Toon Boom User Stories
One "ToonBoomator" with great potential
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It is no doubt the best choice for a traditional animator searching for a friendly environment on digital platform. I have seen classical animators’ jaws drop during their initial days when I made them aware about Toon Boom Studio’s capabilities.
Kshiraj Telang
Animator
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Company
Animation Saints, ISHIR DIGITAL
How long have you been in this profession?
Present year completes six year of my stay in the industry where the first year was limited to static drawings i.e., story book illustrations and political cartooning.
What are your most important accomplishments?
Delivering motion to animatable concepts and thankfully having Toon Boom Studio to do the job with me. Actually every success at bringing life to inanimate stuff results accomplishment to me.
History with Toon Boom Studio
I was probably 17 when I was exposed to Toon Boom Studio. Was a ‘wanna be animator kid’ those days although had no knowledge of how it is done. Since the application I had with me was a trial edition, I stayed awake days and nights for those thirty days of its installation to learn it. And from then, Toon Boom Studio today has become an integral part of my profession.
Do you create your animations using Toon Boom Studio only?
Yes that’s the only tool I use for animating. At least 90% of production comes from it. Adobe Flash also gets involved during the last stages of project delivery when versioning has to be done.
Why did you choose to combine these products?
Flash native format is still the industry’s demand and when it comes to compiling stuffs for web that involves my artworks combined with web development, the production team has to use Flash which acts as a platform for that activity. Al though when it comes to other deliverables like DVD or QuickTime movie, I hardly feel the need of any other tool.
Please describe your workflow
- My story development and storyboarding many a times goes hand to hand. This way my first draft of a production is a Visual Script that actually means pictures that tell my story. Scripting the ‘drawing way’ brings more appeal to the story.
- Once the Visual Script is through, I perform Production Design Art that becomes a bible of the project of contents like production stylization, character designs, backgrounds, color mood boards and some more story sketches.
- A next and better draft of storyboard is then done, this time using characters from model sheets. I used Toon Boom Studio and Photoshop together to make animatics out of it. But these days exploring Toon Boom Storyboard PRO which is being pretty impressive like all Toon Boom Technologies products. I wish and hope Storyboard PRO will soon become my part of workflow as well.
- If the production involves raster backgrounds, the job gets handed to Photoshop artists or 3d artists. If in case only vectors are fine, even the backgrounds gets done in Toon Boom Studio
- At the animation stage, I just rely and feel confident on Toon Boom Studio as it manages to help me deliver any art form regardless of the fact that the task is key frame based or cut out animation.
- During the last stages of production when compositing is involved, Toon Boom Studio’s sceneplanning mode comes in use which helps me thrill my client with its brilliant multiplane supported compositing.
- Finally the animation is delivered in the needful format. For web, I pass on my animations to the Flash artists by importing my Toon Boom file in Adobe Flash. Otherwise direct renders are selected when raster output is desired.
What kind of animation do you create?
Majority of my animations goes to audience which is on web. ‘Animated viral marketing’ at present is a hot selling scenario in India, which results in most of the animations being broadcasted on web. But my deliverables have also tasted the platforms of educational CD ROM games, LCD showcase at public places, film festivals entries and Television.
What are your top five favorite features ion Toon Boom Studio?
- Brilliant Polyline tool
- Drawing View rotation capabilities
- X-Sheet management
- Peg motion points
- Function editor
What Toon Boom Studio features allow you to distinguish your animation productions?
It is no doubt the best choice for a traditional animator searching for a friendly environment on digital platform. I have seen classical animators’ jaws drop during their initial days when I made them aware about Toon Boom Studio’s capabilities. The intelligent allocation of all shortcuts to left hand makes your right hand so liberal at graphic tablet that your productivity gets accelerated beyond imagination.
Did you experience any productivity gains in using Toon Boom Studio?
The gain it brings in my productivity can be easily assumed from the fact that now when I sit on a conventional light box, I find myself all alone. Whereas when sitting on digital medium having Toon Boom with you, it just feels like having a companion along doing the job with you. The compositing potential have made my efforts look so good, I can’t imagine a solution to repeat the same performance in absence of Toon Boom Studio.
Are you more efficient today compared to your production toolset used previously?
Not applicable on me as thankfully Toon Boom Studio was my first tool to try hands on.
Is it possible to get the same results with other digital animation software?
Yes of course! There are many more besides Toon Boom Studio. But well… err… they are again from Toon Boom Technologies. List start from Harmony, Digital Pro, OPUS and hopefully many more surprises to come.
How do you feel about Toon Boom Studio?
There was a generation when breed of animation professionals were called ‘animators’. But from a recent past, we have an addition to it… “Toon Boomators”
How do you feel about other applications?
Please don’t make me yawn!
Equipment used
Intel Core2 Quad CPU 2.40 GHz with 2 GB RAM
Wacom Intuos 3 6x8
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