Hi, we’ve got a few storyboard artists in the studio who are learning to use Toon Boom Storyboard pro with the PLE version. The general complaint that we’re getting so far is that the program seems to be really chugging. The pen strokes take a few moments to show up, and even selecting tools from the interaface seems to be delayed to a point that is quite frustrating. Is this normal? The computer specifications are:1Gb RAM, Geforce 7300 (512Mb), P4D 3GHz processor.The new computers that will be coming in which we will be installing our licenses of Toon Boom storyboard Pro on will be specced as:2 Gb RAM, Quadro FX570 (256Mb), Core 2 duo 3Ghz.Please let us know because at the current rate, it’s almost impossible to work with.
Hi,The issue you are encountering seem to be mostly related to the video card speed. You might get better result by acquiring a Geforce in the higher hundreds (from 600 and above in the serie). As for the Quadro, price wise you will most likely get better results with a Geforce of similar price.Have you also tried the software on different machines setups to see if you get better results there.Regards,Ugo
Hi Ugo,We’re also testing Storyboard Pro with a temporary license on another computer which has these specs:AMD Athlon 64X2 2.4Ghz, 2Gb RAM with a Geforce 7800GTX card.It runs fine to begin with but still slows down significantly after that. This might sound silly but lets say if our upcoming production is going to be at 1024 X 576 resolution (animated in Harmony), should the boards be created at the same resolution within storyboard pro? Or would boarding at half that resolution (512 X 288) be a better solution? How will this affect the transfer between storyboard pro and harmony?
Hi Justin,You should set the resolution of your Storyboard project to the same resolution as the Harmony project will be. When you export to Harmony/Digital Pro it actually creates the new project file with the proper resolution and length so if it is not set properly in the original project you will have to go manually set the resolution in every scene.As for the slowdowns this may be related to the extensive use of textured pen. Make sure that you flatten your artwork as you progress through your project to lighten the drawings. In any case if you send us a project we might be able to define exactly what is making the files heavy.Regards,Ugo
But Sir most of storyboard artist have same problem :-\
Ugo’s advice is very crucial to responsiveness…NEVER use a texture pen until final cleanup.Also, I try to work on a board in sections smaller than 150 panels and combine it all together at the end.
To complete Ugo answer I would say put the Storyboard projet to final resolution needed for the production, for example, HDTV but when you export to Harmony select half or quarter size so that the animatic created in harmony is not using big files. I think the animatic while animating doesn’t need to have the quality/resolution of HD, it’s just a guide.