Anime Studio 6 Info

Agent_Smith · Post by **Agent_Smith** » Sat May 30, 2009 12:37 am

Hello All,

As mentioned I intended to post regarding the status of Anime Studio 6 today. So here it is:

You can download the new versions below and they will run in demo mode for 30 days. Almost fully functional except that you will not be able to export any movies, and any rendered frames will be watermarked.

http://my.smithmicro.com/downloads/trials/animepro.html
http://my.smithmicro.com/downloads/tria ... tudio.html

You can work with the application on projects and when and if you do decide to purchase a serial number, anything you've created will still work. You won't need to reinstall or anything as these are in fact the final builds.

Unless Mike knows something I don't, you should have no issues using existing 5.6 projects however 6.0 has some new stuff so don't expect full backwards compatibility. If you run into anything you think is an issue, for now you'll have to PM me as support etc. is not set up yet.

If you did go to WallMart, I would highly recommend you download Debut, uninstall your current Wallmart installation, (after backing up your user files) and run this new installer. Yes, your serial number will work. You'll be happy to see a number of additional features.

I can't give you a release date yet but it will be very soon however I will be posting some more info including videos and feature write up’s soon.

We'll also run a contest on the forum here with some fabulous prizes. After Mike spends this weekend cleaning all the junk out his garage we'll tell you what those prizes are.

So in a nutshell the application is ready for prime time and next week I'm off to marketing land; that wonderful world of magical make-believe messaging where people are hell-bent on perpetuating Dilbertonian stereo types.

Linux: Yes there is an early Pro Linux build. if you are an EXPERIENCED Linux user, let me know via PM and we can get you in on an early beta soon. That being said we only sold 11 copies of this so the deal will be that it will be a perpetual work in progress out of our love for the platform, and you will need to purchase a MAC or Windows copy, register, and will give you the Linux build. Sorry no Debut for Linux.

One more thing, don't call customer service or tech support with issues. As far as they know, this never happened. Just PM Mike or I and we'll try to address it starting Monday.

Thanks again for your support and have a great weekend!

P.S. If I come back Monday to a bunch of Mike bashing I'll pull all your emails and sign you up for Viagra and mortgage spam!

dazza101 · Post by **dazza101** » Sat May 30, 2009 2:30 am

Thank you Agent Smith - I like your style

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Sat May 30, 2009 3:07 am

2:30 to end the download... it's sooo long.
I don't know what I gonna do in this two hours of my slow internet. Maybe I can re-read the 15 pages of "I'm confused".

AS 6!

absolute happiness

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Sat May 30, 2009 3:13 am

Here's a quick important note for those opening old versions in the new version.

Gradient shape effects

The "old" gradient is different from the new. Old projects that use gradient shape effects will open and render exactly like they did in 5.6. However the gradient effect won't display in the shape effect drop down because it's a totally different "type" and isn't in the new version.

If you switch this to the new version it will "erase" the old gradient style. If you had key frames in the old gradient those will be gone as well.

I am working on a simple button script to "convert" old gradients to new gradients. In the mean time just be aware of this.

Spots and Splotchy Effect

These have been removed from AS 6. However they still render fine if you open old files that have these effects. You just can't edit or change the settings and they won't be listed in the shape effect menu.

A good trick is to just render the splotchy effect out to an image and load that in as an image texture effect for the shape. Image texture effects are the best option for spots and splotchy which were slow to render and can't distort with bones.

-vern

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Sat May 30, 2009 3:20 am

heyvern wrote:Spots and Splotchy Effect (...)

A good trick is to just render the splotchy effect out to an image and load that in as an image texture effect for the shape. Image texture effects are the best option for spots and splotchy which were slow to render and can't distort with bones.

Could be another trick to save a AS 5.6 file with a vector with the effect and parameters you want and import it to AS6, then copy and paste the fill any time you want?

mkelley · Post by **mkelley** » Sat May 30, 2009 3:28 am

Hmmmm -- I'm mostly curious about one thing. IF these *are* the final releases (and we only need serial numbers) why the big deal about a "release date"? I mean, how difficult is it for sales to take our credit card info (in my case they already have it) and hand out a serial number?

The only possible thing I can think of is there must be some kind of sales agreement/clause that keeps SM from selling the Pro version until a certain time. I understand they did have such an exclusive agreement with Wal-Mart regarding Debut -- is there a similar process in place? (You can answer with a yes or no -- you don't have to give specifics so you won't be violating any great secret here).

I think it's nice to be able to test the stuff out -- I'll certainly do that because even if these can't render it would give us a heads up on taking an advantage of stuff for our next series of episodes. But... I also really need to get some kind of time frame on when we *could* render (even if it's just -- "months" or "weeks". Some kind of ballpark would be *really* nice to know how much effort to commit to this right now).

Agent_Smith · Post by **Agent_Smith** » Sat May 30, 2009 4:31 am

They are the final builds, and it's more difficult than you'd think.

Ok I know when someone's fishing

. So I will say that it is my call on when to release and announce. Yes SM gives me the ultimate power. I'll have to address some of that SM bashing another night in another thread, although probably better left ignored or done after a 5th of Scotch. But it's not a yes or no answer.

