172 Video Digital Communication & Production
Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Storyboard Software
In this series, the camera dollies into the scene, reframing the subjects as it moves.
Using standard components, you can build a variety of environments—all of them fully three dimensional.
If you search for “storyboard software” on If h f “ b d
the Internet you will find several examples—some
of them freeware. Some programs are more like
production planning boards; others let you import
photo images or help organize your own informal
sketches. With the most advanced types, you
create images by loading standard components
from the program’s library—backgrounds, actors,
and props—and then customizing them to fit
your story. One of these is a program called
FrameForge.
Like software for architects or CG animators,
FrameForge creates environments in three
dimensions so that the camera can move around in
space.
Views from different camera setups
Set ground plan
FrameForge
The FrameForge work screen.
A restaurant A living room A city street An office g y
You can select several
ethnic types and dress
characters in different
costumes.
You can adjust
characters’ ages and
change the colors of
clothing items. g
You can pose characters
in different attitudes…
…because they can
be adjusted at natural
human bending points. g p
And, you can populate these environments with characters customized to fit your story. Using
“texture mapping,” you can actually place the faces of actual actors on the characters.