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The Simpsons Cartoon Studio Tips & Tricks |
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Tags: The Simpsons Cartoon Studio Game Guides, The Simpsons Cartoon Studio Hints, The Simpsons Cartoon Studio Walkthrough |
The Simpsons Cartoon Studio
Guide/Tutorial
Version 1.0
7/ 02/ 03
Written by SubSane
************************
* *
* Table of Contents *
* *
************************
-How to Find Stuff-
I. General Information
A. Introduction
B. System Requirements
C. Game Start
II. The Basics
A. Main Menu
B. Characters
C. Backgrounds
D. Props
E. Special Effects
F. Sound
G. Volume
H. Editing
I. Saving
J. Exporting to Player
K. Open a Cartoon
III. Making a Cartoon
A. The Background
B. Some Props
C. Cartoon Intro
D. Background Sounds
E. Still Characters
F. Characters in Action
G. More Special Effects
H. Sound Effects and Voices
I. Cartoon Finish
IV. Cartoon Player
V. FAQ
VI. Guide Information
A. Version History
B. Guide Credits
C. Contact Information
D. Legal Stuff
-How to Find Stuff-
1. Look in the Table of Contents and highlight the section
you're looking for.
2. Hold Ctrl (Command for Apple computers) and press C to
copy the highlighted line.
3. Hold Ctrl and press F to open a Find screen.
4. Hold Ctrl and press V to paste the copied line and then
proceed to search for that section.
************************************************************
* *
* I. GENERAL INFORMATION *
* *
************************************************************
=============================================================
= A. Introduction =
=============================================================
The Simpsons Cartoon Studio? "What the hell is this?!", you
may ask. Cartoon Studio came out back in 1996 as yet another
installment in the long and mediocre Simpsons game franchise.
I should mention that I coin the term 'game' loosely when it
comes to Cartoon Studio. This is more like a cartoon creator.
You are given various cartoon elements like characters,
backgrounds, props, and sounds to create your own custom
Simpsons cartoons.
So yea, take that FOX! I can make my own Simpsons cartoons!
Well, I did pay for this game, and they got some of that
money...
Damn you FOX! Er, ahem, on with the guide...
=============================================================
= B. System Requirements =
=============================================================
--PC--
**********
System: PC 486SX 33 MHz processor or higher. Windows 3.1 or
Windows 95/98
RAM: 8 Mb RAM (16 Mb for Windows 98)
Disk Space: 8 Mb of hard disk space
Video: 640 x 480 display or higher, with 256 colors
Sound: Sound board, plus speakers to hear audio
CD-ROM: 2X or faster
--iMac/Macintosh--
**********************
System: 68030 33 MHz processor or higher. System 7 or higher.
RAM: 8 Mb free RAM
Disk Space: 8 Mb of hard disk space
Video: 640 x 480 display or higher, with 256 colors
CD-ROM: 2X or faster
=============================================================
= C. Game Start =
=============================================================
--PC--
**********
1. Insert the game CD into the CD drive.
2. Open My Computer.
3. Open the CD-ROM drive.
4. Open the SETUP.EXE file. The game installer will guide
you through the installation. The Simpsons Cartoon Studio
will now be in your Start>Programs menu.
5. Open the Simpsons icon to play.
--iMac/Macintosh--
**********************
1. Insert the game CD into the CD drive.
2. Open the Cartoon Studio CD icon.
3. Open the Simpsons installer icon. All the applications
and support files will be installed onto the hard drive.
4. Open the Simpsons Cartoon Studio inside the Fox
Interactive folder.
5. Open the Simpsons icon to play.
************************************************************
* *
* II. THE BASICS *
* *
************************************************************
=============================================================
= A. Main Menu =
=============================================================
All right, so you installed the game and are ready to roll.
Hah! You wish my amatuerish friend.
See, you can not just jump into the art of cartoon creation
all willy nilly. First you must know what you are looking at.
This is a simple (yet complex) explanation of the main menu.
