Storyboard Pro 22 Release Notes
Here is the list of changes in Storyboard Pro 22, build 22.0.0.18846 (2022-09-28)
New Features
Drawing Tools
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Mirror View |
You can now temporarily flip the contents of the Camera and Stage views horizontally by enabling Mirror View mode. This helps artists have a different perspective on their artwork. It makes it easier to view the balance and composition of a drawing and helps to spot mistakes.
To enable Mirror View, click on the
|
| Live Preview When Drawing with a Textured Pencil | Artists can now see the texture on pencil lines as the line is being drawn, providing a live accurate preview of the final line. In the past, the pencil line would be solid while drawing and the texture would appear once the line is drawn. |
| New Brush Tool Properties |
To give you more control over the look and feel of the brush tool, new options are available to dynamically control the size, flow, opacity and brush tip angle when using a drawing tablet. Size, Flow and Opacity Pen tilt and drawing speed can now be used as inputs to change the Size, Flow and Opacity properties of brushes, making it possible to control the size and the opacity of brushes independently while drawing. You are not limited to using the pressure for both. Fading and tapering parameters can also be used to increase or decrease the value of these properties based on the length of strokes. The additional properties are available in a new window found by clicking the arrow next to those properties. A combination of multiple inputs from the pen can be used to control a single property.
Brush Tip Orientation The orientation of the brush tip can now be dynamically controlled using more than just the Wacom Art pen twist. A new drop-down list, in which you can select between Constant, Heading, Azimuth and Twist, is now available next to the Angle Function property.
|
| Scale Pencil Line Thickness |
A new option named Scale Pencil Line Thickness has been added to the Select Tool Properties.
When enabled, the thickness of lines created with the Pencil tool or any of the shape tools will scale when using the Select tool to transform them. |
| Deselecting Multiple Strokes | It is now possible to deselect multiple strokes from the selection when using the Select tool by holding down the Shift+Alt keys (Shift+Option on macOS). This allows you to quickly remove multiple strokes from a selection without having to click each of them individually. |
Mirror View button in the Camera or Stage view toolbar, or select View > Mirror View from the top menu.
Reference View
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Updated Model view, now renamed Reference View |
The Reference view (formerly known as the Model view) can now be used to import and display bitmap images that can be used as inspiration or as references while drawing.
Imported images are automatically saved in the project’s models folder. These reference images can then be loaded on demand in subsequent sessions using the Load Default References command. The new Delete Current command has been added to the view to allow deleting images from the project's models folder, without having to manually delete using the file browser. You can now import images and drawings into the Reference View using drag-and-drop from a file browser or by pasting images from the clipboard. |
Camera
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Reframe Static Camera |
Some artists use a static camera to adjust the frame of a scene after they have drawn the artwork. This does not impact the storyboard pipeline too much but can cause problems further down the production pipeline when exporting to Harmony. It also causes issues when flipping between scenes and looking at them in the Stage View. A new command in the Camera menu called Reframe Static Camera allows users to reset the position of the static camera in a scene while repositioning the drawings to preserve the composition. |
Timeline
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| New Drop Position Feedback in Storyboard Track |
While dragging a clip from a video track to the Storyboard track there is now a green bar indicating where the video clip will be dropped.
