If you’re into the creation of professional animated graphics or you’re an artist looking to design your very own masterpiece using live-like animation, Smith Micro’s Anime Studio Pro 6 for both Windows and Mac is an impressively powerful tool.
Smith Micro’s Anime Studio Pro 6 ($199) is a vast update over the previous versions and adds many great new features. Enhancements to version 6 include motion tracking, integrated lip-syncing, a scatter brush, auto shading, morph targets, a new sequencer, HD video support along with the ability to export to more video formats and better scripting. This edition also adds speedier production times, improved drawing and design enhancements, the ability to directly upload content to YouTube right from the application and a large collection of predesigned graphics, sounds and templates.
I decided to put Mac version of the product to the test and the results stacked up well. One thing to note is this is a very large piece of software. The installation took about 578 megabytes of disk space, so I would recommend you have plenty of space before you go ahead and decide install this product. Other than that, the installation was smooth and took only about two minutes.
Anime Pro sports a sleek, clean interface, reminiscent of Photoshop or Flash. Performance-wise, everything seemed to run smoothly and I never ran up on any errors. Because this product is designed for professional use, there’s a bit of a learning curve and training may be necessary to fully utilize the capabilities of the software, but those who have used this product before will be satisfied with the interface, commands, tools and navigation of the application.
The applications preloaded content is especially useful for people who are just starting off. Within fifteen minutes I had my own animation going (AnimeStudioPro sample). It’s simple, but it just shows that in less then fifteen minutes, someone who has never used this product can get right to work with the simple, yet familiar interface.
The product retails for $199 new or $129 to upgrade from a previous version. If you currently use previous versions of this software, the new features are definitely worth the upgrade cost.
You can purchase this product online from Smith Micro’s online store.
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