------------------------------------------------------------
| |
| --- |
| |LM | NEW OPEN SAVE SAVE AS QUIT --- |
| |---| ------------------------------------------- |HOM| |
| | | | | |___| |
| |---| | | --- |
| | | | ||MAR| |
| |---| | ||___| |
| | | | | --- |
| |---| | | |BAR| |
| | | | | |___| |
| |---| | | --- |
| | | | ||LIS| |
| |---| | ||___| |
| | | | | --- |
| |---| | | |MAG| |
| | | | | |___| |
| --- | | --- |
| -- ------------------------------------------- |CIT| |
| |VC| -->| | ST | CT | CSE | __O --- |
| -- L ---------------------------- C -- -- |
| -- -- |PR||SO| |
||RI||EX| | | -- -- |
| -- -- HAND> |VVVVVVVVV-FS-VVVVVVVVVV| FFR|FFF -- -- |
| | | |SE||BG| |
| FF LF -- -- |
------------------------------------------------------------
Give me a break will ya, I'm no ASCII artist. So starting at
the top and from left to right, here are the abbreviations
located in the picture above and what each one means.
LM: The layer manager. Every visual element you add to a
cartoon, be it a character, prop, background etc, will
appear in the layer manager.
The layer manager is similar to other animation programs
such as Flash, for those who know what that is. If you
don't, here's a quick explanation.
Say you put Bart on the screen. His face would appear in
the layer manager. Then you add the couch, which will
also appear in the layer manager. Now you want Bart to
be on the couch. The items at the top of the layer
manager will appear in back of the lower items, so to
place Bart on the couch he must be on the bottom of the
couch in the layer manager.
Just add a few things to a cartoon and you'll see what
I mean.
NEW: Begin new cartoon. Keyboard shortcut 'N'.
OPEN: Open saved or imported cartoon. Keyboard shortcut 'O'.
SAVE: Save current cartoon. Keyboard shortcut 'S'.
SAVE AS: Save as different cartoon.
QUIT: Exit the current cartoon. You can also view the game
credits. Keyboard shortcut 'Q'.
HOM: Access to all Homer animations.
MAR: Access to all Marge animations.
BAR: Access to all Bart animations.
LIS: Access to all Lisa animations.
MAG: Access to all Maggie animations.
CIT: Access to all Springfield citizen animations.
VC: Volume control. Increase or decrease the volume.
RI: RAM indicator. The brain will fill up to warn you when
your computer is low on RAM.
EX: Use to export cartoons so that anyone can view them
without owning Cartoon Studio.
L: That --->| symbol directly under the screen. Use it to
play cartoons continuously. Keyoboard shortcut 'L'.
ST: Soundtrack. Displays the title of the current soundtrack.
CT: Cartoon title. Displays the name of the current cartoon.
CSE: Current sound effect. Displays sound effect titles.
C: The __O symbol, which looks like scissors on the screen.
This allows you to delete all the frames from the current
frame on to the end.
PR: Prop button. Get access to the props.
SO: Sound button. Get access to the sounds.
SE: Special effect button. Get access to the special effects.
BG: Background button. Get access to the backgrounds.
HAND>: Play cartoons. Keyboard shortcut 'P'.
When a cartoon is playing, changes to stop button.
Keyboard shortcut 'Shift'.
FF: First frame. This will rewind the cartoon to the first
frame.
FS: Frame shuttle. Grab it with the mouse to move through
the different frames in the cartoon.
LF: Last frame. Goes to the last frame in the cartoon.
FFR: Frame by frame rewind. Go through frames one at a time.
FFF: Frame by frame forward. Go through frames one at a time.
=============================================================
= B. Characters =
=============================================================
It's all about your actors, man. Without the actors in a
movie... you have no movie!
Anyway, the character palette is fairly simple to understand.
---------------------------------------------------------
| |
| <--- MUGSHOTS ---> |
| |
| |
|\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\|
| |
| ------------------------------------------------------- |
|| ANIMATIONS ||
|| ||
|| ||
| ------------------------------------------------------- |
---------------------------------------------------------
MUGSHOTS: Here you can see a mug shot of the character you
are currently working with.
ANIMATIONS: These will be all the available animations for
a character. There will be one set facing to the right, and
one set facing to the left.
