Introduction

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PanelForge is an integrated Drawing, 3D Layout, Storyboard and Animatic production software tailored for the pre-production needs of a modern animation production facility.

A PanelForge Project consists of a timeline of storyboard Panel elements that combines a 2D bitmap drawing Canvas workspace and a 3D object Stage layout workspace. All data created within PanelForge can be exported in a wide range of ways for later use in a studio production pipeline environment.

When PanelForge is initially opened the Welcome window is shown. From here PanelForge documentation elements can be accessed, projects can be created and opened. When a PanelForge project is opened the Welcome window is hidden and the main PanelForge window is shown.

The main PanelForge window contains a viewport that can either show the Canvas or Stage view. Palette windows containing tools and settings to modify the current viewport, Panel or Project contents can also be shown. Palette windows can be docked into other Palette windows as tabs and docked into the main windows four edges. PanelForge includes two predefined workspace layouts specialised for the Canvas and Stage views, each of these views show the relative palettes specialised for modifying the corresponding view. The current workspace layout to be used can be selected using the interface elements in the top right of the PanelForge Main window or the PanelForge Window Main Menu.

PanelForge is the a Drawing, 3D Layout, Storyboard and Animatic production software tailored for the pre-production needs of a modern animation production facility.

PanelForge builds on the traditional idea of series of illustrations know as ‘Panels’ to map out animated sequence which can be formed into a traditional ’Storyboard’ or ‘Animatic’.

With PanelForge this process can be more deeply integrated into the production pipeline allowing a more efficient workflow reducing overhead due to errors and duplicated tasks.

A PanelForge project consists of a timeline of storyboard Panel elements that combine a 2D bitmap drawing Canvas workspace and a 3D object layout workspace.

The use of the 3D object layout workspace can greatly assist with the speed and accuracy of ‘Panel’ creation with the benefit of creating valuable addition data for use elsewhere in a 3D animation production.

With the power of PanelForge a 3D layout environment can be constructed with 3D geometry ranging from full production assets to simple proxy assets and built in geometry primitives. Using a 3D layout as a Panel’s basis the guesswork of the character and prop placement in addition to possible camera setup can be eliminated.

With this 3D layout data available to other artists in a production environment the vision of the PanelForge artist can be more closely and efficiently translated to the finished animation.

The traditional 2D bitmap drawing workspace provides an efficient and familiar interface to quickly supplement the 3D layout output or to be used independently.