The Bottom Line
Personally, I prefer Digital over Studio - but Toon Boom Studio 4 is its own unique experience whose merits shouldn't be discounted.
Pros
- Enhanced workspace with customizable tool docking.
- Familiar feel of traditional animation with digital tool enhancements.
Cons
- Having to adjust settings in QuickTime is a minor annoyance.
Description
- Featured automated lip synching.
- Capable of traditional, keyframe, or cutout animation.
- Import a multitude of resources.
- Version 4 features new brush shapes and feathered edges.
- Timeline has been upgraded and improved.
Guide Review - Toon Boom Studio 4
My first thought on experimenting with Toon Boom Studio 4 is that I should have waited until after its release to experiment with Toon Boom Digital, as compared to Digital, Studio feels just a little bit limited. To use slang terms, it lacks some of the "shiny".
That doesn't mean it isn't still a full-featured, rich animation program. The interface has been upgraded, but retains the familiar feel of pencil-and-paper animation transferred to the computer screen, making for a comfortable transition for traditional animators.
Unless you're familiar with previous versions of Toon Boom Studio, the plug-in enhancements may take some getting used to, but are worth the learning curve. Toon Boom Studio 4 also allows for web publishing, creating Flash-format movies or ready HTML documents.
