Vector Animation in Wakfu the Animated Series



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1.0 Introduction When it was realized that both the internet speed and computer technology at the time cannot handle graphics and animated imagery that the community on the internet started to demand, vector-based softwares were developed. To add, White (2006, p.392) made a mention that the invention of vector graphics is indeed a big leap in digital art technology. This is when Macromedia Flash, the first vector-based software is first introduced and completely revolutionized web animation as it offers both greater capability of motion-based imagery as well as the inclusion of sound. According to Greenberg (2007, p. 115), vector graphics are made of geometrical methods such as points, lines and curves which are all based on mathematical equations. While a vector image is capable of looking identical to hand drawn images and pictures, compared to them it is very small in file size thanks to its mathematical nature; meaning that it is processed like an equation rather than as image-based matters. This ultimately reduces the load on the computer. To continue, the invention of vector graphics later give emergence to vector animation, which can be defined as a sequence of a series of vector images that provides an illusion of movements, in contrary to traditional animation, it utilizes vector graphics instead of raster (pixel based) images. But White (2006, p. 392) also focuses on an issue stating that vector animation differs from traditional, conventional ones and therefore requires a different approach. As an evidence, in its earliest version Flash is actually a website development tool that just happens to have a very economic animation capacity meant to create slightly animated images for web pages. The resourcefulness of traditional animators however adapted its use and this defined a new industry standard for animation. Its pioneers do admit that significant limitations do exist, however. Ever since Flash’s earliest time, vector animation technology has advanced tremendously, such as the emergence of the more traditional-styled vector software ToonBoom which is unlike Flash whereas it is specifically made for animation. However, the economic approach to animation that Flash offers still remain as the choice of some studios. 1 This innovation continues to thrive further. where the two of them retell the story of the declining of America’s golden age of animation after the World War II era. Wakfu stands peerless as an animated series in terms of quality of animation for the time being. Still. As a result many animation companies got shut down. However due to low budget allocation the animations that came out were still of much lower quality than what it used to be.org/pmwiki/pmwiki. The Illusionist. especially as a vector animation. 166).The emergence of vector animation owes itself to a dark history as can be seen in the words of Young & Young (2010. Bidgoli (2003. they are of feature length in nature and therefore require a different kind of budget and production process. and El Tigre among others. giving birth to memorable cartoon series in the later years such as Dexter’s Laboratory. (http://tvtropes. p. However. p. Powerpuff Girls. 2 . as well as Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey’s The Secret of Kells which are done via vector means whereas while all three overshadow Wakfu’s quality. In its class. There are animated features such as Sylvain Chomet’s Triplets of Belleville. 655) however mentioned that the emergence of vector animation revived the production of cartoons and animated shorts by making the process of production much cheaper and more accessible to all. This never gave vector animation the chance to be shown to the public as an equally competitive method for animating despite its potential capability. putting an end to the golden age and stunted animation development. creating animations that give viewers the illusion of seeing full animations despite the actual work only containing limited movements unlike those that can usually be found during the Golden Age. animation continues to be developed in the United States and as a result some studios like Hanna Barbera both innovated and flourished in the arts of limited animation as mentioned by White (2006. none of them reached Wakfu’s level of quality. p. 394). Produced in France. The pressure studios put on production companies to minimize production budget made things worse. where the cost for animation technology and crew increased drastically. the series is not aired internationally and yet it has gained a following cult from all over the world thanks to the quality it demonstrates.php/Main/Wakfu) Wakfu The Animated Series is one of the few known productions that makes full use of vector animation’s capabilities. 0 Objectives Inspired by its success. But through strong will that is born from fatherly love. This. Following his finding. Nox single handedly stops the time around him and tries to claim Yugo. 2. Adept in time magic. Yugo is to be kept away from searching for his real father. this study will focus on various aspects of vector animation like quality of animation. Grougalolagran left both Yugo and Az to be picked up by Alibert. a benevolent and retiring bounty hunter who stands for his people before the law. One day. With his magical eyes that can see through a living being’s soul and intent. the person with an abundant essence of life that he seeks. to be his companion and to encrypt a message within Alibert that will tell him what to do when the time comes. Nox proves to be too powerful for Yugo and his companions both old and new to handle. Nox is unharmed and escapes the fight safely however. Alibert. while Alibert becomes old as an effect to fighting against the spell’s effect. Yugo under the care of someone trustworthy to keep his son safe from an expected danger and until the right time comes. Grougalolagran finally finds in a village. along with some other following commotions attracted the arch villain Nox that has been searching for Yugo. a kind of bird that Yugo later named Az. It is later that the message Grougalolagran imprinted in him is decrypted and commands Yugo to seek his real father. cost in both money and time. especially in low budget productions. Alibert manages to fight against the effect of Nox’s spell and shatter its source.The plot of Wakfu follows Grougalolagran. and has become a great cook of the restaurant Alibert opened prior to his retirement as a bounty hunter. Yugo grows up well under Alibert’s care. in a kitchen accident Yugo used his power which involves teleportation portals unintentionally. He proceeded to experiment and play around with it. as well as animator workload so that the results from doing this search could shed a new light on the true capabilities of vector animation techniques that could revolutionize the animation industry. a powerful dragon who feels a bad premonition coming and decides to put his human offspring. With it. who later takes care of them both without hesitations. 