Synfig: Vector Art Program
polycounter lvl 18
A while back I was working with a team to create a program called Synfig.
Synfig Home Page
It was originally going to be proprietary but the company sank, and the program was just too cool to let die. It's capable of point based animation, so you have full control of exactly what tweens to what and where. It also handles ever object as a layer, INCLUDING effects like blurs, a variety of filters, and Photoshop style overlays. The real power comes when you can start grouping things so specific effects will only touch what you want them to.
Synfig Technical Specs
Those are all the good points, now for the bad. It was intended to be an inhouse program and when bugs popped up we could turn around and scream at the programmers. Not only that but there's virtually no documentation and the interface was built around Linux standards (god forsaken Linux...). If you're willing to brave all that you'll be able to get some really great things going.
Synfig Gallery
Synfig is available under the GPL so hopefully people will pick it up and run with it. Here's the first image I ever made with it:
Synfig Home Page
It was originally going to be proprietary but the company sank, and the program was just too cool to let die. It's capable of point based animation, so you have full control of exactly what tweens to what and where. It also handles ever object as a layer, INCLUDING effects like blurs, a variety of filters, and Photoshop style overlays. The real power comes when you can start grouping things so specific effects will only touch what you want them to.
Synfig Technical Specs
Those are all the good points, now for the bad. It was intended to be an inhouse program and when bugs popped up we could turn around and scream at the programmers. Not only that but there's virtually no documentation and the interface was built around Linux standards (god forsaken Linux...). If you're willing to brave all that you'll be able to get some really great things going.
Synfig Gallery
Synfig is available under the GPL so hopefully people will pick it up and run with it. Here's the first image I ever made with it:
Replies
But where is the actual download link?
http://www.deepdarc.com/2005/11/01/synfig-developer-preview/
btw what are today's big 2d animation software (used for anime, cartoons and stuff...)
Cholden: I wasnt involved in any of the animations personally. I did background art for the werewolf animation though.
JKMakowka: Gmanx has you covered, thanks Gmanx!
Ramucho: Yeah it can do quite a bit, but I dont think it's capable of scrubbing yet though that was being worked on while it was being assembled. The big name in 2D animation these days are Flash and Toon Boom.
Downsizer: Yeah if various bugs are worked out this could become an awesome choice for handling interfaces.
Thanks for the compliments everyone. The team that put it together was really dedicated and I was really sorry to see the company belly up. I'm going to look into getting some better documentation for the various tools done up as right now it's really obscure to handle even the creation of a simple bline.
I wonder if this compares to macromedia flash in anyway.
If so, it should have the ability to export the entire movie not in a .mov but in it's own format to view in the browser something similar to .swf but a hell of a lot faster than .swf.
As for its own internet format thats faster then flash and capable of doing your taxes, you'll have to ask Darco the developer about that.
You'll find him here at Deep Darc.com:
http://www.deepdarc.com/category/synfig/
http://www.toonboom.com/