We are rolling!!

NielsUncategorized245 Comments

This year has had its ups and downs, but as 2016 is running out, I am proud, happy and super excited to let all of you know, that…

We now have financing! We have our super capable programmer! And we have hit the ground running – making Animation Paper the best software for hand drawn animation!

Our programmer is veteran developer, fellow dane and long time friend, Henrik Brinch. Delighted to have you on board Henrik!

We are developing for both PC, Mac and Linux in one go. Final release is planned in 12 months. Beta already in 6 months!

There is now no need for a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign, so we save the 4 months that a crowdfunding would take to set up – and have gone straight to work. So much to do, so many UX details to settle on, so much super optimized code to write. Yay! I’ll keep you updated with our progress and upcoming test releases. Here we go!!!

245 Comments on “We are rolling!!”

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Thanks 🙂 The question of brushes are not completely settled yet. If it ends up not making it into in this coming release, then it will be an important feature for the following release for sure. Of course it also depends on the needed complexity. We might implement at simple system, that can be expanded upon.

      What would work for you as a basic brush system? I would love to hear from you and others, what would be preferred.

      1. I’d like to join in on the brush discussion, as it’s important to me and has driven me away from other software in the past. I love realistic pencil type brushes, my favourite one being the pencil tool in Mischief drawing app. Kyle’s Photoshop Brushes are also excellent, I don’t know if there’s a way to be able to allow Photoshop brushes at all.

      2. I would also like to add to the brush conversation.

        My absolute favourite experience with a brush engine is with Paintstorm Studio. I have made a modified Pencil tool that feels natural and nuanced. I’ll explain…

        Almost ALL software supply pencil tools that use pressure to adjust the thickness of the line. This is wrong. A pencil in the real world does not behave like this. Only use pressure for adjusting the strength of opacity and use the stylus ‘TILT’ to adjust line thickness. This very nicely emulates what you do with a real pencil. You tilt it and use the edge of the lead to shade with broad strokes. Try it in Photoshop and you’ll see what I mean. Couple that with a simple thin triangular alpha and it really feels like drawing with a real pencil.

        This is especially apparent with using the Apple Pencil on the iPad Pro.

      3. Amazing to hear that things are moving forward, can’t wait for the release! For the brush system, I think initially having hardness, opacity and roundness would be amazing, as it would be far simpler to code than having image based brushes like in photoshop, but still provides a lot of flexibility.

  3. I think my main interest for a brush will be less in its shape and more in how smooth its response is. The ability to shape a brush i.e. procreate or use patterns for interesting effects i.e. Photoshop is a great value add but for me I all I want for the basic out of the box traditional animation software is for it to feel like it flows like graphite on paper, that whole feeling of “is that digital?” when you see it. I’m not looking for a true pencil mimic in the look per say but you know how it feels when the tip glides over the page. And the pressure, I really want a good range from soft to hard so you can just kiss the roughs in and tighten them up. I know you had a top notch system in PAP for all that so I think you are the guys to nail it all but that’s my two cents on a brush. I’m jazzed you guys are in full production. Congrats!

  4. As a reference point for brushes, I dig the simplicity and versatility of the ones offered in Mischief. And for final line work, a smoothing feature.

    Mischief has a bunch of other features that I felt would complement a hand-drawn animation program as well.

  6. I’m so happy for you! I may have only found out about you maybe three or two weeks ago. But I have downloaded the old animation paper yesterday and I only got to try it out by drawing a few quick lines but I love it so far. And I can’t say anything too bad or too good about it because I have not fully tried it out yet. But what I can say is that this is exactly what I was looking for in an animating program.

  7. I have been watching for this program since discovering it back in 2014. 🙂 My whole school was hoping to use it, but it wasn’t available at the time. SO happy to hear it’s back in production!

    I am SO excited to see this come out! I do a lot of traditional animation, and Adobe Flash/Animate isn’t suited for those doing frame-by-frame, and then everything else is far too expensive. Can’t wait for this to come out!

    Do you need any testers?

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Thanks a lot Bethany! Yeah I guess these software development projects sometimes require a lot of patience. Not least from my self. But luckily – animators tend to be very patient people! 🙂

      I will need testers at some point. Please keep tuned for news about this in a couple of months or so.

  8. Partially hoping for a launch discount since the crowd funding won’t be happening 😛

    More importantly, I’m hoping for a strong focus on UI/UX design, because PAP4.0 is not very intuitive. There are a lot of things I like, like that zoom wheel/rotation functionality, and the customization options for menus and tool bars. But easier to read icons, more functionality in that zoom/rotate menu, and more intuitive layer management would all be a bonus. Well, not really a bonus I guess, but necessary to want to work in the program all day/every day.

    A good reference point would be Pencil2D. I love how simple, clean, and intuitive their interface is. It’s immediately obvious to a complete amateur what you can do, and how to do it.

    Default paper style backgrounds with natural media pencil brushes would actually be a huge bonus. Excellent tablet support, some sort of steady stroke feature, perspective guides, and some simple brush customization options would all be awesome, too.

    Very excited things are rolling again, and looking forward to seeing where things go!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Yeah, I know. I do have a very strong focus on UX – and even though the old PAP, I believe, was once quite intuitive (back in the day) – I know it is seriously lacking today. And that’s why I can’t wait doing this new version for all of you.

      Thanks a lot for your comments! (Points noted) 🙂

  9. This id great news, is an ipad version still in scope?, for now i use rough animator wich is great but doesnt really get updated, and could use some tweaking

  11. I agree with Jason. One of th great things about the old PAP was the buttery feel of the pencil tool. But while I hope you consider pen experience I also hope you consider tablet support. Everyone wants a Wacom, but there are so many other alternatives out there such as Yiynova, Bosto Kingtee, Huion, Artisul, Ugee, Xp-Pen, etc that it would be a waste if Animation Paper wasn’t compatible with them. I hope this is something that can be considered.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Yeah, I know that one of the things that has often been mentioned to me was how great our pen worked in the old software. We will of course go to great lengths to keep, and improve on, this tradition. 🙂

      I agree about the tablets. Thanks for mentioning them. I will add them to my check list. Thanks!

  14. Hi there,

    Not sure if this has been addressed before, but have you considered co-developing an App for the iPad? I ask only because, as an iPad Pro/Pencil owner, I have found every existing animation software on the market to be slow, clunky, counter-intuitive, and too simple in all the wrong ways for any growing iPad Pro user base of animators. This app looks like it could really take over in that regard.

    Either way, congrats on the good news, and looking forward to its release!

  15. I am glad to hear your project keep rolling.

    Can we pay for your product on Apple Mac App Store and Microsoft Windows Store ?
    And have you some pre-release demonstrate plan for the world wide market ?

    For example, the Pacific animation industry have a convention about full digital drawing animation software on next February, Tokyo Japan ; ACTF (animation creative technology forum / janica.jp/course/digital/actf2017.html) 2017.

    There are waiting for compare with Adobe Animate, ToonBoom Harmony, TVPaint Animation, CACAni, Celsys CLIP STUDIO PAINT and etc.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Thanks Osamusi. If we are going to have our own payment/licensing system – or we go through Mac and Windows Stores are not decided at this point. There are pros and cons to both.

      I tend not to travel to trade shows – and will stick with online ways. But you never know what happens in the future, if things really take off. 😉

  16. Great News! One thing I think I mentioned to you before is full cintiq control. A good guide is the combined pinch zoom touch controls in both sketchbook pro and ToonBoom harmony make drawing really nice on Cintiq, especially clean up. If this goes in, it’ll be primary software for me.

