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October 25, 2006

Toufee Launches Fast Flash Movie Making

Marshall Kirkpatrick

43 comments »

Toufee is a new WYSIWYG online Flash movie builder that aims to make it easy for non technical users to quickly create impressive multimedia items for embedding in web pages. Some of the key features include drag and drop element placement, good control over presentation timing and a text-to-speech engine with six relatively human voices. I think there is a lot of potential here - there’s no shortage of people who would like to make Flash presentations without complicated or expensive desktop software.

If you read our review of the impressive multimedia tool Scrapblog, Toufee is more lightweight and oriented to short movies. If you read our review of the very heady Flash film creation tool TagLoops, Toufee is much more straightforward, usable and mature. Some sample presentations, which are quite interesting and are said to have taken only minutes to create, can be viewed here on the Toufee site.

The product is fully hosted, rich in point and click selected element and media options and produces very small files. Flickr and YouTube import are supported. It’s fun to use. The company aims to please everyone from MySpacers through sales professionals and eBay users.

The product is being developed full-time by New Delhi based Sanchit Bhatnagar and Navneet Rai. If Toufee can land on its feet in terms of performance and stability it could do very well in the space currently dominated by companies like Slide and RockYou. Toufee isn’t there yet, but it shows a lot of potential.

Tool responsiveness and interaction with the browser could use some work. Toufee could also be easier to learn. The service could probably use a name change as well. If the word Toufee means anything in particular I don’t know what it is. I can’t help but visualize a toupee made of tofu, but perhaps that’s just me.

Overall, I think Toufee is a company and product worth watching. Once it gets its feet on the ground I think it will fill an important need.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 25th, 2006 at 9:32 am and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Trackbacks/Pings (Trackback URL)

  1. TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » Toufee、簡単Flashムービー制作ツールをスタート

    October 25th, 2006 at 2:57 pm

  2. Toufeee, creando secuencias en flahs a través de internet

    October 25th, 2006 at 5:22 pm

  3. Toufee–在线Flash电影制作工具 at WappBlog

    October 25th, 2006 at 8:50 pm

  4. DesiPundit » Archives » Toufee - The Online Flash Movie Maker

    October 25th, 2006 at 11:20 pm

  5. TecnoMovidas.net » Blog Archive » Toufeee: crear secuencias en flash a través de internet (sin conocimientos de flash)

    October 26th, 2006 at 1:14 am

  6. Nuevo Toufee-Empresario

    October 26th, 2006 at 7:28 am

  7. Indian presence in WEB 2.0. « 360° view of cyber jungle : Explore, Discover, Innovate.

    October 29th, 2006 at 5:20 am

  8. Mi otro blog… » Blog Archive » YouTube, sus clones y los nuevos modelos de negocio del vídeo en Internet

    November 2nd, 2006 at 1:36 pm

  9. MakeUseOf.com

    December 8th, 2006 at 3:28 am

  10. Startup Dunia - Indian startups and Entrepreneurship » Blog Archive » Toufee - Another Indian Startup Gets Techcrunched

    February 24th, 2007 at 1:00 am

  11. 南京君晓网络科技有限公司 » Toufee?C在线Flash电影制作工具-我的香荷包

    March 9th, 2008 at 11:32 pm

Comments

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  1. Craig

    October 25th, 2006 at 9:41 am

    Wow, that flash UI is impressive……. uhhh…….

  2. taco

    October 25th, 2006 at 9:51 am

    ugleee….

  3. Steve

    October 25th, 2006 at 10:03 am

    Yeah, that interface needs some serious work…

    Totally weak.

  4. Robert

    October 25th, 2006 at 10:05 am

    Why is Techcrunch wasting my time with this crap?

  5. fostrt

    October 25th, 2006 at 10:20 am

    If something is non american you guys simply dismiss it as crap

  6. Sanchit Bhatnagar

    October 25th, 2006 at 10:28 am

    Hello,
    Thanks so much for the write up Marshall. Glad you liked it :) We have a lot of stuff planned to add to toufee in the next few days including hundreds of effects and new tutorials.

    If anyone would like more information, just email us at support at toufee.com, we’d love to share the stuff we have going on here. And once again your review was very encouraging and i promise we’ll be trying to do our best to make this product more and more useful for everyone. Thanks.

