Toon Boom Studio 4.5

[Calico Monkey]

I received an alert today that Toon Boom Studio 4.5 has been announced. While it's not yet available for sale, there is a new banner on the Toon Boom (http://www.toonboom.com) homepage that talks a bit about it.

It looks like the biggest change is the ability to import and draw directly over video. I don't know how often you use this, but it's not a terribly important feature for me.

There's no word yet on how much an upgrade will cost, but historically it's been in the $99 range.

[flashcartoons]

if i was to buy a program i would want FlipBook Pro :)

i bought toonboom 3.5 studio and haven't used it :p

[ElusiveMoose]

I'm another 3.5 owner that has yet to use the program.

I'd like to make the switch, but it's hard to find the time to learn a new program and completely retool my production pipeline... :rolleyes:

[flashcartoons]

not to mention toonboom digital pro is the real version, studio is just watered down

and digital pro is like $3,000 usd ouch! and harmony doesn't even have a price, thats how expensive it is

[kdog]

yeah I saw the promo as well.... I dunno, I started with 3.5 & got 4.0 as soon as it came out, but this doesn't appear to have nearly as many new features as the last upgrade did. Not ones I'm looking for anyway.

I may get it eventually, but I highly doubt it will be on the release day, I haven't drawn or animated a lick in quite a while now anyway :( hopefully soon though.

and Flash - Harmony is just like being in a high end restaurant man, if there are no prices on the menu & you need to ask, then you're in the wrong place! heh, you should call them for a quote just for sh!ts & giggles. :p

[flashcartoons]

call canada? you think im rich! :rotfl

[ToonBoomTD]

dividuals.
not to mention toonboom digital pro is the real version, studio is just watered down

and digital pro is like $3,000 usd ouch! and harmony doesn't even have a price, thats how expensive it is

Digital Proteomes, Storyboard Pro and Pencil check rare professional grade software. Thus the higher cost. Harmony's cost is based on licensing-and is typically 3000 a seat (per year I thinks. It really depends on the contract that a studio and Toon Boom has. It could also be a percentage. the overall production cost. Included in the licensing is their support. which covers training. tech support, feature requests (plugins, scripts, etc). As a freelance artist 1 Digital Pro and Storyboard Pro will be more then enough to get any job done and if you are working as a professional freelancer in animation, the cost of Lethe software is probably about a month's salary for those just starting and about two weeks salary for more established individuals.

I don't think that we'll be seeing much in terms of FX added to studio. Studio was meant be an alternative to Flash with tools designed specifically for animation. The fx that are available in Digital and Harmony require a different "3D-engine" then what studio was written. with as well as much more complex (especially with the new version of Digital and Harmony that is to be released later this year). the way I see it, would you rather be using Nash (no camera, no motion pegs, no palettes, too many workarounds to do simple tasks etc)?

I teach Vector based Animation using studio 4.0. I would rather be teaching the coarse with Digital Pro or Harmony but the school only budgeted for studio and this was done before I was hired. Otherwise I would have gotten a hold of bonbon myself and tried to get the schools better deal with the academic licensing or. I have convinced them them to budget for Digital or Harmony for the next fiscal year as it's in the interest of their students to be be "industry" ready when they graduate.

[Chilerkle]

I decided I will not purchase version 4.5 because Digital Pro seems like a more sound investment than getting the next version of Toonboom Studio.

Digital Pro has compositing features and Inverse kinematics which makes the software a better investment in my opinion.

I only recommend buying the latest version of Toonboom Studio 4.5 if you haven't upgraded since version 2.5.