Anark Studio 2.5

It's not often I find myself uttering the sage words of one George Costanza, but it didn't take long for Anark Studio to take its rightful place amongst the very short list of programs that have made me both unaware and not caring that it had produced a long strand of drool between my lower lip and the desk. Therefore, these five syllables best describe Anark Studio: Sweet. Fancy. Moses.

What it does

Imagine combining the features of an interactive authoring program, a 3D animation package, and a motion graphics application into a single piece of software. Which means that for me, Anark Studio is the fusion of Flash, LightWave and After Effects into a pretty unique animation and authoring tool that can output very high quality 3D content for CD ROM, video, and the Web (and is rendered in real time, I might add). But what's the point of telling you about what Anark Studio can do when I can show you? Get your folks to sign (or go ahead and forge) these here permission slips, because we're going on a field trip to check out some Anark Media.

First, you'll need to download and install the Anark Player, which is just a browser plugin. Once you've got that, head on over to the Anark gallery and take a look at some of the fantastic demo stuff they've got there. As usual, I'm a patient man and will wait, so take your time and get a good look. But if you'd rather get down to business and skip the field trip, take a gander at figure 1 for a few choice shots from the Anark gallery.

Figure 1: Cool stuff lifted from the Anark gallery.

OK—are we all on the same page now? There certainly can't be much question about Anark Studio's potential as an interactive animation tool. In fact, seeing what Anark Studio could do took me back several years to when I first saw Flash in action. Anark Studio shares some of the same hallmarks that made Flash such a unique tool back in those days—real-time rendering, content that's highly Web-optimized (if you design it to be, of course), and limitless potential for compelling content. The big difference is that Anark Studio throws true 3D into the mix, and I can't help but wonder if it could eventually be a "missing link" for those that might be unsatisfied with Flash's animation capabilities. Of course, Anark Studio doesn't actually produce Flash-compatible content, so if you're going to jump in, you have to jump in with both feet.

Interface

Since I've described Anark Studio as a program that blends together various other types of programs, the big mystery becomes just which type will it resemble most? Technically, the answer is (B): a motion graphics application, though you'll see bits and pieces of the other two come into play in Anark Studio's interface (fig. 2). Let's take a quick trip around the horn to see what's available to you here.

Figure 2: The main Anark Studio interface.

Anark's interface is divided into five areas:

• The Project window, which serves your main viewer and playback area.
• The Library, where your project assets are stored and where you can create new assets.
• The Inspector, a context-sensitive panel where you adjust object properties.
• The timeline, a combination scene manager/sequencer where you build your project.
• The Storage panel, which is a user-configurable area where you can stash frequently used assets for quick access on either a project or system-wide basis.

Believe it or not, that's it. There's no maze of palettes or panels to sift through here, which is both a pro and a con. The pro is that it's amazingly easy to get up and running and creating some pretty outstanding stuff, especially if you're already comfortable in other timeline-based programs like After Effects. The con, which I'll discuss more in the "Disappointments" section, is that the interface becomes more limiting the more complex you get with your projects.

The workflow is pretty tight. You drag and drop items from either the Storage or Library panels into the Project window or the timeline, adjust properties in the Inspector, add keyframes, arrange layers, etc. As I mentioned, it's all designed to appear very familiar to the previously initiated. Anark lets you either import assets like still images, movie clips, and 3D models into the Library, or you can use the predefined objects (behaviors, primitives, etc.) in the Library to create new assets (fig. 3). But the bottom line is that to do anything, your assets need to be assembled in the Timeline, so let's take a look there.

Figure 3: These l'il buttons at the bottom of the Library panel let you create any number of assets right in Anark Studio.

Timeline

Anark Studio's Timeline is set up much like any other timeline, with layers and keyframes and shy layers and all the other good junk you've come to expect these days (fig. 4). What's different about the concept of layers in Anark Studio is that each one is a fully-realized 3D environment. Basically, you can create any number of mini-worlds, each with their own camera, lighting, objects, interactivity, and so on, and rearrange each world as you would a regular ol' 2D layer (fig. 5). Of course, drag and drop is the order of the day, as you apply materials, rearrange objects and groups, and add behaviors simply by dragging and dropping on the nested layer elements in the Timeline (fig. 6).

Figure 4: Look familiar? It's the Timeline.

