Customer Reviews

Anime Studio Debut 6 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(50)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Length:: 1:29 Mins

I've been playing with Anime Studio Debut in my free time for about a week now (on a Mac, though this package includes installation discs for both mac and windows), and I'm a complete beginner. I'm pretty happy with what I've been able to do after just one week. Anime Studio Debut is a lot of fun, and is a very sophisticated and flexible program. It's very easy to get started animating simple things, but for more complicated designs it can be fairly time intensive. This video, for example, that I created in order to practice my animation skills, took several hours to create. (I posted this in October, which is why I made it Halloween-themed. I'm not always inclined to the macabre!)

The program is focused around creating characters whose design is flexible enough that they can be molded and shaped in a number of scenarios. That means that, even though it took me a long time to create this short video, more than half of that time went into creating the skeleton and now that I've created him I can pose him any way I like. To create a character you first draw the outlines of the various components of its shape (legs, head, chest, etc.) and fill them in as you like. Then, you can put "bones" into these elements to form an invisible "skeleton" (not like the visible skeleton you see in my video - that guy has invisible bones within his visible bones!). Then, to move it about you just select a bone manipulator tool with your cursor and then you can rotate the bones around whatever joint you've established for them and whatever parts of the body are "bound" to that bone move with it.

Once you have characters, backgrounds and objects drawn (each one established as a different "layer" of your final image), you can animate a scene. How it works is that you create all your characters and all the elements of a scene in different layers, and then, on the time line, you can have them interact. How you do that is very simple: there is a timeline that is comprised of 24 unique frames per second of animation, and you can set each character or object however you like on frame one and then, maybe, at frame 12 and the computer then creates a smooth path for that object between frames 1 and 12, and it will traverse that path in the first half second of the animation. Whatever frames result from your direct manipulation become "keyframes" and the computer interpolates results between them. For the skeleton's mouth I had to set "keyframes" nearly every other frame (i.e. every 1/12 of a second - I know there's a way to do this more easily, but I couldn't figure out how to use the free lip sync software that they recommend in the instructions). For most other things I found I only had to place elements every half second or so (for the moon and the clouds it was every half minute or so).

I like that you can animate each layer separately - here I set up the clouds and the moon and the pumpkin first, and then I molded the movements of the skeleton around those. I animated the mouth very last - and even though it's not very precise that took a lot of time to do - once all of the other movements were in place.

I really like this program - it's a lot of fun even though it can be very time consuming. One thing I found while working on this project is that it really needs to have some time saver features built in. For example, I found that while animating I was constantly switching between tools: I'd click on one tool and then make a minor modification then another tool and the back and forth was a real pain. I expect there are ways to assign tools to keys on the keyboard but I wish there was some way I could jump between "recently used" tools with a mouse click, so I don't have to move my hands from the mouse to the keyboard and back again or move the mouse back and forth between the drawing and the toolbar so often. There were other minor frustrations I had, where things weren't quite as intuitive as I'd have liked. Some of that is just a matter of getting to know the program, but it is worth knowing that while this is very easy to start out with, once you try and do anything semi-complicated, there is a learning curve. Still, it's a very flexible program - and, while the animation I created to illustrate it is pretty amateurish, I've seen enough to know that with time and effort this has the power to create very cool and exciting 2-d animations (and can even simulate some 3-d type effects).

While this is ideal for the aspiring cartoonist, this would be great for any creative and intelligent kids - and I know my older kids (11 and 13) were fascinated by it and will get a lot of use from it. Rather than let them watch cartoons, tell them to make cartoons. It'll take time but that time will be used creatively and productively and will be rewarding, and they will be forced to learn about attention to detail (because the computer doesn't know anything you don't tell it). Highly recommended for geeks like me and kids of all ages.

Length:: 0:46 Mins

Bottom Line
If you already know a bit about animation techniques, Anime Studio Debut 6 lets you easily jump into making your own animated movies. On the other hand, if you don't understand terms like "key frames" and "walk cycles," you'll have a difficult time using it without some more study. When I was a beginning game design student, I used Maya and Photoshop to create animations. However, I think Anime Studio Debut 6 is much more fun and easy to use for animation than either of those programs and it also allows you to get up and running with your cartoons much more quickly. It's an extremely good value for the money if you want to start animating.

