Smith Micro Software's Productivity and Graphics
Group has released Anime Studio Debut 6 and Anime
Studio Pro 6, both of which are available in Mac
and Windows versions. The former offers a
comprehensive set of easy-to-use animation tools
that help hobbyists, artists, and students create
animations and cartoons for home videos, school
projects, or their web sites, and even share them
via social networking sites such as Facebook and
YouTube.

Anime Studio Debut 6 offers a new, streamlined
interface for creating animations and digital
shorts in the style of South Park and JibJab,
says Steve Yatson, senior director of Graphics
Solutions at Smith Micro Software. Anime Studio
artists can import photos, videos and scanned
drawings and browse from ae library of content
that includes ready-to-use characters, props,
action words, stock video, images and sound
effects. Other new features include built in
lip-syncing and motion tracking. Anime Studio
Debut 6 features include:

° Enhanced drawing tools -- you can create
vector-based characters and objects with Anime
Studio's new suite of drawing tools that include
a vector-based paintbrush and intuitive pen and
pencil-style creation tools;

° A Content Library that boasts a visual content
library containing hundreds of content materials
including ready-to-use characters, stock video,
sound effects and imagery to enhance creations;

° The ability to publish for multiple media --
you can output finished creations directly to
YouTube or save them as popular video, TV and web
formats, including SWF Flash animation files, as
well as AVI and MOV movie files;

° Integrated lip-syncing, which offers
professional quality lip-syncing based on sound
amplitude;

° Motion Tracking -- objects can now be attached
to visual markers in any video clip, allowing
users to match object and video motion;

° A new Sequencer lets you adjust the timing and
synchronization of audio and video tracks by
utilizing the simple timeline. You can mix and
match audio, video, images and animated
components to create digital shorts and
animations.

The manufacturer's suggested retail price for
Anime Studio Debut 6 is US$49.99, with upgrades
from previous versions priced at $19.99. Anime
Studio 6 is available direct from the Smith Micro
online store at http://www.smithmicro.com/anime
and resellers, catalogs and distribution partners
worldwide.

For a limited time, owners of Anime Studio Debut
can upgrade to Anime Studio Pro 6 for $129.99.
Site licensing and educational pricing is also
available.

Speaking of Anime Studio Pro 6s, it speeds up
production time with features such as motion
tracking, built-in lip-syncing, vector-based
drawing tools, bone-rigging and the ability to
import scanned drawings and images, Yatson says.
Anime Studio Pro 6 also contains an extensive
library of ready-to-use content that includes
fully rigged characters, props, action words,
stock video, images and sound effects allowing
users to focus on creating compelling animations
and digital shorts, he adds.

It contains all the features of Studio Debut, plus:

° A Scatter Brush -- you can paint with vectors
while controlling the size and spacing of each
individual object. You can create seemingly
random fills such as grass, bubbles or stars in a
night sky;

° Scripting with LUA 5.1 -- you can update to the
LUA engine with more exposure of Anime Studio's
inner workings. It provides more power to create
tools and plug-ins, create particle effects such
as fire and explosions, and customize tool
behaviors to support individual user's workflow;

° Auto Shading -- similar to Ambient Occlusion,
it creates realistic shading based on lines and
object contrast within each layer creating
stylistic 3D effects;

° Morph Targets let you create, save, and blend
morph targets to combine character expressions
and emotions. You can save and reuse previous
poses and character positions and even blend
colors and fills;

° HD video support -- full support for importing
and exporting high definition video files, then
integrating them with toon characters, props,
audio and special effects for high-definition
creations;

° Professional output -- lets users output video
and animation of unlimited length to formats
including NTSC/PAL D1/DV standard and Widescreen,
HDV and HDTV 780p and 1080p, as well as AVI, MOV
and Flash.

The manufacturer's suggested retail price for
Anime Studio Pro 6 is $199.99, with upgrades from
previous versions priced at $129.99. Anime Studio
Pro 6 is available direct from the Smith Micro
online store.