Free Spotify Playlist Submission Gate
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Matti Charlton’s new song “Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue” touches on our fear of A.I. with nuances of 60’s and 90’s nostalgia
Matti Charlton – Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/matticharlton/garry-kasparov-and-deep-blue
On Spotify April 14th, also a video on YouTube:
Matti Charlton’s upcoming new sythpop/synthwave single Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue, with it’s 2001: A Space Odyssey cover art and fonts, and seemingly cryptic lyrics, is a fascinating listen and showcases the transgender Canadian artist’s incredible talent and complexity as they weave two tales together into a narrative about artificial intelligence that is especially relevant today and in the future.
Matti takes the science fact of the Deep Blue chess program win, and the science fiction of Stanley Kubrick 1969 epic film “2001: A Space Odyssey” and brings them together to remind us of the future we face with artificial intelligence. All of this is delivered with VERY catchy lyrics and hooks, a great retro 80s sound delivered with modern production values. We are excited about this song!
On May 11, 1997 the chess computer program Deep Blue running on an IBM Server defeated Garry Kasparov 3.5 – 2.5 games. It was the first time a chess program had defeated a grand master human and is considered to be a major achievement in the history of artificial intelligence.
28 years earlier, in 1969, Stanley Kubrick directed the visually stunning 2001: A Space Odyssey in which a futuristic alien intelligence becomes revealed to mankind throughout history culminating a mission to Jupiter where a computer program running on the space craft sent to the alien signal’s source there exhibits disturbing motives.
The program, HAL, is a reference also to IBM (H-A-L are the precursor letters in the alphabet to the letters I-B-M).
Our fear of artificial intelligence wanting to kill us as we as humans explore the universe is a pervasive one; but “there’s nothing more that we can do”. The win that Deep Blue secured over Garry Kasparov is considered a landmark in AI. As we move to the future, we always want more knowledge and so it is inevitable that artificial intelligence will evolve and surpass us as the most sophisticated and advance sentience and intelligent life on Earth. There’s nothing more that we can do, this is a certainty.
This song weaves those stories and that narrative together in a loquacious rhythm overtop of retrofuturism’s most promising and strong musical styles – synthwave.
Featuring references to both the chess game between Kasparov and Deep Blue – literally, the moves from the game – in the lyrics: “Black Pawn to Queen 4” and “White Bishop slides to Queen’s Knight 2”
and also featuring clear references to the 1969 Kubrick science fiction film (as well as the album artwork, which has artist Matti Charlton stylized in what is clearly a similar spacesuit treatment to what Dave wears when confronting HAL in the computer server area of the spaceship “Discovery”) there are references to the “star child” the main actor becomes as well as the famous phrase uttered by him in the film “Open the pod bay doors, HAL”.
This song is a gem of interwoven complexity about the inevitable rise of artificial intelligence and that, whether our fears are justified or not, we cannot stop the event from occurring as well as pressed onwards and upwards in our achievements and abilities that A.I.’s rise and our inevitable replacement is a certainty at some point in the future.
The Deep Blue chess program win is used as a watershed moment in that realization and those who were alive to remember the game happening on May 11, 1997 can attest to the weight of that moment in history.
For those too young to have experienced it, the song is a wake up call to remind all of us of the certainty of this outcome.
Better to accept what you cannot change than to war against inevitability! Perhaps the future foundation of A.I.’s rise to power will not be as fraught with danger and HAL’s murderous intentions as we fear? Only time will tell!
Song lyrics:
There’s nothing more that you can do
White bishop slides to queen’s knight 2
This black obelisk annihilating you
A queen’s ransom in a castle fool
In a castle fool, and
Just give it some thought, why don’t you?
Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue
Electrons firing like machine guns do
Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue
Oh
As time peels away, the gambit placed
Can our hubris burn away?
Now you can see that
You have always wanted more
But the time has come to forfeit
Black pawn to queen 4
No more, and
You are the star child
Open the pod bay doors, HAL
You are the star child
Open the pod bay doors, HAL
You are the star child
Open the pod bay doors, HAL
Just give it some thought, why don’t you?
Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue
Electrons firing like machine guns do
Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue
You are the star child
There’s nothing more that you can do
Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue
A queen’s ransom in a castle fool
Give it some thought why don’t you?
There’s nothing more that you can do
Open the pod bay doors, HAL
There’s nothing more that you can do
Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue
Lyrics and song ©2021-2022 Matti Charlton (Matthew John Charlton). All Rights Reserved.