  17. This is fantastic news! Looking forward to it!

    I also really like the idea of a brush engine, at least in the future. To be able to have pressure-sensitive, textured smudge is something I find invaluable in the sketching apps I love.

  18. Hey Niels. I develop software for a living, yet animation software is beyond my capabilities right now. I usually specialize in front end web application development. I’ll be working for a big retail company doing this job. The main reason why I am commenting is I would like to know how this software will benefit artists in bringing their visions to life. Will it support export to 4K and higher resolutions? Also, since I develop software too, I would like to have an insight into what goes on during the software development process. Do you use an SRS or SDD? Do you work on Agile development techniques. All these questions I believe will be answered once you show us the behind the scenes stuff on this animation software.

  20. I love to hear about New AP and I am looking forward to it. Some good things has happend on the amimation scene in 2016. ClipStudio EX is now also an animation program in full strenght (no audio yet) and for a low cost. Krita is also about animation today (no audio yet). These programs are not animation programs, they are painting / illustration programs including animation. Even SketchBook Pro has animation to it, called FlipBook. I suppose AP is supposed to be the other way around, animation program with painting.
    For me, as an amateur, it does not matter much as long as I understand how to use the program and can afford it. The brush engine, talked about in some other comments, I hope will be simple enough for every user to customise. Just like in some other software I use, I would like to bring in a bitmap brush tip to get some special look and texture (Photoshop *.abr brushes is one example) for the pen / pencil. Affinity (Design and Photo) has a simple and yet very good bitmap brush engine and it is really easy to get a good result from a customised brush. I like that! So for the future; Good Luck! I will be there for the beta and later the full release!

  22. Glad to hear that it is in development. I have other animation software but I often just want a simple frame by frame animation software. I used Flash CS 5.5 as a container but also to animate.
    Will it have a timeline with layers and can we duplicate frames ?
    What about backgrounds ?
    Basically that is what I use. All the rest is done by hand.
    Finely I think the export options a quite important.

    Thank you !

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Alain, thanks for your comment. Yes, AP will have all of those things you mention. But of course it will be different from Flash. So it has the timeline at the bottom and layers as part of the X-sheet at the side. You can duplicate frames in a few ways and of course you can import a background (or background layers to make background, middleground and foreground, etc). Or you just draw the background as a layout.

      Export options will include various image formats to make numbered frame stacks – both standard vector and pixel file formats with alpha. Also video formats, like mp4, ProRes and others. Additionally I am looking into finding the best way of exporting X-Sheet data.

  23. As someone who bounces back and forth between Windows and Linux (on the same PC), will it be possible to cover an installation on both OS’s on the same license?

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Justin – The licensing details are still to be determined. We want to consider both technical and practical reasons.

      We will have clear politics formulated before we launch of course. Sorry for not being able to answer fully right away. 😉

  25. !!! So excited !!!
    Probably best to wait for the beta and give feedback, the old UI mockup you did was already pretty close to perfect and I’m sure the final version will be even better, my only humble suggestions are good UI and key binding options.

    The most important thing is that you listen to users, which I know you do since you’ve personally replied to hundreds if not thousands of comments even when you had nothing to gain from doing so. I see no reason why every animator and their uncle wouldn’t jump ship to Animation Paper, we’re desperate for this!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Haha thanks a lot for those kind words of yours. Yeah, it would be foolish not to listen I believe, – the more information and suggestions I get the better I can cover the exact right things to cover in the software. So many things have come up, that I would’t have come to think of by myself. Yet still we need to have a “moderator”, somebody who sort out all the potential functionality, to keep the vision and inner logic. So that’s where I feel I can do my job the best. And I really feel everybody seem to appreciate and agree on that. And that is what is so awesome about this community!

  26. Thanks Niels for all your answers.

    Quote: “Export options will include various image formats to make numbered frame stacks – both standard vector and pixel file formats with alpha. Also video formats, like mp4, ProRes and others. Additionally I am looking into finding the best way of exporting X-Sheet data.”

    Yes. Alpha is very important. And video formats sound great.
    I often import vectors into FCX from Motion.

    Besides that I’m good. 🙂

  27. Hi again…
    Was wondering if it will be possible to put a sound track (music or other) so we can animate on sound ?
    Curious to know if it is planned but it is not a request.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Yes – this is an important and planned feature. You will be able to import an audio file (wav, mp3, etc) have it displayed as a waveform in the x-sheet and hear the audio when playing your animation or scrubbing frames back and forth.

  29. Thought I would chime in here. First off,..I’m SO PLEASED that you were able to get this project fired back up. I have always had a strong desire to really take a shot at 2D animation, but despite having a strong cartoon illustration background, just looking at the currently available software options is so intimidating that I always get overwhelmed just looking at the user interfaces of these programs. I won’t even begin to talk about the ridiculous price points. Why would I even think of spending hundreds/thousands of dollars with the uncertainty of not knowing if I will even grasp the program or if it will fit into how I work and think? That’s ridiculous!

    I’m not asking that you dumb anything down for guys like myself as I’m sure that wouldn’t be fair to your targeted animation professionals, but if you can just try to keep the clutter at a minimum, that might at least instill some confidence for the new guys coming up. I love a program that is professional level with just one version and one offering, but there is nothing worse than a program that muddies up the water with a bloated tool set of unnecessarily over-complicated options requiring an incredibly steep learning curve “just to get started”.

    Understanding that you are not designing a “Crayola” program for all ages here, I still think that the complexity within the GUI should always be a priority during the development stage.

    As for brushes, I look at simply like this. A super strong pencil tool for roughs, … Some pressure sensitive tools for clean up (smoothness is critical too) and PLEASE, PLEASE some additional pressure sensitive VECTOR brush tools for finishing!!

    Clip Studio has the best vector brushes that I have ever used! So smooth and with great pressure sensitivity! The only knock I have with that program for my static 2D work is the layout; it’s overly complicated.
    I recall using PAP once for testing out an idea, and although I shied away from it because it seemed a bit foreign to me,….my goodness those brushes were smooth and offered wonderfully variable lines with pressure.

    I Loved that!

    I have rambled on too long, but just wanted to share my excitement over the announcement of your upcoming software release!

    The professional 2D animation community NEEDS this!
    ….and so do folks like me.

    Todd

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Todd – your “ramblings” are much appreciated! I totally agree with your points! And by the way – I am aiming for doing completely uncluttered and easy to use interfaces. This is positive either way – for both the professional and for the beginner.

      Thanks a lot! Best, Niels

  30. Good news! I am using your old version for some time now. It has some flaws and bugs as you might know, but I have never found anything as useful as the old PAP software.

    Looking forward for your new version!

  31. I am sooo psyched I can’t wait to try it though I have one thing that’s bothering me…Can’t you possibly make this for chrome too or is it too large?

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Thanks Sunstar – I haven’t thought about that – off the top of my head I do not think it would work well enough. One of the most important features of Animation Paper is that it must work very smoothly and fast. I don’t see that happening in Chrome. But I could be wrong. Am not an expert on this…

  32. Is it possible to add a “trial” timeline somewhere, next to the normal animation timeline, for saving temporarily figures. For example, you are drawing a landscape and you have several trees and bushes. Sometimes you just want to copy and paste and not redraw every single object. This trial timeline is saved in the project, but will not be exported.
    Is this handy to have? I would like to see this feature in the new program.

    Please add default color schemes that are more usefull then the default PAP colors. That one is very limited in color choices that it’s not useful. At least 256 colors, prefer more.