=============================================================
= C. Backgrounds =
=============================================================
Can you imagine a cartoon without a background? It would be
total blank madness! So, welcome to the backgrounds section
of Cartoon Studio.
Here is a general overview of the backgrounds palette.
---------------------------------------------------------
| ___ ___ |
| <--- |LG | |CB | ---> |
| |___| |___| |
| |
|\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\|
| |
| ------------------------------------------------------- |
|| BS ||
|| ||
|| ||
| ------------------------------------------------------- |
---------------------------------------------------------
<---: This is actually a hand, but you'll see. Anyway, use
this to scroll through each category.
--->: This is the other hand. Use it to scroll through each
category.
LG: Click this picture of the house to go to the location
backgrounds category.
CB: Click the colored box to go to the colored backgrounds
category.
BS: Background selections. The two rows of ten selectable
backgrounds will appear in this rectangle.
=============================================================
= D. Props =
=============================================================
Sadly, acting is never enough in a cartoon. So we must add
the ever important props to attract the eyes. Here is the
props palette and what is located in it.
---------------------------------------------------------
| ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ |
| <---|FUR| |APP| |FOO| |PLA| |ANI| |DEV| |MIS| |BGP|---> |
| |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| |
| |
|\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\|
| |
| ------------------------------------------------------- |
|| PS ||
|| ||
|| ||
| ------------------------------------------------------- |
---------------------------------------------------------
<---: This is actually a hand, but you'll see. Anyway, use
this to scroll through each category.
--->: This is the other hand. Use it to scroll through each
category.
FUR: The furniture props. Chairs, sofas, etc.
APP: The appliance props. Toasters, blenders, etc.
FOO: The food props. Pies, pizza, etc.
PLA: The plant props. Plants, plants, and more plants.
ANI: The animal props. Dogs, cats, etc.
DEV: The device props. Cameras, levers, etc.
MIS: Miscellaneous props. Dolls, fountains, and weird
stuff.
BGP: The background props. These props are used to create
seamless animation when combined with the proper
backgrounds. Entrances, stairs, etc.
PS: Prop selections. The row of ten selectable props will
appear in this rectangle.
=============================================================
= E. Special Effects =
=============================================================
Special effects are explosions, splatters, and other such
weird things that can enhance a cartoon from mediocre to
god-like.
For your cartoon advancement, the special effects palette.
---------------------------------------------------------
| ___ ___ ___ ___ |
| <--- |FSP| |TE | |END| |BGE| ---> |
| |___| |___| |___| |___| |
| |
|\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\|
| |
| ------------------------------------------------------- |
|| SES ||
|| ||
|| ||
| ------------------------------------------------------- |
---------------------------------------------------------
<---: Use this hand to scroll through each category.
--->: This is the other hand. Use it to scroll through each
category.
FSP: Foreground special effects. So all this stuff would go
somewhere near the bottom of the layer manager.
TE: Transition effects. You know those cool cartoony effects
that switch one scene to the next? Here they are.
END: Ending special effects. Use these to finish off your
cartoons with style.
BGE: Background special effects. These are good for freaky
backgrounds.
SES: The special effect selections. The available selections
for each category will appear here.
=============================================================
= F. Sound =
=============================================================
Every cartoon needs ear candy, so remember to include cool
sounds and voices to your cartoon. Unless you're a silent
film freak...
Anyway, here is the sound palette.
---------------------------------------------------------
| ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ |
| <---|MUS| |BGS| |VOI| |SFX| |ANM| |APS| |VVS| |VS |---> |
| |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| |
| |
|\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\|
| |
| ------------------------------------------------------- |
|| SP | SS ||
|| ||
|| ||
| ------------------------------------------------------- |
---------------------------------------------------------
MUS: The music category. Add anything from the classic
Simpsons theme to an eerie haunted number.
BGS: Background sounds. These will play in a continuous
loop to provide atmosphere.
VOI: Voices! Here is the pride and joy of the sound palette.
You can look through various voice selctions and choose
the ones to get the joke across. If it's a well-known
Simpsons character, you'll the voice clip here.
SFX: The sound effects, for all your dings, boings, and other
little sounds.
ANM: If you need to add an animal sound, look for it here.
