TOON BOOM HARMONY 12.2.1- Advanced Edition -Cut-out Animation GuideLegal Notices
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Publication Date
7/6/2018
Copyright © 2016 Toon Boom Animation Inc. All rights reserved.

2

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Contents
Toon Boom Harmony 12.2.1- Advanced Edition -Cut-out Animation Guide

1

Contents

3

Chapter 1: Cut-out Animation - An Introduction

7

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

9

Preparation

9

Sketching the Model

10

Relative Size

12

Sketching the Character

22

Cleaning and Inking the Model

24

Drawing Tasks

29

Drawing Tool References

109

Bitmap Brush Tool Options

119

Chapter 3: Colour Styling

185

Preparation

185

Working with Palettes

190

Colours207

Painting the Model

223

Sharing the Colour Model

225

Chapter 4: Timing

233

Preparation

233

Setting the Scene Length

235

Creating Drawings

237

Filling Exposure

258

Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

265

Overwriting Exposures and Keyframes

282Managing Key Exposures

283

Navigating between Frames and Columns

288Managing Drawings

289

Merging Drawings

294

Setting Tempo Markers

314

Printing the Xsheet

315

Modifying Paste Presets

317

Chapter 5: Character Building

321

About the Model

322

Relative Sizes

323

3

Contents

Studying the Model

326

Setting the Default Separate Position Preferences

329

Naming Conventions

329

Disabling the Animation on Drawing Layers

331

Art Layers

333

Breaking Down the Character

338

Ordering the Layers

344

Rigging346

Adding Extra Drawings

362

Setting the Pivots

364

Setting Anchors and Props

366

Storing the Character in the Library

372

Appendix

374

Chapter 6: Deformation

399

Main Types of Deformations

399

Adding Basic Deformation Chains

401

Setting the Resting Position

404

Displaying the Deformation Controls

408

Assembling Pieces

409

Animating Deformations

412

Deformation Toolbar

416

Rigging Tool Properties

418

Mode

418

Rig Tool Options

418

Operations

418

Deformation Nodes

419

Chapter 7: Library

423

Understanding the Library Concept423

Library View

425

Organizing the Library427

Templates

431

Symbols

433

Importing Symbols and Templates

441

Importing Files Through the Library

445

Using Paste Special

445

Chapter 8: Cut-out Animation

451

Getting the Character

452

4

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Keyframes and Drawing Blocks

455

Creating a Simple Cut-out Animation

457

Selecting Layers to Animate or Position

459

Navigating the Hierarchy

461

Animating Using the Transform Tool

463

Animating in Stop-motion

465

Animating Using Computer-generated Interpolation

466

Marking the Timeline

472

Flipping Through Poses

475

Using the Onion Skin in Cut-out Animation

476

Flipping Parts

479

Using Action Templates

480

Swapping Drawings

481

Animating Lip-Sync

487

Adding a New Drawing

490

Ordering Layers Over Time

494

Resetting a Transformation

495

Creating Cycles

496

Copying and Pasting Animation

498

Adding Pegs

499

Offsetting a Portion of an Animation

501

Chapter 9: Morphing503

Understanding Morphing

504

Source and Destination Drawings

504

Morphing Rules

505

Creating a Basic Morphing Sequence509

Tool Properties View

511

Adjusting the Velocity and Timing

514

Morphing Tool and Hints

515

Morphing Layers

523

Morphing Two Sequences in a Row

530

Inserting a Morphing Key Drawing

531

Converting Morphing Inbetweens to Drawings

532

Morphing Holes and Transparencies

532

Adjusting the Morphing Quality

535

Tips and Tricks

535

Glossary537

5

Contents

Index

547

6

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Chapter 1: Cut-out Animation - An Introduction
Harmony is a high-performance animation software which not only offers a wide range of features, but also handles
more than one animation type and workflow. In this guide, you will learn how to perform tasks related to the cut-out
animation workflow from start to finish using Harmony.
Before reading this guide, be sure to take some time to familiarize yourself with the basic concepts in theFundamentals Guide. Each chapter is self-contained. so you can concentrate only on the chapter pertaining to yourtask. You do not need to read the entire guide, but you should read the whole chapter before starting to work.

Topics in this section:•

Design and Drawing Tools on page 9•

Colour Styling on page 185•

Timing on page 233•

Character Building on page 321•

Library on page 423•

Cut-out Animation on page 451
7

Chapter 1: Cut-out Animation - An Introduction•

Deformation on page 399•

Morphing on page 503

8

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Another important step in the project creation is the character, prop and location design. This determines the styleand models to follow for the entire project.
This is also the step where you will need to use most of Harmony's drawing tools.
The design can be created on paper and scanned in or it can be created digitally. You can draw and even create thecolours entirely on paper, while others like to design on paper and scan the drawings to create the colour model in asoftware program. The most popular method is to design directly in Harmony.
To save paper and time and avoid having to recreate colour palettes, Harmony gives you the ability to design allelements directly in the application. This keeps all your work within the same software, avoids using a lot of paper
and losing time scanning in elements and importing them.
The character and prop design process is divided in three steps:•

Preparation on page 9•

Sketching the Model on page 10•

Cleaning and Inking the Model on page 24

Harmony has an extensive set of drawing tools that can be used to design your characters. You can learn more
about this in the following topic:•

Drawing Tasks on page 29

Each drawing tool has a series of options to customize its behaviour and drawing style. You can learn more about
them in the following section:•

Drawing Tool References on page 109

Preparation
To prepare for the design task, you will need to go through a few steps:•

Getting References on page 10•

Using the Workspace on page 109Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Getting References

Creating models requires two main reference sources, the script and the storyboard. Once you have the script in
hand, you can learn about the characters and their personalities, the props, the ambiances, and so on. This will be
your main reference, so it is very important to read it carefully.
The storyboard is the second reference source and it can be quite useful as well. Although it will not yet be thefinal version of the storyboard, it will show you what the character is doing and what props need to be designed.

Using the WorkspaceOnce your scene is created, you can open it and set your workspace.
To sketch the characters, props or locations directly in Harmony, you will mostly use the Camera or Drawing
views along with the Colour, Timeline and Tool Properties views.

Sketching the Model

10Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Now that your references and scene are created, you can start designing. To draw your characters, props and key
locations, you will need to learn the following:

Drawing with the Brush or Pencil Tool

The Brushand Pencil
tools are used for drawing and sketching. Both tools support pressure sensitivity,
allowing you to create lines with variable thickness. The Brush tool produces contour vector lines. The Pencil andshape tools produce central vector lines. This means that a pencil line’s control points (used to deform its shape) arelocated along the length of the central spine, while the Brush line’s control points are located along the contour.
•

If you draw with the Brush tool and want to modify the thickness variation, use the Contour Editor

tool.

•

If you draw with the Pencil tool and want to modify the thickness variation, use the Pencil Editor

tool.

•

You can also convert a brush zone into a pencil line with the Brush Stroke to Pencil Line

option.

If you sketch a drawing using a semitransparent colour to get a paper-like feel, you should use the Brush tool as it
produces a more realistic and natural feel. The pencil line is very useful for tracing clean or final drawings.

Also, it is recommended to use brush lines when designing cut-out puppet articulations which use patches.

Override Tool
The Override tool lets you increase productivity by rapidly switching between tools used for short tasks and yourprevious tool. Most drawing tool shortcuts are accessed using the Alt key followed by another key, such as theEraser tool which is accessed by pressing Alt + E.

11

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

If you are drawing with the Brush tool and need to briefly switch to the Eraser before continuing, hold down the E
key while you are erasing. Once you are done, release the E key to return to the previous tool; in this case, theBrush tool. You can do the same for most drawing tools that have a shortcut composed of Alt followed by anotherkey.

Relative Size

The size relation between the props, characters and backgrounds is very important in maintaining consistency
and structure throughout the project.
A production can contain many characters and props. It is not unusual for these to be created by different people.
If there is no size control implemented, the characters and elements created by different artists can vary greatly.
When this occurs, the characters that are placed together in a scene will be out of proportion. The animator or
person doing the scene setup will then have to scale them to the correct size.
When a character or prop is scaled down, the outline will become increasingly thinner. By the time the element isscaled to its proper size, the outline may be so thin that a difference between one character's outline and the one
beside it will not look very good.
Here are a few tips you can use to create a suitable size relation.

12

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Line UpA line up consists of copying and pasting all your character designs into the same drawing and then scaling them tothe correct proportion in relation to the other characters. This line up is very important and should be handed to any
animator, layout and posing artist or scene setup person working on the project.
For the prop design, it is recommended that you paste one of the main character's hands or even the full body besidethe prop. This enables the animator to know what size to draw the prop.
In your character design scene, it is a good idea to create a column for the character line up.The line up is usually
done during the character design step. When the character builder imports the model to the breakdown scene, thesize relation should be correct.
Field Chart

Harmony includes a field chart in its Drawing and Camera views. This tool is very useful in setting the characters'
and props' heights.
It is recommended that you keep the character design and breakdown inside the 12 field size. This ensures that it
fits the default camera size and the template thumbnails. If some parts were drawn too big or too far apart, you can

13

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

use the Reposition All Drawings tool and reposition, scale or rotate multiple drawings from different layers all at
once.
Use the Show Grid option to display a grid in the Drawing or Camera views.
Name

ButtonDescription

Keyboard Shortcut
View > Grid > Show Grid

Show Grid
Displays the grid.

Press Ctrl + ' (Windows/Linux) or ⌘+ ' (Mac OS X).

Grid Outline Only

Displays the outline of the grid only.

View > Grid > Grid Outline Only

SquareDisplays a standard square grid.

View > Grid > Square

12 Field Grid

Displays a 12-field size grid.

View > Grid > 12 Field Grid

16 Field Grid

Displays a 16-field size grid.

View > Grid > 16 Field Grid

Underlay

Displays the grid under the drawing
elements.

View > Grid > Underlay

Overlay

Displays the grid over the drawing eleView > Grid > Overlay
ments.

How to reposition all drawings
1. In the Tools toolbar from the Select drop-down menu, select the Reposition All Drawings
also automatically selects every stroke in your drawing in the Drawing and Camera views.

tool. This

2. To deform or reposition a selection:‣

To reposition, click and drag your selection to a new area.

‣

To scale, pull or push on the top, side, bottom or corner control points. Hold down Shift to lock theselection’s ratio.

14Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

3. When you release your cursor, every drawing contained in the drawing layer you repositioned, scaled, rotatedor skewed will follow the same transformation.
Brush Size
Harmony provides a variety of pens and brushes and also allows you to create and save your own through creating atool preset.
It is a good idea to create and save pens with precise sizes and parameters to trace and design your models andbreakdowns.
How to create a tool preset
1. In the Tools toolbar, select a tool, for example the Brush tool.
2. Use the Tool Properties view to customize the tool.
3. To set a specific colour for your preset, in the Colour view, select the colour swatch to link to the tool. Notethat when using this preset in another scene not using that colour palette, upon selecting this new preset, acolour recovery dialog box will appear asking to add this colour to your scene.
4. In the Tool Presets toolbar, click the New Tool Preset button.
5. In the New Preset dialog box, in the Name field, type a name for your new preset.

15Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

6. From the icon list, select an icon to quickly identify your preset or upload your own by clicking the Filebutton.

7. (Optional) From the Shortcut menu, set a keyboard shortcut to quickly access your preset. By default, theshortcuts are unassigned. To assign a keyboard shortcut, go to the top menu and select Edit > Preferences > Shortcuts > Tool Presets (Windows/Linux) or Stage Advanced > Preferences >Shortcuts >Tool Presets (Mac OS X).
8. When you select any of the following options, they will take effect when you use the tool preset. If an
option is deselected, then using a tool preset will not override your current settings.
‣

Colour: Saves the current colour into the tool preset.

9. Click OK.
For more information on Tool Presets—see Tool presets let you save a variety of settings and are very handy andefficient for accessing the tools you use most often. That way, the tool is already set with the desired properties,
such as colour, line thickness, whether to enable Draw Behind or Auto Flatten mode, and so on. You can create
presets for these tools and many more: Brush, Pencil, Eraser, Rectangle, Ellipse, and Line. First, select a tool,
adjust the properties, and then create a tool preset for it. Once you have created a tool preset, you can always
make adjustments to fine-tune it, as well as create a keyboard shortcut for it.

Palettes and Colours
Harmony has an integrated palette system. Each character, prop or background can have its own set of colours
and each colour in the palette can be associated to colour fill zones on a drawing. You can create as many
palettes and colours as you need.

16Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Each scene created in Harmony includes a default colour palette which contains a standard set of colours for
sketching and painting.

You can sketch and design using the default palette without any problem. However, it is not recommended that you
use the default palette for the colour models. A different colour palette should be created for each colour model.
To sketch and design with a different colour swatch or create a palette for each character, prop or key location, youwill need to learn how to manage the Harmony palettes.
How to create a new palette (Basic Palette Lists mode)
1. From the Colour view menu, select Palettes > New or click the New Palette
The Create Palette dialog box opens.
2. Enter the palette name according to the model.

17

button.

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

3. Click OK.
The palette appears in the drawing element’s palette list.

How to create a palette from the Advanced Palette Lists mode
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawing that requires a palette.
2. In the Colour view, click the Show Palette List View button to display the palette list.

3. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour view menu, select Palettes > New.

‣

Click the Create Palettebutton.

The Palette Browser: Create Palette dialog box opens.

4. Select the level to store the palette file.
‣

Environment: The palette-library folder is stored in the scene's parent environment folder.

‣

Job: The palette-library folder is stored in the scene's parent job folder.

‣

Scene: The palette-library folder is stored directly in the scene folder.

‣

Element: The palette-library folder is stored directly in the drawing element folder.

18

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

When you select a level that has a palette stored in it, the palette names are displayed in the Palette field.
5. Name the palette. There is no need to add the suffix "palette" to the name as it is always recognized as apalette file.

6. Select a Palette List option.

The Scene Palette List is mainly used with cut-out animation. A cut-out character will often be divided in twenty tothirty different drawing elements that use the character's master palette.
The palette list is stored at the scene level instead of the Element directory. This way, all palettes linked to this list
will appear in every drawing element created in the scene. There is no need to manually load the palette in eachelement.
The Element Palette List is mainly used with traditional and paperless animation. Unlike cut-out animation, allcolumns (drawing elements) contain different characters, props, backgrounds and effects. The Element Palette List
is used because you do not necessarily want all of the palettes for all of your elements linked in every column.
The palette list is stored in the drawing element's directory instead of directly in the Scene level. This ensures thatthe links to the palettes appear only in the appropriate element. If you prefer to access a global palette list, link yourpalettes to the Scene Palette List.
7. Click OK.
The new palette appears in the palette list.
How to add or modify a solid colour swatch
1. In the Colour view, click the Add Colour

button.

2. From the Colour view menu, select Colours > Edit or double-click on the colour swatch.
The Colour Picker window opens.

19

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

3. To set your colour, do one of the following:‣

In the colour wheel, select a colour.

‣

Enter the HSV or RGB values in the corresponding fields. Select the R,G,B,H,S or V options tochange the look of the colour picking area.

‣

Hold down the Dropper
button as you move along the desktop to preview colours, then release to
select the colour. It can be from the Toon Boom Harmony interface, your operating system or any otheropen application.

NOTE: If the Sticky Eye Dropper option in the Preferences dialog box (Drawing tab > Options section) is selected,
the dropper will not have this behaviour.

NOTE: The Dropper does not work on Macs with Retina display.

You can also click Multi Wheel Mode to open the Multiwheel Colour dialog box. This displays all the
picking area styles together and also contains a picking undo list. To return to the regular Colour Picker
window, click Single Wheel Mode.

20

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

4. Click on the Shade Scale swatches to modify the shade of the selected colour.

5. Adjust the desired level of transparency with the Alpha slider, or type the value directly in the Alpha field.

6. Click the Add button to add the current selected colour to the Colour Storage Library, so you can quickly
access it later.

7. You can rename the colour swatch in the Colour Picker window or directly in the colour list by double-clicking
on its name.

21Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Sketching the Character

You are now ready to sketch your models. There are two tasks to perform in order to draw your characters:l

Add a drawing layerlSketch the model

You have the choice to sketch your model as a bitmap or vector drawing. If you like the feel of drawing withbitmap lines, you can set your layer as bitmap. If you like drawing with vectors, you can set your layer as vector.
If you use vector, you will be able to enlarge your drawing and zoom into it without losing quality or resolution. You
can also use the Contour Editor and Select tools to resize and modify lines. If you draw with bitmap, you will not
be able to scale the drawing beyond 100% of its resolution without encountering pixelization issues.
If you would like to separate your lines and colours on separated art layers, see Art Layers on page 333
How to add a drawing layer
1. In the Timeline view, click the Add Drawing Layer(Mac OS X).
The Add Drawing Layer window opens.

22

button or press Ctrl + R (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + R

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

2. In the Name field, name your new layer.
3. Set the Line Art and Colour Art options to Vector to get a vector layer or to Bitmap to have a bitmap layer.
4. Do one of the following:‣

Click Add to add a first layer and keep the window open to add more layers.

‣

Click Add and Close to add a new layer and close the window.

A new drawing layer is added to the Timeline view.
How to sketch a model
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush

tool or press Alt + B.

2. In the Tool Properties view, select a brush preset and adjust its parameters.

3. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, click in the first cell of the drawing layer.
4. In the Drawing or Camera view, enable the Grid (Field Chart). You can press Ctrl + ' (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ +' (Mac OS X).
‣

Make sure the Drawing or Camera view is the active view while using the keyboard shortcut.

5. In the Drawing or Camera view, start drawing.

23

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

6. To select a different colour, in the Colour view, select a different colour swatch. Double-click on the colour
swatch to open the Colour Picker window and modify the colour. Remember that anything already painted
with that colour swatch will update to the new colour.

7. In the Camera or Drawing view, use the Rotary Table(Windows/Linux) or Ctrl+⌘ (Mac OS X).
‣

to rotate your workspace.You can press Ctrl+Alt

The default keyboard shortcut to reset the workspace rotation is Shift + X.

8. If you decide to draw in the next cell and need to see your previous drawing, enable the Onion Skin bypressing Alt + O.

Cleaning and Inking the Model24

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

When your rough models are ready, it is time to clean and ink them. You can still use the default palette and colours
to do so, especially if you are not the one doing the colour styling. If you have already created a palette for yourmodel, you can add new colours for tracing.
If you want to keep your roughs and sketches, add a new drawing layer and trace in it using the Light Table. This is
the equivalent of adding a sheet of paper and tracing over the rough using the animation disk light table. You only
need to disable the rough layer to prevent it from appearing in the final scene render.
If you would like to separate your lines and colours on separated art layers, see Art Layers on page 333
How to trace your character in a new layer
1. In the Timeline view, add a new drawing layer and name it: clean.
2. If you work in the Drawing view, enable the Light Tableor press Shift + L.

3. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select a drawing tool.

‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Drawing Tools > desired tool.

4. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell in which you want to draw.
5. Trace the model.

6. To make perfect points and corners, you can intersect the two strokes to create a point. Using the Cutter
tool, you can automatically trim the excess portion. In the Tool Properties view, enable the Lasso
selection type. Make sure the Use Mouse Gesturebutton is enabled. In this mode, you can automaticallydelete any extra sections of line in your artwork by simply clicking, holding and dragging your mouse over it.

25

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

7. If you are using the Pencil tool to clean your drawing, you will need to merge your pencil lines together after
cropping the points.
‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Select

tool.

‣

In the Camera or Drawing view, select the two strokes to be merged.

‣

In the Tool Properties view, click the Merge Pencil Lines‣

You can also set the Join option to Mitre.

26

button.

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

How to add thick and thin Lines
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil Editor

tool located in the Contour Editor menu.

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, select a pencil line and click the line to reshape it.

3. Select one or several points by clicking on them or circling around.

4. Press Delete to delete a selected point.
5. Press Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) and click the central spine to add a set of points to adjust thecontour.
6. To modify the shape, you can:‣Move the selected points to a new area.

27

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools‣

Pull the Bézier handle to move both points' handles as one.

‣

Hold Alt down and pull one of the Bézier handles to move it independently from the other one.

‣

Pull directly on the line in-between two points. No selection is necessary. Holding down the Shift key
limits the contour modification to the curve between the two first points.

‣

If an anchor point has no visible bezier, hold down the Alt key to display them.

7. You can also use the Brush
tool to draw some of the lines and change the tip to an oblique shape or
use a pen tablet which provides pressure sensitivity and lets you draw lines of variable thickness.

28

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Drawing with the Brush tool does not allow you to reshape your lines as easily as with the Polyline or Pencil
tool. The Brush tool creates contour vector lines (also known as fills) where the vector points are situated on
the line’s contour. Pencil lines are central vector lines in which the points follow the centre of the line.

Drawing Tasks
Harmony has a wide variety of drawing tools for all kinds of drawing tasks. This section covers how to use thesetools. For the complete details on their options in the Tool Properties view, see Drawing Tool References on page109.
In this topic, you will learn about:•

Current Drawing on Top on page 30•

Drawing with the Pencil Tool on page 31•

Drawing with the Brush Tool on page 43•

Drawing with Textured Brushes on Vector Drawing Layer on page 51•

Viewing the Final Lines as You Draw on page 73•

Selecting the Current Colour of a Tool on page 74Selecting the Current Colour of a Tool•

Selecting Drawing Objects on page 77•

Erasing Parts of a Drawing on page 81
29

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools•

Reshaping a Drawing Using the Contour Editor Tool on page 84•

Reshaping Pencil Lines on page 86•

Drawing Shapes on page 89•

Drawing with the Polyline Tool on page 90•

Drawing with Invisible Lines on page 91•

Deforming a Drawing with the Perspective Tool on page 93•

Warping a Drawing with the Envelope Tool on page 94•

Cutting Drawing Parts on page 96•

Smoothing Lines on page 97•

Working With Text on page 98•

Tool presets let you save a variety of settings and are very handy and efficient for accessing the tools you
use most often. That way, the tool is already set with the desired properties, such as colour, line
thickness, whether to enable Draw Behind or Auto Flatten mode, and so on. You can create presets forthese tools and many more: Brush, Pencil, Eraser, Rectangle, Ellipse, and Line. First, select a tool, adjust
the properties, and then create a tool preset for it. Once you have created a tool preset, you can always
make adjustments to fine-tune it, as well as create a keyboard shortcut for it. on page 99•

More Drawing Tools on page 102

Current Drawing on Top
In Harmony, when you draw on a layer, the artwork is displayed in the correct order. For example, if the layer onwhich you are drawing is located behind an object on another layer, the lines you are drawing will be hidden behindthat object.

This lets you display the selected drawing on top of everything while you draw. By enabling this option, each time
you select a drawing tool, the selected drawing is displayed in front of everything in the Camera view. The
Timeline view ordering remain unchanged.
The Current Drawing on Top status (enabled or disabled) is remembered when you exit Harmony. When you
restart the application, the last status will be used.
You only need to enable this option once, it is not necessary to do it each time you select a drawing tool.

30

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

How to display the drawing on top
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select View > Show > Current Drawing on Top.

‣In the Camera bottom toolbar, click the Current Drawing on Top

button.

2. In the Tools toolbar, select a drawing tool.
3. In the Camera view, start drawing.

Drawing with the Pencil Tool

The Pencil tool is for drawing the final images, such as character nodes, cut-out puppet and clean animation. The
pencil creates a central vector shape. Pencil lines support pressure sensitivity and texture.
How to draw with the Pencil tool
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell on which you want to draw.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil

tool or press Alt + /.

3. In the Colour view, click a colour swatch to select a colour.

4. In the Drawing or Camera view, start drawing.
‣

When you get close to an existing pencil line, hold Alt to draw and connect your stroke to the existing one.
Pencil lines are central vector lines and you might think your line is connected, but in fact, only the contour

31

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

is touching the other one. Also, make sure the central vector crosses the other one.
To connect the start or end of your stroke, hold Alt when you start or finish drawing a line.
‣

To draw a straight line, press Shift + Alt as you draw.

How to modify the pencil settings
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil

tool or press Alt + /.

2. In the Tool Properties view, the preview area displays the stroke that will be produced after you customize
the different parameters in the Tool Properties view. Click the arrow button.

The Pencil Properties window opens.

32Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

This is where you set the minimum and maximum sizes of your drawing tool which will produce the thick andthin effect on your stroke. This works with the pressure sensitivity of a pen tablet.
Parameter

Description

Size and Smoothness tab
Maximum Size

Sets the maximum width of the line.

Minimum Size

Sets the minimum width of the line in relation to the maximum size.

Smoothness

Lets you modify the central line smoothness of the line. This parameter smooths
the initial movement of your line. Increasing the value will result in a smoother linewith fewer control points.

Contour Smoothness

Optimizes the contour line smoothness of the line. This parameter will smooth thecontour of the line once it has been traced; the higher the value, the fewer control
points will compose your line.

Shape
You can adjust the start, end, and joint style of a selected pencil line.
•

Start: Lets you select the style of the start tip, which is the first tip you
drew. You can choose between Round or Flat style.

•

End: Lets you select the style of the end tip, which is the last tip you drew.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

You can choose between Round or Flat style.
•

Join: Lets you select the joint style. The joints are where the line curves
abruptly. You could also define the Join style as the corner style. You canchoose between Round, Mitre and Bevel style.

Texture tab
TextureSee Pencil Line Texture on page 39.

Working with Pencil Presets

A pencil preset is a pencil with specific properties. You can work with regular pencil presets and thickness
stencils.
Regular pencil presets allow you to set the size and smoothing of the line or shape. As you draw, the thickness of
the line varies according the amount of pressure you apply with a pen and tablet.
Thickness stencils that are indicated with thisicon are also set with specific properties, but disregards thepressure you use with your pen and tablet. The line thickness varies. You can access thickness stencils from thelist of presets on the Tool Properties view or create your own.
How to select a pencil preset
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil, Line, Ellipse, or Rectangle

2. In the Tool Properties view, use the Presets menu to select a pencil preset.

3. In the Drawing or Camera view, draw your pencil line or shape.

34

tool.

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

How to select a pencil thickness stencil
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil, Line, Ellipse, or Rectangle

tool.

2. In the Tool Properties view, use the Presets menu to select a thickness stencil. They are marked with thisicon.

3. In the Drawing or Camera view, draw your pencil line or shape.

How to create a pencil preset
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil, Line, Ellipse, or Rectangle

tool.

2. In the Tool Properties view, adjust your pencil settings—see How to modify the pencil settings on page 32.
3. In the Tool Properties view, click the New Brushbutton.

The New Preset dialog box opens.

35

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

4. Type in a name for your new pencil thickness stencil and click OK.
5. Start drawing in the Drawing or Camera view.
How to create a pencil thickness stencil
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool.

2. In the Camera view, select the pencil line or shape from which you want to take the style.

3. In the Tool Properties view, click the New Thickness Stencil

button.

A new thickness stencil is added to the end of the list in the Presets menu.
4. In the Presets menu, select a new thickness stencil and click on a line or shape in the Drawing or Camera
view to apply the thickness stencil you created.
How to apply a thickness stencil to a pencil line or shape
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool.

2. In the Drawing or Camera view, select the pencil line or shape on which you want to apply a style.

3. In the Tool Properties view, select the style you want to apply from the Presets list.

36Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

The style you selected is applied to your selection.

How to rename a thickness stencil or pencil preset
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil, Line, Ellipse, or Rectangle

2. In the Presets menu, select the thickness stencil or preset you want to rename.
3. From the Brush menu

, select Rename Brush.

The Rename Preset dialog box opens.

4. In the Name field, type in the new name.
5. Click OK.
How to delete a thickness stencil or pencil preset
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil

tool.

2. In the Presets menu, select the thickness stencil or preset to delete.
3. Click the Delete Preset

button.

How to import pencils, brushes and erasers
1. From the Brush menu

, select Import Brushes.

37

tool.

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

2. In the browser window that appears, navigate to and select the .xml file.
3. Click Open.
4. In the Import Brushes dialog box, select the brushes brushes and erasers you want to import. You can also
import pencils at the same time.

5. Click Import.
The imported brush, eraser and pencil styles will appear in the presets library. You can reuse any of theimported tips to create other brush, eraser and pencil style presets.
How to export pencils, brushes and erasers
1. From the Brush menu, select Export.
2. In the Export Brushes dialog box, select the bitmap and vector brushes and erasers to export, as well as
any pencils.

38Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

3. Click Export.
4. In the Export Brushes window that appears, browse to the location where you want to save the .xml file andgive it a name.
5. Click Save.
How to change the Presets Library thumbnail display
1. From the Brush menu, select one of the following:
Parameter

Description

Small Thumbnail

Reduces the size of the thumbnails in order to view more at the same time. Displays an image of the tool's tip and its maximum size.

Large Thumbnail

Increases the size of the thumbnails in order to see the images more clearly. Displays an image of the tool's tip, its maximum size and its name.

Stroke View

Displays the tool's name, maximum size and stroke preview.

Pencil Line Texture
You can apply a texture to a pencil line. Pencil lines support texture. Before drawing, you can select or import a
texture and apply it to your lines. You can also change it afterwards using the Select tool. Textures are independent

39

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

from pencil templates.
When you import a texture in your pencil styles, it is saved in your scene. If you want to add that texture to a bankthat you will reuse in different scenes, you can add that texture to your preferences.
How to apply a preset texture to a pencil line
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil

tool.

2. In the Tool Properties view, the preview area displays the stroke that will be produced after you customize
the different parameters in the Tool Properties view. Click the arrow button.

3. In the Pencil Properties editor, select the Texture tab.

4. In the Texture library, select a texture for the pencil.
5. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw a pencil line.

How to create a pencil texture template with the Pencil tool
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil

tool.

2. In the Tool Properties view, click the arrow button beside the stroke preview area.

40Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

3. In the Pencil Properties editor, click the New Texturemenu.
‣

To delete a preset style, click the Delete Texture
menu.

button or select New Texture from the Texture

button or select Delete Texture from the Texture

4. Browse for your bitmap texture file.

NOTE:
The following file formats are supported: .jpg, .png, .psd, .sgi, .tif. Your texture MUST HAVE an alpha channel.

5. Click Open.
The imported texture is saved in your texture list.

6. In the Pencil Properties editor, select your new texture.

7. Click the Texture menu

and select Rename Texture.

The Rename Opacity Texture dialog box opens.

8. In the Name field, type the template name and click OK.
9. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw your pencil line with your new texture.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

How to add a texture to your preferences
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil

tool.

2. In the Tool Properties view, click the arrow button beside the stroke preview area.

3. In the Pencil Properties editor, select a texture from the Textures area to add to your preferences.
4. Click the Copy to Preference

button.

How to apply a preset texture to a pencil line
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool.

2. In the Drawing or Camera view, select a pencil line.

42Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

3. In the Tool Properties view, select a texture from the Textures area to apply to the selected stroke.

Drawing with the Brush Tool

The Brush tool is pressure sensitive and lets you create a contour shape with a thick and thin line effect, as if it was
created with a paint brush.
With the Brush tool, you can draw as vector or bitmap, depending on your preference. When you add a drawing
layer, you can simply select the vector or bitmap option. If you draw with vector, you can enlarge your drawing andzoom into it without losing quality or resolution. You can also use the Contour Editor and Select tools to resize andmodify lines. If you draw with bitmap, you will not be able to scale your drawing beyond 100% of its resolution
without encountering pixelization issues.
You can create your own brush styles. A variety of brush styles are provided allowing you to create and save yourown.This way you can create brushes with precise sizes and parameters and save them so you can draw anddesign with them. Renaming a brush can make it easier to identify and access the brushes you use most frequently.
A dynamic brush can be created for drawing using patterns created from your artwork. Create a new dynamic brush
to copy a pattern you have drawn to reproduce it quickly. You can create dynamic brushes using a single or multiple
patterns that automatically switch through the patterns as you draw.

43

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

How to draw with the Brush tool
1. In the Timeline view, click the Add Drawing Layer(Mac OS X).

button or press Ctrl + R (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + R

The Add Drawing Layer window opens.

2. In the Name field, name your new layer.
3. Set the Line Art and Colour Art options to Vector to get a vector layer or to Bitmap to have a bitmap layer.
4. Do one of the following:‣

Click Add to add a first layer and keep the window open to add more layers.

‣

Click Add and Close to add a new layer and close the window.

A new drawing layer is added to the Timeline view.
5. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell on which you want to draw.
6. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush

tool or press Alt + B.

7. In the Colour view, click a colour swatch to select a colour.

8. In the Drawing or Camera view, start drawing.
‣

Hold Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) to force a line to join the start and end of the shape while
drawing.

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

How to select a brush style
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush

tool or press Alt + B.

2. In the Tool Properties view, select a brush style from the Presets section.

How to modify the brush settings
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush

tool or press Alt + B.

2. In the Tool Properties view, the preview area displays the stroke that will be produced after you customize
the different parameters. Click the arrow button.

The Brush Properties window opens.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

This is where you set the minimum and maximum sizes of your drawing tool which will produce the thick and thineffect on your stroke. This works with the pressure sensitivity of a pen tablet.
Parameter

Description

Size and Smoothness Tab
Maximum Size

Sets the maximum width of the line.

Minimum Size

Sets the minimum width of the line in relation to the maximum size.

Smoothness

Lets you modify the central line smoothness of the line. This parametersmooths the initial movement of your line. Increasing the value will result in asmoother line with fewer control points.

Contour Smoothness

Optimizes the contour line smoothness of the line. This parameter smooths thecontour of the line once it has been traced. The higher the value, the fewer control points will compose your line.

Tip Shape

Lets you select a tip shape—from round and square ones to star shaped. This
option is disabled when using a textured brush.

Texture Tab
TextureSee Drawing with Textured Brushes on Vector Drawing Layer on page 51

NOTE: If you are trying to create artwork on a bitmap drawing layer, and therefore with a bitmap brush, see
Drawing with Bitmap Brushes on Bitmap Drawing Layers on page 62

How to create a brush preset
1. Make sure your current brush has the settings you want in the preset you will create.

46Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

2. In the Tool Properties view, do one of the following:‣

Click the arrow button to display the Brush Properties window and click the New Brushupper-right corner.

‣

Click the New Brush‣

From the Brushbutton in the

button.

menu, select New Brush Preset.

3. In the New Preset window, type a name for your new brush preset.
The new brush is added to the end of the list of brush presets.
How to update a brush preset
1. Select the brush preset to update and click the arrow button to display the Brush Properties window.

2. Change the brush settings and click the Update Brush Preset

button in the upper-right corner.

How to rename a brush
1. In the Tool Properties view, select a brush to rename.
2. From the Brushmenu, select Rename Brush.

3. Type in a new name for the brush and click OK.
How to delete a brush preset
1. In the Tool Properties view, select the brush preset you want to delete.
2. Do one of the following:‣

Click the Delete Brush‣

From the Brushbutton.

menu , select Delete Brush.

How to create a new dynamic brush
1. In the Tools toolbar, select a drawing tool.
2. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw the pattern you want to use as your dynamic brush stamp.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

3. In the Tools toolbar, click the Selecttool and select the parts of the drawing you want to repeat.

4. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush

tool or press Alt + B.

5. In the Tool Properties view, click the Add Dynamic Brushdynamic brush preset.
6. From the Brushbutton to add your selection as a newmenu, select Rename Brush.

7. Type in a name for the new dynamic brush and click OK.
8. In the Camera or Drawing view, start drawing with your dynamic brush to quickly repeat a pattern.

9. To adjust the scale of your pattern to make it bigger or smaller as you stamp it, adjust the Maximum Sizevalue in the Tool Properties view.
How to create a dynamic brush with multiple drawings
1. In the Timeline view, click the Add Drawing Layers
button to create the layers you want to use as patterns in your dynamic brush. Make sure to rename your layers.

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

2. In the Camera view, draw the individual drawings of your pattern on separate layers.

3. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool.

4. In the Tool Properties view, disable the Works on Single Drawing
artwork on multiple layers.

option to allow the Select tool to grab

5. In the Camera view, select all the drawings you want to add to your new dynamic brush.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

6. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush
7. Click the Add Dynamic Brush

tool or press Alt + B.

button to add your selection as a new Dynamic Brush preset.

8. From the Brush menu, select Rename Brush.
The Rename Preset dialog box opens.
9. Type in a name for the new dynamic brush and click OK.
10. In the Camera or Drawing view, start drawing with your dynamic brush to quickly repeat a pattern. Whenyou use this brush, you will cycle through the drawings.

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Drawing with Textured Brushes on Vector Drawing Layer

In Harmony, you can use the Brush

tool to draw bitmap textured lines.

