e frontier on Thursday announced the release of Anime Studio 5, a cross-platform 2D animation and cartoon creation software application. It uses “bone rigging” — a technique usually only found in 3D graphics software. Available in standard and pro versions, Anime Studio costs $49.99 and $199.99 respectively.
Previously known as “Moho” by Lost Marble, Anime Studio touts character and object creation capabilities, with support for vector-based drawing and pen tablets, importing from Photoshop and 3D applications; layout and organization tools like layering, keyframe animation and timeline; output to AVI, MOV and Flash formats; voice and music track creation, subtitles; hundreds of pre-rigged items, professionally drawn characters and props, and much more.
System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.3.9 or later, G4/G5 500MHz or faster (Intel processors are supported — Anime Studio is a Universal binary), 256MB RAM, 50MB hard disk space, 16-bit color display with 1024 x 768 resolution and CD-ROM drive.
Special pricing is also available to educational institutions.