Software:TupiTube

TupiTube

Tupi running on Windows 7
Original author(s)	MaeFloresta
Developer(s)	Gustav Gonzalez
Stable release	0.2.16 (TupiTube Desk) 1.0.8 (TupiTube App) / August 15, 2020 (2020-08-15) (TupiTube Desk)
Repository	github.com/xtingray/tupitube.desk
Written in	C++ / Qt
Operating system	Unix-like, Windows, Mac OS X
Type	Animation software
License	GPL-2.0-or-later
Website	www.tupitube.com

TupiTube (also known as Tupi 2D) is a free and open-source 2D animation software for amateur artists, children, and teenagers. It is available for Windows, Mac OS X, Unix-like operating systems, and Android. This project is developed and maintained by the Colombian startup, Mae Floresta. This project is covered under the terms of GPL-2.0-or-later.

History

Background and first versions

TupiTube is the product of two young Colombian entrepreneurs from the city of Santiago de Cali who, in 2002, led the Ktoon initiative together with the companies Toonka Films and Soluciones Kazak. The software aims to be a tool to encourage young people throughout Latin America interested in the development of the animation industry. The incentive to build Tupi Tube was due to the founders goals to create a community of digital artists.

KToon laid the foundations to secure the initial investments in the project. Entities such as Colciencias, the Sena, and others supported the initiative during its early development years. This financing model sustained the project in its initial stages. In 2010, the KToon development team regrouped and rebranded the project as Tupi 2D Magic. Later, MaeFloresta was configured as the developer, maintaining the vision of its predecessors. The commitment to being a free, accessible, and user-friendly software for all interested in getting started remained unwavering.

Tupi 2D Magic focuses on providing an experience where users can animate, illustrate, and design across various spaces. It has even become a valuable tool in classrooms, reaching 400,000 students in India. Over 3,000 schools in the country have chosen it as their preferred software.

News and trajectory

Mae Floresta needed to continue its brand projection, and Tupi 2D Magic underwent a transformation with the intention of being institutionalized as the preferred free 2D animation software for children, young people, and digital artists in training. This transformation aimed to facilitate growth, reach new audiences, and maintain competitiveness in the market.

The software exists to pursue the goal of being a tool for artistic education in digital environments, addressing the academic possibilities that animation training can offer. It actively participates in events where information and communication technologies (ICTs) and educational projects converge, contributing to the creation of a culture where technological education is a priority.

Now, the efforts of TupiTube's development team are beginning to yield results. They have received various awards for hosting TupiTube and for being an exemplary model of entrepreneurship in the digital commerce industry.

Features

The software includes many features:

• Support for basic tools for vector illustration that includes rectangles, ellipses, lines, and polygons. Paths can also be created using the pen or pencil tool. The paint bucket tool can be used to fill bounded areas of vector objects.
• Raster images (sometimes called Bitmap) can be imported and used as either static backgrounds or animated assets.
• Finished animations can be exported to various file formats that include: Ogg Theora, AVI, MPEG, SWF. They may also be exported as a sequence of images in PNG, JPEG, or SVG format.
• Basic support for tweaking of positions, colors, rotation, scale, sheer, and opacity has been added to recent releases.
• The Library panel allows for the organization and reuse of imported media assets.

Future development

The goal of being a tool for introducing novice digital artists to the world of animation was fulfilled with the first release. Development is focused on reaching a professional level that will allow advanced users to make professional-quality animations.

Some of the areas of future development include: particles, sound support, key frames, and morphing. Plans have also been made to have skeleton animation with bones, inverse kinematics, and pivots.

See also

• List of 2D animation software