Serfit Drawplus4

[Black Spot]

I’m surprised that no one has mentioned Serif Drawplus4. It’s totally free at http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/DrawPlus/default.asp but registration is required. It’s vector based and exports as a GIF. You can import pictures, it has layers, onion skins and a couple of layers – background and overlay. All elements can have their transparency varied. Elements can be put in box for easy access. Timing can be varied for each frame (default is 25ps). You can up grade to 6 until the end of the month via computeractive at http://www.computeractive.co.uk/drawplus/index

I like it because it’s very easy to use. I'm going to upgrade to 8 for £9.95.

[Herb Montes]

I've used Serif DrawPlus to make my cartoon art with. I used version 8 which has those great vector brush shapes. Works well with my tablet (better than CorelDraw did). You can find my cartoon art in my deviantART gallery from the link in my profile. I have one animation sample in my gallery there but it was done with Toon Boom Studio.

[Black Spot]

I’ve just got 8 and am still learning where all the buttons are. I like that outlines can scale with the objects, because I was going to have to redraw all my objects with fake outlines so reducing the size of the object didn’t turn them into blobs. Those brushes are pretty neat.

Nice pics btw.

[Herb Montes]

When you double click on a brush in the selection panel a menu comes up that allows you to adjust the taper of a line. It's a bit more flexible that using the artistic pens in CorelDraw.

Then there is the auto-smooth feature when using a tablet. You can adjust how much wiggle or smoothness you can have in a line while drawing with the vector pen. Manga Studio EX has this feature as does Toon Boom.

[Black Spot]

I’m still finding out how much it can do. At first I had a bit of a problem in locating everything as it was in 4, but I’ve sorted that out. I’ll explore 8 more after I’ve finished my current animation. My next animation will be very different requiring softer edges and a more blurred look, so I’m really pleased with 8 – just surprised that more people here aren’t using it.

[Herb Montes]

The Serif products are not widely advertised. I found only a few folks on deviantART using it compared to the many who use Photoshop or Illustrator. I'm always looking around for new software to try and make my drawings better. Currently I'm trying out Paint Tool SAI which is a lot like Photoshop but without all the filters.

[Black Spot]

I went looking for a free animation programme and found serif quite easily. I had tried gimp before, but found that pretty difficult to work with. I have dogwaffle as well, even upgraded as well. With serif everything is easy, features are put in logical places and I was animating in less then an hour. I am very impressed with it.

Paint Tool SAI looks pretty interesting. It’s still in beta form? How are you finding it to actually work with?

[Herb Montes]

Paint Tool SAI is in Beta and free for now. I like the vector tools when using my tablet. And it has a lot of of the same layer features as Photoshop. It doesn't have basic shapes like circles, ovals and polygons like other vector programs. I use those for making word balloons and such. Hopefully they will be added once the program goes into final commercial release. Here is a list of the software I have tried or currently own:

---Vector---

CorelDraw 9
Serif DrawPlus 8
Canvas X
Mayura Draw
Inkscape
Manga Studio EX

---Raster---

Paint Shop Pro 7 and 9
Artweaver
CorelPaint 9
Photoshop 6
Manga Studio Debut
ArtRage
Alias Sketchbook Pro
Project Dogwaffle Pro
OpenCanvas
Pixel
Paint Tool SAI

---Animation---

Toon Boom Studio
Digicel Flipbook
Tapptoons Animation Studio
Flash 5
Tweenmaker
Pencil

---3D CGI---

TrueSpace
DAZ Studio
Carrara 6

[Black Spot]

I have a tablet, but only a tiny one and I still prefer to draw with my mouse! :blink:

That’s a pretty impressive load of programmes there. What’s the difference between vector and raster? I’ve never heard of raster as a term before – shows just how new I am to the whole thing.:)

For 3d I’ve got Blender, Anim8tor, Serif & Antics3 (all free). I’ve made the bird on Anim8tor run across the table after two weeks’ work. I haven’t yet got into 3d in a big way.

[Herb Montes]

Raster means a bitmap editor like a paint program. You're working with pixels where as with a vector it's with beziers and lines.

I haven't had much experience with 3D. Mostly used to do flying logos with TrueSpace. I recently got Carrara 6 because I wanted to try and create 3D versions of my cartoon characters and produce animation with them.

Then there are my experiments in stop motion animation. For that I got both 16mm and 35mm motion picture gear. Since it's easier to produce now I may just create some 2D animation digitally to post on YouTube.

[Black Spot]

Thanks for the info. I like vectors because it’s easy to scale objects without losing any definition. Look forward to seeing your work.:)

Just noticed I misspelt Serif in the thread title. :banghead

[Herb Montes]

One thing I like about Toon Boom is being able to work with vectors and the camera panel with all the multi-plane effects.