3 . Grougalolagran picks a nearby Tofu. With Flash however. allowing them with only limited sources to work with. no matter how expert to become adept at adapting the use of vector format in the production of an animation and even then it is still challenging to ensure the animated movements are both smooth and looks as good as those that can be found in a traditional animation. p. A similar problem in the most recent history occurs in the times of Hanna Barbera. With a less experienced crew to work with. 166). where as the two stated. White (2006. p. this becomes almost impossibly challenging to achieve. This problem is especially true for Flash as made clear by Young & Young (2010.0 Problem Statement Despite looking clean and optimized. 4 . One of which White (2006. vector animation do pose a number of problems to animators. p. it has resulted in many skilled animators favoring the use of a more traditional oriented animation software which only high budget studios can afford. 392) also said that vector animation is also rather known for the fact that its file is tough to manage and to make sure it is under a controllable environment. this limitation is more severe since even with a better budget. Few studios have thrived under Flash based productions. Flash is usually used to produce animation series charting only mediocre quality as can be seen in animated series like Southpark and Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends. animating fluid movements would be much more challenging considering the lack of sources. this leaves Flash animation to the less funded ones that can only afford to pay Flash animators that are more or less fresh to the scene and cannot animate as well as their better skilled and funded adversaries. As a consequence. Flash can only handle so much. A vector graphic file with too much complexity but with a poor management would prove to be very heavy to the system. Technically it requires some time for traditional animators. 392) made mention of is a problem where vector animation being substantially different compared to traditional animation in both looks and how it works. To add. and even fewer in number are those that are able to make quality animations with it. As can be seen these days.3. where the budget for most animation productions had been cut extensively. As a result. On the other hand. it was actually meant as a website creation software with economic animating capacity originally designed for minimal animated elements like those can be found in a website’s button or logo. one would find that it is almost impossible to create a good Flash animation. Hall. Regardless. which can pose a problem in a production. even though it is still not suited for an all out animation in compliance to keeping its original use intact. Which is a strange case considering that Flash techniques still have significant limitations as stated by Cantrell. one could only create animations of very minimalist nature. 393) also stated that when Flash was first introduced. p.White (2006. Ever since that time. 5 . resourceful animators had put it to a good use to publish their minimalistic production on the web. one would find that the file size would increase in addition to it consuming too much working memory and by chance would even overwhelm as well as crashing the processor due to overloading. it can only handle and transfer so much of complicated animated sequences to viewers on the internet. yet without breaking any of it. let alone an excellent one with very fluid animations (or one that projects an illusion of quality animation for that matter) surpassing even that of any animations produced via means much closer to traditional mediums. Still. Past the golden age of animation however. Choosing to expand the number of available frames to increase materials to work with in this case would ultimately pay a toll in file size as well as the requirement of working memory. This results in lower playback rates. At most. Whereby normally few top brass animation studios would opt the use of Flash as their main animation software considering how it is not suited for an all out production series. Failing to make use of what little resources available look convincing (especially in the production of a television-broadcasted animation) would result in either a very stiff or expressionless style of animation. Flash’s animation capabilities has been improved by a mile. 168) Whereas with every embedded animation element. Ankama Groups for reasons yet unknown has chosen Flash as its primary animation software for the production of Wakfu despite the many shortcomings Flash posses. All these tight limitations are contradicting the requirement of a good Flash animation in itself. generally one would find that by not breaking the limitations. & Torrone (2002. p. file size increases and and even the fastest of processors can only handle so much. if they are to be broken. 448). thus reducing the workload on animators and this eventually increases an animator’s productivity rate. p. The small file size would also ease the process of storing work files since the files would only require minimal space. The animating process is also likely to present itself with much less computers overloading in the work process in consort of the small work file size. In addition to that.0 Significance of Research Although it generally takes time for a traditional animator to get accustomed to vector animation techniques. White (2006. This can benefit in many ways. White (2006.4. it can be seen in White’s opinion that digitized animation processes do have many benefits and any problems that is associated with differences from working traditionally can be overcome one way or another in the hands of any good animator. given the animators are specialists in vector file managements this can be advantageous seeing as vector file sizes. studios can invest excess money somewhere else in making sure that it is running smoothly in the production of an animation project. are really small in size as written by Parsons & Oja (2011. A well-rounded investment within an animation studio would ensure a project will see a bright end. it would also require much less computer resources to work with. To animate creatively well within the bounds of a modern animation software however. 