ProjectProposal-JohnathanHawley

Target User Group – The target user group for this project includes animators, artists, and anyone interested in animating their own cartoons. A large subset of my friends and family have had interest of one kind or another in art. Among them a good portion have had a particular interest in animation. Tools for experimenting with animation have been entirely unavailable. Many who are interested in this field obtain no experience until after they are in college. Additionally, those with experience in animation, or who use it as a source of income, might find it useful to have a more flexible way of animating their sketches without the use of industrial equipment and being confined to an office.

Goal – The goal of this project is to simplify the animation process, and put the tools for its composition in the hands of the general population. In order for one to find this interface useful, one would need to be competent enough to create a flipbook. The Anoto pen would be used to ink and digitize the drawings. From there software would be used to digitally ‘flip’ the frames. Features built into Java or other development kits would be available to add elements like color and sound to the cartoons. The Anoto pen has not been used for creating animation as far as what information the internet has yielded. In 2001 Motorola talked of some advanced technology called iSketch that uses a digital pen to send animated messages. In this case the digital pen is used to select a cartoon that has already been animated rather than use it to create animation. This technology was not found on Motorola’s web site and I assume it has been left behind. This article can be found at (http://telephonyonline.com/wireless/news/wireless_motorolas_im_mo/). Another article similarly stated that technology developed by Mixipix & Sysnet allows the Nokia Digital Pen to select and send animated cartoon messages. Likewise, this technology is not used to create animation with the digital pen. More on this can be found at (http://partner.anoto.com/cldoc/13894.htm).

Other Options – Software packages like Flash and others are already available on the market and can be used for animation. Drawbacks to these tools include having to awkwardly draw with a mouse. Being able to draw on paper is a much more familiar environment for most artists to work in. Additionally, hand drawn animation has a unique style of its own that can not be duplicated with computer driven techniques.

Foreseeable Concerns – Problems with digital paper and alignment might arise. The paper would have to be sectioned off into frames and each frame would have to be the exact size as all the others for the cartoon to look smooth while running. Each frame would either need to be a standard size or software would need to be able to optically separate each frame on the digital paper. Problems with optical recognition might additionally arise during this process.