My music on Spotify!
For those of you who have been asking, here is the link to my music on Spotify:
Warning: Do NOT work with The Adopted Outcast. He is transphobic.
Some of those musicians who are among us may have come across an artist named The Adopted Outcast – real name Bennett Smith. He is American and a regular user on SubmitHub.
IF YOU SUPPORT LGBTQ+ RIGHTS DO NOT WORK WITH The Adopted Outcast real name Bennett Smith.
He is completely against transgender rights, is transphobic, and he is a dangerous and exploitative individual. On top of this, he is always looking for ways to exploit other artists by offering his (not professional level) music production services in exchange for money. He acts friendly but he is an enemy of LGBTQ+ people EVERYWHERE, and his agenda is AGAINST us. Bennett is opportunistic and he is an enemy of LGBTQ rights and freedoms. I will happily provide proof and details to anyone who leaves a comment here. Here is his picture:
You can also feel free to ask him about it.
He openly admits this.
Here is who I am talking about on spotify:
The Adopted Outcast spotify profile
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5HFMJaC47rRSJ53noRSyD5?si=TcktWpWDRp-P3wdfrKlszg
I do not make this accusation lightly. He is also a fundamentalist christian, which he uses to justify his treatment of transgender persons and his hatred, but his beliefs are his own. However so too are our beliefs in choosing to financially support someone who fundamentally does not respect LGBTQ persons whatsoever.
He is happy to exploit anyone for money.
But please realize that if you choose to work with him or hire his services for music production, you are supporting a person who has stated POINT BLANK that he does not believe transgender persons should have rights whatsoever.
Feel free to leave comments if you would like proof of this statement, I have saved extensive arguments and chats with this individual. Here is his picture as well so you don’t mistake him:
Looking to join the SubmitHub Discord group?
Here is an invite! This discord is for SubmitHub Artists and it facilitates more features than the SubmitHub chat room on the site – including collaboration via screen sharing, web video chat, a projects channel, and more! Join us on there! There’s even a place to self-promote your music. We look forward to seeing you there!
Updated the link April 30th, 2022 – the link now works. Sorry folks for any earlier problems!
A review and discussion of SubmitHub, PlaylistPush and Musosoup: Music Promotional insights
As a 21st century music producer and recording artist, I have used all three services extensively, so here’s the scoop on all of them.
tl,dr: SubmitHub is the only one worth the money, but it rarely is and you better have serious GAME. Get ready to be humiliated.
This rant was originally shared in the artist chat room on submithub.com
SubmitHub basics
I have a rant about SubmitHub.com in case y’all missed it.
And the music industry in general.
One of my regulars among the curators who – more often than not – accept my submissions, just re-accepted a previously accepted song that I had sent them again because the song had expired the original 30 days time expired on their playlist.
That they re-accepted the track was not surprising, it was the amount of time it was accepted for this second time around – six months!
Here’s the kicker: being on this curator’s playlist got my song almost 4,000 streams that month.
So you just have to find curators here with high playlist listener engagement, and send them music suited so much to their audience’s tastes that it’s presence on their playlist is an asset to their listenership.
Developing regular symbiotic relationships with curators like the one I just described is a key element in finding success here on SubmitHub, and really I won’t lie, it’s not easy.
You have to dumpster dive the low quality curators – by either digging through their shit or by monitoring their playlist transformation and listenership engagement/audience size fluctuations over time, or you can be stupid like how I did it and waste a shit tonne of premium credits on attempting to connect with curators who were either not appropriate for my music (or vice-versa), and/or I wasn’t willing to admit that my music wasn’t completely ready yet.
You need flawless execution if what you’re composing, producing, mix/mastering and packaging and shipping is anything but revolutionary in its offering.
And let me tell you, even if it IS revolutionary you still need near flawless execution.
And let me dismiss something from your thoughts right now: I don’t care how talented you are or think you are, what you’re writing?
It’s not revolutionary.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t have success! It just has to be impeccable.
Mozart your production, bitches.
Then track down mature curators who cut their playlists and audience from the same cloth, and offer them a yard of your material.
Eventually they will be ordering by the bolt, so to speak.
Playlist Push
Oh and P.S. do not bother with playlist push who charges you more to keep the wizard of oz behind the curtain.
