Studio Artist is being developed all the time, with many new features being added by its author, John Dalton. It offers amazing possibilities for intelligent rotoscoping as well. Unlike any other graphics apps, Studio Artist has an intelligent painting engine which is based on a deep knowledge of cognitive science. It is amazing to click on the "Action" button and see it go to work!

The metaphor behind Studio Artist is the music synthesizer, there's simply nothing like it out there! (But, at this point in time, it is for Mac only.)

The last tool I will mention is an old favorite of mine as well (since version 1); one that has recently received a great upgrade, Creature House's Expression 3.

Unlike the previous two applications, this one is vector based. It is loaded with features which enable the user to work with vectors while enjoying natural media like strokes and more, all in a very intuitive environment. Creature House is soon to ship another application based on the Expression's skeletal strokes but this time, aimed at the animation market (with a timeline and a very intriguing "in-betweening" engine, and more). LivingCels should be released soon. (www.creaturehouse.com)

The first of these images is the starting path, followed by three different strokes applied to it. Expression offers glorious transparent layers, text on a path, natural media looking strokes, and much much more.

Non-Photorealistic Computer Graphics (Modeling, Rendering, and Animation) by Thomas Strothotte and Stefan Schlechtweg. San Francisco, California: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, an imprint of Elesevier Science (USA), 2002. 470 pages with illustrations. ISBN: 1-55860-787-0 (US$64.95)

Jean Detheux is an artist who, after several decades of dedicated work with natural media, had to switch to digital art due to sudden severe allergies to paint fumes. He is now working on ways to create digital 2D animations that are a continuation of his natural media work. He has been teaching art in Canada and the U.S., and has works in many public and private galleries.