Clip Studio Paint EX (Manga Studio 5 EX to be)

What can I say - it's great. I won't go through the details of my decision of choosing the Japanese version instead of the ready translated version Manga Studio 5 EX (upcoming this summer) but I'm not a bit sorry to spend 150 euros on the upgrade - but this means I won't be spending my money on the Manga Studio 5 EX version when it's published this summer.

I had previously thought there would be some kind of story editor in the EX version but I was wrong. There's no story editor - well who needs one. But I kind of miss the ability to change the fonts to all documents. Haven't found that switch yet but if there's one I will find it eventually. The text tools are ok. Simple to use, but still no way to transform deform text. Ok - you can do them all in vector and skew them in anyway you want. Doug Hills had a great tutorial in Youtube about that.

Because there was a bit of lag in my MS5 when using the larger brushes I was a bit scared that the EX version would be even slower. But I was amazed to find out that there seemed to be less lag. Weird - but I'm not complaining.

You can also change the interface darker.. I thought I wouldn't use this feature but it's actually very nice and lowers the strain on my eyes when working on colours.

Navigating pages is nice. The pages are on one side of the canvas so they are more available than in the old version where they were hidden from sight on separate page.

The selection launcher can also be modified. But this is a feature that is available also in the Clip Studio Paint Pro 1.2.3 version. It's not available in Manga Studio 5 yet unfortunately. But it's a great feature.

One thing that has become one of my favourite feature is the ability to import files (PSD files as well) as pages. It's great. I had separate pages I had worked on in MS5 and I could import them all in one story file with all the layers intact. Importing old MS 4.0 EX files worked great.

Overall - I think the changes from CSP Pro to EX are small but significant. The EX version is really worth it but it's nice that if you have a smaller budget you can achieve the same kind of results in Pro version as well. EX version just makes working on several pages and some other things much easier which is important if you work professionally.

But - this is just the first look. I'll give an update later if new thoughts arise.