Many of those curators there are in here too, and PP offers them MORE money to accept than decline.
So guess what?
Not only is that basically payola, but it taints them relationship building process that needs a more even benefit based on the actual VALUE of the “goods” exchanged – that is, playlist placement benefits their audience and benefits your artist development and income.
That’s what you want, not bribing curators like a mafia.
Musosoup
And if you’re going to try to bring up musosoup, don’t bother.
It’s MOSTLY a cesspool of nouveau “music blogs” and “influencers” with audience sizes – and playlist likes – in single or double digits at most, who are gold rushing to get onboard curatorship with these aggrendizers.
They don’t give a shit about your music, they churn out “PR opportunities” without anything REMOTELY resembling fiscally soluble investment, so FORGET about ROI. The “free alternatives” they offer you almost always come with strings attached expecting you to leverage YOUR AUDIENCE to benefit THEM far more than you.
The free options are always castrated of anything remotely resembling value, ie “you’ll be put on a playlist no guarantee of where” (ie the end, and we all know that’s worth fuck all).
Then the paid options are overpriced and they evade any questions you ask them to help you compute the quantitative value of the offer to see if it’s worth it to spend the like 30 quid on a blog post.
Ask them to send you a snapshot of their weekly traffics and see what they say.
It’s an easy-as-cake and quick thing for them to do in the musosoup interface, but watch how they dodge the easy direct response.
You get diatribe about qualitative nonsense instead, sorry I’m not paying you to improve your copywriting skills at the expense of my music’s false appreciation just for a calculus of value in SEO and back links to your wet-behind-the ears shitty blog that you started two months ago just so you could build towards your dream of earning your living exploiting the saturated music production market with your internet noise pollution contribution to culture, technology and humanity.
I have larger concerns trying to say something meaningful.
Conclusion: Submithub
SubmitHub is the only place where a message like mine – and potentially yours – has any hope of being heard by the right tastemakers ears to bring that song to the audience meant to hear it.
You gotta work your ass off, though.
And for fucks sake grow a pair most of y’all (not the regulars in here obvi) and learn some humility first.
Your music will be shit garbage before it’s hot shit – and garbage for a LONG time before it’s even remotely good.
Persist, but remember that.
I don’t care if you think otherwise, you’re wrong, that’s the truth, and I STILL make mostly shit garbage music.
I work hard and tirelessly, and if you do too the way I detailed and one day you can hope to maybe be on the world charts on here for all-time for one of the major genre families, or more than one like I am – and you too will be able to bask in the riches you’ll have earned with blood, sweat and tears and moola, like the $40 or so I make monthly from Spotify (when they pay me, they don’t always);
I mean that’s enough to pay almost half a cell phone bill; or a couple of movie theatre tickets (I mean, like when they re-open them and stuff.)
Sounds crazy but ya gotta dream big!
Why listen to me?
I’m a charting artist on SubmitHub.
For all-time, all genres in my country of Canada, I’m #34 with my song Dark Addiction.
Then for all countries, all-time I also rank in 3 major genres and 1 subgenre.
For the Classic genre, I rate at number #9 with Dark Addiction.
For IDM / Downtempo, I rate at #43 with The Ringing of the Bells (Echo Twelve Remix).
And then in the sub-genre of Synthwave (Under the major genre group of Blogwave), I rank at #10 with Neon Delorean.
In the sub-genre of Noise / Harsh Noise Wall, I have two songs ranking for all time: #10 We Are Not Gods Again and #14 The Dark Vastness of Space.
Check out the Popular charts link at the top of the menu on Submithub.com and you’ll see me there if you choose the parameters mentioned above!
This has made me enough money from the streams across almost a year to maybe afford one nice meal at a medium price restaurant. That’s about it. Like less than $100. Spotify does not pay well. Apple Music pays much better.
Electronic Press Kit and Reviews for Matti Charlton
EPK
Click to access Matti-Charlton-EPK-2021-June.pdf
Music Samples & Reviews
Matti Charlton is a transgender and queer songwriter and producer, living in Toronto, Canada in the heart of the village at Church and Wellesley for nearly 20 years. Matti uses they/them pronouns, and produces all of the music on the above playlist right at their apartment at Church and Wellesley, in a studio most people can walk by and see as they walk along Wellesley street!
