Digital Video, the makers of TOONZ, and Dwango, a Japanese publisher, recently announced that they have signed 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 agreed to close the deal under the condition that Dwango will publish and develop an Open Source platform based on Toonz (OpenToonz). Effective Saturday 26 March, the TOONZ Studio Ghibli Version will be made available to the animation community as a free download.
OpenToonz will include features developed by Studio Ghibli (*Toonz Ghibli Edition) which has been a long time Toonz user. Through OpenToonz, Dwango will create a platform that will aim to have research labs and the animated film industry actively cooperating with each other.
Commenting on this exciting announcement, Studio Ghibli, executive imaging director, Atsushi Okui said “During the production of ‘Princess Mononoke’ in 1995, we needed a software enabling us to create a certain section of the animation digitally. We checked for what was available at that time and chose ‘Toonz’. Our requirement was that in order to continue producing theatre-quality animation without additional stress, the software must have the ability to combine the hand-drawn animation with the digitally painted ones seamlessly. From then onwards we continued to use the software while going through major updates to make it easier for us to use. We are happy to hear that this open source version contains the Ghibli Edition. We hope that many people inside and outside of the animation industry will utilise this software for their work. We would like to extend our gratitude to the staff of Digital Video.”
With this agreement in place, Digital Video will move to the open source business model, offering to the industry commissioning, installation and configuration, training, support and customization services while allowing the animators’ community to use a state of the art technology at no cost.
Digital Video will also continue to develop and market a Toonz Premium version at a very competitive price for those companies willing to invest in the customisation of Toonz for their projects. A comprehensive list of the new services available can be found at Toonz Premium website.
The makers of TOONZ, MD at Digital Video, Claudio Mattei said: “The contract with Dwango, which offers the Toonz open source platform to the animation community, has enabled Digital Video to realize one of its strategies, i.e. to make of Toonz a world standard for 2D animation. This deal will be also the starting point of a new exciting plan to endorse the Open Source business model, by supporting training and customizing Toonz for the old and new users. We are proud to share this path with Dwango and with Studio Ghibli, the renowned Toonz user since 1995.”
The open source version of TOONZ will be officially presented in Tokyo at Anime Japan o 26 and 27 March.