|
Audio
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Audio Levels View |
The new Audio Levels view provides a graphical indicator of the average decibel (dB) level as output in the final mix. The left and right audio channels are represented as bar graphs that update in real time during playback or scrubbing. The bar graphs will automatically orient horizontally or vertically depending on the aspect ratio of the Audio Levels view. |
| Preference to select Audio Output Device | The Audio Output Device option that is located in the Playback tab of the Preferences has been improved and now lists all available devices on the system. This allows Storyboard Pro to use a different audio device than the one set as the default in the operating system. |
Conformation
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Nest scenes containing camera motion |
The new Nest scenes containing camera motion option, available in the Export Project dialog, nests panels from scenes that have camera movements and places the camera keyframes, converted to a motion effect, on the nest. This replicates the scene level camera that is in Storyboard Pro and does not break the camera movement on individual clips like in previous versions. This allows changing the duration of clips within a scene without breaking the camera movement when it spans across multiple panels. |
| 3D scene conformation | Basic conformation of scenes with 3D camera movement is now possible with Storyboard Pro 22. As NLE software do not support 3d camera motion, when a 3D scene is exported as part of a conformation export, the first frame of each panel will be rendered as seen through the camera and used for each clip in the exported timeline. This allows the position and duration of clips to be changed in the NLE software and have those changes conformed back in Storyboard Pro 22. |
| Use the Scene Reference track to conform scenes | A new option named Use the Scene Reference track to conform scenes is available in the Import Project dialog. This option allows better tracking of scene names and positions when conforming changes back from editing software using the scene reference track. |
| Timeline Markers | Markers in the project’s timeline are now included when exporting a project for conformation. A new option named Process Markers is now available to import those markers back into Storyboard Pro when importing an animatic project |
| Clip Handle Duration | A new option to set the duration of clip handles when exporting for conformation is available in the Export Project dialog. |
| Create Layers from PSD files | A new option named Create Layers from PSD files is now available in the Import Project dialog. When enabled, Storyboard Pro will create individual layers when a new panel is created from a PSD file that is not from an existing panel in the current project. Previously, PSD files would be imported as flat images when imported through the conformation process. |
| 3DWarp effect in AAF exports | 3DWarp effects are now only added to scenes that have camera motion when exporting an AAF. |
Rendering
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Apple ProRes Codec Support For Windows |
Apple ProRes codecs are now packaged in Storyboard Pro 22, allowing the use of the same high quality codec on Windows and macOS platforms. The new QuickTime ProRes Movie format is available in the Export to Movie and Export to EDL/AAF/XML dialogs. |
Library
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Library View Thumbnails |
The Library view Thumbnail display mode has been improved with the addition of a slider, placed on the bottom right of the view, that can be used to change the thumbnail sizes. Filenames are now written below the thumbnails to allow them to align in a grid fashion. |
Fixes
The following issues have been fixed in this release of Storyboard Pro:
General
-
Crash when rendering a scene with a specific 3D model. SB-4830
-
Random crashes when using the Create Layer on Surface tool. SB-4817
-
Random crash when making multiple strokes with thumbnails visible. SB-4814
-
Layers that are beyond 12 F on the Z axis disappear from the camera view when the camera is rotated in 3D. SB-4811
-
Layers do not follow the camera when Layer Alignment is set to Pin To Camera. SB-4810
-
Shortcuts are not listed in views and contextual menus on macOS. SB-4798
-
Performance drops when resizing the panel in the Timeline if video track synchronisation is enabled. SB-4564
-
Antialiasing is missing in the Camera and Stage view Overlays. SB-4417
-
A Crash occurs when stopping playback and the Black Magic device is set in preference but not connected. SB-4135
-
Preferences from previous versions are not migrated. SB-4808
Drawing
-
Shape tools are not antialiased while drawing. SB-4730
-
Transform controls do not switch immediately to the selected and visible layer. SB-4705
-
Lines are not drawn at full precision when using a Wacom tablet and changing applications using ALT+TAB on Windows. SB-4613
Timeline
-
Animatic Editing Mode is ignored when dropping a video clip between panels or at the end of the Storyboard track. SB-4155
-
On Windows, the first playback randomly stops and loops audio while audio files are being decompressed. SB-3933
-
Multi-Track: Set Colour is missing in the right-click contextual menu for video tracks. SB-1811
Import / Export
-
SBP may consume huge amounts of memory when exporting movies. SB-4799
-
Using the %f variable in the file pattern doesn't work when using Export to Movie.SB-4837
-
The Display Vectorize Option Dialog preference does not work when importing a bitmap to a video track. SB-4835
-
An extra frame is created when importing a specific MP4. SB-4829
-
Large JPEG images do not import. SB-4788
Markers
-
Markers don’t ripple when a Scene or Sequence is dragged.SB-3563
-
Markers don’t ripple when changing transition duration. SB-3483
Conformation
-
Import Animatic Project removes free space at the beginning of the timeline. SB-3230
-
Import Animatic Project fails if there are unsupported media files (m4a) linked in the XML.SB-2747
-
Cannot overwrite AAF file when exporting a project for conformation. SB-4863
-
Macs with Apple Silicon don’t support AFF conformation. SB-4802
Scripting
-
The default colour is not used when using SBU_LayerScriptInterface.generateMatte() from scripting. SB-4850
Known Issues
-
When there’s not enough room for all the buttons in a toolbar, the extension that can be opened to access the buttons is hidden when it opens over an OpenGL view. SB-4530
-
Touch Gestures to zoom, pan and rotate don't work on Windows. HAR-8739
-
SB-4428 On macOS Mojave, GateKeeper prevents launching the Storyboard Pro unless the quarantine extended attribute is removed from the application bundle. The quarantine extended attribute can be removed using the following command in the Terminal:
sudo xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Toon Boom Storyboard Pro 22"