Toon Boom
Harmony 20
Release Notes

TOON BOOM ANIMATION INC.

+1 514 278 8666

4200 St.Laurent Blvd, Suite 1020
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
H2W 2R2

contact@toonboom.com
toonboom.com

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

Legal Notices
Toon Boom Animation Inc.
4200 Saint-Laurent, Suite 1020
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
H2W 2R2
Tel: +1 514 278 8666
Fax: +1 514 278 2666
toonboom.com

Disclaimer
The content of this document is the property of Toon Boom Animation Inc. and is copyrighted. Any reproduction in whole
or in part is strictly prohibited.
The content of this document is covered by a specific limited warranty and exclusions and limit of liability under theapplicable License Agreement as supplemented by the special terms and conditions for Adobe®Flash ® File Format(SWF). For details, refer to the License Agreement and to those special terms and conditions.

Trademarks
Toon Boom® is a registered trademark. Harmony™ and the Toon Boom logo are trademarks of Toon Boom Animation Inc.
All other trademarks of the property of their respective owners.

Publication Date
02-21-2022
Copyright © 2022 Toon Boom Animation Inc., a Corus Entertainment Inc. company. All rights reserved.

1

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

Table of Contents
Table of Contents

2

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5

3Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.4

4

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.3

6

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.2

10Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.1

11

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.0

122

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5
Here is the list of changes in Harmony 20.0.5, build 20.0.5.17671 (2021-11-04):
NOTE
The Python plugin, which allows Python 2.7 scripts to be run from Harmony, no longer loads by default on
macOS Big Sur and Monterey. You can force the Python plugin to load by enabling the FORCE_LOAD_PYTHON_SCRIPT hidden preference.

Fixes
The following issues have been fixed in this release of Harmony:lHarmony crashes when opening a scene in database mode on macOS Monterey. HAR-7793

lImporting scenes from a database package does not work properly when using Control Center in batch mode.
HAR-7785lHarmony crashes when opening a specific scene that contains Weighted Deformers. HAR-77403

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.4
Here is the list of changes in Harmony 20.0.4, 20.0.4.17478 (2021-09-22):lDrawing Tools on page 4lAnimation Tools on page 4lRendering and Compositing on page 4lImport and Export on page 5l

3D on page 5lControl Center on page 5lGeneral on page 5

Fixes and Changes
The following issues have been fixed in this release of Harmony:

Drawing Toolsl

The Paint tool does not work on drawings that have extremely large geometries. HAR-7624l

A hidden preference was added to allow users to lower the drawing precision and simulate the drawing
experience from Harmony 14. When the preference is enabled, Harmony will round coordinates of points received
from the mouse or drawing tablet, creating bumpier lines.

You can enable this preference by downloading, importing and running the script from the URL below:
docs.toonboom.com/go/download/ToggleDrawingToolsRoundsCoordinateslA hidden preference was added that can be used to disable smoothing of vectors when using the Perspective toolin Lattice mode.
docs.toonboom.com/go/download/ToggleLatticeToolSmoothing

Animation Toolsl

Using the Transform tool or moving up the hierarchy using B does not select the peg connected to the target portof the Transform Gate. HAR-7101

Rendering and Compositingl

The Gaussian Blur effect should only mirror pixels that are outside the camera frame when the “Repeat Edge
Pixels” option is enabled. HAR-7623

lToggling the "Repeat Edge Pixels" option in the Gaussian Blur effect node does not update the Render preview
immediately. HAR-7622

4

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notesl

Rendering to QuickTime or H.264 with two instances of Harmony simultaneously may generate corrupted files.
HAR-7625l

Crash when rendering if a TVG is missing while its element node has the Transparency option disabled. HAR7129

l

Surface Normal does not work properly when a drawing is painted with a gradient colour. HAR-7059

lHarmony on Windows may crash when rendering a specific drawing drawn with brush textures. HAR-7413

Import and ExportlApple ProRes files fail to import on Windows even when QuickTime 7 is installed. HAR-7133

l

Frames are held and skipped when importing movies with 23.976 frame rate. HAR-7671l

The selected Alignment Rule is ignored when importing a PSD as a Toon Boom Bitmap with the Individual Layers
option enabled. HAR-7616

3D
lScenes with Alembic files that use RGB colour sets may cause Harmony to crash. HAR-7503

Control Centerl

Palettes at the Job and Environment levels are not imported when importing an offline scene. HAR-7606

lImporting a specific scene using the -import_scene argument from Control Center does not work. HAR-7580

