Summary: If you want to get the unique look of hand-drawn animation, but don’t have the budge, or the skills to hand draw it in After Effects or Boris Red, as ToonIt! is the best choice out there. You have to have a computer with a really, really, really, fast CPU for rendering until the software is threaded for multicore processing. I would have rated this higher if it had better rendering times.
Target Aps
Any video production needing hand-drawn animation style on a budget
What It Costs You
$295
What's Cool
This is an easy-to-use but sophisticated tool that will make your video really stand out.
What's Missing
The render times are from bad to horrendous, since the app is not threaded for multiple processors.
Specs
Windows:
Windows 2000
Win XP Home
Win XP Pro
Vista 32-bit;
Premiere Pro 2.0 + higher
After Effects 5.5 and higher.
Mac:
Mac OS X (10.0) + higher
After Effects 5.5 and higher
Final Cut Pro 5.1.4 + higher
Motion 2.1.2 + higher
Smart Advice
ToonIt! works particularly well with Adobe Premiere Pro CS3.
The next version of ToonIt!, version 1.1, is still in beta but will be out shortly. Rendering times are greatly improved.
Marc Franklin owns Franklin Video Productions in Oak Park, CA.
You can’t miss it these days, whether on TV, in film or even in those airline safety videos we all watch before a flight— that popular effect that transforms a regular live-action shot into a line-drawn, highly detailed animation. Digital Anarchy introduced ToonIt! at NAB 2007 as a plug-in for Premiere Pro, After Effects and other packages, allowing mere mortals access to this wonderful effect.
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