Anime Studio Pro 6 [OLD VERSION]

by Smith Micro Software Inc.

Product Features

• Complete Animation for Digital Artists
• Create and Import Content
• Bone Rigging Saves Time
• Advanced Timeline Control
• Share Everywhere

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B002ABMVMW
• Item model number: ASP60HBX2
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 22, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,102 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #18 in Software > Graphics > Animation
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

The Complete Professional Animation Solution. Anime Studio Pro is perfect for professionals looking for a more efficient alternative to tedious frame-by-frame detailing when creating high quality animation. Create Professional Animations - With powerful vector based drawing tools and the ability to import scanned drawings and images, you can create your own characters and objects in Anime Studio Pro 6. Integrated Lip Synching - Lip-synching is now possible with the integration of the powerful AST Production Synch libraries, giving you versatility and accurate lip and mouth movements. Unlimited Professional Output - Output to formats including NTSC/PAL D1/DV Standard and Widescreen; HDV and HDTV 780p and 1080p; AVI, MOV, Flash and more. Powerful Animation and Creation Tools - Improved bone-rigging and drawing tools make character creation and animation easier than ever. Auto weld and path close features; vastly improved text and Adobe Illustrator import, and new vector-based drawing tools are just some of the time saving features.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent product - if you need it, September 21, 2010

By 

Patrick L. Boyle "Mr. Wonderful" (Oakland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Anime Studio Pro 6 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

I thought that I would buy this product and then produce some great political cartoons lampooning Barrack Obama. This idea hasn't worked out. Not because of this product but because I'm apparently not cut out to be a cartoonist.

I know something of computer graphics. I was hired at a local business college once to teach Photoshop and I spent a couple years making dinosaurs in Animation:Master (a lower cost photo realistic competitor to Soft Image). I knew that 3D modeling would be too slow and that I didn't need all the Photoshop drawing muscle. Anime Studio seemed about right.

The product looks like a toy but is in fact quite sophisticated. The "bones" feature is something I could have used when I was making dinosaur models. OTOH there are some limitation in a 2D program that I didn't expect. In a 3D program once you have made your model of - say a head - you can just move the camera or the head to see the other side of the character's face. In 2D animation there are a number of techniques for what is called a "head turn". I never could quite visualize characters who always faced the same way.

In some ways 2D animation requires you to be more clever than 3D animation. But 3D takes much more time. My biggest deficiency however was that I simply wasn't able to develop any funny plots.

I stopped using Anime Studio for a couple months but recently I have started to use it to make animations for a some music software I'm developing. I'm not sure it will work as intended but I have gotten good preliminary results with almost no effort.

Don't do what I did. My mistake was like buying a word processor in the hope that when you knew all the codes you would be able to write a best selling novel. I did a lot of research - this is the best product of its kind on the market, but it won't make cartoons by itself. If you have hundreds of pages of hand drawn cartoons all over your office, buy this product.

4.0 out of 5 stars product delivers what it promises, September 10, 2011

By 

animus - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anime Studio Pro 6 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

If you're looking for simple cartoon animation this would be your go-to tool. Fast to learn if you do the tutorials & watch the tutorial videos. Some problems I had with it were:
1) Animation file size greatly affects processing capability of Anime Studio Pro (past 30 Mb files you'll begin getting lag, 45+ Mb files attain ridiculous lag, even if display quality is @ low)
&
2) low capability of doing 3D animations

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Animation software, July 20, 2010

By 

P. Meyer "65 Chevelle SS" (Brookville, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Anime Studio Pro 6 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

Good software for animation but the tutorials are a little hard to follow. Once you get the hang of it, is pretty good.