Should You Switch to Toon Boom? Maybe Not. [Scribble Kibble #96]
4,575Pros and cons of switching to Toon Boom and why it might be best to keep using Flash / Adobe Animate if that's your main program. Toon Boom and Flash are so completely different that almost nothing works the same way, which means learning both is a lot of work.
TUTORIALS: https://www.scribblekibble.com/episodes/tutorials/
CLASS: https://www.scribblekibble.com/class/
Given what I know now, this is the program I recommend learning first depending on your situation:
Studio Animator: Toon Boom
Hobbyist: Flash
Animator with No Money: Flash
Heavy After Effects User: Flash
Frame-By-Frame Animator: Toon Boom
Puppet Animator: Either, hedging towards Toon Boom. If you need to globally update character designs a lot and if you create puppets in 3rd party vector programs, Flash.
I should also mention there are changes coming to Adobe Animate (not sure when) that make it even more competitive with Toon Boom. I don't have an inside scoop on Toon Boom's development, so I don't know what may be next on that side of things. There are plenty of other animation programs to choose from as well, TVPaint being the most notable.
► TOON BOOM CONS ◄
1. Expensive.
2. Doesn't work well with other programs. Exported SWFs break when imported to After Effects. Illustrator puppets don't import right. Only .mov files can be imported or exported. Managing imported audio is even more awkward than Flash (didn't think that was possible).
3. Multiple scenes and video editing program required.
4. Globally updating puppets takes forever.
5. Big file sizes.
6. Poor documentation.
► TOON BOOM PROS ◄
1. Way better drawing program.
2. Way better organization and animation environment.
3. Each layer has separate line and color layers within it.
4. Smart color picker.
5. Deformer and mesh animation tools (expensive version only).
6. Node view (expensive version only).
► Scribble Kibble ◄
A bi-weekly show about animation. All episodes: http://www.scribblekibble.com/episodes/all
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