ToonBoom Storyboard Pro

Storyboarding is traditionally a pen and paper affair, but Toon Boom Animation, purveyors of the incredibly popular Toon Boom Studio, thinks a paperless workflow is in order. With a copy of Toon Boom Storyboard Pro and a Wacom graphics tablet, it could be a more than viable proposition.

The app’s interface looks and feels like Toon Boom Studio, featuring an array of drawing and modify tools running down the left-hand side. A series of panels, enabling you to edit settings and browse library items, are positioned to the right, and there are some great characters, props and effects supplied.

You can choose different workspaces when creating your storyboard, such as the drawing workspace, which has a neat layers system. The vertical and horizontal workspaces show individual panels along with any dialogue, notes and so on. An overview workspace enables you to see your project in its entirety.

As you’d expect, you can record voice annotations, import graphics (including layered PSDs) and export to a number of formats. One very nice feature is the Camera Transform tool, which helps you create dynamic storyboards.

Storyboard Pro is a lot of fun to use. Simple in operation, but powerful in its capabilities. This app is definitely recommended to any storyboard artist looking to go all-digital, and it feels like more of an artist and animator’s tool than the film-focused StoryBoard Artist 4.