GenerallRandom crash when performing various drag and drop operations under the latest Windows 10 using an NVIDIA
Quadro GPU. HAR-7491

lElements cannot be deleted using the Element Manager if used in more than one version of the scene. HAR-7128

lHarmony does not delete columns when deleting the nodes if “Delete Drawing Files and Element Folders” isunchecked. HAR-7156

lHarmony sometimes crashes when using the trackpad on a MacBook Pro. HAR-7152

lRemove Unused Files doesn’t always delete palette files from disk. HAR-7090

lHarmony crashes on rare occasions when changing the scene’s working colour space. HAR-7141

5

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.3
Here is the list of changes in Harmony 20.0.3, build 20.0.3 16743 (2021-02-09):lNodes and Compositingl

Master Controllers

l

WebCC

l

Fixes

Nodes and Compositing
FeatureDescription
A Hue Interpol ation option has been added to the Col our fade node. This new option
al l ows sel ecting the type of interpol ation used for the hue val ue and is avail abl e when the
Col our Interpol ation is set to HSL or HSV. The fol l owing options are avail abl e:l

Col our Fade Hue Interpol ation

l

l

l

Linear: Interpol ates the hue val ue l inearl y between 0 and 360. Provided for l egacy
reasons.
Circular Shortest: Linear hue val ue interpol ation from the source col our to thedestination col our using the shortest distance, passing through 360 to 0, and viceversa if shortest.
Circular Clockwise: Cl ockwise val ue interpol ation, wrapping around 360 to 0 if
necessary.
Circular Counterclockwise: Countercl ockwise val ue interpol ation, wrapping
around 0 to 360 if necessary.

Pre-render Cache node status
in the Timel ine

The Pre-render Cache node now shows green frames in the Timel ine once a frame isrendered and avail abl e in the cache.

Render/Cl ear Current Frame

There is a new option in the Pre-render Cache node to render or cl ear the image in cache forthe current frame.

Master Controllers
FeatureDescription

Automatical l y Fil ter Attributes

A new option that control s whether attributes that do not change over time shoul d be
added when creating a master control l er is now avail abl e in the Stack, Grid and Sl iderwizards. This new option, named Automatical l y Fil ter Attributes, wil l omit attributes thathas the same val ue for the duration of the source frame range and wil l not add them to the6Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

FeatureDescription
Master Control l er.

WebCC
FeatureExport Offl ine Options inControl Center

Hiding Library options whenexporting offl ine in WebCC

Description
Final frames, Other Directories and Libraries options can now be unchecked when using
the Export to Offl ine option in Control Center, reducing the size of scenes when exporting
in offl ine format.
Options to export l ibraries can now be hidden from the WebCC interface. This can preventthe accidental export of l ibraries from the Environment or Job l evel s and unnecessary
increases of fil e size of exported offl ine scenes.
These options can be hidden by adding the “-hideLibExport” option to the WebCC service
l auncher.

Fixes
The following issues have been fixed in this release of Harmony:

GenerallHarmony crashes on Big Sur when there is a texture in the colour palette. HAR-6759

lMorphing hints don’t display properly anymore. HAR-6430lService Launcher's default path is wrong on macOS Catalina. HAR-5663

lTemporary files created in the ToonBoomSessionTempDir, when importing PSD files or using a script, are notdeleted if a Wacom driver is installed on Windows. HAR-6539

lPressing the spacebar does not reset the Transform tool manipulator. HAR-6858

lTransform tool manipulator does not follow properly when rotating the Camera view. HAR-6859

lSelecting multiple drawings with the Transform tool changes the active pivot. HAR-6596

l

The Reset Current Keyframe command in the Deformation toolbar doesn't reset the rotation on Free FormDeformer points. HAR-5928

l

The Kinematic output does not work properly when a Static Transformation node is used with a deformation chain
set to Default Transformation. HAR-6293

lSelecting a 3D model with the Transform tool does not work when another layer is locked. HAR-6659

7

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notesl

The second controller of a Two Points Constraint node cannot be selected when there is a Transformation Gate
node under it. HAR-6770

lScene with corrupted bezier curves causes Harmony to crash when opening. HAR-6836

l

The Camera view becomes unresponsive if a peg with a scale of 0 is above a weighted deformer. HAR-6647

l

The Pose Copier does not remember the Fill to Next Key Exposure state. HAR-6701

Drawing Toolsl

Delay drawing with the Brush tool when using a mouse or a drawing tablet that has a high polling rate on macOS.
HAR-6749lStraight line changes to a curve when lines are connected using Line Building Mode. HAR-6263

lThere’s a delay when drawing using a textured pencil in a scene in Database mode. HAR-6654

lTools presets don’t work with bitmap layers. HAR-5788

lRandom crashes when drawing straight lines with the Pencil tool by pressing SHIFT. HAR-6726