APS: Hey, where would we be without telephone rings and
blenders? Look here for appliance sounds.
VVS: Various vehicle sounds. Cars, airplanes, space ships...
You know, the usual.
VS: Various sounds. Miscellaneous stuff like bells, gongs,
and whistles.
SP: Each sound selection will have an ear next to it. Click
the ear for a little preview of that particular sound.
SS: The sound selections. Remember to click the sound
preview (the ear) to listen to the sound, and if it's
the right one click it.
=============================================================
= G. Volume =
=============================================================
Now, when your ol' man says "Turn that down ya lazy punk!",
you can. Well, technically you always could...
Whatever. You can adjust the volume in Cartoon Studio as well,
and here is the palette explanation.
-----------
| ___ 3 |
| | | |
| | |- |
| |_|_ 2 |
| | | |
| | |- |
| |_|_ 1 |
| | | |
| | |- |
| |_|_ 0 |
-----------
It's simple to understand. Use the yellow arrow on the purple
bar to adjust the volume. The numbers in the diagram above
repressent each level volume, 3 being the higest, 0 being
no sound at all.
=============================================================
= H. Editing =
=============================================================
Like everything else in this unfair world, your cartoon
probably won't look too good the first time through. So that
means you will have to edit that sucker.
If you click on anything in the screen, the editing palette
will appear.
---------------------------------------------------------
| ________ ________ ________ |
| | | | | | | |
| | RPF | | RAF | | RLF | |
| |________| |________| |________| |
|\/\/\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/|
| |
| ________ ________ ________ |
| | | | | | | |
| | CPF | | CAF | | CLF | |
| |________| |________| |________| |
| |
---------------------------------------------------------
RPF: Remain in previous frames. The hand stretching the film
to the left means that the animation will appear in
every frame from the first frame to the current one.
RAF: Remain in all frames, which means the current frame will
be added to every frame in a cartoon. This ia a great
idea for props and other non-moving objects.
RLF: Remain in later frames. The current frame will appear
in every frame after the current one.
CPF: Cut from previous frames. The current frame will be cut
from any previous frames.
CAF: Cut from all frames, basically getting rid of any
cartoon elements you don't want.
CLF: Cut from later frames. This will cut the animation from
later frames.
=============================================================
= I. Saving =
=============================================================
You don't want to make a kick ass cartoon and end up not
saving, right? RIGHT?
Of course not. So if you want to know how to save your work
of cartoon art, here ya go. Click on the SAVE AS button at
the top of the screen to access the save options.
------------------------------------
| |
| -------------------------------- |
| | | | |
| | STARS | CREDITS | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| -------------------------------- |
| ||||||||||||SCROLL|||||||||||||| |
| ---------------- |
| NAME |
| ---------------- |
| |
| SAVE CANCEL |
| |
------------------------------------
STARS: This will show all the characters in your cartoon, as
as well as the starting scene.
CREDITS: Yea, the best part! You can add a title, your name,
and other stuff to make sure you get credit for your
hard work.
SCROLL: This scroll bar is used to select the various saved
cartoons.
NAME: Edit the name of your cartoon in here.
SAVE: Once you've done everything else, click and save.
CANCEL: If you don't feel like saving yet, click here to go
back to the cartoon.
=============================================================
= J. Exporting to Player =
=============================================================
Can you believe that every person in the world did not buy
this great game? How are they supposed to see your great
Simpsons cartoons?
I'll tell you how. Cartoon Player! It is a separate program
that can be downloaded from the Internet and allows others
to view your exported cartoons. Check the Cartoon Player
section for details.
Here I explain how to export a cartoon, which can be done by
clicking the disk icon in the lower left corner.
------------------------------------
| SIZE |
| -------------------------------- |
| | | | |
| | QUICK | DESCRIP | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| -------------------------------- |
| ||||||||||||SCROLL|||||||||||||| |
| ---------------- |
| NAME |
| ---------------- |
| CANCEL EXPORT |
| |
| MAKE CARTOON... |
------------------------------------
SIZE: Here you can see the size of the file after it has been
exported.
QUICK: Double click here to export the cartoon for Cartoon
Player.
DESCRIP: Add a little description here.
