Flipnote Studio 3D

Flipnote Studio 3D
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD Tokyo
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Hideaki Shimizu
Producer(s)	Yoshiaki Koizumi
Platform(s)	Nintendo 3DS
Release date(s)	JP July 24, 2013 NA TBD[1] PAL TBD[2]
Genre(s)	Animation
Mode(s)	Single player, online
Distribution	Nintendo 3DS Download Software

Flipnote Studio 3D, known in Japan as Moving Notepad 3D (うごくメモ帳 3D, Ugoku Memochō Surī Dī), (originally announced as Flipnote Memo,)^[3] is a free downloadable animation application launched in 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS. This successor to Flipnote Studio allows users to use three separate layers to create stereoscopic 3D animations, which can be exported into GIF or AVI format, and features six colors compared to the previous version's two (not including black and white). Flipnote Studio 3D was launched with two online communities: Flipnote Gallery: Friends, and Flipnote Gallery: World.^{[4] [5]}

The application was released in Japan on July 24, 2013. Originally intended for August 2013, due to "unexpectedly high" usage of the online services in Japan, the application's release was suspended for both Europe^[6] and North America. Nintendo has yet to officially issue any further statements in this regard.

Features

Flipnote Creation

Flipnote Studio 3D is largely similar to its predecessor, Flipnote Studio. The applications allows users to create stereoscopic 3D animations, known as Flipnotes. These animations can either be shared on the application's native online communities, or by exporting them as GIF or AVI files.

The main screen of the Flipnote creation interface.

The interface consists of the many of the same tools from the original Flipnote Studio, as well as some additions to and improvements upon said tools. The main tools are the "Pen," the "Paintbrush," and the "Eraser." The pen allows for solid lines, and "airbrush" effects. The paintbrush is used for shading areas with patterns of pixels, and the eraser is used for removing marks previously made with the pen and paintbrush.

Some improvements upon the limitations of Flipnote Studio have been made as well. For example, the user can create 3D Flipnotes. Each of the three layers can be set to a certain "depth" for each frame of animation. Also, in addition to the red, blue, black, and white colors available in Flipnote Studio, Flipnote Studio 3D allows users to use green and yellow. If the user creates an animation with one layer, all six colors can be used at once. However, when creating Flipnote using all three layers, only two colors can be used per layer. There are also new tools for Flipnote creation such as the "paint bucket" and "text" tools. The paint bucket can fill an enclosed area with color or a "paintbrush" pattern. The text tool allows text to be typed on a touchscreen keyboard; in the previous Flipnote Studio, users had to rely on their own handwriting.

There is also a select tool. Users can freehand select an area of the drawing, which can then be copied, cut, pasted, scaled, and/or rotated. The camera feature from Flipnote Studio returns as well, with improvements. If the user is creating an animation with one layer, photographs taken will be made up of all six colors. If they are using three layers, the photo will use the two colors for the selected layer. The audio tools are improved from Flipnote Studio as well. The basic structure is unchanged: there is a long track for music, and shorter tracks for sound effects. Flags are placed for each sound effect, indicating which frame they will play on. Flipnote Studio 3D allows for longer sound effects as well as a longer music track than its predecessor. There is also a new screen that allows the position of sound effects to be fine-tuned. This screen can also be used to check the sound synchronization of a certain area of the animation without needing to play the Flipnote from the beginning.

Online services

Flipnote Studio 3D was launched along with two separate online services: Flipnote Gallery: Friends and Flipnote Gallery: World. As the names imply, the former allows for Flipnotes to be shared with people on the user's 3DS Friends List, and the latter is a worldwide community for sharing and viewing Flipnotes.

Flipnote Gallery: Friends

Flipnote Gallery: Friends online service.

Flipnote Gallery: Friends was a free community service included as a part of Flipnote Studio 3D. The service allowed users to share Flipnotes with users in their 3DS Friends List. The service was based around user-hosted "Galleries." Users could open up to two galleries at once. Each gallery could be shared with up to 19 of the user's Friends, for a total of 20 people. These galleries exist for 15 days before they expire, and users could open a new gallery as soon as one closes.^[1]

Participants in these galleries could post their Flipnotes, view Flipnotes posted by others, and download and comment on these Flipnotes. In addition, Flipnote Gallery: Friends featured a simple voting system. Users could rate Flipnotes as either "cool," "funny," or "cute," and each Flipnote displays how many votes it has received in each category.