Strengths
* Easy to get started: The tutorials are one of the software's strengths. They are enjoyable, easy to follow, and very comprehensive in the use of the Anime Studio tools. However, the tutorials do not attempt to teach you much about important animation concepts. (You'll need to learn about rigging, timelines, walk cycles, etc., somewhere else. I recommend The Animator's Survival Kit or similar.). I animated a simple pre-made figure in about an hour using the Quick Start tutorial.
* The Bones System: It's a bit harder to create your first animation sequence from scratch than it was to use the Quick Start files, but it's MUCH easier than it was with Maya, thanks to the "Bones" system which makes rigging extremely easy and intuitive. (See my video demo.)
* Animate your own photos: Another cool feature of the software is the ability to animate photos or mix them into vector animations.
* Automatic lip-sync: Anime Studio Debut 6 has an automatic lip-sync feature that will instantly make your character's mouth move along with an audio file.
* You can create dramatic camera moves easily.

Other Notes
* It definitely helps to understand Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator concepts (layers, vectors, curves, channels, etc.). Although, I have to say, Anime Studio's method of making curves is MUCH more intuitive and easy to use than Photoshop or Illustrator.
* Be aware that the tutorials come in the form of PDF files rather than being software-based and are not included as a pre-printed manual in the box -- this means you'll have to alt-Tab between the PDF and the Anime Studio program to use them. Although the PDF tutorials are great, the online tutorials pretty much stink for this software since they are primarily geared towards the Pro version of the software, not the Debut version.
* Sometimes in the large User's Guide (231 pages) it's hard to tell which features are only for the Anime Studio Pro version instead of this version. For example, it covers using "Scripts," but there is no feature for scripts in the Anime Studio Debut 6 (non-pro) version.
* The software description makes it look like anyone can animate with this software, but you do need to have drawing skills or access to licensed artwork. If you can't draw a flower, it won't draw one for you. It also doesn't do cel shading for you or come with any textures or backgrounds. (You'll need the Manga Studio Debut 4 (Win/Mac) software for that.) You can create drawings with a mouse, tablet, or by scanning them in and tracing them.
* This software is a bit oddly named. You can make any type of 2-D animation you want, not just anime.

System Specifications
I did not test this on a Mac, but the software ran very smoothly on these two Windows computers with no slowdowns or freeze-ups:
- Vista Home Premium SP1 on an HP Pavilion dv2700 Notebook with an AMD Turion 2GHz processor and 3GB RAM
- XP Media Center Edition SP3 on a Dell XPS 410 Desktop with an Intel Pentium 2.8GHz processor and 4GB RAM

Don't forget to watch my 47-second video demo of how the Bones system works.

QUICK SUMMARY: A richly-featured, low-cost program is a great introduction into animation, but the program doesn't do much to help new users learn the craft of 2-D animation.

I selected Anime Studio Debut mostly for my kids' sake (teen and pre-teen). Since earlier this year, they've all enjoyed using a digital camera and Windows Movie Maker to create movies, especially Lego-based movies using Lego-built characters, vehicles and movie sets. Anime Studio seemed like something they'd enjoy using. Okay, and I'll admit I was intrigued, too.

In reality, I think the program offers a lot of value for the money, but the implementation for a "Debut" program -- one where no prior knowledge of animation is required or expected -- left a lot to be desired. Although the makers offer a very thorough tutorial to help new users explore the program, I found it to be tiresome switching back-and-forth between the PDF-based, 41-page tutorial document and the actual program. I prefer the more elegant way of learning a new program where the program itself uses wizards to hand-hold me through the learning process. For instance, when I learned Sony Vegas Movie Studio earlier this year, its wizards got me using a program that is certainly no less complicated than Anime Studio, and perhaps is more so. Whereas I continue to enjoy learning how to use Vegas, my enthusiasm for Anime Studio waned quickly.

My older, pre-teen daughter and I were both frustrated at the lack of context-sensitive help or menus in Anime Studio. I like programs that let me right-click anywhere I happen to be, and a context-sensitive menu pops up with appropriate suggestions for what I'm doing at that moment.

I will credit Anime Studio Debut as being a "fun" program. My pre-teen daughter especially has enjoyed manipulating the template characters that come with this program, giving herself and her siblings a lot to laugh at. My daughter hasn't tried using the Users' Guide to learn the program -- her learning so far has been by trial-and-error. If the authors of this program could see my daughter interacting with their program, they could see why a PDF Users' Guide tutorial isn't what's needed for this "Debut" program.

I am concerned that Anime Studio crashed a LOT while we've used the program on an otherwise stable Vista laptop computer. If you install this program, I suggest monitoring the Reliability Monitor (in Vista and Windows 7) to see how reliable your computer currently is, and again how reliable it is after you've installed and begun using Anime Studio Debut. (To find the Reliability Monitor, click the Start button, then type "Reliability" in the Start Search textbox to find the monitor).

