Inchworm Animation for Nintendo DSi

By
on

Inchworm Animation will be released for the handheld Nintendo DSi platform on April 25. The app will be available for download from the DSiWare store for 500 points (or $5). It looks to be a solid tool for introducing animation to the younger set but with enough functionality that may make it appealing to more advanced animators as well. It was developed by Austin, Texas-based Flat Black Films which created the rotoscope animation in Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly.

A list of Inchworm’s features:

- create multi-layer flipbook animations

- variable-thickness antialiased brushes

- use the camera for stop-motion & time lapse

- rotoscope by tracing on top of camera footage

- different layers can have different frame lengths

- circles, rectangles and polygons (w/ border)

- translucent color and pattern fill

- custom palette storage

- pattern editor

- individual animation frame timing

- onionskin

- 6 levels of zoom

- export to SD card (SWF, BMP sequence)

- work on images up to 9999 x 9999 pixels

- cut/paste to clipboard

- rescale clipboard images

- flip and 90-degree rotate

- undo

(Thanks, Pierre Fontaine)

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  • Jeffrey Simonetta

    I wish I had a program like that on my original gameboy growing up :(

    • Chris Sobieniak

      I’m feeling the same way about that and Flipnote Studio! Both would’ve been killer apps back in our time! That sort of ability to at least animate on a screen rather than on paper and to share it in multiple ways was something we could only dream of.

  • Mike Luzzi

    “create images up to 9999 x 9999 pixels”

    Oh man, that beats Flash!

  • Chris Webb

    This product looks really cool. But what has me more jazzed than anything is that Bob Sabiston programmed it.

    I think of Bob S as a talented, enigmatic guy. Part artist, part programmer. I think he’s cool.

  • Chris Webb

    Anybody reading this ever animated on a Nintendo DSi?

    Was it a good experience? Is the drawing area large enough?

  • jake

    SOLD!

  • Autumn

    WANT THIS!

  • http://www.forthebirdsblog.blogspot.com Michael J. Ruocco

    About time somebody made a decent animation program on a handheld system, and this looks pretty neat.

    Too bad I really don’t play videogames anymore.

  • http://www.spungella.com Jean-Denis Haas

    I used Animanatee on the DS and it worked really well. The size was big enough (not too small, but of course you’d want a bigger drawing area).

  • http://www.classicparamountcartoons.blogspot.com ParamountCartoons

    Nice app for DSi.

    Hopefully , they’ll be enough creativity to last more than 3 seconds of animation in this program, unlike Kid Pix.

  • Gerard de Souza

    I thinks it’s great animation is literally in the hands of the people now. Although, I’m one of those people whose eyes are almost too screwed-up already to work on a 19″.

  • Nathan

    Wow thats very in-depth for a game console! This would be the only reason I’d get a DSi XL, you know those huge more expensive DS’s
    http://www.videogamesblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsi-xl-review-screenshot-compared-to-ds-lite.jpg

  • http://mrscriblam.tumblr.com mrscriblam

    i wanna see what they would do for the 3ds

  • LJ
  • Donald C

    Oh. I hope I can get this on my 3DS when the downloads come out.

  • http://facebook.com/theghostinyou billy polard

    holy crap i want that!

    i just finished my second animated music video with flipnote studio. jerry posted it last week on here. i NEED this! i sure could use something like that.

  • anon

    Looks really cool, but I really wish it was an app for the iPad, not on the DSi

  • http://pierrefontaine.webs.com Pierre

    This program must have been a real labor of love for the developer.

    This is going to be very, very cool!!!!

    If you are interested in “Inchworm”, give “Art Academy” a shot also. “Art Academy” is a series of art lessons wrapped around a very nicely done natural paint program that mimics pencils and paint. The pencils look great, the paint emulation seems to mimic gouache pretty well.

    Art Academy is available as a DSi download right now (two separate groups of lessons for $8 each), as well as a stand-alone game cart that retails for about $20. The first four images in this gallery were produced with “Art Academy”:

    http://pierrefontaine.webs.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=9677463

  • Pez

    looks like it’s better than flash

  • Scott Messinger

    One big problem is that you can’t print out the user manual. Each chapter is a image file, and they are so large they don’t fit on one page.

    So, to learn how to use it, you either have to sit in front of a different computer, or keep switching back and forth between the user guide and actually using the software.

    Both my son and I are very frustrated with it.