Project Dogwaffle team releases Howler 2020.2
Originally posted on 29 July 2019. Scroll down for news of the 2020.2 update.
The developers of hard-to-classify digital painting, animation and video processing tool Howler have released Howler 2020, the latest version of the software.
The update revamps the software’s Brush Shape panel and rationalises the set of brush presets, adds a new light mode for media previews, and splits paper texture settings into separate bump and drybrush options.
Updates to brush system include new brush shapes panel, more streamlined brush presets
Howler 2020 continues the recent schedule of a major ‘annual’ release – actually, Howler 2019 came out last November – and a series of smaller incremental updates.
According to developer Dan Ritchie, a key focus of the current release cycle is updating the software’s legacy brush system.
The first change in Howler 2020 itself is the replacement of the old brush shapes panel with a “more flexible” replacement, with a range of presets that now includes much larger brushes.
The selection of presets has also been rationalised to a set of “fewer media with better quality”, making the media panel quicker to open on startup and simpler to browse.
In addition, media can now be previewed in regular GUI colours, or against a white canvas.
Users can also now assign a colour gradient to brush shapes.
More options for handling paper textures, plus the option to edit gradients on the fly
Other changes in Howler 2020 include splitting paper textures into separate bump and drybrush settings. Paper textures can now be saved with media; and have have been extended to the bristle brush tool.
The Map to gradient filter has been updated, making it possible to edit gradients in real time.
Workflow improvements include grouping stored images in a dock, rather than displaying them as icons, to reduce the screen space taken up. You can find a full list via the link below.
Updated 24 December 2019: Howler 2020.1 is out, bringing with it a number of workflow improvements.
The software’s media browser now displays the most recently used media, making it easier to find recently used brushes and effects; and the undo browser now previews undos in real time.
In addition, there are new keyboard shortcuts for resizing the active brush interactively, and a range of new brush shapes.
The light diffusion filter has also been updated, making it possible to create “new bloom-type effects”.
Updated 25 May 2020: Howler 2020.2 is out, adding the option to use sprites in the Particle Modeler, intended for rendering “cloud-like effects”, as shown in the video above.
The update also improves performance when painting on large images, and when restoring undos.
Pricing and availability
Howler 2020.2 is available for Windows only. It has an MSRP of $76.99, although the software is usually available at a discount.