Toon Boom Animation has announced the pre-launch of Toon Boom Studio V3.5, the newest release of the company’s application that allows users to animate with more power and ease, bringing significant improvements to animation techniques, special effects creation and color palette management. In addition, V3.5 offers a more user-friendly interface with a welcome screen and help wizards, as well as timeline improvements. Highlights of version 3.5 include: animated elements to quickly animate drawings; real-time drop shadow effect to create rich-looking animation; improved tools such as Select Scene Operator, Contour Editor, Color Transform as well as Texture and Gradient Mapping to facilitate the animation process; and more. Toon Boom Studio V3.5 is available at the pre-launch special of US$299.99 (Promo Code:TBS350823). Upon customer release, the V3.5 upgrade will cost $99.99 for V3 and V2.5 customers. The V3.5 customer release is scheduled for September 2006.