    PAP had a nasty bug that causes copy paste memory usage not being freed, this eventually causes a crash of the program.

    PAP pasting a part of a frame into another frame will influence the colors of the destination frame. Please, somehow fix this in the new version.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      The old version of PAP and the new Animation Paper will be so much different in so many ways. Not one line of code is reused in the new one. Only the values and principles are used as the basis of the design.

      So any bugs will naturally not be carried over. 🙂

      If I understand you correctly, the functionality of what you call the “trial timeline” will be easy to obtain, since it is basically just another layer (or a few extra) that contains the temporary figures. When exporting you just click the little eye, to switch off the layers you do not want exported. Simple.

      The old PAP didn’t have coloring. Only color coded pencils/layers (i.e. blue, red and black). The new Animation Paper will have full coloring (paint layers) and also have color coded layers (blue, green, red, black and custom). This concept might be confusing when I talk briefly about it here. But it will make sense in the program. 😉

  33. Great news! I’ll be looking forward to it!

    A question, same I asked before (just curious), will it have a version for Steam?

    Thanks, man!

  34. I love how this program handles, The interface is great and the workflow is top notch. The features I would love to see is the capabilities of coloring frames without having to export, a compositing and render function so that you don’t have to go out side of the program to finalize your projects. Also if there were advanced FX functions. I know this is a long Christmas list, but it would rock.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Yeah. There are pros and cons to having all that in the program.

      It WILL have coloring, and you can easily set up your layers, with the order you need and visibility you want (to have rough layers, etc, hidden when doing the final to-movie-export) for the immediate composite. I do not like the word “render” even though it is technically what the software does – because it implies a slow process and you waiting. What we hope to achieve is full instant playback.

      I have made the decision to not include all kinds of compositing tricks with effects, depth blurring, etc because it quickly clutters everything up. We want to keep AP clean and efficient. And some things ARE just much better done in a real compositing program. AP is for doing the actual drawing, the sketching, the timing, the clean up, ink and paint. And this will be fine and enough for many people. If some need the extra stuff a compositing program offers, those things are best done in your favourite compositing program. That’s what I truly believe is the most efficient and professional way of doing it.

      I hope you appreciate my views.

      Anyway, thanks a lot for your wishlist, Shallon!

      1. I downloaded AP today, and love it. I have TVPaint, and its complexity puts me off, even though it is a wonderful program. I probably need to work with it more, but that is exactly the point: a lean, fast program like AP will let you get things DONE without spending most of your time looking it up in the (in the case of TVP) inadequate documentation, fiddling around wasting time.

        I am saving my pennies for the new version, and bless you for keeping it so affordable. I like your design philosophy. I am totally on board with this, and I have the feeling AP is going to be my go-to program for most of my animating. As you mentioned, I can always use TVP for special effects and rendering.

        One thing in TVP which IS really useful is what they call “rooms” — each room has its own customizable set of functions: one for drawing, one for painting, etc. That eliminates the unnecessary functions, which can distract one from the job at hand. You might consider something similar in the new version.

        A big THANK YOU Neil, for bringing this program out. For my Master’s project I am working on an animated biography of the Tibetan saint, Milarepa. AP is going to help a great deal in making it come to life. If you have any banners for AP I would be happy to put one on the site.

  35. Congratulations on pushing forward with the project! I’m really excited about it. I was wondering if it will be possible to have an animated background, a few frames that loop endlessly behind the main action, without having to copy and paste these frames over and over again?

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Thanks a lot, Rae. Yes, sure. You simply have your layer, which is shorter in time than others – and just click an option to make it loop (i.e. what it is supposed to do when it reaches the end of the layer, options are: Show nothing, Freeze last frame, Loop and Pingpong/oscillate). This is how it works in the old PAP as well.

  36. How fortunate that I happened to peek in my spam folder today. It’s great that this project may finally getting momentum again, although I’m in a very different place in my life now with different needs, and the software scene has changed considerably.
    There are now more, and more affordable, options for 2D frame animation. Krita’s stability has been an issue for me the last few builds, so I can’t say much about that, but I happened to already have Clip Studio Paint when its animation tools came out, and they are pretty handy, although they do require someone explaining a few things first, and there are still things that I’m not sure the program can do or not (like copying and pasting into a frame, or making true copies and not instances of frames). In the time I was waiting for Animation Paper to come out, there have emerged new ways to play with traditional animation. Even FireAlpaca now has an onionskin mode for easily using layers as frames, even if it doesn’t have true animation tools or a timeline. It’s not “Fight with Photoshop, ‘acquire’ Flash, pay hundreds for industry software or wrestle with incredibly unstable less expensive or free software” anymore.

    So, yeah, you’ve got your work ahead of you with this kind of competition. Even with these new options around, it’d still be good to have a dedicated 2D program that’s fast, stable, and devoted to the way the animators who use it are thinking and want it to do that doesn’t carry the price tag or steep learning curve of the industry standards. I hope what Animation Paper brings to the table makes it worth the investment.

    I really don’t know what I mean to say about “comfort” of drawing, but I’ll spare you the ramble. It’s why I’ve been working in Clip Studio Paint these days, though: the program is very comfortable to draw in. And I’ve never quite gotten used to drawing specifically for a vector program like Flash or Toon Boom so your drawings don’t turn to illegible mush. But it’s also a subjective quality, too, that’s hard to separate from a learning curve, so… I don’t know when you’ll know you’ve “got” it. But if you can’t comfortably draw in it, forget comfortably animating.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Thanks for your comment CF! Appreciated. I agree. Animation Paper is dedicated – and it is going to hit a niche. It basically does “one” thing, but does it extremely well. That’s the idea and that’s why it will make so much sense to so many people.

      Cheers,
      Niels

  37. Still consider myself to be a big beginner- but I’m so excited! The UI seems intuitive and its always seemed like the goal was an organic translation between traitional and digital. Seeing the email made my day!!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Thanks Mary! You’re right – the old PAP indeed was designed to help a lot of traditional “analogue” animators make the transition into digital. That was 20 years ago. Animation Paper, may do the same, if there’s any more out there to help in that direction. 😉 But the cool thing about designing Animation Paper for todays animators, are that I can get rid of weird old ways, since modern conventions and best practices has in the meantime settled and makes a lot more sense to everybody now. AP will be simpler but so much more powerful.

      Cheers,
      Niels

  38. About the pressure-tablet related suggestions, I would add my own: please, remember that there are a LOT of people who doesn’t use wacom-based graphic tablets; the n-trig system is, nowadays, perfect for me (n-trig based tablets/pcs are Sony Vaio, Microsoft Surface and many others, just google it and you will see how wide it is spread and used).
    So, right now it most people won’t use tilt-related features, what we need is a good compatibility with pressure and the buttons. Of course, wacom-pluses are welcome for those who have it, what I am saying is that we, n-trig users, need to have a good support.
    Sorry for my bad English, and merry Christmas! Have a happy new year!

  39. Thank you for letting us know about the features that you will be included. I am fine with having to composite in another program, It is what most studios do these days already.

    I think this program is going to be awesome, well worth the price you have mentioned. I use a variety of programs already, TVPaint, Flash, ToonBoom and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. At the end of the day I tell all my students, that these are the tools of an animator, the real magic comes from the animator.

    I love the fact how clean this program feels and how it relates to the basic needs of an animator and allows more advanced functionality for those challenging projects. We all appreciate the fact that you are taking the time to consider all the request regarding your program, it is going to be a great tool.

