Mar
2
2007
Macher is the Fire Behind the Smoke
Jake Macher, one of the talented animators behind the MSTRKRFT music video featured here in July of 2006, is quite the FX whiz. He’s been creating glass-shatters, explosions and lens flares for Collideascope Animation for years now – all in Flash. According to Ron Doucet, an animation director at Collideascope, Macher’s FX sequences often involve over a hundred layers.
March 4th, 2007 at 6:08 am
Sure….those are nice effects, but not amazing. The cloud/smoke fx are very repetitous, and unimaginative. It’s on par to what Collideascope typically produces though.
Now Michel Gagne….there’s an amazing effects artist. Ghostbot too. Their Esurance commercials have some top notch fx animation…made in flash too.
March 4th, 2007 at 8:31 am
I disagree…these examples are very well done. Not everything has to be “amazing,” or “imaginative.” The beauty of these effects is that they are spot-on representations of traditional 2D cartoon effects. Macher obviously understands the ‘vocabulary’ of visual effects, and has provided examples of classic effects styles. Ground-breaking? No. But incredibly useful, nonetheless. I wish they would consider posting a couple of Flash examples on their site. It would be useful deconstruct them and see how he builds them with such accuracy.
March 4th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Perhaps you need to see more of Mr. Macher’s examples of more advanced stuff here: http://collideascope-animation.blogspot.com/2007/02/fx-montage-2.html
As far as FX made in FLASH, I must say it IS groundbreaking, far superior to any other studio I’ve seen.
March 5th, 2007 at 2:10 am
This would make Wile E Coyote proud (that’s if they didn’t happen to him =P)
March 5th, 2007 at 2:20 am
The second reel is much closer to being regarded as well executed animated fx.
I can’t say that I’m totally convinced that these are full on flash though. Some it feels a little like a flash/illusion program combo.
Like I stated earlier, anonymous2…Ghostbot has equal or greater special fx animation in flash. Another example would be Boulder media. Some of the fx work I saw in the El Tigre premiere this weekend were top notch.
Best to do your research before proclaiming them as superior to any other flash studio out there.
March 5th, 2007 at 2:42 am
Well, Anonymous#1, perhaps you should request Keilidascope for a Flash file sample to see if it is an illusion or just a highly refined technique.
March 5th, 2007 at 3:51 am
Maybe they use After Effects or Mirage, or some kind of voodoo magic to make it look so damn sweet.
March 5th, 2007 at 6:02 am
I thank you all for the comments. I would also love to get the level of Michel Gagne but that is a long way off.
These FX are for very cartoony shows so the style must match. I try and use Flash’s ability too resuse FX/symbols that I have already made so some effects do come off a being generic but this makes it easier to insert them into more scenes maximizing my time. I also like to break down effects into seperate layers, outlines, fill colours and tones so that there can be easily recoloured to match scenes that I am using them in.
I drew all the FX directly into Flash using my Wacom tablet, no After Effect or Illustator here, I never even used those 2 programs.
March 5th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Voodoo magic it is then.
-Anonymous #01
March 5th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Wow, this is awesome, I love it when people are curious of our methods.
I will eventually post up some breakdowns on our blog as to how we build classically animated effects into Flash and how we create all the lighting and compositing in their with it. Thanks everyone.
March 6th, 2007 at 6:07 am
I would kill for the .fla of this!
Effects are just out of the grasp of my brain, and I am very grateful for the reference.
March 6th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
yeh I love how much this anonymous guy gets around, Id like to see thier work…
Frame by frame Cartoon effects are nice to see in this age of push button particle FX and plug ins, kudos Mr. macher!
I was definately inspired by the way you do smoke in flash when I did the fart cloud FX for pick of destiny. We shoulda got you though, it still looked a bit flashy on the big screen.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:12 am
this site takes ages to read and work
March 17th, 2008 at 1:13 am
this site takes ages to read and work im like aero hot choclate man