Toon Boom Animation has announced the upcoming release of Studio 5
(http://www.toonboom.com/products/toonBoomStudio/), a new version of
the software that brings stop-motion animation to its array of
animation capabilities. It’s being rebranded to reflect the various
styles of animation and positioned as the proven multi-technique
animation software, according to the folks at Toon Boom.

What’s new in Studio 5? You can create stop-motion animation using
your favorite characters and speed things up with time-lapse imagery.
Live View/Image Capture lets you see images as they’ll appear in your
movie. You can change your backgrounds using Chroma Key Screens
(green and blue screens). You can position and align elements using
Onion Skinning and use rotoscoping to take advantage of actual
imagery to better position your characters.

Improved image playback optimization increases speed. Studio 5 sports
annotation layers for feedback. You can export your animation
directly to YouTube or Facebook and import Flip Boom Classic and
Animation-ish projects to bring them to the next level.

You can buy Toon Boom Studio 5 at the special pre-launch price of
US$329.99 until May 14. As of May 1, all new clients will receive a
Toon Boom Studio 4.5 key. Their Studio 5 license key will be
automatically registered and emailed to them upon product release
later this month, enabling them to download the software.