    I would love to beta test it or buy it when it becomes available, very excited and anxiously awaiting. 🙂

  40. Quote: “I have made the decision to not include all kinds of compositing tricks with effects, depth blurring, etc because it quickly clutters everything up. We want to keep AP clean and efficient. And some things ARE just much better done in a real compositing program. AP is for doing the actual drawing, the sketching, the timing, the clean up, ink and paint. And this will be fine and enough for many people. If some need the extra stuff a compositing program offers, those things are best done in your favourite compositing program. That’s what I truly believe is the most efficient and professional way of doing it.”

    I completely agree. I just go into a compositing program if I need to.

    1. Definitively agree with this sentiment. Some friends worked on PAP for their thesis project, but the actual compositing was done entirely in After, Premiere, and other programs.

      I hope everything goes great!

  41. So nice you gonna make this software after all !
    Cannot wait to test it on mac.
    I was so sad when it was not funded on Kickstarter back then.
    If you want help of any kind, let me know 🙂

    By the way, do you plan to add a small forum for having feedback and suggestions as the development move forward ?

  44. So excited, I can’t type anything worthwhile. Will those that signed up be informed of this closed forum for alpha testing? I’m extremely interested in participating, and would be happy to forward a demo if necessary to be part of the process.

    And a million congrats my dude. You were too dedicated, and this project too cool to fall by the wayside. Can’t wait to get more updates. 2017 is already looking great!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Chris – thanks very much! I will send out notices about the alpha/beta testing to all you that signed up – when the time comes. I’m thinking that the alpha team will be quite small, to keep communication manageable.

  45. I forgot to ask, what will the licensing arrangements be like for businesses and studios? Will they be the same for individuals, or is the setup going to differ slightly? Thanks again for continuing to pursue the completion of your vision!

      1. I’m glad you say a license is a license. Adobe and a lot of other developers have different pricing structures depending on whether or not the product is going to be used for commercial or personal use. I think you’ve reached a good middle ground by giving everyone a shot at obtaining the software at the same fair price, regardless of use.

        1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

          Thanks a lot Chris. Yeah, I do not think it makes much sense to try to “segment” this kind of software. It might be a way to squeeze out more money from those who are able to pay, but it is confusing and illogical to have various versions. I want it clean – and I want to let everybody be able to get the best (and only) version.

          1. I said earlier that I liked your design philosophy, and now I say that I like your marketing philosophy too! You are the best!

            I have decades of phone technical support in the microcomputer industry (and everything else in that sector too), including testing programs. If you are looking for a software tester, I am available.

          2. Niels Krogh Mortensen

            Thanks a lot for your nice words Martin! For testing opportunities, stay tuned, once we are close to ready I will publish dates and how to enter our testing program.

            Cheers,
            Niels

  46. Amazing! I’ve been hoping this program would still be able to get made!

    A question I have about a feature that not a lot of animation programs offer, will there be a way to add in and sync sounds or music to your animation? Flash allowed you to put the sounds directly in the timeline and that was a wonderful tool to have.

    Either way I am excited!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Damian, thanks!

      You will be able to import audio – like music or dialogue. This is for animating to the audio. But I think you mean the other way around – to be able to add individual sound effects one by one and place them on the timeline after the animation is done, right? For this release we will not be adding this capability. It would expand the scope and functionality to the level of an audio editor with tracks etc, which I consider to be too much when wanting to keep it simple and uncluttered.

      You would have the one audio track that you follow when drawing your animation, and then when you are finished animating, you can chose to update your audio file with effects and other sounds – that’s how you would do it with Animation Paper.

      The focus is on letting the animator do the best possible animation. I hope you see my point and my priorities. 🙂

      Best,
      Niels

      1. Thats wonderful!

        Actually the music and dialogue audio was the important parts to me as well! Right now I am trying to animate to just music and the program I am using won’t let you put ANY sound in it.

        If only I could use Animation Paper now!

  47. I think it is better to add sound, music and effects in a film editing software if the animation is allready done and you are not animating to audio. The same as composting would also be better outside APaper as discussed a bit earlier.

  48. Can’t wait to buy this app! Congrats on moving forward with it. There’s an Apple Store app called Fluid that allows the user to use it over other apps. It also has an opacity bar that allows the user to see through it. Is there anyway this app could have that type of functionality? When working in 3D it would be great to overlay my animation directly from the 2D app. No other 2D program can do this. I believe your app will revolutionize the market.

    Good luck and students or pros…AnimationPaper is a must have! -Erik

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hey Erik! Yeah, I have thought of that overlay feature before. I’ll look into what is possible – and how to do it properly – within our framework. Could be great to have. We’ll see…

      And thanks a lot for your nice words! 🙂

  50. For me what I’m looking for is easy to use brushes with a stabilizer. My favorite has been CSP pen tool, but the animation in CSP is cumbersome.

    Something that will allow me to easily duplicate frames, draw smoothly, lets me import audio, and has a camera tool would be ideal. The closest I came to is TVPaint but it’s incredibly expensive.

  51. Great to hear. I am using Toon Boom, but feel this can be as useful too, I’m hoping to help out in any promotions, I’m not a famous YouTuber, but I do have a following, so would it be alright to help promote this program?

  52. Hey Neils, I totally forgot I asked about brushes! Yeah it would be great to have photoshop brushes compatible with the program. I like procreate’s array of brushes on the ipad, really good set there! I havent tried Mischief yet

    I would to start off with, in the beta, having a brush thats similar to a conte crayon, I know that was a favourite for all the Disney animators back in the day. As well as obviously clean smooth brushes in the beta.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      You can import sequences of scanned frames – Animation Paper will automatically recognise sequentially numbered frame stacks (frame0001.png, frame0002.png, etc) and import it into any layer. Then you can time, edit, refine or what ever you need. Also ink and paint. Painting is done by paint bucket and/or paint brush.

  55. I learned that the CACANI app has parts in which the animator can do the key frames and the app can automatically generate the inbetween frames to fill between the key frames. It also has a part in which the first frame is colored as the reference and the app automatically uses the reference painted first app and paints the other frames. Can the animation paper app has functions that generate the inbetween frames between the key frames and color the frames using the first colored key frame as a reference like CACANI in its later editions?

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Scott! For this version we are not going for any automatic in-betweening. It tends to be too “robotic” looking anyway. But for I am not ruling it out for later versions – if we can find the right way of doing it. Also automatic coloring based on one (or a few) references has worked fairly well in software, like the discontinued Animo, since the early nineties. It’s something we want to experiment with for future versions too for sure. Thanks.

  56. Also when Animation Paper app is released? Can animators and feature animation studios use the animation paper app to release traditional paper and pencil drawing and start using it and making hand-drawn animated feature films again? I am bored and unhappy with animation studios making only computer-animated movies?

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      The plan is to release it towards the end of this year.

      Yes, it is designed to fit right in at feature animation studios. It is my hope that we will see much more quality hand drawn animation done (features and other) after the release of Animation Paper.

      Best, Niels

  57. Could Walt Disney Animation Studios start to use the new Animation Paper app to make hand-drawn animated movies again? Could this be the same for all the other feature animation studios in the United States and the World?

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi 🙂 No, both the Windows, Mac and Linux versions will be ready at the same time late this year.

      However the old version, that is made completely free and can be downloaded from this site, is for Windows only.

      Best – Niels

  59. Have you considered adding some sort of 3D modeling integration to allow for hand-drawing on top of 3D models, maybe something like using Blender/Maya/some 3D modeling tool suite’s functionality? I’ve been watching a lot of Disney animation videos, and the animators there almost always look like they’re using 3D models behind their hand drawn animations to keep proportions/perspectives easily and efficiently (even for some of the older productions, like Tarzan). I could see something like that taking this software to the next level.

