Toonz Goes Open Source - Toonz Application That Used Studio Ghibli And To Make Futurama Goes Open Source

Digital Video, the makers of TOONZ, and DWANGO, a Japanese publisher, announced today they may have agreed upon an agreement for the acquisition by Dwango of Toonz, an animation software which was independently developed by Digital Video (Rome, Italy).
Digital Video and Dwango decided to close the deal under the situation Dwango will publish and develop an Open Source program based on Toonz (OpenToonz). Effective Saturday March twenty six, the TOONZ Studio Ghibli Version will be made available to the movement community as a no cost down load.

OpenToonz will include features developed by Studio Ghibli (*Toonz Ghibli Edition) which has been quite a while Toonz user. Through OpenToonz, Dwango will create a system that will aim to have research labs and the animated film industry actively cooperating with each other. With this arrangement in place, Digital Online video will move to the free business model, offering to the industry ordering, installation & configuration, training, support and customization services while allowing the animators' community to utilize a state of the fine art technology at no cost.

Digital Video will also carry on and develop and market a Toonz Premium version at a very competitive price for those companies willing to purchase the customization of Toonz for their projects. Commenting about this exciting announcement, Mr. Atsushi Okui, Executive Imaging Overseer at Studio Ghibli said "During the production of 'Princess Mononoke' in 95, we needed a software enabling us to create a certain section of the animation digitally. We all checked for what was available at that point and chose 'Toonz'. Our need was that in order to keep producing theatre-quality movement without additional stress, the software need to have the capacity to incorporate the hand-drawn animation with the electronically painted ones seamlessly. By then onwards we extended to use the software while dealing with major improvements to make it easier for people to use. We all are happy to listen to that this open source version provides the Ghibli Edition. We hope that numerous people inside and outdoors of the animation industry will utilize this software for their work. All of us would like to prolong our gratitude to the staff of Digital Online video. "

Claudio Mattei, Handling Director at Digital Online video, the makers of TOONZ, said:
"The contract with Dwango, which offers the Toonz open source program to the animation community, has enabled Digital Online video to realize the strategies, i. e. to make of Toonz a world standard for 2D movement. This deal will be also the starting point of a new fascinating plan to endorse the Free business model, by supporting training and designing Toonz for the old and new users. All of us are proud to discuss this path with Dwango and with Studio Ghibli, the renowned Toonz consumer since 1995". Mister Nobuo Kawakami, Chairman and CTO at Dwango, added:
"It is a great honour for us to release OpenToonz as free ware trojan.
We'd like to express our greatest appreciation to Digital Online video and Studio Ghibli for help and support Seriously is endless the top quality software that meets the demands of animation specialists will contribute to stimulating the animation industry. Dwango will also utilize OpenToonz in order to present its r and g results. "

The free version of TOONZ will be officially presented in Tokyo at Anime Asia (March 26 and 27)