TimelinelDragging keyframes on a Colour Curve, Colour Levels or Subnode Animation layer extends the select to layers
below. HAR-6225

l

Audio scrubbing offsets and plays audio from the wrong frames. HAR-6721

Node ViewlEntering or exiting a group using cable navigation does not work anymore. HAR-6352

Master Controllersl

MC Function Wizard: Invert Slider option does not work. HAR-6080

lKeyframes that have identical values are not added to the tbState when creating a master controller. HAR-6551

lPoor performance when scrubbing the Timeline while Deformers on Deformer is displayed in the Camera view.
HAR-6187l

Reset Current Keyframes does not always properly reset the position of a Deformer on Deformer curve. HAR-6217

l

The curve to manipulate a Deformer on Deformer does not always follow properly. HAR-6722

lOnly the min and max values work properly when creating a SliderWidget from a Transformation Gate using the
Function Wizard. HAR-6673

8

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

Export and RenderinglRendering frames in batch reports sound engine errors when launched from a service, causing deadline to report
errors even when the render is good. HAR-6667

lExporting OpenGL frames using the openH264 codec does not work. HAR-5544l

The selected format in the Export Movie dialog switches to QuickTime when clicking the browse button. HAR5802

l

The Use Source/Matter Colour option does not work with effect nodes that have the blur type set to Directional.
HAR-6484

ImportinglHarmony fails to import video files that don’t have audio or if their resolution does not match the scene resolution in
Windows. HAR-6543

l

No error messages when importing an unsupported video file on Windows. HAR-5909

lImporting an interlaced 16-bit per channel PNG does not work. HAR-6716

l

Crash when importing Alembic files with out of bound colour values. HAR-6844

lSome WMV files import with missing frames onWindows. HAR-6805

DatabaselDrawings can be lost when using the Update Database Scene command if elements were renamed or duplicatedoffline. HAR-6586

l

The dbserver will attempt to close the table twice when upgrading a table to a new format. HAR-6718

l

The Force Unlock Scene command in Control Center doesn't release all the locks. HAR-6688

lJobs remain in the In Production list after moving them to completed. HAR-6408lAuto flatten does not work with the Brush tool if the Pencil tool has Line Building Mode enabled. HAR-6717

lThumbnails are not rendered in library folders located on a database if Harmony is running on Windows and uses a
shortcuts.conf file to connect to the server. HAR-6809

lScene is locked for editing when a preview render is generated for WebCC. HAR-6773

l

The Queue application randomly freezes and does not update job statuses properly. HAR-6684

ScriptinglPalette::setTextureFile does not flag palette as modified. HAR-6727

l

The Pose Copier Paste button has to be clicked multiple times to work with some template. HAR-6672

lPasting an action template that does not contain groups does not work when using
copyPaste.pasteActionTemplateIntoNode. HAR-6652

9

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.2
Here is the list of changes in Harmony 20.0.2, build 20.0.2 16529 (2020-11-26):
NOTE
Harmony does not natively support the new Apple M1 chip. On systems using the new Apple M1 chip,
Harmony runs through Apple’s Rosetta 2. This may cause compatibility issues when running on the new
ARM-based macOS systems.

Fixed Issues:lCrash on macOS Big Sur when selecting the Tool Properties tab while the Brush, Pencil or Eraser tool is active.

l

The Force Unlock command in Control Center doesn't release all the scene locks.

l

The Drawing Selector list in Harmony Scan can have duplicate or missing entries.

Known Issues:lIssue: On macOS Big Sur, Harmony crashes on some systems if there is a texture in the colour palette while theinterface is in Light Style.
Workaround: Enable the Use Dark StyleSheet preference located on the General tab to prevent the crash.

lIssue: On macOS the path set by default in the Service Launcher's Service location field uses the translocated path.
Workaround: Manually set the path to the application’s bin folder. e.g. /Applications/Toon Boom Harmony 20
Premium/Harmony Premium.app/Contents/tba/macosx/binlIssue: Entering or exiting a group in the node view using the Enter key while navigating the node graph with the
keyboard does not work anymore. It opens the Find and Insert Node menu instead.
Workaround: Shift+Click the group or click the arrow on the right to go inside the group.

