Yeah, FlipBook is that much fun.
FlipBook packs full-blown animation features into a polished––if initially confusing––interface. If you have a dexterous drawing finger and dream of unleashing your inner Hayao Miyazaki, FlipBook is worth the learning curve.
Drawing in FlipBook feels fluid and responsive, although rapid strokes look a little angular. Animations can be vertical or horizontal, but tool palettes remain vertical no matter how you hold your device. Those palettes offer plenty, however, including color selection controls, a five-level undo command, and more. Double-tapping certain tools expands their functions; two taps on the brush fills the screen with the current color.
You can add, rename, and rearrange up to four layers in your movie, letting you animate multiple objects in every frame to create truly lively scenes. Onion-skinning controls add faint images of the frames before or after the one you're working in to help you fine-tune movement. You can even copy and paste among layers and frames. We just wish layers could be locked––the currently active layer (and tool) isn't obvious at a glance, causing unintended edits. FlipBook's instructions cover only basic commands, so it takes practice to understand each feature and its multi-touch shortcuts. How-to videos on the FlipBook site help, but they can't be viewed in Mobile Safari.
Animations aren't limited to drawings; you can import anything from your photo library as a background, and multiple playback speeds (up to 12 frames-per-second) let you preview animations carefully. When you're finished, export the frames to your photo library, or upload them to the FlipBook website to share and download them as a 320x480 MP4 movie.
After some trial and error, FlipBook’s power and flexibility almost made us forget we were using a mobile application. It might be more than a toy, but FlipBook is just as fun to play with.
Drawing feels fluid. Plenty of tools and useful features. Exports movies through the FlipBook website or frames to your photo library.
Minimal interface can be confusing. Landscape drawing feels only partially supported. Layers can't be locked.