SCROLL: Use that red scroll bar to look through the various
saved cartoons.
NAME: Name your cartoon whatever you like.
CANCEL: Cancel the export and return to Cartoon Studio.
EXPORT: This is the export for CARTOON STUDIO. This export
only works if you intend to send it someone who also
has Cartoon Studio.
MAKE CARTOON...: Now click this to export the cartoon for
CARTOON PLAYER. If you want someone to see
the cartoon, send them Cartoon Player and
the exported cartoon.
=============================================================
= K. Open a Cartoon =
=============================================================
If a house has been built, can one enter inside again? Sure,
just open the door.
Tell me that wasn't all philosophical 'n junk. Anyway, here
is how to open a saved or exported cartoon in Cartoon Studio.
------------------------------------
| |
| -------------------------------- |
| | | | |
| | QUICK | DESCRIP | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| -------------------------------- |
| ||||||||||||SCROLL|||||||||||||| |
| ---------------- |
| NAME |
| ---------------- |
| CANCEL DELETE |
| |
| IMPORT OPEN |
------------------------------------
QUICK: Click here to quickly open up a saved cartoon.
DESCRIP: View the cartoon's description, or whatever is in
there.
SCROLL: Scroll through the various saved cartoons to open
one of them.
NAME: View the cartoon's name.
CANCEL: Quit the open options and go back to your Cartoon
Studio work.
DELETE: If you select a cartoon, you can go ahead and delete
it. Why? Only you know...
IMPORT: Here you can open exported cartoons. Go to the
Simpsons folder, then open the Export folder. Any
files with the .ctd extensions are exported cartoons,
so you can import them.
OPEN: If you simply saved a cartoon, just click Open to open
it and continue working on it.
************************************************************
* *
* III. MAKING A CARTOON *
* *
************************************************************
This section is basically a tutorial, a step-by-step guide
to creating a cartoon. I'll be using a cartoon I made for the
tutorial.
Click on the NEW button at the top to begin.
=============================================================
= A. The Background =
=============================================================
The first step should usually be the background. Go to the
background palette and look for the stage of the Krusty the
Clown show.
Next, move it down and position it so the bottom part is not
visible. You'll notice that the stage and some lights will
appear in the layer manager. Click the lights layer and cut
it out.
Your background is now set.
=============================================================
= B. Some Props =
=============================================================
Now let's add some props to brighten up the place. Open the
props palette and click on the miscellaneous props category
(the jar with an eyeball in it).
Scroll through until you find a large logo of Krusty, and
click on it. Position the logo on the pink wall at the back,
and now you have a background prop. Click it and edit it so
it remains in all frames.
Look through the miscellaneous props again and choose the
red platform with a star on it. Put it on the floor near the
left side, and edit it so it stays in all frames.
Let's get a foreground prop in there. Look through the
devices category (a water cooler), and look for the camera
facing up. Grab it and position it at the bottom somewhere,
with the bottom half of the pole covered. Edit and add to
all frames.
Go through the devices category again and look for the
ceiling stage lights. Position it at the top right corner,
and make sure not to cover the Krusty logo. Edit it for
all frames.
There, now this looks like a television stage.
=============================================================
= C. Cartoon Intro =
=============================================================
Before we continue, let's add a cool little intro animation.
Make sure your cartoon is at frame 1.
Go to the special effects palette in the lower right corner
(the gray cloud with a lightning bolt), and go to the
background effects (the wavy black and white lines). Look
for that same wavy line effect and click on it.
Click and hold on the screen to start the effect. It will be
a weird static effect, just like TV snow on those fuzzy
channels. Repeat the same effect two more times in a row to
make the effect just a bit longer.
Now you may have noticed that your other props and such
appear at the same time as the fuzzy effect. Let's fix that.
Use the fingers on the right side of the frame shuttle to
go to the last frame of the snow effect.
Now click on every cartoon element that is on the fuzzy
effect, and use the cut feature of the editing palette. Cut
them so they are cut out of every frame before the current
one. It is the lower left film strip.
You could have just added the effect at the very beginning,
but it's a good idea to practice editing frame-by-frame.
