Toon Boom Animate Pro

Mikdog · Post by **Mikdog** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 9:05 pm

Hiya,

Downloaded the PLE edition. Seems pretty nice for frame-by-frame stuff and the drawing tools are awesome.

Going to test this a bit more. Price is a bit steep

so hopefully I'll be able to find a cheaper way to finance this if I decide to buy it. Moving onto another project in due course where I'm going to be using ToonBoom, so I'll have a better idea when comparing Anime Studio and ToonBoom.

Anyway, wondering if anyone else has used this program? Been looking at a couple of features on YouTube, looks pretty decent.

Mike

bleep · Post by **bleep** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:03 am

I also learing TBA

madrobot · Post by **madrobot** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 2:47 am

They are running a sale today only.
Worth checking out, it's significantly discounted across their whole range.

dm · Post by dm » Mon Sep 21, 2009 5:19 am

they have sales and specials constantly. If you're on their mailing list, they'll run some sort of special offer on some product regularly. If it's list price today, it will go down next month or the month after. They cycle through all of their products that way.

Animate is a fine bit of software. But, it depends on what you want to do with it. It may be worthwhile, it may not. I don't think it's directly comparable to Anime Studio anyway.

So, what do you want to do with it?

This is an interesting place to be asking about it

Mikdog · Post by **Mikdog** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 5:04 pm

Yo ho ahoy.

Thanks, I saw there was a sale one it. Nice. Might wait another month or so and hope it comes on special again.

I want to do frame-by-frame animation and want to not have to draw in Photoshop and import to another program as I currently do with AS.

Patmals · Post by **Patmals** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:52 pm

Mikdog wrote:Yo ho ahoy.

Thanks, I saw there was a sale one it. Nice. Might wait another month or so and hope it comes on special again.

I want to do frame-by-frame animation and want to not have to draw in Photoshop and import to another program as I currently do with AS.

Hey Mikdog,

Have you considred the non-pro Animate version? there is a PLE verson of this as well. Maybe you don't need some of the features of the Pro version and the Non -pro is quite considerably cheaper and often goes on special.

Mikdog · Post by **Mikdog** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 4:18 pm

Hi,

Haven't really thought about it. Thanks, I might check that out.

Do you use Animate? I couldn't quite figure out the differences from their product descriptions so I went with the PRO PLE.

dm · Post by dm » Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:02 pm

Their comparison chart: http://www.toonboom.com/products/compar ... ftware.php

I use animate. Pro has more effects, adds compositing, scanning support, and enhances some of the basic features.

It's still vector based, so I'm not sure how it might differ from what you could do in Animie Studio. I do think they offer better drawing tools though. If you're using the PLE, you certainly have an idea of how it goes.

Mikdog · Post by **Mikdog** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:19 pm

Hi,

Thanks for that. Hmm...when you say 'compositing' does animate not allow for multiple layers?

May I ask you since you use it: Do you ever work in Animate and wish you had some of the features of the Pro version? I'd probably get pretty frustrated with some of the limitations of Anime Studio Debut. Is Animate crippled in any way?

I really want to do some frame by frame animation with my Cintiq / Intuos and Anime Studio just isn't cutting it. I've tried drawing in Animate and its awesome. Filling shapes is easy peasey.

Thanks.

dm · Post by dm » Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:48 pm

compositing is more along the lines of what you would do in After Effects or Shake or the likes. You can have lots of image layers-though defining what you mean by layers might be in order.

In Pro: Windows> Network is a main feature that I miss (knowing about it, anyway). That's not in regular ol' animate. I'd hardly consider any of the assorted versions crippled. Look at the spec sheet for pro, its feature list says more specifically what's 'added' to the basic Animate package.-and you should be able to figure out whether you need that stuff or not. Keep in mind that Toon Boom only sells animation software. Smith Micro sells all sorts of unrelated things. It's a different mind set.

If you were doing all your drawing on paper and scanning, Pro would be vastly superior (you can scan and vectorize in Animate and Studio, but not all within the same piece of software-or level of control that Pro offers).

Nicer brushes (natural media) in pro. Blurs in Pro are more flexible. Though brushes and blurs in Animate are very functional.

