Studio 5 By Toon Boom (beta)

Posted by LisaHill - 08/06/09 at 01:06 pm

Subject Matter: Animation & Media, Graphic Art

Grades: Middle School to College

Multi-Technique Animation Software for Beginners & Hobbyists
Toon Boom has a wide selection of animation software for home users, school and professional users. I’ve reviewed other animation software programs, and it’s impressive the variety of animation software ToonBoom offers. No matter what level of expertise, Toon Boom provides beginners to experts infinite possibilities of animation.

There’s More Than Just Stop Motion Animation
Many people love cartoons and animation movies, and wouldn’t it be fun to create your own? The easiest choice is to use Flip Boom, and the next step up is Studio 5. Studio 5 requires some familiarity with digital illustration tools and functions. Users can download the Quick Start tutorial pdf and lesson files for practice.

Each lesson I practiced taught me different features, and how to build an animated clip. There were plenty of pictures in the tutorials that identified  different tools and functions. Under eLearning, Toon Boom offers a variety of tutorial pdfs, tips & tricks and character templates.

Studio 5 offers these main features:

• Discover various animation techniques: stop-motion, traditional digital animation, traditional paper animation, cut-out and rotoscoping
• Draw digitally, scan in hand-drawn animations, capture live images or import existing artwork, and enhance images using the various paint and camera tools
• Add audio tracks and lip-sync animation
• Publish animation projects for print, TV, HDTV, the Web, Facebook, YouTube and iPod.

In Class & At Home
Schooling is just not about the 3 R’s (reading, writing, ‘rithmatic).  It’s desirable that today’s students be exposed to the rich variety of media applications, including animation, graphic art, photojournalism, audio,  and video editing.  If later in life, students understand the production process, they can utilize these skills in marketing, communication, design, teaching, engineering, gaming, journalism, etc.

Many students give presentations, speeches, and let’s face it, PowerPoint can be static and overused.Why not animate a historic event (the signing of the Magna Carta, building Rome, Vikings crossing the Atlantic Ocean)? Shapes, equations and geometry could come alive in a short animated clip. Animate cellular division, or molecular bonding. While reading an essay describing Romeo and Juliet, students could develop an animated video that expresses their understanding of Shakespeare.

Studio Projects and Curriculum
It’s best to study and practice the online tutorials and lessons. In addition, Toon Boom offers schools and teachers a selection of various completed projects covering history, chemistry, astronomy, biology, literature and language arts.

Toon Boom also offers the Studio Animation Curriculum which includes various lessons, lecture notes and activities. Students and teachers develop their skills in basic animation, timing, squash and stretch, walk cycle animation, basic multi-planning and scene planning, drag and overlap, animating a jumping character, the take, visual breakdown and lip-sync, plus storyboard and staging. Check with Toon Boom for the curriculum cost (based on license agreement).

Support
Free tutorials are found at Online Tutorials. In addition, Toon Boom offers Workout Video Series ($24.99)and Video Training Tutorials ($59.99). For the purchase of 10 licenses, Toon Boom offers the Edukit at no charge. The Edukit includes The Toon Boom Studio Animation Curriculum with a book, a CD with animation elements, and the Toon Boom Studio Project Courseware with an electronic book and sample material (original combined cost at $ 1749.98 US).

MacNN has these comments about Studio5 in the article Toon Boom Studio 5 adds stop-motion animation.

Animation Magazine gives this advice in the article Toon Boom Announces Studio 5.

System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5.1 (Leopard) with Intel processor; ; Windows XP or Vista; 1 GB RAM; Wacom Tablet (optional); Free QuickTime player or Capture device supporting QuickTime or Image Capture interface; Bright colored flat fabric for Chroma Key Feature; Internet access
Contact: Toonboom.com
Cost: Preorder now at $329; check online for education licensing price

This entry was posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 1:47 pm and is filed under Animation, Art, Fun Stuff, Media, Photography/Video. The entry is tagged under Animation, Art, college, digital art, digital education, elearning, graphic art, high, Media, media students, middle, students, Studio, Studio 5, ToonBoom, ToonBoom.com, university. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.