Toon Boom Animation has announced the release of Toon Boom Studio Express 3.5, a new version of their “streamlined” edition of Toon Boom Studio. Toon Boom Studio Express 3.5 costs $99.99; upgrades from v2.5 or v3 cost $19.99 until May 4, 2007.
Toon Boom Studio Express is a 2D animation package for Mac OS X and Windows. The software lets you create or import hand-drawn animation, lip-sync it, set up the action in a 3D environment and publish it in various formats. Studio Express pares down its feature set compared to its big brother, with more limited animation tools, fewer pegs, cameras and scenes, and no advanced lip syncing tools.
New to the 3.5 release is a drop shadow effect. Export to PDF has been added, so users can preserve vector quality. The user interface has been improved, and the software is now available in both French and English.
Toon Boom Studio Express 3.5 requires a G4 or better (including Intel), Mac OS X v10.3.9 or later, 512MB RAM, 120MB hard disk space, 24-bit display with 8MB VRAM and 1024 x 768 resolution. A Wacom pen tablet is also recommended.