Figure 5: Each layer in a scene is it's own self-contained 3D environment, complete with separate lights and cameras.

Figure 6: Here, a Behavior is being dragged onto an object in the Timeline. As Irwin M. Fletcher once said, if this were at all legible you'd see what I mean.

But let's not forget why the Timeline is called the Timeline—after all, it is the place where you add keyframes to give your objects motion and set the overall duration of your project. It's not as refined as After Effects' timeline is, but it's workable and not too frustrating of a transition. The big difference here is that you can't manipulate an object's numeric properties directly in the Timeline—you have to go through the Inspector or drag in the Project window to do that, so it takes a little getting used to. However, you do have the velocity graphs and interpolation options that you might be comfy with, so that's a plus (fig. 7).

Figure 7: You've got some nice, precise options for your animation in the Timeline.

One more thing I'll mention here is that although it's not obvious, Anark Studio's Timeline can nest other complete timelines in a feature that Anark calls Components (fig. 8). Components can include anything you can pack into the master Timeline (objects, animation, behaviors, etc.) in a way that will be not only familiar but very welcome to those used to Flash's Movie Clips model.

Figure 8: A Component is marked by a special icon, along with an eject button to dump you back up to the main timeline.

Integrated 3D

Until now, I've completely ignored the elephant in the room, which is 3D. In Anark Studio, everything is 3D. Even if you want to make a movie clip play in the corner of the screen, you have to map the movie onto a 3D rectangle to do it. Now, some of you may be saying, "Big deal! Director has had 3D for ages now." You're right, of course, but the big difference is that in Anark Studio, 3D is pervasive and, more importantly, approachable. Director's 3D engine, while powerful, requires some (in the lexicon of your average American teenager) mad Lingo skillz to even do things as simple as changing an object's material. In Anark Studio, 3D is everywhere, and is designed to be as simple as drag and drop, which instantly catapults Anark Studio way ahead of Director in the 3D department. Don't get me wrong—it's not just for newbies and the otherwise script-adverse. Anark Studio provides a complete scripting environment as well so you can create some complex 3D interactions, but the big difference is that you can take baby steps to get there.

Anark Media takes advantage of all those newfangled 3D cards that most modern machines seem to come with these days, and displays (again, in real time) the compositing, 3D transforms and everything else Anark Studio can do in your choice of software redraw mode (Mac/Win), OpenGL (Mac/Win), or DirectX (Win-only), enabling you to target your audience's likely hardware settings (fig. 9).

Figure 9: Hardware or Software rendering? Or should we just let the program choose?

And even though Anark Studio's projects are entirely 3D, it does a very nice job of integrating 2D content such as still images and video clips inside the 3D space. You have access to Photoshop-like blending modes for both 3D and 2D materials (fig. 10), which enables some really nice compositing effects. Plus, as I mentioned briefly already, 2D looks are possible even in the 3D environment by mapping 2D elements onto flat planes. Anark Studio even does the mapping for you by creating a rectangular primitive the size of your movie or still when you drag an asset of either type into the Timeline or Project windows. By default, the asset is placed in the scene without specularity or other properties that would belie its status as a true 3D object, but, of course, you can always go to town on it and add in some 3D elements (fig. 11).

Figure 10: Not quite as many as Photoshop has, but blending modes are a nice addition nonetheless.

Figure 11: Users of 3D programs will find the 3D material options familiar.

What's more, Anark Studio lets you use models made in various 3D packages. So if you've squeezed just about everything you're going to get out of the basic primitives, you can turn to either 3D Studio Max, Maya, LightWave, or Cinema 4D to model objects for use in Anark Studio (fig. 12). Anark also supports Right Hemisphere's Deep Exploration 3D translation program. I only tested the LightWave export plug-in, but it did a pretty decent job of translating some relatively complex geometry, complete with shading and image mapping, into Anark's native AMX 3D model format (your mileage, as usual, may vary). Once your model is in Anark Studio, you can then change material elements and animate individual pieces according to how the source model was set up and exported.

Figure 12: Out of LightWave and into Anark Studio.

Interactivity

I'm a little flabbergasted by the fact that I've come this far into a review of what's billed as an interactive authoring program and mentioned so little on the actual interactive portion of the product. But we're here now, so I might as well say something about it.

