Sketch-n-Stretch: Sketching Animations Using Cutouts

Sketch-n-Stretch lets novices quickly and easily create 2D animations. The system has a seamless two-layer drawing interface that supports cutouts using a whiteboard metaphor. Cutout animations serve as building blocks to help users construct sophisticated animations. While manipulating cutout animations, users can draw and write text to create effects-such as articulated figures, multiple motions, and image objects-that have been difficult with previous sketching approaches. An intuitive timeline interface employs visually integrated motion cues and supports several traditional animation effects. Novices positively evaluated Sketch-n-Stretch's effectiveness in creating object motions, compared to an existing sketching tool. They also used its advanced features to animate complete stories. This video demonstrates the Sketch-n-Stretch tool for making sketch-based animations.