!
I'm going to try and learn Flash this summer, once exams are done. Your videos are going to help me out so, soo much. Thank you. Subbed 4ever.
I don't know a lot about the bone tool, but it seems better for using one setup a bunch rather than switching out pieces all the time.
Wonderful! Okay, last question. :)
The flash resource kit along and your mouths have been great tools for building the characters. Are there any other kits that perhaps feature a front-facing character along with ponies at other angles? Or any that contain male ponies as well?
Thank you so much for your help! You have provided a remarkable base for Flash and tons of helpful tips that I could not have had otherwise. You have been inspirational to say the least and introduced me to a new hobby!
This is really useful! I'm participating My Little Game Jam, and I was getting hung up on overworld spites.
Be sure to post it on the MLP subreddit when it's done. I'd love to see it.
At 1:43 "this guy", I think he's going in a Pass, as it's called, a (normal) horses 4th walk cycle. Since he's not an Icelandic horse, I wouldn't tall it tölt. And you can see he's walking faster than just a normal walk! Just wanted to share :D
It's in one of the Friendship is Witchcraft song compilations.
It's hard enough to see the movement because of Rarity's dress without dealing with her running in the opposite direction of all the other examples.
Wow the quality of your videos are amazing, you have a new subscriber.
So glad I've subscribed to this channel, these videos are so interesting.
What about walking TOWARD the screen?
he did a video on that...well kinda.
the video name is Breaking Down a Walk Cycle- My Little Pony: FiM Animation Analysis
it kinda helps? i dunno..i haven't watched it for a *long* while
1:40 actually, this is not a animation error, but special type of promenade walk that is used on parades and stuff like this. It is also use on some ponies in Winter Wrap up song because it looks more... hm, royal?
You are amazing sir.
Please. Do humanity a favor and keep making these for the animators of tomorrow.
1:42, I fell off my chair and spilled my drink. Thanks for that.
You know, I clicked on this video to see how the Ponies walked ('cause like everyone else, I was mostly curious), but when I heard it was one of those "how to" videos, I though /UGH, this is gonna be painful/, but actually, it was really good to watch, and I'm a bit ashamed for thinking it. Your voice as well is a nice voice to listen to. And the humour in it isn't too much, it's just about right. Unfortunately, I have next to no skill of... what is it, Flash? Animation. But yeah, you told me what I wanted to know and you made it entertaining, so I thank you for that. Also, just thought I'd thank you for using Applejack as well (one of my more favourable characters) =)
It's less of an issue with the Doctor seeing as he's pushing himself off the ground, adding more of a natural bounce which distracts from the issue- unlike the guard's power walk, which tends to be something you force yourself to do. At least, that's my guess.
>duplicating leg symbols for front and back
I think this is actually what the real animators do. This is probably the cause of every single inner thigh cutie mark when flash fails to layer something correctly over the duplicated 'back' legs.
Walk cycles are always a pain to me.
I'll definitely give this a shot.
You are a life saver. Thanks to you, I would be able to finish my super awesome epic drawing!
All I could think about during this was that song Walk it Out.
This gives me the shakes. It makes it look like animating walking cycles is going to be so hard. But I haven't actually tried it yet and I'm sure this info will help. A lot.
-SG7 ( :) )
what a keen eye observation.You just got yourself a subscriber
Hey! In the run cycle for applejack you remembered her freckles! That's better than the official animators!
1:44
y is this funny to me? LOL LMAO FOR WALKING ANIMATION
This will help so much when I use flash~
*ten years later*
so that's what the icon looks like!
According to urban dictionary the trots means "A bad case of diarea, often in slippery, chunky, streams.'
"Mmmmm gbeaudette hasn't made a video in a while i think it would be cool if he made a walking video" *checks yotube* YES!!!! Always great videos, I feel like they really help.
I literally JUST finished the walking cycle for an animation project.
And after watching this I realized that I did it completely wrong.
1:42
To be fair, this guy is probably in a polite hurry to use the restroom.
"'Scuze me, pardon me, just had Mexican food!"
SHAPE HINTS! *shakes fist*
those just saved my life, thank you so much.
You know, your running cycle might've been better than the show's for one simple reason:
Applejack still has her freckles while it's happening.
I tried to keep it simple by avoiding comps and just separating it into a few layers. Most of these cycles need frame-by-frame animation and can't be done with motion tweens anyway.
Damn, this really makes me realize how much I need to understand about animation and frames before I can truly start to get into it. I have a fairly old version of Flash but I also have the most recent version of Maya (student license), so hopefully I can get something done with that...
Maybe in the next video you could show some non-standard ways of moving, like Pinkie Pie's hooping, or... I dont know, whatever else you would find since you got some good eye for it ( never would've noticed Rarity's unique gallop ). I know that those particular animations like hooping or flying are relatively plain and simple on animation board, but they are still some of our favourites, aren't they ;)
It seems to be remarkably well hidden on their site lately. I'd look in the Creative Suite section of their product page.
I've been hoping for this tutorial forever! Thank you!!:D
I was referring to her running animations from the show, in flash animation they like to recycle cause its cheaper, I don't blame either because i do it too.
I'd be happy to as well
I'm planning on getting a playable version out just for my school so it can be marked
After that I will try and complete what i actually planned for it (may take more than a year)
And again thank you for your videos
I'm interested in an analysis of a walk/ prance cycle of the cutie mark crusaders near the end of the song they sing on hearts and hooves day. It almost looks like they're hopping like bunnies and I haven't seen any other animations like it in the show.