Installation and Getting Started Guide

Published by Toon Boom Animation Inc.

Corporate Headquarters
7 Laurier Avenue East
Montreal, Quebec
Canada H2T 1E4
Tel: (514) 278-8666
Fax: (514) 278-2666
www.toonboom.com

Disclaimer
The content of this manual is covered by a specific limited warranty and
exclusions and limit of liability under the applicable License Agreement as
supplemented by the special terms and conditions for Adobe®Flash® File Format
(SWF). Please refer to the License Agreement and to those special terms and
conditions for details.
The content of this manual is the property of Toon Boom Animation Inc. and is
copyrighted. Any reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited.
For additional copies of this manual, please contact Toon Boom Animation Inc. at
the Corporate Headquarters address.
Copyright © 2008 by Toon Boom Animation Inc. All rights reserved.

Trademarks
Toon Boom Studio is a trademark owned by Toon Boom Animation Inc. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Credits
Documentation Development: Peter Cawthorne, Annie Rodrigue

Publication Date
July 2008
Contents
Welcome to Toon Boom Studio 4.5 ............................................ 2
New and Improved Features ........................................................ 3
Publish to Any Media ................................................................... 3
Printing......................................................................................... 3
Increased Copying Functionality.................................................. 3
Enhanced File Format Support .................................................... 3
Enhanced Bitmap Image Support................................................ 3
Enhanced Integration with Photoshop Files ................................ 3
Live-action Cartoons .................................................................... 3
Check Your System Requirements .............................................. 4
Minimum Requirements of all Operating Systems ...................... 4
Recommended Macintosh Requirements.................................... 4
Recommended Windows Requirements ..................................... 4
Installing Toon Boom Studio ........................................................ 5
Installing on Windows .................................................................. 5
Installing on Mac OS X................................................................. 5
Getting Started ............................................................................... 6
Launching Toon Boom Studio ..................................................... 6
Documentation ............................................................................... 8
Toon Boom Studio e-Learning ..................................................... 9
Workout Series............................................................................. 9
Articles ......................................................................................... 9
How to Animate ........................................................................... 9
Tutorials ....................................................................................... 9
Templates .................................................................................... 10
Don’t Forget to Register Toon Boom Studio ............................ 10
Get Help!.......................................................................................... 10
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) ............................................. 10
Next-Day Reply Support Package ............................................... 10
User Forum................................................................................... 10

1
Welcome to Toon Boom Studio 4.5
Toon Boom Studio, the leading animation software for individuals,
features powerful drawing tools, time-saving lip sync tools, and
innovative 3D layout and animating tools.
This guide includes the following topics:
• New and Improved Features on page 3
• Check Your System Requirements on page 4
• Installing Toon Boom Studio on page 5
• Getting Started on page 6
For additional information about using the product, see the Toon
Boom Studio Help. To open the help, select Help > Toon Boom
Studio 4.5 Help.
From drawing to animating, Toon
Boom Studio can help you animate
with ease.

2
New and Improved Features
This release includes a number of new features and improvements
to help you animate better.

Publish to Any Media

Create high quality animation for the web, iPod, YouTube, cell
phones and PDAs, TV and HDTV. All major formats are supported
including SWF, QuickTime, AVI, DV, and image sequences.

Printing
Print frames or cells using the new print feature. There are options
for printing, export type, export range, layout and decoration.

Increased Copying Functionality

Drag a template from the Library into the Exposure Sheet, Timeline,
Drawing View, Camera View, Side View and Top View to add its
contents to your animation.
Drag and drop supported images from the desktop directly into the
drawing space and use the sceneplanning tools to create animation.

Enhanced File Format Support

Flip Boom and Animation-ish file formats are now supported.

Enhanced Bitmap Image Support

Change the bitmap quality while working on your project. Adjust
the bitmap memory allocation. Import bitmaps at their actual size
relative to the camera size.

Enhanced Integration with Photoshop Files

Create multi-layer backgrounds and characters in Photoshop and
import them into Toon Boom Studio preserving all layer information.
Easily create even more impressive camera moves and explore new
cut-out techniques to animate your characters.

Live-action Cartoons
Import movie files and start drawing on top of them to create live-
action cartoon animation. Combine animation with home videos to
create unique stories. You can also explore rotoscoping by tracing
over live-action videos and create even more animation.

3
Check Your System Requirements
Toon Boom Studio supports Windows and Mac OS X. Your hardware
must meet these minimum requirements to run it.

Minimum Requirements of all Operating Systems

• Monitor supporting 1024 x 768 display resolution and
24-bit colour depth
• Wacom tablet (Recommended)

Recommended Macintosh Requirements

• Intel® Dual Core™ processor, PowerMac G5 (minimum)
• Mac OS X v10.5.1 (Leopard)
• 1 GB RAM (recommended), 512 MB (minimum)
• 120 MB of available hard disk space
• Wacom tablet (recommended)

Recommended Windows Requirements

• Intel® Dual Core™ processor with Microsoft Windows Vista,
Windows XP and Tablet PC. 1 GHz Intel Pentium IV
processor (minimum)
• 1 GB of RAM (recommended), 512 MB of RAM (minimum)
• 120 MB of available hard disk space
• 24-bit colour display capable of 1024 x 768 resolution
• Video card supporting Direct 3D or OpenGL
• Wacom tablet (recommended)

4
Installing Toon Boom Studio
Installing on Windows
If you have a Windows operating system on your computer, install
Toon Boom Studio using these simple steps.
1. Start the installation program. Do one of the following:
• If you downloaded Toon Boom Studio from our website,
extract the files and double-click on setup.exe to run the
installation program.
• If you received Toon Boom Studio on a CD, insert the it into
your CD drive. An auto-run screen appears from which you
can launch the installation program.
• If the auto-run feature of your CD drive does not start
automatically, browse the contents of the CD and double-
click setup.exe to run the installation program.
2. Just follow the onscreen instructions to complete the
installation. That’s it!

