Blender New Innovative 2d Animation "GP Tools"

[exile]

I made this with Blender. I'm still experimenting with what's possible in 2.79, but I think 2.8 is going to be a game changer.

The background is a 3d model with freestyle lines.

Came out very nice! Is the background pre-rendered?

No, I only 3d models, textures and grease pencil.

For us novices - I thought Grease Pencil is for 2D in Blender, and freestyle gives 3D a 2D look. But that seems to be wrong from your post. The render, btw, is absolutely awesome.

[InfoCentral]

[exile]

Thanks for posting this brand-new video. Interesting times ahead.

[dkwroot]

I tested out the alpha for 2.8 and it's shaping up to be amazing. The new grease pencil objects use a layer system similar to Moho and other drawing programs which is really nice. I think it will be super easy to create switch layers simply by toggling the visibility of these layers.

[exile]

To Blender or not to Blender? When you see how even professionals freak out when they first encounter it, and when you try to learn it, make some progress, do something else and realize you've forgotten nearly everything (yes, I take notes during tutorials), you wonder. Thanks to this thread (or maybe I won't be thankful in the end) I dug out my old DVD for Version 2.6 with a German learning by doing course by Heiner Stiller. It was on Amazon for a few Euros. I don't really see how anyone could do 2D in Blender without a general grasp of the program. In any case, trying to do it makes me feel like a hero.

[exile]

I tested out the alpha for 2.8 and it's shaping up to be amazing. The new grease pencil objects use a layer system similar to Moho and other drawing programs which is really nice. I think it will be super easy to create switch layers simply by toggling the visibility of these layers.

An interesting "first test" tutorial posted on August 4th:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5LmqvH5CYA

[InfoCentral]

That was an interesting watch. In earlier versions they showed bone rigging and interpolation but I haven't seen any of that mentioned or shown with the latest builds. I assume it is going to be included in final 2.8 build.

[Greenlaw]

Stacking layers top-down for back-front made me laugh. WHY??? Oh, yeah, it's Blender.

I'm actually looking forward to trying 2.8 out. I'm sure it will be cool but getting mentally prepared for more stuff like that.

[dkwroot]

Stacking layers top-down for back-front made me laugh. WHY??? Oh, yeah, it's Blender.

I'm actually looking forward to trying 2.8 out. I'm sure it will be cool but getting mentally prepared for more stuff like that.

The layer stacking is annoying, I agree. They are clearly considering render order. The top is rendered first, then everything below gets rendered in sequential order from the top. This explains why the bottom layer appears on top of everything in the render. In this sense, they're thinking like programmers instead of artists who consider layer order to be like sheets of paper.

[herbert123]

Nice introduction tutorial to GP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pywbPQD9vYU

[exile]

Nice introduction tutorial to GP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pywbPQD9vYU

Really interesting - and I love the way he says "dope sheet".

[synthsin75]

Really interesting - and I love the way he says "dope sheet".

LOL! I caught that too.

[Yadoob]

Stacking layers top-down for back-front made me laugh. WHY??? Oh, yeah, it's Blender.

There has been a big discussion for that matter in blenderartist, it's definitly counter intuitive so it should be fix soon. Rig for Grease Pencil is now fully support with automatic weight !

Also here's a breakdown of a quick animation about using 3D elements to help drawing (rig, particles, etc.). Compared to the 2.79 version, the 2.8 grease pencil has a much nicer feeling, it's responsive and produce nice smooth strokes :

[InfoCentral]

[DarthFurby]

Spent time learning about the new grease pencil features thru youtube videos(thanks for the links everyone!). The interpolation tools are not quite as sophisticated as Moho(would love to see Blender smart bones), but it does many many other cool things. In the example below I was sort of able to draw this like in a VR paint app, except without the headset:


Download the file: https://uploadfiles.io/wlhvi
Grease Pencil Youtube demo::