We had heard about Aviary several months ago and was totally blown away when we did; having no idea where to even start when it came to telling people what it was that this uber-ambitious group of artists are in the process of establishing.

Truth be known, it would not surprise us in the slightest if of one The Giants picked them up for a few million on buzz alone, but who knows, perhaps they have a different plan, one in which a revolution to bring down the very establishments that will continually threaten to gobble them up; will win?

Getting back to the point of this post, it was not until Nick Gonzalez of TechCrunch wrote his extremely descriptive article summarising what it was that the guys behind Worth1000 and Plime have been endlessly working on; have we been able to get an article of our own started:

With Aviary, the New York based team is aiming at the rather ambitious goal of not only creating a marketplace for multimedia artwork, but a suite of robust collaborative online applications with which to create the works.

The obvious question is “why both tools and a marketplace?” As founder Avi Muchnick believes, both are needed for the other to be successful. They need a marketplace for creators to sell their works and encourage use of the tools.

They need tools so they can confirm and maintain the copyright of the works created on the platform.

The lingering question is whether online tools will be of a high enough caliber to produce marketable content. So far, signs are pointing to yes.

When completed, Aviary will consist of 14 online tools of varying complexity: an image editor, color swatch generator, pattern generator, vector-based editor, 3D modeler, audio editor, music generator, video editor, desktop publishing tool, word processor, painting simulator, custom image product creator, photo analyzer, and file system to store it all on. Each of the applications is programmed in Flex, making them ready to meld with your desktop upon Adobe AIR’s public release. Adding an artsy twist, each tool will be named after a different bird.

All items created in these programs will be stored on their own file system called Rookry. From there, artists will be able to sell their creations on the open market. Even small pieces, such as patterns or sound effects will be marketable. If the works are made within Aviary, buyers will have the security of knowing they are buying an original work. If they incorporate outside content, they will be flagged as such. From within Aviary’s platform artists will also be able also create derivative works while maintaining attribution and royalty rights upon sale.