Help Out a Newbie?

[DominationDarren]

(If this is the incorrect forum for a post such as this, I apologize. Mods, feel free to move it if that is the case)

Hello all. I recently became a little intrigued by the idea of using sprites for video making. No, I'm not trying to make an indie game or anything, but rather short little animations. However I'm pretty confused as to where to get going.

As for software, I have GIMP for photo editing and Sony Vegas Pro for video editing. I also have a few miscellaneous audio programs, but I'm not quite sure if that's relevant to this.

Basically, a few things that I'm wondering:

How can I get them into my video editing software? I of course know how to import the files, but my thing is that most sprites I find are in huge sheets with a lot of them in there. What I don't know how to do is get just one of the sprites into my software so I may edit it as I wish. Any elaboration on that would be appreciated.

Are there any other programs I will need? I'd prefer to not have to get Adobe Flash or anything..

Any assistance is appreciated. Thank you for your time.

[triptych]

sprite videos are a horrible idea
honestly

horrible idea

[DominationDarren]

sprite videos are a horrible idea
honestly

horrible idea

I've seen quite a few of them actually.
Examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlP_UK6LEFc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3uCqNxajfw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFq4VGU2I...re=related

I'm also fairly certain that videos such as 8 Bit Halo and some of CollegeHumor's videos are done using sprites (along with their various programs such as After Effects and such).

EDIT: I also just now realized that your avatar and post go together very well. lol

[Nindo]

I also just now realized that your avatar and post go together very well. lol

Thats because his avatar always goes well with his posts.
He's 1up.

How can I get them into my video editing software? I of course know how to import the files, but my thing is that most sprites I find are in huge sheets with a lot of them in there. What I don't know how to do is get just one of the sprites into my software so I may edit it as I wish. Any elaboration on that would be appreciated.

Seriously? If you don't even want to take the time to separate each frame by hand, why are you interested in making sprite videos. This makes no sense.
If it was just a matter of you not knowing that you had to separate each from in order to edit/animate it...well then that still makes no sense.

Are there any other programs I will need? I'd prefer to not have to get Adobe Flash or anything..

No, even if you just got your computer you wouldn't need any other programs to separate the individual sprites in a sheet.
MSPaint comes with your computer and is very useful regarding sprites.

[DominationDarren]

Seriously? If you don't even want to take the time to separate each frame by hand, why are you interested in making sprite videos. This makes no sense.
If it was just a matter of you not knowing that you had to separate each from in order to edit/animate it...well then that still makes no sense.

I never said I wasn't interested in separating each frame.

I know how to separate the sprite, I suppose, by opening the sheet in my photo editor and cutting out one sprite from the rest of the sheet, then bringing that cut out to my video software and animating it there. I was just curious if you all would know a better way of doing so, since I don't know if that's the only way or not. You seem to be forgetting that I'm completely new to this. I know how to animate a bit in Vegas, but I don't know much more than that regarding sprites.

[Nindo]

Seriously? If you don't even want to take the time to separate each frame by hand, why are you interested in making sprite videos. This makes no sense.
If it was just a matter of you not knowing that you had to separate each from in order to edit/animate it...well then that still makes no sense.

I never said I wasn't interested in separating each frame.

I know how to separate the sprite, I suppose, by opening the sheet in my photo editor and cutting out one sprite from the rest of the sheet, then bringing that cut out to my video software and animating it there. I was just curious if you all would know a better way of doing so, since I don't know if that's the only way or not. You seem to be forgetting that I'm completely new to this. I know how to animate a bit in Vegas, but I don't know much more than that regarding sprites.

Well, the only thing I know that could speed things up is that Adobe ImageReady allows for boxing sprites for use in animation. If the sheet was made well, this would be the fastest way of doing things.

[DioShiba]

sprite videos are a horrible idea
honestly

horrible idea

I've seen quite a few of them actually.
Examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlP_UK6LEFc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3uCqNxajfw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFq4VGU2I...re=related

I'm also fairly certain that videos such as 8 Bit Halo and some of CollegeHumor's videos are done using sprites (along with their various programs such as After Effects and such).

except, all of those people used flash instead of vegas if i am not mistaken.

[Rosencrantz]

Unless you're actually willing to go frame-by-frame with sprite animations, Sony Vegas is a very bad idea for a sprite video

literally every decently animated sprite video uses some form of flash program
(note an emphasis on the word "decently animated"; I've seen plenty of shit-tastic Youtube videos that are more or less comics than actual animations)

Sony Vegas is good for video editing in general. Just not for "sprite movies"

[Vipershark]

the only good "sprite movie" is SMBZ

[DominationDarren]

Unless you're actually willing to go frame-by-frame with sprite animations, Sony Vegas is a very bad idea for a sprite video

literally every decently animated sprite video uses some form of flash program
(note an emphasis on the word "decently animated"; I've seen plenty of shit-tastic Youtube videos that are more or less comics than actual animations)

Sony Vegas is good for video editing in general. Just not for "sprite movies"

Well, then I guess I'll look into Adobe Flash. Thanks.