10

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.1
Here is the list of changes in Harmony 20.0.1, build 16044 (2020-06-29):

Fixed Issues:lCrash when launching Harmony on a macOS computer with a CPU that does not support Advanced Vector
Extensions (AVX).

l

Crash when using the Tab key in the qsdb> field of the Qt Script Debugger to get auto-complete suggestions.

11Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.0
Here is the list of changes in Harmony 20.0.0, build 15996 (2020-06-11):
IMPORTANT
Important enhancements have been done to the Harmony Server database. As such, in order for Harmony 20
clients to function properly, the database server must be updated to Harmony 20.
Furthermore, the dictionary files (.dict) in the database must be updated with the ones included in the
Harmony 20 packaging. To do this, copy the files from the following location:
Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom Harmony 20 [Edition]\etc\USADB_ltemplates\dicts
macOS: /Applications/Toon Boom Harmony 20 [Edition]/Harmony [Edition].app/Contents/tba/etc/USADB_ltemplates/dicts
GNU/Linux: /usr/local/ToonBoomAnimation/harmony[Edition]_20/etc/USADB_templates/dictsl

And paste them in the following location in your database, replacing the existing files:/USA_DB/dicts
Note that a database server running Harmony 20 is backward compatible with clients running older versionsof Harmony.

ll

New Features on page 12lDrawing Tools on page 12lAnimation on page 14lEffects and Compositing on page 16lDatabase / Control Center on page 19lWorkflow Improvements on page 20lMaster Controllers on page 21lScripting on page 22lRendering and Pipeline Integration on page 22

Fixed Issues on page 23

New Features
Drawing Tools
FeatureDescription

Editions

Centerl ine Editor Tool

Improvements have been added for editing brush l ines with the

Al l

12

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

FeatureDescription

Editions

Centerl ine Editor tool :limprovementslConvert Textured Pencil to
Brush

Points can now be del eted from the center l ine curve onbrush strokes by sel ecting them and pressing the Del ete key.
New Centerl ine Smoothness option to control the fitting of
the center l ine is now avail abl e in the Tool Properties view.

It is now possibl e to convert textured pencil l ines into textured
brush strokes when using the Convert Pencil to Brush option in the
Sel ect tool properties.

Advanced &Premium

New options in the Line tool properties to curve the l ine on mouseup:lOptions to curve Line toollCurve Line Mode al l ows to draw a curved l ine by moving themouse after drawing a straight l ine. Cl ick or press Enter tocommit the curved l ine.

Al l

S Curve Line Mode al l ows to draw a S-shaped curved l ine.
Moving the mouse after creating a straight l ine wil l curve thel ine from both ends until the mouse is cl icked. The tail endof the l ine wil l then curve until the mouse is cl icked again orEnter is pressed.

l

Sel ect tool improvementslPreserve the position of the Sel ect tool pivot when using
Undo and Redo commands.
The Sel ect tool pivot now fol l ows the sel ection whenscal ing, rotating and skewing.

Al lAuto Fil l with Brush

New Auto Fil l option in the Brush tool . When active, drawing acl osed shape with the brush tool wil l automatical l y fil l it with thecol our assigned as the current paint col our.

Al lButton for the Repaint Brushtool

A button for the Repaint Brush tool is now avail abl e in the Tool s
tool bar.

Al l

Al ignment Guides withdrawing tool s

The Al ignment Guides can now be used with the drawing tool s.

Al lPencil Texture Eyedropper tool

A new Pencil Texture Eyedropper tool is now avail abl e. Cl icking apencil l ine drawn with a texture using this tool wil l sel ect the
texture in the Pencil Texture Pal ette l ist.

Advanced &Premium

13

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

FeatureDescription

Editions

Sel ect Strokes with Current
Pencil Texture

A new command has been added to sel ect strokes that use thecurrentl y sel ected pencil texture. The command is cal l ed Sel ect
Strokes with Current Pencil Texture and is avail abl e in the Edit menuof the Camera and Drawing views.

Advanced &Premium

Line Buil ding Mode
improvements

The Pencil tool ’s Line Buil ding mode does not trim l ines anymore
when drawing perpendicul ar l ines away from the tips.

Advanced &Premium

Preserve sel ection when
undoing or redoing

The Contour Editor, Perspective and Envel ope tool s now preserve
the sel ection when using Undo and Redo commands.

