We’re back once again with the first animation news round-up of 2018. Here goes nothing ...

2D animation software TVPaint Animation now free on Android

TVPaint Développement has announced that its 2D animation software is now available for free on Android.

Based on bitmap technology, TVPaint Animation features the necessary tools to animate without paper, such as the management of layers, a light table, rotative workspace, guidelines with vanishing points, and an image library.

“The philosophy is quite simple: people want to use Android phones and tablets either to sketch storyboards and animation when they are away from their desktop, or to show you what they animated recently,” TVPaint Développement CEO Fabrice Debarge told Cartoon Brew.

New After Effects tool Moglyph FX lets you generate and animate clones procedurally

Up until now, After Effects CC users with Cinema 4D Lite only got a sneak peak of Mograph - the powerful and robust procedural cloning and animation module.

However, developer Fremox has recently unveiled Moglyph FX - an After Effects toolset that allows you to clone predefined glyph shapes and animate them procedurally within a single text layer.

Although similar to Crunchy’s Cloners+Effectors, Moglyph FX relies entirely on After Effects text layers and offers all five Cloner types featured within Cinema 4D.

After Effects extension brings Cinema 4D-like object browser and hierarchy management

Third-party developer Mike Overbeck has created an After Effects extension that features hierarchy management and an object browser similar to Cinema 4D.

Squirrel will instantly convert your working composition into a tree-view based on layer parenting, which allows for better organisation when working with rigs.

You can also quickly parent and unparent layers with drag-and-drop, visually isolate selected layers, manage colour labelling, and peek into the contents of nested precomps.

Short HBO film ‘The Number on Great-Grandpa’s Arm’ features hand-painted animation from Jeff Scher

The Number on Great-Grandpa’s Arm, which premieres 27 January on HBO, features historical footage interspersed with hand-painted, rotoscope animation by acclaimed artist Jeff Scher.

The short film, directed and produced by Emmy winner Amy Schatz, is part of the ‘A Living Memorial to the Holocaust’ initiative by the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

It begins with 10-year-old Elliot asking his 90-year-old great-grandfather, Jack, about the tattoo on his arm. This sparks a conversation about his childhood memories of Poland, the loss of his family, and surviving Auschwitz.