Anyway, now your cartoon has a cool fuzzy effect, which
transitions nicely to the show.
=============================================================
= D. Background Sounds =
=============================================================
It's time to build the atmosphere of a live TV stage. First,
go to the sounds palette (the ear) in the lower right corner.
Make sure the cartoon is at frame 1. Go to the appliance
sounds category (the blender) and look for the one called
Static 2. Click that ear to preview it, then click to add it
to the cartoon.
Now go ahead and press Play (the pointing hand on the left).
The fuzzy screen is now accompanied by a static noise.
Go through the frames until you get to the first frame of
the show. Go to the sounds palette again and go to the
background sounds (the looping arrow). Click on the children
sound and it will play itself out on the cartoon.
Go to around frame 75 and click on the children sound. Edit
it and cut it from all later frames (the lower right editing
feature).
Now let's add some intro music. Click on the frame right
after the children sound and go to the sound palette. Click
the music category (the sheet music), and look for the one
called Carnival. It's a goofy clown song, so click it and it
will start right after the children sound ends.
That'll do it for the background sounds.
=============================================================
= E. Still Characters =
=============================================================
Here we go, the most important part of a cartoon. This is
going to be an episode of The Krusty the Clown Show, so let's
get the proper characters. Make sure your your cartoon is on
the first frame of the show, not the fuzzy effect.
Start by going to the Springfield citizen animations (the one
with all other characters), and look for Sideshow Mel. He will
be playing a flute.
Click him and position him on the red platform so he is facing
to the right. Sideshow Mel will then go through this weird
flute-playing animation, but we just want him to stand still.
Go back to the first frame of the Sideshow Mel animation and
click on him.
Edit his animation so that he stands still in the standing
position. In the editing palette, click on the film strip in
the upper right corner to keep that pose in all the later
frames.
=============================================================
= F. Characters in Action =
=============================================================
This part will be kind of long, and there will be several
animation techniques. None are difficult, and the results
are pretty cool.
Part 1: Character Animating
Now it's time for the star! Click on the Springfield citizen
animations and look for Krusty the Clown. He is going to walk
in from the right side, so get to the animations of him
facing left.
There is a group of three animations at the end, and the one
we want to use is the one of him walking and facing the
audience, smiling. Click that animation.
Now you have to animate it. It's sort of odd because in
Cartoon Studio you have to drag the character over the area
you want to him or her to move through.
Try this: start at the right side and drag the animation to
the center. Krusty will seem to walk really fast, but that's
just when you're dragging an animation.
If you picked the right animation Krusty will stop and bow
towards the audience at the end of the animation. Press
Play to watch it all unfold. If it seems too fast or too
slow, cut the Krusty animation out and try again. A lot of
this is trial and error.
Part 2: Prop Animation
So, now we have Krusty in the center. Sideshow Mel is just
asking for it up on that red platform, so let's animate a
pie in the face! First we have to find an animation that
will make it seem like Krusty is tossing a pie.
The best one I found is the animation where he stands on his
hands and kicks his feet up in the air. That kick will be the
pie tosser we need.
Start at the last frame of the Krusty animation. Click on the
hand stand animation and you'll notice that the first
animation will become opaque. This is to help you position
the new animation at the right spot.
So click once and Krusty will do a hand stand immediately
after that last frame. Click Play to see how seamless it was,
if you positioned it right.
Now let's add the pie. First go through each Krusty frame
and stop as soon as his feet lift off the ground. Go to the
props palette and the food section (box of donuts). Click on
the pie.
This part is kind of tedious. Position the pie right on
Krusty's foot, but then it will go through an animation and
get stuck in mid air. You have to go back and cut out every
pie frame after the first one.
Once you have the first pie frame in place, go one frame
forward and grab another pie from the props palette and
place it next to Krusty's foot. Repeat this for about four
more frames, until Krusty's foot reaches the top.
Now, to make it believable you'll have to start moving the
pie in Sideshow Mel's direction. Launch the pie as soon as
Krusty's feet reach the air. Move it one frame at a time,
just like with the feet.
I only used four frames to get it through the air to the
front of Sideshow Mel's face. Press Play to preview it, and
if it looks rough go back and do it again. Like I said,
trial and error.
