# Storyboard Preferences

To open the preferences dialog box do the following:

1. Select Edit > Preferences, the Preferences dialog box opens showing the following tabbed windows:

- General Tab
- Global UI Tab
- Drawing View Tab
- Export Tab
- Shortcuts Tab

#### General

To do this... | Choose...
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Defaults are indicated with an asterisk (*)
Specify the length (in seconds) of a new panel. Enter a value between 0 and 99 or accept the default of 5. | Default Panel Length 5 seconds *
Specify the number of levels of undo. Enter a value between 0 and 99 or accept the default of 50. | Levels Of Undo 50 *
When turned on, generate thumbnails automatically in the Template library when a new template is created. | Generate Library Thumbnails Automatically *
When turned on, display basic debug information in the Tool Properties under the Log tab. | Show Log View For Debug Information *
When turned on, display the Rename Shot or Rename Scene dialog box automatically. | Show Rename dialog Automatically *
When turned on, use the current sound settings when you import sound and open a browse box to select a sound automatically. When turned off, display the Import Sound dialog box automatically. | Use Default Sound Import Settings and Don’t Show dialog *
When turned on, premultiply the channels with the alpha value of the layer, resulting in an opaque layer. This is helpful when creating layers used by other effects, or in certain compositing situations. Use this option if you’re importing a semi-transparent image. Turn off this option if you’re importing a PSD image. | Auto Premultiply Imported Image by Alpha Channel *
When turned on, prevents accidental drawing over the thumbnail images in the panel in drawing workspace or overview workspace. Use this option to improve overall system performance. | Forbid drawing on Panel thumbnailsl *
Select the terminology style to be used to display terms in the GUI. Live Action - Live action terms will be displayed (i.e., shot instead of scene). Animation - Animation terms will be displayed (i.e., scene instead of shot). | Terminology Style: Live Action * Animation

#### Global UI

To do this... | Choose...
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Defaults are indicated with an asterisk (*)
Change the colour of the bounding box used for the first group of shots. The RGB value of the default colour is 160,160, 160. Click the shot group colour box to open the Colour Picker dialog box where you can choose a new colour for the bounding box. For example, if you choose orange for the first shot group box colour, then all first shots will look as follows: | Shot group box colour One * (RGB value=160,160, 160)
Change the colour of the bounding box used for the second group of shots. The RGB value of the default colour is 200, 200, 200. Click the shot group colour box to open the Colour Picker dialog box where you can choose a new colour for the bounding box. For example, if you choose pink for the second shot group box colour, then all second shots will look as follows: | Shot group box colour Two * (RGB value=200, 200, 200)
Change the colour of the bounding box used for panels. The RGB value of the default colour is 0, 0, 255. Click the panel bounding box colour box to open the Colour Picker dialog box where you can choose a new colour for the panel bounding box. For example, if you choose red for the panel bounding box colour, then the bounding box that appears around all selected panels will look as follows: | Selected panel bounding box colour * (RGB value=0, 0, 255)
Change the colour of the snapshot marker used for panels in the Timeline View. The RGB value of the default colour is 0, 20, 230. Click the snapshot marker colour box to open the Colour Picker dialog box where you can choose a new colour for the snapshot marker. For example, if you choose pink for the snapshot marker colour, then all the snapshot markers will look as follows: | Snapshot marker colour in Timeline View * (RGB value=0, 20, 230)
Change the colour of panels in the Timeline View. The RGB value of the default colour is 200, 200, 200. Click the panel colour box to open the Colour Picker dialog box where you can choose a new colour for panels. For example, if you choose red for the panel colour, then all the panels in the Timeline View will look as follows: | Panel colour in Timeline View * (RGB value=200, 200, 200)
Change the colour of transitions in the Timeline View. The RGB value of the default colour is 207, 237, 214. Click the transition colour box to open the Colour Picker dialog box where you can choose a new colour for transitions. For example, if you choose yellow for the transition colour, then all transitions in the Timeline View will look as follows: | Transition colour in Timeline View * (RGB value=207, 237, 214)
Change the colour of sound sequences in the Timeline View. The RGB value of the default colour is 237, 236, 205. Click the sound sequence colour box to open the colour Picker dialog box where you can choose a new colour for sound sequences. For example, if you choose green for the sound sequence colour, then all sound sequences in the Timeline View will look as follows: | Sound sequence colour in Timeline View * (RGB value=237, 236, 205)
When turned on, display the duration as a time code in thumbnail panels in the Drawing and Overview workspaces. When turned off, display the duration as frames in thumbnail panels in the Drawing and Overview workspaces. | Thumbnail Panels in Drawing and Overview Workspaces *
When turned on, display the duration as a time code when dragging the red Current Frame slider across a sound sequence in the Timeline View. When turned off, display the duration as a frame when dragging the red Current Frame slider across a sound sequence in the Timeline View. | Slider in Sound Track View *
When turned on, display the duration as a time code in the timeline in Sound Track View. | Timeline in Sound Track View *
When turned off, display the duration as a frame in the timeline in Sound Track View. |
When turned on, display the duration as a time code when adjusting the length of a panel in the Timeline View. When turned off, display the duration as a frame when adjusting the length of a panel in the Timeline View. | Changing Duration Overlapping Timing Info in Timeline View *
When turned on, print the duration as a time code of the selected storyboard panels in the PDF document. When turned off, print the duration as a frame of the selected storyboard panels in the PDF document. | Exported Document (PDF and etc.) *

