Most of our readers are at least somewhat familiar with E-Frontier as the distributors of Poser, an inexpensive 3D modeling and animation program that has a lot of potential for micro-budget filmmakers. Well, E-Frontier’s other animation program is Animé Studio Pro 5, which they purchased when it was called Moho.
Unlike Poser, Animé Studio Pro 5 is designed to work with 2D animation, although it can incorporate 3D elements and photographic elements to create some really creative animated films. The name is a bit of misnomer, as most people think of animé and immediately think of hand-drawn Japanese animation, as opposed to the much more Flash-like vector animation that ASP5 employs. While this means that you may not be creating the likes of “Full-Metal Alchemist”, you will find it easy to create animation that is on par with things like “The Simpsons”, “South Park”, or MADtv’s “Spy vs. Spy”.
With that said, let’s delve into this program, in depth.
Ease of Use
Despite my work with numerous 3D programs and with stop-motion animation, I am not an Illustrator/Flash guru. As such, when I opened Animé Studio Pro 5 and saw a bevy of Illustrator-style Palettes, I immediately tensed up. When I tried to figure out how to use things on my own, I found myself getting frustrated. With that, I resigned myself to actually taking the tutorials that they include with the program. Fortunately, the tutorials are very quick and to the point and really help get your head wrapped around what ASP5 can do. Even if you are familiar with Vector-based art programs and other animation programs, you will want to go through at least some of this training as it goes into the slightly quirky “bone” animation they use. Once you get the hang of it, it is a very powerful and fluid way to animate, but until then a little training will be just what the doctor ordered.
After I spent some time with the tutorials, I was creating vector art and animating it and photographic material as though it were old hat. While bringing in 3D objects and manipulating the 3D camera is a little more complicated, it is all quite simple once you get the hang of it. (Especially when compared to the learning curve for similar features in After Effects.)
While the overall program was very easy to use after a little training, there are a couple of things I would like to see improved for ease of use in ASP6:
First, give the option to change the animation timeline length ON the timeline. As far as I can tell, the only way to currently change the animation length is to navigate into the File menu to the Project Options and change the ending frame number in the pop-up box that shows up there.
Second, make the background solid and opaque like most PC-based programs. Currently, Animé Studio Pro 5 features a multi-palette design that floats over any other programs you have opened. As you will undoubtedly have Photoshop or Illustrator open underneath, you will quickly find that, if you are not very careful, you will click through one of the gaps in the work area of ASP5 and activate the background program. Suddenly you will be looking at your Illustrator screen, trying to figure out where Animé Studio went. Making the background solid would take care of this confusing problem for good.
