Project Dogwaffle team releases Howler 2019 Build 66
Originally posted on 12 November 2018. Scroll down for news of the Build 66 update.
The Project Dogwaffle team has released Howler 2019, the latest update to its digital painting software, adding a brush stroke preview, a visual recently used documents list, and rewriting the text tool.
The release also marks a change in version numbering – under the previous scheme, it would have been Howler 12 – and a change of marketing slogan.
Describing Howler’s unusual combination of natural media painting, image-processing, 2D animation and rotoscoping tools, the feature set is now described as: ‘Paint – Animation – 3D’.
Workflow improvements, plus updates to the 3D engine
The changes in Howler 2019 itself are primarily GUI and workflow improvements, including thumbnail previews of images in the recently used documents list, as shown in the video above.
Brush strokes also now get their own thumbnail preview images in the left-hand sidebar.
The text tool has also been reworked and is now transparent so that the underlying image can be seen behind it. It can be sized from any side, and also has + and – buttons for incremental changes to the font.
The update also introduces mipmap-based scaling of images in the GUI.
Puppy Ray, Howler’s built-in ray tracing renderer, aimed primarily at generating procedural landscapes, has also been expanded, adding the option to save frame sequences from animations.
The change is part of ongoing work to the 3D engine, which also now features work-in-progress tools for viewing OBJ files.
Updated 14 March 2019: Build 30, the latest incremental update to Howler 2019, is out.
The update adds a new object- and blemish-removal system with automated colour matching for photographic images; support for Poisson blending in the Stamp tool; and OpenSimplex noise.
There are also new 2D animation features, including the option to set up simple animation paths with the line and circle tools, with a range of easing functions.
Updated 15 April 2019: Build 40 is out. The update extends Poisson blending to the feature replacement tool and adds the option to export video in the H.264 and WMV formats.
Updated 25 June 2019: Build 66 is out. The update focuses on Howler’s animation tools, improving performance and workflow in the Exposure Sheet, shown in the video above.
Frame Painter – used for painting new frames non-linearly into an existing animation, and previously part of the Exposure Sheet – has also been split out into a separate tool.
The Brush Timeline, used when working with animated brushes, has also been updated, and gets its own entry in the Brush menu. You can find a full list of changes in Build 66 here.
Pricing and availability
Howler 2019 is available for Windows only. According to the online order page, the MSRP has now risen from $59.99 to $76.99, although the software is usually available at a discount.