I didn’t know where to put this, or how to contact the creators of Synfig. However, has any thought gone into providing an area of the site in which people can purchase or download characters, and other people can upload them (and perhaps offer them for sale)? It seems like it would be an enormous benefit to animators, while potentially also helping to fund the Synfig project.
Those who can animate aren’t necessarily people who can draw, so it just seems like a natural addition to the site. I believe that other animation software packages often have characters for sale. However, I’m not simply suggesting that the Synfig developers switch focus and start producing characters, but that they enable a system where others can do so. It would also increase the usability of Synfig, which is tightly connected to its popularity.
Any thoughts?
Hi,
Sharing creation is always possible.
You could add your models or links to the Wiki, or even in the forums as attachments.
So a so-called sharing system is already enabled.
But you have to be aware that Synfig"s File Format is not fully standardized and can vary according to the version of the software.
This points makes a lot hard the possibility of a “marketplace” for Synfig as you models would not be usable for everyone and as a side-effect it would even give a bad image of Synfig in general.
Alright. So, it’s possible, but not actively encouraged. I hadn’t considered the problem with compatibility of different Synfig versions. However, if you were to have such a sharing system, you could share characters in the form of PNG files. They wouldn’t be rigged, but could certainly still be used. You can buy “animation character packs” that are often just images, showing the character in various positions.
You can already access some shared models on the site of Morevna Project
morevnaproject.org/library/
morevnaproject.org/learning/
Until the devs sort out the probkems with the import and export of rigged characters with skeleton and or deformation bones and add some form of library system, the best way for now is to share any characters unrigged as a pure sif file, wether it is vector or pixel format.
Greetz!