Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

A place to discuss non-Moho software for use in animation. Video editors, audio editors, 3D modelers, etc.

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chucky
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Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

Post by chucky »

http://blog.smithmicro.com/clip-studio- ... ce=twitter
Well this was a carefully worded post.
Looks like the makers of the awesome digital art app Clip Studio ( Celsys) have decided to take over customer service and support for English speaking customers.
Clip Studio is MASSIVE in Japan , but westerners seem to only follow the' one god' of Adobe photoshop, which is not actually all its cracked up to be (caveat: for digital drawing and painting that is, not photo retouching, which it is the master).

If I were to pull this apart and extrapolate some very lose assumptions , I might think something like this....
Celsys may have been unhappy with the marketing of Clip Studio in the west , it does seem to get sold off as bargain basement fair, when it is fact of the highest quality , a powerhouse application.

Moho seems to be in some sort of caretaker mode, maybe SM may be looking to sell?
Smith Micro seem to be pulling back from all their graphics products at the moment, perhaps Smith Micro's is moving it's whole unwieldy carcass to pasture.
After All this forum is not managed by them, SM could step away from its graphics assets as though they were hot potatoes.
Maybe Graphics isn't their bag and they want to go back to their back-end enterprise guff ?
In so many ways , losing CSP is sad news, but, with the attitude of the SM top execs to marketing and developing their graphics products, it might be sad, but not bad.
Of course all of this is pure speculation and I have no idea at all of any fact in this regard ( I could well be seeing faces in the clouds) , but I wonder if Moho might find a new lease of life with a shiny new owner, who actually has a real passion for its products and customers.

Please SM don't let Moho rot on the vine, if you don't want it.... sell it to someone who does.
Long live clip studio, long live Moho- :mrgreen:
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jahnocli
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Re: Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

Post by jahnocli »

Yeah, Smith Micro made it look like they were nobly standing aside for the well-being of their customers, whereas the reality is closer to them being given the heave-ho by CelSys for underperforming. I agree -- if Smith Micro don't want Moho, PLEASE sell it to someone who does.
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
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hayasidist
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Re: Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

Post by hayasidist »

jahnocli wrote:... if Smith Micro don't want Moho, PLEASE sell it to someone who does.
Indeed, but to someone who has empathy with the current business model / user base and will support it properly (nightmare scenario if you're not already a CC subscriber: Adobe buys it and "subsumes it" into Illustrator / Animate and/or only sells it as an app in a CC bundle at going on $600 p.a. ... not sure which of those is worse actually)
chucky
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Re: Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

Post by chucky »

Yup, I refuse to buy subscriptions, even toon boom. The minute take liberties, I'm out.
Hassan
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Re: Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

Post by Hassan »

Hopefully, we will see english version of Clip Studio Action soon.
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InfoCentral
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Re: Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

Post by InfoCentral »

Yeah, this isn't the first time there's been a falling out between the two. I remember back when there was a Manga studio and Clip Studio.CelSys told SmithMicro that they were ending the relationship and they had to cease selling digital copies immediately and could only sell physical copies of Manga studio.

Then there was the whole chaos on the upgrade path where we were told there wasn't going to be a upgrade path to Clip Studio from Manga studio. We would have to buy a new license for Clip Studio. Eventually everything got worked out in all the Manga Studio owners got upgraded to Clip Studio.

Unfortunately, it appears that this relationship didn't end amicably as SmithMicro is ending all support and resources in the next few days. I wonder what's going to happen to the video tutorials and the webinars? Also is Motion Artist going to continue or is that ending too?

I guess CelSys wasn't in a position to take over the English market. Now all that is changed. I know I get all my upgrades and resources from their website now. I'm sure cutting out the middleman will result in more profitability.
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herbert123
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Re: Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

Post by herbert123 »

ClipStudio is friggin' amazing. Just for fun I installed my CS EX on my aging Asus epe121 Slate, and did not expect much - after all, the hardware is terribly slow, and Krita runs like a snail in mud. It is unworkable. Photoshop: likewise.

ClipStudio with a 600ppi A4 document runs SMOOTH. I couldn't believe it. Drawing and painting is smooth (excepting very large brushes). A new life for my old slate! :D
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Greenlaw
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Re: Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

Post by Greenlaw »

I've been using CSP/Manga Studio ever since the first Brudders comic (started with version 2 or 3, I think) and it's always been a lot of fun to draw with. I can't imagine drawing comics in anything else, and I've yet to use this program to its full potential.

