Dear Moho Fans...

[Lost Marble]

The following message was sent out a few weeks ago to those Moho users who are registered to receive announcement emails. For those of you who didn't receive the email, here's the official announcement:

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Dear Moho fans,

If you've recently visited the Moho user forum, you may have realized that we are working on a new release of Moho. I am very happy to tell you that we are, however this next release is unlike any other we have ever put together. So please read on!

I am hoping to launch Moho into the mainstream market soon. In realizing this dream, I knew I couldn't do it all myself, so I’ve been working with e frontier America, the publishers of Poser, Shade, & Manga Studio, to help give Moho the lift it needs for a broader market. So far working with e frontier, I'm convinced they can match the Moho technology and their industry knowledge to help reach our goals. Just think, soon you may be able to find Moho in resellers near you!

Together we are working closely together to bring more recognition to the Moho technology and animation worldwide. In doing so, there will be some exciting changes to the program that I want to tell you about.

First, we're creating 2 versions of the software. One will be a "lighter" version of the existing software so new, entry level users with a digital lifestyle, who are interested in making their own short animations can get a quicker start into all the fun we're already having. Think of all the people that want to make their own cartoons, or cutout South Park like shorts because they're hooked on that program. Or can you imagine someone doing a Jib-Jab style animation to roast a friend on their birthday? What a riot! You get the idea.

We will also release a "professional" version, which will be similar to the software that's currently available from my site, except it includes additional content which really helps get you started on new projects. Thanks to everyone that has contributed and provided us with content. If you’d like to contribute some of your artwork, we’ll take your .moho files of your animations or characters and will include it in the new program. We’ll obviously give you credit for all your work!

Second, we also plan to rename the Moho software to Anime Studio. Anime means animation in Japanese of course. The name change alone will bring more recognition to the fact that its animation software. To support that, our market research proved people understand the new name, and the Anime Studio name itself was the most popular name in our name survey.

As existing Moho customers, we'll take good care of you. You'll get the newly named Anime Studio Professional version, free. The new version also includes additional content, so make sure you download your copy right away when it’s available. If you haven't used Moho for a while, this is the time to pick it up again. We'll also offer previous Moho users special deals on e frontier titles, so if you have ever been interested in Manga Studio, Poser, Shade or any other e frontier titles, you should revisit those too. We’ll provide you with the details on that soon. The LostMarble forums will remain the same for the time being and I hope that you will welcome all of our new users that will visit us. So stay tuned you’ll notice some new changes to the site.

Obviously this is a big challenge for myself and e frontier, and we'll definitely benefit from your encouragement, suggestions and evangelism to help spread the word and introduce Anime Studio to the rest of the world! And before we do spread the news on Anime Studio to the world in a few weeks time with an official press release, I wanted to share this information with you first. So please make sure to keep it within our Moho community.

Thanks for supporting Moho, and I look forward to you supporting Anime Studio too, your comments are very much appreciated!


Mike Clifton
Lost Marble & e frontier