Recently I needed to develop a storyboard in a hurry for a TV commercial. Problem: I can’t draw. Solution: FrameForge 3D Studio 2, a pre-visualization tool popular with film & TV directors. Unexpected extra: Flow! I loved working with this tool.

(Click to see a larger image.)

I found that it was so intuitively designed that I was able to learn the basics in an hour or so. And shortly after that I was using it to generate and explore new ideas faster and more easily than I could have otherwise. Helping non-illustrators to produce usable 3D sketches is just part of what FrameForge Studio does. Using FrameForge you can, among other things:

• Build virtual sets and backgrounds
• Populate
  
  them with virtual characters
• Move, dress and modify your characters
• Pan, tilt, crane, dolly and zoom one or more virtual cameras
• Try different virtual lenses
• Manage your shot sequence
• Manage your script and marry it to your shots to create a finished storyboard

It’s all thoughtfully designed to support real-world shooting. For example, as the makers of FrameForge emphasize, the storyboard images it produces are optically correct, as they would be seen through a real camera of the type modeled by your virtual camera:

I say it’s a nominee for a Flow Award.