Open Planet Software

Introducing Smoovie for iPad 1.1

Open Planet Software — 2012-05-04T13:51:29+01:00

We are very excited to announce that Smoovie for iPad 1.1 is now available on the App Store.

Smoovie 1.1 is now fully optimised for the new iPad with gorgeous, high resolution graphics to make the most of the new Retina Display. But there’s more…

We believe that one of the strengths of iPad is how easily a user can bring together a few small, simple apps to create amazing content that was never imagined by the original developers. So we’ve enhanced our copy and paste support to make it incredibly simple to add content from other apps into your animations.

For example, you could include pictures from the Photos app, create titles with Keynote or turn sketches from your favourite drawing app into cartoons.

We can't wait to see what awesome animations you create with the all-new new copy and paste!

The new iPad makes Smoovie even better!

Open Planet Software — 2012-03-07T21:14:52+00:00

Before the new iPad was announced earlier today, the rumours were that it would feature a vastly improved camera and an ultra high resolution ‘Retina’ display. Here at Smoovie HQ we are delighted that these rumours have come true as it means that Smoovie for iPad users will soon be able to create and view their animations in crystal clear HD quality.

We’re busy making sure that Smoovie for iPad is ready to make best use of the brilliant new iSight camera and Retina display and a free update will be available on the App Store as soon after the 16th March as possible. We can't wait to see the fantastic creations you make with Smoovie and the new iPad. Keep sending them in!

App Of The Day!

Open Planet Software — 2012-02-06T11:57:37+00:00

Smoovie for iPad has been chosen as App Of The Day on KnowYourApps.com.

KnowYourApps.com is the website for the popular UK based ‘Apps Magazine’ from Imagine Publishing.

As well as being App of the Day, they have awarded Smoovie for iPad a full 5 stars! They also praise Smoovie’s user interface and ease of use and conclude their review by saying “if you love making movies or just want some fun with your family, this is great for bringing day-to-day items to life”.

You can read the full review of Smoovie for iPad on KnowYourApps.com or in issue 16 of Apps Magazine.

Christmas Stop Motion Animation Ideas

Open Planet Software — 2011-12-21T21:09:47+00:00

Making a stop motion animation at the weekend or during the holidays is the ideal way to spend a fun and relaxed time with the family.

Here are some great ideas for making a Christmas animation. Why not try some of them out or make up your own storyline and characters. Remember that you can make stop motion animations with anything. Using items in your home and even people themselves can be just as effective as traditional claymation, or why not make a 2D animation using characters drawn on paper and cut out.

Once you have created your Christmas masterpieces then do send them to us and we will put our favourites on the website.

1. Growing Snowman. We all love to build a snowman. This winter why not make a smoovie of your snowman as he (or she!) is being built.

2. Footprints in the Snow. Here is a challenge, especially when working with children! Make a smoovie of footprints moving across the snow. Someone with very good balance will be needed to follow the footprints backwards after adding each new footprint at the front of the line! Perhaps you could include them in your snowman story.

3. Disappearing Turkey. Who can make the best smoovie of the turkey gradually disappearing on Christmas Day?

4. Magical Unwrapping Presents. Make a smoovie of the presents unwrapping themselves. A lot of patience is required for this one. Perhaps not the easiest one for the kids!

5. Some Story Ideas. Why not make up a story entitled Santaʼs Visit or The Reindeer Ride and see where your imagination takes you!

6. The Nativity Story. Here is a good project for kids. How about making a smoovie of the traditional nativity story and invite the family to the movie premiere on Christmas Day. If you have a nativity scene already you can use that or why not get the kids to make it themselves. For great nativity scene ideas visit http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/handmade_nativity_scene.htm and http://lessonplans.craftgossip.com/nativity-scene-kids-craft-round-up/2009/12/24

7. Christmas Crafts for Kids. Make some Christmas kids crafts and animate them. Some of the best animations are made in this way. There are some great kids craft websites which you can visit for free ideas and instructions. Here are links to some of our favourites.

Have a great Christmas everyone and happy animating!!

iCreate Magazine's 'Amazing Mac Apps'

Open Planet Software — 2011-12-16T20:48:56+00:00

iCreate (issue 102) has chosen Smoovie to feature in their article entitled Amazing Mac Apps in which they claim to discover "the best Mac software known to man". There are some awesome apps included in their list such as Pixelmator, Boinx TV, djay and Bento. We are over the moon to see Smoovie alongside such illustrious company.

What the press are saying about Smoovie for iPad

Open Planet Software — 2011-12-14T20:33:56+00:00

Mac Life and Tap! Magazine have reviewed Smoovie this week and they both awarded Smoovie four stars!

★★★★☆ - Mac Life - “Smoovie's ease of use makes stop-motion animation a joy, rather than a painful or time-consuming struggle, and filmmakers and families alike should have fun bringing inanimate objects to life for hours on end”.

