ANIMATOR HEDLEY GRIFFIN USES CAMBRIDGE SOFTWARE

BRITISH animator Hedley Griffin has embarked on a new series of ‘Furry Tales’ short films with the help of Cambridge Animation Systems’ Animo 2D animation software.
Griffin, well known for his work on children's films and books, said: “One of the most important assets in making 'Furry Tales' was the ability to create close-up shots. With Animo I can do this with the original background artwork. With conventional rostrum-camera work, the background would have to be redrawn and painted.”
The one-minute 'Furry Tale' shorts remind Griffin of ‘Eggs Twice’, his first two short films in the 1970s. These films aired on ‘Visions On’ a BBC1 program for children, and won a silver award at Portugal's Espinho Film Festival.
Computer techniques have advanced considerably since Griffin started out in the 1970s. Instead of using a conventional rostrum camera for close-up shots, Griffin used Animo software to save time and money.
The special effects tools in Animo’s Director module were especially helpful during the close-up scene of the dog when she sniffs at the camera, creating a steaming up of the lens. “The use of these filters were essential for that scene,” he says.
Griffin was also able to reduce work by automatically flipping some existing animation of the birds to create a different perspective: “This saved me having to redraw the animation again.”
Animo’s ink-and-paint blending tool helped Griffin create characters and objects with added depth. This blending produces soft shadows and subtle shading that lend a three-dimensional look to scenes. Griffin adds: “It adds a great deal more body to the work.”(AMcE)