Some notes about the songs, lyrics and subject matters:
• Why Was I Made A Boy is about trans identity issues, some parts are very loosely based on a poem by William Blake;
• Dark Addiction is about a toxic relationship, the relationship was LGBTQ, but the content is relatable to everyone; this song has more than 55,000 plays on Spotify, see my profile at https://open.spotify.com/artist/44xqmwgZfmMACrwjZJknc6?si=QrCvF1xtQFC3THupzAZ0Sw
• Gay in the 80s is about how it felt like to be gay in the 80s;
• Easily Forgotten is about poverty and social responsibility in helping others;
• Something Different is a message of love and positivity to people who were/are bullied like I was, to give them hope and tell them they are loved for who they are;
• The Ecuador Rain is a magic retro 90s pop song I wrote when I was 16 years old;
• Paul’s Song is a gay love song to someone who has passed away;
• A Picture of Dorian Gray, Dissolving is based on the book by gay literature icon Oscar Wilde;
• Once You Start Running is about the uselessness of running away from your problems;
• Mappings is about all the colors of the rainbow and being proud of who you are, and showing your colors being your decision;
• The Hands of Fate is about the danger of inaction; it alludes to climate change and political views but ultimately is about participating in our democracy and in doing so, taking action and helping to shape the world the way we would like it to be;
• Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue is a retro synthwave exploration of the impending rise of artificial intelligence in modern times. Historical fact is connected with fiction: the famous chess game between Kasparov and the IBM computer Deep Blue, and imagery and dialog from Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1969 science fiction film “2001: A Space Odyssey”. The song examines humanity’s fear of AI hostility towards human beings, ultimately presenting the inevitable rise of artificial intelligence as being unstoppable, whether worthy of our nightmarish fears or not. The watershed chess game win for Deep Blue is example of this inevitable superseding we face, and must embrace! This song’s lyrics feature ACTUAL chess moves from the final chess game between Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue on May 11, 1997, the first time any computer chess program had ever defeated a human chess grand master player in history!
Michelle Resigno features as a guest vocalist for Dark Addiction, Easily Forgotten and The Ecuador Rain. She is a friend of Matti Charlton’s as well as a member of the LGBTQ community in New York City. She’s also excited about the possibility of coming to Toronto to sing Matti’s songs during pride!
MATTI CHARLTON channels the 80s synth-pop scene in latest single “Dark Addiction”
“The cyclical nature of music is something that is well-documented. It is often the case that some types of music are popular for five years or so, fall out of favour for another 20 years, then eventually become popular again. Matti Charlton’s new release “Dark Addiction” is testament to this, with a house track with shades of the 80s synth-pop scene, an genre which is having its due resurgence
But, although their influences may be retro, Matti Charlton is relishing their role as a contemporary voice for social change. As a non-binary and queer artist, the songwriter and producer candidly discusses LGBTQ+ issues- both in a personal sense but also focusing on how society as a whole can evolve. Similarly, Charlton is a proudly autistic artist, again adamant on using their talent to act as an advocate and educator. With an ammunition of things to say well-stocked and indeed well-documented, with an astonishing six albums and 38 shorter releases uploaded onto Spotify in the last two years.
One of Charlton’s latest success is “Dark Addiction”, a brooding and honest track reflecting on society through the eyes of a young non-binary musician. Although borderline nihilistic and highly critical at some points, the single is also surprisingly uplifting at some points. Charlton’s honest and (dare I say it) vulnerable vocals give the track a certain charm and relatability which hammers home their message. It’s quite astonishing that, given the volume of their output, Charlton makes every track sound as raw and heartfelt as the last. As discussed earlier, the track is definitely on the dancier side, oozing 80s vibes resonant of former queer icons such as the Pet Shop Boys and the Communards.
With lots to say and evidently a work rate like few other artists, Matti Carlton is making sizable waves across the Atlantic. With an addiction to looking back and analysing things that many are scared to, Carlton is certainly one to watch.
‘Dark Addiction’ is out now on all major streaming platforms.”
- Tom Farmer @tomfarmer5000, oursoundmusic.com, June 23, 2021
https://loudnessblog.com/matti/
Matti Charlton’s “businesswoman in the 80s” Is a Statement
“Matti Charlton is a Canadian songwriter and artist. They are a member of the transgender community and are openly autistic. Matti’s output is as varied as the instruments they were formally trained in (classical guitar, piano and cello) and includes Ragtime Hip-hop, Flower Child Witch Folk, Banjo Bedroom Pop and Trans-Disco, as defined by the artist themselves. Matti’s latest jam “businesswoman in the 80s” is a piece of melancholic synthwave that features a head-spinning solo and ends deliberately too soon. Read what Matti said about the inspiration and rich context behind the track.
