Clip Studio Paint EX

About this release

Clip Studio Paint was designed by people making comics, and it shows in every part of it. The pen engine tracks pressure, tilt and speed with stabilisation that turns a shaky hand into a confident line, vector layers let a drawn stroke be reshaped or have its width redrawn after the fact, and the whole interface is arranged around drawing rather than around editing photographs.

The EX edition is the one built for long form work. Multi page projects hold an entire book with a page manager, story information, running page numbers and export of the whole volume in one pass, rather than treating each page as an unrelated file. Panel tools cut frames, gutters adjust across a spread, and text and balloon tools understand vertical and horizontal setting.

The three dimensional side removes most of the drudgery. Posable figures and objects drop onto the canvas, get posed by dragging or from a photo reference, and convert into line art with adjustable weight, which handles the perspective work that otherwise consumes the largest share of a page. Perspective rulers, symmetry rulers and special rulers constrain freehand strokes to whatever geometry the panel needs.

Animation is included and is genuinely usable. A timeline with onion skinning, cel management, light table references and export to video or image sequence covers short form work and full episodic production alike. The brush system underneath all of it accepts imported brushes and materials, of which an enormous community library exists.

What it does

Drawing focused pen engine

Pressure, tilt and speed with stabilisation that steadies a line without making it feel disconnected.

Vector layers

Drawn strokes stay reshapeable, with line width redrawn after the fact and clean intersection erasing.

Multi page projects

A whole book managed as one project with page ordering, story information and single pass export.

Posable three dimensional references

Figures and objects posed on the canvas and converted into adjustable line art.

Rulers and perspective tools

Perspective, symmetry and special rulers that constrain freehand strokes to the needed geometry.

Animation timeline

Onion skinning, cel management and export to video or image sequence for short and long form work.

Changed in this version

• Faster canvas performance on very large multi layer pages.
• New brush set added to the bundled materials.
• Three dimensional posing reworked with easier hand and finger control.
• Text and balloon tools gain better vertical setting behaviour.
• Animation timeline handles longer sequences with less memory use.
• Improved import of brushes and materials from the community library.

System requirements

Install order

1. Unpack the archive.
2. Install the tablet driver first if one is not already present.
3. Run the installer and let the bundled material library install with it.
4. Launch once and set the pen pressure curve before starting real work.

Worth knowing before you start

File details