wonderunit/storyboarder

Storyboarder is a desktop drawing application for creating storyboards. A storyboard is a sequence of rough sketches that shows how a story, film, or video will look scene by scene. The tool is aimed at people who want to get ideas down quickly: directors, writers, advertisers, or anyone with a visual idea they want to sketch out before committing to production. The interface is intentionally minimal. There are four brush types: a light pencil for rough work, a pencil for faster sketching, a pen for strong outlines, and a brush for shading. Each brush has three size options and a five-color palette. There are no layers, by design. The README argues that layers add complexity that slows down the ideation process. You can also draw straight lines by holding Shift, undo and redo changes, move or scale your drawing contents, and clear a frame entirely. Boards are displayed in a sequence and can be played back as an animatic, which is a rough animated preview of the storyboard. The app supports opening Fountain-format screenplay files, a plain-text script format, and can import those scene descriptions as the basis for boards. Drawings can be opened in Photoshop for tighter polish, and changes made there update back in the app automatically. The app works with drawing tablets, including Wacom and Cintiq models, and also with a standard mouse. Guide overlays are available to assist with composition: grid, center marks, rule-of-thirds, angle lines, and an onion skin that shows the previous and next board. Export options are mentioned but not detailed in the README. Storyboarder is a JavaScript desktop application. Downloads are available from the project website.