Cost thing: You can buy Animate, then upgrade to pro for less than the cost of buying pro in the first place. You could also go from studio to animate to pro for less than the initial cost. (today's pricing, it saves you $700 US over just buying it outright).

Since you mentioned drawing in Photoshop, have you considered TV Paint? http://www.tvpaint.com It's frame by frame, and bitmapped as well. Also has a 'devoted' following. Their upgrade policy isn't great though (half price, basically-full price if you' re more than a version out of date).

Mikdog · Post by **Mikdog** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 7:52 pm

Hi, thanks for all that info. I've heard of tvpaint (I know slow uses it) but I've never really checked it out.

In truth I'll probably be doing a combination of frame-by-frame as well as cheating a bit with the help of computer tweening, moving things from oe place to another, etc... but I'd imagine TVPAINT can do that.

Animate sounds good. I've checked a couple endorsements on YouTube by animators, sounds pretty decent from what they say.

Anime Studio Pro, though I've loved it a lot, is frustrating at times...in any event I'll be learning ToonBoom apparently. Someone's gonna teach me in 2 weeks for another project on my horizon, and I'm actually looking forward to it! Maybe the software will be a little more easier to insert frames, correct a frame without influencing the timeline, etc...

Anyways, thanks. Interesting about the pricing ha ha, so I could start with ToonBoom Studio and crossgrade my way up. Like the story of the guy who started with a paperclip and traded and traded and ended up with a house.

dm · Post by dm » Sun Sep 27, 2009 12:29 am

I use TV Paint as well. It's got a somewhat convoluted interface and workflow. I think ASP has a somewhat convoluted interface and workflow too. TVP is OK. Unlike many users, I don't 'love' it. For what it is, it is pretty good though.

I use a lot of different tools for animation. My favored way is still on paper, then to cels, and then onto actual film. I don't think anything else looks as good. I think I spent more on supplies for the last commercial I did than I would have spent on buying Animate Pro.

Really all comes down to you and what feels right. There are other options out there as well. I think you might be happy with Animate, from your description anyway. Definitely easier for some changes than ASP is.

Endorsements can be found for any software. There will always be people who like it and others who hate it.

Good luck on your way to trading up to a house.

Mikdog · Post by **Mikdog** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 12:39 am

Ha ha thanks re: house.

Thanks for that info that helps quite a bit. I guess I have a fond affinity for AS because I first got into it when it was still MOHO and its what I cut my teeth on in terms of computer animation.

I'm busy reading Disney's THE ILLUSION OF LIFE (which is awesome) and about how they had these lengthy processes of having inkers trace animator's drawings onto cels and then the painting ladies would colour them and maybe add some cheek floursih on the other side of the cel, and the moviola tests and that enormous multiplane camera that needed 4 men to life one of the planes to adjust the level...hardcore stuff man, but the results are pretty amazing still today.

Anyways, I think Animate's probably my best bet, I'll be checking it out fo' sho'. Right now, I find I might need another frame for an animation in Anime Studio, and I'm like 'ah man' because I'll go back to Photoshop, draw the frame, import it into AS and then have to change the scale and get it positioned correctly, ugh. It'd be great to just go 'ok I want to insert a frame here, and wham bam thankyou I'll just draw it in this same program too, and done'. That's what I'm looking forward to for Toon Boom's stuff.

Peace.

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:45 am

You definitely should check TVP too. But wait until you've tested TB, it's no use to try to learn two very different programs at the same time, and the demo timeslot is limited ...

TVP +:
natural media likeness, ability to work very roughly, true WYSIWYG, very responsive to pen strokes
TVP -:
very big files especially when working in HD.

What I really like about TVP: it's like drawing in Photoshop, only much much faster and with more control.

Manu · Post by **Manu** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 10:19 am

Just out curiosity, has anybody ever tried Retas Stylos HD? I tried the demo once bit didn't get very far as is often the case when you just want to have a quick look.

The drawing tools felt superb though. It's all vectors but you'd never guess. Unlike any other vector drawing package I've ever tried, the lines don't jump when you finished drawing them. You can rotate the canvas, it has fantastic controls for smoothing/thickening lines... but the interface was a mess, hence I didn't get very far.