Smith Micro & Wacom partner on multi-touch solution
January 27, 2012

Smith Micro & Wacom partner on multi-touch solution

ALISO VIEJO, CA — Smith Micro Software, Inc. Productivity and Graphics Group and Wacom Americas (www.wacom.com) have formed a partnership to bring the ease of multi-touch functionality to animators and digital artists. Smith Micro Anime Studio customers can now use finger gestures on Wacom Bamboo Multi-Touch tablets with a special upgrade to Anime Studio 8.1. The Anime Studio 8.1 update includes over 30 new features, performance enhancements and integrated user feedback. 

Multi-touch is a new way for artists and animators to speed up design time. The solution lets artists use simple finger taps and finger gestures to create and adjust characters, objects and scenes, zoom in and out of the canvas, drag and drop, rotate, scale and more.  

"Over the past few years, the iPhone and multi-touch finger gestures have dramatically changed the way people expect to work with their favorite tools and software," explains Steve Yatson, senior director, productivity & graphics, consumer division of Smith Micro Software. "We are thrilled to be the first in the industry to pioneer the use of multi-touch technology to create one-of-a-kind Anime Studio artwork and animations using Wacom tablets."

"This is especially important to those who create art on computers,” adds Wacom VP of marketing Scott Rawlings. “Technology needs to embrace the natural way of working so creativity can flow with less interruption and with less obstruction. Coordinating seamless integration of pen and multi-touch with natural and intuitive creative software will have a dramatic impact on our customers' joy in creating art."

The Anime Studio 8.1 Update features the Wacom Feel Multi-Touch API, over 30 performance enhancements and support for importing SVG vector files.

Anime Studio 8.1 (www.anime.smithmicro.com) is available in different versions for novice and advanced users. Anime Studio Pro ($199.99) is designed for professional animators and is equipped with features for producing cartoons and animations for film, video and online media. For first-time animators, hobbyists and digital artists, Anime Studio Debut ($49.99) is a quick and affordable way to create animations and artwork, offering a Beginner's Mode and Character Wizard to help users design their own ready-to-animate characters.