  7. Cuube

    October 25th, 2006 at 10:32 am

    Don’t like their name. Couldn’t they come up with a better Web2.0 name?! Make me think of tofu, a white, odorless and tasteless blob!

  8. Andy

    October 25th, 2006 at 11:10 am

    What the code does behind the scenes is probably impressive and the idea certinaly seems appearling, but their website and tutorials are not professional looking. I don’t think a computer voice is a good idea either. Please change your progress icon (spinning animated gif). I think it looks silly. My recommendation to the India team is to hire a website designer to redo their website then “re-release” the service once that is complete.

  9. Biz

    October 25th, 2006 at 11:20 am

    For those with unidimensional minds, toufee is a play on TOFFEE, i.e. confection or candy. (Those seeking further illumination on this may check wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toffee)

    The footer on Toufee’s homepage says: Contains no added sugar or artificial ingredients. Movies made with toufee are 97% FAT FREE!

    Interesting to see so many braindeads here.

  10. iVersus

    October 25th, 2006 at 11:33 am

    What the company defines itself with its name and what that name conjures up in the general public’s mind are two very different things. Think Chevy Nova! Not a big hit in Spanish-speaking countries! If you’re spending money and time to explain your company/product name, may be that name isn’t right for you.

  11. AllIP

    October 25th, 2006 at 11:48 am

    May be those guys at toufee can let us know what’s behind their name?!

  12. Brenda Williams

    October 25th, 2006 at 12:05 pm

    I can’t believe the “name” or a “location” of a company would make a difference. Heck, I am a real dummy with flash! I’ve tried everything. When I found toufee I thought I’d give it a try and fail as always. I have found you have to be a real “techie” to understand this. Well, I was surprised! FINALLY I got it! This was easy and I’ve had fun doing it. I’ve made several flash movies for my family and work. Now, I look like the “techie” I had to be before :-) Thanks toufee, whatever it means!

    Only thing I can’t figure out is why it’s FREE! FANTASTIC! Thanks guys!

    Brenda

  13. Sanchit Bhatnagar

    October 25th, 2006 at 12:29 pm

    @AllIP: yes toufee is a play on toffee like biz said.. since you want me to explain it, we wanted it to have some connection with web eye candy. the word we made up was from touch and feel, first three letters of both.. tou(ch) + fee(l).. our initial tagline was “don’t just read it touch and feel it”.. because toufee creates flash movies. but that sounded kind of corny so we decided just to use the word toufee and drop the tagline… so its actually a play on two things, the i-candy and touch and feel.. ok, typing this out makes it look silly now because i never thought i’d be explaining it but it really sounded good in my head, i promise :)

  14. nemrut

    October 25th, 2006 at 12:38 pm

    Toufee…Toupee..i think avg users are going to have a problem with this one.

    Maybe Shuzak?

  15. Steve

    October 25th, 2006 at 12:41 pm

    >> 4.) “If something is non american you guys simply dismiss it as crap”

    What do you think this is, the Rush Limbaugh channel? I’d say the typical user of the site is pretty qualified to judge new Web 2.0 products. It’s crap whether it was made in India or the U.S.

  16. dave

    October 25th, 2006 at 12:44 pm

    actually, “TOUFEE” is exactly what “TOUPEE” would sound like if you have just received an injection of novocaine to dull your senses, which is probably what you would need to sit through the assorted slideshows on most of these sites…put an E on the front (etoufee) and it’s a tasty tomato sauce in cooking….

    btw, do all of these sites make viewers look at sponsored host text (like toufee in the bar) - or could that be stripped out so that nobody knows who or what you used?

  17. Nils

    October 25th, 2006 at 12:56 pm

    The interface is fine… in the right context. A tip to the creators: There are cultural differences in what is considered “aesthetically pleasing”… What is pleasing in one country may look too flashy in another… Don’t read too much into the negative comments. But figure out who your target customer is. If it is the techie geek here in the Silicon Valley, a UI change may be in order.