#### Drawing View

To do this... | Choose...
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Defaults are indicated with an asterisk (*)
Specify a texture quality value between very low and very high for the brush stroke, or accept the default value of low. | Stroke Texture Quality Low *
When turned on, the selection tool is a lasso and a rectangular marquee when [Alt] is pressed. When turned off, the selection tool is a rectangular marquee and a lasso when [Alt] is pressed. | Select Tool Is Lasso *
Specify the initial default setting for automatically closing gaps in line art as you paint. Select from the following tolerance levels: 0 - disabled 1 - small gap 2 - medium gap 3 - large gap | Auto Gap Closing 0 (disabled) *
When turned on, displays drawings from previous and next panels in a different colour. When turned off, displays drawings from previous and next panels in their original colour and faded. | Enable Shade *
Choose a colour for drawings from the previous panels. Click the Onion Skin Colour Before square and select a new colour from the colour Picker. The RGB value of the default colour is 255, 0, 0. | Onion Skin Colour Before * (RGB value=255, 0, 0)
Choose a colour for drawings from the next panels. Click the Onion Skin Colour After square and select a new colour from the colour Picker. The RGB value of the default colour is 0, 255, 0. | Onion Skin Colour After * (RGB value=0, 255, 0)
Enable the display of onion skin layers from panels outside of the current shot or scene. | Enable Across Shot (Scene) Boundary *
Enables the camera motion on the onion skin layers. | Apply Camera Motion
When turned on, improve the appearance of bitmaps. | Smooth Textures *
When turned on, disable writing to the OpenGL back buffer. Use this option if you’re experiencing problems displaying gradients and cutters with your OpenGL video card. | Alternate Gradient and Cutter *
When turned on, allaws you to show brush strokes on top of the layers and not behind. | Show Brush Strokes in Place while Drawing

#### Export

To do this... | Choose...
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Defaults are indicated with an asterisk (*)
When Exporting to a Movie: When turned on, optimizes the file size and the rendering time of | Optimize Still Image Sequences *
When Exporting to a Movie: Specify the font used when you overlay a time code into the animatic. Select fonts available on you system from the adjacent droplist. | Time Code Font
When Exporting to a Movie: Specify the colour of the time code used when you overlay a time code into the animatic. Clicking on the colour swatch, displays the colour picker so you can select a colour. | Time Code Colour
When Exporting to a Movie: Specify the physical height of the time code overlay in the animatic. Clicking on the adjacent droplist allows you to choose in one percent increments up to a maximum height of 50% of the movie. | Time Code Height%
When Exporting to a Movie: Specify the position of the time code used when you overlay a time code in the animatic. Clicking on the adjacent droplist allows you to choose from Top Left Top Centre Top Right Bottom Left Bottom Centre Bottom Right | Time Code Position
Specify the colour of the background against which the time code is shown. This may make it easier to view the timecode. Clicking on the colour swatch, displays the colour picker so you can select a colour | Time Code Background Colour
When Exporting to Toon Boom: | Maintain Local Library When Import External Image/Template
When turned on, the export of QuickTime files for EDL/AAF is faster because only panels with animated frames are rendered at the frame rate of the storyboard project. In Toon Boom Storyboard, there are two types of panels: those with motion (transformations or camera moves) and those without motion. In the case of panels without motion, when this option is turned on, Toon Boom Storyboard for example, renders only one frame per second instead of 24 frames per second. This option does not affect panels with motion. NOTE: When this option is turned on, certain video editing tools such as Final Cut Pro will not recognize the exported QuickTime files. | Optimize Still Image Sequences *

#### Shortcut

For detailed information on Toon Boom Storyboard’s keyboard shortcuts, see Keyboard Shortcuts.