Al lSnap onl y to sel ected l ayers

A new option cal l ed Al l ow Snapping on al l Drawings Layers is now
avail abl e in the snapping options for drawing tool s. When enabl ed,
snapping wil l work as it did in previous versions and the sel ection
wil l snap to al l visibl e drawing l ayers when working in the Camera
view. When disabl ed, snapping wil l onl y occur with drawings thatare on the sel ected l ayers.

Al l

Independent qual ity for
Perspective tool

The qual ity of the transformation when using the Perspective tool
Lattice mode is not affected by the smooth val ue set in the Envel ope

Al ltool anymore.

Independent smoothness for
Smooth Editor tool

The smooth val ues for the Envel ope tool and the Smooth Editor are
now independent.

Al lAdjust Eraser size with hotkey

You can now adjust the eraser size with the “O” keyboard shortcut
whil e using the eraser end of the tabl et pen.

Al l

FeatureDescription

Editions

Undoabl e sel ections

New preference cal l ed Undoabl e Sel ection. When this preference isenabl ed, sel ection changes such as sel ecting drawings with thetransform tool or changing the sel ection in the Node view adds
entries in the undo l ist. You wil l find this preference on the Generaltab of the preferences and is enabl ed by defaul t.

Al lTransform tool drags fromanywhere

New Easy Drag option in the Transform tool properties. Whenenabl ed, the sel ected objects can be moved by cl icking anywhere in

Al lAnimation

14

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

FeatureDescription

Editions

the transform tool sel ection box.
New commands and buttons to quickl y set ease in and ease out of
keyframes sel ected in the Timel ine. The commands are:ll

Quick Ease In/Out for keyframes

l

l

l

l

l

l

l

l

Drawing Substitution view
improvementslNode Caching improvement

Quick Ease In: Sets the ease on the l eft side of the sel ected
keyframe to 33%.

l

Scene Markers improvements

Quick Ease: Sets the ease on both sides of the sel ected
keyframe to 33%.
Al l

Quick Ease Out: Sets the ease on the right side of thesel ected keyframe to 33%.
Set Ease on Sel ected Keyframes: Opens a dial og box where
different val ues of ease can be set on either side of thesel ected keyframes.
Scene markers can now be created without a duration.
The Mark Current Frame command creates markers without
opening a dial og box. This al l ows creating markers during
pl ayback by setting a shortcut to this command.
Scene markers can be sel ected and moved by cl icking onthem with the mouse.
Doubl e-cl icking a scene maker opens the Marker editor.
The Create Scene Marker command does not require to sel ect
frames in the Timel ine rul er anymore. A marker with noduration can be added without making a sel ection. A marker
with duration can be added by making a sel ection in theframes section of the Timel ine before using the command. In
both cases, the Marker Creation dial og box opens to al l ow
setting al l the attributes of the maker as it is created.

Al l

New option to rippl e scene markers when inserting or
removing frames in a scene.
It is now possibl e to rename and del ete drawings in the
Drawing Substitution view when in Edit Mode.

Al l

A search fil ter has been added.

When doing a l asso sel ection over mul tipl e characters in Node
Caching mode, onl y the currentl y off cache parts wil l be sel ectabl e.
In previous versions any other character touched by the l asso woul d

15

Premium onl yToon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

FeatureDescription

Editions

go off cache. You can Shift sel ect mul tipl e characters if you want to
put more than one characters off cache.

Effects and Compositing
FeatureDescription

Editions

New Surface Shading nodes provide the abil ity to perform moreadvanced l ighting effects on 2D objects or characters. The nodes
are:lAmbient Occl usionlCast ShadowlShape Curvel

Shape Linel

Shape RenderlSurface MaplSurface RenderlSurface Normal

New Surface Shading effects

Premium onl y

16

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

FeatureDescription

Editions

A new deformation effect, the Weighted Deform node, provides away to deform with high qual ity bl ending, mul tipl e deformation
regions. It is especial l y good with textures. Different deformation
sources can be used: Envel ope, Pegs, Curves, Bones andConstraints.
New Weighted Deformation
effectPremium onl y

A new deformation effect, the Point Kinematic Output node,
provides a way to attach a drawing anywhere on a deformer insteadof just at the end of it l ike the existing Kinematic Output node does.
Mul tipl e sampl ing options are avail abl e:l

One-Point Sampl ing: Tracks position onl y.