In the Brush Tool Properties view, you will find a series of default textured "brushes", but you can also create andimport your own custom collection. In Harmony, when using a textured brush on a vector layer, the texture of a brushis referred to as the Paper Texture. In other words, we are attributing the texture not to the tool, but to the texture of
the surface that is revealed when a stroke passes over it. You will understand why when you work with bitmap
brushes on bitmap layers, where it is possible to have both a textured brush tip and a paper texture.
To create your own textured brush, you must prepare your texture file ahead of time, either in Harmony or in a thirdparty software, such as Adobe Photoshop. Colour is not supported and transparency is not supported in the
traditional sense. Black appears as 100% opaque, white appears as 100% transparent, and all the shades of grey inbetween appear as varying degrees of semitransparenty. A range of file formats are supported—.jpeg, .png, .tif, .psd,.tga to name a few. Alpha channels are disregarded on import. It is recommended that you maintain the texture
resolution between 100 x 100 pixels and 400 x 400 pixels.
You can import your custom paper textures in the extended Brush Properties window. Browsing for a texture file witha brush selected that is already using a paper texture will replace the file currently in use. It will not, however, replace
the texture in lines already drawn. The replaced texture swatch will no longer be the selected texture, but it willremain in the texture library and not be deleted.
Harmony also allows you to import textures as an .xml file that was exported from another project. In this way, you
do not have to import individual image files one-by-one to have the same texture library and brush presets as others
who you are collaborating with. You can also export brush presets and textures, in order to share your default or
customized textures and presets with other project collaborators.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

When you use the Eraser tool to erase a portion of a textured line, the vector frame is cut straight and you lose thefeather created while drawing with the Brush tool. In Harmony, a special option in the Eraser Tool Properties lets
you create a soft edge on your textured lines. You can also cut or keep the vector frame as is.
At some point, you may want to modify the look of a textured drawing if you suddenly find that your lines look too
hard or too light. You can adjust those parameters by using the Adjust Line Texture Opacity command.
To draw with textured lines, use the Brush tool and the correct brush in the list. You can also draw with pencil line
texture—see Pencil Line Texture on page 39
How to draw with textured lines
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush

tool or press Alt + B.

2. In the Tool Properties view, select a brush and click the Arrow button to open the Brush Properties view.

3. Click the Texture tab, select the Texture option.

4. Set the following parameters:
Parameter

Description

Hardness

The hardness value corresponds to the softness of the line edge. The lower thevalue, the softer the line edge will be. The higher the value, the sharper the lineedge will be.

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Maximum Opacity

This value corresponds to the transparency of the stroke when the pressure isheavy.
This value corresponds to the transparency of the stroke when the pressure islight and is a percentage of the Maximum Opacity value.

Minimum Opacity

5. Select a texture for your brush from the premade textures available.

6. Adjust the Texture Scale to change the size of the texture in the lines you draw. If you are using a plaid texture, the squares will be larger if you increase the value and smaller if you decrease it.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

7. In the Camera or Drawing view, start drawing.

How to add a paper texture
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the Paper Texture menu , select Add.

‣

Click the Add Paper Texture button.

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

2. In the browser window that appears, navigate to where you saved your texture file.
3. Click Open to import the file into the Paper Texture library.
By default, an imported texture is given the name of the image file.
How to rename a paper texture
1. In the Paper Texture library, select a texture.
2. From the Paper Texture menu, select Rename.

3. In the Rename Texture dialog box that appears, type in the new name for the texture.

4. Click OK.
How to delete a paper texture
1. In the Paper Texture library, select a texture.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Paper Texture menu, select Delete.

‣

Click the Delete

button.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

NOTE: You can delete any texture in the texture library as long as there is no brush preset using it.

How to change the Paper Texture thumbnail display
1. From the Paper Texture menu, select one of the following:
Parameter

Description

Small Thumbnail

Reduces the size of the thumbnails in order to view more at the same time.

Large Thumbnail

Increases the size of the thumbnails in order to see the images more clearly.

List View

Allows you to see the name, as well as the thumbnail.

How to import paper textures
1. In the Paper Texture menu, select Import.
2. In the browser window that appears, navigate to and select the .xml file.
3. Click Open.
4. In the Import Textures dialog box, select the paper textures that you wish to import. You can import any
available brush tips at the same time too.

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

5. Click Import.
The imported paper textures will appear in the Paper Texture Library. You can reuse any of the imported paper
textures to create other brush style presets.
How to export paper textures
1. In the Paper Texture menu, select Export.
2. In the Export Tips and Textures window, scroll down the textures list to the paper textures and select ordeselect any textures to create the list that you wish to export. You can export brush tips at the same time
too.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

3. Click on the Export button.
4. In the Export Textures window that appears, browse to a location where you would like to save the .xml
file and give it a name.
5. Click Save.
How to erase textured lines
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Eraser

tool, press Alt + E.

2. In the Tool Properties view, click the arrow button.

The Eraser Properties window opens.

58Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

3. Adjust the following:
Parameter

Description

Size and Smoothness Tab
Maximum Size

Sets the maximum width of the line.

Minimum Size

Sets the minimum width of the line in relation to the maximum size.

Smoothness

Lets you modify the central line smoothness of the line. This parameter smooths
the initial movement of your line. Increasing the value will result in a smoother linewith fewer control points.

Contour Smoothness

Optimizes the contour line smoothness of the line. This parameter smooths thecontour of the line once it has been traced. The higher the value, the fewer control
points will compose your line.

Tip Shape

Lets you select a tip shape—from round and square ones to star shaped. This
option is disabled when using a textured brush.

Soft Eraser Tab
HardnessDefines the softness of the stroke edge. The lower the value, the softer the strokeedge will be. The higher the value, the sharper the stroke edge will be.

Saturation

Lets you adjust the softness of edge feathering. Works in conjunction with theHardness, e.g. 100% Hardness will yield no results in saturation change. 0%
Hardness will allow a fine tuning of the feathering of the soft stroke edge.

Maximum Opacity

The transparency of the brush when the pressure is heavy. A smaller value will
leave semi-transparent colour and texture. A larger value will ensure thateverything is properly erased. This option in unavailable if the Keep Vectors
option is disabled.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Minimum Opacity

Sets the minimum transparency of the brush, in relation to the Maximum Opacity,when the pressure is very light. A smaller value will leave semi-transparent colour
and texture. A larger value will ensure that everything is properly erased. This
option in unavailable if the Keep Vectors option is disabled.

Keep Vectors

Keeps the vector frames around your strokes intact, only the texture fill disappears. Disabling this option will cut the stroke's vector frame into different
pieces when the Eraser tool passes over it. If you disable this option, the maximum and minimum opacity sliders are disabled as well.

4. In the Camera or Drawing view, erase your textures lines.

How to adjust the line texture opacity
1. If you are in Camera view, select the Current Drawing on Top option—see Current Drawing on Top on
page 30.
2. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawing that contains the opacity you want to adjust.
3. In the Camera or Drawing view menu, select Drawing > Adjust Line Texture Opacity.
The Adjust Line Texture Opacity dialog box opens.

60Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

4. Drag the sliders toward the middle to increase the contrast and opacity of the textured lines.
5. If you want to apply the changes to all drawings exposed on the layer, select the Apply to All Drawings
option and click OK.

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Drawing with Bitmap Brushes on Bitmap Drawing Layers

With Harmony, you have the choice to draw with vector or bitmap brushes. This is decided by what modes you
select for your layer. When adding a new drawing layer in Harmony, you can set your art layers (Line Art, Colour
Art) to vector or bitmap. This way, you can draw in bitmap and paint in vector, draw everything in bitmap, or any
other combination that suits your needs. If you are using the Overlay and Underlay layers, you can also set themto either bitmap or vector.
Not all drawing tools are available when working on a bitmap layer. You can use the following tools:
•

Brush

•

Cutter•Dropper•

Edit Gradient/Texture•

Ellipse•Eraser

•

Line

•

Paint

•

Paint Unpainted

•

Pivot

•

Rectangle•

Repaint•

Reposition All Drawings•

Select•Text•

Unpaint

Any tool that is unavailable for use will be greyed out.
On a bitmap layer, a temporary vector layer is created when painting with a gradient. Until a modification is madeon your layer with a bitmap drawing tool, you can edit your last painted zone—by either editing the gradient62

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guideswatch, which is dynamically linked to the painted zone or with the Edit Gradient texture tool. The moment a bitmap
drawing tool or action is used, a vector-to-bitmap conversion occurs. If there are vector elements on the layer (suchas if you switched your art mode from vector to bitmap after having created vector artwork), they too will be
converted to bitmap.
Here is a list of tools and actions that will trigger a vector-to-bitmap conversion:
•

Brush

•

Ellipse•Eraser

•

Line

•

Paint

•

Paint Unpainted•

Rectangle•

Repaint•

Unpaint•

Performing a paste with the Select tool selected•

Performing a paste with the Cutter tool selected

This means that certain tools, such as the Text tool or the Cutter tool, will not trigger a conversion.
If you selected the incorrect art modes for your layer, you can open the Layer Properties view and change them. If
you switch the art mode for a layer that already has strokes on it, the artwork will NOT be converted for bitmap
artwork, but will be for vector artwork, though not immediately. A drawing with bitmap strokes on a newly converted
vector layer will remain bitmap. This means that the bitmap artwork will not be editable by some tools, such as theEraser tool, but will be editable by other tools, such as the Cutter tool. However, a drawing with vector lines on a
newly converted bitmap layer will remain vector temporarily, until a bitmap drawing tool or action is used. Then thevector-to-bitmap conversion will occur.
To always reuse the same art mode settings, you can adjust them in the Preferences dialog box.
If you want to be able to edit the artwork in the new mode, you need to convert the drawings.
Vector-to-bitmap conversion includes flattening individual drawings into a single image. Flattening means that it will
not be possible to select non-overlapping or overlapping elements as individual objects with the Select tool. Instead,the selection of one drawing will initiate the selection of all elements, with a single vector frame surrounding them.
Resampling is also triggered on bitmap layers with the use of a bitmap drawing tool. For example, if you draw theoutline of a circle, scale it down and then zoom into it, you will see tiny square pixels along the edge of the line. If you
then draw a line right next to it, you will notice two things: first that the square pixels of the new line are gigantic bycomparison and that the pixels in the line of your circle suddenly become the same size. This is because the circle
was resampled. It was not resampled when you scaled it down. It was resampled when you used a bitmap drawing
tool. It is resampled so that all the drawn objects are scaled to the same bitmap grid, in other words that their basic
unit, the pixel, is the same size. The grid is defined by the bitmap layer's resolution.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Before you start drawing in bitmap, it is important to understand that your artwork will now be resolution
dependent. If you zoom in your scene, you artwork will be enlarged. It is important to plan ahead and decide howhigh of a resolution you need your artwork to be. If you plan to zoom in your scene, the smallest section of theimage that the camera will frame must be 100% the size of your scene resolution. For example, if your scene
resolution is set to 1920 x 1080 and you zoom- in 300% with your camera, then the resolution of the bitmap layer
also has to be set to 300%, otherwise its elements will look pixelated in the final render. It is important to change
the bitmap layer resolution before you start drawing.

64Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

The bitmap resolution can be set at the scene level or drawing level. The setting at the scene level affects newly
created bitmap art layers.
Note that even if your drawing resolution is set to be very large, it doesn't mean that your file will be very heavy. It
depends on the amount of artwork you draw in it.

There is a function to change the resolution of bitmap art for individual drawings. You can reduce the resolution ofyour bitmap file as well as increase it. Be careful because enlarging the bitmap resolution on an existing drawing will
result in a loss of quality.Harmony will perform a pixel smoothing pass (resampling) and create additional pixels to
avoid losing too much quality, but only to a certain extent. For example, what if you used the default scene’s
resolution for some bitmap art, but then discover you are zooming-in quite close? If you do not want to see the pixels
appear too much when you are zoomed in, you can set the bitmap resolution to 200% and the bitmap art will have ahigher resolution with smaller pixels, but will NOT retain 100% of its quality. You can use this function on multiple
drawings using the Apply to All Drawings option. Changing this option will affect existing and selected bitmap art
layers.
If you draw an outline on a bitmap layer, you can still vectorize it. Using a vector drawing layer, simply select yourbitmap drawing and the vector cell of where you want your vectorized line to be, and use the Vectorize Line Art in
Selected Drawing function.
You should avoid scaling up your bitmap strokes using the Select tool. If you do, keep in mind that when you
continue drawing, your image will be resampled and your new strokes will be scaled to the scene resolution.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

NOTE: Your drawing should be scaled up using the Transform
tool when animating, instead of the Selecttool, in order to avoid creating very large bitmap layers. Harmony calculates the scaling of your drawings when
you use the Transform tool; your image is mathematically transformed. When you use the Select tool to scale, youare physically scaling the drawing.

How to add a bitmap layer
1. In the Timeline view, click the Add Drawing Layerbutton,The Add Drawing Layer window opens.

If you are using the Overlay and Underlay layers, those art layers are also displayed.

2. For each art layer, select the Vector or Bitmap option.

3. Click OK.
How to change the art mode
1. Open the Layer Properties view.
2. In the Timeline view, select the layer you want to edit.
3. In the Layer Properties view, select the Drawing tab.

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

4. In the Art Layers section, select the art mode for each art layer.
How to convert drawings to match the art mode
1. In the Timeline view, select the layer that contains the drawings you want to convert.
2. From the Timeline view menu, select Layers > Convert Drawings to Match Art Layer Type.
You can also right-click on the selected layer and select Convert Drawings to Match Art Layer Type.
All drawings in the layer are converted to the selected art mode. Note that bitmap strokes are not vectorized
when converted to a vector art layer. They are simply inserted in a square vector frame containing a bitmap
texture.
How to change the bitmap layer resolution at the scene level
1. From the top menu, select Scene > Scene Settings.
The Scene Settings dialog box opens.
2. Select the Bitmap Resolution tab.
3. Change the bitmap resolution settings and click OK.
The bitmap resolution settings at the scene level affects newly created bitmap art layers.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Parameter

Description

Scene Resolution

This is the scene resolution preset name and size in pixels.

Width

This is the width of the resolution for the bitmap that will be created. This is not
the actual size of the bitmap. TVG drawings (Toon Boom drawing native
format) have an infinite size. Bitmap TVGs are composed of small tiles. Therefore it does not mean that because you have artwork at the four corners of yourcamera frame or even quite far outside of your drawing that your bitmap image
will be very large and heavy. By default, it is set to the same width as thescene resolution.

HeightThis is the height of the resolution for the bitmap that will be created. By
default, it is set to the same height as the scene resolution.

Resolution Factor

This is the size of the bitmap resolution in relation to the scene resolution. If
you increase the percentage, the width and height fields will increase accordingly. If you plan to animate the camera and zoom into your background, youwill need to set a higher resolution so that the smaller area in which you willzoom will be 100% of the scene resolution.

How to change the bitmap resolution at the drawing level
1. In the Timeline view, select the drawing whose resolution you want to change.

NOTE: Note that the drawing can be enlarged slightly and retain its original look, but you may lose quality if you
enlarge it too much. Pixels are created and a smoothing pass is applied. You should set your resolution before
drawing. If you need to change the resolution of a drawing to be larger than the one set in the Scene Settings
dialog box, create an empty drawing first and then follow this procedure.

2. From the top menu, select Drawing > Change Bitmap Drawing Resolution.
The Change Bitmap Drawing Resolution window opens.

68Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Parameter

Description

Scene Resolution

This is the scene resolution preset name and size in pixels.

Width

This is the width of the resolution for the bitmap that will be created. This is not
the actual size of the bitmap. TVG drawings (Toon Boom drawing native format)
have an infinite size. Bitmap TVGs are composed of small tiles. Therefore it does
not mean that because you have artwork at the four corners of your camera frameor even quite far outside of your drawing that your bitmap image will be very large
and heavy. By default, it is set to the same width as the scene resolution.

HeightThis is the height of the resolution for the bitmap that will be created. By default, it
is set to the same height as the scene resolution.

Resolution Factor

This is the size of the bitmap resolution in relation to the scene resolution. If you
increase the percentage, the width and height fields will increase accordingly. If
you plan to animate the camera and zoom into your background, you will need to
set a higher resolution so that the smaller area in which you will zoom will be
100% of the scene resolution.

Resample Bitmap

When this option is selected, the existing bitmap image is modified to match the
new resolution. If the width and height are increased, more pixels will be created
to enlarge the image. Visually, the existing artwork will look the same, maybe alittle bit smoothed out, but the size will look the same. When this option isdeselected, the artwork is not modified. Only the reference grid is resized. If thescene resolution is 1920 x 1080 and you reduce the bitmap resolution to 960 x
540, the image will be scaled up to twice the size of the scene.

Apply to All Drawings

The modified settings are applied to all drawings in the drawing layer for a given
art layer. If the Apply to Line Art and Colour Art option is enabled, it will then be
applied to all bitmap art layers.

3. Change the bitmap resolution.
4. Click OK.
How to draw with bitmap brushes
1. In the Timeline view, add a bitmap drawing layer—see How to add a bitmap layer on page 66.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush

tool or press Alt + B.

3. In the Colour view, select a colour.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools‣

To switch the bitmap colour picker from HSV to RGB, in the Colour view menu, select Colour >Bitmap Colour Sliders > HSV Sliders or RGB Sliders. You can also right-click on the colour sliders
and select RGB Sliders or HSV Sliders.

When using bitmap colours, there is no longer a link between the painted zones and selected colour. You can edit
the colour as much as you want, but your drawing will not be affected. You can still select colours from yourvector colour palette to use the same tint, but you will not create links between your drawing and the swatches.
4. In the Camera or Drawing view, start drawing.

How to vectorize a bitmap drawing
1. In the Timeline view, add a vector drawing layer BELOW the bitmap drawing layer containing the drawing
to vectorize. In your bitmap drawing, the artwork to vectorize must be placed on the Line Art layer (default
drawing layer).

70Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

NOTE:
If you place the vector drawing on top of the bitmap layer, you will not be able to perform the operation. A warning
dialog box will display.

2. On the right side of the Timeline view, select the bitmap drawing and corresponding cell in the vector drawing
layer.

3. Right-click and select Drawings > Vectorize Line Art in Selected Drawing.
The Convert to Vector Drawing dialog box opens.

4. In the Vectorization section, select a vectorization preset. You can customize your own preset using the Add
or Edit buttons.
5. Click OK.
Your vectorized drawing is created in the vector drawing layer. Your bitmap drawing remains intact.

Creating Bitmap Brushes
With bitmap brushes in Harmony, you can create an infinite range of fuzzy, textured and watercolour lines. You can
combine two different brush tips, with separate sets of parameters, with the Dual Tip feature. You can also select a
paper texture that will mimic the texture of the surface that is being painted on. Uses these features separately or in
combination to create distinct, natural-looking strokes.
How to create a Bitmap Brush
1. In the Timeline view, create a new Bitmap drawing layer.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush

tool or press Alt + B.

3. In the Tool Properties view, select a brush and click the Arrow button to open the Bitmap Brush Properties
view.

4. In the Tip tab, select a brush tip.

5. Click on the different tabs to access the options available for adjustment. You can use the brush stroke preview at the top to view all your adjustments in real time.

72Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide‣

Tip tab: Make adjustments to size, brush tip angle, hardness and spacing—see Bitmap Brush Tool
Options on page 119.

‣Transparency tab: Make adjustments to flow and opacity—see Transparency Tab on page 130.