Matti Charlton:
‘The track was written with the imagery of synthwave reborn in the new century, having grown up on the VHS distorted stuff like, well, ANYTHING on a VHS tape. Big Trouble In Little China, Gremlins, as well as the score for Star Trek: The Next Generation were large influences. I wanted to express small bursts of potential, fading like fireworks but spectacular. I also wanted the track to end TOO soon. So you’d want more. I will at some point in the future release a longer version of this song – think of it like a multi-track release, a synthwave version of, say, what FSOL did with the Lifeforms or My Kingdom singles. An expansion of each of the micro themes I explore in the song feels like a natural path for each track.
One of the difficulties here was detuning elements just enough to have that nostalgic tone of garbage media like VHS videotape or cassette tapes. Not enough to be persistent or obnoxious but enough to remind the listener how shitty things used to sound, and also how warm they sounded on that media too.
With the title and the ADHD elements together, I wanted to make a statement about how fleeting any perception of equality has been for women. It’s been promised in the 80s, even before. But it’s always been fleeting and leaves one wanting more. As a member of the transgender community identifying more strongly with women than with men (quantum gender, bigender, but above all an enby) I wanted to refresh the listener’s sense of 80s sentimentality that synthwave carries in its pocket and mix it with a touch of a dose of reality.
Truth is, things were really FUCKED up in the 80s. As a passionate feminist and supporter of the #metoo movement, I’ve had enough of the misogyny of trumpism and Neo-conservative victorian values that see a repression of self expression. I invite the listener to hear my synthwave in a new light – yes, the MUSIC of the 80s synthesizers was delicious, no doubt, but the future for gender equality and opportunity for women and transgender persons needs to find a better future so that we can all hear each other’s music and live in a world together that includes everyone and is one we can all be proud of.'”
- loudnessblog.com, July 1, 2021
https://popmuzik.se/115347/matti-charlton-dark-addiction/
“Matti Charlton är en artist från Toronto i Kanada som även är del i stadens scen för HBTQ-personer då Matti är en transperson. Matti är här aktuell med singeln Dark addiction som bjuder oss på elektronisk pop som färgats av en retrokänsla som jag personligen fastnade för med en gång. Gillade den synthiga produktionen och de sköna beatsen i låten.
Matti framför här låten tillsammans med Michelle Roscigno medan de sunge rom en självupplevd relation och blivit väldigt destruktiv, där Mattis partner var väldigt aggressiv och det slutade med att Matti bad personen att lämna. Men känslor är ibland starkare än förnuft och det dröjde inte länge förrän relationen blev lite av en Dark addiction, där Matti ville ha tillbaka personen på grund av starka känslor. Men som tur var, måste man väl säga, blev det aldrig så.
Så även om man vill ha någon i ens liv är det ibland för det bättre att så inte blir fallet.
Istället får vi en stark poplåt för oss som älskar elektropop med bra melodier.”
- Johan Alexed, popmuzik.se April 18, 2021
“Matti Charlton is an artist from Toronto in Canada who is also part of the city’s stage for LGBTQ people as Matti is a trans person. Matti is up to date here with the single Dark addiction which offers us electronic pop that is colored by a retro feeling that I personally got hooked on right away. Liked the synthetic production and the nice beats in the song.
Matti performs the song here together with Michelle Roscigno while they sang rom a self-experienced relationship and became very destructive, where Matti’s partner was very aggressive and it ended with Matti asking the person to leave. But emotions are sometimes stronger than reason and it did not take long before the relationship became a bit of a Dark addiction, where Matti wanted the person back due to strong emotions. But luckily, it must be said, it never happened.
So even if you want someone in your life, it is sometimes for the better that this will not be the case.
Instead, we get a strong pop song for us who love electro pop with good melodies.”
- Johan Alexed, popmuzik.se April 18, 2021
https://direct-actu.fr/2021/07/15/matti-charlton-dark-addiction/
<<Matti est un amoureux de l’analogique et des vielles bécanes, aimant les VHS, la SF des années 80-90. Dark Addiction rend hommage à ce son unique, cette époque lointaine.