294) further adds that an animator who is of innately or well trained artistry can be trained to eventually learn how to work and animate digitally in an accomplished way. For example. On top of that. With fewer requirements across various issues. since work rate is hastened. As to which. p. small file size can result in the possibility of increasing the graphical details available within a vector animation substantially relative to file size increase. more time can be allocated for both the quality and detail level of an animation production. often is the case where a well-educated animator would find this technique to be providing sufficient aide in animating. p. 286) regarding this matter elaborates on his opinion saying that most modern animation software certainly makes it easier to animate in technical terms up to the point where a person does not even need to know how to draw in order to animate. To add. especially Flash files. While file management is a quite a problem in vector animation. these files can be transferred much faster across various platforms. 6 . In the light of this issue. has many limitations. can be reused indefinitely regardless of the original size the element is drawn at.394) also said that although vector animation. this is only possible with vector animation because the created images are actually made of mathematical calculations. White (2006. the processor would only need to recalculate certain elements and render the resized element in full quality. Few however has dared to venture into the heights that Wakfu did in fear of not having the manpower skilled enough to undertake the animation process. In the animation industry. Whereas with every change in size is to occur. this is an invaluable aspect as any scene that requires recurring animation of a particular element but of a differing shot distance. for example. This shows that if taken seriously. Seen from a certain point of view. especially Flash animation. p. Greenberg (2007. one of the best examples of Flash animation that made the most out of limited resources is Wakfu The Animated Series where it clearly shows that Flash animation does not have to look cheap nor badly done up to the point that it does not even have to look like the general Flash animation that comes out on television like El Tigre.Although Flash isn’t originally meant for creating animations. Aside from advantages in resizing. White (2006. this fairly difficult innerworking of Flash often push animators to their limit and thus capable of making them coming up with new animation techniques as in the times of Hanna Barbera. p. As mentioned earlier. for example.406) also said that at the same time it offers a very economical way of working with animation wherein he mentioned the fact that vector animation can be resized and reused indefinitely without compromising on the quality of the resized element. Flash animation cultivates creativity by presenting its animators with the challenge of creating maximum results out of the least resources. 7 . 115) thus made a statement that in the case of 2D animation. All of these advantages when combined ultimately reduce work time. To continue. This process is also very minimalist in terms of resource usage and can be committed without much hassle. it is at the same time also has its own value and can be considered to be of a class of its own. Flash can be a very effective medium for animation. the mathematical nature of vector animation also renders it as very light as compared to raster animations. p. In this scene. all the while leaving trails to show an effect of Nox’s swift movements. all of the tree’s numerous leaves are shown to be falling from it.5. In the draining process. This scene shows that after Nox stops time in his battle with Grougaloragran. Following the first scene. at minute 3:32. Nox’s robotic bug is shown to be draining the life energy of a tree in the foreground while the arch villain Nox confronts the dragon Grougaloragran for the first time. 8 . at minute 4:52. he begins to leap from one falling rock to another consecutively in a fairly complex and very fluid maneuver in order to retrieve his sword which got thrown in the air in an explosion caused earlier by Grougaloragran.0 Scope of Research The research scope of this study will first focus on a scene found in Episode one. the second scope will focus on a scene yet found in Episode one. at minute 0:37. In the background is an anonymous woman who is seen carrying a basket of meat from the left towards the right end of the frame.The third scope focuses on a scene found in Episode 3. both the character and the very same movement is actually rehashed as the mother of a character named Goultard in a special episode 23 episodes apart entitled Goultard Special. her animation however is seen mirrored where she is shown walking from right to left instead of her former appearance in episode 3 as can be seen in the screenshot of said scene below. 9 . In the Goultard Special episode. The scene shows the protagonist Yugo getting excited seeing the wares offered at a stall he is checking out. Although chronologically she appears first in Episode 3 anonymously. at minute 2:37. scenes like this are considered to be very tedious work as each element on each frame has to be animated individually on translucent cells arranged together to create a scene. Instead of creating full animations.394) has cultivated the creativity of Wakfu’s animators to turn it into an advantage. the arch villain Nox is shown performing complicated combat maneuvers mid air. as stated by White (2006. before appointing it to fall in the way intended. which is actually done by creating illusions of fluid movements whereby most of the time rehashing of the same frames which are just slightly moved occur. As the process of animating Nox in one stationary position is done. p. this scene shares many of the same benefits as the scene on 3:32 does. all that the animator has to do is repeat the steps and carefully place