Installing on Mac OS X
If you have a Mac OS X operating system on your computer, install
Toon Boom Studio using these simple steps.
1. Start the installation program. Do one of the following:
• If you downloaded Toon Boom Studio from our website,
double-click the disk image and drag the Toon Boom Studio
icon to the Applications folder.
• If you received Toon Boom Studio on a CD, insert the CD
into your CD drive. Double-click on the CD and drag the
Toon Boom Studio icon to the Applications folder.
2. Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the installation.
That’s it!

5
Getting Started
After launching Toon Boom Studio, you can begin creating an
animation project. Data for each animation project is stored in a file
folder that you name when you first create it. Once you open a new
or existing project, you will be able to work on it in the Toon Boom
Studio interface.

Launching Toon Boom Studio

To open Toon Boom Studio:
1. Double-click on the Toon Boom Studio icon.
Toon Boom Studio opens. The menu bar, the main toolbar and
welcome screen are displayed.
There are other ways to launch Toon Boom Studio depending
on your operating system:
• Windows users can select Start > Programs >
Toon Boom Animation > Toon Boom Studio 4.5.
• Mac OS X users can select Applications >
Toon Boom Studio > Toon Boom Studio 4.5.
The welcome screen allows you to open a new or existing animation
project and access e-Learning tutorials.

Create a new
animation in this
section, which
includes the features
in the New Project
dialog box.
Open recent
animation projects
from here.

Access tutorials from

here.

You can choose whether or not you want this screen to appear each
time you open Toon Boom Studio.

6
Use the welcome screen’s Web links to connect you to online
information and resources that will enhance your Toon Boom Studio
experience.

Toon Boom Studio Technical Support Web Page

Technical support at your fingertips. Select your support
package and link directly to the Toon Boom Studio
support team.

e-Learning Web Page

Toon Boom’s Animation Essentials Web page, access the
Workout Series, tutorials, templates, documentation,
articles and other e-Learning materials.

Toon Boom Studio Product Web Page

Product overview, testimonials, user stories and learn
about useful plug-ins.

Toon Boom Studio User Forum

Connect with other registered members in the Toon
Boom Studio user group, where you can find useful
information posted by Toon Boom Studio users.

For further information, see the Toon Boom Studio User Guide or
the integrated help:

7
Documentation
In addition to this booklet, there are other useful documents for
Toon Boom Studio. Learn to use Toon Boom Studio with our easy-
to-use documentation package:
Toon Boom Studio User Guide
Understand how to use Toon Boom Studio’s drawing,
sceneplanning, content management and other tools.
Integrated Help
In Toon Boom Studio, select Help > Toon Boom Studio Help
to open the help system in your default Web browser.
The help system includes the Toon Boom Studio User Guide, a
basic tutorial and a reference of the commands, dialog boxes
and windows used in Toon Boom Studio.
Context-Sensitive Help (Tooltips)
To get a short description of a menu command or toolbar
button, select Help > What’s This and click on the item. A
tooltip pop-up window opens with the description of the item
you clicked on.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Lists the default shortcuts and shows you how to customize
them.
Documentation and additional tutorials for Toon Boom Studio are
available on the Web via the Toon Boom website’s
e-Learning section. Select Help > Toon Boom on the Web to open
the Toon Boom website in your default Web browser.

8
Toon Boom Studio e-Learning
Toon Boom’s e-Learning tools, available at www.toonboom.com,
helps you to broaden your Toon Boom Studio and
general animating skills. Choose from basic to advanced
tools to take your animation know-how to the next level.
You can also open the e-Learning page within Toon Boom
Studio:
• From the welcome screen, click on the e-Learning
Web link.
• Select Help > Toon Boom on the Web to open the
Toon Boom website in your default Web browser.

Workout Series
The Workout series is the latest addition to the e-Learning toolkit.
Touching on all aspects of animation creation,
this dedicated program of exercises (including
detailed instructions and sample material) is
designed to help you develop the techniques
and skills necessary to get the most out of Toon
Boom Studio.

Articles
These valuable tips and application ideas can be used to familiarize
and help you understand the creative potential of Toon Boom
Studio.

How to Animate
This downloadable book of lessons is a great tool for learning the
fundamentals of animation.

Tutorials
Free video tutorials and print tutorials will get you started and
introduce them to the application step by step.

9
Templates
Use the ready-made templates to create animations quickly and
easily, while learning how to draw and animate in the Cut-out style!
Collections of characters and props are available at our online store.

Don’t Forget to Register Toon Boom Studio

Register now and become a member of the Toon Boom community.
Membership has its benefits:
• Priority email announcements, news and updates.
• Upgrade discounts.
• Access to support tools.
• Submit your masterpieces to our Showcase.

Get Help!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Find answers to your Toon Boom Studio questions in the FAQ.

Next-Day Reply Support Package

Guaranteed email response within 24 hours during regular business
hours. Purchase your support package online, it’s valid for one full
year! Please send your support questions to:
techsupport@toonboomstudio.com.

User Forum
Registered Toon Boom Studio members can access and post on the
User Forum. Or view the Forum content as a guest.

10