Setting Up An Animation Desk

[Herb Montes]

I've been recently discussing with my brother about helping him set up an animation desk at his apartment so he can make 2D animation. At first we thought about modifying a drawing table by cutting a hole in it and installing a disc. But he has little room in his apartment and he already has a large drawing table. Not wanting to modify his own table we then looked into a portable folding animation desk he can set on a table and fold up to store away when he's not using it. I found this website of a person making them for a good price.

http://www.animationdesks.com/

Cartoon Supplies sells a similar desk but theirs is much more expensive. Looking at these it would seem simple enough to make your own with the proper woodworking tools. Or one could find a portable drawing board and modify it by cutting a hole in it.

My own animation board is an old drawing table I cut a hole in to install a plexiglass disc. Adding a fluorescent light unit underneath made it a very suitable animation workstation. What does everyone here use for an animation board?

[kdog]

Nice find man! I need a disc so bad it hurts. For my traditional stuff I use my home made light table, which has worked great for me so far, but alas, I am sans pegbar & disk.

Luckily I've been able to make do with the rotating disk feature in toon boom, which is awesome, but I'd still like to have a real one. hard to get a good look at the quality on that disk they show there, but for $75 I might check it out & fit it to my table.
Here's a couple pics if your interested, 24" x 36" drawing surface.

http://www.pirateproductionmedia.com/Images/Light%20Table%202.JPG
http://www.pirateproductionmedia.com/Images/Light%20Table%204.JPG
http://www.pirateproductionmedia.com/Images/Light%20Table%205.JPG
This hinge is kinda hard to see well, but it was a great find. Just a hinge for the top of a toy chest or something like that, but lets me go from completely flat to almost 90 degrees.
http://www.pirateproductionmedia.com/Images/LT3.jpg
One with the light on... pic didn't come so good but you get the idea.
Anyway, that's what I use :) I'd like to see what other people have come up with if there's other home made stuff out there, I love tinkering with things if they can get me out of real work ;) :D

[Herb Montes]

Cartoon Supplies sells a similar disc for about $90. Also they have a student disc for under $50 but it requires a step cut into the hole in your board since it's flat. I have made a similar disc myself with a large piece of translucent plexiglass cut round and mounted my own pegs.

[NOOB!]

hmm I just gotta lightbox from chromacolour.co.uk :p when i started out

twas about £110 as far i remember..came with the disk/pegbar and light..so yeh,wasn't that much in my opinion. the u.s. chromacolour is probably far more expensive though:rolleyes:

take a look....

http://chromacolour.co.uk/store/animation_lightboxes.asp

[Evil Demon Creature]

Heh, I don't know who here has a tabletPC, or how obvious this idea is, but I might as well post this tip here just in case.

For anyone with a tabletPC, it can assist traditional animation for a very low cost (not enough to make up for buying a new laptop, but you have other reasons for that). All you need is a pegbar and some double sided tape (single sided works, but is less elegant), granted you have room to tape a pegbar securely to your tabletPC, it fits both of the requirements for a lightbox:

a. It's a surface designed for writing. (mine has a conveniently paper-sized screen)
b. It lights up. (for consistency along with that "light box 2000" feel, I open up MSPaint and fill the screen with a blank, white square)
c. It's portable (this isn't even a requirement, but I'm listing it anyways because it's cool)

Plus, the stylus registers through the paper, so in the right light conditions, you can see enough of the monitor to effectivley trace the animation back onto PC. Although it might only be good enough for roughing purposes, meaning you'd have to do the cleanup/final manually on the computer.

[Herb Montes]

That's an interesting idea. Though a tabletPC will run you around $2000. I've built animation light boards for less than $20 but that was back in my filmmaking days and I shot my animation on film. Digital animation software makes it all so much easier. But short of getting a Cintiq drawing animation on paper is still the most hands on method that anyone can afford.

The most interesting digital animation experiment have done was using a Vectrex game system with a light pen and animation software back in 1982:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex

I later got a light pen for an Atari 800XL system and did simple animation by drawing on a computer monitor.

I have an HP laptop that can convert to a tablet but I haven't done much with doing animation on the screen. I find it more comfortable to draw on paper. But your idea may work in tracing hand drawn animation into my tablet.

