Artificially-induced Squigglevision
December 2, 2011 3:55 AM Subscribe
What would be the easiest way to replicate a jittery/"Squigglevision" animation effect using Photoshop?
I have a series of kid-like gif drawings (low-res, no anti-alias, color, speckled to look like crayon). I'd like to make a series of slightly different duplicates, to create simple 2-frame animations of each image.
The closest example I can think of can be found in this clip from
"Cartoon Planet."
To do it the long way, I'd loosely trace over each image and save each layer separately, which wouldn't be a problem if these were just solid black lines. Is there a particular filter or technique I could use that would distort the lines just enough while still being consistent with the originals?
I have a series of kid-like gif drawings (low-res, no anti-alias, color, speckled to look like crayon). I'd like to make a series of slightly different duplicates, to create simple 2-frame animations of each image.
The closest example I can think of can be found in this clip from
"Cartoon Planet."
To do it the long way, I'd loosely trace over each image and save each layer separately, which wouldn't be a problem if these were just solid black lines. Is there a particular filter or technique I could use that would distort the lines just enough while still being consistent with the originals?
If you're talking about the jittery text effect, the easiest way to do this is to take the drawing and very slightly offset it a few pixels vertically and horizontally. Loop it with the original and it will jitter.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:13 AM on December 2, 2011
posted by DarlingBri at 4:13 AM on December 2, 2011
Best answer: Filter > Distort > Wave
Set the Scale (Horiz and Vert) to somewhere between 10% and 20%
Set the other bars to make the distortion as subtle or as blatant as you want, to control the extent to which the drawing lines are wandering vs shaky, etc. etc.
Adjust a few sliders when creating each frame to make the line-wander of each frame unique.
(You can also use the sliders in a methodical way if you want the line-wander to animate in a coherent motion over multiple frames, but it doesn't sound like that interests you)
posted by -harlequin- at 4:29 AM on December 2, 2011
Set the Scale (Horiz and Vert) to somewhere between 10% and 20%
Set the other bars to make the distortion as subtle or as blatant as you want, to control the extent to which the drawing lines are wandering vs shaky, etc. etc.
Adjust a few sliders when creating each frame to make the line-wander of each frame unique.
(You can also use the sliders in a methodical way if you want the line-wander to animate in a coherent motion over multiple frames, but it doesn't sound like that interests you)
posted by -harlequin- at 4:29 AM on December 2, 2011
Try the Displace filter, it moves parts of your image around based on the grayscale values of the a map image.
- Make a grayscale file the same size as your illustration
- fill it with random scribbly lines
- repeat step 2 a few times
- apply scribbly lines to illustration via Displace filter (keep the settings low 1-3% maybe, it will depend on the images size). The scribble maps may need to ever so slightly blurred depending on the effect your want, so play around with them.
posted by doctor_negative at 7:00 AM on December 2, 2011
- Make a grayscale file the same size as your illustration
- fill it with random scribbly lines
- repeat step 2 a few times
- apply scribbly lines to illustration via Displace filter (keep the settings low 1-3% maybe, it will depend on the images size). The scribble maps may need to ever so slightly blurred depending on the effect your want, so play around with them.
posted by doctor_negative at 7:00 AM on December 2, 2011
doh, repeat step 2 should be repeat steps 1 and 2 (or just make a few scribble maps).
posted by doctor_negative at 7:24 AM on December 2, 2011
posted by doctor_negative at 7:24 AM on December 2, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks for everyone's advice. I ended up going with the Wave filter, as I couldn't quite figure out the Distort one. But it got me close to what I wanted. I ended up applying to one copy, then rotating a second and applying to that one, so the two would look different but consistent.
I'm trying to string them into a slideshow to put on Youtube. Not sure if it's eligible for Projects, but I'll see. Thanks again.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 6:47 PM on December 4, 2011
I'm trying to string them into a slideshow to put on Youtube. Not sure if it's eligible for Projects, but I'll see. Thanks again.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 6:47 PM on December 4, 2011
« Older I have no idea who is telling me the truth. | Please give me examples of out-thinking... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by mippy at 4:04 AM on December 2, 2011