One of the program’s most intriguing features is the Show Lip-Sync command, which analyzes sound files and generates reference drawings showing the proper mouth shapes for spoken dialogue. Once you’ve got your ‘toons in order, it’s time to add the boom: the program lets you import MP3, AIFF, WAV, and PCM audio files. Creating loops, such as walking cycles, is a straightforward but somewhat tedious process–you must repeatedly paste a sequence of cells until you’ve reached your desired length. The program also lets you import bitmap graphics, which are useful for creating backgrounds.Įach element is stored in its own column in the Exposure Sheet, where you can easily adjust timing, frame by frame in individual cells. If your idea of drawing involves a Bézier pen tool, you can import Adobe Illustrator 8 files.
TOON BOOM STUDIO 8 FEATURES DRIVER
(A Wacom driver is included on the CD.) As you animate a sequence, the customizable onion-skinning system lets you view prior and subsequent drawings–an invaluable reference tool.Īnd if you’d rather work with old-fashioned pencil and paper, Toon Boom Studio has you covered: the Import And Vectorize command takes a scanned drawing saved in BMP format and faithfully converts it to vector art. Using a digitizing tablet with Toon Boom Studio’s brush tool gives you pressure-sensitive control over line thickness. There are simple shape-drawing tools, but if you’re an experienced artist, you’ll want to head straight for the responsive pencil and brush tools.
Toon Boom Studio’s Drawing mode has digital versions of all the amenities found in a traditional animator’s workspace, down to the rotating light table and 12- or 16-field grids.
TOON BOOM STUDIO 8 FEATURES MAC OS
This inventive program runs only in Mac OS X, and its dynamic combination of old- and new-school animation provides challenges: many traditional animators will have to become accustomed to working in 3-D space, and experienced computer animators will discover that the quality of Toon Boom Studio’s output depends greatly on the drawing ability of the user. The Drawing mode provides polished vector drawing tools, a flexible painting system, an automatically generated lip-sync reference, and an exposure sheet for working out the timing of elements–and that’s just part of the program.
Toon Boom Studio sets out to be an entire animation studio, and the extent to which it succeeds is remarkable. Toon Boom Studio is an innovative new program that can help animators find new audiences on the Web.
While Macromedia Flash’s vector-based animation lets users produce files that are small enough to be easily distributed on the Web, Flash’s technical interface is alien territory to traditionally trained animators.