Project Dogwaffle team ships Howler 2023.5
Originally posted on 11 June 2022. Scroll down for news of the Howler 2023.5 update.
The developers of hard-to-classify digital painting, animation and video processing tool Howler have released Howler 2023, the latest version of the software.
The update adds a new filter for generating sky backgrounds complete with volumetric clouds, one-to-three-point perspective guides and a new Undo browser, and updates several of Howler’s existing filters.
An idiosyncratic low-cost natural media paint package with a lot of unexpected features
Originally released two decades ago, Howler – originally Project Dogwaffle – is an idiosyncratic sub-$100 digital painting and content creation tool.
Its core strength is natural media painting, but it throws in a number of unexpected feature sets, ranging from terrain generation and particle sculpting to video repair and rotoscoping.
New in Howler 2023: generate sky backgrounds with realistic volumetric clouds
New features include a new system for rendering sky background images with volumetric clouds.
The feature, which replaced the old Sky filter, can generate a range of cloud types, under different lighting conditions and different times of day, as shown in the video above.
Other changes include new one-, two- and three-point perspective guides to help compose images, and updates to Howler’s noise tools and Europa filter, which generates networks of crack-like forms.
Workflow improvements include a new Undo browser, the option to select a preferred GPU for GPU-acclerated features, and updates to the colour picker.
Updated 20 July 2022: The Project Dogwaffle team has released PD Artist 2023, the latest version of the cut-down edition of Howler. It has an identical feature set to Howler 2023, minus the animation tools.
Howler itself has also been updated, adding support for auto-keyframing on the timeline.
Updated 8 November 2022: Howler 2023.3 has been released.
The update adds the Painter’s color wheel, a new tool that makes it possible to create colour palettes for images by masking off regions of the total available colour gamut, as shown in the video above.
Other changes include the option to apply size envelopes to the line, circle, rectangle and curve tools to control that the way that the width of the resulting shape varies.
The Fill tool gets new Continuous fill, line art fill and lasso completion fill modes.
Updated 6 January 2022: Howler 2023.4 has been released.
The update adds a new set of impasto brushes for mimicking the look of thick oil or acrylic paint, and a new Tint RGB option in the Brush Settings to apply an overall colour tint to strokes, as shown in the video above.
Other changes include improved support for multi-monitor set-ups.
Updated 9 February 2022: Howler 2022.5 has been released.
The update adds the option to import 3D models and generate renders of them for use as custom brushes, as shown in the video above, opening up the possibility of interesting hybrid 2D/3D workflows.
Other changes include a new colour temperature filter, and a rotation parameter for brushes.
Pricing and availability
Howler 2023.5 and PD Artist 2023 are available for Windows only.
Howler has an MSRP of $59.99, although the software is usually available at a significantly lower price. PD Artist has a MSRP of $27.99, although it is also usually available at a discount.