Colors! is a painting program that takes advantage of the pressure sensitivity of the Nintendo DS touch-screen to create a digital sketch-book. Animator Sheila Graber, who has been experimenting with it, told us; “It is great for ‘smudge and click’ as I used to call it in ye pastel days when I used 16mm film. It is SO much easier using this programe and you don’t get your hands dirty! I can recommend it for animators of today”.
During her long and illustrious career Sheila has produced a number of “face to face” movies where one face dissolves into another. Now she has produced one using Colors! called “Facelife”. It covers life from cradle to grave through various faces.
Facelife, by Sheila Graber.
You can find out more about the program at the Colors! website. There you will find a FAQ page that tells you all you need to know about running the program on your Nintendo DS, a gallery of drawings produced with Colors! and a page where you can download the program free.
Another animation program for the Nintendo DSi is Flipnote Studio. This has an onion skin feature so that you can see your previous drawings. You can also record sound and add sound effects to your animation. However, it does not appear to use the pressure sensitivity of the touch-screen like the Colors! program. Flipnote Studio is available as a free download from the Nintendo DSi Shop.
If you have used either of these programs let us know your thoughts about them in a comment to this post.
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Wow, this video looks great. I am tempted to buy a Nintendo DS just to use Colors!
Cheers,
Sue.
There are several example animations of Flipnote Studio the Nintendo DSi Shop. It gives more of a cartoon effect with black outlines rather than the blended pastel result from Colors! Has anyone tried this program?