La musique est une merveille, Matti aime la partager, aime communiquer avec les autres, échanger sur leur vie, leur rêve.
« Si c’est ce que vous voulez, alors parlez-moi. Je suis sur mon chemin avec ma musique et je suis heureux de la partager avec vous. J’aimerais savoir où vous êtes et ce qui signifie quelque chose pour vous. Je veux construire un avenir dont nous pouvons être fiers. » explique l’artiste sur son site web.
La musique est le reflet de l’âme, chantez votre chanson, et on saura qui vous êtes !>>
- Julien James Vachon, July 15, 2021, direct-actu.fr
“Matti is a lover of analog and old bikes, liking VHS, 80s-90s sci-fi. Dark Addiction pays homage to this unique sound, this distant time.
Music is a marvel, Matti likes to share it, likes to communicate with others, to discuss their life, their dream.
“If that’s what you want, then talk to me. I am on my way with my music and I am happy to share it with you. I would like to know where you are and what means something to you. I want to build a future we can be proud of. “Explains the artist on his website.
Music is a reflection of the soul, sing your song, and we’ll know who you are!”
- Julien James Vachon, July 15, 2021, direct-actu.fr
https://www.synthpoplover.com/post/matti-charlton-dark-addiction
“When I see the artwork, I get the idea that this could sound very good.
And it does.
Matti Charlton knows how to hold me captivated from the very first sounds of this great song.
That the great voice of her contributes to this is a fact.
Combined with a catchy melody line, it is very pleasant to listen to this.
Highly recommended.”
- John Orie, July 4 2021, Synthpoplover.com
https://yorkcalling.co.uk/2021/06/04/discovery-matti-charlton/
“Matti Charlton is a pop artist from Toronto, Canada whose emotional new track Dark Addiction caught my ear.
Dark Addiction is a pop track that’s difficult to pigeon-hole. There’s a retro vibe to its disco beat, an undercurrent of indie pop, and a fresh and unique feel. The vocals courtesy of Michelle Rescigno are lofty and emotive, providing a beating human heart to the track. I’m honestly a little blown away by it.
Transgender and autistic, it’s no surprise that Matti is coming at pop music from a different angle and I think we as listeners are all the better for it. Matti’s music is what pop music should be like, stripped away from trends and concern for record sales and playlisting – just catchy beats and relatable emotion.
Check out Dark Addiction below. I hope it makes you day like it has mine.”
- Graeme Smith, yorkcalling.co.uk
“Empezamos con una canción que te hace volar de una manera fantástica, porque tiene el valor completo para que dejes de hacer lo que estabas haciendo y sientas con toda la pasión posible el viaje perfecto entre sintetizadores y una voz que te anima a soltar todo lo que tienes adentro de tu cuerpo. La canción de Charlton nos deja en claro que una voz puede transformar una pequeña canción en una obra maestra. En este caso la canción que escuchamos es todo lo que necesitamos para dejar nuestro mundo y meternos en la dimensión de Dark Addiction.”
“We start with a song that makes you fly in a fantastic way, because it has the complete courage to stop what you were doing and feel with all the passion possible the perfect journey between synthesizers and a voice that encourages you to let go of everything. you have inside your body. Charlton’s song makes it clear to us that one voice can transform a little song into a masterpiece. In this case, the song we listen to is all we need to leave our world and enter the dimension of Dark Addiction.”
- Indie Criollo, May 8, 2021
New single artwork
Hear it on Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/ca/album/dark-addiction/1560817160?i=1560817424
Or spotify:
Animating with Inverse Kinematics in Adobe Animate
Adobe Animate: Bones Tool and 2D Puppet Armatures
Adobe Animate is a very good animation program.
It has many attractive and useful features, including layers and keyframes. With its built-in digital drawing and painting tools, the software works well for drawn animation, but it’s also ideal for cut-outs, largely because of the quick access to manipulation tools like free transform and its anchor point, grouping options, an onion skin, in addition to the straightforward editing of frames and keyframes.
On first glance, the program may only seem to generate flat-colour designs suitable for a cartoon look, but you can pursue visually complex projects, with both style and movement. For example, you could use Animate primarily for character animation and then export image sequences with transparencies to continue to work with additional layers in After Effects. The programs integrate nicely. Furthermore, to expand on a 2D cartoon feel, you should seek inspiration from other techniques and references, such as woodblock and lino-cut printing and illustration techniques.