    Also, thank you so much for putting this project together! $79 is such a steal for something this awesome. Will definitely be purchasing when it comes out.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Thanks a lot Micah!

      Yeah, 3D as templates or guides would be great. The plan for now is to let you easily import rendered or wireframe images (og sequences of frames) into a layer for you to draw on top of. This is the broadly working simple version that will of course work for all 3D packages as well as recorded live action video, etc.

      Later we will consider supporting import of 3D models, but we also need to control the general complexity. We’ll see where the future takes us. 🙂

  60. This might be coming in a little late, but I thought I’d mention it just in case. There seem to be a lot of people in the comments who want a variety of brushes. You could find a way to let people import Photoshop brushes, but maybe you could also find a way to let people make brushes in the program. It wouldn’t have to be anything fancy, maybe just an extra little tool that lets people mess around with spacing, texture, tilt, etc. in addition to the default brush.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Yeah, we hope to do it like you suggest. But there will be many internal data differences compared to Photoshop, so we’ll see what is doable. Hopefully we can get it fully compatible. This extended brush feature I think we are going to save for the next update after the new version (officially version 5.0). Plenty of important stuff to work into the first release. 😉

  61. I am excited about the upcoming Animation Paper. I dont know if anyone has already asked this or not but, will there be functionality for automatic peg registration of scanned in images? So that Animation Paper would automatically align multiple pages by acme peg holes in scanned drawings. I know that Flipbook and TVpaint both offer this but it would be absolutely Great if Animation Paper offered the same functionality. Once Again, Thank You Thank You Thank You for this new Software.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Geoff – this has been mentioned before. Thanks for getting this up again. We originally had not thought this into our plans – but I understand the importance of this feature. So we’ll work it in. It might be in one of the first updates after the initial release.

  62. Great news. One other question regarding windows version. What Microsoft Windows version capability are you programming to? I currently use XP ( I know, old habits) but I am building a new work system and will be using Windows 7 pro 64bit. Will it run on legacy operating systems like Xp/7?

  64. I tried downloading this software, but the button on the “Donload” page doesn’t even open up a dowload link. i’ve been trying to download for two days now. Please help….

  65. I’m going to save my money to buy the new Animation Paper app on June of 2018 and I’m also going to save my money to buy the yearly subscriptions to Toon Boom Storyboard Pro and Toon Boom Harmony. It is okay if I can use the Animation Paper app to do the animation for my characters and import the frames to Toon Boom Harmony?

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Sounds good Scott! But not sure if you will be able to wait that long after the release. 😉

      Animation Paper will export in standard file formats, so if you really need/want to import your work into other software that should be straight forward.

  67. Perhaps I missed it, but I’d be interested to know about the range of graphics tablets that will be compatible with this. I have a non Wacom that doesn’t seem to work with the old PAP (I’m using a XP-Pen model). Will there be more robust options for tablets (disabling Wintab, etc.)?

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Thanks Jeffrey – yeah, we will want to find the optimal way to support most possible tablets. Sure. But this is a part we haven’t really looked into yet in detail. We will of course. At the moment we are hard at work creating the core of Animation Paper, like the best basic line drawing, the fastest and most efficient way to store large numbers of drawings and frames in RAM, etc.

      But having a robust way of communicating with all sorts of tablets is on our list. Very important.

      Best,
      Niels

  68. Hi there Niels!

    I tried the old PAP some years ago, but then i was just abandoned it, because the UI was so alien.
    In a few weeks from now i want to start my own enterprise, and i saw your cool software! I thought i could buy it immediately, but fortune was not on my side. I really really hope that i can be in the first people, who can use it in any form! 🙂
    I wanted to use the old PAP again, and try to learn it, but sadly i didn’t find any Fill option in it. If that would have it some way, then i would be saved till this new product takes place.

    I hope the very best for you guys!

    Cheers,

    Roland

  69. Just thought I’d say quick that I’m a big fan of PAP. Used it in middle school, before I knew anything about animation, and was still able to make a funny little film, and now that I’m actually learning animation, it’s still one of my favorite options for small or no budget, if not a little limited. It just makes it fun! Worth learning its unique setup. I’m very excited for the new one.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Thanks! Yeah, the old version had a very “unique” interface (as in old and strange) 😉 – the new version will be much more generally recognisable and within modern conventions – though still unique in many (and good) ways. 🙂

  72. Are there any plans of porting PAP to iOS ?
    It seems that there is no full featured animation app for it until currently.
    Animation+ app is close but still not that intuitive as it could be.

    Any chance ?

  73. I can’t want to see that new app. It would be a great app for feature animation studios so they can make more than just computer-animated movies when they use this software. It will make hand-drawn animation a lot cheaper, easier and more fun. It will even save money on paper and pencils as it is used by animation studios when they use this software because it is cheaper to draw on computer than on paper. Could it be?

  74. Any plans for basic line trace/separation features for scanned animation, sort of like Traceman in the RETAS suite? Stuff like that would make it much more viable in japanese animation

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Eric,

      Interesting. Any chance you could explain this feature a little more in detail? I am not familiar with Traceman, and would love to understand what exactly you like about it and how something similar could work in Animation Paper.

      Thanks, Niels

      1. Well what I’m talking about is how it first of all makes the clean pencil lines into pure black-on-transparent line art, which is pretty standard, but beyond that it also makes the red and blue lines (for shading and highlights) pure red (or blue) and separates them into different layers of the same cel. Usually the lines have no anti-aliasing either, so it’s very simple to bucket fill the colors in and then smooth the lines in compositing

        that kinda stuff makes coloring hella easy

  75. Congrats Niels!

    I’m incredibly excited for this software, and I’m glad you managed to find funding and willing programmers.

    I have a question about your plans for rendering capabilities: What are your plans for render methods in Animation Paper? I fell in love with PAP4’s ease of use and natural feel, but unfortunately I could never fit it into my personal workflow.

    Thanks so much!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Thanks a lot Bryce! We are definitely holding on to the ease of use and natural feel. You will be able to recognise the old software in the new – but so many things have changed. As you maybe know, Animation Paper is written from scratch, and be totally up to date. The drawing/line functionality is something that the old software has been praised for a lot – of course we want to make sure we build from that and improve. In fact this is one of the core parts of our software and what we a working on right now.

      In the old PAP we didn’t have coloring – this will be included in the new version. But we keep it fast to work with and very simple, so straight forward inking and painting. Also adjustable automatic stabilising of the hand drawn line as well as innovative paint bucket functionality that fills perfectly under the lines. For this version we will have basic clean brush functionality, – more advanced custom brushes are in the plans for the next future version.

      Hope this answered your question, if not – please let me know!

      Best,
      Niels

  76. Hi Niels,

    Was just wondering if you could post an update on how development is going? Like many others, I am a huge fan of PAP and am beyond anxious to use the brilliant looking and highly evolved next step. I have no doubts it’s going to be amazing.

    Thanks!
    Todd

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Todd,

      Yeah, you’re right – I’d better post an update soon. 🙂

      But I can tell you that things look good. However we just came out of a three month pause in development – because my only programmer had other very important business to attend to. We had to let him off the hook for a little while. 🙂 That is how it have to be on this kind of indie project. He is well and back now, and we are full steam ahead again.

      Because of this pause, our schedule has been delayed, though we are still hoping for a release by the end of this year. Might not be finished, but something testable.