Now we'll add a cool splatter animation to finish it off. Go
to the special effects palette in the lower right corner and
look in the foreground special effects category (the frog).
The seventh splatter from the left is this black ink type
of splatter, and it'll work just fine. Make sure you're at
the frame right after the pie reaches his face (also make
sure you cut the pie out from the frames after), and position
the splatter over Sideshow Mel's face.
The splatter will go through it's animation. Press Play to
see if it came out all right, and if not as always go back
and fix it. Real simple.
Ok, just one more thing! Let's add a reaction from Sideshow
Mel after the pie hits him. Go to the Springfield citizen
animations again and grab the same Sideshow Mel animation.
The Sideshow Mel on the screen will turn opaque again, so
use that to position the new animation right over the old
one.
Sideshow Mel will go through his flute playing, but we don't
need all that. Go back to the second frame of the animation,
the one where he hunches over and narrows his eyes. Click on
it and edit it so that he remains in that pose (the top right
editing feature).
There ya go! A classic pie in the face gag.
Part 3: More Prop and Character Animation
It's time for Krusty to get his just desserts. Go through
the character frames until you reach the last Krusty frame,
where he has his hands out.
Let's animate him walking to the right. Go to the Krusty
animations and look for the one of him walking to the right
and smiling. It's the ninth one.
Click it and use the other animation to position him, and
drag him slowly to the right. Stop under the those stage
lights you placed earlier. Press Play to make sure it looks
ok, then go back a few frames.
Now we're going to animate the stage lights falling. Start
a little before Krusty is under them and move it one frame at
a time, just like the pie.
When the stage lights hit Krusty, it's time to switch
animation. Look through the Krusty animations and find the
one where he is lying down. As soon as the lights hit Krusty,
switch the animation to the one where he is lying on the
floor.
We don't want the full animation, so go to the frame where
Krusty's head is sort of lifted (frame 4), and edit it to
keep that pose in every frame afterward.
We're all done, but just to add a bit more add the flute
animation for Sideshow Mel. Just click his animation in the
character palette and position it in the same spot as the
other Sideshow Mel pose. Make sure to hold mouse button for
a while, to keep the flute animation going.
Add the animation after Krusty has been hit, just to show
that Sideshow Mel is more than happy to see Krusty get what's
coming to him.
=============================================================
= G. More Special Effects =
=============================================================
All right, it's time for another special effect!
First, go to the frame where the ceiling lights hit Krusty.
Then go to the special effects palette (the gray cloud in
the bottom right corner), and look for a red and blue
explosion animation.
Click it and place it right at the point where the lights
hit Krusty's head. It's just a cool effect to show the
impact.
=============================================================
= H. Sound Effects and Voices =
=============================================================
Now it's time to add some final sound effects and the voices
for the characters.
Start by going back to the part where Krusty first enters and
holds out his hands. Go back to the frame where he stops
walking and then go to the sounds palette, and click the
character voices (Marge's face).
Look for the Krusty voices, and preview the sound called
Hey, Kids!. Click it once and it will play just as Krusty
bows to the audience.
Next up is a splat sound for the pie hitting Sideshow Mel's
face. Go to the sound effects palette (Bart jumping), and
choose the sound called Splat 2 (or the Splat of your choice)
and play it when the pie is in the air, about halfway between
Krusty and Sideshow Mel.
Next let's add another voice for Krusty. Go to the frame
where he gets back on his feet, then go to the voices palette
again.
Look for the sound called Who Do You. Play it as Krusty gets
on his feet, and he will say "Who do you love?".
Next up is the sound for that explosion when Krusty gets hit
by the lights. Go to the first frame of the explosion and
then go to the sound palette.
Go to the various category (question mark), and look for the
sound called Boom 2. Play the boom sound about two frames
before the explosion and it will mix with the explosion
to finish the effect.
Now go to the sound effects category and go to the voices
category and look for Krusty's Groan 2 sound, and add it
right after.
Press Play to test everything, and that'll do it.
