Toonz, one of the best animation software, going open source

26 Feb 2019

Toonz is going open source as reported. The animation software has been used for the creation of innumerable animation classics like the Princess Mononoke. According to the reports, an Italian Studio Digital Video has made a deal with the Japanese Media Company Dwango regarding the production of a free version of the animation software. The reports have it that the open source version of Toonz will be called OpenToonz and is expected to be a boon to the international animation industry.

According to the statement by the Managing Director of Digital Video, Claudio Mattei, the deal that they have had with Dwango will enable people from all over the world to use Toonz for various forms of animation. He also added, “The contract with Dwango, which offers the Toonz open source platform to the animation community, has enabled Digital Video to realize one of its strategies, i.e. to make of Toonz a world standard for 2D animation.”

Toonz was first released in the year 1993 and since then has been a major playmaker in the animation industry. Initially, when the software started off, it used to turn hand drawn paintings and graphics into lectors paintings and graphics. Since then, the software has gone through a multiple changes and advancements. The current version of the software can literally create an animation sequence from a single hand drawn painting or graphical image.

Studio Ghibli has been one of the outright users of Toonz. They have been using the software since 1995. Toonz is also used by studios like Rough Draft and the makers of The Simpsons – The Movie. According to the statement by Atsushi Okui, Studio Ghibli’s Executive Imaging Director, “Our requirement was that in order to continue producing theatre-quality animation without additional stress, the software must have the ability to combine the hand-drawn animation with the digitally painted ones seamlessly.”

The OpenToonz project will certainly allow the animators all over to world to experience the techniques that have been pioneered over the year and that too without the expense of any money.

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