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(More customer reviews)I work as a graphic designer for a living, and my typical tools of the trade are illustrator and flash. I've also used photoshop and opencanvas, opencanvas being my usual tool for digital painting. Being that I'm always drawing for others, I never have the time to do any drawing for myself, which includes figure drawing. If I happened to have the extra time to spend on drawing for myself, that time was spent sketching the figure and inking it, which took many hours and usually resulted in me never getting around to getting past the sketch phase.
BUT this program, I've discovered, is a MASSIVE time saver. If I don't want to sketch out a figure (laziness)or am struggling with a perspective, all I have to do is use the 3d model option in this program, tweak it as I please, and then trace over it (for people who aren't used to working in 3d, it may be somewhat frustrating at first to pose a figure yourself. For beginners, the program comes with many preset poses). Of course you won't find any sort of muscle tone on the 3d models (aside from a few arms and legs that cannot be posed), and the anatomy is pretty much anime, so if you want a realistic figure you need to know a thing or two about anatomy. Draw just anime? I's already poifect!
Using a 3d model as an aid, I was able to sketch out an accurate figure in under a half hour. It ordinarily might have taken me two or three hours with constant erasing, considering the difficult perspective I was using. You can also tweak your light source, which aids in shading while using weird perspectives.
And then of course the inking tools are AMAZING! The strokes produced are absolutely beautiful, look real, and it auto corrects, too, which is great if you don't have a very steady hand. This results in very little erasing. Another excellent feature is a tool that allows you to draw a straight line and then bend it to exactly where you want it over your sketch lines. This tool is perfect for drawing long flowing hair or folds in fabric It literally saves HOURS. Do some tweaks with that tool's settings and you can make it look like real ink strokes. Also, don't like a line width and want to tweak it? So long as you inked using vectors, you can use a tool to adjust the line's position or width. It's awesome! And if you don't like hard lines and prefer a pencil-like feel but still want to have the control? You can simply reduce the opacity and apply a blur to the outlines, making them look like gorgeous pencil strokes.
The only major downside with this program is that digital painting can be somewhat difficult, since it really seems to lend itself to cel shading. You have to be extremely careful and liberal with layers (which is okay because they are unlimited) to get the painted effect you like, in addition to turning the opacity of the brush tool way down. Patience is an extreme virtue, especially if you use the blend tool on your colors, which will muck your work up fast if you don't pay very close attention. It's the one thing that annoys me, since in other programs I've used, painting is easier. And I've seen many people export their line art into other programs just to paint them. However, once you get the hang of the tools, you can do some gorgeous shading. Also, you can do selective gradients with COMPLETE EASE, a feature that I've never really gotten the grasp of in other programs; it adds richness to all of your shading and highlights, lemme tell you.
I have yet to use any screen tones or a lot of the tools for the use of making comics or manga, but I suspect they are very good.
Oh, and this program comes with a perspective ruler that'll give you your horizon line and all of that other good stuff, so if you are doing backgrounds containing stairs or whatever you please, you don't need to go through the trouble of measuring things out. It does it for you. SAVES HOURS.
All of those features and more allowed me to complete a very intricate digital painting in 8 hours as opposed to 20+. If you want to be efficient, I suggest you buy this program, because it'll pay for itself in the long run.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Manga Studio EX 4 (Win/Mac)
Manga Studio EX 4.0 delivers powerful, cutting edge features for Manga and Comic artists alike. Manga Studio EX 4.0 offers thousands of screen tones, professional coloring tools, built in 2DLT and 3DLT rendering capabilities, advanced vector tools and image filters. Manga Studio EX is the leading comic software worldwide, making it the ideal tool for professional Comic and Manga artists.
The leading comic and manga creation software worldwide.
Choose from over 3,000 screen tones or create your own.
Resize with no loss in quality by converting your bitmap drawings to resolution-independent vector images.
Export to a wide variety of formats such as BMP, JPEG, PNG, PSD, TGA, EPS (monochrome only), TIFF, PDF and PICT (Mac only).
Draw naturally with a pen tablet and recreate the sensation of drawing on paper offering an incredibly natural drawing experience.
Simplify your layout and design process with easy to use features such as a variety of built-in rulers that save you time.
Color artwork using the integrated tool set enabling you to mix and blend for custom color work.
Convert 2D images to line and tone data by using the 2DLT Rendering function.
Import 3D objects and easily transform them into tone and line drawings by using the 3DLT Rendering function.
Add speed line and focus line effects in seconds to express motion or moods.
Work with precision using unlimited layers.
Select from a suite of advanced filters to quickly apply distortions and special effects to your artwork.
New and Updated features Manga Studio EX 4.0 allows you to create professional, ready to publish manga and comics.
NEW! Professional Color Set Choose from literally millions of colors and create your own color sets. Includes dodge, burn and color blend tools.
UPDATED! Additional Word Balloons Add word balloons with ease by dragging and dropping any of almost one hundred preset editable word balloons. Freely adjust the font, size, style and spacing of the text and add a curved or straight tail.
NEW! Vector Toolkit Speed up production using the built-in vector tools such as "Show Center Line" which makes spotting trouble areas in need of smoothing, a breeze.
UPDATED! Additional 3D Objects Manga Studio EX comes with over 550 built-in 3D Objects. Quickly, position, rotate and adjust them on your page. Convert them to line and tone data and use them as backgrounds and props for your drawings.
NEW! Professional Filter Set Manga Studio EX now offers a suite of advanced creative filters. Quickly distort images, adjust hue and saturation, or add rain and sparkle effects to your artwork.
UPDATED! More export formats In addition to the existing BMP, JPEG, PNG, PSD and TGA formats, Manga Studio EX 4.0 now offers the ability to export your artwork as TIFF, EPS (monochrome only), PDF and PICT (Mac only) formats.
NEW! Story Editor Enter and edit the text for your entire story and distribute across pages using the Story Editor in Manga Studio EX.
NEW! Advanced Text Input Manga Studio EX now allows you to enter text directly on your page using a standard text tool. You can also quickly add special characters and with support for many characters such as Katakana and Hiragana, Manga Studio EX is better than ever!
NEW! Mesh Transformation Use the Mesh Transform tool to modify screen tones to better showcase clothing textures by giving them a wrapping appearance.
NEW! Special Rulers Choose from a variety of rulers, including symmetry rulers, radial line rulers and concentric circle rulers that speed up production.
UPDATED! Extra Pattern Brushes Choose from 80+ customizable pattern brushes. Adjust the size, color and angle quickly using the sliders to create an almost unlimited number of unique effects.
Note: Register your product within 30 days of purchase and receive the Manga Studio EX Content pack valued at $39.99 for free. This package includes 20 3D models, over 100 background templates and over 100 Power templates. Information regarding registration and how to redeem your content pack are included with your purchase.
Click here for more information about Manga Studio EX 4 (Win/Mac)
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