SUMMARY: I think Anime Studio Debut offers a lot of value for the money. I've spent nearly as much money on stupid kids' games that weren't nearly so interesting to play with. The functionality of this program is pretty deep. Where the program comes up short is not on the functionality it has, but in how new users must go about learning how to use those functions. For a "Debut" program, there is a lot that can be done to make learning Anime Studio Debut easier to do.

Length:: 0:14 Mins

My daughter had been asking for this software for about a month, so I was glad to have the opportunity to review it. For such a low price, the software worked better and did more than I expected. Any issues with my first animation are beginners mistakes and I'm confident I could improve my skills with a little practice.

I was able to get up and running with Anime Studio after about an hour. I liked the bones feature- by manipulating a bone the attached bones go with the others, allowing the software to render motion. The skeletons are pre-built for the Anime Studio characters, or you can create your own skeleton as well. That allows for complete control of where the bones are. The software also utilizes layers, as graphic artists know are very important.

The software allows for the importing of audio, addition of text (such as Ka-Pow!) in cartoons, and even lip synching. The characters and objects are also automatically resized as they move into the background, creating realistic depictions.

There are also a variety of output formats including widescreen, you tube, VGA, NTSC, PAL, web, and custom.

The software installed perfectly in 64-bit Windows 7.

I do have two complaints though, I'd like to see video tutorials like other software companies offer, and an indexed Users Guide. Since both the Users Guide and the Quick Start Guide are PDF files, I had to use the search function to find keywords related to what I was wanting to do. An index of the help file would be helpful.

No real hard copy users guide is included, but the PDF files include a 231 page Users Guide, a 41 page Quick Start Guide, and plenty of sample images and characters to get you up and running in minutes. The software also works for 30 days before you are required to register it, which might be important if you want to make sure it will work on your computer.

It was tempting to post a video review of this product, because it was really *really* easy to create animations using Anime Studio Debut 6. However, I didn't, because the program is too fun to play with, and I found myself wasting valuable time at work rather than getting my job done. Hence the title of this review.

I'm not an animator by trade, but I did go to college, initially, for film production and animation, so I do know what I'm talking about. Kind of. That was a long time ago, when "computer animation" meant "drawing a computer on film cells and making it move." Regardless, there are some obvious pros and cons to ASD6. There are some limitations, too. The primary limitation is that it's a 2D animation tool, so don't expect the ability to create 3D rendered objects. However, that's also a benefit, as the tools available for 2D animation are simple and the lack of 3D keeps the interface simple. Well, simpler, anyway.

The app is built around layered images and 'characters' and of course a timeline. Build a character, plunk it onto a background (which could be a layer of several background elements, such as waving grass or flying seagulls), and move everything around. Import supported sound files (limited file types though - bad!) can be "lip synched" to a character's mouth ... assuming the mouth is built correctly ... allowing relatively easy speech animation.

Pros include:
- Intuitive skeletal system - where you can add 'bones' to shapes. The bones can be linked, allowing easy character positioning. So, if you drag a character's hand, the arm segments move appropriately.
- Lip synching works great - although I had a hard time building my own "mouth," using some of the stock characters showed how easy the end result is.
- Easy timeline - move to a place on the timeline and change something on one or more images and you get a new keyframe. Pretty easy.

Cons:
- Built in drawing tools are very basic. Expect it to be difficult to create anything 'stunning' ... without an outside image app like photoshop or fireworks.
- The "bones" are fit into shapes and joined easily enough, but I'd rather create a character the other way around: building a skeleton and then applying images to each "bone" in a more object-oriented way. The biggest downside to the current method is that it's difficult to re-skin an existing character, you basically have to create a new image of a character, and add new bones.
- The UI is sufficient, but I'm one of those guys whose been using a Mac long enough that I expect the application itself (buttons, widgets, etc) to look good.
- Lip synching - yeah, it's a pro, too, but I got frustrated trying to make my own mouth and had to resort to the one from the stock library.

My recommendations to the developers, should they ever ask (or read this review) is:

1. Instead of a library of images, work from a system of templates. A male and a female human torso, naked, from front/angle/side/rear, with appropriate bones in place, would be a great start. Then add clothing, etc to allow the stock characters to be easily built up. Then, I could concentrate on creating superhero outfits rather than trying to tweak the allowed angles of a human elbow so that it looks realistic.
2. Shift from layers to objects - For example, if I have a character, that character is an object. If the object is defined from several angles, allow me to set an angle change (from front to side view) as a keyframe, and back again. Have child objects change as well, so that lip synching could work seamlessly across that transition.
3. Improve the drawing tools by 7000%, or get rid of them entirely and build better integration into 3rd party apps. The drawing tools are really kind of embarrassing.

