From iChalk To QuickTime
There was a time when the master artists could build their career on still life paintings. On the other hand, many masterpieces are admired for their dynamic element, the motion captured and frozen for posterity. Our age is that of the hyper-kinetic. We have evolved ourselves to find pleasure not only in the beauty of an object, but also in the sensation of succeeding "frames".
iChalk invites users to experiment with changes and transformations by providing a small tool to capture images into a QuickTime movie. To some, it will not serve any practical needs at all. Potentially, one may want to archive various stages of a brainstorming session to review them later. Some will be just fascinated by being able to do it.
Some of us had spent hours tracing favorite comic book panels one scene after another when ten years old. Current generation satisfies the same impulse with hours of digital video footages. Programs like iMovie makes it look easy to create a stunning video. So why go retro? We would like iChalk to fill some gap by providing a very casual and inexpensive way to create amusing clips which champions wit, humor and inteligence above all. (Making a short motion clip using this feature is not necessarily a vital element of "collaboration" over network. Users may find that careful planning and hours of "solitary" effort are required to produce something amusing. But that is a good lesson to learn, even for a budding digital cinema auteur.)
Click on the QuickTime button. It will ask for the name of the movie file to be saved. Give a name, such as "testmovie1" making sure that the file is not open at the moment by other program such as Movie Player. After successfully creating the empty movie container file, the button will turn blue to indicate that you have a movie file ready to accumulate clips. Two additional buttons will appear and remain visible until you press the QuickTime button again to close the movie file.
The button on the top (which initially says "0") is for adding a frame. Most people will find it easier to press the Tab key to do the same. The number of accumulated frames will replace the current number. If you add a frame by accident, you can edit it out in the QuickTime Movie Player program (upgrade to Pro may be necessary). The button below ("to Back") is for moving your current drawing into the background. (Escape key will do the same.) Its purpose will be explained below.
Simple animation
With the movie file open, start drawing or tracing an imported background. After every meaningful stroke, press the add frame button to accumulate frame. Note that quicktime movies with hundreds of frames tend to be large in size, and we recommend you limit yourself to maybe about a hundred frames per movie. Here is what Jane created after Jan confessed about the tracing feature he found out:
Smooth animation
From Vermeer to Picasso. Here Jan started out tracing the famous Vermeer (Girl with the Earring). After it is done, he tossed out the background picture, and replaces it with a Picasso. Using it as a guide, he gradually erased the Vermeer and added bits of Picasso, while diligently pressing Tab button every few strokes.
Advanced animation using backgrounds
Unless you have genius in animation, you will find it rather difficult to create a smooth animation, even with the help of a background picture. That is because as you move along the succeeding frames, the scene eventually changes significantly from the static background, if you use one. More helpful will be if you use the previous frame as a template for the next frame. Here is how:
First, open a QuickTime movie. Drag in a background picture if you want to start with a guide.
Draw a small scene. In our example, we start with a frog and a fly.
Add the scene as the first frame in the movie file. Then press the "to Back" button. You will notice that the scene is slightly dimmed and recede into the background. Notice now that you have a blank board with the first frame as a background (guide).
You may trace it with variation appropriate for the next frame in the movie. For example, the fly would move a tiny bit, the frog may move its eyeball a bit.
After you finish drawing the second frame, add it to the movie file. Then move it to the background by pressing "to Back" again.
Anyone who ever tried to make an animation or stop-motion movie seriously should know the drill as well as the amount of patience that will be needed to finish one. Will Jan have the patience to do it? It seems he does, looking at the following animation.
