The animated world really can be anyone’s oyster.
[dropcap size=small]H[/dropcap]ave you ever watched an animated film from the likes of Studio Ghibli and thought, ‘yeah, I’d like to do that?’
Well, recently Cartoon Brew reported that the 2D animation software Toonz – used to make some of Ghibli’s gorgeous animated films, as well as other animated greats like Matt Groening’s Futurama – has announced it is soon to be a free and open source.
What this means is that the software, known as OpenToonz, will be open to anyone and everyone to use from March 26.
Of course, you need to have a story, and someone with artistic talent on board, but this could essentially change the animated game in a big way.
We can thank the Japanese publisher Dwango for OpenToonz, as they struck a deal to acquire Toonz and develop an open source based on the software from Digital Video, an Italian tech company who has owned the software since 1993.
Toonz has done work for Ghibli titles such as Ponyo, Howl’s Moving Castle, and The Wind Rises. The open software has been given the moniker of ‘Toonz Ghibli edition,’ due to the amount of customised features the software has developed over the years to meet specific needs for Ghibli projects.
There will still be a premium version of the software offered to companies at a ‘competitive price’ for those who wish to use it for their big animated features. Digital Video will also continue to market, develop, and support the software, as well as offer up training and customisation practices to studios.
There are surely so many out there with the talent to make the next Howl’s Moving Castle, but they don’t have the resources to get things in motion. Giving them the tools to do so freely, means more aspiring animators will have an opportunity to have get their animated pipe-dreams made, and have a shot at doing what they love.
It truly is a wonderful thing.
The free software could have quite the impact on the world of animation, and it’s quite an exciting prospect to imagine just what may come out of it in future.
The open source version of Toonz will be officially presented in Tokyo at Anime Japan, March 26 and 27.