‣

Dual Tip tab: Select this option to enable the Dual Tip feature. Select a dual brush tip and makeadjustments to its size, brush tip angle, hardness and spacing—see Dual Tip Tab on page 133.

‣

Paper Texture tab: Select this option to enable the Paper Texture feature. Select a paper texture andmake adjustments to its scale, alignment and additivity—see Paper Texture tab on page 137.

6. When you are satisfied with the look of your bitmap brush, click the Add New Brush Preset
top-right corner of the Bitmap Brush Properties window.

button at the

7. In the New Preset dialog box that appears, enter the name for your brush preset.

8. Click OK.
If you continue to make adjustments to your new brush preset and want to save these changes, click theUpdate Preset
button. Otherwise, your modifications will only be saved until another brush preset or
drawing tool is selected.

Viewing the Final Lines as You Draw

Everything you draw in Harmony is vector-based, unless you purposely elected to draw as bitmap. Although, when
you draw in the Drawing or Camera view, notice that your lines may appear jagged. This is caused by the fast realtime display called OpenGL. If you prefer to see smooth lines as you draw, you can enable the antialiasing
preference.

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Full Scene Antialiasing
Full scene antialiasing is generated by your computer’s graphics card. This antialiasing will not only antialias yourdrawings, but all your different views in the interface. Full scene antialiasing is an option you can turn on and off;by default, it is disabled.
There is no need to modify your graphic card settings.

NOTE: Full Scene Antialiasing parameters are only valid while you work in your scene. The scene will berendered to 100% of its resolution regardless of your preference settings or graphic card panel.

How to customize the full scene antialiasing parameters

NOTE: You must restart Harmony after you change the parameters.

1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences (Windows/Linux) or Stage Advanced > Preferences(Mac OS X).

‣

Press Ctrl + U (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + U (Mac OS X).

The Preferences dialog box opens.
2. In the OpenGL tab, go to the Full Scene Antialiasing section.

‣

Enable: Select this option to enable/disable the Full Scene Antialiasing.

3. Number or samples: Enter the number of samples you want to be used for the antialiasing process. The
number of samples is basically equivalent to the amount of times a pixel will be enlarged to calculate theantialiasing. This technique is called supersampling. The higher the number of samples, the better the antialiasing quality will be, but the longer it will take to calculate.
4. Restart Harmony.

Selecting the Current Colour of a Tool74

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

While drawing and painting, you can let Harmony retain the last colour you selected for each one of the following
tools:
•

Brush

•

Paint

•

Pencil, Ellipse, Line, Rectangle, Polyline

The Colour view has three swatches where you can set a colour for the Brush , Paint, and Pencil tools.
How to unlink the storage swatches
1. In the Colour view, if the storage swatches are linked, click the Link

2. Click on the Brushstorage swatch.

3. In the Colour list, select the desired colour.
4. Click the Pencil

storage swatch.

5. In the Colour list, select a colour.
6. Click the Paint

storage swatch.

7. In the Colour list, select a colour.

75

button to unlink them.

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

NOTE: If you prefer to have Harmony use the same colour swatches regardless of the selected tool, you can link
the three swatches together.

How to link the storage swatches
1. In the Tools toolbar, select one of the following tools:
‣

Brush

‣

Paint

‣

Pencil‣Polyline

‣

Line

‣

Ellipse‣Rectangle

2. In the Colour view, if the storage swatches are unlinked, click the Link

button to link them.

Each time you select a new colour for your current tool, all the storage swatches are updated.
How to link the storage swatches
1. In the Tools toolbar, select one of the following tools:
‣

Brush

‣

Paint

‣

Pencil‣Polyline

‣

Line

‣

Ellipse‣Rectangle

76Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

2. In the Colour view, if the storage swatches are unlinked, click the Link

button to link them.

Each time you select a new colour for your current tool, all the storage swatches are updated.

Using Independent Colours when Working with Bitmap Layers
When working in the Colour view, by default the current colour is active for both vector and bitmap layers. You canhowever, use different reference colours for each layer.
When using bitmap colours, there is no longer a link between the painted zones and selected colour. You can edit
the colour as much as you want, but your drawing will not be affected. You can still select colours from your vector
colour palette to use the same tint, but you will not create links between your drawing and the swatches.
How to use independent colours‣

From the Colour view menu, select Colours > Independent Bitmap Colour.

Whichever colour you choose as the reference color is retained for that layer type.

Selecting Drawing Objects

The Select tool is used to select strokes in both the Drawing and Camera views, and apply basic transformations,such as repositioning, rotating, scaling or skewing using the different handles of the bounding box.
Sometimes, when you want to select multiple objects while leaving one unselected, it can be handy to select only
the stroke or line that you do not want included in your selection. Then, you can invert the selection so thateverything else becomes selected. This can be quite a time saver.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

By default, when you draw a selection box, the Select tool will select only the drawing strokes of the current
drawing. If you prefer the Select tool to select all the strokes on all layers, you can disable the Works on Single
Drawing option in the Tool Properties view or the Select Tool Works on Single Drawing option in the Preferences
dialog box.
Some of the transformations, such as rotation, scale, skew, and flip are done relative to the position of the pivot
point. You can temporarily reposition this pivot point for a transformation using the Select tool.
How to select with the Select tool
1. In the Timeline view, select the cell on which you want to select drawing objects.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

3. In the Camera or Drawing view, select the drawing objects.
‣

You can select all the drawing objects in a drawing by using Edit > Select All or by pressing Ctrl + A(Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + A (Mac OS X).

4. To deform or reposition a selection:‣

To reposition, click the selected drawing object and drag the selection to a new area.

‣

To rotate, grab the selection box handle and rotate it.

‣

To scale, pull or push on the top, side, bottom or corner control point. Hold down Shift to lock theselection’s ratio.

78Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide‣

To skew, drag sideways or up and down the sides or top and bottom segments, between the control
points.

How to invert a selection
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Invert Selection or press Ctrl + Shift + I.
‣

You can also find the Invert Selection option in the Camera or Drawing View menu by selecting Edit >Invert Selection.

How to enable and disable the Select Tool Works on Single Drawing preference
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

2. Do one of the followings:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences (Windows/Linux) or Stage Advanced > Preferences(Mac OS X). In the Camera tab, go to the Tools section and select or deselect the Select Tool Works on
Single Drawing option and click OK.

‣

In the Tool Properties view, disable the Works on Single Drawing

option.

3. In the Camera view, make your selection. It is possible that you will have to restart Harmony depending on
your system.

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How to temporarily reposition the pivot point
1. In the Camera or Drawing view, select the drawing object you want to transform.
The pivot point appears in the middle of your selection.

2. Click the pivot point and drag it to a new position.
This becomes the new position of the pivot point for the current transformation and will remain there until
you make a new selection.

80Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Erasing Parts of a Drawing

The Eraser tool is pressure sensitive, like the Brush tool, giving you more precision when erasing parts of a drawing.
You can also use the Select tool to select drawing objects and delete them instead of erasing.
It is a good idea to create and save erasers with precise sizes and parameters in order to save time when drawing
and designing. There are two icons located at the top, right corner of the Eraser Properties window. One is to create
a new preset, while the other is to update the currently selected preset. Use them after you have set all theparameters for the new eraser preset.

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New Brush Preset: Click on this button to create a new eraser brush style. The new eraser style willappear at the bottom of the list in the Presets section of the Tool Properties window. All the values andselected options in the Eraser Properties window will be attributed to this new style.

‣

Update Preset: Click on this button to update the selected eraser preset with any changes made in
the Eraser Properties window. If you make changes and do not click on the Update Preset button, then
all the changes made will only be applied to the selected eraser preset temporarily. The moment you
switch to another eraser preset or to another drawing tool, these modifications to the eraser preset will
disappear.

How to erase with the Eraser tool
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell that contains objects you want to erase.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Eraser

tool or press Alt + E.

3. In the Camera or Drawing view, start erasing.
How to modify the eraser settings
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Eraser

tool .

2. In the Tool Properties view, the preview area displays the stroke that will be produced after you customize
the different parameters in the Eraser Properties view. Click the arrow button.

The Eraser Properties window opens.

82Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

The Size and Smoothness tab is where you set the minimum and maximum sizes of your drawing tool which willproduce the thick and thin effect on your stroke.
The Soft Eraser tab needs to be enable for its parameters to become active. This feature only works on soft or
textured brush strokes. Both tabs works with the pressure sensitivity of a pen tablet.
Parameter

Description

Size and Smoothness Tab
Maximum Size

Sets the maximum width of the line.

Minimum Size

Sets the minimum width of the line in relation to the maximum size.

Smoothness

Lets you modify the central line smoothness of the line. This parameter smooths
the initial movement of your line. Increasing the value will result in a smoother linewith fewer control points.

Contour Smoothness

Optimizes the contour line smoothness of the line. This parameter smooths thecontour of the line once it has been traced. The higher the value, the fewer control
points will compose your line.

Tip Shape

Lets you select a tip shape—from round and square ones to star shaped. This
option is disabled when using a textured brush.

Soft Eraser Tab
HardnessDefines the softness of the stroke edge. The lower the value, the softer the strokeedge will be. The higher the value, the sharper the stroke edge will be.

Saturation

Lets you adjust the softness of edge feathering. Works in conjunction with theHardness, e.g. 100% Hardness will yield no results in saturation change. 0%
Hardness will allow a fine tuning of the feathering of the soft stroke edge.

Maximum Opacity

The transparency of the brush when the pressure is heavy. A smaller value will
leave semi-transparent colour and texture. A larger value will ensure thateverything is properly erased. This option in unavailable if the Keep Vectors
option is disabled.

Minimum Opacity

Sets the minimum transparency of the brush, in relation to the Maximum Opacity,when the pressure is very light. A smaller value will leave semi-transparent colour
and texture. A larger value will ensure that everything is properly erased. This
option in unavailable if the Keep Vectors option is disabled.

Keep Vectors

Keeps the vector frames around your strokes intact, only the texture fill disappears. Disabling this option will cut the stroke's vector frame into different
pieces when the Eraser tool passes over it. If you disable this option, the maximum and minimum opacity sliders are disabled as well.

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Reshaping a Drawing Using the Contour Editor Tool

The Contour Editor tool is a powerful tool that allows you to add, remove or modify points on a vector line andcontrol them with Bezier handles. It is used to correct line shapes and modify a single part of a colour zone. If aline is too thin or has a gap in it, you can modify and correct it with the Contour Editor tool. You can also use thistool to create elaborate shapes.
The Contour Editor displays vector points around a shape and the central vector points in a pencil line. Pulling or
pushing on these points adjusts the brush’s line thickness. Points can be selected and deleted. Each point has
two Bezier handles for correcting the curves between two points. Shapes can be modified by pulling and pushingdirectly on the segment between the points. You can use it to perfect a central shape pencil line, a contour shapebrush line, or even create an elaborate shape from a basic ellipse or square.
How to reshape with the Contour Editor tool
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell in which you want to draw.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select a shape tool:.

3. In the Tool Properties view, click the Ellipse
size to 0.

button, click the Auto Fill

4. In the Drawing or Camera view, draw a circle.

5. In the Tools toolbar, select the Contour Editor

84

tool.

button and set the pencil

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

6. In the Drawing or Camera view, click the line to reshape it.

7. Select one or several points by clicking on them or circling around.

8. Press Delete to delete a selected point.
Press Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X)and click on the contour to add a new point to adjust thecontour.
9. To modify the shape, you can:‣Pull on the Bezier handle. Both point’s handles will move as one.

‣

Hold down Alt and pull on one of the Bezier handles. The point’s handle will move independently from theother one.

‣

Move the selected points to a new area.

‣

Pull directly on the line between two points. No selection is necessary. Holding down Shift will limit thecontour modification to the curve between the two first points.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools‣

If an anchor point has no visible Bezier handles, hold down the Alt key to display them.

‣

To add control points, press Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) and click the line.

‣

To remove control points, select the control point and press Delete.

Reshaping Pencil Lines

The Pencil Editor tool is used to modify the thick and thin contour o f a pencil line. A pencil line is a central vector
shape. The shape control points are located all along the central spine allowing you to adjust the stroke curve andposition. When using the Contour Editor tool, you can repos ition the spine of the stroke. When using the Pencil
Editor tool, you can ad just the thick and thin areas of lines.

86Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

How to use the Pencil Editor tool
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil Editor

tool or press Alt + W.

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, select a pencil line and click the line to reshape it.

3. Select one or several points by clicking them or circling around.

87Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

4. Press Delete to delete a selected point.
5. Press Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) and click the central spine to add a set of points to adjust
the contour.
6. To modify the shape, you can:‣Move the selected points to a new area. If you select matching points on each side of the line, holding
the Shift key will move them both. This way you can thicken or thin a line from both sides at the same
time.

‣

Pull on the Bezier handle to move both points’ handles s one.

‣

Hold down Alt and pull on one of the Bezier handles. It moves the handle independently from the other
one.

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide‣

Pull directly on the line between two points. No selection is necessary. Holding down the Shift key will
limit the contour modification to the curve between the two first points.

‣

If an anchor point has no visible Bezier handle, hold down Alt to display them.

Drawing Shapes

In Harmony, you can use the shape tools to draw circles, lines and squares. You can also easily reshape a square or
circle into a much more complex drawing such as these butterfly wings—see Reshaping a Drawing Using theContour Editor Tool on page 84 and Reshaping Pencil Lines on page 86.
How to draw with a Shape tool
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell on which you want to draw.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select a shape tool:.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

3. To automatically fill the shape, in the Tool Properties view, select the Auto Fill
4. In the Camera view, click and drag to draw the shape.

‣

Hold down Shift to lock the rectangle or the ellipse ratio to 1:1.

‣

Hold down Alt to draw the rectangle or ellipse from its centre.

‣

Hold down Shift to snap the line every 15 degrees.

‣

Hold down Alt to snap the start or end of the line to a nearby stroke.

5. Use the Contour Editor

tool to deform the shape and create your drawing.

Drawing with the Polyline Tool

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

The Polyline tool is used to draw shapes with a central vector type of line. To form a shape, you click to add a point
and then, without releasing the mouse, pull the handle in the desired direction before adding the next point and repeat
the operation. To edit the shape, you can use the Contour Editor tool.
How to draw with the Polyline tool
1. In the Timeline view, select the cell on which you want to draw.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Polyline

tool or press Alt + _.

3. In the Camera or Drawing view, click and drag to create a point and a Bezier handle to shape your line.
‣

Press Alt to pull only one handle, instead of two.

‣Press Shift to snap the handles to 45, 90, or 180 degrees.

4. Click a new area and drag to create a second point and Bezier handle.

5. Repeat the previous step until your shape is completed.
6. Press Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) and click to release the Polyline tool from the current path or
shape that it is creating. Continue to use the tool to make multiple, independent paths or shapes.
7. If necessary, reshape the lines using the Contour Editor
tour Editor Tool on page 84.

Drawing with Invisible Lines

There are two different ways to draw invisible lines.

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tool—see Reshaping a Drawing Using the Con-

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Using the Pencil tool, you can draw as strokes only, meaning that the line will be invisible. This can be useful for
drawing tones and highlights directly on the character.
The Stroke tool draws invisible lines only. You cannot add thickness to the line. Unlike the Close Gap tool thatcreates a short, straight line between two points, the stroke line will stay exactly where you draw it. This tool canbe useful for closing a zone in a particular way or creating some hard shadows or highlight areas.

Sometimes, it may be difficult to see your strokes, especially if your colours are similar to the blue stroke colour.
In Harmony, you can display the strokes in washed-out colours so that the invisible lines stand out.
How to draw invisible lines with the Pencil tool
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell on which you want to draw.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil

tool or press Alt + /.

3. From the top menu, select View > Drawing > Show Strokes

or press K.

4. In the Tool Properties view, set the Pen Style size to 0. You can also adjust the smoothness.
5. In the Camera or Drawing view, start drawing.
If you forgot to enable the Show Strokes option before drawing, as soon as you draw a first stroke, aMessage dialog box opens.

Select the Don’t Show This Message Again option if you do not want the dialog box to notify you about
the Show Strokes option.
6. Click OK.
7. You can modify the stroke shape with the Contour Editor

tool.

How to draw invisible lines with the Stroke tool
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell on which you want to draw.

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

2. In the Tools toolbar from the Paint drop-down menu, select the Stroke

tool or press Alt + V.

3. From the top menu, select View > Show Drawing > Show Strokes

or press K.

4. In the Tool Properties view, you can adjust the smoothness.
5. In the Camera or Drawing view, start drawing.
If you forgot to enable the Show Strokes option before drawing, as soon as you draw a first stroke, aMessage dialog box opens.

Select the Don’t Show This Message Again option if you do not want the dialog box to notify you about theShow Strokes option.
6. Click OK.
7. You can modify the stroke shape with the Contour Editor

tool.

How to show the strokes with washed-out colours‣ From the top menu, select View > Show > Show Stroke With Colour Wash.

Deforming a Drawing with the Perspective Tool

The Perspective tool lets you deform a drawing selection and alter its perspective.
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How to deform a drawing with the Perspective tool
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Perspective
0.

tool from the Contour Editor drop-down menu or press Alt +2. In the Camera or Drawing view, select a drawing to deform.
3. Click and drag the different anchor points to deform the shape.

Warping a Drawing with the Envelope Tool

The Envelope tool lets you deform and warp part of a drawing using a grid envelope and Bezier handles.
How to warp a drawing with the Envelope tool
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Envelope

tool from the Contour Editor drop-down menu.

2. In the Timeline view, select a drawing to deform.
3. In the Camera or Drawing view, select the region you want to deform94

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

4. Click and drag the different anchor points and handles to deform the image.

5. To display more controls, in the Tool Properties view, click the Show Advanced Controls

95

button.

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

6. Increase the height and width of the grid to get more control points to deform your image.

Cutting Drawing Parts

The Cutter tool lets you cut a drawing area to move, copy, cut or delete it.
How to cut with the Cutter tool
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Cutter

tool or press Alt + T.

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2. In the Camera or Drawing view, make a selection around an area to cut away.

‣

To delete the selected zone, press Delete.

‣

To move the selection, click the selection and drag it to a new area.

‣

Use the bounding box controls to scale, skew, or rotate the cut piece.

Smoothing Lines

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When drawing in a digital application, it is not like drawing on a sheet of paper. Sometimes the lines you draw may
look as if they were drawn with an unsteady hand. When this occurs, you may need to correct the look of yourlines.
Harmony has a very powerful tool you can use to optimize contours and reduce the number of points on the lines,
the Smooth Editor tool.
How to optimize lines with the Smooth Editor tool
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Smooth Editor

tool or select Drawing > Tools > Smooth Editor.

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, place your pointer over the lines to smooth. You may need to pass overthe same line several times to remove more points and make the line smoother. Note that by default, theSmooth Editor tool colour is yellow, it was changed to orange for screen grab clarity—see Smooth Editor
Tool Options on page 176 to learn about the various settings available.

