FlipBook Studio

FlipBook Studio is our mid-range product for independent animators and students. Like all FlipBook versions it includes all the standard features that make FlipBook so easy and yet so powerful.

In addition to having up to 1,000 frames FlipBook Studio also has up to 6 levels including the background. This is a huge advantage in creating your animated films. It lets you put each character on its own layer the way the pros do and you can even spread characters across several layers to simplify the animation process.

The xsheet below is from a scene that was done by William Finn. Some of Wills credits include The Secret of Nim, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontus and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  This is a great example of what you can do if you have more levels.

"This character was done in four levels, each level took less than an hour to do (not including painting).

"My first step was to create a digital sketch file with a full figure of the character in an "angry" walk pose and use that as my "layout pose."  I was able to make that pose visible throughout the animation process as needed, to keep proportions and scale correct. I could also turn it off to isolate the level I was working on. Next, I animated the legs and feet and then adjusted the timing a bit on the x-sheet until I was completely happy with them. Next I did the body and head, the arms, and the ears and hair on successive levels. I tried exposing the head and body on 4's (a new drawing every 4 frames) but quickly saw that it was way too slow and a few quick adjustments allowed me to change it to 2's and then repeat those drawings to work with the feet. I liked how that looked so I did the arms, ears & hair levels at the same rate to work with the head and body. I ultimately felt it ran better at 30frames/second instead of 24, but again, the software makes that change a snap.

The whole operation made for one of the smoothest on every level I could hope for. Animating a walk on multiple levels can get very hairy on paper and in the "old" days we had to re-shoot every time. It could get very confusing and time consuming. This let me concentrate on one aspect of the figure at a time, simplifying the actions without complicating the process."

                                                                                           Will Finn

Click here to watch the scene play.

(You may want to make your player loop so you can get a better look.)