New Point Kinematic Output
effectPremium onl y

l

l

l

Two-Point Sampl ing: Tracks position and rotation.
Two-Point Sampl ing with Scal ing: Tracks position, rotationand scal ing.
Three-Point Sampl ing: Tracks position, rotation, scal ing andskewing.

17

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

FeatureDescription

Editions

New Pre-Render caching

A new optimization node, the Pre-render Cache node, provides away to l ighten and speed-up the rendering of compl ex scenes. You
can think of it as a simpl ified Composite node used to store a cacheof rendered frames for sel ected nodes.

Premium onl y

The new col our correction effect, Col our-Fade node, al l ows thecol our val ues to fade over time from the input col ours to new
col ours. It can:lFade from the input pal ette to a cl one of this pal ette.

l

Fade the col our val ues of a singl e pot to other val ues.

New Col our-Fade effectllPremium onl y

Fade according to different col our model s, RGB, HSV or
HSL.
Be set to render onl y a sel ection of col ours pots.

The new col our correction effect, Col our Curves node, provides aquick way to adjust col ours and contrast of RGBA channel s.
l

New Col our Curves effect

The node uses a graph editor to shape curves of thesechannel s.

l

Al l ows to control each channel independentl y.

l

Al l ows to control the input and output range of val ues.

Premium onl y

New Col our Level s effect

The new col our correction effect, Col our Level s node, provides aquick way to adjust the col our bal ance and contrast of an image by
al l owing to manipul ate the white point, bl ack point and midpoint of
the RGBA channel s. It offers an easy way to adjust those parameters
over time in the Timel ine.

Premium onl y

New Gamma effect

The new col our correction effect, Gamma node, provides control sfor the gamma val ue for each channel independentl y or gl obal l y.

Premium onl y18

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

FeatureDescription

Editions

Particl es can extend past 12
fiel d area

A new Vector Drawing option has been added to the Shape Type l ist
in the Pl anar-Region particl e node, al l owing particl es to extend past
the 12 fiel d chart area.

Premium onl y

Description

Editions

Database / Control CenterFeatureImprovements have been added for copying scenes in Control
Center:l

Copy scenes improvementsllSave As command in whenusing a database

You do not have to create an empty scene beforehand as
before.
Copy mul tipl e scenes at the same time

Advanced &Premium

Options to add prefix and suffix or repl ace parts of the namesof copied scenes.

A new Save As command in the Harmony appl ication al l ows you tosave a scene to a new l ocation without having to use the Control
Center appl ication.

Advanced &Premium

Execute scripts on mul tipl escenesA new command in the Control Center cal l ed Run Script can beused to execute a script on a sel ection of scenes.

Advanced &Premium

Import mul tipl e offl ine scenes

New command cal l ed Import Mul tipl e Scenes in the Admin menu
can be used to import mul tipl e offl ine scenes.

Advanced &PremiumCreate scenes in any l ocation

You can now create a scene in any l ocation. When using a Harmony
database in previous versions, scenes coul d onl y be created in
fil esystems that were part of the database. You can now customize
the path used as the scene fol der or create mul tipl e scenes in acommun parent fol der.

Advanced &Premium

Rel ease unused tabl es

The Harmony database server (tbdbserver) now monitors open
tabl es and cl oses tabl es that have been l eft open by cl ients. This
prevents issues where the database server becomes unresponsive
after a l ong period of use.

Advanced &Premium

Better handl ing of dropped TCP
connections

Better handl ing of dropped TCP connections caused by network
infrastructure. When a TCP connection is dropped, the database

Advanced &Premium

19

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

FeatureDescription

Editions

server wil l now be abl e to recover the connection and its associatedl ock.
The render queue refresh has been optimized to refresh faster. Thisrequires copying the new comp_log.dict fil e to the dicts fol der ofthe database when upgrading to Harmony 20.

Advanced &Premium

FeatureDescription

Editions

Snapshot buttons

New buttons in the Camera status bar to take and review a snapshot.
You can use the Take Snapshot command to store a temporary copyof the content of the Camera view and l ater press the View Snapshot
button to compare it to the new modified state.

Advanced &Premium

Find and Insert Node

The Node view now has a new menu to find and insert a node. You
just have to press Enter to open the menu and type to search for thenode to insert.

Premium onl y

Eyedropper in Col our Overrides

The Col our-Override node now has eyedroppers to sel ect a col ouror a pencil texture from the Camera or Drawing view.

