Japanese Animation Storyboard PDF Export (E-konte)

FeedbackJul 4

A dedicated PDF export preset matching the common Japanese animation storyboard format, known as e-konte (絵コンテ): a left cut/shot number column, picture frame, action/dialogue notes area, and a right time column for cut length/timing. The layout adapts to your project’s aspect ratio. Ideal for animation teams and artists who need to match existing printed board formats. Reference image below.

Posted by ShotGlide · Jul 4

Released6

tekkonkinkreet

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Jul 18

I uploaded some examples highlighting desireable features and explaining some common items on typical anime storyboards. There are various house styles and some different formatting conventions, but these all have the basics.

Auto-magical dividers between shots are very convenient (saves the artist the need to draw a thicker line over an existing divider).

Ability to draw outside of the frame is pretty important, since we are always drawing wider-than-normal panning frames (for example), diagrams, and graphical notes.

I like to use the ACTION/DIALOGUE space as free form, but some folks split that area into left and right columns and keep them separate. That’s kind of old school IMHO.

Running time per page is very nice but not essential.

Letterboxing so that the format can adapt to different aspect ratios is super useful. (I’ve attached a scope letterbox to this post).

ShotGlide
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Jul 21
Many thanks for the examples and annotations. They're very useful, and the good news is that the e-konte export in the upcoming v2 covers pretty much everything these pages show, except off-frame drawing. We've managed to include:
Automatic cut dividers. Linked frames form one cut and share a single number. The export automatically draws a rule at each cut boundary, and none within the cut.
Free-form ACTION/DIALOGUE. Text can run across the full column width, while keeping the traditional dotted center divider.
Export options. You can show or hide: project & scene name, timings, date, running time per page. The date can be automatic, custom, or omitted.
Letterboxing. Any project aspect ratio is positioned correctly inside the picture column.
Shot numbering and timing. You can now freeze or manually relabel shot numbers and display timing per shot throughout the app. Timing can appear as seconds, seconds and frames, or koma notation such as 3+2k, with a project frame rate of 24, 25 or 30 frames per second.
Crossed-out unused panels. Unused panels at the end of the board are now crossed out automatically.
Intermediate times. When a cut continues onto the next page, the earlier pages show a cumulative time in parentheses in the time column, matching your reference.
That leaves drawing in a band outside the frame as the one item from your pages we couldn't fit into v2. I understand how essential it is. Supporting it properly means a new row-wide drawing surface extending beyond the frame, and everything drawn there must carry through to the printed page. That touches drawing, storage and every export format, so it's a bigger build. We're looking into it and hope to include it in a future update.

Thanks again for taking the time to document all of this. I hope v2, which should be live next month and also includes all the other features listed under In Progress, will be a better fit for your workflow.
- tekkonkinkreet
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  Jul 22
  This is amazing news. 👏