      Thanks a lot Todd – and for your (and everybody’s) patience.
      Niels

  77. The alpha being delayed I get, but does this also mean there won’t be anything similar to a beta for a while either? Understandable in both regards, but I just wanted to be clear.

  78. hey, sorry Niels, wrong place to ask probably, but I’m having trouble downloading the old version. I keep clicking send link, but nothing. Hope you didn’t take it down. any help would be appreciated, thank you!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Liam, yeah, for some reason a few people are experiencing trouble when trying to download the old PAP. Sorry for this. I’m trying to find out why this happens. Must fix it asap.

      But you go ahead and download the same file from this link instead: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/796424/pap_v4_0.exe

      (others who are having difficulties downloading are welcome to use the same link)

      And make sure to check out the tutorials on how to use PAP here: https://animationpaper.com/tutorials/

      Happy animating!
      /Niels

  80. Hi Niels,

    The Animation Paper concept video looks fantastic! I won’t ask you when it’s coming out (you seem to get enough of that,) but it’s very exciting to read about the recent developments.

    I’m an animator at DreamWorks Animation, and I also like to create animated shorts with my family for fun. My 10-year-old daughter Sienna (also an animator,) and I are very interested in seeing this new incarnation of Animation Paper come to light, and we would love to help as beta testers when it becomes available.

    Anyway, I just wanted to send our best wishes to you and your development team. Please keep up the excellent work!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Thanks a lot Dennis! Very much appreciated.

      When time comes I will set up a beta program so you and others can join. Yeah, using Animation Paper to teach animation I believe will be great. Best of luck with Sienna!! (Looking forward to the same thing with my daughter – but she is only just turning 5).

      Best, Niels

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      At some point, when we are long enough in the development, I will announce (on this blog and through our Facebook page and Twitter) how to get involved with testing. Nothing is decided at this point, so I hope you will stay tuned!

      Thanks!
      Niels

  83. Will the pen tool allow the lines to be drawn in a range of different colours? e.g. red outlines or blue outlines etc.

    I have only just downloaded your your free Plastic Animation Paper and it only seems to allow me to draw in black or am I missing something? Can I change the ink colour to a range of different colours e.g. red etc?

    Many thanks and good luck with the development,.

    Jools

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Yes. It works like this: Each layer is colorcoded, so you just draw with your pen. The color will be the one that the layer is set to. At any time you can change the color of the layer, and it will change all frames of that layer instantly. This is to easily visually separate each layer you are working on.

      Then when you want to do real color you simply add a color layer, on which you will be able to draw and fill in all colors.

      I hope you see what I mean – if not, I think it makes more sense if you watch the video on the front page: https://animationpaper.com

      In the old version that you just downloaded, you are able to draw black, blue and red. Blue is meant for the rough work, and the black for the clean up. You can do this as a refining process a couple of times if you want, so after working very rough (in blue), you can tighten things up a bit in black, then press the clear-blue button and then black-to-blue button (which first removes all the rough blue lines and then makes all the more refined black lines into blue) – and then you can refine even more in black again.

      The red line/layer is for layout and background reference.

      More about this in the old tutorials for old PAP: https://animationpaper.com/tutorials

      Cheers,
      Niels

  84. Hi Niels,

    Sorry not to have responded earlier to your very detailed response… I have been away on business.

    It sounds like the new version has so much more versatility, can’t wait. I will bear in mind what you have said about different colours in free version.

    Two further questions… is there any way of importing images into both the free and new program? For example if I have created a drawing and want to import it into the program to use as the basis for the animation. e.g. a line drawing etc can I do this?

    Also if I want to import a real photo as a background layer can I do this in both programs?

    Many thanks,

    Jools

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      No worries. Glad you saw my answer. 🙂

      About your new questions: Yes, in both versions you can import images (drawings/photos/artwork/etc even animation or video). In the old existing version, the file must be in one of the supported file formats, like tga, png, jpg etc. Just click the load icon and select the file(s). For more details, please refer to the tutorials I linked to earlier.

      For background use, I would load your photo into the layout layer. There’s a load layout icon for that if I remember correctly.

      Cheers,
      Niels

  85. Hi Niels,

    Thank you so much for the info. Your software gets better and better the more I hear about it and play around with it.

    So looking forward to the new software coming out… but in the meantime I will carry on learning all about the existing software and watch as many “how to” vids as I can find so I can improve my animation techniques.

    Thanks again, Jools.

  86. Thanks a million Niels,

    PAP is proving to be a great package from the few minutes I’ve spent on it after downloading. This has made me even more enthusiastic about the creation of the new version and I didn’t think that was going to be possible.

    Best regards,
    Michael

    PS – PAP appears to run fine in Linux using Wine.

  87. Hi Niels,

    Just a thought, will AP be available/capable of running on a Raspberry Pi 3? The RPi 3 only has 1GB of RAM so it would be a tight fit.

    I’m glad I only really became aware of AP’s development yesterday, with how eager I am to get it I think it would drive me nuts with having to wait very long.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      It is still too early to tell exactly. If the program it self will be able to run, then it is of course just a matter of how many frames and layers the 1GB of RAM will hold compared how many you need for your project.

      So, in short, my answer for now will be: Maybe! 😉

      1. As you are aiming for AP to be as fast as possible using efficient, compact coding can I conclude that it will be scaleable with multicore/multiprocessor systems?

        If it is then it might work well with a Raspberry Pi cluster.

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Sorry, no Mac version of the old version. But as you probably are aware of the new version will be for both Mac, PC and Linux.

      I am soon to do a schedule for the ongoing development – including when the alpha and beta stages will be ready. You’ll know from this blog (and Facebook page and Twitter).

  89. Timothy, I don’t know if it will work under Mac, but try using an emulator. I say this because PAP appears to work fine using Wine for the version of Linux I have (Desktop version of Raspberry Pi’s PIXEL).

    Niels, would it be possible to include a reference file type of system similar to that used in ArtRage? This way there would always be a model sheet easily to hand at the press of a key (or simple key combination).

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Yeah, it seems PAP runs fine with various emulators. The videos I have done showing PAP is actually recorded on a 10 year old iMac running vmware fusion.

      About your second comment, I am not sure I understand what you are asking. A “reference file type of system”?

      The layout sheet is often used in PAP for the model sheet. This way you just press L and you toggle on your model sheet (color coded red).

      Please get back to me about the reference thing you are asking about – I want to understand and respond properly. 😉

      Best,
      Niels

  90. Sorry, should have made it a ‘little’ clearer. ArtRage has an option to have an image opened and then pinned anywhere you want on the desktop to use as a visual reference. It is similar to the idea of having a reference photo of a building, person, pose etc and sticking it physically to the corner of your monitor.

    The reference image in ArtRage can be adjusted in size, zoomed in or out, rotated and also moved anywhere on the screen so it is not in the way. If you go to https://www.artrage.com/artrage-5/features/ and click on ‘References’ under the ‘Editing Utilities, Graphic Design Tools and Drawing Aids’ paragraph it will have an example. Also ‘Customise Your Workspace’ at https://www.artrage.com/artrage-5/screenshots/

    Best regards,
    Michael

  91. Any activity or progress on this? It’s been 8 months and just wondering if it is still alive or has the plug been pulled on it. I sure hope that it’s still alive.

  92. Just wanted to say I am incredibly excited to see what the new software will look like. As soon as you have any sort of release, expect to find another happily paying customer.

    Cheers

  94. Hi,

    I just discovered animation paper and I am really really excited to try & buy this program!
    I have been using Sketchbook Pro a lot and love it. Animation Paper seems to be similar, but with all the features I am missing in Sketchbook.

    is there allready a release date for the beta or something like that?
    All the best!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Great Raphael! Sounds good. No date yet for the beta, but we are doing some heavy planning these days (weeks), so it will not be too long before we can set and publish a few important dates (like the beta release).