Al l

Quick connections of nodes

In the Node view, connections can be created between nodes bysel ecting a node then cl icking the target node whil e hol ding the
ALT key. This wil l create a connection from the bottom of the first
node to the top of the target node. Connections can be created fromthe top to the bottom of a target node by hol ding ALT+SHIFT
before cl icking the target nodePremium onl y

Cabl e Cutter mode

A new mode is now avail abl e in the Node view to cut cabl es bydragging the mouse over them. The Cabl e Cutter mode can be
enabl ed using a button in the Node view tool bar or by setting anoverride in the Shortcuts.

Premium onl y

Displ ays in al phabetical order

Displ ays are now l isted in al phabetical order in the displ ay l ist.

Premium onl yType to fil ter l ists

You can now type to fil ter different l ists to make it faster to findsomething. Avail abl e in the:Al l

Queue viewer optimization

Workflow Improvements

20

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

FeatureShortcuts in tool tips

Description

Editionsl

Font l ist that appears in the Text Tool propertieslDestination Layer l ist in Lip-Sync MappinglSynched drawing l ayer l ist

lButtons and scripts l ists when customizing a tool bar

lDispl ays l ist of the Displ ay tool bars

Shortcuts assigned to commands and tool s are now displ ayed in thetool tips that appear when the mouse hovers on icons.

Al lDescription

Editions

Master Controllers
FeatureThe new master control l er creation wizard can be used to create acurved deformer over an envel ope deformer. This wizard is avail abl ein the Master Control l er tool bar and is cal l ed Create Deformer on
Deformer.

Deformer on deformer wizard

Premium onl yFunction Wizard

The new master control l er creation wizard can be used to create acontrol that manipul ates any attribute from the sel ected nodes. Thiswizard is avail abl e in the Master Control l er tool bar and is cal l ed
Function Wizard.

Premium onl y

Sl ider Wizard

The master control l er Sl ider Wizard now remembers that settings
used to create the previous master control l er.

Premium onl y

Grid Wizard

The Master Control l er Grid control s can now be moved by cl icking
and dragging the box that appears around the 2D widget control in
the camera view.

Premium onl y

21

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

ScriptingFeatureDescription

Editions

Support for Python

We now support the creation of Python objects in our JavaScript
environment using a modul e named PythonManager. This modul e isused to manage the Python interpreter and to create a Python object.
Using that newl y created python object, it's possibl e to cal l somepython functions.

Al l

The documentation for the Python object as wel l as some otheradvanced scripting modul es can be found using the Hel p >Extended Scripting Interface Documentation command.

Method to l ist the name ofviews

Added the new view.viewList() function which returns al l of thecurrent views in Harmony. It can al ternativel y be cal l ed with aparameter, a type of view, to onl y return the views of that type.

Al lRendering and Pipeline Integration
FeatureDescription

Editions

Render QuickTime movies in
16-bit on macOS

Rendering to QuickTime on macOS now supports bit depth up to
16-bit.

Al lWrite node can process movie
with scripts

The Write node can now be configured to run a script whenrendering. This can be used to compress movies using external tool ssuch as ffmpeg. To set a script in the Write node, sel ect Scripted
Movie in the movie drop l ist. See the WriteNode cl ass in thescripting documentation for exampl es of scripts.

Premium onl y

Importing media through MediaFoundation

Importing audio and movie fil es on Windows is now done throughMicrosoft Media Foundation. Onl y audio and video fil es that are in aformat supported by Microsoft’s Media Foundation can be imported
in Harmony.

Al lHarmony now supports col our management for imported images,
internal processing, displ aying in the camera view and for final
output.
Col our space managementll

A scenes col our space can be defined in the Scene > Scene
Settings dial og box.
The col our space used to read an image can be defined in the
El ement node properties at the bottom of the Drawing tab.

22

Advanced &Premium

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

FeatureDescriptionlEditions

Exported movies and images can be tagged in the write nodeor from their export dial og box.

The l ist of codecs avail abl e depends on the version of macOS that isused but the fol l owing are now avail abl e on Catal ina:
Support for additional
QuickTime codecs on macOSlAppl e ProRes 422 HQlAppl e ProRes 422 LT

lAppl e ProRes 422 Proxyl

H.265. Al pha channel support is avail abl e with Catal ina.

