Art Work for Anime Studio in Manga Studio - any advantages?

[exile]

I'm impressed by the Smith-Micro offer of 4 (debut) programs including Manga Studio (good for 2 more days) for the price of one program. I understand that it's possible to work with Poser and Anime Studio, but what about Manga Studio? I wonder if anyone has experience with using the two together. The drawing possibilities of Manga Studio looked good in the tutorials.

More of a personal issue - I suspect I could be asking for problems, since Anime Studio is hard enough to master, and dabbling around with other programs is a great time-killer. Has anyone had positive experience with using drawings from Manga Studio in Anime?

[slowtiger]

Bitmap - I have no problems to import bitmaps from other programs into AS.
Vector: Vector artwork is best done directly in AS, with AS' own tools.

[foundmarble]

If your serious about Manga Studio, skip 4 EX(which is what they are offering) and go to 5 (not the EX version but the one for $49). 4 EX pales in comparison to 5 (again, not the EX version). I love 4 EX, however, the UI looked and felt like Windows '98 .
The other software in my opinion is not worth it. Motion Artist Why buy this if you have anime studio? Yes, you can argue HTML 5 export. WOW! (sarcasm inserted here) I found it to be less than thrilling and a lot of the things you want to export, will not export to HTML.

Poser? Why, when Daz studio is free and does 90% of what I use it for?

Now having said that...if I was just starting out and brand new to Smith Micro products, I would probably bite at this offer. It is in fact, a good deal, just not for me.

[exile]

Thanks, Tiger and Found. By the way,my browser couldn't find your website, Found. (Maybe it's a Lost Marble). But I appreciate your advice, I'll give the trial version of Manga 5 a test run. - Steve

[foundmarble]

Yeah...I have to change my sig. Just deleted it last month after not updating it for over 6 years.

[exile]

This is getting complicated. Smith Micro only has a boxed version of Manga 5 (which means customs and delivery charges) because the makers of the program, Celsys, won't let them sell a digital version any more. Apparently, since SM has marketed the program long enough for Manga to be well-known, they have released an English version themselves and figure they are now in a position to take over the English-speaking market. There's an interesting discussion with all sorts of links at http://forum.runtimedna.com/showthread. ... al-only-..

Maybe this is just a little hint that it would be better to concentrate on doing Anime projects in Anime Studio.

[drumlug13]

I use Manga Studio EX 4 for sketching out ideas for AS. I used to scan pen & paper sketches in and trace them in AS. Manga is a great drawing program but it's practically useless without a drawing tablet. It's by far the best drawing software I have.

[exile]

Thanks, drumlug, for the useful points to consider. Today's the last day of the special offer.

I'm still experimenting with my work flow, one thing that seems to work ok is to make a rough sketch, scan it, and place it next to the character I'm creating as orientation (not to trace it). I have a small drawing tablet but can't sketch as well as on paper with it.

[drumlug13]

I'm still not all that great drawing with a tablet yet either. It's hard to get used to it. Best thing about pen and paper is you can go anywhere with it. If you pass an Manga this time don't worry, they've dropped the price for it on occasion. I think I bought it on sale for either $99 or $49 earlier this year.

[exile]

Thanks, drumlug - I just succumbed to the reduced offer after reconnecting my old medion tablet and messing around with it. I noticed it does ok for tracing over a drawing, even direct in Anime Studio. If the software opens a few more possibilities, it will be worth it.

I watched Mike Scott's tutorial on using Photoshop files in Anime Studio - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSRlsjqwDSo&noredirect=1
He had some unorthodox ideas on rigging characters that were really interesting. I guess there's no end of different ways to do things.

Cheerio,
Steve

[uddhava]

I saw that offer too, but didn't go for it since I am very, very broke after renovating our house.
I think you did the right thing. Good luck with it!

[Greenlaw]

This is getting complicated. Smith Micro only has a boxed version of Manga 5...

Wow, this must have happened recently because I got 5 EX as a downloadable not that long ago.

I draw both of my webcomics Brudders and Streams with Manga Studio EX. I do all my comics drawing with MS EX's the vector tools but it didn't occur to me to use it for Anime Studio elements. Maybe I should try it out--Alisa and I are making a new Brudders short film using ASP and, IMO, it's easier to draw my characters in MS EX than in ASP.

Of course how you draw your characters depends entirely on how you intend to animate them.

G.

[exile]

NIce 3D characters - I'm having all sorts of problems with the downloaded 4 Ex version - doesn't seem to be installed properly. Anime Studio at least works.

[Greenlaw]

I'm still experimenting with my work flow...

I think it's a never ending process. Alisa and I are quite far along in producing our first ASP short film and I still feel like we're developing our workflow. Hope we get ours nailed down when we finish this project.

G.

[exile]

I still feel like we're developing our workflow. Hope we get ours nailed down when we finish this project.

G.

It never ends but it might get better! Good luck. - Steve