Storyboard Pro - Feature Requests

I believe it’s time for SBP to implement layer functionality in timeline, similar to harmony or premiere. Storyboards are getting more and more animated and intricate and when you have a lot of stuff going on in one panel things can get very messy. Or perhaps it could be possible to implement some sort of “animate mode” that could be enabled for these more demanding shots that would enable more harmony-like user interface.

Okay, I’ll try one more prayer to the Toon Boom gods.

  1. The feature being requested:
    some basic image adjustment tools for bitmap layers. Desaturate, brightness, contrast etc. And ideally, some simple layer styles (ie. “multiply”)

    • Why this feature is being requested?
      story artists frequently import and work with jpeg images (found online or BG’s done by designers, etc.) It would be great to be able to desaturate and/or lighten them to match the storyboard layers without having to process them in photoshop first. That would be huge time saver.
    • Who this feature is designed to help?
      Storyboard artists.
  2. How important you feel this feature is?
    VERY! storyboarding is all about efficiency, so not having to open photoshop would be a big time saver.

Thanks for considering this request.

Thanks for the suggestions Nickbakker!

I’ll be forwarding them along to our team.

Hi! I apologize in advance if this has been requested already, I gave a look to the thread and I haven’t seen this anywhere yet.

  • The feature being requested: Possibility to change/optimize the UI of Storyboard Pro on smaller screen like a 13".

  • Why this feature is being requested: Working on my Companion 2 with Storyboard Pro 7 is almost impossible because the size of the windows and the icons (too big) makes everything really hard to navigate through. I guess this happens because the Companion 2 has a small screen with a high resolution (2560x1440p), so the program increases the size of windows and icons without considering the size of the actual screen.

  • Who this feature is designed to help: Everyone working like me on a small screen with a high resolution (2560x1440p) like a Cintiq Companion 2 or Mobile Studio Pro. Photoshop has a similar feature where you can decide the size of the UI.

  • How important you feel this feature is: I feel is very important cause working with SB Pro 7 on my Cintiq Companion 2 is almost impossible at the moment. I had to go back to Storyboard Pro 4.2 where the UI is smaller.

Thanks so much for taking the time to reading this!
All the best,

Federico

All of the above requested features would be excellent!

For my part, I’d love the addition of the Mirror View button, like Harmony has. I have it hot-keyed in Harmony so that I can be flipping and checking the proportions of my drawings all the time.

Why: this would be a quick non-invasive way to make sure your drawings stay under control, as well as test the flow of shots going in a different direction. (without having to actually alter the drawing with the “flip horizontal” operation).
Who: any artists and compositors who are trying to improve their eye for proportions
How important: It’s not as pressing as some of the UI changes listed above, but I think it’d still be useful, and I’d imagine easy to implement since it already exists in another of your software programs.

Thank you!

Hi,

I would love to see in StoryBoard Pro some events/callbacks that already exists in Harmony.

Those events are:

  • TB_sceneOpened
  • TB_sceneCreated

We are integrating ToonBoom software into our Production System and we need to execute “something” everytime we open a scene. We have reached this in Harmony with those events but they dont exist in STB Pro.

Because the API of Harmony is very very similar to STB, we only need something like those callbacks to get a full integration with our Production System as we are getting with Harmony.

Best Regards

It feels a little weird to me that storyboard pro doesn’t have a basic feature to hide one/multiple panels.
It would be helpful to everyone who is figuring out whether to include a shot or not.

My top request would actually be a companion iPad app. I just want to be able to do some rough preliminary work on my iPad Pro, then bring it back to the desktop for the rest. Of course, more features the better, but at least be able to thumbnail/rough out boards, with basic drawing tools, and indicate and possibly see camera moves. Layers, timing, and audio would be monumental as well.
This would be for anyone who wants or needs to work in mobile situations. The increase in productivity and enjoyment would be invaluable.

This is exactly what I want/need!

So to put it into the requested format;

What: The ability to hide panels from the thumbnails and timeline, so that they do not show up when playing or flicking through, but they are not deleted.

Why: This would allow for more experimentation when creating a storyboard. It would mean that you could easily try a new approach to an existing shot / story beat or play with adding new ones and have options.

Who: As a student, maybe this feature is more useful for those of us with less experience as it would allow us to create those options that seasoned pros may be able to instinctively disregard. But honestly, I can’t see how it wouldn’t be a useful feature for everyone, wherever they are in their career.

How important: Very important. In order to create the best work, you need to be able to experiment and try out ideas. I spent a long time searching for how to hide the panels because it didn’t even occur to me that it wouldn’t be possible.

I really hope this gets implemented, and soon! I’m not sure how I’m supposed to work around this. Keep saving new versions every time I want to try a new panel, then import panels that I like into one ‘master’ version?!? It seems pretty messy and unnecessary.

Thanks.

Please allow a feature to add poses to an already created stamp.

Often while boarding, ill create a stamp for a type of pose-- Let’s say run.
And then while boarding, ill add more poses to the run from different angles of the character.
I want to add those poses to my stamp of running, but every time I have to create a new stamp instead of just being able to add more poses to the one stamp I’ve already made for a run.

There should be some sort of option to create a SYMBOL for backgrounds, that can change every time you update it. (Similar to the way Flash CS6 or older versions had symbols)

You would just create a Layer as a symbol-- and it would be your B.G.
Then every time you update that one B.G symbol layer, it would update the B.G wherever else it exists in your project.

This would save you from having to copy/paste your B.G over and over again from panel to panel every time you have to make a change.

Hi there,

I would like to share here one possible feature to take into consideration.Those who have worked ages ago with Macromedia Flash will understand :slight_smile:

What
Possibility to create and add a new “animated” element directly into the panel. Some kind of a “MovieClip” from old “Macromedia Flash” software.
Why
Because it would be very useful to add animation within elements that can be dragged/moved with the “layer transform” tool
Who
Storyboard artist who work into TV series o features
How
It would be an extremely useful tool to add more animation to dragged layers

It would be super useful if we could create some sort of “element” (movie clip in old Flash) which contain an animated clip such as a character walking, acting etc… and then drop it within a panel, acting as a simple layer that could be scaled, rotated and most important, drag everywhere. in other words; we can move elements in a layer (for example, a character passing by in the foreground), but it’s REALLY a nightmare to add some extra poses. The only way I know is to cut the panel (and the layer with the movement) every time a new drawing is needed.

Another option could be to have an extra video track, exactly the same than the main one, with the possibility to add panels and edit them.

Thanks so much!!