Manga Studio EX 4 (Mac/PC CD)

Bought this in UK, where things are double the USA cost... it was, however going at a bargain price at the time so I rushed an order in.

However, since I bought it, the price doubled, hung there for a while and now has plummeted to less than I paid for it. This may concern some prospective purchasers who have therefore got in on some part of the "do I buy now - or wait?" continuum of dilemma. Who knows where it will go next.

The programme, er, program:

In essence, the perfect natural pen and pencil simulation software. Wow!! Really. Amazing.

specifics?

The pdf manual is disgusting. Near useless: translated by someone who was not part of the team that translated the GUI, so everything is slightly different like it's referring to a different version of the software.

As the manual occupies the same work area as the artwork, it would be preferable to run this on an e-book reader. The current pdf is totally incompatible with this.. it's been formatted as a ghastly 2 column layout which is ONLY good for printed output.

It needs either a printed manual, one or two column, translated by someone from the English side of the desk or a similar e-book - in single column.

In the meantime, a good html manual might help.

Hurrrrah!!! this runs on osx 10.4 on a PPC, unlike most of the fashion-slave software which will only run on an operating system that won't run itself.

Amazon, please fix the product spec. It's a real plus point.

Apart from the crap manual and the slightly unusual GUI (which is very like Photoshop in some basic ways and oddly different in others, so it's harder to intuit the advanced features and therefore a manual is necessary once you're working beyond newbie capabilities,) this is a stunning, superb and capable piece of software. Not just for manga. Not just for comix. This is a great all round illustration program for everything but the finishy - softy, blurrified, transparent reflecty things for which you'll probably still need Photoshop to finish off.

For comic illustration, layout and pre-press it is absolutely amazing. It does stuff with tones, panels and speech in balloons that would have driven a traditional illustrator expensively insane over a very long time.

No more:
Ben Day cut and paste tones, Letraset rub-down halftones, Letterpress-printed baryta proofs to cut out and rubber cement into place.. ruling pens full of no-mistake, one-shot, unerasable Indian Ink. No fingermarks, blots or stray lines. Physical, fragile artwork, wicking paper... darkroom drudgery... storage problems, expensive kamikaze couriers, editing=starting again
nightmares

Some of this stuff has gone away gradually; some has hung on, like halftone patterning with mechanical tints. MS pretty much wraps up the last of the big problem areas in black and white illustration and makes them accessible digitally.
BIG step forward.

These things can now be generated - in layers, so non-destructively - by functions dedicated to the task which I am slowly learning to drive (Damn that manual) but which I have full confidence will do the job correctly and without compromising creativity.

It needs a good tablet to get the best out of, otherwise you're better off with Photoshop.

I finally found a substitute for white scraperboard in Manga Studio. This is not the black, scrape a white (or metallic) line stuff normally seen in craft and toy stores. This is the plain white clay-faced board that the black type is factory painted in order to create. No, this is pure white Unobtaneum that is drawn on in india ink so it can then can be scrape-erased, just like the black stuff, but with the predominant background areas starting white. With this, very fine engraving-type illustrations can be produced that print in a solid, monochrome ink yet can have the illusion of delicate, continuous tonality, like the metal-plate illustrations done by master engravers in Victorian times.

A bit of tweaking in Manga Studio and you can produce the same effect with a Wacom. Editable. Stunning stuff.

I love it. I hate the manual.

I'd already (stupidly) bought Manga Studio Debut when I tried the demo of Manga Studio EX 4 - and realised that there is a massive difference between the two programs. Manga Studio Debut offers a stripped out subset of the tools and goodies this full-fat version has. Vector layers, more vector manipulation options and a vastly increased subset of tools, layer options, templates and other goodies will get you off to a flying start whether you're new to digital comic creation or a veteran of comic artwork.

It's almost eerie - the way the raster tools work and offer beautiful ink-like lines and flows (particularly when used in conjunction with a Wacom graphics tablet). On the vector site you can nudge, tweak and perfect your line work to the nth degree - in fact there is no better tool available for digitally inking your sketch work.

It's not cheap, and some of the elements make it feel a little old fashioned (for instance, the fact that when you go to register the product for the extra goodies, you're expected to type in the serial number case sensitized and with dashes in place - and the installation method on Macs is bloody horrible if you've got a slow and noisy optical drive!) but it doesn't look like Smith Micro are doing an EX 5 any time soon so this really is the best thing out there.

Note: Though I mention comic art here, it's absolutely brilliant for any kind of digital art work

accurate product description, Brilliant costumer service. Programme is essential for all comic creators or creators looking to go in that industry. Also good for common illustrations.
Defiantly by far a must have for people that are all about graphic comic design.