It has to do with many factors. One example, on Monday when word has spread and our PR people are pissed because their press contacts didn't know about this first, I may have some splainin' to do. I'll be smiling inside 'cause I'm evil that way, but that type of stuff compounded with the logistics of web development, manufacturing, shipping, and so on, mean I need to have all my ducks in a row before I give the OK, and they aren't all swimming straight quite yet.

It is was it is and this is the best I can do for an answer at the moment.

b15fliptop · Post by **b15fliptop** » Sat May 30, 2009 4:36 am

Okay, after playing with ASP 6 for a while, a few impressions:

1) Sluggish. My animations are all done with PNG's brought in from PhotoShop. Many of them have like 75 layers, when you count up all of the characters, the backgrounds, props, etc. Re-ordering layers in the stack responds very slowly, whereas in 5/6 it is instantaneous. Scrubbing the timeline is much more sluggish as well, to the point that I'm seriously questioning whether I will be able to use 6 at all.

2) Something strange... when I move the camera behind my characters and pan it around to see them from behind, the layers aren't in the same order. Some things are behind other layers, when they were in front of them before. The really strange part is that returning the camera to it's original starting point doesn't make the layer stacking correct again. In fact, they're now in a different order than either previous view. In order to get the layers to display properly, you have to move them to a different location in the layer stack, and then back to where they just were, and then they display properly. Really, really weird.

So far, I am disappointed.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sat May 30, 2009 5:14 am

Agent Smith wrote:If you did go to WallMart, I would highly recommend you download Debut, uninstall your current Wallmart installation, (after backing up your user files) and run this new installer. Yes, your serial number will work. You'll be happy to see a number of additional features.

It doesn't even ask for my serial number. So after installing several times, deleting all application data, etc. I'm left with it crashing every time I try to export, and still not using the full system save dialog apparently at random. WTF?!!

Seriously, this is the final build?

Maybe we can get some straight info here? Can I use my Walmart serial number? If so, how? Or have I just wasted some time doing all this? It took over three hours to download while fighting web surfing all the while.

I haven't given Mike any grief, but SM is proving to be very fair game.

dazza101 · Post by **dazza101** » Sat May 30, 2009 6:18 am

After an hour trying out the new version I am impressed. Need to spend more time this weekend fiddling and learning more. No crashes and no problems at all (Win XP SP2, AMD X2 4400, 3 GB ram, NVIDIA 9600 GT - 512MB OC). So far all I have to say well done Mike!

Agent_Smith · Post by **Agent_Smith** » Sat May 30, 2009 6:26 am

Yes because you didn't uninstall first.
You just deleted the AS5 folder. Are you on Mac or Windows? On Mac you'll need to delete all the user prefs and all related files in your library. On windows, run the uninstaller.

synthsin75 wrote:
Agent Smith wrote:If you did go to WallMart, I would highly recommend you download Debut, uninstall your current Wallmart installation, (after backing up your user files) and run this new installer. Yes, your serial number will work. You'll be happy to see a number of additional features.
It doesn't even ask for my serial number. So after installing several times, deleting all application data, etc. I'm left with it crashing every time I try to export, and still not using the full system save dialog apparently at random. WTF?!!

Seriously, this is the final build?

Maybe we can get some straight info here? Can I use my Walmart serial number? If so, how? Or have I just wasted some time doing all this? It took over three hours to download while fighting web surfing all the while.

I haven't given Mike any grief, but SM is proving to be very fair game.

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Sat May 30, 2009 7:12 am

Hey, I just download AS 6 and I'm playing around. A little question, is there anyway to show in timeline channels which aren't keyed yet?
I work a lot with adding keyframes with right click and now, for example, I can't mark a keyframe of color just because I haven't played with the color yet. Must I change the color of a shape I don't want to change the color and then add another frame and erase the other, just to see the channel?
Please, tell me there is another way!

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sat May 30, 2009 7:15 am

No, I uninstalled first, but I had to dig into 'all user' and my personal app data to clear it out. I'm on XP, and I only remove programs through add/remove (as since I've done so I've had no system problems). I don't intend to change that behavior for any software.

Even when I got it to work, it took several tries before it stopped crashing.

Two problems:

1. The export animation save dialog is still not using the full system dialog, just the small one.

2. Those awesome gradients are warped by bone influence, even if its shape is point bound to another bone.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sat May 30, 2009 7:20 am

As far as I can tell, the only way to expose all animation channels is to do Animation>Copy Current Frame whole document frame zero to frame one. But if you delete any of those frame one keys without any others, you lose that channel.

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Sat May 30, 2009 7:26 am

synthsin75 wrote:As far as I can tell, the only way to expose all animation channels is to do Animation>Copy Current Frame whole document frame zero to frame one. But if you delete any of those frame one keys without any others, you lose that channel.

Oh, I'm sorry but I hate it. I know it's a good idea to hide channels to keep timeline clean, but there MUST be an option of see all the channels. Sometimes (many times for me) you need to copy the keyframe on frame zero, or just create a keyframe to keep things in order and now I just can't. I mean, I can, but it's so unjustifiably long process.

I'm adapting my pseudo 3d spaceship to work with blend morph instead poses script, but his has become a nightmare to create the one frame actions.