Working With Text

With the Text tool, you can type text in your project using various fonts and texts attributes. Text objects are partof a drawing, so you can manipulate them in the same way. OTF fonts are also supported.
How to add text to drawings
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Text

tool.

‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Tools > Text.

‣

Press Alt + 9.

2. In the Timeline view, select the cell containing the drawing on which you want to add text.
3. In the Drawing or Camera view, click on the location you want the text to begin.

98Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

4. You can use the Tool Properties view to select the font, font size and format of the text you will type—see
Text Tool on page 178.
5. Type in the desired text.

6. Click outside the text box to exit the typing mode.
If you want to create another text object, click outside the currently active text box. You can always return toedit the text by selecting the Text
tool and clicking in the text.

Working with Tool Presets
Tool presets let you save a variety of settings and are very handy and efficient for accessing the tools you use mostoften. That way, the tool is already set with the desired properties, such as colour, line thickness, whether to enable
Draw Behind or Auto Flatten mode, and so on. You can create presets for these tools and many more: Brush, Pencil,
Eraser, Rectangle, Ellipse, and Line. First, select a tool, adjust the properties, and then create a tool preset for it.
Once you have created a tool preset, you can always make adjustments to fine-tune it, as well as create a keyboard
shortcut for it.
What's the difference between a tool preset and a brush preset? When you save a tool preset, you have the option ofsaving the colour, which you cannot do with brush presets.

The Tool Presets Toolbar

The Tool Presets toolbar lets you create new tool presets and manage them.
How to display the Tool Presets toolbar
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > Tool Presets.

‣

Right-click an empty area below the top menu and select Tool Presets.

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How to create a tool preset
1. In the Tools toolbar, select a tool, for example the Brush tool.
2. Use the Tool Properties view to customize the tool.
3. To set a specific colour for your preset, in the Colour view, select the colour swatch to link to the tool. Notethat when using this preset in another scene not using that colour palette, upon selecting this new preset, acolour recovery dialog box will appear asking to add this colour to your scene.
4. In the Tool Presets toolbar, click the New Tool Preset button.
5. In the New Preset dialog box, in the Name field, type a name for your new preset.

6. From the icon list, select an icon to quickly identify your preset or upload your own by clicking the Filebutton.

7. (Optional) From the Shortcut menu, set a keyboard shortcut to quickly access your preset. By default, theshortcuts are unassigned. To assign a keyboard shortcut, go to the top menu and select Edit > Preferences > Shortcuts > Tool Presets (Windows/Linux) or Stage Advanced > Preferences >Shortcuts >Tool Presets (Mac OS X).

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

8. When you select any of the following options, they will take effect when you use the tool preset. If an option
is deselected, then using a tool preset will not override your current settings.
‣

Colour: Saves the current colour into the tool preset.

9. Click OK.
How to select a tool preset‣

In the Tool Presets toolbar, click the tool preset
icon you assigned when creating the preset. Notethat when using this preset in a new scene not using the assigned colour swatch, a colour recovery dialog
box appears prompting you to add the colour to the scene.

How to delete a tool preset
1. In the Tool Presets toolbar, click the Manage Tool Presets

button.

2. From the list of tool presets on the left, select a preset to delete and click the Trash icon.
How to import a tool preset
1. In the Tool Presets toolbar, click the Manage Tool Presets

button.

The Manage Tool Presets dialog box opens.
1. Click Import.
2. In the Select Folder window that opens, locate and select the preset(s) to import and click Select Folder.
How to export a tool preset
1. In the Tool Presets toolbar, click the Manage Tool Presets

101button.

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

The Manage Tool Presets dialog box opens.
3. Click Export.
2. In the Export Brush Presets window that opens, click Export.
4. Select a folder and click Select Folder.
How to update a tool preset
1. To update the colour of your preset, you must first select it in the Colour view.
2. In the Tool Presets toolbar, click the Manage Tool Presets

button.

3. In the Manage Tool Presets window that opens, select the tool preset from the left side.
4. Make any changes you want to the preset.
5. Click Update.

More Drawing Tools
Harmony offers a wide variety of useful tools to optimize your drawings and work more efficiently; tools such asGroup, Arrange, and the animation disk to rotate your workspace.
•

Arrange on page 102•

Convert Brush Strokes to Pencil Lines on page 103•

Pencil Lines to Brush Strokes on page 103•

Strokes to Pencil Lines on page 104•

Optimize on page 104•

Remove Extra Strokes on page 105•

Reduce Drawing Texture Resolution on page 105•

Crop Brush Textures on page 106•

Create Contour Stroke on page 107•

Remove Contour Stroke on page 107•

Grid on page 108•

Group/Ungroup on page 108•

Hand on page 108•

Rotate View on page 109

Arrange
The different Arrange options let you reorder drawing objects inside a single layer in the Drawing or Camera view.
Name
Bring to Front

ButtonDescription

Access Method

Moves the selected art to the front (on From the top menu, select Drawing
top).
> Arrange > Bring to Front.

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Press Ctrl + Shift + PgUp
(Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Shift +PgUp (Mac OS X).

Bring Forward

Moves the selected art one level forward (closer to the front).

From the top menu, select Drawing> Arrange > Bring Forward.
Press Ctrl + PgUp (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + PgUp (Mac OS X).
From the top menu, select Drawing> Arrange > Send Backward.

Send Backward

Moves the selected art one level
lower (behind).

Press Ctrl + PgDown(Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + PgDown(Mac OS X).
From the top menu, select Drawing> Arrange > Send to Back.

Send to Back

Moves the selected art behind
everything (bottom / back).

Press Ctrl + Shift + PgDown(Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Shift +PgDown (Mac OS X).

Convert Brush Strokes to Pencil Lines

The Brushes Strokes to Pencil Lines operation converts selected contour strokes into centreline pencil strokes. The
brush stroke thickness will be lost.
How to convert brush strokes to pencil lines‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Convert > Brush Strokes to Pencil Lines or press ^.

‣Right-click on the selection, select Convert > Brush Strokes to Pencil Lines or press ^Pencil Lines to Brush Strokes

The Pencil Lines to Brush Strokes operation converts the selected centreline pencil strokes into contour strokes
brush lines.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

How to convert pencil lines to brush strokes‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Convert > Pencil Lines to Brush Strokes or press &.

‣Right-click on the selection, select Convert > Pencil Lines to Brush Strokes or press &Strokes to Pencil Lines

The Strokes to Pencil Lines operation converts the selected invisible line to a pencil line.
How to convert strokes to pencil lines‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Convert > Strokes to Pencil Lines or press Shift + F12(Windows/Linux only).

‣

Right-click on the selection, select Convert > Strokes to Pencil Lines or press Shift + F12(Windows/Linux only)

Optimize

The Optimize command reduces the number of layers, such as overlapping brush strokes, in the selecteddrawing objects. Drawing objects will only be flattened and optimized if the selected objects do not change theappearance of the final image when they are merged.
For example, if you have selected a number of partially transparent objects, which you layered to create an
additive colour effect, the selected transparent drawing objects will not be merged. This is because merging thetransparent drawing objects will cause them to lose the effect of the layered transparent colours.
How to optimize‣

Use the Select tool to select the drawing objects you want to optimize.

‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Optimize.

104Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide‣

From the Camera or Drawing view menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Optimize.

Remove Extra Strokes
The Remove Extra Strokes option lets you remove the invisible lines in your selection.
How to remove extra strokes
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Select tool.
2. In the Camera or Drawing view, use the Select tool to select the drawing objects from which you want toremove invisible lines.
3. From the top menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Remove Extra Strokes.
‣

From the Camera or Drawing view menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Remove Extra Strokes.

Reduce Drawing Texture Resolution
When you import and vectorize as texture (colour) a high resolution image, the size of your drawing can be heavy.
You can reduce the size and resolution of the textures in a drawing.
When you import and vectorize drawings using the grey or colour preset styles, you don't have control on the size ofthe bitmap texture. You can reduce that bitmap texture.
How to reduce the drawing texture resolution
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Select tool.
2. In the Camera or Drawing view, use the Select tool to select the drawing objects whose texture resolution
you wan to reduce.
3. From the top menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Reduce Drawing Texture Resolution.
‣

From the Camera or Drawing view menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Reduce Drawing Texture
Resolution.

4. In the dialog box, drag the slider toward the left to reduce the texture resolution.
5. Enable the Apply to All Drawings option if you want the modification to be applied to all the drawings in yourlayer.
6. Click OK.

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Crop Brush Textures

The Crop Brush Textures option is used to crop an unnecessarily large texture bitmap that lies unseen beneaththe vector contour of a textured line. This often occurs when you cut and paste textured lines from one drawing
into another. If you cut a portion from a textured line and paste it into a different drawing, Harmony pastes theentire unseen texture bitmap from the source drawing into the new one, even if you only took a small portion of thesource drawing. Using the Crop Brush Texture command will crop away extraneous texture that does not touch
the vector area. If there are many textured lines in your scene, this will greatly reduce the file size.
In the example shown above, a textured line is cut from a drawing and pasted into a new drawing. At first, it
appears as if only a cropped section of the underlying texture bitmap was cut and pasted as well. However, using
the Contour Editor tool to expand the vector envelope of the textured line, it is revealed that more texture bitmap
exists beyond the cropped boundary. If you use the Crop Brush Texture command, the bitmap texture is cropped
to the boundaries of the textured line’s vector contour (as seen in the fourth image where the vector envelope has
been pulled out to reveal empty space).
How to crop the brush texture
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawing whose texture you want to crop.
2. From the top menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Crop Brush Textures.
3. From the Camera or Drawing menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Crop Brush Textures.

106Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Create Contour Stroke

The Create Contour Stroke
option is used to add a permanent invisible line around a shape that was drawn
directly in Harmony. This allows you to unpaint your lines with the Paint
tool but maintain the shape of the lines,
should you need to repaint later.
This command is useful when inking and painting and using the Apply to All Drawings in Layer

option.

How to create contour strokes
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Select tool.
2. In the Camera or Drawing view, use the Select tool to select the drawing objects you want to create contour
strokes for.
3. From the top menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Create Contour Strokes.

Remove Contour Stroke
The Remove Contour Stroke option is used to remove any permanently invisible lines that were created while
scanning and vectorizing drawings or manually adding contour strokes. This is useful if you want to remove theintersection triangles created during vectorization.
How to remove contour strokes
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Select tool.
2. In the Camera or Drawing view, use the Select tool to select the drawing objects you want to remove contour
strokes for.
3. From the top menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Remove Contour Strokes.

107Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Grid

Use the Show Grid option to display a grid in the Drawing or Camera views.
Name

ButtonDescription

Keyboard Shortcut
View > Grid > Show Grid

Show Grid
Displays the grid.

Press Ctrl + ' (Windows/Linux) or ⌘+ ' (Mac OS X).

Grid Outline Only

Displays the outline of the grid only.

View > Grid > Grid Outline Only

SquareDisplays a standard square grid.

View > Grid > Square

12 Field Grid

Displays a 12-field size grid.

View > Grid > 12 Field Grid

16 Field Grid

Displays a 16-field size grid.

View > Grid > 16 Field Grid

Underlay

Displays the grid under the drawing
elements.

View > Grid > Underlay

Overlay

Displays the grid over the drawing eleView > Grid > Overlay
ments.

Group/Ungroup
Use the Group option to group selected drawing objects. This can help in the selection, repositioning, re-scaling
and other transformations to be applied to multiple objects of a drawing.
•

From the top menu, select Edit > Group > Group or Edit > Group > Ungroup.

•

From the Camera or Drawing view menu, select Edit > Group > Group or Edit > Group > Ungroup.

•

Press Ctrl + G and Ctrl + Shift + G (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + G and ⌘ + Shift + G (Mac OS X).

Hand
Use the Hand tool to pan through the Drawing or Camera view.
•

In the Tools toolbar, select the Hand

tool, click in the Drawing or Camera view and drag.

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You can also Hold down the Spacebar, click in the Drawing or Camera view and move your mouse in the
direction you want to pan the view.

Rotate View
The Rotate View
tool lets you rotate the Drawing or Camera view, the same way as you would do with a realanimation disc. This tool can also be used in the Perspective view.

How to use the Rotate View tool
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Tools > Rotate View.

‣

Press Ctrl + Alt (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Alt (Mac OS X).

‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Rotate View‣

In the Drawing or Camera view, right-click and select Drawing Tools > Rotate View.

tool.

2. In the Drawing or Camera view, click and drag to rotate the space.

Drawing Tool References
Harmony has a wide variety of drawing tools and each one of them has a series of options and modes available. Thissection covers these options. For details on how to use these tools, see Drawing Tasks on page 29.
•

Pencil Tool Options on page 110•

Vector Brush Tool Options on page 115•

Bitmap Brush Tool Options•

Select Tool Options on page 143•

Eraser Tool Options on page 152•

Bitmap Eraser Options•

Contour Editor Options on page 156

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools•

Pencil Editor Options on page 159•

Shape Tool Options on page 163•

Polyline Tool Options on page 167•

Stroke Tool Options on page 169•

Perspective Tool Options on page 170•

Envelope Tool Options on page 171•

Cutter Tool Options on page 174•

Smooth Editor Tool Options on page 176•

Text Tool on page 178•

Drawing Pivot Tool on page 182

Pencil Tool Options
When you select the Pencil

tool, its properties and options appears in the Tool Properties view.

Previewing the Stroke
The Preview area lets you see a preview of the stroke that will be produced after you customize the different
parameters in the Tool Properties view.
1. Select a brush style from the Presets section. It's a good idea to choose a brush preset that is closest to
the style you want to create.

110Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

2. Click on the Show Extended Properties arrow to display advanced customization parameters.

Maximum Size and Smoothing
This is where you set the maximum size of your drawing tool.
‣

MaximumSize: Defines the width of the stroke.

‣

Smoothing: Defines the number of control points added to the centre line. The fewer the control points
the smoother (but less faithful) the line.

Adjusting the Pencil Line Style

You can adjust the start, end, and joint style of a selected pencil line.
•

Start: Lets you select the style of the start tip, which is the first tip you drew. You can choose between
Round or Flat style.

•

End: Lets you select the style of the end tip, which is the last tip you drew. You can choose between Roundor Flat style.

•

Join: Lets you select the joint style. The joints are where the line curves abruptly. You could also define theJoin style as the corner style. You can choose between Round, Mitre and Bevel style.

Pencil Presets and Thickness Stencils
Harmony provides a variety of pencil presets and thickness stencils and also lets you create and save your own. It
is a good idea to create and save pencils with precise sizes and parameters when you draw and design for efficiency
and consistency.
A thickness stencil saves the thickness information across the length of the line. When drawing with a thickness
stencil, the pressure sensitivity of the tablet is discarded. A thickness stencil can be used while drawing, or applied
afterwards.
You also have the possibility to apply different textures to your lines by either using the default presets or importingyour own—See Pencil Line Texture on page 39.
You can export the pencil presets that you have created and import those that others have created. This is a good
way for you and project collaborators to keep a consistent look for the project—see Working with Pencil Presets on
page 34

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Pencil Line Texture
You can apply a bitmap texture on your pencil line and adjust it as needed—see Pencil Line Texture on page 39
Draw Behind

When drawing on vector layers, the Draw Behindappear over your work until you release the tool.

mode lets you paint behind existing art. By default, strokes

Create Colour Art AutomaticallyAs you draw in the Line Art layer, the Create Colour Art Automaticallycorresponding strokes in the Colour Art layer.

option automatically creates the

Auto-Flatten Mode
When drawing on vector layers, lines do not usually become one object. The Auto-Flatten
mode
automatically merges lines created with the existing ones into one single object as you draw.
When drawing on a bitmap layer, you are laying down the bare pixels, so they are always flattened. You can nolonger access the individual stroke after you draw it.

NOTE:
Using the Select tool, you can use select and remove a segment of flattened pencil lines. Overlapping pencil lines
drawn with the Auto-Flatten mode enabled are essentially cut into segments by the overlap and can therefore betreated as individual lines.

112Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Auto-Close Gap

When using the pencil tool, you can automatically close strokes with an invisible stroke.
It is recommended to keep this option enabled when drawing with the Pencil tool.
Line Building Mode

The Line Building
mode is very useful when drawing long lines and curves in small increments with pencil lines
or the line
tool. As the pencil lines are central vector lines, it may be difficult to align the line tips perfectly tocreate a uniform stroke and close all gaps.
In this mode, you can draw lines in small increments and the tips are merge into one single stroke.

NOTE: This mode only works with pencil lines or the line tool.

Auto Adjust Thickness

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The Auto Adjust Thickness
tool is useful when you want to render a portion of a line thicker. When tracing adrawing on paper, you will often go back to a section of a curve to make it thicker to add dynamism to the line.
Using the Auto Adjust Thickness tool, you can draw highlight strokes over the section to make thicker. Once you
release the pen or mouse, the line becomes thicker following the shape and curve of the original stroke. This way
is much faster and smoother than using the Pencil Editor tool. You do not have to add extra points and adjust theposition and Bezier handles.
The default overlay colour is light yellow. If this colour is difficult to see because of the background or drawing
colour, you can adjust the colour.
How to change the Auto Adjust Thickness Colour
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil

tool.

2. In the Tool Properties view, click the Auto Adjust Thickness

button.

3. Click the colour swatch.

The Colour Picker window opens.
4. In the Colour Picker window, select a new colour.
Line Pushing Mode
The Line Pushing Mode
option lets you draw highlight strokes over existing pencil lines. You can reshape thecurves. Depending how you draw the pushing stroke over your line, the highlighted section will be reshaped in one
direction or the other.
The default overlay colour is light yellow. If this colour is difficult to see because of the background or drawing
colour, you can adjust the colour.
To change the Line Pushing Mode colour
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil

tool.

2. In the Tool Properties view, select the Line Pushing Mode114

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

3. Click the colour swatch.

The Colour Picker window opens.
4. In the Colour Picker window, select a new colour.

Vector Brush Tool Options
When you're drawing on a vector layer and select the Brush
Properties view.

tool, its properties and options appear in the Tool

Previewing the Stroke
The Preview area lets you see a preview of the stroke that will be produced after you customize the different
parameters in the Tool Properties view.
1. Select a brush style from the Presets section. It's a good idea to choose a brush preset that is closest to thestyle you want to create.
2. Click on the Show Extended Properties arrow to display advanced customization parameters.

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Maximum Size and Smoothing
This is where you set the maximum size of your drawing tool.
‣

MaximumSize: Defines the width of the stroke.

‣

Smoothing: Defines the number of control points added to the centre line. The fewer the control points
the smoother (but less faithful) the line.

Brush Presets
Brush presets are created by saving the properties of the current brush to a new preset, which you can reuse for
repeated tasks. You can create as many brush presets as you need—see Drawing with the Brush Tool on page43.
How to import pencils, brushes and erasers
1. From the Brush menu

, select Import Brushes.