All interactions in Anark Studio are handled through Behaviors, which, in reality, are simple text files that are written in JavaScript and wrapped inside of an XML document to make it readable as an Anark Studio Behavior (fig. 13). Anark Studio ships with a ton of Behaviors right out of the box in its Storage palette (fig. 14), making it very possible to create relatively complex multimedia programs all through dragging and dropping the included behaviors. In addition to the standards (jump to time, rollovers, go to Web page, etc.), there are a bunch of more advanced Behaviors like collision detection and box constraints available through the drag and drop method as well. Plus, you've also got Behaviors that can add non-linear animation to objects, such as the Sine and Rotator functions, that operate independently of the Timeline.

Figure 13: Exciting. A screenshot of code.

Figure 14: Behaviors abound, so you may not have to code anything yourself.

Of course, you can write your own behaviors and use them in Anark Studio if you're one of those Mr. or Ms. Scary Coder Persons. As I mentioned, the format is a simple XML/JavaScript hybrid, and Anark Studio comes with a nice Scripting Reference section in the manual to walk you through the various properties and methods Anark Studio supports. Plus, it's not a limited langauge by any stretch—you can control just about anything through Behaviors, from the creation of primitives on the fly to setting the volume of a sound asset. There's only one "gotcha" when it comes to creating behaviors, and it's just for Mac users. But I'll get to that in the "Disappointments" section.

Distribution

What's a multimedia program these days without a million ways to view your stuff? Anark Studio certainly doesn't disappoint in this department, with the usual online and offline options. If you want to embed your Anark Media into a Web page, you certainly can do that. Again, the Anark Player (which, if you were good, you have already downloaded and installed) is a plug-in for IE on Windows and Safari and Mozilla/Netscape on the Mac. (Sorry, Windows Mozilla/Firefox users!) If you choose to export your Anark Media to a Web-ready file, Anark Studio will automatically generate the appropriate Object/Embed HTML for you. If you're feeling a little saucy, you can even write behaviors to pass commands to and from the surrounding page, so you can use an Anark movie to control frameset navigation (for example).

Of course, if you are deploying for the Web, you have a few options on how to optimize your movies for more efficient download. By default, Anark Studio is going to try to pack the 3D stuff down pretty tight, but you have to do the legwork on imported assets like images and video. Fortunately, you've got options. While video and audio clips are always going to be linked assets and should be compressed accordingly for Web playback, you have the choice of either embedding images into the Anark movie (fig. 15) or linking to an external source file. But overall, you'll find that Anark Studio does really well with compressing its own stuff for online deployment.

Figure 15: Whether embedding an image or connecting to a source file, you're in charge of how small things potentially get.

For offline projects, you've got a few choices there too (fig. 16). You can output "raw" Anark Media to run in the standalone Anark Player, or you can package your project into a self-contained executable for playback on Mac or Windows boxes that don't already have the Anark Player (which is probably a safe assumption). However, the cross-platform projector creation process is a bit freaky; again, I'm going to have to ask you to wait for the reasons why until we get to the "Disappointments" section.

Figure 16: Anark Studio's Export options (on the Mac, anyway).

The other offline export method is to a video clip, which opens up interesting possibilities. Who's to say that you can't use Anark Studio as a motion graphics program? Or as a background generation tool for video projects? There's a lot of power under the hood there, and the live compositing and real-time acceleration present in Anark Studio make it a surprisingly decent choice to use as a completely non-interactive tool. Don't get me wrong—I'm not advocating dumping After Effects or anything, but there's no reason why you can't use the two together and play off of Anark Studio's strengths to create some nice effects for video purposes.

Learning

There's always a "huh?" period when learning a new program, and while Anark Studio is really easy to get up to speed with, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how impressed I was with both the quality and quantity of learning materials that ship with Anark Studio. First, there's an integrated help system (fig. 17) that offers tutorials and accompanying instructions to walk you through the program, as well as general reference documents. Second, Anark Studio actually ships with an actual printed manual (gasp!), complete with a full program walkthrough, scripting reference, and even more (and very useful) tutorials. In this age of razor-thin "Getting Started" manuals and unwieldy PDF documents, it's refreshing to see attention paid to proper documentation.

Figure 17: Now that Martha Stewart is going to the slammer, I guess I can say things like "Anark Studio's integrated help system is a Good Thing" with impunity.

