What was the inspiration for Flipbook Printer?
We used to draw our own flipbooks when we were kids but I had long since forgotten about them until 1999 when my mother and I stumbled onto a showing of Masters Students work at the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Most of the projects there were awful things like a giant pile of broken glass, but one of the Masters projects was a display by a woman named Stephanie Ognar.  It was basically a set of flipbooks hanging by strings, each one with a short movie consisting of things like her putting on a winter jacket, blowing a kiss, etc.  Very very simple idea, but somehow surprising and magical and whimsical.  Somehow it felt like I was holding a little piece of history frozen in time.  It was a zen-like reminder of how amazing it is that we can capture moving events.  Maybe it's just the unexpected shock of seeing a "movie" on paper.  Anyway, we were captivated by that display and I've wanted to make a tool to help people make these books for many years.  If you're interested in flipbooks as art, you might like to know that other artists are also involved in flipbook work.  Please let us know if you use our program in a project!

History: Flipbook Printer was created in February 2005, and first released to the public for home/personal use in November 2005, when it was featured in Lifehacker, BoingBoing, and Make magazine.