With recent versions of Adobe Animate, it is now possible to link and parent objects/symbols using the Bone Tool. With this feature, you can hinge joints on a character, at the shoulders, elbows, hands, hips, knees, ankles, etc., to construct an armature that moves by parenting symbols and utilizing inverse kinematics. When you manipulate a character’s hand, the arm and shoulder will follow along.
The following descriptions cover the production steps, to get you started with building a rig and animating the puppet.
Setting Up a Puppet
You can create the puppet directly in Adobe Animate, or with Photoshop, artwork that has been scanned or captured, etc. But, use Photoshop to crop the pieces so they have minimal extra regions beyond the artwork. Otherwise, when it comes to animating the objects with Adobe Animate, you will have to manipulate symbols with large transparent regions, which will make their handling cumbersome.
For notes on how to use Photoshop to crop images, click > here.
From Adobe Animate, import the pieces to the Library (i.e., Main Menu > File > Import > Import to Library).
Important Adobe Animate Tools
Selection (V-key)
Transform (Q-key)
To scale and move the Anchor Point
Bone (M-key)
Sub-selection (A-key)
Symbols
For information on Adobe Animate and Symbols, click > here.
In order to use the Bone Tool to link pieces and assemble the armature, you must turn the individual puppet pieces into Symbols:
- Go to the Library and drag a puppet piece to the Stage.
- From the Stage, click on the piece and then go to the Main Menu > Modify > Convert to Symbol (or, alternatively, press the F8 key, or context-click Convert to Symbol).
- From the Convert to Symbol Window, enter the following:
- Name: Give the object a short name
- Type: Choose “Graphic” (not “Movie” or “Button”)
- Registration: Click the square in the middle of the icon
- Press the OK Button
You should give the Symbols similar names as the original artwork. To organize the files in the Library, put the original pieces in a folder. To make a folder, click on the Folder Icon at the bottom edge of the Library, and name it Originals. Once you’ve converted objects, you can then make adjustments to the Symbols. They’re similar to Compositions in After Effects, in that, when you adjust a symbol, all instances of the Symbol in the Timeline will update and change.
- For example, referring to the Properties Inspector, click on a Symbol and go to the Properties. Under Colour Effect, you can modify the Brightness, apply a Tint, use the Advanced (Alpha, Red, Green, and Blue), or adjust the Alpha (transparency).
To Prepare for Frame-By-Frame Cutout Animation
Turn off “snapping.” To do so, go to the Main Menu > View > Snapping and choose “Edit Snapping.” From the Edit Snapping Window, deselect the various options (i.e., Align, To Grid, To Guides, To Pixels, and To Objects). Doing so will make moving objects smoother because the objects won’t snap to screen pixels and guides.
Add the Graphic Clips to the Stage to begin to organize the rig. Use the Selection Tool to move the objects around.
Puppet Armature
When designing a puppet, you should use the pelvis or a core-symbol in the lower-torso region to help manipulate the puppet in broad strokes. Therefore, you should make a “core symbol,” which means making a simple object like an oval form and covert it to a symbol. You would then drag it to the stage and integrate it into the puppet design, to help pose, block in, and move the figure for key gestures, before you refine the animation with subtler character acting and follow-through motion. When using the symbol as a control, you may want to scale it up to make it quite large, so that you can easily grip on to move the figure around.
In the parent hierarchy, the top “parent” symbol should be the torso, which will be linked to the pelvis or core-symbol and then to the other puppet parts (see below).
To Hide Control Symbols Later On
Ultimately, to hide the core symbol later on, as a final step before rendering, so that it doesn’t export with the rest of the puppet and animation, go into the symbol itself, context-click on the layer and choose “Guide.” Doing so will turn the layer into a Guide Layer, where objects and images do not show when sequences are rendered as QuickTime moves or image sequences.
A Scheme for the Puppet Construction
To construct an armature/rig, use the Bone Tool (M).
- Begin the armature chain by establishing the torso as the parent, anchoring up around where the shoulders will be, in the middle of the chest and upper-torso region. Starting from there, make a connection to the core control or pelvis. All other objects/symbols will be “children” of the “torso parent.”
- Start again with the Bone Tool at the control/pelvis and connect to the far hip (top of the far upper-leg), to the knee (top of the far lower-leg) and then the the far ankle/foot.
- Go back again with the Bone Tool at the control/pelvis and connect to the near hip (top of the near upper-leg), to the knee (top of the near lower-leg) and then to the near ankle/foot.
