Workflow Apps for Animation on the iPad 2

Now that I've had a few weeks to really get used to my iPad I wonder why it took me so long to buy one.

It's completely changed the way I organise myself.  Being able to practically take an organiser/media device with me wherever I go and pull it out at a moments notice to draw, take notes, refine my workflow checklist, come up with lesson plans, storyboard ideas for short films, organise my finances, show people my portfolio, remote access my computer at home, learn to play guitar etc, has made most things that much easier to keep track of and know where everything is.

I thought I'd recommend a couple of apps that have really helped me stay on task and stay organised with my animation.

(These three note taking apps all have their own strengths and weaknesses, I find that between them they have all the features I need)

UPAD
This app has become indispensable to me ever since I started using it.  I'd previously been using Note Taker HD to write down all my notes for lessons and for anything else but after trying out the free version of UPAD and loving it to bits I bit the bullet and purchased the full version for $5 (US, not sure how much it costs in Australia, I purchase all my stuff from the US store).
The UPAD UI is clean, slick and unobtrusive when writing out my notes.  I can import custom paper backgrounds or choose from the many already on offer.  UPAD allows me to import pdf files and annotate over the top off or highlight underneath text which allows for a great way to tick off tasks or highlight sections of important information without it becoming obscured.  It also has a colour wheel for picking colours for the pen/highlighter tool which is sweet as there are a few other note taking apps I've tried that only have a very limited range of colour options.

Everything can be neatly organised in folders and exported to pdf/jpeg/printer and then dropbox, iBooks, or any other app that can import pdfs.
There are a few things I'd like to see in the next version which are; select, move and copy/paste strokes, page bookmarking and a folder tree for better organisation.

Note Taker HD
This app is a powerhouse.  It's recently been updated with a brand new UI that now sings and is pretty intuitive to use.  The ability to write out some text with a stylus or finger and then grab that text and move it anywhere on the page is exceptionally useful for scribbling down notes and then organising them into something cohesive later on.  The only minor drawbacks are that it's stroke smoothing isn't quite as refined as UPAD, I find that my writing in UPAD looks slightly neater than Note Taker HD.

Again this app also comes with the ability to sort notes into folders, unfortunately that folder can't house any other folders just like UPAD but it's not such a big deal at the moment.  It also has all the export options of UPAD. Again, a copy/paste ability between pages would be the icing on the cake for this app.

Noteshelf
I've only really just started playing around with Noteshelf and it's got some great features including custom papers (user imported or paid), custom covers (some included, some paid) and the one feature all the other note taking apps that i like are missing which is the ability to cut/copy/paste/move  every single scribble on the screen.  It doesn't seem to be vector based, so when you zoom in you start seeing the pixels, but for the ability to do all that I can totally live with a slightly blurry zoomed view.

ThinkBook
Brilliant app for making to-do's and creating entire workflows. I was looking for an app that would give me the ability to nest to-do's or questions for different stages of a project and after a lot of searching through MANY different to-do apps this is the only one that nests AND does it brilliantly.  Not only that but it also shows a pie chart on the top-most project to show how many of the tasks underneath have been done. I've created an entire checklist for my animation workflow that I can now keep track of, tick things off as they're done and remind myself of steps that i might have previously forgotten or skipped over.

Sketchbook Pro
This has been on many 'Top 10' app review articles and for good reason, it's replaced paper and pen when I'm creating thumbnails for poses, coming up with acting ideas and little gestures or planning how I want some body part to move, it's quick, simple, clean, minimal UI and it just works well.

Other notable mentions:
Dropbox, Splashtop Desktop Remote, Webcamera and Headset

I also recently purchases a Wacom Bamboo Stylus from Harris Technology (Australia) for $28 + $12 shipping and it's been brilliant, feels great in the hand, got a bit of weight, small tip and slides over the iPad effortlessly.  This replaces my old cheaper, mini one that was actually pretty nice but the rubber wore out pretty quickly and it would pick up a lot of gunk and then smudge it over the screen...eeeew!

As I find more useful apps I'll be back to update this post.  I'm not saying these are the best, just the ones that I've found really helpful for my work.