2. In the browser window that appears, navigate to and select the .xml file.
3. Click Open.
4. In the Import Brushes dialog box, select the brushes brushes and erasers you want to import. You can also
import pencils at the same time.

116Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

5. Click Import.
The imported brush, eraser and pencil styles will appear in the presets library. You can reuse any of theimported tips to create other brush, eraser and pencil style presets.
How to export pencils, brushes and erasers
1. From the Brush menu, select Export.
2. In the Export Brushes dialog box, select the bitmap and vector brushes and erasers to export, as well as any
pencils.

3. Click Export.
4. In the Export Brushes window that appears, browse to the location where you want to save the .xml file andgive it a name.
5. Click Save.
How to change the Presets Library thumbnail display
1. From the Brush menu, select one of the following:
Parameter

Description

Small Thumbnail

Reduces the size of the thumbnails in order to view more at the same time. Dis-

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

plays an image of the tool's tip and its maximum size.
Large Thumbnail

Increases the size of the thumbnails in order to see the images more clearly. Displays an image of the tool's tip, its maximum size and its name.

Stroke View

Displays the tool's name, maximum size and stroke preview.

Draw Behind

When the Draw Behindmode is enabled, the lines you draw will appear behind the art that already exists.

Repaint Brush Mode

The Repaint Brushis used to repaint zones that have already been painted, it will not affect empty zones or
pencil lines. It also automatically flattens each of its brush lines so it does not add new brush lines on top ofexisting ones. You can use this mode to paint tones or highlights onto your character.
Create Colour Art AutomaticallyAs you draw in the Line Art layer, the Create Colour Art Automaticallycorresponding strokes in the Colour Art layer.
Auto-Flatten Mode
When enabled, the Auto-Flatten

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option automatically creates theHarmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

mode automatically flattens the new lines created with the existing artwork as you draw in the Drawing or
Camera view. Brush strokes will flatten with brush strokes and pencil lines will flatten with pencil lines.
Respect Protected Colour
The Respect Protected Colour
option prevent the colours you marked as protected, in the Colour view, to be
repainted using the Repaint Brush mode or any of the painting tools.
Use Stored Colour Gradient
The Use Stored Colour Gradientoption makes your tool use the previously stored gradient position. This way,
every new brush line or colour fill will use the stored gradient position.

Bitmap Brush Tool Options
When you're drawing on a bitmap layer and select the Brush
Properties view.

tool, its properties and options appear in the Tool

Previewing the Stroke
The Preview area lets you see a preview of the stroke that will be produced after you customize the different
parameters in the Tool Properties view.
1. Select a brush style from the Presets section. It's a good idea to choose a brush preset that is closest to thestyle you want to create.
2. Click on the Show Extended Properties arrow to display advanced customization parameters.

119Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Maximum Size
This is where you set the maximum size of your drawing tool. This parameter defines the width of the stroke.
Flow
The Flow parameter lets you set the range for the rate at which paint flows from your brush. The analogy works
better with a pen. The greater the flow, the more ink comes out, hence the more consistent the colour and textureof the line. If the flow is light, then the colour and texture of the line may look spotty. This feature works with thepressure sensitivity of a pen tablet.
Opacity
The Opacity parameter are where you set the opacity for a brush mark. This works with the pressure sensitivity ofa pen tablet.
Brush Presets
Brush presets are created by saving the properties of the current brush to a new preset, which you can reuse for
repeated tasks. You can create as many brush presets as you need.
How to create a brush preset
1. Make sure your current brush has the settings you want in the preset you will create.
2. In the Tool Properties view, do one of the following:‣

Click the arrow button to display the Brush Properties window and click the New Brushthe upper-right corner.

‣

Click the New Brush‣

From the Brushbutton in

button.

menu, select New Brush Preset.

3. In the New Preset window, type a name for your new brush preset.
The new brush is added to the end of the list of brush presets.
How to update a brush preset
1. Select the brush preset to update and click the arrow button to display the Brush Properties window.

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2. Change the brush settings and click the Update Brush Preset

button in the upper-right corner.

Draw Behind

When the Draw Behindmode is enabled, the lines you draw will appear behind the art that already exists.

Repaint Brush Mode

The Repaint Brushis used to repaint zones that have already been painted, it will not affect empty zones or
pencil lines. You can use this mode to paint tones or highlights onto your character.

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Tip Tab122

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Brush Tips LibraryThis is where you select the shape of the brush tip. By default it is round. Note that some tips are designed to havesemitransparent areas, even when the maximum brush opacity is set to 100%.
To create a custom brush tip, you must prepare the file ahead of time, either in Harmony or in a third-party software,such as Adobe Photoshop. Colour is not supported and transparency is not supported in the traditional sense. Black
appears as 100% opaque, white appears as 100% transparent and all the shades of grey in between appear asvarying degrees of semitransparency. A range of file formats are supported—.jpeg, .png, .tif, .psd, .tga to name afew. Alpha channels are disregarded on import. It is recommended that your file be between 100 x 100 pixels and400 x 400 pixels.
You can also import brush tips that you exported from Harmony, so you can share them with colleagues.
How to add a brush tip
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the Brush Tip menu, select Add.

‣

Click the Add

button.

2. In the browser window that appears, navigate to where you saved your file.
3. Click Open to import the file into the Brush Tip Library.
By default, an imported brush tip is given the name of the image file.
How to rename a brush tip
1. In the Brush Tip Library, select a brush tip.
2. From the Brush Tip menu, select Rename.
3. In the Rename dialog box that appears, type in the new name of the brush tip.
4. Click OK.

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How to delete a brush tip
1. In the Brush Tip Library, select a brush tip.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Brush Tip menu, select Delete.

‣

Click the Delete

button.

The linked brush tip file does not get deleted and can therefore be reimported.
How to import brush tips
1. In the Brush Tip menu, select Import.
2. In the browser window that appears, navigate to and select the .xml file.
3. Click Open.
4. In the Import Textures dialog box, select the brush tips to import. You can also import paper textures at thesame time.

5. Click Import.

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The imported brush tips appear in the Brush Tips Library. You can reuse any of the imported tips to create
other brush style presets.
How to export brush tips
1. In the Brush Tip menu, select Export.
2. In the Export Tips and Textures window, select or deselect any of the brush tips to create the list to export.
You can also export paper textures at the same time.

3. Click Export.
4. In the Export Textures window that appears, browse to a location where you want save the .xml file andgive it a name.
5. Click Save.
How to change the Brush Tips thumbnail display
1. From Brush Tip menu, select one of the following options:Parameter

Description

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Small Thumbnail

Reduces the size of the thumbnails in order to view more at the same time.

Large Thumbnail

Increases the size of the thumbnails in order to see the images more clearly.

List View

Allows you to see the name, as well as the thumbnail.

Minimum and Maximum Size
The minimum and maximum sizes of your drawing tool produce the thick and thin effect on your stroke. This
works with the pressure sensitivity of a pen tablet.
‣

Maximum Size: Defines the maximum width of the stroke.

‣

Minimum Size: Defines the minimum width of the stroke in relation to and as a percentage of the
maximum size.

NOTE: Setting the Minimum Size value to 100% eliminates the possibility of creating width variation on yourstroke. In other words, you would be forcing a uniform line width using the Maximum Size value.

Roundness and Angle
The Roundness and Angle parameters allow you to change the shape and orientation of the brush tip.
‣

Roundness: Squashes the height of the brush tip from its centre point. 100% roundness = the native
height of the brush tip. A smaller percentage will make the brush tip look flatter and more narrow. The
squashing is NOT relative to the angle value—if the brush tip is rotated, the squashing function stilluses the brush tip's original orientation.

‣

Angle: Rotates the brush tip counter-clockwise. 0° = the brush tip's native orientation.

Hardness and Spacing
The Hardness and Spacing parameters allow you to change the softness and spacing of the marks made by thebrush tip. You can preview the hardness and spacing at the top of the Bitmap Brush Properties window, strokepreview area.
‣

Hardness: The hardness value corresponds to the softness of the brush tip's edges. The lower thevalue, the softer the tip edge. The higher the value, the sharper the tip edge. Be aware that some brushtips are not 100% opaque, so they will always appear somewhat soft, even at 100% hardness.

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Spacing: Defines the amount of space between each stamp of the brush. A value of 100% sets thestamp marks edge to edge, if there is no white space around the shape. The larger the value, the greater
the space between marks. A really large value can make the brush stroke appear as a string of individualmarks. Conversely, a small spacing value will give the appearance of a fluid brush stroke.
Spacing is only evident when making a continuous stroke.

Randomness
The Randomness parameters let you create a varied bitmap brush stroke. Refining these options can give yourstroke a lovely, non-mechanical look.
‣

Random Size: You can create variation between the thick and thin of your brush stroke just by setting theMaximum and Minimum Size values. If you add randomness to the mix, pressure sensitivity from yourdrawing tablet will still be applied. Light pressure will create random values around the minimum, while
heavy pressure will create random values closer to the maximum. The larger the percentage, the larger
the range of random variation.

NOTE: Setting the Minimum Size to 100% eliminates the possibility of creating width variation on your stroke,
whether you are applying randomness or not. Therefore, you would be forcing a uniform line width using theMaximum Size value.

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Random Angle: Sets the range for random rotation around the set Angle value. For example, if theAngle is set to 45° and the Random Angle set to 10°, the software will choose values between 40°–50°(plus or minus 5 degrees, equaling a total of 10 degrees).

‣

Random Spacing: Sets the range for random spacing around the set Spacing value. For example, if
the Spacing is set to 50% and the Random Spacing is set to 10%, then Harmony will choose values
between 45%–55% (plus or minus 5 percent, equaling a total of 10 percent).

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Transparency Tab

Maximum and Minimum Flow
The Maximum and Minimum Flow parameters let you set the range for the rate at which paint flows from yourbrush. The analogy works better with a pen. The greater the flow, the more ink comes out, hence the moreconsistent the colour and texture of the line. If the flow is light, then the colour and texture of the line may lookspotty. This feature works with the pressure sensitivity of a pen tablet.
‣

Maximum Flow: Sets the maximum rate at which colour and texture are applied as you create a fluid
stroke.

‣Minimum Flow: Sets the minimum rate at which colour and texture are applied as you create a fluid
stroke. It is defined as a percentage of the Maximum Flow value. If the Minimum Flow value is set to
100%, then tablet pressure sensitivity will no longer be applicable. The flow will be set to the constantrate of the Maximum Flow value.

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Maximum Opacity and Minimum Opacity
The Maximum and Minimum Opacity parameters are where you set the opacity range for a brush mark. This works
with the pressure sensitivity of a pen tablet.
‣

Maximum Opacity: Sets the transparency limit of the brush mark when the pressure is heavy.

‣

Minimum Opacity: Sets the transparency limit of the brush mark when the pressure is very light. It isdefined as a percentage of the Maximum Opacity value. If the Minimum Opacity value is set to 100%,
then tablet pressure sensitivity will no longer be applicable. The opacity will be set to the constant rate of
the Maximum Opacity value.

RandomnessTh Randomness parameter lets you set the range for the randomness of the flow and opacity. This works with thepressure sensitivity of a pen tablet.
‣

Random Flow: You can create variation in the flow of your brush stroke just by setting the Maximum andMinimum Flow values. If you add randomness to the mix, pressure sensitivity from your drawing tablet
will still be applied. Light pressure will create random values around the minimum, while heavy pressure
will create random values closer to the maximum. The larger the percentage, the larger the range ofrandom variation.

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NOTE: Setting the Minimum Flow value to 100% eliminates the possibility of creating flow variation on your stroke,
whether you are applying randomness or not. That is, you would be forcing a uniform flow using the Maximum
Flow value.

‣Random Opacity: You can create variation in the opacity of your brush stroke just by setting theMaximum and Minimum Opacity values. If you add randomness to the mix, pressure sensitivity fromyour drawing tablet will still be applied. Light pressure will create random values around the minimum,
while heavy pressure will create random values closer to the maximum. The larger the percentage, thelarger the range of random variation.

NOTE: Setting the Minimum Opacity value to 100% eliminates the possibility of creating opacity variation on yourstroke, whether you are applying randomness or not. That is, you would be forcing a uniform opacity using theMaximum Opacity value.

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Dual Tip Tab
The Dual Tip tab lets you set the parameters for creating a dual tip brush. The primary bitmap brush tip and the dual
tip always work together. You can set the parameters for the primary tip in the Tip tab and those for the dual tip in theDual Tip tab. The Blend mode you select determines how the tips are combined.
You must select the Dual Tip option to access the tab's parameters.
By default, the Blend Mode is set to Multiply and the Random Angle to 360°.

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Blend Mode
The Blend modes let you decide how the primary tip and the dual tip are combined.
‣

Multiply: This is the default blend mode. When the two brush tips are combined in this mode, theyessentially cut each other out in overlapping areas, where one or both tips have an area of 100%transparency. The less opaque the brush tips are, the lighter their combination.

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Colour Dodge: In this mode, the primary tip cuts out the shape of the dual tip. Where the tip shapes
overlap, within the boundaries of the primary shape, the colour and opacity appear darker.

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Combine: This mode treats the two tips as two different and separate brushes that have the same
colour and follow the same path.

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Paper Texture tab
The Paper Texture tab lets you view and select a paperlike texture for your brush. You can also import paper
textures that were previously exported.
You must select this option to access the tab's parameters.

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How to add a paper texture
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the Paper Texture menu , select Add.

‣

Click the Add Paper Texture button.

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2. In the browser window that appears, navigate to where you saved your texture file.
3. Click Open to import the file into the Paper Texture library.
By default, an imported texture is given the name of the image file.
How to rename a paper texture
1. In the Paper Texture library, select a texture.
2. From the Paper Texture menu, select Rename.

3. In the Rename Texture dialog box that appears, type in the new name for the texture.

4. Click OK.
How to delete a paper texture
1. In the Paper Texture library, select a texture.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Paper Texture menu, select Delete.

‣

Click the Delete

button.

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NOTE: You can delete any texture in the texture library as long as there is no brush preset using it.

How to import paper textures
1. In the Paper Texture menu, select Import.
2. In the browser window that appears, navigate to and select the .xml file.
3. Click Open.
4. In the Import Textures dialog box, select the paper textures that you wish to import. You can import any
available brush tips at the same time too.

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5. Click Import.
The imported paper textures will appear in the Paper Texture Library. You can reuse any of the imported paper
textures to create other brush style presets.
How to export paper textures
1. In the Paper Texture menu, select Export.
2. In the Export Tips and Textures window, scroll down the textures list to the paper textures and select ordeselect any textures to create the list that you wish to export. You can export brush tips at the same timetoo.

3. Click on the Export button.
4. In the Export Textures window that appears, browse to a location where you would like to save the .xml fileand give it a name.
5. Click Save.
How to change the Paper Texture thumbnail display
1. From the Paper Texture menu, select one of the following:141

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Parameter

Description

Small Thumbnail

Reduces the size of the thumbnails in order to view more at the same time.

Large Thumbnail

Increases the size of the thumbnails in order to see the images more clearly.

List View

Allows you to see the name, as well as the thumbnail.

‣Texture Scale: Increase or decreases the size of the paper texture.

‣

Additive: This option layers the texture on top of itself as you scribble overlapping lines in one
continuous stroke. If this option is turned off, areas of overlapping lines from a single, continuous
stroke will appear the same, in terms of darkness and texture, as non-overlapping areas.

‣

Aligned: This option defines the way separate, overlapping strokes behave. If this option is enabled,
the paper texture's position does not change with each sweep of the brush. If this option is disabled,each sweep of the brush produces a different texture position. The texture orientation always stays the
same.

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Select Tool Options
When you use the Selecttool, its properties and options appear in the Tool Properties view.

Lasso and Marquee
Choose between the Lasso•and Marquee

options to change the selection style of the tool.

Click and hold Alt to temporarily switch from the current mode to the other.

Snap Options
You can enable different snapping modes to help you when repositioning drawings using the Select tool.
•

Snap to Contour: Snaps your selection or point to any line you position it on. As soon as you move it
close enough to another line, your point or selection will snap to it.

•

Snap and Align: Snaps the selected anchor point to any existing line while displaying temporary rulers
as a guide that you can also snap your anchor point to.

•Snap to Grid: Snaps your selection following the currently enabled grid.

How to snap to the grid
1. Do one of the following:‣

Select View > Grid > Show Grid to display the grid in the Camera or Drawing view or press Ctrl + '(Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + ' (Mac OS X).

‣

Select View > Grid > Square Grid, 12 Field Grid or 16 Field Grid for your current needs.

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2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Contour Editor
3. In the Tool Properties view, click the Snap to Grid

tool or press Alt + Q.
button.

4. In the Camera or Drawing view, click on the anchor point you want to snap to the grid, drag it to the desired
position and release.

Selecting by Colour

The Select by Colour mode lets you select all the zones and lines in your drawing painted with the same colour
swatch.

NOTE: Only the zones painted with the SAME colour swatch will be selected. If another zone is coloured with theexact same RGB value (same colour), but not painted with the same colour swatch, it will not be selected.

How to select areas by colour
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tool or press Alt + S.
2. In the Tool Properties view, click the Select by Colour

button.

3. In the Camera or Drawing view, click on any zone or line in your drawing.
All zones and lines of the same colour are selected.
4. Click the Select tool again to return to the regular Select mode.
Permanent Selection

The Permanent Selection
option lets you maintain a selection over multiple drawings. Once this option isenabled, the selection zone made using the Select tool will remain as you navigate through drawings of the samelayer and drawings from other drawing layers. This option can be used to simultaneously delete artwork inside oroutside of the selection on several drawings when combined with the Apply to Multiple Drawings option.
Apply to All Drawings in Layer

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The Apply to All Drawings in Layer
option is used to perform an action on all the drawings contained in alayer. For example, you could enable the option to paint a section on all the drawings simultaneously. The Apply
Tool to All Drawings option must be activated before performing the action and will stay enabled only for the next
action.
Apply to Line and Colour Art
The Apply to Line and Colour Art
option uses the concept of Line Art and Colour Art layers. Use this option to
apply an action such as selecting, resizing or erasing a drawing on both Line Art and Colour Art layers, as well as
the Overlay and Underlay layers.
Single Mode

By default, when you draw a selection box in the Camera view, the Select tool will select only the drawing strokesof the current drawing. If you prefer the Select tool to select all the strokes on all layers, you can disable theWorks on Single Drawing
option in the Tool Properties view or disable the Select tool Works on Single
Drawing preference. To do this, go to the top menu, select Edit > Preferences > Camera (Windows/Linux) orStage Advanced > Preferences > Camera (Mac OS X) and uncheck the Select tool Works on Single Drawing
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The Flip Horizontal‣

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or vertically.

