Toon Boom Animate: Detailed Features

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Create resolution-independent scenes combining vector and bitmap animation
High resolution compositing engine with 16 bits per channel bitmap rendering
OpenGL accelerated true space environment for accurate multi-plane camera setup and easy depth positioning
Contextual user interface with predefined Workspaces supporting docked or floating View windows
Automatic updates to all View windows when changes are made to drawings
Supports reusable symbol elements and templates stored in library
Unique real-time anti-aliasing technology in working canvas
Rapid management of scene structure on large projects with Element Manager

4 layers available per drawing (Overlay, Line, Colour and Underlay)
Pencil tool to draw centre line stroke
Brush tool to draw pressure sensitive contour line strokes with when using a tablet
Brush tool with several brush tips for artistic drawing with instant preview
Pressure sensitive Eraser tool available for all vector drawing
Access Text tool with multiple fonts, styles and layout options
Convert centre line to Contour line and vice versa
Use different texture brushes to create other line styles such as pencil on paper, watercolour, etc
Eraser tool supports simultaneous bitmap texture and vector editing
Multiple drawing modes for drawing behind or painting existing strokes
User friendly navigation in your drawing with virtual animation disk to simulate panning, zooming and rotation
Access a full range of editing tools (cut, copy, paste, scale, rotate, skew, flip)
Access a full set of tools to edit contours (contour editor, smooth)
Use the light table and multi-level onion skinning features with flexible display available such as outline or fade
Display bitmap images and/or QuickTime movies for rotoscoping
Deform vector contour or centre lines to change their shape
Slice drawings with Freehand or rectangle Cutter tools
Use the Dropper tool to quickly find a colour in a palette
Use the Ellipse, Line, Polyline or Rectangle shape for fast construction of geometric elements
Automatically fill closed shapes
Flatten vector strokes to merge and remove overlapped lines
Use Optimize to flatten vector strokes while preserving the visual aspect
Display square, 12 field or 16 field Grids to register elements
Mark In-between, Breakdown and Keyframe drawings for precise frame-by-frame animation
Reposition drawings from all cels instantly for immediate image manipulation
Store brushes in the pen style library
Control contour line optimization for easy modification later on
Preserve gradient and texture continuity over independent strokes
Adjust brush size on-the-fly
Change a shape’s perspective with Perspective tool

Access 16 million colours
Control transparency for each colour
Independent colour pots for Pencil, Brush and Fill tools
Create an unlimited number of palettes
Create unlimited number of colour pots per palette
Fill colour pots with solid colours, gradients or bitmap textures
Supports Linear or Radial gradient
Edit Gradient/Texture tool to edit scale, rotation and hot points
Clone palettes to preserve dependencies
Duplicate palettes to copy all the colours and have them independent
Tint colours palette for creating variation without recreating new palette
Multi wheel colour picker with independent undo list
External palette support for collaborative workflow

Paint a single drawing, several sequences, or all drawings in a level simultaneously
Paint colour art, re-colour line art, and check for paint errors
Use the Swatch mode in Colour view for practical colour overview
Paint with bitmap textures and gradients
Preserve gradient and texture continuity over multiple paint operation
Close gap tools to manually close gaps
Close gaps automatically on all your drawings
Auto-paint all art levels simultaneously
Manage colour models in independent views
Paint quickly at all output resolutions
Use Backlight for instant verification of the completeness of the paint process
Highlight selected colour to select specific colour instantly

Create a library of animated elements and animated sequences
Store multiple elements with their own drawings
Create a library of effects
Store movements with their own functions and transformations
Preview drawings in real-time
Swap drawings easily to manage media assets
Share stored templates with multiple users

Drawing layers have their own animation attributes
Use Distribute to Layer tool to simultaneously distribute character parts to layers
Use Multi-Keyframes Easing to easily adjust the velocity on multiple character parts
Use Transform tool to perform most animating editing features (move, rotation, scale, …) with a single tool
Activate Animate mode to create keyframes automatically when modifying attributes
Define interpolation methods (linear or stop motion) per attributes
Create your in-betweening using the morphing tools
Create natural-looking animation with Inverse Kinematics (IK) tools
Automatically generate lip charts and save time lip-synching characters to voice tracks
Position all drawing layers interactively
Create 3D trajectories for elements and camera
Auto-calculate layers perspective in relation to camera position
Create complex movements with a hierarchy of elements and cameras
Preview layers and camera moves in real-time
View multi-plane perspective in real-time
Click and drag positioning of layers and cameras
Create multiple camera sets to easily swap between multiple aspect ratios
Rotate, scale, translate and skew multiple drawing layers at the same time
Use Drawing substitution to swap cells easily on-the-fly