Closing of the service

On November 1, 2013, Nintendo ended the Flipnote Gallery: Friends service in Japan. This occurred at the same time as the discontinuation of sending Swapnotes via Spotpass. Nintendo ended these services because users, including minors, would exchange Friend Codes on internet forums and use them to send inappropriate content, including photographs. Flipnote Gallery: World was not discontinued.^[7]

Flipnote Gallery: World

Flipnote Gallery: World's "Most Popular" page.

Flipnote Gallery: World is a paid community service, and the successor to Flipnote Hatena. The service is based around 30-day "passes" that can be obtained in a variety of ways. Users receive one pass when they first connect to Flipnote Gallery: World as a free trial to the service, and an additional pass costs $0.99 US dollars (price varies by country/region). Each pass, activated when the previous pass expires, grants users 100 Coins and 3 Star Coins which are required for various activities.

Activities that require a Coin

• Posting a Flipnote
• Downloading a Flipnote
• Posting a comment on a Flipnote
• Adding a Coin to a Flipnote to rate it

Users may add as many coins as they like to any Flipnote, provided they have any remaining in their account. Downloading and commenting only require the use of one coin.

Activities that require a Star Coin

• Posting a Flipnote
• Adding a Creator to your Favorites

Flipnotes can be posted using either a regular Coin or a Star Coin. If Flipnotes posted using a regular Coin don't receive any Coins within 30 days, they will be automatically removed from the service. On the other hand, Flipnotes posted using Star Coins will remain on the Gallery indefinitely regardless of whether it has received any Coins.

Users can participate in the Flipnote Gallery: World community as either a "Creator" or a "Collector." Doing particularly well in either activity provides an opportunity for users to be granted a free 30-day pass to the service. Creators create Flipnotes and post them to the gallery. When their Flipnotes receive Coins from other users, they also begin to accumulate "Creator Points." Earning enough Creator Points will grant a free pass.

The concept of "Flipnote Collectors" is a new addition to Flipnote Gallery: World. The role of Collectors is to find high-quality Flipnotes and to help them become popular. When users add Coins to a Flipnote, the Flipnote is added to their Collection. "Collector Points" are earned when Flipnotes in a user's collection become popular later on. Accruing a certain amount of Collector Points will result in a free pass.

Development

Flipnote Studio 3D was originally announced in a travel of Miyamoto in France in 2011 under the name Flipnote Memo.^{[citation needed]} Other than this mention, there was no further news on the eventual release of the application until a Nintendo Direct Mini broadcast on March 13, 2013. In this official announcement, several features were revealed, such as the ability to create 3D Flipnotes using up to 3 layers. This was the first time that the application was referred to as Flipnote Studio 3D. The broadcast also announced a release date of mid-2013.^[8]

Flipnote Studio 3D was set for a July 3, 2013 release date in Japan, but in a statement by Nintendo on June 27, the application was delayed until July 24.^[9] Upon its launch, the application's online services suffered from error messages and slowness due to the massive amount of users attempting to use the services.

Originally, the application was to be released in Europe on August 1, 2013. However, on July 30, 2013, Nintendo of Europe announced that, due to the unexpectedly high use of the online services in Japan, the application's release would be delayed. They also promised to announce a new release date "as soon as possible."^[2][10] Nintendo of America's official website for the application originally indicated an "Early August 2013" release date, but on August 7, 2013, this release date was changed to "TBD"^[1] without any accompanying notice of a delay.

On November 1, 2013, the Flipnote Gallery: Friends service was discontinued in Japan due to underage users sending/receiving "inappropriate content" via the service. ^{[citation needed]} Only a day prior, Nintendo globally disabled SpotPass features for their messaging app Swapnote/Nintendo Letter Box for similar reasons.

References

External links

• Official North American site
• Official European site
• Unofficial Facebook fan page

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