[J6Studios]

Build your own:
http://brockorama.blogspot.com/2006/05/do-it-yourself-animation-desk.html

12-16 Field Combo Disc:
http://www.centraltoolco.com/products.html

Anyone ever use these wood ones?
It seems like wood would warp over time:
http://www.alangordon.com/s_animation.html

-J->

[Herb Montes]

Testing out my Animation Forum hosting site. Here is an image of a custom built animation desk I found on a blog. Looks simple enough to build with basic woodworking tools.

http://hmontes.animationforum.net/cover-image-Animation_Table_Plan.JPG

[kdog]

Excellent find! Thanks for posting this. I've slowly been putting together drawings & instructions for mine as well, I'll post them when finished & people can probably mix & match the two to suit their needs.

[Herb Montes]

I'm thinking the base frame can be made from a large desk drawer. Then I can lock in the disk so it doesn't fall out but still spin. That way with the top folded down and latched you can carry the thing around. The drawer space would not only hold the light but a supply of paper and pencils.

Have animation desk, will travel! :D

I also have this which might be possible to modify for animation. It's an Ames portable drafting desk:

http://hmontes.animationforum.net/AMES_DRAFT-PAK_1218C_large.jpg

[D.T. Nethery]

This might work pretty well as a portable table-top animation table. Looks like it would support a 12 Field Plexiglass animation disc (http://www.lightfootltd.com/product_info.php/cPath/23/products_id/63)if a suitable hole could be cut out of the masonite table top:

http://www.dickblick.com/zz503/15/ (http://www.dickblick.com/zz503/15/)



Then add a fluorescent backlight unit underneath.

http://www.dick-blick.com/items/503/15/50315-1009-3ww-l.jpg



http://www.dick-blick.com/items/503/15/50315-1009-1-3ww-l.jpg

[Herb Montes]

According to the Dick Blick site the top is not masonite but laminated foamboard. I don't know if that can take much weight. It could probably be replaced with masonite. Don't know how sturdy is the frame and wire brace. The desks by Colin Johnson (see link in first post) are more sturdier.

[D.T. Nethery]

According to the Dick Blick site the top is not masonite but laminated foamboard. I don't know if that can take much weight. It could probably be replaced with masonite. Don't know how sturdy is the frame and wire brace. The desks by Colin Johnson (see link in first post) are more sturdier.

Agreed.

I'd recommend the Colin Johnson desks. (and I do recommend them for all the classes I teach)



The reason I posted this one is it looked like it might be a cheaper alternative for someone who didn't want to spend the $250.00 on the Colin Johnson desk, but the sturdiness might not be enough , so good point . (you get what you pay for).

Maybe I shouldn't have posted it...

However, the one from DickBlick Art Supplies is only $51.00 and if someone already had a plexiglass disc or could get one cut locally then they would be looking at under $100 for a portable animation table.

[Herb Montes]

If I were to get the Dick Blick one I would replace that flimsy wire brace with something sturdier from the hardware store. The same with the foam core top. The rest might be sturdy enough for a while. But for something that lasts I can build something better. Which I have in the past for less than the cost of the Dick Blick frame.

I got a spare 12-field plexiglass disc I want to build a portable animation board for. Especially using a flat light panel for illumination.

[D.T. Nethery]

If I were to get the Dick Blick one I would replace that flimsy wire brace with something sturdier from the hardware store.


On the description page at DickBlick.com its says the braces are stainless steel, so they should be sturdier than wire .

http://www.dickblick.com/zz503/15/

But again, I'd recommend the Colin Johnson desk , or making one based on the Jim MacCauley (former prof. at Sheridan College , now retired) plans I posted on my blog :

http://inklingstudio.typepad.com/photos/animation_desks/

[ZigOtto]

hi David,

to add to your beautiful collection, here's a couple from the old continent :

http://www.champagne-dessin.com/default_zone/thumbnails/planche_ani0070_100000.jpg

http://www.champagne-dessin.com/default_zone/thumbnails/tableani0072_100000.jpg
these 2 above from the reseller Champagne Dessin (http://www.champagne-dessin.com/default_zone/fr/html/page-23.html) (France),
...
the one below from Studio Schopman Supplies (http://www.schopman.be/) (Belgium)

http://www.animationsupplies.eu/webshop/store/catalog/lbwp12f.jpg
(bigger size image (http://www.animationsupplies.eu/webshop/store/OriginalCatalog/lbwp12f.jpg))

as you can see, disk and pegbar are included, but not the seat ! :)