Display Drawings, Pegs, Effects, Camera and Sound track
Modify all keyframable layers values directly in the timeline
Control layer attributes such as onion skin, visibility, lock, colour and name
Perform cell swapping or editing
Organize layers by hierarchy
Use sound scrubbing on a frame-by-frame basis
Effortlessly create new motion paths and animated drawings
Drag and drop keyframes, layers, motion paths and layer transformations
Display effects and their keyframes
Display Audio waveforms
Define custom colours for easy identification of layers

Emulates a traditional exposure sheet
Create, edit and save exposure sheets
Display Audio Waveform
Contextual exposure sheet column display based on the selected drawing
Print exposure sheets
Automatically build the timing in your exposure sheet with a simple click and drag
Use expression columns to create values for an effect based on mathematical operations
Control the velocity values with Bezier or ease function curves; control the values in other columns with these functions
Copy and paste cells with drag and drop
Draw directly in exposure sheet with Annotation column using drawing pen

Use the Effect Blend modes to create ambiance: Normal, Multiply, Screen, Lighten, Darken, Difference, Add, Subtract, Invert, Overlay, Hardlight, Alpha, Erase, Divide, Replace
Blur Effects: Blur, Directional Blur, Motion Blur, Glow
Colour Effects: Colour Card, Colour Scale, Colour Override, Brightness Contrast, Tone, Highlight, Transparency
Transformation Effects: Mask, Shadow, Quadmap
Blending modes: Add, Sub, Multiply, Divide, Overlay, Lighten, Hardlight, Softlight
Blur Effects: Variable Blur, Focus and Matte blur
Colour Effects: Colour Screen, Greyscale, Remove Transparency, Negate
Image Effects: Anti Flicker, Dither, Crop, External, Gradient
Deformation Effects: Glue, Refract, Pixelate, Grain, Scale, Line Art, Colour Art, Matte Resize
Preview the Transparency, Colour Scale, Colour Override effects in OpenGL view
Work simultaneously with multiple aspect ratios

Animate’s text-based scripting allows complete control over Animate parameters and animation, bringing better integration into the production pipeline.
Useful pre-built scripts to automate tedious workflow issues or create your own.
Run scripts from within the interface, directly from the command line.
Simple but powerful Javascript-style language is easy to learn without sacrificing function.

Change output resolution without rescanning or repainting
Add effects directly from the timeline
Scale vector artwork infinitely without pixilation
Use any output resolution and aspect ratio
Enjoy efficient compositing with HD images
Use the external node to perform additional effects with external programs
Control line thickness when zooming-in
Create mattes directly in the Camera View
Use the network navigator that helps to manage large networks
Easily pan and zoom in the Network Effects View window
Automatically connect Network modules, as well as reorder network cables
Insert Network modules seamlessly between existing modules
Intuitively drag and drop network modules
Drag and drop to create Group modules
Develop your own special effects plug-in using Animate Pro SDK
Add notes to your network for reminder and collaborative work

Use the built-in SWF preview for fast check-up
Enjoy internal real-time preview and external rendered playback
Play back current scene or external media
Preview complete scene with sound in sync
View frame sequences at full D1 resolution
Play back up to 60 fps

Bitmap TGA, PSD, PNG, JPEG, BMP, YUV, PAL, SGI
Import PSD and maintain independent layers
Import QuickTime Movie as an image sequence
Vector TVG, SWF, PDF, AI
Audio MP3, WAV, AIFF

TWAIN support
Automatic Feeder support (ADF)
Register peg holes automatically
Scan your drawings in black and white or greyscale
Auto-assemble your drawings for paint
Colour scan pre-coloured drawings and backgrounds
Auto-splice pan cells (characters and backgrounds)
Capture nuances of hand-drawn lines (using true-line vectorization and line texture)
Preserve original line textures such as pencil, crayon or chalk
Use advanced cleaning tools to remove dirt and hair easily

Render to any resolution and aspect ratio such as NTSC, PAL, HDTV
Support Field rendering for interlaced format
Export video to QuickTime Movie and FLV
Export vector animation to SWF with effects
Export image sequence TGA, SGI, PSD, YUV, PAL, PNG, BMP, OPT, TIF
Render multiple format and elements at the same time

›› Detailed Features in Toon Boom Animate

Toon Boom Animate: Detailed Features

[-] General

[+] Digital Drawing

[+] Palette and Colour

[+] Paint

[+] Libraries

[+] Animation

[+] Timeline

[+] Xsheet

[+] Effects

[+] Scripting

[+] Compositing

[+] Playback

[+] Import

[+] Scan

[+] Render