      Best,
      Niels

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Scott,

      Yes, the plan is to do a special tablet/touch version (iPad Pro using the Apple Pencil) immediately after we release the desktop version. As to compatibility with the EVE-V we would have to try it out first to be sure. But I see no reason why it shouldn’t just work right out of the box.

      1. Hey there, my sis and I have been looking back on the website from time to time and Thank you and your team for taking the time to develop the software and trying to put in features that other’s may find good. We can’t wait, when the Beta and official version of animation paper comes out(no pressure , understand it takes a while)! Also we are excited to see how far Animation Paper would go as well 🙂 We spread word about it not too long ago.

        In response to this reply, I wanted to ask by special tablet/touch version of the software would that version of the program work with digital display tablets such as the Xp pen display tablets, Wacom Cintiq, Parblo tablets etc.?
        and also, if a person buys the desktop version first, but wants to use the touch tablet feature would they need to purchase to update to that version or is there another option?

        Anyway thank you for all your hard work, hope you have a great rest of the week.

        1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

          Hi JalenR,

          What I mean by tablet/touch version is a version of Animation Paper that is built for iPad and iPad Pro as well as Android based tablets. As these devices are controlled mainly by your fingers (and f.x. the Apple Pencil) it will require a somewhat different interface compared to the desktop version. But the features and systems under the hood, will be exactly the same (as well as the fileformat).

          You are talking about tablets for the PC, like the Wacom Cintiq. All these will be covered in our desktop version. These will be the preferred input device for most users of the regular Animation Paper that comes for Windows, Mac and Linux. Of course you will be able to work just as well with traditional boards, like the non-screen Wacoms etc. Also drawing with a mouse is technically possible, although not of course doable for any professional level animation.

          Our plan is to build in certain touch gestures in the desktop version (for using your fingertips for stuff like zooming, rotating the canvas, etc), if your hardware supports this (like newer Wacoms, touchpads, etc).

          I hope this answers your question?

          Best,
          Niels

          1. Thanks for your response back. You explained and answered my questions well ,now I understand more better. I believe what you are trying to do is pretty neat 🙂 Again thank you very much!

  98. Can the Animation Paper app be released in Russia for the Russian animation studios to use to make hand-drawn animated movies in Russia?

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Sure. Animation Paper will be downloadable and sold right here from this site. Everybody across the world will be able to get it.

      At some point we might do local versions, so it will come in Chinese, Japanese, Russian, German, Spanish, etc. But first we concentrate on making it in english. 🙂

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      I am holding back a little, because before I can publish a solid date for the alpha and beta testing, we need to overcome a few important technical hurdles in our development. We will of course find good solutions and as soon as we know for sure, I’ll let everybody know about the test release dates. Thanks a lot for your patience. 🙂

  100. If a feature animation studio in the United States used the Animation Paper app you made, it could spend a lot less money using that app to make a hand-drawn animated feature film then it used paper and pencil and it could be cheaper to make and be a great successful animated feature film and more people would see it on theaters and it would be a great success in the box office and more people would love it than a computer animated movie, can it be?

  101. With the Animation Paper app you made, it can be cheaper for feature animation studios to make hand-drawn animated films and hand-drawn animated films will be cheaper and easier to make than computer-animated feature films with the Animation Paper app. Can It?

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Yes, but the cost of the software (any software) is quite low compared to saleries and other expenses for a feature film. Also the style and quality of the film of course impacts the budget tremendously, wether it is 2D or 3D. So this is a complex issue.

      However, Animation Paper will be very inexpensive ($79 for the full license) – that part is set in stone and not the least complex. 😉

  102. After the final version of this Animation Paper app is released, could it be possible that Walt Disney Animation Studios should start using that app to make hand-drawn animated cartoons again?

  103. Hey man, I like to check in on AP’s development every few weeks. So glad this is will be an affordable full license product, subscription based programs are killing me financially and I CANNOT wait to have this program in my hand, keep up the good work and let us know the second we can try it!

  104. Hi Niels! I would love to join your community of animators and use the old version of PAP to animate, but the download process is not working for me. When I wemt to the downlaod page and typed in my name and email, the page would always say that the download link was successfully sent, but I never recieved it in my email. Would there be anyway to fix this issue? Thanks for your help!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Jordynn, I’m very sorry for this slow responce of mine. Apparently a few messages haven’t been flagged in this system of mine, so I missed it until now.

      Anyway, the download email should be working fine. Maybe it got caught in your spam filter? Did you check for that?

      If you still aren’t able to find it, then please get back to me and I will find another way to send it to you.

      Best,
      Niels

  106. I too am wondering how far a Beta or Final release date is. Been following you for quite some time and am anxious to get working in the new Animation Paper!

  107. Hi Niels, please include the ability to set square and custom screen sizes. The square format is especially important for those of us who need to optimize our animations for mobile social media.

    Looking forward to beta testing your new software! $79 is an insanely good price. Puts digital hand drawn animation within almost anyone’s budget. Even newbies like me!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Nancy, very sorry for my slow responce. There’s apparently something wrong so I don’t get flagged about some messages. Will look into that. 😉

      Anyway, thanks a lot for your kind words. Yeah, I believe $79 is a very good price, that should help boost Animation Paper usage rapidly.

      About your request! It is in our plans already to include square and custom screen sizes. No worries. 😉

      Best,
      Niels

  108. One day, there will be a major feature animation studio in the United States of America that will start to use your Animation Paper app and then with it, it will make more than just only computer-animated movies. It will also start to make hand-drawn animated feature films again for the big screen for the first time. Could it be, please?

  109. It’s obvious that your project is dead in the water. You don’t even have the guts to answer or post my earlier comments! I’m writing you off and deleting your website from my browser. Guess I’ll have to find a REAL animation program!!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi John, I’m very sorry – your previous message for some reason didn’t get flagged for me. So I missed it.

      Of course I have the guts to answer. I normally answer EVERY single question/message/email/comment/tweet I get.

      I know fans of Animation Paper are waiting eagerly and patiently – and I’m most grateful for that. We are in good progress with the development, however we have had some delays as well. This is software development for you. It has ups and downs. But I can promise you that I am as determined as ever to get Animation Paper out to everybody. My plan is to publish official alpha and beta dates as soon as I have anything solid. Working on it. 🙂

      Don’t “delete me” just yet! 😉 Best, Niels

  110. Hi Neils,

    Thanks for answering our questions! I’m sure you’re really working hard!

    Maybe a short teaser clip or a new blog post to tell us any target dates or timelines would be good?

    Just to keep the fans excited! 🤓

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi John, camera moves are out of scope for Animation Paper – at least for this new first version. You see, my thinking is that what a compositing program will do better, there is no immediate need to build into Animation Paper. I mean, I want to keep it simple and fast and uncluttered. That means the line have to be drawn somewhere. I do not want AP to do everything. That’s the beauty of it. It will do the actual drawing, the animation, the clean up, inking and the simple colouring in AP, then, if you need more, you take it to compositing, where you can do advanced texture effects, blur effects and camera moves. I hope you see the point of this. 🙂

  113. I really appreciate the transparency with the design philosophy for the new AP, and I wholeheartedly agree. What I admire and enjoy about the current free old version of PAP is how lightweight and “streamlined” it is to do the basic things I want to do:

    Draw
    Manage/Navigate Frames
    Flip-Test/Preview
    Scrub with Audio Track(!)
    Change Frame-Rate

    The thing really holding the software back is really a lack of usability:

    – The UI isn’t the most friendly or elegant
    – Drawing tools are extremely limited (including a complete lack of ability to color)
    – Image selection and manipulation is laborious
    – Page navigation is pretty clunky

    On the last point, as a tablet user, the lack of Touch Gestures for Pan/Rotate(!)/Zoom is a creature-comfort that I sorely miss, but isn’t deal-breaking.

