Interview with the Art Director

Why did you choose the TAB?
One thing is the affordable price. It's easily paid for in just one small project like this. But first I tested the demo version, and the critical test - which TAB passed - is how natural it feels to draw in it, and how the lines look. This is often a problem with vector based software, but I think TAB does this well.

Did the TAB influence the artistic result of your work?
Not really, this is how it would have looked even if I had done on paper or so.

How was working with the TAB?
It was very easy to start with. There was a few things I was a bit confused about, but the TAB-team is very active on the forum and answered everything quickly.

Which TAB feature was particularly useful in the production process?
The X-sheet and the ability to quickly test the animation.

Which part of the work was done in the TAB?
The animation of the bird and the coloring of him (her?) was done completely in the TAB. The final compositing was done in After Effects.

Do you think TAB is good enough to accomplish broadcast quality? Well, this film is for broadcast use and it works fine, so, yes. How many people was involved in the production? Just a producer from the tv-company, and me as a freelance. Did you have any budget limitation? Yepp, I only got paid for a limited number of days work.

Click image to enlarge.

Is there any future project you are going to develop with TAB?
Right now I'm using it for storyboarding a bigger animation project. The animation itself is bitmap cut-out with some 3D effects, and is done in another software. But I have found that TAB is also a very good tool for storyboarding, so I sketch all the images there and make an animatic. This is exported as a QuickTime which the animators can use as a reference, and I can also e-mail it to the producer before starting with every new scene.

What did you like most about the TAB?
The easy interface and the natural feeling when you draw.

What did you like least about the TAB?
I had some problems with the coloring, but the support team was really engaged in my problems, and I think the issues I had with this (and a few small other things) has been fixed for the next release. I also think the file request page is a bit too non-windows standard for me.

A global comment on the TAB?
I had good use of it, and this was with the very first version. I'm very excited to see what the software will look like a few version into the future - if the development team is as engaged as they are now it will be really awesome!