Pulled the Plug

NielsUncategorized59 Comments

Those of you who follow this endeavor of mine, will know that I recently wrote about programmers on board.

It is with a heavy heart that I am now informing all of you, that my collaboration with these talented developers has stopped before it even took off.

That, unfortunately, also means that our planned new crowdfunding at Indiegogo has been cancelled until further notice.

While this indeed is a setback – our project is already back on track. Thank you all for your excitement and continued support. Making sure Animation Paper will be awesome!

Sincerely,
Niels Krogh Mortensen

59 Comments on “Pulled the Plug”

  1. Please, don’t give up. Try to find a better way to get support for your Animation Paper project and find better developers and ways to make Animation Paper app a reality.

  2. Will you still launch your crowdfunding Indiegogo campaign on September 19 when you find new talented developers to help you on your project?

  3. Do whatever is needed to keep your vision intact.

    My kneejerk reaction was to be disappointed by yet another setback and uncertain schedule. While at first I wish you don’t announce anything before they’re ready, I understand the need to keep communicating with your supporters and potential backers, and thinking it through, I really commend you for doing that. Better an early dashed hope and a great product, than a later one ’cause there’s nothing to show! Also guessing that the multiple platforms you want to support play a part in the delay 😛 so the disappointment can be further dampened.

    Take your time. Making an artist-friendly animation tool really is non-trivial. Cheers!

  4. Keep going, when one door closes another opens. I hope you are able to find better developers to help make this app a reality. We will continue to support and wait for our opportunity to plug in an help tangibly.
    Don’t stop.

  9. Really want to see this developed … It looks great!

    I work in the animation biz as a director, character designer and storyboard artist but I used to work in computers! I thought I could throw a few suggestions your way…

    1. Maybe patreon for development funding? http://www.Patreon.com

    2. If its ready do a alpha/beta release to get people excited…

    3. Or even open-source it and do what blender does ( http://www.blender.org )
    Check out how they are funding it here: https://www.blender.org/foundation/development-fund/

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Jeff, sorry for my delayed reaction approving your comment. Usually I approve comments right a way.

      Thanks a lot for your suggestions. All of them are something I have been considering very thoroughly before. The plan is to release early both alpha and beta versions – but alpha will be for a selected group, beta will be a bit broader.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Scott – as I have explained to you, these things take time – so no need to check up with me all the time. 😉 However, I can tell you that I actually think and hope I have found our guy! Too soon to do a formal announcement yet though. 🙂

  11. Today is October 18, 2016. I worked at the Goodwill Store at Monroe from 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM. I did a good job and was brave and busy and responsible. How are you doing on finding the better developers for your Animation Paper app?

  14. Today is October 25, 2016. Today, I worked at the Goodwill store from 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM and my boss here tells that it’s a good thing and I make more money. How are you doing on your Animation Paper app and have you found the better developers and programmers that you’ve been looking for?

  15. I’m very interested in this program. Do you have an ETA for the release of this program once a programmer gets on board? A month, six months, a year?

    Thanks

  17. Today, I worked at the Goodwill Store from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. I faced my fears and was brave. How are you doing with your new programmer and when are you going to sign the contract?

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Please Scott, you can not ask me this same question every 48 hours. I have told you it takes time. The programmer and I have loads of subjects to discuss, technical tests to make, concepts to think through. The contract is only one small part to nail. Just relax. I have my guy. We are doing it.

  20. Scott,

    Please stop harassing Niels and allow him to do the important things that will move this project forward. We are all patiently waiting. Much like the animation process, developing software takes time. Your redundant posts are taking time away from Niels either working on the development of animation paper or his valuable time with his family. Please be respectful to the man who is creating this wonderful program.

    Niels,

    I hope all is well with the project and your family. I will be quietly waiting in the background for the crowd funding and animation paper.

    Take care.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Thanks Dan – and actually it looks like we will be able to skip the crowdfunding, at least for now, because we now have funds to just go ahead and make the first version. 🙂 I’ll keep all you patiently waiting people posted!

  22. I’m an amateur designer, and tried Pencil 2D for couple hours… If Animation Paper is going to be released someday/somehow, I hope it will be affordable for amateurs like me… Good luck for you, man, and please, dont give up! (and sorry for my bad English, I speak Portuguese and don’t use translator bots like google or alike).
    Cheers from Brasil! (yes, it is an “S”, not a “z”).
    😉

      1. Hi Niels, I think that $79 seems reasonable.
        I know for me personally I was going to go for the Indiegogo $49 and probably won’t purchase the $79 license right away as I’m not really a hand-drawn animator but it is something I’d love to learn. Mostly I am an artist-type and like to support good art enabling ideas, sadly I’m on a fairly limited budget at the moment but will probably purchase this eventually.

        Would you consider a 1 day launch sale maybe for the informed enthusiasts?

        Also, will you offer any education discounts for “educational” licenses through a school? I was just talking to some kids about hand drawn animation and will certainly recommend this software as soon as it’s available.

        If I do get into hand drawn animation prior to release I’ll certainly purchase this as it is obviously being made with passion and wisdom.

        Let me know if you need Alpha/Beta testing from a beginner to the medium. I have beta tested a couple of 3d modeling/animation packages years back and really enjoyed it. I’m on Linux and Mac, really excited for anything supporting Linux.

        Cheers from Northern California!

        1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

          Thanks a lot for your thoughts and input Si! Too early in the process for me to be setting up alpha and beta program, but we will soon come to that – so I have to decide on how to invite a group of people in and keep it all practical. I’ll announce something when the time comes.

