Frequent questions for ToonIt!.

Q

I bought ToonIt! and love it, but it is slowing down my new system. HP xw8400 2x DC 3.0 CPUs, Nvidia Quadro FX1500, 3 GB Ram.

A

ToonIt! 1.0 is a very render intensive product. Our new version 1.1 update includes speed upgrades and optimization along with multi-processing upport. However, ToonIt! will never be an even semi-real time product, so please plan your render time accordingly. We have tips about working with ToonIt!'s speed on this page.

Q

My calculations say that to final render a 30 minute production will take almost 3 days!  Do you do it in pieces and hope there is no crash?

A

ToonIt! is actually quite stable and shouldn’t crash during render. However, your concern is still quite valid. For something as long as 30 minutes, we recommend doing it in sections or splitting up the rendering between machines.

One thing we've done with long projects that had huge render times is render it all out as an uncompressed image or Targa sequence. That way, if anything went wrong during the render, you will have all of your frames up to the crash intact, and not be left with a corrupted Quicktime .mov file. I could then start rendering from the frame where everything went wrong and not have to re-render everything all over again.

After you get your full image sequences, just pop them back into your host app. Render them out with your final target codec of choice. Rendering out image sequences takes no time at all; the only drawback is that image sequences can take up more disk space than a compressed movie file while initially rendering everything.

Q

I am running on a Vista 64-bit OS using Adobe Master Collection. Do you foresee a HUGE problem in getting ToonIt to run on a 64 bit OS? Do you have plans on offering 64 bit version?

A

None of the Adobe applications so far are 64-bit, so though you have a 64-bit OS, all of the Adobe apps will be running under the x86 32-bit side of Vista. We will offer a 64-bit version once Adobe's applications go fully 64-bit.

ToonIt! so far has run perfectly fine through After Effects CS3 and Premiere CS3 on Vista Ultimate 64-bit. However, we will NOT provide technical support for 64-bit systems right now. Adobe's Master Collection has only been officially certified for Vista 32-bit. Basically, if there's a problem, it's tremendously difficult to figure out if the problem is on our end, Adobe's end, or a problem between Adobe's and Microsoft's code. We recommend that you try a demo of ToonIt! before you decide to buy for a Vista 64-bit system.

Q

I read that the version 1.1 update is finally out. How do I get it? Is it free? Will I have to redo my project files that use ToonIt!?

A

Yes! The ToonIt! 1.1 update is finally available. It's free if you already own the product, and it will support projects created with version 1.0. New customers get version 1.1 upon purchase. This update takes full advantage of multi-processor speed. This will considerably speed up ToonIt!'s render times, although it will never work in real or semi-real time. Please read our suggestions and comments about ToonIt speed and multi-processor magic.

Q

Final Cut Pro tells me that my render will take 15 hours. Does that sound right? Can I shorten this somehow?

A

Currently, due to the way Apple handles FxPlug plug-ins and in the way FCP handles the Canvas display, ToonIt! is extremely slow in FCP 5.1.4 and below. Apple seems to have fixed the video display issues in FCP 6.0 (Final Cut Studio 2).

FCP also likes to give really rough render time estimates while rendering, usually starting at the worst-case time scenario and then gradually chipping time away from the estimated finish. Does the render dialog start at 25 hours and stay there? Or does the time estimate gradually start going down as the render progresses (such as saying 20 hours after a few frames have been rendered, then saying 13 hours after a few more frames have been rendered in just a couple of minutes).

Right now, we recommend deinterlacing any interlaced footage and completing all ToonIt! work in a Progressive frame state. The speed issues in FCP are mainly generated by FCP forcing ToonIt! to render twice per frame, once for each field. By working with progressive footage, you can instantly cut the render times in half.

Q

I use Vegas 7 and wonder if the program will work with it. I haven't downloaded the trial yet.

A

Unfortunately, we do not support or develop plugins for Vegas. ToonIt! is currently a plugin for Final Cut Pro, Motion, After Effects, and Premiere Pro. It is also not a standalone application.

Q

I am looking to emulate the vector/rotoscope effect seen in the Charles Schwab commercials and the film A Scanner Darkly. Was your product used for those productions? The end result looks very similar.

A

The Waking Life, Scanner Darkly and the Schwab commercials all use the same proprietary technology, which is not ToonIt!. Those pieces are in fact produced by an expensive proprietary system that was developed by filmmaker Richard Linklater. It is a combination of an automatic digital cartooning pass, then painstaking frame-by-frame rotoscoping and correction by hand. You can read about that process here or watch the 'Making Of' include on the Scanner Darkly DVD.

However, that kind of effect is exactly the purpose of ToonIt!. The plugins do a great job in translating the human form into cartoon, especially in preserving facial details.