July « 2013 « Nina Paley’s Blog

Embroidermation Test 3

We had a little breakthrough at Gray-Paley* Labs, doing trapplique with the embroidery machine.

Theo improved stitch quality within the Ziz, but for some reason our registration between layers is always off. As you can see, the machine stitches the registration borders 1-2mm apart on the bottom, while they’re almost exactly lined up at the top. We can’t get our satin stitch quite on target, because the registration step is always slightly off from the satin stitch step.?We discovered the machine thinks the files are slightly different sizes.?It’s Theo’s challenge to figure out why, since everything is exported from Mathematica at the same resolution.

Even with these problems, the trapplique is a big

Continue reading Embroidermation Test 3

Share/Bookmark

Embroidermation Test 2

Sequel to?Embroidermation Test 1.

Theo Gray and I bought a 10-needle embroidery machine to pursue a dream of embroidered animation. Existing embroidery software sucks too badly to do the automated shape-to-stitch conversions necessary, so Theo found a way to use Mathematica instead. This is his first full test, created in Mathematica, exported directly via an Embroidermodder file conversion program as DST files, stitched on canvas (which made the edges kind of jaggy) and photographed. No loose threads were clipped in the making of this video.

Sequel to?Embroidermation Test 1. Theo Gray and I bought a 10-needle embroidery machine to pursue a dream of embroidered animation. Existing embroidery software sucks too badly to

Continue reading Embroidermation Test 2

Share/Bookmark

Bird 2

Same bird as yesterday, but with the wing flapping from the side. Also it blinks every other flap.

Same bird as yesterday, but with the wing flapping from the side. Also it blinks every other

Continue reading Bird 2

Share/Bookmark

Bird of Play

My brilliant Anime Studio Pro teacher?Victor Paredes has traveled on to California (visit him at SmithMicro’s Comic-Con booth!) and I have time to digest and practice what I’ve learned. I remain intrigued by ASP’s even-odd fill possibilities, so today I made this bird.

My brilliant Anime Studio Pro teacher?Victor Paredes has traveled on to California (visit him at SmithMicro’s Comic-Con booth!) and I have time to digest and practice what I’ve

Continue reading Bird of Play

Share/Bookmark

Sharknado the sequel

Victor just improved the Sharknado particle technique and taught me.

Continue reading Sharknado the sequel

Share/Bookmark

Sharknado, vector-style

Continuing my?Anime Studio Pro studies with?Victor “Vector” Paredes, this afternoon he taught me about particles. Here is the result:

Wish me luck retaining even part of the knowledge required to make this.

Continuing my?Anime Studio Pro studies with?Victor “Vector” Paredes, this afternoon he taught me about particles. Here is the result: Wish me luck retaining even part of the knowledge

Continue reading Sharknado, vector-style

Share/Bookmark

That’s not a bug, it’s a feature!

This week I am intensively studying Anime Studio Pro because Victor “El Maestro” Paredes is visiting from Chile.

Anime Studio handles shapes and lines and curves and points differently than Flash. In particular if a shape crosses over itself it makes a “hole.” There are many ways to “fix” this but I think it’s cool, and made a crudely animated exercise that relies on that behavior:

Try not to mind my imperfect animation, right now I’m just trying to get the hang of this new, very different tool.

This week I am intensively studying Anime Studio Pro because Victor “El Maestro” Paredes is visiting from Chile. Anime Studio handles shapes and lines and

Continue reading That’s not a bug, it’s a feature!

Share/Bookmark