Al lFixed Issues
The following issues have been fixed in this release:l

Drawing and Drawing Tools on page 23lTimeline on page 24lEffects on page 24lNodes and Node View on page 24lMaster Controller on page 24lImport PSD on page 25l

I/O on page 25l

WebCC on page 25lPerformance on page 25lOthers on page 25

Drawing and Drawing Toolsl

In the Camera view, the application hangs while drawing if very small scaling values are set in the layer's
parameters.

l

In some situations when you have multiple layers selected the Cutter tool bounding box can be infinite.

l

When using the Line, Rectangle or Ellipse tools with Snap to Contour or Snap and Align, the snap cursor circle isoffset if you zoom in or out.

l

The Smooth Editor tool uses the Brush tool size properties instead of its own.

23Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notesl

The TB_RecolorDrawings script does not work with color palettes if the palettes were created while importing animage with the color_vectorize option.

l

The Create Breaking Triangles command on lines thinner than 4.5 doesn't work properly.

l

The Lattice mode in the Perspective tool is using the smoothing value from the Envelope tool.

l

The start of a straight line becomes curved when using Line Building mode.

l

The Line Building mode trims lines when connecting far from existing tips.

lCenterline Editor tool generates too many points on its centerline.

TimelinelClicking the last frame of a scene in the Timeline ruler cuts the scene duration by 1 frame.

lCannot drag multiple point keyframes from Free Form Deformation and Subnode Animation in the Timeline.

lExtending an exposure with the red arrow in the Xsheet view removes the exposure for the next drawing insteadof just changing the section that you overlap.

Effectsl

Particles emit outside the area of the image when the image is used as the source in the Planar-Region node.

lParticles appear behind the source image instead of over it when Planar-Region node is set to Shape Type: Imageor Vector Drawing.

lWhen editing a Free Form Deformation trajectory, the preview of the trajectory is wrong when manipulating apoint.

l

On macOS we can't customize the Deformation toolbar after drawing/painting or other actions.

l

The compositing order changes when drawing with semi transparent colour and there is a 3D model in the scene.

Nodes and Node Viewl

Alt key doesn't work when connecting or disconnecting some nodes in Node View.

l

The Ignore Parents and Parent's Name options in Transformation Limit nodes are ignored if there is aTransformation Switch node between the deformation system and the Drawing node.

Master Controllerl

Master Controller controls don't show the correct position when first displayed.

l

The Slider Wizard window opens even if there is no node/layer selected.

lRearranging and adding spaces between poses with the Unroll Wizard doesn't work if poses aren't sorted bydestination frame.

lDifferent grid layer configurations can break the MC Stack Wizard.

24

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notes

Import PSDlCannot import PSD image as Toon Boom Bitmap or Toon Boom Vector Drawing using the Individual Layers option.

lImporting PSD layers as Individual Layers isn't working correctly when layers are using special characters like #, /
or -.

I/O
l

Harmony does not allow importing TIFF images with the .tiff extension.

l

QuickTime import doesn't work in batch mode through scripting.

lNo error is printed when running a script on the command line in batch mode fails.

lCrash exporting movie through JavaScript in scene with a ScriptModule node.

l

The -renderThread option is not taken into account when doing command line render.

lHarmony offline sometimes does not open the 7z files created by WebCC.

l

Cannot import offline scenes to the database with Control Center on command line where the number of element
ID in the scene exceeds 9999. The error code given is also wrong.

WebCC
l

WebCC doesn't work with new versions of Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Chrome.

l

The timestamp on the temp folder created when exporting uses minutes as the smallest unit.

lCannot export an empty scene from WebCC. This happens when creating a scene in WebCC and then trying toexport it right away.

lWhen using the Update Database Scene command, a “ping successful” message wrongly appears when the server
takes too long to respond.

PerformancelPerformance is very slow when doing a lasso selection of multiple elements with the Transform tool and thenmoving those parts in the OpenGL view.

lPerformance issue when rotating a specific peg made with function curves shared with other nodes.

OtherslSpecifying a port when borrowing a license using the License Wizard does not work.

l

On macOS, the "More Tools" in the Harmony application menu leads to the tba folder instead of Applications
folder.

l

On macOS 10.14 and 10.15, Harmony freezes when editing the element name from the layer properties and then
immediately after pressing the Close button. HAR-5901

l

Two users can make changes to the same drawings when opening a scene using local cache.

25

Toon Boom Harmony 20.0.5 Release Notesl

Crash when importing a bitmap image into an existing layer that contains a 3D object.

lBatch render crashes when a scene contains Transformation Limit and Transformation Gate nodes.

lCan not download the OpenH264 codec with the Configuration Assistant on macOS 10.14 and 10.15.

26