    I’m glad to see that the goal for the new AP seems to be exactly what it should be:

    Improve usability and add basic functionality where needed
    . . .
    (And maybe make it look like it’s from 2017 instead of 1997)

    There are plenty of programs that can edit video and create effects.
    What we need is a program that let’s us easily and effectively ANIMATE.

    And it looks like that’s exactly what you’re trying to create.

    Cheers and Best Wishes from Ohio

  114. Hello Niels,

    I am yet another animator who is excited to beta test AP! After trying the gamut of 2D animation apps, I feel like Goldilocks. Animation Paper, from what I’ve seen, looks *just right*.

    Having worked as a CG character animator for about 11 years, I have a small suggestion/request to make. Based on your video tour, I love AP’s vertical display of drawn frames on the left of screen. It is a great digital homage to the classic X sheet.

    BUT…for those of us who have been in Maya forever, using a horizontal time-slider at the bottom of the screen for so long, will you consider offering the option to display the frames as a horizontal array at the bottom along with the time-slider? Or for the left handed users, the option to display them on the right of the screen?

    Thank you (and your coding team) for your perseverance and dedication to bringing a great 2D animation to the world. I can’t wait to use it and create with it.

    Cheers from Los Angeles,
    Melik

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Melik, thank you very much!

      I know what you mean (I too have worked with Maya since version 1). I will see how I can add frame indicators UI-wise and how I can make it work.

      Let’s make it just right for Goldilocks! 🙂

      Thanks,
      Niels

  115. None of the 2D software in the market is focused on the traditional character animators process. The reality of sitting at an animation disk with an exposure sheet and an audio recording of the track can only be understood by a traditional character animator. I never got to use your original software but the videos of it really excite me. From what I see you hit the sweet spot. Adding an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil version is beyond game changing.
    So exciting. I can hardly wait!

    Thank you, thank you!

  116. Hi Niels,
    I’m just trying out Sketchbook Pro. It now has a simple animation option called: Flibook.
    Strangely you can’t do any square shapes without rounded corners.
    In some projects I use some geometric shapes. I’m wondering if AP will have a shape tool that has cercle, squares etc…
    Also you can count me in when you beta test.
    I’m really looking forward to a simple no fuss animation software !

    Cheers,
    Alain

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Alain,

      Yeah, you bring up a touchy subject for me. 😉 Hehe. Circle tool, rectangle tool, etc. I don’t really like them (as part of Animation Paper). I do understand the immediate temptation to want to have them included, but as you say, Animation Paper is simple no fuss software. I want to keep it as straight forward as possible. Keep what smells technical out. I keep it simple by just having you draw by hand, that is easy and makes a lot of sense (at least in my mind).

      Once you would include those shape tools, you would naturally want to be able to manipulate the shapes after initial creation, pull their vertices, and then maybe do automatic inbetweening, etc etc. No! I have to draw the line somewhere. I say draw by hand! 😉

      If you must have guides, which of course have their good purposes, you can keep an imported image as a layout or separate layer and use them for templates.

      I hope you understand. I’m keeping it to the point. Light weight. Simple and uncluttered. And very fast and optimized.

      Thanks a lot for your question and beta offer. Sorry to turn you down about the shape tool! But stay tuned for more on beta, when time comes.
      – Niels

  118. Hey there! First time poster and beginner animator here!

    Any updates on the program and when we can expect a beta/release? Very much looking forward to it!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Eric – welcome! 🙂

      Yeah, I know I have been way too quiet for a long time (I am answering comments, emails, tweets, etc, but I lag in the blog department!) And that is because I have been waiting until I had solid dates to publish (for alpha and beta test releases). Still haven’t got any solid dates. We have been progressing, but also had development grind to a hold for a few times. Ups and downs. And that is how these things are unfortunately. But everything is good! I am more determined as ever to conquer any hurdles. I promise to soon publish news and more regular updates on progress…

      Best,
      Niels

  120. Hi Niels,

    I know you said you have the funding already but purely for marketing and getting the name out there for popularity purposes…would a kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign be beneficial? Even to help fund another developer for the app or something like that

    I’m just thinking of something that would speed things along…can’t wait!!!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Yeah, this has definitely crossed my mind before. It sure is a possibility. Of course setting up and running a crowdfunding campaign is requiring a lot of work in it self, but it might be well worth it. Especially I’m thinking about building a marketing budget.

      Thanks for your comment! Noted. 😉 – Niels

  121. It’s been a year already and we have no updates about the software. Can we have access to the close beta at least those who we contributed in the indigogo campaign?

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Pere, Yeah I know I owe everybody to do some updates. Things are progressing nicely, but we have had ups and downs as well. I have been waiting with updates until I had more solid dates for testing etc. Lot’s of things are going on right now – I will do a proper update very soon.

      Thanks,
      Niels

  122. I think people need to understand some things about software development, and how the process affects release dates. If someone is programming a product, and knows exactly all the features which will be included, most of the technical challenges which will raise their heads, etc., even then unexpected problems arise which can delay release. Some bugs are extremely difficult to track down and fix, different modules must pass information between themselves, and everything has to be coordinated. In a program as complex as an animation application, these are not trivial things. This does not even touch problems with the business (financing, marketing, human resources, etc.).

    So please give Neils and his team a break! He is taking a great amount of his valuable time to answer almost every question, some of them over and over again. Before you ask your question, read the entire blog, chances are it has been asked, and answered before. Neils’s time is best spent managing the process, and at this stage, I imagine they are not adding any new features. Still, ideas are good to send in for future releases.

    I have to give (almost) everyone who has asked a question or made a suggestion on this blog credit: with that one exception, everyone has been quite polite and well-behaved. This is rare. AP users must be an exceptional group of people!

    End of rant!

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Wendy! Wow, what a question! Thanks for it. 🙂

      Well, I can tell you that, as an animator, you will have to be patient! Animation takes a lot of time.

      Of course time spent depends on the skill of the animators, the software, the ambition and quality target, etc, etc. But often a full feature film can take years to make for a team of hundreds of people working together.

      On the other hand, it is actually perfectly doable for one person, or at least a very small team, to do great animation. But maybe go for a short film first, okay? 😉

      Best,
      Niels

  124. Hi, all!

    It’s been a while. Just wondering if things are still progressing toward completion with Animation Paper? Really excited to give this a spin.

    Thanks!
    -Lou

    1. Niels Krogh Mortensen

      Hi Lou,

      Thanks for checking up with us. 🙂 Everything are progressing very well and according to plan. We will release Alpha 3 (for our internal alpha test team) by the end of this week. We are going to do 7 alpha versions in total (roughly one each 4 weeks) – then all functionality will be done – and we can release the public beta. The betaversion can be tried for free or purchased as a pre-release. Beta should be this summer (August) if all goes well. I guess I’ll better write about these things as a formal blog post soon 😉

      1. Niels, this is great news. I was reading a Facebook post recently from someone that was in search of a good 2D animation program. I really wanted to encourage him to try one of the free programs out there until the release of Animation Paper, but I like getting my facts straight before I go spouting off, so thanks for the update!

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