each falling leaf animations in place and Flash should do the proceeding work of animating the leaves by itself. Back then in the days where animation is done traditionally. which is just a repositioned copy of the original animated instance and are especially used to create an illusion of fluid movements when the actual animation is far less fluid.0 Findings In episode one. p.6. Although this scene seems overly complicated to animate. The leaf animation can then be done in one stationary position by dictating which frame should be shown at what time. 286) earlier. When enough variations are done. Rearranging each individual cell the leaves are on whilst replacing them with the progressed frames each time ought to take a lot of time. It can then be resized. Following the first noted scene. This is especially true for the trails that follow Nox. all that is needed to be done is to create a single leaf and a variety of other frames for it in one single dictated instance. copied and pasted to be further edited to create other variations of the falling leaf animation. the rest is put into motion by using the same methods as the falling leaves mentioned in the previous paragraph. This is just one of the many examples of how a modern animation software is worth mastering as it would prove to be a great aide for any traditional animators. in the same episode at minute 4:52. through the creative use of Flash and knowledge in animation it is made much easier to animate and with much less work too. Here 10 . With a modern animation software like Flash however. at minute 3:32 of Wakfu The Animated Series. the limitations that Flash comes with as stated by White (2006. numerous leaves are shown withering from a tree. Of which. p. at minute 0:37 where an obviously rehashed model is used on the latter episode as a fairly important supporting character. 11 . Here it appears that what White (2006. the animators have chosen to rehash the same character model just to see it done without making much effort to differentiate between the two. negative way. Wakfu however takes limited animation to another level by utilizing it to overcome even full animation techniques by tricking viewer’s eyes into seeing it as being even better than a fully animated sequence.it can be seen how even limitations can prove to be beneficial as can be seen as well in the earlier times of Hanna Barbera. when compared side by side it certainly shows in a cheap. While the third scope focuses on both scenes found in Episode 3. The severe limitations seem to have kept up in preventing the animators from creating a genuine character for each of the scenes. 392) said regarding Flash files being tough to manage seems to have come into play which in turn results into this noticeable problem. at minute 2:37 and another in a special episode 23 episodes apart entitled Goultard Special. It is apparent in this scene that no matter how much skill a vector animator has. the pioneers of limited animation as can be seen in The Flintstones. The rehashed models found in these two scenes show inclination towards the latter whereby whether the problem is time or money related. it shows a sign that due to permitting condition. Even though it may be largely unnoticed due to how far apart the episodes are. especially the latter one. one will either find oneself bounded by Flash’s limitations or enticed by Flash’s simplification of digitized animating process eventually. 12 . With enough time spent on it. an animated short of satisfying quality should be able to be produced and published on the internet for example. and the animation workforce will grow naturally. Or one could even try to apply for his or her short to be screened at a film or animation festival. for this to happen.0 Conclusion Based on the research that has been done on Wakfu The Animated Series. one might find oneself being offered jobs by various companies. When these steps of innovation are practiced by not only a small number. a five to ten minutes short of something that is similar to Wakfu’s quality should be achievable even when done alone. therefore creating more interest in 2D animation and when that happens. This would pay in the end as animators with better mastery in their working software would definitely perform better and more efficient in each upcoming production and would ultimately bring the studio good in the long run. but by a whole community of animation students. either Flash or other vector based animation programs. which could possibly possess a bigger value whether in terms of points of interest or even as a showcase of skill. From there. bringing further prosperity to both the company they work for and the industry itself. animation students could try to innovate by creating their own animated shorts. smaller studios can start small and utilize part of their incomes to train their animators to better understand the vector animation software of their studio’s choice. Although.7. the industry will regulate by itself. Otherwise. Students could even collaborate with each other to create an independent production of much greater stature. From there. quality of productions would increase. it would surely attract attention in the long run and bring with it various forms of fortune. a conclusion has been made in the form of an idea that enforces the assumption that vector animation is definitely capable of revolutionizing the 2D animation industry. With enough effort and ingenuity. Areas of study for animation would be expanded. Even though bigger production houses may prefer pitching in money into a 3D animation production. producers of animation companies need to consider this matter and give it a chance to happen. D. Retrieved Feb 11. 2011. August 4). from http://tvtropes. C.org/pmwiki/pmwiki. H. World War II and the Postwar Years in America: A Historical and Cultural Encyclopedia Volume 2. (2007. Parsons. N. November). Young. (2006. I. & Young. May 14) Flash Enabled: Flash Design and Development for Devices. In Television Tropes & Idioms. (2011) New Perspectives on Computer Concepts 2011. Cantrell. June 1). Processing: Creative Coding and Computational Art (Foundation). & Oja. H. Wakfu. T. (2010.. The Internet Encylopedia (Vol 2). (2002. J. (2003. W.References Bidgoli.php/Main/Wakfu White.J. Greenberg. September 17). Animation from pencils to pixels: classical techniques for digital animators. B. Hall.. (2011). P. K. & Torrone. 13 .
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