Press Release from Toon Boom Animation Inc.
Toon Boom Animation Inc. has announced the release of Toon Boom Animate Pro, the high-performance animation software for professionals. Toon Boom Animate Pro is the most complete professional animation software for serious animators, offering award winning state-of-the-art content creation, animation and compositing toolset for any animation style within a single all-in-one desktop application.
"At Toon Boom, when it comes to building a strong and tightly-knit animation community, we believe in giving more for less. This is why today we are releasing the most advanced animation software for professional animators at an incredibly low price. In addition this gives professional animators the opportunity to join the global Toon Boom community," shared Joan Vogelesang, President and Chief Executive Officer at Toon Boom.
Here is what Adam Phillips, has to say about Animate Pro: "Animate Pro.. How can such a serious beast be so much fun? I'm finding it's as addictive as any game, so for me the only difficult part is getting to bed at a reasonable hour. With my background in traditional pencil & paper animation, the appeal of Animate Pro lies not only in the comfort of the traditional tools but also in the time-saving aspects of the UI and the brutal power of the camera, 3D elements and vast library of effects modules. When the results speak so clearly, the choice isn't a difficult one." Adam Phillips is the publisher of Bitey Castle (
www.bitey.com ), creator of the Brackenwood series and has close to 12 million views on Newgrounds.
Feature Highlights
Toon Boom Animate Pro combines state-of-the-art vector technology, real-time animation tools and nodal compositing to simplify the conception of complex effects. With its easy-to-use interface, non-destructive and resolution independent workflow, featuring a new and unique 3D space environment Animate Pro delivers incredible power at an economical price.
Explore true digital animation
Toon Boom Animate Pro enables you to create tradigital and bitmap animation as well as combining both styles. You can access advanced lip-sync and cell swapping tools to give an extra edge to your content creation process.
Keep traditional art alive
Animate Pro masters traditional art thanks to advanced clean, ink and paint tools as well as an Xsheet with drawing capabilities to simulate a paper exposure sheet. Animate Pro supports Pencil Check Pro to preserve the line test exposure sheet.
Artistic style unleashed
With Toon Boom Animate Pro, you can develop any project without having to compromise quality. Refine your artwork style using multiple brush tools, textures and gradients to get a unique look and feel.
Beyond multi-plane camera
Animate Pro delivers full control on all 3 axes. Move, scale and rotate any of your elements to create amazing 3D scenery with real-time playback. Access a powerful Graph editor and apply subtle acceleration with ease motion control.
Animation's holy grail
Easily perform frame tweening using the timeline; expose your drawing using the Xsheet; quickly create key poses with inverse kinematics; create in-betweens automatically with the Morphing tool and even let Animate Pro detect the audio phonemes for you.
Animate faster
Symbols and pegs work in unison. Keyframing in cut-out and tradigital animation is a breeze. Easily fine tune your animation to get the result you have imagined.
Sparkling effects and compositing
Toon Boom Animate Pro compositing takes place at any time during the production cycle. Manipulate the effect network to apply any combination of effects on elements in real-time. Over 50 special effects, ranging from blurs to colour correction and deformation.
Enjoy an adaptable user interface
Whether you want to create artwork, set up your action or add special effects, customize your workspace as you need. Each tool comes with a contextual interface that will let you set your preferences in a click.
Smooth pipeline and workflow integration
Toon Boom Animate Pro can import leading file formats, including MOV, SWF, PSD, AI and PDF, as well as export to video in MOV and FLV. In addition, Animate Pro comes with full scripting capabilities and command line tools. Add Storyboard Pro to integrate the pre-production stages seamlessly into your existing pipeline.
Included kick-start program
Toon Boom Animate Pro comes with more than four hours of video training and ready-to-use templates for a smooth learning experience. Dedicated support programs combined with a practical user forum are additional resources for timely assistance, all handled by the Toon Boom animation experts.
More for Less Tour
To promote the Animate family line of products, Toon Boom will be touring North America, starting with a powerful presentation at Flash on Tap, in Boston on May 28-30, 2009; then on to Colombus, OH, on June 10, 2009; New York, NY, on June 16, 2009, Chicago, IL, on June 17, 2009; Orlando, FL, on June 18, 2009; Denver, CO, on June 23, 2009; San Francisco, CA, on July 13, 2009; Seattle, WA, on July 20, 2009; and Portland, OR, on July 21, 2009. All events will be from 7 pm to 9 pm, in their respective time zones. For a complete listing of events and to RSVP, please go to
http://toonboom.makeswebsites.com/ , select your city and register.
Pricing and Availability
Toon Boom Animate Pro for MAC OS X on Intel based systems and for Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista platforms is ready to ship now with availability through the Toon Boom Store at
www.toonboom.com/buy/onlinestore/customer . Considering the overwhelmingly positive response received from the field and the great success Animate has garnered since its launch in November 2008, Toon Boom Animate Pro will be released at $1,999.99 US, a saving of $1,000 off the original listed price.
All customers who took advantage of the pre-order campaign which started on March 30, 2009, will receive their Product Code electronically along with instructions on how to install and activate the product.
Toon Boom Animate Pro comes with a Personal Learning Edition and over three hours of video training that will get any new user up and animating quickly.
For more detailed information, please visit
www.toonboom.com/products/animatepro/ .