From the top menu, select Drawing > Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical.

Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

The Rotate 90 Degrees CW
and Rotate 90 Degrees CCW
degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise.

operations rotate the current selection 90‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Transform > Rotate 90 Degrees CW and Rotate 90 Degrees
CCW.

‣

Press Ctrl + 7 and Ctrl + 9 (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + 7 and ⌘ + 9 (Mac OS X).

SmoothThe Smooth

operation lets you smooth out selected drawing strokes and remove extra points.

‣ From the top menu, select Drawing> Optimize > Smooth or press Alt + Shift + S.
Flatten

The Flatten
operation is used to merge drawing objects and brush strokes into a single layer. If you draw newlines to fix a drawing or line with many brush strokes, it can be useful to flatten them all into a single shape. By147

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default, lines are drawn one on top of each other. If you intend to repaint the lines or modify their shape, it will beeasier if they are flattened.

‣ From the top menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Flatten or pres Alt + Shift + F.
Create Colour Art from Line Art
Lets you use the outline you traced on one of the four embedded layers (line art, colour art, overlay, underlay) andcreate invisible strokes to paint your drawings on separate layers. This provides more inking and painting
flexibility.
You can also configure this option to create the invisible strokes on any of the four embedded layers.
How to create Colour Art zones out of the Line Art content
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, select the artwork to transfer to the Colour Art.
3. In the Tool Properties view or the Drawing View toolbar, click the Create Colour Art from Line Art
ton or press *.

but-

How to configure the Create Colour Art from Line Art option
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

2. In the Tool Properties view or the Drawing View toolbar, Shift + click the Create Colour Art from Line Art
button.
The Configure Line Art to Colour Art dialog box opens.

Parameter

Description

Use rendered version of thedrawing

Renders the drawing and vectorize it to calculate the position of the centrelinethat will produce the colour art stroke.

Maximum Resolution for
rendered image

The size of the rendered image.

Threshold for rendered image

The value of grey processed to create the rendered vectorized arts.

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Fitting error for rendered BeziersThis value represents how precise the fitting of the colour art zone in relation to
the line art will be.

Source layer

Lets you select the layer (Line Art, Colour Art, Underlay or Overlay) you want
the colour art to be created from.

Destination layer

Lets you select the layer (Line Art, Colour Art, Underlay or Overlay) you want
the colour art to be created on.

Clear Destination Art Layer
First

Deletes the content before the colour art is added. This is useful when you
already have artwork on the destination layer.

Perform Line Art to Colour Art
Operation Immediately

Performs the Create Colour Art from Line Art command when you click OK.

Distribute to Layers
The Distribute to Layers
option is used to separate the selected art strokes and send them to new drawing
layers. In the Camera view, once you have drawn your artwork, you can select the strokes you want to distributeusing the Selecttool and click on the Distribute to Layers
button; you can also select Drawing > Distributeto Layers. It will automatically take every stroke from the drawing selection made in the Camera view and separate
them into a different layer for each. If an artwork is composed of several strokes, you must group them using Edit >Group > Group before using the Distribute to Layers option. This option cannot be done from the Drawing view.
Store Colour Gradient
Use the Store Colour Gradient
operation to record the selected gradient’s position. This reuses the storedposition of the gradient when drawing new brush lines or painting colour zones. Enable the Use Stored Colour
Gradient
option in the Paint or Brush Tool Properties view to do this.
Pencil to BrushThe Pencil to Brush

operation converts the selected centre line pencil strokes into contour strokes brush lines.

From the top menu, select Drawing > Convert > Pencil Lines to Brush or press &.

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Merge Pencil Lines

Pencil lines are central vector lines and it might be difficult to match pencil line’s tips properly to align them andmake it look like it is one single line. With the Select tool, you can select several pencil lines and merge them as
one single object using the Merge Pencil Lines
option. The ends of your lines are adjusted to form one single
line.

NOTE: Points must be close enough to be merged. If there is a large gap between the lines, they will not bemerged.

Reverse Pencil Thickness

The Reverse Pencil Thickness
option inverts the thick and thin section on a selected pencil line. This option
will take the thickest size on the line and apply it to the thinnest, and it will apply the thinnest to the thickest.
Offset X and Y
Use the Offset X and Offset Y operation fields to enter specific values and precisely reposition the selectedshape.

1. X: Type a value in this field to reposition your selection along the X-axis.
2. Y: Type a value in this field to reposition your selection along the Y-axis.
3. Up/Down arrows: Use the up and down arrows to modify the value in the X or Y value field.

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Width and Height
Use the Width and Height operation fields to enter specific values to resize the selected shape with precision.

1. Width: Type a value in this field to resize the width of your selection.
2. Height: Type a value in this field to resize the height of your selection.
3. Up/Down arrows: Use the up and down arrows to modify the value in the Width or Height fields.
4. Lock icon: Click the lock icon to lock or unlock the ratio between the Width and Height values.
Angle
The Angle operation lets you to enter specific values and accurately rotate the selected shape.

1. Angle: Type a degree value in this field to rotate your selection.
2. Up/Down arrows: Use the up and down arrows to modify the value in the Angle value field.
When you select a pencil line with the Select tool, additional options appear in the Tool Properties view.
Adjusting the Pencil Line Thickness
Use the Adjusting the Pencil Line Thickness operation field to resize the selected centreline strokes. This operation
is not permitted on contour line shapes, such as brush strokes or shape fills.

1. Minimum Size: Type a value in this field to set the minimum thickness of the selected centreline stroke.
2. Maximum Size: Type a value in this field to set the maximum thickness of the selected centreline stroke.
3. Up/Down arrows: Use the up and down arrows to modify the value contained in the Thickness value field.
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You can adjust the start, end, and joint style of a selected pencil line.
•

Start: Lets you select the style of the start tip, which is the first tip you drew. You can choose between
Round or Flat style.

•

End: Lets you select the style of the end tip, which is the last tip you drew. You can choose between
Round or Flat style.

•

Join: Lets you select the joint style. The joints are where the line curves abruptly. You could also define
the Join style as the corner style. You can choose between Round, Mitre and Bevel style.

Pencil Stencils

Toon Boom Harmony gives you the flexibility to change the style and thickness of your pencil lines even after
they are drawn. You can apply preset pencil stencils or create your own—see Working with Pencil Presets on
page 34.
Adding Texture to a Pencil Line
Pencil lines support texture. Once a pencil line is drawn, you can apply a preset texture or load your own.
Textures are independent from pencil stencils—see Pencil Line Texture on page 39.
Adjusting the Text Selection
When you select text with the Select tool, the tool properties will display the Text tool options on the bottom of theview. You can also press Alt + 9 to display only the Text properties in the Tool Properties view—see Text Tool on
page 178.

Eraser Tool Options
When you're drawing on vector layer and you select the Eraser
Tool Properties view.

tool, its properties and options appear in the

For information on erasing textured lines—see See How to erase textured lines on page 58.
For information on Bitmap Eraser tool options—see See Bitmap Eraser Options on page 156.

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Previewing the Stroke
The Preview area lets you see a preview of the stroke that will be produced after you customize the different
parameters in the Tool Properties view. Click on the Show Extended Properties arrow to display advanced
customization parameters,

Maximum Size and Smoothing
This is where you set the maximum size of your drawing tool.
‣

MaximumSize: Defines the width of the stroke.

‣

Smoothing: Defines the number of control points added to the centre line. The fewer the control points
the smoother (but less faithful) the line.

Eraser Presets
It is a good idea to create and save erasers with precise sizes and parameters in order to save time when drawing
and designing. Toon Boom Harmony provides you with a variety of default eraser styles and allows you to createand save your own.
Eraser presets are created by saving the properties of the current eraser as a preset, in order to reuse it again andagain. You can create a new preset from the Eraser Tool Properties view, but it is better to do it from the Eraser
Properties—see Erasing Parts of a Drawing on page 81.
The Eraser tool uses its own preset list, separated from the Brush tool.

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How to import pencils, brushes and erasers
1. From the Brush menu

, select Import Brushes.

2. In the browser window that appears, navigate to and select the .xml file.
3. Click Open.
4. In the Import Brushes dialog box, select the brushes brushes and erasers you want to import. You can also
import pencils at the same time.

5. Click Import.
The imported brush, eraser and pencil styles will appear in the presets library. You can reuse any of theimported tips to create other brush, eraser and pencil style presets.
How to export pencils, brushes and erasers
1. From the Brush menu, select Export.
2. In the Export Brushes dialog box, select the bitmap and vector brushes and erasers to export, as well as
any pencils.

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3. Click Export.
4. In the Export Brushes window that appears, browse to the location where you want to save the .xml file andgive it a name.
5. Click Save.
How to change the Presets Library thumbnail display
1. From the Brush menu, select one of the following:
Parameter

Description

Small Thumbnail

Reduces the size of the thumbnails in order to view more at the same time. Displays an image of the tool's tip and its maximum size.

Large Thumbnail

Increases the size of the thumbnails in order to see the images more clearly. Displays an image of the tool's tip, its maximum size and its name.

Stroke View

Displays the tool's name, maximum size and stroke preview.

Apply to Line and Colour Art
The Apply to Line and Colour Art

option uses the concept of Line Art and Colour Art layers. Use this option to155

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apply an action such as selecting, resizing or erasing a drawing on both Line Art and Colour Art layers, as well as
the Overlay and Underlay layers.
Tip StyleIf you erase the end of a pencil line or erase a pencil line through the centre, new line tips or line ends are created.
Use the Tip Style option to customize the shape of the new line tips that are created.

Bitmap Eraser Options
The bitmap eraser options are identical to those of the bitmap brush with one obvious exception. Instead ofcustomizing the parameters of a mark or stroke, you will be customizing the parameters for the absence of a markor stroke.
It is a good idea to create an eraser preset with the identical properties of a brush preset and to use them as a pair.
That way, when part of a stroke is erased, its soft textured look is not interrupted with a hard edged eraser mark.

Contour Editor Options
When you select the Contour Editor

tool, its properties and options appear in the Tool Properties view.

Lasso and Marquee
Choose between the Lasso•and Marquee

options to change the selection style of the tool.

Click and hold Alt to temporarily switch from the current mode to the other.

Snap to Contour

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The Snap to Contour

option will snap the selected anchor point to any line you position it on.

How to snap two shapes together
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Contour Editor

tool or press Alt + Q.

2. In the Tool Properties view, click the Snap to Contour

button.

3. In the Camera or Drawing view, click on an anchor point you want to snap to the other shape, drag it on top of
the contour line area and release it.

Snap and Align

The Snap and Alignoption lets you snap the selected anchor point to any existing line while displaying
temporary rulers as a guide that you can also snap your anchor point to.
How to snap and align1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Contour Editor

tool or press Alt + Q.

2. In the Tool Properties view, click the Snap and Alignbutton.

3. In the Camera or Drawing view, click on an anchor point you want to snap, drag it until a ruler is displayed,
position it on the ruler or on the contour line and release.

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Show Contour Editor Controls

Use the Show Contour Editor Controls
option to show the contour editor controls. You can use these controls
to scale, reposition and rotate the selected anchor points.
Apply to Line and Colour Art
The Apply to Line and Colour Art
option uses the concept of Line Art and Colour Art layers. Use this option to
apply an action such as selecting, resizing or erasing a drawing on both Line Art and Colour Art layers, as well as
the Overlay and Underlay layers.
Smooth Selection

The Smooth

operation lets you smooth out selected drawing strokes and remove extra points.

‣ From the top menu, select Drawing> Optimize > Smooth or press Alt + Shift + S.
Split Pencil Line and Join Pencil Lines
When drawing with the Polyline tool, your drawing has an even line thickness. You can use the Pencil Editor toadjust the thickness point by point, but if you want to adjust it quicker, you can use the Split Pencil Line and Point
Pencil Lines options to create segments and apply a pencil stencil to your drawing. Note that if you did not join the
pencil lines on your polyline stroke, the segments between the points will act as separated segments.

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How to split and join pencil lines
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Contour Editor tool.
2. In the Drawing or Camera view, select the contour points you want to split or join.
3. In the Tool Properties view, click on the Join Pencil Lines or Separate Pencil Line buttons.

Pencil Editor Options
When you select the Pencil Editor

tool, its properties and options appear in the Tool Properties view.

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Lasso and Marquee
Choose between the Lasso•and Marquee

options to change the selection style of the tool.

Click and hold Alt to temporarily switch from the current mode to the other.

Maximum Size and Smoothing
This is where you set the maximum size of your drawing tool.
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MaximumSize: Defines the width of the stroke.

‣

Smoothing: Defines the number of control points added to the centre line. The fewer the control points
the smoother (but less faithful) the line.

Adjusting the Pencil Line Style

You can adjust the start, end, and joint style of a selected pencil line.
•

Start: Lets you select the style of the start tip, which is the first tip you drew. You can choose between
Round or Flat style.

•

End: Lets you select the style of the end tip, which is the last tip you drew. You can choose between Roundor Flat style.

•

Join: Lets you select the joint style. The joints are where the line curves abruptly. You could also define theJoin style as the corner style. You can choose between Round, Mitre and Bevel style.

PresetTo work with Pencil line presets, see Working with Pencil Presets on page 34.
TexturesTo work with Pencil Line Texture, see Pencil Line Texture on page 39
SmoothThe Smooth

operation lets you smooth out selected drawing strokes and remove extra points.

‣ From the top menu, select Drawing> Optimize > Smooth or press Alt + Shift + S.

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Pump Pencil Pressure

The Pump Pencil Pressure

option is used to increase the line thickness of a selected area on a pencil line.

Deflate Pencil Pressure

The Deflate Pencil Pressure

option is used to decrease the line thickness of a selected area on a pencil line.

Merge Pencil Lines

Pencil lines are central vector lines and it might be difficult to match pencil line’s tips properly to align them andmake it look like it is one single line. With the Select tool, you can select several pencil lines and merge them as
one single object using the Merge Pencil Lines
option. The ends of your lines are adjusted to form one single
line.

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Reverse Pencil Thickness

The Reverse Pencil Thickness
option inverts the thick and thin section on a selected pencil line. This option willtake the thickest size on the line and apply it to the thinnest, and it will apply the thinnest to the thickest.

Shape Tool Options
When you select a shape tool (Rectangle, Ellipse, Line), its properties and options appear in the Tool Properties
view.
If the Tool Properties looks different than the image below, you maybe on a bitmap drawing layer instead of a vector
drawing layer. If you want to use a shape tool on a bitmap drawing layer—See Bitmap Brush Tool Options on
page 119.

Previewing the Stroke
The Preview area lets you see a preview of the stroke that will be produced after you customize the different

163Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

parameters in the Tool Properties view.
1. Select a brush style from the Presets section. It's a good idea to choose a brush preset that is closest to
the style you want to create.
2. Click on the Show Extended Properties arrow to display advanced customization parameters.

Size
Move the Size slider left to reduce the line thickness and to the right to increase its width.
Adjusting the Pencil Line Style

You can adjust the start, end, and joint style of a selected pencil line.
•

Start: Lets you select the style of the start tip, which is the first tip you drew. You can choose between
Round or Flat style.

•

End: Lets you select the style of the end tip, which is the last tip you drew. You can choose between
Round or Flat style.

•

Join: Lets you select the joint style. The joints are where the line curves abruptly. You could also define
the Join style as the corner style. You can choose between Round, Mitre and Bevel style.

Pencil Presets and Thickness Stencils
Harmony provides a variety of pencil presets and thickness stencils and also lets you create and save your own.
It is a good idea to create and save pencils with precise sizes and parameters when you draw and design for
efficiency and consistency.
A thickness stencil saves the thickness information across the length of the line. When drawing with a thickness
stencil, the pressure sensitivity of the tablet is discarded. A thickness stencil can be used while drawing, orapplied afterwards.
You also have the possibility to apply different textures to your lines by either using the default presets orimporting your own—See Pencil Line Texture on page 39.
You can export the pencil presets that you have created and import those that others have created. This is a good
way for you and project collaborators to keep a consistent look for the project—see Working with Pencil Presets
on page 34

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Draw Behind

When the Draw Behindmode is enabled, the lines you draw will appear behind the art that already exists.

Automatic Filling

Use the Automatic Filling
option to automatically fill your shape with the selected colour as you draw. By
default, the Shape tool creates the outline of an empty shape that you can later fill using the Paint tool. This option isunavailable for the line tool.
Snap Options
When drawing a shape, you can enable different snap modes to help you create your shape.
•

The Snap to Contour

option snaps your shape to any line you position it on.

•

The Snap and Alignoption snaps the selected anchor point to any existing line, while displaying
temporary rulers as a guide that you can also snap your anchor point to.

•

The Snap to Gridsnaps your shape to the currently enabled grid.

Create Colour Art AutomaticallyAs you draw in the Line Art layer, the Create Colour Art Automaticallycorresponding strokes in the Colour Art layer.
Auto-Flatten Mode
When enabled, the Auto-Flatten

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mode automatically flattens the new lines created with the existing artwork as you draw in the Drawing or
Camera view. Brush strokes will flatten with brush strokes and pencil lines will flatten with pencil lines.
Using the Select tool, you can use the middle mouse button to select a segment of flattened pencil line. This
creates a nice finish on the lines and corners of your artwork.

Auto-Close Gap

When enabled, the Auto-Close Gap
mode automatically connects, with an invisible stroke, the pencil lines
you draw close to each other in the Camera or Drawing view.

NOTE: It is recommended to leave this option enabled when drawing with the Pencil tool.

Use Stored Colour Gradient
The Use Stored Colour Gradientoption makes your tool use the previously stored gradient position. Thisway, every new brush line or colour fill will use the stored gradient position.
Line Building Mode

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The Line Building
mode is very useful when drawing long lines and curves in small increments with pencil lines
or the line
tool. As the pencil lines are central vector lines, it may be difficult to align the line tips perfectly tocreate a uniform stroke and close all gaps.
In this mode, you can draw lines in small increments and the tips are merge into one single stroke.

NOTE: This mode only works with pencil lines or the line tool.

Keep Proportion

When the Ellipse or Rectangle mode is enabled in the Tool Properties view, the Draw Circle or Draw Square option
appears. When selecting these options, the shape produced will be a perfect circle or square (as opposed to an oval
or rectangle).
Enabling this option is a good idea if you plan to create many squares or circles. However, if you only need to create
one, holding down the Shift key as you create your shape will maintain the proportion in the same way.

Polyline Tool Options
When you select the Polyline

tool, its properties and options appear in the Tool Properties view.

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Previewing the Stroke
The Preview area lets you see a preview of the stroke that will be produced after you customize the different
parameters in the Tool Properties view.
1. Select a brush style from the Presets section. It's a good idea to choose a brush preset that is closest to
the style you want to create.
2. Click on the Show Extended Properties arrow to display advanced customization parameters.

