Clip Studio Paint (previously marketed as Manga Studio in North America), informally known in Japan as ,A clipping of the Japanese pronunciation of its name, ''Kurippu Sutajio Peinto''. is a family of software applications developed by Japanese graphics software company Celsys. It is used for the digital creation of

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

, general

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, video ...

, and 2D animation. The software is available in versions for

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and la ...

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for se ...

, iOS,

iPadOS iPadOS is a mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. for its iPad line of tablet computers. It is a rebranded variant of iOS, the operating system used by Apple's iPhones, renamed to reflect the diverging features of the two product ...

, Android, and ChromeOS. The application is sold in editions with varying feature sets. The full-featured edition is a page-based, layered drawing program, with support for

bitmap In computing, a bitmap is a mapping from some domain (for example, a range of integers) to bits. It is also called a bit array or bitmap index. As a noun, the term "bitmap" is very often used to refer to a particular bitmapping application: t ...

and vector art, text, imported 3D models, and frame-by-frame animation. It is designed for use with a stylus and a graphics tablet or

tablet computer A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being com ...

. It has drawing tools which emulate natural media such as pencils, ink pens, and brushes, as well as patterns and decorations. It is distinguished from similar programs by features designed for creating comics: tools for creating panel layouts, perspective rulers, sketching, inking, applying tones and textures, coloring, and creating word balloons and captions.

History

The original version of the program ran on macOS and Windows, and was released in Japan as "Comic Studio" in 2001. It was sold as "Manga Studio" in the Western market by E Frontier America until 2007, then by Smith Micro Software until 2017; after which it has been sold and supported by Celsys and Graphixly LLC. Early versions of the program were designed for creating black and white art with only spot color (a typical format for Japanese

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

), but version 4 – released in 2007 – introduced support for creating full-color art. In 2013 a redesigned version of the program was introduced, one based on Celsys' separate Comic Studio and Illust Studio applications. Sold in different markets as "Clip Studio Paint" version 1 or "Manga Studio" version 5, the new application featured new coloring and text-handling tools, and a new file system which stored the data for each page in a single file (extension ''.lip''), rather than the multiple files used for each page by Manga Studio 4 and earlier. In 2015, Comic Studio and Illust Studio were discontinued. In 2016, the name "Manga Studio" was deprecated, with the program sold in all markets as "Clip Studio Paint". The version released under this unified branding (build 1.5.4 of the redesigned application) also introduced a new file format (extension ''.clip'') and frame-by-frame animation. In late 2017, Celsys took over direct support for the software worldwide, and ceased its relationship with Smith Micro. In July 2018, Celsys began a partnership with Graphixly for distribution in North America, South America, and Europe. Clip Studio Paint for the Apple iPad was introduced in November 2017, and for the iPhone in December 2019. Clip Studio Paint for

Samsung Galaxy Samsung Galaxy (, stylised as SΛMSUNG Galaxy since 2015 (except Japan where it omits the Samsung branding), previously stylised as Samsung GALAXY; abbreviated as SG) is a series of computing and mobile computing devices that are designed, m ...

tablets and smartphones was released in August 2020, with versions for other Android devices and Chromebooks released in December. The Windows and macOS versions of the software have been sold and distributed either from the developer's web site or on DVD, and purchased either with a perpetual license or an ongoing subscription. The versions for iPhone, iPad, and Android-based devices are distributed through the corresponding app stores free of charge, but require a subscription – which includes cloud storage – for unrestricted use; without a subscription the tablet versions can be used for only a specified number of months, and the phone versions can be used for only 1 hour per day. Regular updates for version 1 have been distributed free of additional charge, to both perpetual and subscription users. With the planned release of version 2 in 2023, users with perpetual licenses who wish to upgrade will need either a new license, the annual purchase of an "upgrade pass", or to switch to subscription licensing.

Editions

The application has been sold in various editions, with differing feature sets and prices. Early versions were sold in Japan as: Mini with very limited features (bundled with graphics tablets), Debut with entry-level features, Pro as the standard edition, and EX as the full-feature edition. E Frontier and Smith Micro only sold the Debut and EX editions of the original application; with the overhauled version 5, Smith Micro sold only the Pro and EX editions, as standard and advanced editions of the program. Under the Clip Studio Paint branding, the application is available in three editions: Debut (only bundled with tablets), Pro (adds support for vector-based drawing, custom textures, and comics-focused features), and EX (adds support for multi-page documents, book exporting). Companion programs include Clip Studio (for managing and sharing digital assets distributed through the Clip Studio web site, managing licenses, and getting updates and support) and Clip Studio Modeler (for setting up 3D materials to use in Clip Studio Paint).

Notes

References

External links

Manga Studio/Comic Studio

*e frontier America, Inc. page
Manga Studio 3.0
*CELSYS, Inc. Comic Studio page
3.0 Japan4.0 Japan
*Smith Micro Software, Inc. Manga Studio page

Manga Studio/Clip Studio Paint

*Smith Micro Software, Inc. page

*CELSYS,Inc. Clip Studio Paint page: , * * * * * * (in Japanese) {{Animation editors IOS software MacOS graphics software Windows graphics-related software 2001 software Raster graphics editors 2D animation software Proprietary cross-platform software Graphics software Android (operating system) software