Toon Boom Studio and Animate

Howdy folks,

I have been researching video and animation.  I keep running across an argument called Flash vs. Toon boom.  apparently, this is similar to the mac vs. pc argument (or ford vs. chevy).  I digress.

The software in question is from Toon Boom.  yup, silly name (kind of like outofnapkins – but a little more on topic), but pretty powerful software.  The also have some great marketing.

First, there are three main versions for adults. There are also three versions for children, but those don’t have enough features to satisfy any but the most basic animation desires.  The bottom level software is called Toon Boom Studio.  the mid-level is Toon Boom Animate and the top tier is Animate -Pro.  A good comparison chart can be found here:

http://www.toonboom.com/products/compare/compare_animation_software.php

the comparison of flash vs toon boom needs to clarify versions.  Just as macromedia flash 8 is vastly inferior to adobe flash cs4, different versions of the toonboom software have different capabilities. I digress again…

If you have ever wondered how they make those great Jib Jab videos, this program will give you a lot of insight.  I’m not saying they use Toon Boom, but it has many many features that can replicate a jib jab style video.  When paired with Flash and Adobe Premiere, I think you could mimic all but the most difficult techniques in the Jib Jab style.

p.s. I’m still trying to figure out how they did the three color technique (black, white and red) in the Wierd Al video: “CNR”

Turning the Page – from photography to Animation and video

Howdy folks,  🙂

Over the last four or five months I’ve mostly written about photography or photoshop.  As I’ve watched the technology change over the years, there has been a trend for “regular” digital cameras to also shoot video.  After a lot of investigating (randomly searching whatever caught my fancy on search engines and blogs),  I have decided to include info about video editing, software, equipment and techniques.  (It also doesn’t hurt that it gives me alot more content to draw inspiration from). 

Anyway,  I will still post my thoughts and discoveries about photography, but I wanted to share some of the “cooler” stuff that I run across from time to time.