Bauhaus Software Inc. announced the immediate availability of Boardomatic, a new set of digital storyboarding tools for the Mirage 2D animation and special effects system. Designed for 2D animators and storyboard artists accustomed to working on paper, Boardomatic allows artists to quickly and easily produce fully digital storyboards and animatics. Boardomatic is available to all current Mirage owners and users who downloaded the full-use Mirage demo version.
Truly versatile digital storyboarding that effectively mimics pencil on paper is something that our users have been requesting for a long time, said Paul Ford, president of Bauhaus. Add Mirages ability to adjust transparency, copy, paste, scale and move elements in real time, and its a boarders dream come true. Many professionals involved in the development of the process have reported that Boardomatic enabled them to finish storyboards in half the time of traditional methods. Boardomatic is a huge time and money saver in any production pipeline, and best of all, its free.
Designed in conjunction with five-time Emmy Award-winning animator Rusty Mills (ANIMANIACS, PINKY AND THE BRAIN) and 2D animators from across the globe, Boardomatic provides a super-enhanced digital equivalent to classical storyboarding techniques, with the benefits of digital manipulation. Boardomatics key features include built-in pre-set storyboarding templates, as well as automatic generation of many different pan layouts. In addition to using Mirages wide range of natural media tools to digitally draw storyboards, Boardomatic enables artists to efficiently scan-in and place thumbnails for board creation, or completed paper storyboards for revisions. Finished digital boards can be easily customized with logos, user-defined page numbers and notes, and then printed out in standard two or three-panel formats. Digital boards can also be combined with sound files to generate animatics. Artists can easily come back to these digital storyboard files later if any adjustments are required.
Weve worked extensively with Boardomatic during its development phase, and are happy to say that its a huge benefit to animators, added Andy Collen of Happy Trails Animation. Bauhaus has provided a real-world suite of boarding tools that allow us to move this crucial production step into the digital domain. No more paper or trips back and forth to the copier for us. That is now a thing of the past. This free new toolset further solidifies Mirages position as the most feature-rich real-time creation tool in the 2D animation industry. No other software in the world allows artists to create any style of classical 2D animation in one streamlined environment.
Boardomatic is a free toolbar extension for existing Bauhaus Mirage customers, and is available now for download at www.bauhaussoftware.com. Boardomatic is available for both Windows PC and Mac OS/X; Boardomatic tutorials are also available on the Bauhaus website.
Mirage v1.5, Bauhaus Softwares 2D animation and special effects system, may also be purchased online at www.bauhaussoftware.com, or through the companys reseller channel. Mirage is available on Windows and OS/X. Educational pricing for both institutions and students is available.
San Antonio,Texas-based Bauhaus Software (www.bauhaussoftware.com) was founded to become a leading provider of products and technologies to the digital visual effects and animation markets.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
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