Digital Video, the R&D company of the leading 2D animation system Toonz, announces a new production software: Story Planner, the ultimate tool for creating storyboard and animatics.
With Story Planner it is possible to create from start to finish a storyboard with sketches and notes laid out in an unlimited number of panels describing the flow of the story.
Drawings can be made in the sketch area by using raster-based tools to achieve the traditional sketch look. Dialogs and descriptions can be written down or copied from the script in the notes section comments, and formatted in any font style.
Camera movements can be defined for each panel with the possibility to create seamless movements spreading on several panels. Graphical information like captions and arrows describing actions can be added to complete the sketch definition.
Panels can be joined to form scenes, and the sequence of scenes can be easily arranged and reordered to follow the action of the story.
To check the flow and rhythm of the story, animatics that include sketches, timing and camera movements can be generated with a one-click command.
If the traditional storyboard on paper is required, it is possible to print it out by choosing a layout template from a library, or by defining a new one according to specific needs.
When working on a cartoon production, storyboard scenes including sketches, timing and camera movements can be also exported as layout scenes to Toonz, where the actual production can start.
Additional features will be available in Story Planner PRO, whose release is scheduled at the same time of the base version. It will include a timeline to control scene timing with sound tracks and set predefined transitions, layers on sketch drawings, and layer transformations to manage and animate independently elements such as characters and overlays in the sketch.
Available for Windows and Macintosh, the pre-release of Story Planner is on-line for free download at www.toonz.com: it includes a 30-day trial period, with no limitations and no feature disabled, including loading, saving and exporting features.