Read the full review on maclife.com.

★★★★☆ - Tap! Magazine- "Making a short stop-motion animation film is far from easy, but Open Planet Software have created a program that makes this process so simple and intuitive you’ll be churning out movies in no time at all”.

Read the full review on Tap! Magazine’s site.

Needless to say, we are thrilled by the reception Smoovie for iPad is getting!

Smoovie for iPad has arrived!

Open Planet Software — 2011-10-28T18:19:26+01:00

We are delighted to announce the release of our stop motion animation App Smoovie for iPad 2.

"The iPad has revolutionised the way we learn, work and play and Smoovie for iPad complements this perfectly" said Gordon Murrison, co-founder of Open Planet Software. “It's fantastic that the power of iPad 2's new A5 processor has allowed us to create an app which can edit movies in realtime without the need for rendering.

The aspiration for Smoovie is to make it powerful enough for amateur filmmakers while keeping it simple enough for young children, and the iPad is the perfect tool with which to make this a reality. WIth iPad’s intuitive multitouch gestures and Smoovie’s immediately familiar environment of film strips and clapperboards, it’s now easy for anyone to make amazing animations”.

Smoovie for iPad is available on the App Store.

Steve Jobs

Open Planet Software — 2011-10-06T11:14:25+01:00

Yesterday was a very sad day for anyone whose life has been touched by Apple. Whether you’re a developer, a Mac user or a kid with an iPod, your life will have been given that little extra something by the genius that was Steve Jobs.

For developers like ourselves who spend much of our days in front of a computer, we will be eternally grateful to him for saving us from an alternative world of pain.

Our thoughts are especially with those fortunate enough to have known Steve personally.

NSScotland

Open Planet Software — 2011-10-03T09:01:52+01:00

Saturday the 1st of October saw the very first of what we hope will be many NSScotlands. It was great to catch up with a lot of people we know already in the Mac Developer community as well as to meet some new faces. Attendees were not just from Scotland, with many of our neighbours from south of the border making a welcome appearance.

There were a lot of great speakers, so it was a real honour for our own Gavin MacLean to be asked to give a presentation amongst such distinguished company. His talk, an introduction to application performance analysis using Instruments, seemed to go down well, with quite a few attendees inspired to roll up their sleeves and have a go themselves.

Many thanks to Alan Francis for organising a fantastic day. We’re looking forward to the next one.

Smoovie and OS X Lion

Open Planet Software — 2011-07-20T09:21:13+01:00

Today, Apple released OS X Lion - a major update to the Mac operating system and we're delighted to announce that Smoovie is ready!

Smoovie 1.1, which is also released today, adds a glorious full-screen mode and support for Lion's Resume feature as well as making use of the new iOS inspired scrollbars.

Smoovie 1.1 is a free upgrade for existing customers.

The Adventure Continues

Open Planet Software — 2011-05-17T11:24:48+01:00

We've been hard at work on our second collaboration with Feral Interactive and are thrilled to announce the release of LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues for the Mac.

LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues combines the fun and creative construction of LEGO bricks with the wits, daring and non-stop action of one of cinema's most beloved adventure heroes. With a unique, tongue-in-cheek take on all the Indiana Jones films, including for the first time ever Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, LEGO Indiana Jones 2 follows Dr. Jones' escapades from the jungles of South America to the Peruvian ruins and beyond. Fans can experience the most authentic LEGO experience yet by designing and building their own levels brick by brick, and by fusing their levels with the ones in the game to create a custom experience. In LEGO Indiana Jones 2, everyone can build, battle and brawl their way through their favorite cinematic moments or create their own.

We are pleased to say that we have now embarked on a third and equally exciting project with Feral Interactive..... but you will have to wait to find out what it is! Watch this space!

LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues is available from the Feral Online Store, Apple Retail Stores and other major retailers worldwide. It is also available on the Mac App Store.

And the Winner Is...

Open Planet Software — 2011-05-05T20:51:42+01:00

We'd like to say a huge thank to everyone for taking part in our magical Smoovie stop motion competition! The standard of entries was amazing. We have great pleasure in announcing the winner and runners-up as follows:

Winner
'The Moustached Magician' by Hal, aged 12

1st Runner-Up
'Mr Magician' by Mikayla, aged 7

2nd Runner-Up
'The Magic of Colour' by Jack, aged 14

All the winning animations really impressed us with their imaginative story-lines and clever animation. There were touches of real comedy which had us all laughing and a whole mixture of other emotions as well which really carried us along with the stories.

See us on iDeveloper TV

Open Planet Software — 2010-11-20T21:28:02+00:00

Our very own Gordon Murrison presented a session entitled "Building Better Software Quicker" at NSConference MINI in Birmingham June. A video pack containing all 10 sessions from the conference is now available from iDeveloper TV.

