5 Ways to use Flipnote Studio in Animation Projects

Flipnote Studio and Flipnote Studio 3D are more powerful tools than they are given credit for. It's easy to focus on their shortcomings: for example, low audio quality, low resolution, and limited audio length. But despite these flaws, there are numerous ways that animators of any experience level can use Flipnote Studio in their projects. Here are my top 5.

1. Storyboards

As many readers of this blog will know, Shigeru Miyamoto used Flipnote Studio to storyboard his Pikmin short films. The storyboards are included as bonus content when you download the films for Wii U or 3DS. There is better storyboard software available, but Flipnote Studio has the advantages of being portable, simple, and free. You can even change the speed and add sound effects. Whee!

2. Create resources

This idea comes from one of my favorite projects involving Flipnote Studio, seen above. (Watch it in HD and full screen!) The creator of this video, Arman Bohn, used Flipnote Studio to create over 250 objects, and exported them as GIFs. These resources were then composed into a music video, using professional editing software AfterEffects. The final product isn't a "Flipnote" by any stretch of the imagination, but the beautifully jaggy line art associated with Flipnote shines through in this music video. Again, the advantage is that the creator didn't have to be at home, or at work, or anywhere in particular to create the resources. They could be drawn on a bus ride, or while laying in bed.

3. Draw scenes

This idea is much less editing-intensive than the previous one, but it still works quite well. For this music video, the creator exported many scenes from Flipnote Studio, and compiled these scenes to sync with the music. This entire music video (minus the music) could be entirely created using Flipnote Studio and Windows Movie Maker. And it still tells a beautifully sad story with awesomely stylized art.

4. Rough animation

This technique is great for those who have an animation software like Flash or Toon Boom Studio, but find drawing with a drawing tablet to be...less than ideal. (Especially if you have a simple tablet with no screen.) With Flipnote Studio, you can draw directly on the screen without buying a $1000 Cintiq. Then, you can export the animation as a GIF, import it into your software of choice, and trace over the lines to clean things up. (Or you could, you know, use a pencil and paper. But who does that these days?)

5. Do everything in Flipnote Studio!

If you do this strategy, you are committing to dealing with all the limitations that come with Flipnote Studio. You'll have to record your audio using the tiny and tinny DSi microphone. By the way, the audio has to be under one minute long, is that okay? Oh, and don't forget the file size limit Flipnotes have. You know, the dreaded "Space Bar?" That's right, even one minute of animation is too large most of the time. But despite all of these limitations with creating a "true" Flipnote...they're the only thing you can post on Flipnote Hatena Sudomemo, and as such, the only thing that can receive Stars. So really, it's a no-brainer.

That's the article, folks. What else can you use Flipnote Studio for? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments!