Nawmal

Last updated

Technologies Nawmal Inc.
Company type3D animation website
Founded2004;21 years ago (2004)
Headquarters Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Website http://www.nawmal.com

Nawmal, formerly known as Xtranormal, is a web and desktop do-it-yourself animation software. It is produced by Technologies Nawmal Inc., formerly Nawmal Ltd., a Canadian digital entertainment company based in Montreal, Canada. Nawmal turns words from a script into an animated movie using text-to-speech and animation technologies. [1]

Contents

History

Logo of Xtranormal Logo xtranormal.gif
Logo of Xtranormal

Nawmal's predecessor, Xtranormal, was launched after four years of software development. [2] It was established as a storyboarding tool for writers and film directors. The original intent was to allow users to create videos by choosing from a menu of pre-designed characters and sets, and scripting their own dialogue. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Xtranormal's State platform allowed casual users to create their own animated videos, and could be downloaded for free and run offline. At some point, State was replaced with a newer version of the animation software called Xtranormal Desktop (or, XD). Like State, XD was free to download from the Xtranormal website, but is no longer available after Xtranormal's shutdown. [4] Xtranormal also released a web-based animation software tool called Movie Maker (alternately known as "Text-To-Movie"). Movie Maker offers users a more limited subset of functionality in exchange for the convenience of a web browser. Xtranormal videos could at one time be created through an interface directly on the YouTube website. [3]

In 2011, Xtranormal launched a subscription service called Xtranormal for Education. This program aimed to empower teachers and students by giving them a new way to express themselves in the classroom. Teachers could create and grade animation-based assignments directly from their web browsers. Xtranormal for Education was implemented in K–12, university and special needs classes all over the world.[ citation needed ]

In January 2013, Xtranormal's CEO at the time told Forbes magazine that Xtranormal had a viable web subscription model, including the Tellagami app, but they believed that the real opportunity for growth was now in mobile. [5] On June 28, 2013, the company stopped accepting new users, stopped processing transactions for its XP virtual currency, stopped distributing Xtranormal Desktop, and then announced that they would be discontinuing current subscriptions, points plans and existing services as of July 31, 2013. [6] They encouraged users to use up existing points and to complete unfinished movies and download completed movies before that date. [6]

Xtranormal's online services were taken down shortly after, with the content of their website replaced by a holding page showing the company's logo, a set of media player control buttons, and the word "pause", [7] but in early October, the placeholder was gone, thus their site was shut down completely. Its official YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter pages had also been deleted.[ citation needed ] The site was briefly home to a store called "The College Shop" in November 2013, but that disappeared as the following event took place.[ citation needed ]

In April 2014, Xtranormal's domain hosted a close mirror of the site called Nawmal Ltd. which acquired Xtranormal's intellectual property. [8]

In July 2014, it was announced that the assets of Xtranormal had been acquired by Nawmal Ltd. [9] As of 2016, Xtranormal's new parent company, Nawmal Inc. has split Xtranormal into 2 different animators named after the company itself, both just like Xtranormal, except one being for professional use, and one being for education use. [10]

As of 2020, Xtranormal had a new feature of Nawmal Inc. but is introducing new VR, AR, advanced customization and more.[ citation needed ]

Legacy

Xtranormal bear characters Xtranormal mascots - SXSW 2011 - South by Southwest - Austin Texas.jpg
Xtranormal bear characters

Some user-created videos reached more than a million views on YouTube. [1] [3] [11] [12] According to NPR, Xtranormal's most successful videos featured a conversation between "a wise guy who is the voice of reason" and "a tone deaf, argumentative adversary". [13] A popular subgenre of content involved career professionals satirizing their workplaces [1] [14] or students satirizing their college majors. [15]

In 2010, the short film Sleeping with Charlie Kaufman by director J Roland Kelly, animated entirely with Nawmal, premiered at the Little Rock Film Festival and was shown at The Rome International Film Festival in Rome, Georgia. Xtranormal videos once formed a recurring feature on the late night FNC talk show Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld , and were featured as part of a GEICO advertising campaign. [16] The Micros series of shorts about the world of online poker has been the most popular Xtranormal web-series on YouTube. [17] Some videos created on Nawmal have appeared on shows such as The Colbert Report , The Kroll Show and Howard 100 .

A viral November 2010 cartoon by real estate manager Omid Malekan criticizing quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve was referenced by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in his memoir. [18] [19]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Stein, Jeannine (April 24, 2011). "Using video to fight workplace stress". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved July 13, 2024.
  2. 1 2 Albrecht, Chris (October 8, 2008), Xtranormal Launches Text-to-Movie Making, gigaom, archived from the original on November 15, 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 Newman, Jared (March 24, 2011), "Make Your Own Cartoons and Slideshows on YouTube", Time .
  4. 1 2 Grotta, Sally Wiener; Grotta, Daniel (April 2, 2010), "Make Bobbleheaded Animations Easily With Freebie Xtranormal State", PC World [ permanent dead link ].
  5. ↑ Wing Kosner, Anthony (January 30, 2013), "Tellagami Makes Fast, Fun User Generated Video Content For The Mobile Generation", Forbes Tech .
  6. 1 2 "Important Message From Xtranormal". Xtranormal Blog. June 28, 2013. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Storytelling | Xtranormal". August 1, 2013. Archived from the original on August 1, 2013. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  8. ↑ "move over to nawmal". April 3, 2014. Archived from the original on April 3, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  9. ↑ "Xtranormal". Nawmal Ltd. July 31, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Home". nawmal.com.
  11. ↑ Humphries, Matthew (July 2, 2010), Best Buy suspends employee for making funny iPhone 4 vs HTC Evo video, Geek.com, archived from the original on December 12, 2011, retrieved December 10, 2010.
  12. ↑ Siegler, MG (July 1, 2010), Best Buy Trying To Fire Employee Over Those Hilarious EVO Versus iPhone Videos, TechCrunch.
  13. ↑ Kurwa, Nishat (January 5, 2011). "Behind Rise Of Xtranormal, A Hilarious DIY Deadpan". NPR. Retrieved July 13, 2024.
  14. ↑ Edwards, Jim (January 19, 2011). "Xtranormal, Where Office Dissenters Skewer Their Bosses and Clients". CBS News. Retrieved July 13, 2024.
  15. ↑ Charbonneau, Léo (January 20, 2011). "So you want to do a PhD in the humanities?". University Affairs. Archived from the original on October 26, 2020. Retrieved April 21, 2025.
  16. ↑ Hart, Hugh (October 26, 2010), "Video: Robo-Talking Superhero Ad Uses Text-to-Voice Trick", Wired .
  17. ↑ Hustvedt, Mark (June 3, 2011), "The Micros: Nerds Web Series Flops a Boat", Tubefilter News .
  18. ↑ Weigel, David (November 22, 2010). "The Man Behind the Quantitative Easing Cartoon Speaks!". Slate Magazine. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  19. ↑ Malekan, Omid (October 1, 2018). "I Created 'The Bernank' on YouTube. And I Was Mostly Wrong". The New York Times. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
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