A storyboard has been used as a useful tool for creating film, plays, animation and even business presentation. With the recent trend of using software for production of various media forms, storyboard software is something that can be expected.

However, strictly speaking, you do not need a storyboard software to create a storyboard. You can just download a storyboard template from a website  and start drawing your storyboard.

A professional storyboard artist, as shown in this article, even avoids storyboard software and instead sketches and scan his drawing to create a sequence of storyboard. This is understandable because no matter how good a software is, it cannot beat the power of imagination and visualization of the human brain.

But for ordinary people, using storyboard software is a good idea as it can improve and accelerate the process of storyboard creation. This post takes a brief look of three storyboard software.

1. Toon Boom Storyboard Pro

Toon Boom Storyboard Pro is one of the most expensive high-end storyboard software. It costs $899.99 and is available as Mac and Windows versions.

The software is mainly aimed at storyboard artists, director, producers and game designers.

According to this professional review, Toon Boom is a company with a good reputation in 2D animation industry. For example, recent Simpsons movie was created using the company’s software.

If you are a storyboard artist doing your job with a tablet and a computer, Toon Boom Storyboard Pro with various drawing tools may be worth your consideration. If you cannot draw and just want to use pre-made images and templates to create a storyboard, Storyboard quick may be better choice.

2. Storyboard quick

The storyboard quick website says that the software is fast and easy to use and that no drawing is necessary. The software allows you to make a storyboard by choosing characters and put them on templates. Storyboard costs $299.99 and supports both Windows and Mac.

The best introduction of the software is to watch the demo on the website.

Users’ opinions of the software are mixed. Reviews on the Amazon  show that some people think the software is awesome and some think it is a waste of money.

One of those negative review is helpful as it helps you to understand what you can or cannot expect the software to do for your own storyboard creation. For instance, you can use the characters of the software as they are provided but cannot customize their poses.

3. Celtx for storyboard

What if you are capable of drawing but cannot afford expensive storyboard software? the answer would be Celtx, free pre-production tool.

Celtx is famous for being a nice free alternative to the de facto screenwriting software Final Draft. But Celtx is more than a script writing software. It comes with a bunch of templates for other media like theatre, audio play, novel and comic book. And storyboard is one of the those templates.

Take a look at screen capture of storyboard creation tool of Celtx. 

You can rearrange image to construct your narrative. You can also use slideshow feature to pre-visualize your media.

As Celtx is a collection of various pre-production tools, and as storyboard is just one of those tools, you cannot expect the same quality as that of other dedicated storyboard software.

This blog post shows the good and the bad of Celtx as a storyboard software.