Click here to visit the iDeveloper.tv store to see the full details of this video pack.

iDeveloper TV is focused on producing high quality Podcasts, Screencasts and Training for OS X and iOS Developers. Based in Tetbury in the United Kingdom, iDeveloper TV was formed in 2007 (Initially as The Mac Developer Network) to be part of the Mac, iPhone and iPad development empire of Steve Scott also known by many as Scotty.

The Magic Begins - LEGO Style!

Open Planet Software — 2011-01-06T20:48:22+00:00

We've been hard at work in collaboration with Feral Interactive and are thrilled to announce the release of LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 for the Mac.

Based on the first four Harry Potter books and movies that tell the story of Harry’s first four years at Hogwarts™ School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 offers an engaging mix of magical gameplay and light-hearted humor.

We are pleased to say that we have now embarked on a new and equally exciting project with Feral Interactive..... but you will have to wait to find out what it is! Watch this space!

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 is available from the Feral Online Store, Apple Retail Stores and other major retailers worldwide.

Mac App Store Day 1 - Smoovie is a Staff Favourite!

Open Planet Software — 2011-01-09T21:08:53+00:00

We were absolutely thrilled to find that Smoovie had been selected by Apple as a Staff Favourite for the launch of their new Mac App Store. With so many amazing Mac Apps available we think the App Store is going to be a huge hit with Apple's customers and we are humbled to have been chosen to be on the front page during opening week.

We'd like to thank everyone that's been in touch for their kind emails and tweets. And of course if you're one of our new App Store customers, thank you for your support and we can't wait to see your animations on YouTube!

Smoovie Review on YouTube

Open Planet Software — 2010-12-01T10:12:26+00:00

123algproductions have produced a great video review of Smoovie that highlights the use of the Apple Remote.

More Great Reviews in the Press

Open Planet Software — 2010-12-07T22:37:49+00:00

Three of the leading Mac magazines - iCreate, Macworld and MacFormat - have reviewed Smoovie and each has awarded Smoovie four stars!

★★★★☆ - iCreate - "Stop motion animation without the learning curve has arrived. Super simple and the Mac integration is great."

★★★★☆ - Macworld - "Make your very own stop-motion animations in true Wallace and Gromit style. Best of all, the results are instant."

★★★★☆ - MacFormat -"Smoovie is both terrific fun and excellent value for money."

Needless to say, we are thrilled by the reception Smoovie is getting!

Smoovie Reviewed on AnimateClay.com

Open Planet Software — 2010-07-29T21:55:52+01:00

Smoovie recently received a glowing review on animateclay.com - a site dedicated to stop motion animation. "I had an absolute blast test-driving Smoovie" writes Kat Adams. Read the full review on animateclay.com

And Back to School Again!

Open Planet Software — 2010-09-29T17:05:18+01:00

Following our foray into the field of education earlier in the year, we have been invited back to our local school to participate in yet another project on animation, this time with a class of 9 years olds who wish to animate cavemen scenes.

Weʼll keep you posted on how we get on!

Cup of Tea Dino?

Open Planet Software — 2010-09-06T09:10:38+01:00

Smoovie claims to be suitable for anyone from 3 to 103 so we decided to put our money where our mouth is and try it out at a local nursery open day.

In preparation for the event we made 3 sets for the children to choose from - a street scene with cars and figures, a dollʼs house with people and a jungle with dinosaurs.

Within about 5 minutes of the open day starting our preconceived ideas of which characters belonged in which scenes went completely out of the window. The children were just not interested in predictable visits to the shops or cups of tea in the dollʼs house. They were much keener on wreaking various forms of havoc with the dinosaurs in unlikely situations and came up with some really inspired little smoovies.

We set our equipment up on a low table and the kids were able to kneel on beanbags as they worked. They were absolutely engrossed in what they were doing and, once we had explained that it was better not to move the characters several centimetres at a time, they quickly got the hang of it. Using the Apple Remote to take pictures was a big success and smoovies were produced at a surprising speed.

Here are some of the masterpieces that the kids came up with.

So now that we have proved that 3 year olds can use Smoovie, is the next step to look for some 103 year olds to try it out on?

MacFormat gives Smoovie Four Stars

Open Planet Software — 2010-09-01T21:01:43+01:00

Smoovie was reviewed in the September 2010 issue of MacFormat magazine and received a four star rating with the verdict “Smoovie is both terrific fun and excellent value for money”. Well done Smoovie!

There are more reviews in the pipeline with iCreate, Macworld and MacUser. Look out for those!