Okay - this review is sounding kind of negative .. so why 4 stars? because it's good for what it's good for - creating simple 2D character animations. If you opted for a simple character in the vein of South Park, you could probably crank out a short clip in under an hour, from scratch. That's pretty impressive. And, there's a Pro version of this app, so I can only guess that if you REALLY want the more advanced stuff, that's a good place to look.

The word "debut" in the title is very appropriate: for a first time project, this is a very low cost options, but one that you'll quickly graduate away from. For people like me, who are just looking to play around and maybe create a quick way to put funny video shorts on their blogs and such, ASD6 is pure gold. So, for its blend of simplicity and the most appropriate features for down and dirty animation, I give four stars.

I haven't even had a change to play with the software. It arrived late and when I went to install it, the serial number doesn't work. I called the company (SmithMicro) and are trying to blame it on Amazon. They said that Amazon bought their boxes and CD and packaged them together wrong. I bought debut 6 but received Pro. Only problem is the serial number is for debut. SmithMicro is currently doing inventory and won't send out another CD for 3 weeks. They said I could use the trial version until my replacement cd arrives. So far I've wasted half the day talking long distance to 2 customer support people, have to uninstall my version and reinstall a downloaded trial version, and had to send in images of my receipt, the cd and the serial number. Not happy with the company so far. Hope the software is atleast better than their support.

Length:: 0:10 Mins

Anime Studio Debut 6 is a very good animation application that gives you a lot of power if you are willing to spend the time to learn the software. There is a bit of learning curve that is only marginally assisted by the included PDF tutorial, but I was able to get the basics after a few hours of playing with it.

We wanted to add animations in our instructional videos to highlight key points, so needed the software to support video and picture "backgrounds". I have added a short video test clip to the review to show a basic star animation interacting with me. The Chromakey "Green Screen" and background were first rendered in Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 Platinum Pro Pack and then imported into Anime Studio Debut 6 where the Star animation was added. The animation part took roughly 15 minutes to setup and about 5 minutes to render on my fairly powerful 64 bit Vista Compaq laptop.

The use of virtual "bones" that can be embedded into drawings or imported picture objects and used to bend and warp the shapes makes the animations fairly easy once you get the hang of manipulating the strength and range settings. I did have some difficulties mastering the included freehand drawing tools, but it is easy enough to import and use objects created in other programs.

This is a fairly powerful program that is geared to the beginner through intermediate level user. It is also a great value for the price. Now that I have the basics down and have shown my son (13) how it works, he is starting to use it as has taken to it faster than I did, which means we will have to buy another copy for his computer soon.

Recommended!

Length:: 0:07 Mins

The easiest thing to do is read the basic instructions, then the instruction manual on importing voice and synching using Papagayo. I spent2 hours practicing, 3 hours building this character, which is the basis of anything i need to do with it. Basically, build characters or scenes and put them together. the tracing feature is great, which is what I used. Well worth the money, you just need a lot of patience. And to be honest.. a long time for 7 seconds was 5 minutes recording audio and placing into voice synching, and 5 minutes tweaking the previously created character, so it really depends on what you are doing.

I too have a problem with the product key. After installing the software I was asked for the product key. After putting the key in I received a message saying that the key was not correct. Tried it again, same result. Went on their website and followed their guide on putting the key in correctly, still received same result. The only option I now have is scanning or taking a picture of the software and receipts and sending all of this to the developer in hopes I can get help. After reading the reviews here and doing a internet search, I find that this is a problem that a lot of people are having. I am thinking about scrapping this all together and getting something a little more reliable, software and customer support wise.

Having just received this, I thought it was best to review it quickly rather than spend weeks to create a masterpiece and then report how it went.

First, I did buy the previous version of this product and thought it was too complicated to learn on a fly-by, so I never used it. This version looks very similar, but I did jump into the video and tutorials and, really, it doesn't take too long to get the hang of it.

The animation I created in a short period of time for this review was basic, but it did let me import sound and photos. You do need to size the photo for placement in the workspace before importing it (at least resizing the photo within the program didn't seem intuitive).

I don't know how to create Flash animation, but I've looked at that program some, and I think this uses very similar concepts, especially with layers. In fact, the Flash screen makes sense to me now because I've used this program.

It's pretty inexpensive, much cheaper than Flash, and if you are a beginner, I think this is worth trying. Initially, you will have to devote at least a couple of hours to it to come away with something sterling, but it really starts to click pretty fast.

There is a beefier Pro version. I haven't looked at that, but it may be worth understanding the difference before purchasing. I believe the Pro version is about $150 more so unless you are an expert already, this is probably a better initial investment.