  18. Viks

    October 25th, 2006 at 1:18 pm

    This one is simply great !!!!and easy that even a kid could make a presentation. Believe me most of the products out there will leave u fixin and formating for hours to do the same thing.. I am not saying that its comparable to the likes of adobe premier element but I have used them all and know what it takes to make a simple visual.

    Regarding all those thumb sucking kid .. making comments like non-US crap etc .. i have just to say .. wake up dude .. we r not discussing “toffee / candy” that u eat in ur baby care. This is for grown ups !!

    Good work guys!! Keep it up!!

  19. Chris Stegner

    October 25th, 2006 at 1:39 pm

    The smartest thing they have done is the marketing towards myspace users. Hundreds of middle and highschool kids would love to add these little flash movies to their site. But the thing is they just touched on it they should go after that market as hard as they can.

    And if they do go after that market they do need to dumb things down even more. Which is why these ABCD presto flash animation sites have been doing so well.

    Good luck!

  20. Dillon Thomas

    October 25th, 2006 at 2:21 pm

    Very good point #17 NILS.

  21. Mario

    October 25th, 2006 at 2:45 pm

    The interface doesn’t look too bad to me. I think the background image is the problem.

  22. om

    October 25th, 2006 at 3:27 pm

    Iam in Indian - I say it is crap. Dont bring Indian or American into the picture. You guys have a bad product. Go back to drawing board.

    Good Luck!

  23. Mitch

    October 25th, 2006 at 3:31 pm

    The issues with the UI are not about whether it’s aesthetically pleasing (which it’s not!) but that it’s a nightmare to use! That applies in whatever country you are in.

  24. Startups.in/India

    October 25th, 2006 at 5:58 pm

    Inside beauty is what matters. :)
    It’s exciting to see more and more young startups in India take charge and come aboard. We’ve had enough of BPO/KPO stuff.

  25. Manish

    October 25th, 2006 at 10:05 pm

    Hi,
    I was trying to build a product similar to this but with different aspect…giving the pitures the power to speak up…..it was like sending flash messages to people made up of pictures,words,sounds and themes.But dropped due negative feedback from people.
    Good to see this product….as product is kool….
    Congrats guys….keep working on improving it and do listen what your target customers wants.

  26. KC

    October 25th, 2006 at 10:36 pm

    Great Job guys. Keep at it. Partner or integrate with as many products as possible.
    PS: Your web site needs to be jazzed up a bit.

  27. Vaibhav Domkundwar - india 2.0

    October 25th, 2006 at 11:33 pm

    This is definitely good. It will be stronger if they can refine the user experience and design - its fairly crude and that reflects badly when you are competing with a global base. I am sure this is just their early version.

    Also, I was not sure of the exact positioning. If its a free utility it really really helps to focus towards MySpace and other social networks. RockYou is the leader there right now.

    Btw, what is the revenue model?

  28. Xing

    October 26th, 2006 at 6:27 am

    I think a lot has gone into discussing the name of product. The industry has seen worse names getting better of the web.
    Personally, it is a gr8, easy to use and innovative concept. It has been intelligently targeted at flickr and myspace users. This will defenitely help.
    It stick to it’s promise of “making your movies 97% Fat free”.Functionality is good. I think it is a gr8 product.
    Toufee delivers what it promises!

  29. Abhishek Agarwal

    October 26th, 2006 at 8:16 am

    I think the product is simply great. I agree that different people have diffrent views but this product is awesome.
    Good One…Guys

  30. Rob Mowery

    October 26th, 2006 at 10:14 am

    I think these folks are on the right track with their concept. They will def have a market with the Myspacers, but consider the potential for this product in terms of creating simple instructional materials.

    I do think they need to refine the UI a bit. But the concept and the core is spot on.

    In terms of the site/company name - take a look at 90% of the Web2.0 stuff out there and tell me that the names actually map to what they are doing. Seeing the explanation of how they arrived at the name does make sense.

  31. Ro

    October 26th, 2006 at 3:03 pm

    Team Toufee-

    One thing I’d work on is making the tool a lot easier to use. Not sure if your target user audience is looking to do as much work as required to create really great movies, etc. Sometime hundreds of options isn’t necessarily a good thing…

  32. Toufeeq Hussain

    October 26th, 2006 at 10:11 pm

    Hey! They stole my name. :D

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