Smoovie on Tour

Open Planet Software — 2010-06-17T14:19:35+01:00

We hit the road last week and took Smoovie on tour. First stop was the Apple Store on Buchanan Street in Glasgow where the Glasgow Mac Users Group hold their monthly meetings. David Masters hosted the evening and, after we had all discussed the UK launch of the iPad and our favourite new apps, our very own Gavin MacLean took to the floor and presented Smoovie.

Thanks to everyone who was there and gave us such positive comments, especially John van Dieken who has become somewhat of a Smoovie evangelist since and has started posting some awesome stop motion on YouTube. Here is his very first smoovie.

Thursday evening we were in Edinburgh at MacMacDev. We had a great evening hanging out with 25 other Mac and iPhone developers. It was great to meet up with Matt Legend Gemmell, Fraser Speirs, Matt Farrugia and Neil Inglis again, as well as meeting some new faces like Gary Martin and Ian Mackay.

After a very early start on Friday we flew to Birmingham to attend NSConference Mini, an attendee driven conference put on by the Mac Developer Network for the UK people that couldn't make it over to WWDC in San Francisco. The event was pretty much sold out with around 75 developers in attendance. The sessions being presented had been voted for by the attendees and they were all fantastic. Our very own Gordon Murrison presented a session entitled "Building Better Software Quicker" in which he explained how Source Control, Unit Testing and Continuous Integration can be used to ease the pain of delivering quality software time and time again.

So now we are back home (or more accurately in the coffee shop) working hard on spreading the word about Smoovie and planning its future. We've got some great things in the pipeline and we can't wait to tell you about them. In the meantime, if you post a smoovie to YouTube, be sure to let us know. We'd love to see what you're creating!

See Smoovie at the Apple Store in Glasgow

Open Planet Software — 2010-06-08T17:08:04+01:00

Our very own Gavin MacLean will be demonstrating Smoovie at the Mac Users Group at the Apple Store on Buchanan Street. The meeting starts at 7pm. Hope to see you there!

For details of the Glasgow Mac Users Group, see their website: http://www.glasmug.com

Back to school

Open Planet Software — 2010-05-01T15:18:29+01:00

It feels like we've chosen the right time to develop Smoovie. Nine months after embarking on the development it seems like everyone is into animation. The local science centre has a Wallace and Gromit exhibition on, a neighbour's son has started uploading his creations to YouTube and now my 7 year-old daughter, Katie, comes home from school telling me that her class is doing a project on animation. "Ooo", said I, "I wonder if your class would like to do some field testing?".

So a couple of weeks later, thanks to Katie’s teacher Mrs Forbes, we find ourselves standing in front of a class being asked to explain ourselves.

After an initial introduction we split into three groups. Our group decided to make a film about a magic pencil-case, the pens and pencils of which came to life and ran around the desk. My respect for the teaching profession, not by any means low before, reached a new high. I doubt I shall ever forget the feeling of rising panic as I realised that the battery in my Apple Remote had died, while little pairs of hands simultaneously tried to adjust our scene. Strangely, it didn't even occur to me that I could get by just as easily with the mouse.

Gordon's group on the other hand used a peg-board and animated the pegs being added to build a house, although by the end of the film the house had morphed into a boat which then sailed off the desk.

Of the three of us, the most professional was without a doubt Karen. Under her expert guidance (or rather - less inept guidance), her group produced a short film of a happy family picnic which ends up being ravaged by dinosaurs (you can never go wrong with dinosaurs where kids are concerned).

Well, perhaps our goal of rigorous field testing was a little optimistic (7 year olds are not renowned for their balanced and constructive analysis) but as to whether the kids enjoyed their afternoon, we were left in no doubt. I'm not claiming that it was our software which they enjoyed, it wasn't. It was the creative process along with seeing their work coming to life which they enjoyed. But I'd like to think that our software just got out of the way and let them get on with it. By the end of the afternoon, the class had all had a lot of fun and, maybe, just maybe, they might even have learned something.

The best part of the day for me? When one of the boys turned to me and said, "I definitely want to be a film director now".

Smoovie 1.0 is now available!

Open Planet Software — 2010-06-03T13:49:32+01:00

We are extremely excited to announce that Smoovie 1.0 is now available!

Smoovie is the easy way to create and share stop motion movies, whether you’re 3 or 103. It's got everything you need to effortlessly capture images, fine tune edits and share completed masterpieces with iTunes and YouTube. Check out the website to learn more.

If you have a Mac with Snow Leopard why not download the free trial and give it a try? We're sure you'll love it! And if you make a smoovie that you want to show us, get in touch. We might even feature it on the Smoovie website!

From 35,000 feet to a shipping product

Open Planet Software — 2010-05-18T17:09:07+01:00

Gordon is talking tomorrow night (Wed 19th May 2010) at Techmeetup in Aberdeen about some of the design and engineering processes we used during the development of Smoovie.

Hope to see you there! Click here for details