Inchworm Animation is the product of Bob Sabiston's passion for animation and technology.  He has worked on films such as A Scanner Darkly and developed Rotoscope technology to help animators.  Last year Inchworm Animation was released in America and has been praised for it's depth.

We had the opportunity to speak to Mr. Sabiston about the title, his background and what he thinks the future has in store for the video game industry.  You can read the full interview below but be sure to also check out our Inchworm Animation review to see what we thought of the game.

1. How big is the memory capacity and is there a limit to the video length?

By memory capacity you could mean NAND storage, like for files, or RAM for length of a single animation.

For NAND storage, the maximum size of a DSiWare title is 16MB. Game saves have to fit within this space, as well as the game itself. Inchworm is about 4MB itself, leaving 12 MB for recordings and animations.

As far as RAM and the length of an individual animation, I think it is about the same. 4MB for the game in memory leaving ~12 MB for your animation.

That would mean that if you make the largest possible animation, you would just be able to save it with nothing else in your storage. However, Inchworm is designed so that with planning you can economize your memory usage. You can make some very long animation and use up very little memory. This is because the animation is compressed in memory, uncompressed and composited on the fly. That is probably more that you wanted to know. :)

You can also have layers that just show a single drawing -- so painted backgrounds only appear once in memory, and your characters can have many frames, which compress smaller on their own.

2. Any tips by the creators on how to make a good video?

I see mostly funny stop-motion clips where people have drawn on top of the video. But hopefully people can figure out some of Inchworm's nuances, if they are interested in animation. In addition to the background trick I mention above, you can set up a little loop of frames on another layer and draw into it AS it plays and loops! It results in a very trippy visual effect.

Also, the ability to control the display time on each frame is another tool that can be used effectively. You can say something in the way you hold on one frame a beat longer than another -- it's more expressive than a constant framerate and more organically tied to the drawing.

3. What would you say the learning curve is? Could people jump in or do they need to learn all the ropes first?

You can jump right in, pretty much. If you want to do frame-by-frame drawing, you just draw a stick-figure, press '+' to advance to the next frame. The A Button starts and stops playing.

Or you can go straight to the Camera from the SETTINGS Button menu, and shoot some stop motion or a time-lapse. Then if you like, go back to the drawing tools and draw on top of each frame.

There are also 4 pretty extensive interactive tutorials which introduce you to all of the concepts.

4. From your experience what is the first thing users typically animate?

I see a lot of Lego animations, with word balloons drawn on top. A lot of kids in their bedrooms shooting lasers out of their hands at their siblings. You know, the stop motion and camera elements are things that were added near the end of Inchworm's development, when it moved from the DS to the DSi with its camera. I put a lot more work into the drawing tools -- occasionally a Disney animator or some other professional will upload what they have done with it, and that is really gratifying to see what they can do with it too! I don't care which way people use it as long as they are having fun with it.

5. Are there any features that had to be left out of the final product?

Yes, a lot actually. Originally I developed an even more advanced version, with a timeline and tracks, including sound-effects recording and object keyframes. It was working and I even did the tutorials for it. But I decided to start with a more basic version, because debugging that 'pro' version would have taken even longer than it has already! It took my 5 years just to see this version through.

6. What tool/feature are you proudest of?

Probably the whole drawing engine which compresses, uncompresses graphics on the fly, incorporating the idea of image resolutions much greater than the actual DS screen. A crazy dedicated person could animate something in HD with Inchworm -- but you would have to do it one tiny little 3x2 inch square at a time…

7. Why did it take so long for Inchworm for reach Europe?

I underestimate some things, like the time it took for me to get a certificate from the US government allowing Flat Black Films to sell products in Europe. I then had to wait on the ratings board process, which took several months. I could have overlapped those, but I was ignorant of the process. I also got one set of language translations done -- but then I had to get them redone because I failed to realize how exactly the terminology has to be, with reference to the various buttons and switches on the devices. A lot of stupid beginner mistakes. I am sorry for everyone who was waiting.

8. How was the experience of putting Inchworm on DSiWare/eShop? Any particular shortcomings or advantages to the service?

It seems good to me. I didn't have to do anything unusual, and sales seem pretty good. I am selling a lot more copies of Inchworm than I am my various iOS apps, currently. So I can't complain.

9. We've just got this, but what can we expect in the future? Something for 3DS? The Wii U tablet controller seems like a good fit too.

Well, honestly you probably won't see anything for a while. Nintendo actually rejected me as a 3DS developer. I think they want to work with companies established in the game industry rather than solo programmers like myself. I agree that the WiiU seems like a good fit, but it probably isn't something I would use myself. I will probably be working with iOS for a while. In the meantime I will be looking for Nintendo 3rd party companies who might be able to publish the 'pro' version for 3DS. I think I may be able to find a publishing deal so that I can focus on the development and not have to deal with all of the other business aspects so much.

10. Inchworm has been well received so far. Are you surprised at how well a piece of animation software has done on a games console or do you think it's reflective of a changing market?

I'm not surprised, just because the DS and its siblings are the perfect handheld animation devices! I've felt ever since it came out that the device was meant to do this type of thing. That is why I wrote to Nintendo in the first place. I am surprised more people in the game industry didn't believe it would be popular.

11. Have there been any fan-made animations you've seen that have surprised or impressed you?

Yes -- there's a user called 'Wayne' who does some really cool stuff. Also, every week or so I'll see one that is funny, or just cool because the kid who made it was enthusiastic about it, you can tell. The things people are doing with it are not what I imagined it would be used for, but I am still getting a big kick out of what people *are* doing with it.

12. Recent figures have shown that there has been a 25% increase in demand for animation skills. Do you think Inchworm could be a good starting point for budding animators?

I do think that, yes! It would be a good tool for learning the principles of traditional animation, and also the concept of layers and other aspects of digital art making.

13. Do you know of any professional animators using Inchworm?

Like I said I think there are one or two, at least. A couple of people have emailed me and mentioned they work at Dreamworks or places like that. I don't know that they are doing actual professional work with it -- that would be cool.

By the way, when I started Inchworm, I imagined it as the kind of tool videogame designers could use, when they weren't at their desktop. You ever see those old sprite-animation sequences used in games like Fire Emblem? They are super cool because they incorporate the idea of holding one cel for longer than another. I originally started out making a tool for creating animations like those.

14. During your career you've often worked both from an artistic point of view and a technical one. How do you feel these two areas are evolving and merging in gaming?

Well, it is kind of breathtaking in a way. The whole 'app' phenomenon has really blown the doors off what is possible in software, including gaming. You have the tremendous opportunity to get your creations out there, and to get paid for it which is even more remarkable. It seems like we're at the beginning of a revolution in this next form of media. So there's tremendous potential for the individual creative person who can program. Small teams of people, even more so. And at the other end of the scale, it's pretty impressive to see what people can accomplish in gaming when you really put money and people into it, like the big AAA titles for the consoles. It is like Hollywood blockbusters compared to indie movies -- all that is happening in gaming. And from a creative standpoint it is getting easier for people to write and publish books on their own, design and print 3D objects, everything.

15. Have any games inspired you and, if so, which ones?

My favorite game of all time would be Ultima, the early ones (II,III,IV). Then the Zelda series, I'm a big fan. They just seem to get better to me -- Skyward Sword was amazing. I loved Borderlands on XBox last year.

N-Europe would like to thank Bab Sabiston for his time and wish him the best of luck with future projects.