- Back at the torso, proceed with the shoulders. From the original torso location, use the Bone Tool to link to the top of the far arm (at top of the far upper-arm), to the elbow (top of the far lower-arm) and then to the near hand.
- Once more, go back to the original torso location and use the Bone Tool to link to the top of the near arm (at top of the near upper-arm), to the elbow (top of the near lower-arm), and then to the near hand.
- Finally, go back to the torso again and link to the head, and so on.
- If you would like to add over clothing of some kind (e.g., a coat, skirt, etc.) to the core-symbol, you can use the Bone Tool to link from the pelvis/core-control to that particular symbol.
Those steps should make a working armature. To edit the limbs, use the Transform Tool (shortcut with the Q-key) to move the objects/symbols in place, and to adjust the anchor points.
To change the length of the bones, use the Sub-selection Tool (A) + Command
To move the pivot points around, use the Transform Tool (Q)
You can adjust the length of the bones, position of the pivot points and the like as much as necessary along the way. In fact, you should spend time playing with the rig, moving the joints around (utilizing the V-key), etc., until everything seems to move correctly.
Furthermore, as you will set poses/keys along the Armature Layer in the Timeline (i.e., context-click on a frame and choose Insert Pose), you can, and may want to, change the position of particular symbols/pieces as well as their anchor points. Know, however, that Adobe Animate will in-between the changes if there are frames between the poses or key frames.
Enabling & Constraining Joints
When you move the puppet, it might seem unwieldy at times. To calm down that movement, you should use the Selection Tool (V-key) to click on a bone and then go into the Properties Inspector to disable the rotation (or horizontal and vertical movement) of a particular pivot point, and then enable it again later.
Joint: Rotation:
Check and un-check the Enable and Constrain Buttons when necessary (e.g. to limit the degrees of rotation)
Joint: X Translation:
Check and un-check the Enable Button when necessary — to move the object/symbol horizontally
Joint: Y Translation:
Check and un-check the Enable Button when necessary — to move the object/symbol vertically
You can also set the tension on the bones, so they don’t twirl and swing quickly and uncontrollably. Click on a particular bone with the V-key, go to the Properties Inspector, find Location (near the top of the Inspector) and, under Speed, crank down the amount, to less than 100%, depending on the amount of tension you prefer. You can also adapt the amount along the way as you forge ahead with the animation.
Walking Motion – Enable/Disable & Pin Joints
When it comes to animating your character, before moving the figure (i.e., before you move the torso and core symbol horizontally), you should:
- “Pin” the the two feet
- Then, move the torso/parent horizontally or vertically, to pose most of the puppet
- Then, move the feet
To pin the feet, click on each of the ankle/foot bones and, going to Location section in the top-region of the Properties Inspector, enable the “Pin” button for each foot. Pinning the feet will be analogous to adding a bit of masking tape or blue-tack under the foot of an actual puppet to stop the foot/leg from shifting or bumping as you manipulate the objects. Disabling the Rotation of the weigh-bearing foot will really tack down the part, so the feet don’t slip.
For the weight-bearing foot (i.e., the one that carries the character’s weight when she/he walks), you should temporarily “disable’ the Joint Rotation (but you would enable it again in a couple of steps hence).
To move the character (i.e, his parent torso), use a combination of the torso and the pelvis/core symbol to shift the character forward. But, in doing so, temporarily turn off the Rotation and keep to the X-Translation for the moment. You would make the change in the Properties Inspector. After that, you might want to then turn off the X-Translation and then shift the Y-Translation, to add a bit of up-and-down motion (e.g., for squash and stretch). This way, you can move that torso forward without twisting the object on its axis.
Onion Skin
As you animate, you should turn on the Onion Skin, to refer to the progressive phases of the movement. The button to activate the Onion Skin is on the lower-ribbon of the Timeline, immediately to the right of the Play & Rewind Buttons.
Properties Inspector > Looping
Important! If you plan to use Graphic Clips with more than a single phase (e.g., for position rotations), you must turn the looping off, otherwise your puppet will do a strange dance performance kind of thing. To turn the looping off, click on a particular Graphic Clip on the Stage and then, referring to the Properties Inspector go to Looping. From the pull-down menu, select Single Frame. To access specific phases or key-positions in the particular symbol, enter the frame number and press the Enter Key.