Disappointments

I do have some issues with Anark Studio, and even as I was compiling my list of what irks me, I realized that none of the issues fall into the "showstopper" category I usually reserve for things like pervasive instability or a key feature simply not working. However, the problems that do exist fall into two distinct categories: Mac problems, and everything else.

Mac users, I guess you should be thankful that a program like Anark Studio is even on the Mac platform at all, but that revelation gives me little comfort. Anark Studio 1.0 was a Windows-only product, and only version 2.0 and 2.5 have been available for the Mac, and it shows. This is basically a 1.0 product for the Mac, and all I can say is that I hope some of the weirdities, if I may butcher the English language, will be smoothed out in future versions. For example, there's a feature in the Inspector where you can scrub through numeric entries just using the mouse (similar to After Effects), but its damn near impossible to get the scrubber to "catch" on the Mac. Plus, some features have just plain been left out of the Mac version. For example, the Windows version has a Script Editor to write behaviors directly in the Anark Studio interface, but Mac users have to use the Export Behavior function and a text editor to write behaviors. You don't have the benefit of the complier until you re-import the text file, so if you make a syntax error or misspelled a property, you have to import over and over again and test until it works. However, it's important to note that I had zero stability problems, a fact which far outweighs any of the Mac-specific issues that I just griped about. Anark Studio and the Anark Player both perform wonderfully on the Mac, plain and simple. I just hope that feature parity with the Windows version can be achieved in future releases.

In the "everything else" category, Anark Studio suffers from being a somewhat immature development environment in general, which I'm chalking up at this point to Anark Studio trying to do too much too soon. The big issue I had is with the Timeline. It's cumbersome, for one. If you have a long sequence in the Timeline, there's no "jump to" or other easy way of traversing long distances across the Timeline. Plus, the timeline metaphor really breaks down when trying to do even moderately complex interactions, which completely threw me back to when I reviewed LiveMotion. The now-deceased former "Flash Killer" had a very After Effects-like timeline, which was really great for animation but really lousy for interaction. Anark Studio suffers from the same problem. There's no inherent way to handle markers, and dragging the time bar on a Behavior to affect when it starts and stops is really tedious and lends itself to errors. And then there's the whole debacle of trying to cram everything onto a single timeline. Sure, you can invent kludges like creating Components as virtual scenes and using the main Timeline as the "big picture" navigation, but that didn't work very well in LiveMotion and it doesn't work very well in Anark Studio. I'd like to see the Timeline handle interactive content and complex scripting a little more gracefully in future versions.

I also noticed that Anark Studio has no mechanism at all for handling large amounts of text. Of course, you can create text fields as graphics and import them into Anark Studio, but since the product lends itself so well to things like interactive product demonstrations, I was surprised that text isn't a bigger part of the feature set. By the same token, other than scripting some interactions in a browser, there aren't any "back end" features like loading external variables or reading in items from a database, for example. Not that it really suffers from that particular omission; just know that you're not going to be building applications with Anark Studio.

The last stumbling block is the general awkwardness in creating cross-platform projectors. Instead of simply being able to export out Mac projectors from a PC and vice-versa, you have to jump through some hoops to get a projector working on the platform that's different than the one you authored on. In the Windows version, Anark Studio will export a Mac OS X .app projector; however, you have to dig into it and manually add the Anark Media file and fiddle with .plist files and linked media paths to get the projector to play properly on the Mac. And in the Mac version, I couldn't even find any documentation on how to create a Windows projector. I had to copy the Anark Player application, the Anark Media file, and a config file over to a PC and then fiddle with settings in the config file to make it work. There's got to be a better way, especially since the ability to create cross-platform executables is all the rage with most interactive authoring programs these days.

The bottom line

Anark Studio is full of potential, so much so that it creeps into the rarely used "Must Buy" category that we've been known to break out now and again. Unfortunately, Anark Studio falls a little short of that lofty perch due to its relative immaturity as a creation tool. However, as Anark Studio adds a version number or three over time, I can easily see it getting to the top of our particular ratings mountain. Even today, there's no disputing that you can create some pretty compelling content with Anark Studio, and there are few (if any) packages currently available that can even compare, so Anark Studio gets a solid Strong Buy.

Anark Studio 2.5 is available now for Mac OS X and Windows for $995, with upgrades from version 1 running $149. A 15-day evaluation version is also available at Anark's Web site.

Filed under: Review on March 11th, 2004

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