September 3 - 9:55am EDT   iPresentee has released Keynote Animations 2.0, an expansion on to its existing line of animations; the set keeps 50 animations from the previous release and adds 30 new animations -- all of which support transparency allowing them to be used on any background. The animations can be resized, rotated, increased or decreased in opacity or overlapped to create new effects. Adding animations has been made as simple as possible, a user must only select the desired animation and then drag it into the appropriate location on a slide. [full story]

August 21 - 4:35pm EDT   In SIGGRAPH news, DAZ 3D has announced its ARENA Real-Time Mocap plug-in for DAZ Studio, bringing motion capture to the 3D animation tool. Also at SIGGRAPH, Andersson Technologies' camera tracking software SynthEyes 2008 has been upgraded for 8-core compatibility. [full story]

August 12 - 4:50pm EDT   Maxon on Tuesday unveiled Cinema 4D Release 11, a major update to its 3D animation suite, introducing an enhanced lighting engine, animation tools, and improved render speeds, among other features. In addition to the aforementioned inclusions, Cinema 4D now offers enhanced compatibility with other industry software, such as the COLLADA file format, and the CineMan Renderman accompaniment. The updated sweet also comes with BodyPaint 3D Release 4, which now includes WACOM tablet support. [full story]

July 25 - 6:40pm EDT   On Friday, Toon Boom Animation announced the upcoming release of Toon Boom Studio 4.5, and the immediate release of Flip Book Classic. Toon Boom Studio 4.5 has been updated to offer extended ease of use, more export options, and better integration with various flies. Users can now import multi-layer Photoshop files for more detailed multi-plane effects, characters and backgrounds. They can also import photos and build a library of key poses, which can then be animated using various cut-out techniques. The update further looks to streamline the animation process by integrating drag-and-drop functionality with templates, movies and photos. This allows a user to quickly ... [full story]

June 23 - 2:20pm EDT   Aquafados says the new version of its PulpMotion Advanced slideshow software comes with a new animation theme. The “Pulse” theme includes “punchy animation,” lots of images and ”sophisticated transitions,” according to the company. Equipped with several presets, Pulse allows users to adjust the timing of each shot and to create “zones of interest” to focus viewer attention. The update is available immediately. [full story]

June 23 - 1:55pm EDT   Kinemac has announced Kinemac 1.6.6 , a bug-fix release of its 3D real-time animation software for Mac OS X. The company says anyone can create professional-level 3-D animations using its software. Kinemac plays animations in real-time in full screen mode, and can export to QuickTime or to a series of still images. The software is designed with TV advertising, movie trailers, video clips and scrolling messages in mind, and retails for $300. It requires Mac OS X 10.4.9 or higher and a graphic card with 128MB VRAM or better. [full story]

June 12 - 4:00pm EDT   Side Effects Software has released a public beta of Houdini 9.5, its node-based 3D animation software that allows artists to collaborate from different platforms. Houdini has been used in the production of a number of major Hollywood films, including The Chronicles of Narnia, and all three Spider-Man movies, but until now was only available for Windows and Linux. The Mac version requires a 64-bit Intel Mac running Leopard, and is set for final release on July 15. [full story]

June 5 - 12:05am EDT   It is a common fact the Mac is great for creating and working with graphics, but for too many people, the idea of drawing anything, especially on the computer, is too intimidating. Even worse, most graphics programs for the Mac assume you’re already an experienced graphics artist who won’t mind spending $400 or more for a high-end program loaded with every possible feature. Fortunately for aspiring artists, Toon Boom Studios has teamed up with artist Peter H. Reynolds (author of the books “The Dot” and the “Judy Moody” series) to create Animation-ish. [full story]

May 28 - 11:35pm EDT   Toon Boom Animation and educational publisher FableVision on Wednesday released Animation-Ish, a new software program that offers “do-it-yourself” animation. The software seeks to leverage the “ish” philosophy that art pieces don’t need to create a mirror image of reality to effectively convey ideas, which was popularized by New York Times Bestselling children’s book author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds in his best-selling books “The Dot” and “Ish”. Reynolds uses a playful, low-stress approach to coach children and adults to think “ishfully” about their art and be brave about expressing their creativity and originality. Animation-ish featuresmore than 50 “Inspire Me” ... [full story]

May 14 - 7:55pm EDT   DAZ 3D recently announced the immediate availability of Mimic Pro for Carrara, a plug-in enabling seamless lip-synching, sound analysis, and speech animation simulations directly within Carrara 6.2. Mimic Pro provides an advanced environment for creating facial animation sequences, such as winks, nods and smiles, allowing 3D characters to obtain a greater level of expression. [full story]

April 10 - 12:55am EDT   Creaceed recently announced Morph Age 4, a major update to its image morphing and warping tool that allows users to make keyframed transforming animations. The new version is exclusively compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, and takes advantage of technology present in both the Intel processors and the GPU. Morph Age comes in two versions: Regular for $60, and Pro – which can make use of video sources as well as imagery – for $150. [full story]

April 5 - 4:00pm EDT   Montreal-based Toon Boom Animation today unveiled Toon Boom Studio Express 4, a major update to its "light" animation software suite that introduces many new features and a revamped user interface. Toon Boom says that the interface is more user friendly, with docking interface items. A new calligraphic brush style was added to give animations a unique look. Toon Boom Studio Express 4 is available directly for a special of $100, $50 off its normal price. [full story]

April 4 - 7:10pm EDT   Aquafadas has released BannerZest 1.0, a new Flash presentation application for Mac OS X. The tool allows creators to turn images into a gallery, a navigation banner, or a slideshow in a series of steps. BannerZest ships as both a standard edition and a pro version. The pro edition adds advanced publishing options, workflow enhancements, and specific Pro templates. The tool integrates with popular javascript media viewer applications that let the user visualize high resolution versions of each of the banner images. [full story]

March 29 - 3:50pm EDT   Reallusion recently unveiled CrazyTalk 5.0, a major update to its 3D character animation and lip-syncing application, adding support for non-human characters, enhanced facial meshes, and more. CrazyTalk 5.0 features real-time puppeteer control through the mouse or other input device, as well as five default puppet profiles, which can give the avatar a wicked, goofy, youthful, attractive, or grumpy demeanor. CrazyTalk 5.0 sells for $50, with a Pro version available for $150. [full story]

March 14 - 3:00pm EDT   Toon Boom Animation has announced the release of both Storyboard and Storyboard Pro 1.5 today. In addition to several performance improvements and the support of Mac OS X 10.5 that apply to both products, version 1.5 also brings new features in the Pro version only. In this latest release, Storyboard Pro adds support of Final Draft, Acrobat and Photoshop file format and improved editing capabilities in the timeline as well as enhanced drawings tools. [full story]