=============================================================
= I. Cartoon Finish =
=============================================================
Time to end this thing. Go to the last frame of the Groan 2
sound and then go down to the special effects palette. Go to
the endings category (says THE END), and choose the one you
prefer. I chose the third ending, with the yellow squares
and purple text.
And, as a final humiliating stomp on Krusty's head, let's add
some applause! Go back to the frame right after the Groan 2
sound, and go to the sound palette.
Look through the special effects category (Bart jumping) and
click on Applause 2. This will add some applause as the ending
animation plays.
Now all you have to do is cut out any excess frames. Go to
the last frame of the ending and then click on the cut button
right under the screen (it's yellow with a symbol of some
scissors). This will cut any extra frames from the end.
Well, there ya go! This was just a quick tutorial, so there
was plenty more to animate. Try coming up with your stories
and animating them.
THANKS FOR PLAY... er... ANIMATING!
************************************************************
* *
* IV. Cartoon Player *
* *
************************************************************
This thing is for those LAZY or CHEAP people that don't want
to go online and acquire themselves a copy of Cartoon Studio.
Here is a quick overview of the Cartoon Player screen.
------------------------------------------------------------
| |
| |
| OPEN QUIT |
| ------------------------------------------- |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| ------------------------------------------- |
| -->| VOL |
| L ---------------------------- |
| |
| | | |
| HAND> |VVVVVVVVV-FS-VVVVVVVVVV| FFR|FFF |
| | | |
| FF LF |
------------------------------------------------------------
OPEN: Open a cartoon. I suggest you put all exported cartoons
into one folder where you can easily open them.
QUIT: Quit Cartoon Player.
L: Play the cartoon continuously.
VOL: Adjust the volume.
HAND>: This is the Play button, for playing the cartoon.
FF: Back to the first frame.
LF: Forward to the last frame.
FFR|FFL: Go through each frame one at a time.
************************************************************
* *
* V. FAQ *
* *
************************************************************
Q: What the hell is Cartoon Studio?
A: Try reading everything above this line.
Q: Well, where can I find it?
A: eBay is your friend. Half.com will also work.
Q: Where can I see some cartoons?
A: Good question. You can download the Cartoon Player and
a whole bunch of cartoons at a great site called New
Springfield:
http://www.newspringfield.com/multi/cartoon/
Here is a link to the cartoon I made with the tutorial:
http://www.angelfire.com/games4/subsane/vengeance.zip
************************************************************
* *
* VI. GUIDE INFORMATION *
* *
************************************************************
=============================================================
= A. Version History =
=============================================================
Version 1.0: July 2, 2003
Well, this is the whole guide. Completed and presented in
it's entirety. But there's always something to fix...
=============================================================
= B. Guide Credits =
=============================================================
Thanks to...
1. Matt Groening. The man created 'The Simpsons', which has
been on the air for 14 years and is still going strong.
Shine on you crazy bearded bastard!
2. If I thank Matt Groening, then I also have to praise the
hundreds of individuals who are involved with the show. To
the writers, voice actors, animators, producers, gofers,
and every other person involved... thank you!
3. Wilson Lau gets mad props for his kick ass 'Bart vs. the
Space Mutants' guide. It inspired me to write guides for
Simpsons video games.
4. Fox Interactive and Big Top Productions for createing
the game.
5. Thank YOU for reading. After all, I didn't write this for
my own health...
=============================================================
= C. Contact Information =
=============================================================
So, the address is: darksub01@yahoo.com
The issue of too many e-mails isn't a problem, so I'll most
likely respond to any questions (for now). But, I do delete
e-mails without a subject. Put something like 'Cartoon Studio
Guide' to be sure it gets read.
=============================================================
= D. Legal Stuff =
=============================================================
1. The Simpsons Cartoon Studio TM & © 1996 Twentieth Century
Fox Film Corporation. 'The Simpsons' and the Simpsons
characters are the property of the Twentieth Century Fox
Film Corporation.
2. This guide copyright © 2003 SubSane. This guide may be
distributed freely as long as it remains in it's ORIGINAL
and UNALTERED form. It is only for private use and may not
be reproduced for commercial purposes.
If I discover that this guide has been altered in any way
and is being displayed publicly, I reserve the right to
have the guide removed from that location.
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