The new Nintendo DS system -the DSi let's you download games via Wi-Fi from their store. Nintendo released a free animation creation program called Flipnote Studio. It is based on the concept of the old flipbook animations where you draw a frame of the animation on (let's say) a sticky pad and flip through the pages (Frames). It is limited to the colors blue or red on a white or black background but boy is it a load of fun for animators!! I have finally been able to have a sketch pad to animate with on the go. You can save the animations and upload them to the hosted site flipnote.hatena.com and download other animations to your DSi to watch or watch them on the website (check out the site with the caveat that a majority of what you'll see are stick figure animations or just lame petitions to get people to give them stars for ratings). But boy, dig through that and there are some gems in there to view. (Also check out the news where they feature the best animations each week and ones that were submitted for that weeks Theme).
Aardman Studio lover? - Aardman Studios animator is posting a Flipnote animation every week until Christmas 2009. Check them out under the Specials link on the flipnote website.
FYI - In Flipnote Studio you can also save your animation as an animated Gif file, or even as a sequence of GIFs. Since the DSi now has a Flashcard for storage you can transfer your GIfs to the SD card and then to your PC for further editing or to import into Anime Studio as a rough draft (with the understanding that these are small screen animations).
Let me know if anyone else is using this great tool. And for those of you looking for animation software for your kids, consider Flipnote for free if your kid has a DSi.
Flipnote Studio for DSi
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