Artists: do you need free animation software?

[Taleweaver]

Or rather: professional free animation software?

Not that I'm an expert, but "Plastic Animaton Paper" or "PAP" for short looks like a tool for professional 2d animators that works basically like a flip-book: it's supposedly easy to use and good enough for professional-quality animations.

Any of you artists want to try it out? Really, I have no idea whether it is as good as it claims (I'm not an artist), but it sounds like something you could use.

[Lotus]

I've tried it out before, and while it's more than a bit confusing it is decent animation software. The catch is that it's for lines only; you have to color the lines in another application, such as Gimp. Other than that and the aforementioned confusion it's pretty neat.
I would also suggest that you only use it if you have a tablet, as drawing with a mouse is difficult on it's own, but I imagine drawing frame by frame animations (which is what this program specializes in) to be even more difficult.

[lordcloudx]

Hahaha! You know, I'd almost say this message looks like a 100% advertising post if it wasn't coming from you, Taleweaver. Anyway, the software looks interesting. I'm giving it a try although I'm not really that interested in animation. Thanks for sharing.

[Taleweaver]

Hahaha! You know, I'd almost say this message looks like a 100% advertising post if it wasn't coming from you, Taleweaver. Anyway, the software looks interesting. I'm giving it a try although I'm not really that interested in animation. Thanks for sharing.

I pretty much try to check the web for as much free stuff as possible, and in some cases, I have a use for what I find, and in other cases, other people may have a use for it. This looked like one of the latter cases, and it's good to hear that you seem to find it at least interesting.


*edit* And on an only half-related note, check out this music video that was made with PAP. Wow... that's storytelling...

[Fawn]

I've used it, but the color-less part is a real bother. I can't figure out how to save correctly for the life of me, and there are way too many toolboxes ( you only need one!).

The program Pencil is actually quite good: http://www.pencil-animation.org/ It can color and has a much easier interface, also it exports flash movies. But, atleast for me, it has some bugs (colors don't change automatically when you click them, it randomly freezes, sometimes doesn't save stuff, ect) and shading can be difficult. Still it's a lot of fun to mess with an easy to use. I use the windows version, but, from what I've seen on a friend's computer, it works a lot better on macs.

A little off topic but, have you found any other good free programs, Taleweaver? I'm always on the hunt for them.

[LVUER]

Thanks for posting Taleweaver ^_^

I've tried it several months ago, so here's my opinion about that software :

Pros:
- It's free, so it can't get any cheaper
- It's also small and only need low spec PC to run (I use P4 2,6GHz and 512MB RAM with shared VRAM).
- The timeline is similar to those in MS Power Point. Some will like it, some will hate it...

Cons:
- The biggest flaw: THERE IS NO COLORING FEATURE! So if you want to color your animation, use other software.
- It's not vector based. So you can't switch resolution freely. If you don't know what this means, you haven't done your homework properly as an artist ^_^
- The layer is limited and GUI isn't too user-friendly (especially newbie friendly).

[Toon Boom Animations]

Toon Boom Animation is actually offering free animation software go to http://www.toonboom.com/doodle/ This is a full working version of Flip Boom Doodle. which is usually sold for for $29.00

Flip Boom Doodle makes it easy to create fun animated videos using Flip Boom’s drawing tools and easy-to-use templates. Upload the videos right to your Facebook page so your friends can see them!

To see more information about the software itself, you can go to http://beta.toonboom.com/home-users/flip-boom-doodle

[Anna]

Toon Boom Animation is actually offering free animation software go to http://www.toonboom.com/doodle/ This is a full working version of Flip Boom Doodle. which is usually sold for for $29.00

Flip Boom Doodle makes it easy to create fun animated videos using Flip Boom’s drawing tools and easy-to-use templates. Upload the videos right to your Facebook page so your friends can see them!

To see more information about the software itself, you can go to http://beta.toonboom.com/home-users/flip-boom-doodle

Hahaha! You know, I'd almost say this message looks like a 100% advertising post if it wasn't coming from you, Taleweaver. Anyway, the software looks interesting. I'm giving it a try although I'm not really that interested in animation. Thanks for sharing.

Haha oh the irony :'). But that's a pretty fun offer nevertheless: you can get it for free till January 31st apparently.

[Toon Boom Animations]

Hi Anna and lordcloudx

Thanks for the reply and I can assure you that we are not doing this as advertising or for any commercial usage. It's a way we like to give back to the animation community as well as help those just starting out in animation by letting them download the software instead of paying for resources up front.

Once you try out the software, please let us know what you think of it.

Hope you like it.

[AxemRed]

@Toon Boom Animations
Perhaps you should do some basic testing before you start peddling your wares. The default install path ends with a space which makes the program impossible to run (stock Windows XP).

Re-installing with a different path worked, but then the program demanded I install Quicktime (not gonna happen).

[PyTom]

Axem: They're giving it away. It might make sense to point out the problems, but from here, it seems like you're complaining that you don't like the flavor of the free ice cream.

[DaFool]

Hmmm, I wonder if the industry must be really in a pinch that even the almighty ToonBoom found itself in this niche forum. (Btw RETAS = software for almost all anime; Toon Boom Harmony = software for almost all western cartoons not made in Flash). Creative people (e.g. Makoto Shinkai (early career), Mike Inel) can bypass 2D animation software entirely and go directly from Photoshop to After Effects... but you also see the result being more focus on camera effects and less actual character animations.

[Anna]

Hi Anna and lordcloudx

Thanks for the reply and I can assure you that we are not doing this as advertising or for any commercial usage. It's a way we like to give back to the animation community as well as help those just starting out in animation by letting them download the software instead of paying for resources up front.

Once you try out the software, please let us know what you think of it.

Hope you like it.

Oh don't worry, I was just amused. I think it's nice you're giving something for free to animators ^^.

Downloaded it and tried it out, so here are my thoughts:

+ very friendly/simple user interface! I bet little kids could use it with a rough explanation.
+ you can export it to .swf, .mov and other fun files to share it with.
+ example animations! Nice :)!
+ library with predrawn pictures which you can use.
+ tablet compatible

- The maximum frames per second is 18, which is a big disadvantage for me (I use 30 at the least)
- I cannot export it to .fla or a folder with the images as separate .png files, which would have allowed me to put the files together in some other way/flash. Then again, if I need to put it together in flash, then it's kind of pointless to use this program at all.
- I'm not sure if it's just the preview, but the lines you draw are very pixely! (see image below)

All in all a cute program, but I would only use it for things which aren't serious and just for fun.

[Toon Boom Animations]

@Toon Boom Animations
Perhaps you should do some basic testing before you start peddling your wares. The default install path ends with a space which makes the program impossible to run (stock Windows XP).

Re-installing with a different path worked, but then the program demanded I install Quicktime (not gonna happen).

Hi AxemRed thank you for the feedback and we will pass it on to the developers to look into but we have not heard of the same issues that you faced from other people who have used Flip Boom Doodle.

[Toon Boom Animations]

Hmmm, I wonder if the industry must be really in a pinch that even the almighty ToonBoom found itself in this niche forum. (Btw RETAS = software for almost all anime; Toon Boom Harmony = software for almost all western cartoons not made in Flash). Creative people (e.g. Makoto Shinkai (early career), Mike Inel) can bypass 2D animation software entirely and go directly from Photoshop to After Effects... but you also see the result being more focus on camera effects and less actual character animations.

Hi DaFool

We are trying to get more in touch with our users and get more active in niche industry forums. Out of curiosity how long have you been in the industry and what are some of the challenges that you see on a daily basis?

Anything you like to see from animation software that you don't see these days ?