          About the price, my plan was to set it at a very reasonable point, as I think I have done with the $79, – in order to have it accessible to most. But I am always listening and I will consider everything you have said. 😉

          Thanks again,
          Niels

  23. If one is willing to pay 49, he wont die to pay 79. If it was for, let say, a month or year subscription, it would be tough, but for a life-time license, its still a very good value.
    Talking about that, I was thinking last night: how would Niels and his crew survive with so little incoming? Because selling Angry Birds for 0,99 is a fortune-making piece of cake, but finding people that has a minimum talent for hand-drawing AND that has interest on 2D animation AND is not willing to use pirate software AND prefer doing “tradidional” animation (instead of doing that horrible-pasteurized-lifeless-cut-out-vectorial-south-parky-thing) is waaaaaay different… In other words, hope I am wrong, cuz I can’t imagine one making a reasonable profit by selling such a specific / little market software… I sincerely hope that you already made a prospection and found a niche, a clue for how to make at least some money with this endeavour, cuz I am REALLY excited to see the possibility to have an affordable software that is cheaper than Toon Boon Harmony and offers a little more features than Pencil 2D.
    I sincerely hope you have success in your project.
    I am a poor man, I have a little child, I work hard to pay the bills, but I am willing to spend some money on your product, providing it will not cost me one eye, as Toon Boom team wants… lol.
    Hope nobody listens to me on this: I think that, if you deliver a software that offers a little more stability and features than Pencil 2D, I would pay 100-150 dollars for a full lifetime license.
    Sorry for the long, boring text, and success for you and your crew!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Thanks very much for your input and opinion. I totally agree. My hope, and strategy, is to keep it very affordable and therefore reach both professionals (because it is basically made for them), but add all the hobbyists and artists who want to learn animation using a serious quality tool. I also hope that piracy can be kept at a minimum because of the low cost of a real license, which comes with benefits, like free point-upgrades, etc.

  24. Oh, and just out of curiosity: I can’t afford a Cintiq, or a Microsoft Surface Studio; all I have is a Sony Vaio Flip with a nice 15″ screen that works wonderfully with my Sony DuoSense 2 Digitizer Pen (not a Cintiq, it is a N-Trig powered device, but it does everything I expect from it).
    I didn’t test it with the old version of PAP yet, if that matters… I will test it when I get home.
    But my question is: will it work with your new app?

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Yes, I’m pretty sure it will. We will of course need to check for all kinds of devices, but basically they tend to use the same standards, so I expect most devices will just work. And for the computer, we do a lot to keep the spec demands way down, so you can work with somewhat older CPUs and limited memory, but obviously the more layers and frames you are going to work with the higher the demand of your hardware. The old PAP runs very well on VERY old hardware, so things are looking good! 🙂

  26. Even though Donald Trump is going to be the new president ruling America, could there still be support and money for your new Animation paper project?

  27. @Niels:

    What is your plan regarding importing video to background, for BG-matching / rotoscopy purpose? Will AP support it? Is performance degradation on video scrubbing (MP4, 720p) considered normal? I currently use Moho/ASP 11, a bit choppy with video layer on.

    Thanks!

    @Scott Robinson:

    If you save money all the time you spend in this blog, by the time Animation Paper is ready, you could just as easily shell out:

    – 400 USD for Moho 12 (drawn and rig-based 2D animation). or
    – 210 USD for Clip Studio Paint EX (supporting drawn 2D animation), or
    – 0 USD for mastering open source Pencil 2D’s or Blender Grease Pencil’s quirkiness,

    But I get the feeling you wouldn’t stop pestering him until you get your candy 🙁

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Adhi,

      Yes, AP will have support for rotoscoping – you will be able to simply import video (or it could be rendered 3D animation, anything in video format or as a frame stack) into one of the layers. Then just draw on top on another layer. Couldn’t be easier.

      The format of the video will be changed to AP’s own format internally when importing – making sure it will scrub perfectly. 🙂

      Thanks!

  28. As an inspiring animator, I love what you’re doing. I’m only in highschool, but when I get a job I’ll try ro contribute however I can.

  29. When the Animation Paper app is here, I can draw the frames and do the animation for my characters on your animation paper app and then import them to Toon Boom Harmony to ink and paint and use them in my animations.

  30. If Animation paper is released, then it will make hand-drawn animation a lot easier and cheaper for animators and soon animators will start to use this app instead of traditional paper and pencil drawings and they will stop using paper and won’t be using paper anymore. Animation studios will start using the app and saving money when using the app and they will start to release hand-drawn animated movies and TV shows. Is that right?

  31. Will there be functionality for multiplane animation zdepth. Will there be a functional camera with focus. I love pap4. And can’t wait for the new release.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      I’m not sure if I understand entirely what you are asking. But… The plan for Animation Paper 5.0 is to not have movable camera functionality. This is best done in compositing. So in Animation Paper you do your layers – the actual animation – and then you do any camera moves, multiplane depth and focus effects in compositing. Makes the most sense I believe.

      What do you think?

  32. Sounds Good. I love the feel of the original plastic animation paper. I totally look forward to this new release. Thank you for what you did before with developing pap4 and thank you that you are now doing this upgrade. Traditional animation is so important. Around what timeframe would beta be available? Thank You.

  33. Hi,

    Just came to know about your site after i was searching for animation updates. I wish you good luck for Animation Paper. Looking forward to know more about Animation Paper.

    Thanks

  34. Niels this is GREAT news!!! I have known about and keep an eye on PAP for quite some time now there are a lot of great animation apps out there but i swear i keep coming back to pap4 because its just so freaking awesome, i love it more than all the payed stuff. You just made my day 🙂

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