Toon Boom Animation (http://www.toonboom.com) has announced the upcoming release of Toon Boom Studio 6, which offers, among other features, a Bone Rigging System for new bone rigging animation capabilities.

Features in Toon Boom Studio 6 include: a Skeleton Effect Layer in the timeline; a Bone Level for segmenting an animating a character; setting of rotation, length and position of the bones; manipulation of the bones in the timeline; transformation of vector shapes; transformation of pixmap textures; more accurate region of influence to move objects; real-time preview of Bone Effect; full QuickTime Export of Bone Effect; SWF export of Bone Effect (vector shapes only); and software improvements and bug fixes.

You can buy Toon Boom Studio 6 now at the special pre-launch price of US$299.99, instead of $329.99; this is valid until Sept. 1. The first 100 customers who place an order for a new Studio 6 license will receive Flip Boom Classic 4 as a bonus, a value of $49.99. Upgrades from version 4.5 and 5 to version 6 can be purchased at $79.99, instead of $99.99.

As of Aug. 19 all new clients will receive a Toon Boom Studio 5 product code. Their Studio 6 product code will be automatically registered and emailed to them upon product release, enabling them to download the software. All new clients will see their Studio 6 purchase listed on the “my products” page once the transaction is completed.