Just read the blog entry. I'm not surprised to see CSP leaving SM, it was just a matter of time. My last few updates came from CelSys' website, not SM's.

Anyway, I'm happy to hear my SM license will continue to be supported by CelSys. That was a big concern I had when SM first lost the digital distribution rights.
InfoCentral wrote:Also is Motion Artist going to continue or is that ending too?
Motion Artist is actually an off-shoot of Moho so I imagine it will continue to be supported by SM for the foreseeable future.
DarthFurby
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Re: Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

Post by DarthFurby »

I've had Clip Studio/Manga Studio for years but never used it until a couple of days ago. Too bad Smith Micro lost the license because this is one amazing piece of software! It's quickly becoming my favorite 2d drawing app. Far far better than photoshop/flash(which I'd been using until now). Unfortunately, I paid full price but now I see Smith Micro is selling it for a mere fraction of its original retail price. Ouch!

Still it was worth every penny because Clip's line quality is amazing. On the left is my clip studio sketch, on the right are my flash sketches. The moral of the story is flash sucks, but I tolerated it for the infinitely scalable vector graphics. However, thanks to CSP, I may finally abandon flash, woo!
Image

Also, I have a feeling Smith Micro will be going the way of e-frontier in the near future...
herbert123
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Re: Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

Post by herbert123 »

@DarthFurby the newest version also has direct export to OpenToonz animation format. I love drawing in ClipStudio, but for animation production management OpenToonz is far superior. Best of both worlds now!

While the export to OT from CS creates bitmap artwork, it is simple to convert the bitmap line art to center-line vector art with dynamic thickness in OT. You get perfectly looking converted vector strokes! And full vectors with fine stroke thickness control.
DarthFurby
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Re: Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

Post by DarthFurby »

Thanks for the recommendation herbert123! It's unfortunate that Clip Studio doesn't export to vector format, but awesome to hear that Opentoonz includes a vector engine too. I've been looking to break my dependence on Adobe products so I will definitely give Opentoonz a look at some point. Thanks again for the heads up!
herbert123
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Re: Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

Post by herbert123 »

DarthFurby wrote:Thanks for the recommendation herbert123! It's unfortunate that Clip Studio doesn't export to vector format, but awesome to hear that Opentoonz includes a vector engine too. I've been looking to break my dependence on Adobe products so I will definitely give Opentoonz a look at some point. Thanks again for the heads up!
OpenToonz can convert those bitmap strokes from Clip Studio to perfect vector equivalents - so no biggie. It works wonderfully well. Then colour your artwork in OpenToonz with controlled colour palettes, and add lighting effects with the nodal editor - similar to Blender, but OT's nodal effects workflow is aimed at producing 2d animation.

It's pretty cool. And amazing it is free!
herbert123
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Re: Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

Post by herbert123 »

DarthFurby wrote:Still it was worth every penny because Clip's line quality is amazing. On the left is my clip studio sketch, on the right are my flash sketches. The moral of the story is flash sucks, but I tolerated it for the infinitely scalable vector graphics. However, thanks to CSP, I may finally abandon flash, woo!
Image
I use both Clip Studio and Krita for my drawing, inking, and painting - the drawing feel in CS is awesome. And it is the only professional drawing app that remains entirely responsive while drawing on my old Asus tablet with Wacom digitizer. Krita and OT choke while drawing. Funnily enough OT works fine playing the animations, though. So a great combo.

Drawing in Flash/Animate CC is -in one word- abysmal. A terrible experience. So limited compared to what is out there. I always wonder why so many animators put up with it. They probably never tried Clip Studio or Krita.
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Re: Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

Post by DarthFurby »

I agree, Flash is abysmal, I feel like smacking myself for sticking by it so long. I've never used Animate CC, but Flash CS6 crashes all the time, and to a lesser extent so does Photoshop. Also, CSP costs far less than either of those atrocious programs and hasn't crashed once.

Anyway, today's CSP sketch!

Illyana Rasputin - New Mutants:
Image
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uncle808us
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Re: Clip Studio, dropping Smith Micro?

Post by uncle808us »

I use CSP EX and I have a lot of different graphic apps vector and raster. Clip Studio Paint is the only one that gives me the feeling of artistry.
It is very comfortable. I hope for better animation a way to not have to copy paste so many frames.
Example: Draw one object and be able to use it with changes ( transform,rotate, etc.) in all frames.
Drawing and fills for vector work.
I use a MacBook Pro, and Anime Studio Pro 11.2
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