Manga Studio

[Alex]

Hello

I currently use PS for everything thing I do comic related but after an explanation of manga Studio's capabilities last week by Dave Gibbons at the Glasgow film festival, I'm tempted to use it in combination.

So, can anyone tell me if features like perspective and mirror drawing are in the basic package of Manga Studio or are these only in the more expensive upgrade.

Is the basic package good enough for general drawing use or is just a teaser
and you really need the full thing to get any good out of it?

Cheers in advance.

[Jim_Campbell]

I currently use PS for everything thing I do comic related but after an explanation of manga Studio's capabilities last week by Dave Gibbons at the Glasgow film festival, I'm tempted to use it in combination.

Dave's 'webinar' (said through gritted teeth -- what a vile word) is also well worth a look. I learned a lot from it, even if the people sending through questions were basically idiots:

http://manga.smithmicro.com/webinar_video.html

So, can anyone tell me if features like perspective and mirror drawing are in the basic package of Manga Studio or are these only in the more expensive upgrade.

Pretty sure all the fancy stuff is in the EX version. The cheapo Debut version makes it incredibly easy to lay down perspective grids, but the snap-to-perspective-ruler feature in EX is probably worth the asking price on its own. Add to that being able to create and save custom brushes and any number of other features, and I'd say that the upgrade is worthwhile.

However…

Is the basic package good enough for general drawing use or is just a teaser and you really need the full thing to get any good out of it?

The Debut version is more than good enough for you to get a feel for whether or not you'd be happy with the way the package works and get a feel for the drawing tools. The inking tools, in particular, are excellent. For the asking price, it's excellent value.

You could certainly get a few months' worth of play out of Debut which would give you the chance to decide whether you wanted to upgrade, by which time one of Smith Micro's special offers would probably have rolled around.

I will say that I think it absolutely blows Photoshop away for layout, pencilling and inking, but I don't think you'd want to do any significant colour work in it, which would likely still be better done in Photoshop and/or Painter, and lettering is just horrible.

Cheers!

Jim

[Alex]

Cheers Jim
I'm perfectly at home with PS now for the painted stuff. It's all the backroom, behind the scenes workings that appealed with Manga studio.
You get what you pay for and It sounds like the stuff that appeals to me will be in the upgrade.
I'll give the basic version a go to get a feel for it though as you say.

[pauljholden]

MS are ALWAYS doing deals - were the full version is offered at a steep discount. I'm sure Jim or I will bring it up the next time we spot a deal on.

The FULL version is totally worth it - it's a fraction of the price of Photoshop, and is utterly brilliant at many things PS struggles to do (notably, just inking - ms is much more efficient at how it handles file types for pure b&w, since it can mix and match full colour layers with black and white 1 bit layers)

Story mode - where you can layout the entire strip (including joining pages to form double page spreads) is a brilliant way of keeping all the art together. Importantly, the EX version allows you to export to photoshop (with layers) whereas the Debut version doesn't (AFAIK)

I did a blog post ages ago comparing PS with MS -
http://www.pauljholden.com/blog/2009/12/10/manga-studio-vs-photoshop-part-1/

(Which I should really follow up with)

I use MS in a few different ways, even when not drawing with it, I'm happy to use it for filemanagement/scan clean up - when complete I export the art as TIFF for publishing.


-pj

[Alex]

Importantly, the EX version allows you to export to photoshop (with layers) whereas the Debut version doesn't (AFAIK)

That line alone says it all. Cheers PJ. I'll keep my ears and eyes open for a better deal as you say. It's currently sitting at £180 on Amazon. Sounds like I could have a lot of fun with it. I've heard a lot of folk mention it on forums etc but for some reason the word "Manga" itself made me disregard it purely because the style is not my thing.
Small minded I know. (hangs head in shame)

[pauljholden]

Importantly, the EX version allows you to export to photoshop (with layers) whereas the Debut version doesn't (AFAIK)

