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Firka

Software Our software, Firka is a linetest tool for cartoon animators. The linetest or pencil test is a working phase of the traditional animation, when the pencil-drawn pictures are photographed by a camera, then these pictures are played according to a projection schedule, called exposure sheet. This exposure sheet contains more than one levels. The linetest is an important control phase, because the corrections are really expensive in the following steps of the working process (painting, post-production) both in money and in time. The animator also uses the linetest as an animation tool.

In the beginning, the linetest process was very similar to the final film shooting: they used film cameras with black-and-white negative film. In the next step some special machines appeared, like video recorders capable of capturing frame by frame. Finally, these days in the studios there are personal computers with video cameras for this purpose. The Amiga machines became popular first, because of their good video capabilities. In recent years, IBM compatible PC computers were preferred.

Our Firka is a system-independent software. This means it is not limited to one hardware or operating system. It is specially made for animation professionals, to create linetest easy and fast. We test the software in our productions under real conditions. The author studied at an art school and he worked also as animator, line-test operator and compositor.

The operation of the software seems similar to the painting and rendering softwares, but the goal is very different: the line-tester must work as fast and comfortable as possible, while the painting system have to create the best possible picture quality with very wide visual effect capabilities. Fortunately, today's computers are fast enough to finally combine these two requirements. Firka has some functions usually you can find only in painting systems, like camera movements, geometrical distortion, usage of masks and other effects, for example cross-fade and blur. Screenshot


How to buy?

From July 2021, Firka became free software! You may use it according to its License terms without restrictions or fees, even for film production business. Even if you purchased a UIC user code before, it is still worth switching to the new free version, as it has fewer restrictions and you can use the program in multiple instances. Just download and use it.

The new free version have lost some minor features of the former commercial version. These functions were based on the differentiation of UIC licenses. This free version is unable to handle the former UIC codes in any way. But overall, its features are the same as the former Professional UIC version. However, commercial solutions are still available, so if you need some special functions, not covered by the free version, or you want technical support, please contact us.

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Here are some main features of the Firka software:

  • Real-time playback, pre-rendering is also possible,
  • Any picture resolution and field format,
  • Any playback speed,
  • Video effects and sound,
  • Integrated picture digitizing for cameras and scanners,
  • Integrated painting and drawing tools,
  • Database structure of movies and scenes,
  • Unlimited number of levels in the exposure sheet,
  • Playlist of scenes,
  • Camera movements,
  • Dialog breaking down,
  • Works on Windows, Apple OSX and Linux,
  • One scene is one file, easy to send,
  • In English and other languages,
  • Network capabilities.