Toon Boom Studio 1.1, which is optimized for Mac OS X 10.1, is now available from Toon Boom Technologies. The new version includes new features such as the ability to export to iMovie projects, as well as a number of Aqua user interface improvements.
Toon Boom Studio brings many of the capabilities of Toon Boom’s high-end product, USAnimation, to the designers and creators of character animations for the Web. It costs US$349 ($99 for students). It’s targeted to animators, graphic artists and cartoonists working in advertising, music video production and gaming.
With version 1.1, you can output a new animated iMovie project or add your animation to an existing iMovie project. This means you can now use iMovie, Apple’s entry level video editing application, to add titles, transitions or effects to your animated movie or spruce up your home movies with animated clips.
Toon Boom Studio 1.1 also features an enhanced Aqua interface, which includes customizable toolbars at the top of each window instead of floating tool palettes. And now screen layouts and utility palettes have been optimized and redesigned to provide more onscreen workspace. Other enhancements include full dual monitor support and custom screen arrangements for the Titanium PowerBook G4 and Apple Cinema Display.
Toon Boom Studio’s paint and drawing tools rely on the Quartz technology in Mac OS X to give the user optimal quality in drawing and coloring a vector animation. It has an automatic lip sync feature, 3D scene planning and compact Flash-compatible file rendering for greater scene complexity. The software also incorporates the feel of traditional animation with a rotating light table, “X” sheet visual representation of the work, and an onion-skinning or “flip-book” feature. It incorporates output to QuickTime, a second camera-view in the scene-planning mode and Adobe Illustrator input.
Toon Boom Studio 1.1 is available at the Apple Stores as well as on the Toon Boom Technologies Web site. The Japanese version is due this spring.