The need to develop a fast and efficient tool for capturing and editing animation began with the birth of the Anima Mundi Festival which, since its first year (1993), promotes free animation workshops for its spectators. Since the beginning, the directors of the festival have looked for a solution to the editing of the animations made during the workshops of the Open Studio, respecting the ludic nature and agility of the process, since the animations produced are immediately watched by the audience. Some attempts were made, from the instantaneous development of 16mm film (during the first festival, in 1993), to the use of imported equipment like the Video LunchBox, used as a testing equipment by professional animators.
With the beginning of the Anima Escola Project workshops, the use of imported and expensive equipment became a problem, since the objective of the project is the democratization of animation.
Through the contact with IBM, a new partnership began with the goal of creating a free software, developed and compatible with the Linux operational system. Anima Mundi and IBM began looking, then, for a third partner, the IMPA (Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics), to develop this software based on the demands noticed throughout the years of Anima Mundi Festival as well as Anima Escola Project. Both projects served as a research and test field for MUAN, which started to be developed in 2002 and now, in 2007, is ready to be released to the community.