C
chronokin.com /software
1.0 beta · perpetual license

Frame Drafter

4D Animation Breakdown & Drafting (master timing, spacing, and consistency with a transparent overlay built for professional 2D animators).

[ Screenshot of Frame Drafter ]

Made for Indie Animation

Frame Drafter was originally designed by our animators at Chronokin for our indie animation projects currently in production. We ultimately decided to release all of our indie animation tools as software to give back to the animation community, and to build support for our projects as we create them. Because this software is used by (and constantly updated by) us, you have the guarantee that the software's standards are always being elevated to meet the demands of real deadlines and working artists.

We refuse to settle for mediocrity or lazy design choices. With that said, here is where our beta release does what other animation software has yet to do.

🔒

Zero Telemetry. Absolute Privacy.

Your workspace is your sanctuary. Frame Drafter never makes a network request. No tracking, no cloud, no cookies. Your artwork stays exclusively on your hardware (the tool runs flawlessly, even on a permanently air-gapped machine).

Core Features

🪟

Transparent Workspace

Full‑screen, frameless overlay. Adjust tracing paper opacity from 0–100% to keep any application visible while you draw (making Frame Drafter workflow‑agnostic for use with any creative application).

📏

4D Arc‑Length Ruler & Metronome

Measure stroke consistency in real time with dynamic curve analysis and match‑percentage scoring against your baseline distances. Keep your characters on‑model and maintain consistency (even during tough production deadlines).

🎞️

Adobe‑Style Timeline

A 150px fixed dock featuring layer tracks, visibility toggles, per‑frame keyframe dots, and adjustable real‑time playback from 1–60 FPS.

✏️

Dual Brush Engine

A highly responsive drafting engine with full tablet pressure and tilt support. Features a textured Pencil for roughing (defaulting to classic Cerulean Blue and Cadmium Red) and a smooth Ink Pen for tying down lines.

🏷️

Production Markings

Speed up your workflow by instantly dropping industry‑standard stamps onto your canvas (including timing charts, halves/thirds measurement guides, and registration crosshairs).

📤

Flexible Exporting

Save your workspace locally as an .fdraft project file, quick‑save individual PNGs, or render your timeline as a numbered PNG sequence into an auto‑generated, timestamped folder.

🌐

Global Accessibility

Switch instantly between Light and Dark themes, with full localization support for English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, French, Spanish, and Tagalog.

💾

Local‑First Architecture

All .fdraft project files and configurations remain exclusively on your physical drive. No sign‑up required. Works completely offline.

Technical Specs

  • OS: Windows, Linux (.AppImage / native binary)
  • Window: Frameless, hardware‑accelerated, always‑on‑top transparent layer
  • Tablet: Full pressure curve + tilt angle support
  • Export: .fdraft, PNG sequence, quick‑save PNG
  • Languages: 7 built‑in localizations
  • Privacy: Zero telemetry, no network stack

Licensing That Respects the Artist

Perpetual ownership. Buy once, run forever. No subscriptions.

Future Milestones

Fair expansion. Base purchase covers your primary workstation. Additional seat activations (laptop, secondary workspace) are available for a nominal $1 fee.

Lifecycle updates. All minor version optimization patches and performance upgrades are 100% free, forever. Major milestone upgrades require only a flat $1 validation fee.

$30 / perpetual
Buy now on itch.io