Tinrocket, renowned for their popular apps like Waterlogue and Olli, has introduced a brand-new camera app called Cinemin. This app enables users to capture animated photos and videos without relying on AI filters.
Cinemin, available for free, draws its inspiration from traditional animated art and cinema for its filters. Users can apply these filters in real-time while capturing images or videos, allowing them to preview the effects live. After taking a photo, the app provides a range of editing options, including line cleanup, shadow adjustments, flatness, brightness, tint, dark and light colors, temperature, and contrast.
For video recording, Cinemin offers a full-screen cinema mode to ensure distraction-free filming.
Cinemin also offers in-app purchases for added features, such as saving unfiltered photos and videos for later editing and exporting videos in 3K and 4K resolutions. Users can opt for a monthly subscription at $0.99, an annual subscription at $5.99, or a one-time purchase option for $9.99.
John Balestrieri, the company’s founder, emphasized his background in art and design, which he incorporates into his apps. Cinemin places a particular focus on the 2D animation aspect of photography, resulting in images and videos with a flat appearance.
Balestrieri explained his approach, stating, “For the past 20+ years, I’ve used computer graphics to explore art and vision. Each of my apps (Percolator, Waterlogue, Cinemin, etc.) focuses on some visual or aesthetic principles grounded in the human visual system backed by hundreds of years of art tradition.”
While many apps employ generative AI techniques for photo manipulation, Balestrieri highlighted the need for extensive training data and expressed his commitment to avoiding the exploitation of artists’ existing work for AI purposes. He emphasized the importance of personally understanding the art journey rather than relying solely on generative AI to “figure it out.”
