What’s New: New Features in Anime
Studio 6
The following is not a comprehensive list of new features, but it covers most of
the major changes in version 5 that might be of interest to experienced Anime
Studio users. Most of the version 5 changes have been made in response to
users' requests, so hopefully you'll find more than a few things in this list to be
happy about.
User Interface
• more attractive
• multiple windows
• multiple viewport option
• customizable UI colors
• editing view improvements
• adjustable display quality options
• option for live display of layer masking and transparency effects
• timeline improvements
• channel cycling as a new interpolation type
• soundtrack waveform displays in timeline
• cycling and actions are visible in the timeline
• channels can be selectively shown/hidden
• layer visibility is readily apparent in the timeline
Scripting
• all the tools in Anime Studio are now written in the Lua scripting
language
• you can write your own tools if you wish
• the scripting menu contains "plugins" that are also written in Lua
• scripts can access audio data to create animation based on sound
Tool Improvements
• new tools: magnet, bone strength, arrow, hide edges, bending,...
• hide edge tool - allows you to easily create a partial outline around a fill
• auto-welding for certain tools
• select shape tool can pick shapes below the top one
• ability to create complex shapes without making a separate fill and
outline - in fact, the fill and outline tools have been combined into one
Improved SWF Export
• better line quality, smaller files, optimizations to reduce file size
• image layers can be exported, as long as they're PNG or JPEG, and don't
have "complex" movements
• gradient fill effect can be exported
• variable-width lines can be exported
• soundtrack can be exported if it's in MP3 format
New Layer Types
• note layers ("sticky notes")
• 3D layers
• import 3D OBJ files, or use scripts to create new 3D objects
• toon-rendered edges
• texture maps are supported
• can be warped using bone layers
Actions
• create animation clips for a character, and re-use them as much as you
want
• walk cycles, facial expressions, spoken dialog, etc.
Styles
• create styles that can be applied to multiple shapes
• just change the style to change the color/line width/brush/etc. of all the
affected shapes
Bone Improvements
• adjustable regions of bone influence
• bone dynamics - automatic rubbery bone movement
• switch layers are now a sub-type of bone layers
• new techniques for bone binding - bone setup is now much quicker and
easier
Rendering Improvements
• ability to apply brush strokes to shape outlines
• improved layer masking - more powerful and flexible
• NTSC color-safe rendering option
• layer blending modes
• improved AVI import and export (Windows)
• red/blue stereo rendering option
• maximum blur radius has been increased (this affects blur, shadows,
shading, soft edge effect, etc.) plus, the blur algorithm is really fast now,
so feel free to use blurs of up to 256 pixels