That line alone says it all. Cheers PJ. I'll keep my ears and eyes open for a better deal as you say. It's currently sitting at £180 on Amazon. Sounds like I could have a lot of fun with it. I've heard a lot of folk mention it on forums etc but for some reason the word "Manga" itself made me disregard it purely because the style is not my thing.
Small minded I know. (hangs head in shame)

Yeah, weirdly, in Asia it's called "Comic Studio" - they added Manga when it come to the UK/US. I'd similairly dismissed it, and, while there's a lot of manga style tools (especially around lettering/speedlines) they're all optional (Actually speed lines are incredibly fun to add/easy to do - set a centre point and just draw - every line snaps to the speed line, and those lines can be straight or curved - it's kind of magical to see it in action...)

-pj

[James]

I just got an email; all Smith Micro sftware is 50% off using discount code SPRINGSALE2011. It was from their US website, for a digital copy-$299 down to $150.

Topical.

[Jim_Campbell]

I just got an email; all Smith Micro sftware is 50% off using discount code SPRINGSALE2011. It was from their US website, for a digital copy-$299 down to $150.

Yep. That's the sort of thing we're talking about -- $150 is a mere £92 at today's exchange rate. DON'T order the physical disk version -- you'll stung for VAT when it comes into the country, and I imagine the shipping charge isn't cheap, either. I think it was CraveNoir who got caught like this last time, and I felt terrible!

I know it feels a bit odd paying money and not getting a physical thing, but it's not a big deal installing the software and then burning the installation package to a CD/DVD so you have a back-up.

Cheers!

Jim

[Alex]

Thanks everyone for their help and advice. The Hive mind does it again.
Cheers.

[Wil]

. Importantly, the EX version allows you to export to photoshop (with layers) whereas the Debut version doesn't (AFAIK)

Just so people know, the Debut version does export layers to Photoshop. Initially it looked like it was restricted to just 6 but I've exported gazillions to it.

I used to ink with a brush and MS is the nearest I've got to that feeling, digitally. It's great and the ability to rotate the page (which I think PS has only gotten with CS5) makes it my favourite drawing package.

(first post and all that jazz - happy to be here )

[NeilFord]

Seems to be a promo on for those wishing to dip their toes...

http://my.smithmicro.com/email_web/manga/webinar/

[George Dread]

I've exported to PS CS from Manga EX and I'm not getting the layers. It's still coming up as a background. I've looked over the net for answers. Can anyone here tell me what I'm doing wrong, please?

[George Dread]

Its alright.. I've got the basics underway myself. Sorry for the bother.

I go to the settings button above the photoshop box and I can now muddle through from that I suppose.

[Jim_Campbell]

I go to the settings button above the photoshop box and I can now muddle through from that I suppose.

Are you in EX or Debut, there, Krom? Most of this stuff is the same for both packages, but I need to check in case I give you the wrong advice! Thing is: most of this stuff is actually pretty straightforward in MangaStudio, it's just different to Photoshop and Painter -- just chuck out the questions and if I can answer 'em, I will.

Cheers

Jim

[George Dread]

4 EX, Jim.

In Export Image dialogue box;-

 I've selected, Output at Actual size. When's a good time to: Specify/enlarge/reduce?



Which is then the more workable format; pixels/ mm/ cm/ inches- and to add - best resolution?



Then, there comes, Output Area, which is talking bleeds and such, all to do with printing by the looks. Its when you go onto The color Setting that it opens a whole new tin of worms; sketch layers and so on.... where do I start?

The same with the raster settings and tone settings...  wha...?




And so to Photoshop settings;-

I've got it on -Keep Layer Structure for OP.
I've TICKED-    Output layer set(PS6.0 or later)
Then buttoned Up to 5 layers. Question is- is this restrictive in the amount of layers I'm sending?  And should I bother even ticking the above box?

Then its saying my text layer can not be created! What's that all about?



One final thing troubling me Jim, thank you for your time, is the Output Range is stuck at All Pages. When will this become a real problem?

Cheers