Size
The Size parameter lets you set the size of the polyline that you will draw.

Pencil Presets and Thickness Stencils
Harmony provides a variety of pencil presets and thickness stencils and also lets you create and save your own.
It is a good idea to create and save pencils with precise sizes and parameters when you draw and design for
efficiency and consistency.
A thickness stencil saves the thickness information across the length of the line. When drawing with a thickness
stencil, the pressure sensitivity of the tablet is discarded. A thickness stencil can be used while drawing, orapplied afterwards.
You also have the possibility to apply different textures to your lines by either using the default presets orimporting your own—See Pencil Line Texture on page 39.
You can export the pencil presets that you have created and import those that others have created. This is a good
way for you and project collaborators to keep a consistent look for the project—see Working with Pencil Presets
on page 34
Snap to Contour
The Snap to Contour

option will snap your selection to any line you position it on.

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As you draw in the Line Art layer, the Create Colour Art Automaticallycorresponding strokes in the Colour Art layer.

option automatically creates the

Auto-Flatten Mode
When enabled, the Auto-Flatten
mode automatically flattens the new lines created with the existing artwork as
you draw in the Drawing or Camera view. Brush strokes will flatten with brush strokes and pencil lines will flatten
with pencil lines.

Stroke Tool Options
When you select the Stroke tool, its properties and options appears in the Tool Properties view.

Draw Stroke as Straight Lines
Enable the Draw Stroke as Straight Lines
option if you want the new strokes you draw to be a perfect straightline. Disable the option if you want the stroke to follow the mouse gesture.
Connect Line Ends
Enable the Connect Line Ends
option if you want the start or end point of your new stroke to connect to yourexisting strokes to make sure no gaps are left in your drawing.
Auto-Flatten Mode
When enabled, the Auto-Flatten
mode automatically flattens the new lines created with the existing artwork as
you draw in the Drawing or Camera view. Brush strokes will flatten with brush strokes and pencil lines will flatten
with pencil lines.
Apply to Line and Colour Art
The Apply to Line and Colour Art
option uses the concept of Line Art and Colour Art layers. Use this option to
apply an action such as selecting, resizing or erasing a drawing on both Line Art and Colour Art layers, as well as theOverlay and Underlay layers.
Smoothness
You can modify the central line smoothness of your line using this option. This parameter smooths the initial
movement of your line. Increasing the value will result in a smoother line with fewer control points. Use the left andright arrows to increment the value by one full unit. Use the Up - Down slider to quickly increment the value.

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Perspective Tool Options
Selecting the Perspective tool displays its properties and options in the Tool Properties view.

Lasso and Marquee
Choose between the Lasso•and Marquee

options to change the selection style of the tool.

Click and hold Alt to temporarily switch from the current mode to the other.

Snap Options•

The Snap to Contour
option will snap the selected anchor point to any line you position it on—see
Contour Editor Options on page 156.

•

The Snap and Alignoption lets you snap the selected anchor point to any existing line while displaying
temporary rulers as a guide that you can also snap your anchor point to—see Contour Editor Options on
page 156.

•

The Snap to Grid

option snaps your selection according to the currently enabled grid.

Apply to Line and Colour Art
The Apply to Line and Colour Art
option uses the concept of Line Art and Colour Art layers. Use this option to
apply an action such as selecting, resizing or erasing a drawing on both Line Art and Colour Art layers, as well as
the Overlay and Underlay layers.
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The Flip Horizontal‣

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or vertically.

From the top menu, select Drawing > Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical.

Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

The Rotate 90 Degrees CW
and Rotate 90 Degrees CCW
degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise.

operations rotate the current selection 90‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Transform > Rotate 90 Degrees CW and Rotate 90 Degrees
CCW.

‣

Press Ctrl + 7 and Ctrl + 9 (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + 7 and ⌘ + 9 (Mac OS X).

Envelope Tool Options
Selecting the Envelope tool displays its properties and options in the Tool Properties view.

Width and Height
Increase the width and height values to add more columns and rows to the deformation grids.

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Lasso and Marquee
Choose between the Lasso•and Marquee

options to change the selection style of the tool.

Click and hold Alt to temporarily switch from the current mode to the other.

Snap Options•

The Snap to Contour
option will snap the selected anchor point to any line you position it on—see
Contour Editor Options on page 156.

•

The Snap and Alignoption lets you snap the selected anchor point to any existing line while displaying
temporary rulers as a guide that you can also snap your anchor point to—see Contour Editor Options on
page 156.

•

The Snap to Grid

option snaps your selection according to the currently enabled grid.

Show Advanced Controls
To display more controls,you can click on the Show Advanced Controls

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Apply to Line and Colour Art
The Apply to Line and Colour Art
option uses the concept of Line Art and Colour Art layers. Use this option to
apply an action such as selecting, resizing or erasing a drawing on both Line Art and Colour Art layers, as well as theOverlay and Underlay layers.
Flip Horizontal and Vertical

The Flip Horizontal‣

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or vertically.

From the top menu, select Drawing > Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical.

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Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

The Rotate 90 Degrees CW
and Rotate 90 Degrees CCW
degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise.

operations rotate the current selection 90‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Transform > Rotate 90 Degrees CW and Rotate 90
Degrees CCW.

‣

Press Ctrl + 7 and Ctrl + 9 (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + 7 and ⌘ + 9 (Mac OS X).

Smoothness
You can modify the central line smoothness of your line using this option. This parameter smooths the deformedlines. Increasing the value will result in a smoother line with fewer control points. The more you increase thevalue, the less details and curves you will get. Use the left and right arrows to increment the value by one full unit.
Use the Up - Down slider to quickly increment the value.

Cutter Tool Options
When you select the Cutter

tool, its properties and options appear in the Tool Properties view.

Lasso and Marquee
Choose between the Lasso•and Marquee

options to change the selection style of the tool.

Click and hold Alt to temporarily switch from the current mode to the other.

Apply to Line and Colour Art
The Apply to Line and Colour Art
option uses the concept of Line Art and Colour Art layers. Use this option to
apply an action such as selecting, resizing or erasing a drawing on both Line Art and Colour Art layers, as well as
the Overlay and Underlay layers.
Use Mouse Gesture
When using the Lasso
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selection type, the Use Mouse Gesture
option lets you automatically delete any extra sections of line inyour artwork by simply dragging your mouse over it.

NOTE: For this operation to work, you lines CANNOT be flattened.

Use Mouse Gesture Breaker Mode
When using the Lasso
selection type, the Use Mouse Gesture Breaker Mode
option lets you draw aninvisible stroke on a pencil line to cut it in two individual objects. Once a pencil line is cut with this option, you will beable to select the two portions independently with either the Cutter tool, Pencil Editor tool or Select tool.

NOTE: This option only works with pencil lines.

Tip StyleIf you erase the end of a pencil line or erase a pencil line through the centre, new line tips or line ends are created.
Use the Tip Style option to customize the shape of the new line tips that are created.
Antialiasing

When drawing on a bitmap layer, lines are no longer clean vector shapes. For the edges to be smooth, a slightamount of antialiasing is used. When using the Cutter tool, you can cut a portion of your drawing with or without

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antialiasing. By default, the option is enabled. If you want to cut your drawing using a hard edge, you can selectthe Antialiasing Off option.
Flip Horizontal and Vertical

The Flip Horizontal‣

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or vertically.

From the top menu, select Drawing > Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical.

Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

The Rotate 90 Degrees CW
and Rotate 90 Degrees CCW
degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise.

operations rotate the current selection 90‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Transform > Rotate 90 Degrees CW and Rotate 90
Degrees CCW.

‣

Press Ctrl + 7 and Ctrl + 9 (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + 7 and ⌘ + 9 (Mac OS X).

Smooth Editor Tool Options
When you select the Smooth Editor tool, its properties and options appear in the Tool Properties view.

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Brush, Marquee and Lasso Smoothing Style
The Smoothing Style options allow you to smooth a portion of your drawing by tracing a smoothing stroke over thezone to optimize or by selecting an area of the drawing with the Marquee or Lasso.
Note that by default, the Smooth Editor tool colour is yellow, it was changed to orange for screen grab clarity.

Show Control Points
The Show Control Points
option allows you to show or hide the Bezier points around lines. When the Bezier
points are displayed, you can see the result of your smoothing and the number of points left on the curve. When it isturned off, only the original artwork is displayed.
Minimum Size and Maximum Size
This is where you set the minimum and maximum sizes of your drawing tool which will produce the thick and thineffect on your stroke. This works with the pressure sensitivity of a pen tablet.
This options is available while using the Brush Smoothingstyle.

‣

Maximum and Minimum Size: Defines the maximum and minimum width of the stroke.

•

Up/Down arrows: Use the up and down arrows to set the minimum and maximum size value.

Smoothness
The Smoothness
impacts the strength of the smoothing result. The higher the value, the more points are
removed and the smoother the curve. The Smoothness range is from 0 to 100; the default value is 20.

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ColourYou can modify the colour of the control points displayed on the artwork while working with the Smooth Editor tool
by double-clicking on the colour swatch.

Text Tool
Use the Text tool's properties to select the font type and other formatting options you want to apply to the text.
If you already wrote your text, you must first use the Text tool and select the text portion you want to format.

Font TypeUse the Font drop-down menu to select a font. OTF fonts are supported.

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Font Style
Use these buttons to select a style for your text:
•

Bold

•

ItalicAlignment
Use these buttons to align the paragraph.
Left

Centered

Right

Justified

Font SizeEnter a size for the text.

179Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Kerning
Use the kerning field to modify the spacing between letters and characters. You can select the Auto Kern option
to set the kerning automatically based on the font’s predefined standard. A negative value decreases spacing
between each character, creating a letter overlap and a positive value increases it.

IndentEnter a value in the Indent field to increase or decrease the indentation on the first line of your text. A positive
value sets the first line of your paragraph farther to the right and a negative value sets it farther to the left.

Line Spacing
Enter a value in the Line Spacing field to decrease or increase the space between each line of text.

Resizing the Text Box
You can resize the text box by selecting your text box with the Text
tool and moving the anchor point right orleft. Using the Select tool will distort and scale your text itself rather than changing the width and height of yourtext box.

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Converting Text into Separate Objects
Text contained in a text field is treated as a single drawing object. You can easily separate the text so eachcharacter becomes an individual drawing object that you can select and modify independently.
How to break a text object
1. In the Tools toolbar, click the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

2. In the Drawing or Camera view, select the text object you want to break.

3. From the top menu, select Drawing > Convert > Break ApartText Layers.
‣

From the Drawing or Camera view menu, select Drawing > Convert > Break ApartText Layers.

Each character is surrounded by a bounding box that you can modify; they remain text objects that you canedit.
4. If you want to convert your independent letter to a complete vector object that you can deform, use the Selecttool to select the letters to convert.
5. From the top menu, select Drawing > Convert > Break Apart Text Layers to break the selection into a regular drawing object, with no more text attributes.
‣

From the Drawing or Camera view menu, select Drawing > Convert > Break Apart Text Layers to
break the selection into a regular drawing object, with no more text attributes.

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Drawing Pivot Tool
The Drawing Pivot
and symbols.

tool lets you set the pivots on your character. You can set the drawing pivots on drawings

Setting the Drawing Pivot for Symbols on All Frames
The Set the Pivot for Symbol on All Frames
option is enabled by default. When you set a drawing pivot on asymbol, all of its cells use the same drawing pivot. This means you do not have to set a drawing pivot on all
frames. Once you set it, it is done.
If you prefer to set a different drawing pivot for a series of cells, you can deselect the option and set your pivots oneach cell or cell range.

NOTE: If you have already set several different pivots on your symbol's cells and selected the Set the Pivot for
Symbol on All Frames option, once you set a new pivot on the same symbol, all of its pivots will be reset and will
use your new pivot.

Snapping

When you drag the drawing pivot around, you can enable a snap option so that when the drawing pivot isreleased, it either snaps to the reference grid, drawing's contour, or aligns with an existing drawing stroke.
Reset Pivot
When you click the Reset Pivot
centre of the Camera view.

option, the drawing pivot of the selected drawing or symbol is reset to the

Copying Pivot on Parent Symbol
When you import new extra drawings, such as hands and mouths, you can use the drawing pivot that was set on
your drawings and report them to the symbol's cells. Use the Copy Pivot to Parent Symbol
command for this.

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NOTE: When you copy drawing pivots to the parent symbol, there is no link between the drawings' pivots and thesymbol's pivots. If you modify the drawing pivot later, it will not link to the symbol. You would need to perform theoperation again. If you need to modify the symbol's pivots, you can do it directly on the symbol's cells.

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Chapter 3: Colour Styling

Once the characters, props and locations are designed, it's time for the colour styling and colour models creation.
This is when the colours and moods are determined. The line models created during the design step are painted andorganized as colour models for the colourists.
Harmony has a great concept of colour palettes. Each character can have its own set of colours that is carriedthrough the entire project called the master palette. If the master is modified, the colours in the entire project are
updated simultaneously.
By doing the colour styling in Harmony, your master palette will be created at the same time, so you do not need touse third party software. Also you will not have to recreate the colour palette again in Harmony. It is possible tocreate this step in an external software, but it is a great time saver to do it directly in Harmony.

NOTE: Throughout this section, there may be slight differences between your interface and the illustrations in thisguide. This is because the images are taken from Harmony Premium.

To create the colour style and colour models, follow these steps:•

Preparation on page 185•

Working with Palettes on page 190•

Colours on page 207•

Painting the Model on page 223•

Sharing the Colour Model on page 225

Preparation
Before painting, you need to organize the colour model scenes and bring in your references. The colour stylingpreparation is done in five steps:

185Chapter 3: Colour Styling•

Colour Model Storage on page 186•

Scene Creation on page 186•

Setting Up the Workspace on page 187•

Naming on page 187

Colour Model Storage
First, you will need to create a storage location for all your models and palettes. The best way to do this is tocreate a colour model scene. There are different possibilities available to structure your designs and colour model
scenes. We strongly recommend that you put all of your colour models in the same scenes. It is important tomaintain a structure for your models so they do not end up scattered throughout the project.
There are four main model categories:

If you have a small project, such as a short or an advertising contract, you can always place all the characters,
props, effects, and locations in the same scene. For large projects such as feature-length productions or series,
you should create four separate model scenes following these categories.

Scene Creation
In order to create colour models, you need to create your scenes.
When working on a paperless or cut-out animation project, if you have designed your characters, props, effects
and locations directly in Harmony, you can paint your models directly in your design scene. You can also create a
new colour model scene and import your designs in that one. Refer to the Fundamentals Guide to learn more
about creating a scene.
If you have not already done so, refer to the Fundamentals Guide to learn about production structure, fileorganization, and how to create a Project root directory. We recommend storing your colour model scenes in theroot directory or in a colour models subdirectory for even better organization.

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A useful way to name your colour model scene is to include the project name, then the colour model type such as
characters, props, effects, or locations, and finally colourmodel. For example, a character colour model scene for
the Adventure project would be named adventure_characters_colourmodel. This ensures that you always
know what scene corresponds to what.

Colour Model Scene Structure
To store your colour models in a scene, you should create one drawing layer for each character, prop, effect, or
location. You should name these according to the model.
You can also load other colour references in the scene to balance your overall colours. For example, if you work in acharacter colour model scene, it's a good idea to import some of the key locations to compare and adjust the colours
so they match well.

Setting Up the Workspace
Now that your scenes are created and structured, you can open the corresponding colour model scene. For the
optimal workspace for inking and painting, set up your workspace with these views:•

Xsheet•Camera•Drawing•

Colour•Model

NamingNow that your models are imported, you can rename them appropriately. You should rename elements (layers) anddrawings corresponding to the model. This will help keep the work organized and make it easy for others to follow.
For example, if there is a black and white character model called Erik in one drawing element and its colour models
in another one, rename your elements to include the character's name. For example, the colour model for Erik's
armour could be named: erik_armour_colour.

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How to rename a drawing element
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet view, double-click on the column header of the drawing element.

‣

In the Timeline view, double-click on the drawing element's layer.

The Layer Properties window opens.

188Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

2. Type in a new name.

How to rename a drawing
1. In the Xsheet view, click on a drawing name.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Xsheet view menu, select Drawings > Rename Drawing.

‣

Press Ctrl + D (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + D (Mac OS X).

The Rename Drawing dialog box opens.

189Chapter 3: Colour Styling

3. Type in a new name and click OK.

Working with Palettes
In animation, specific colours are used to paint each particular character. In order to maintain absoluteconsistency, a colour palette is created for each character, prop and effect throughout the production. This isreferred to as a master palette.
Master palettes contain a colour swatch for each zone to colour with a precise RGBA colour value.
Using a master colour palette has many benefits, including:•

Each character consistently retains their dedicated colours.

•

You cannot accidentally use a colour which is not in the master palette.

•

Standardization and colour consistency throughout the production•

Multiple artists can use the same colour palette and produce the same results.

Toon Boom Harmony uses palettes to hold all the colours needed to paint your elements, allowing complete
control and consistency in your painting process.
A palette is created by assigning a set of colours to each character, prop or effect. You will create a new paletteand add a new colour, known as a colour swatch, for each zone of the character, such as the skin, hair, tongue,
shirt, pants, and so on.
In Harmony, palettes are individual files that you can copy, transfer, and store. Palettes have a *.plt file nameextension—see Palette File Storage.
When a zone on the character is painted with the colour contained in a colour swatch, a link is automaticallycreated between that colour swatch and the zone. This means that if the tint of the colour in the colour swatch ischanged, any zone linked to it will update to the new tint. This is one way that colour palettes can save time andmoney in your production.
Another advantage of this system is that you can create complete palettes for different lighting situations. For
instance, in addition to the regular palette for a character, you could have one for that character in the rain using
colours that are duller and less vibrant than the dry daytime colours, or yet another for using in a night scene.
Using palettes linked to your character in this way allows you to instantly change its colouring to suit the moodand atmosphere of the scene without tediously repainting each element.

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This section is divided as follows:•

Palette Lists•

Palette File Storage•

Creating a Colour Palette on page 195•

Duplicating a Colour Palette on page 199•

Cloning a Colour Palette on page 200•

Importing and Linking Palettes on page 202

Palette Lists
The Colour view has two modes: basic and advanced.

•

Basic Mode

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The Colour view’s basic mode only shows the Colour list. When you open Toon Boom Harmony, you only
see the colours available in the Default palette which contains six basic colour swatches and is
automatically named the same as your scene. For simple projects, you can manage with the default
palette, but for movies, series, or shorts it is recommended that you create palettes for your characters. To
create a palette, you have to switch to the Advanced mode of the Colour view and show the Palette list.
•

Advanced Mode
The Advanced mode displays the list of all palettes that are linked to the scene. To create palettes for yourcharacters, you must display the Palette list.

A palette list is a file containing all of the links to the original palette files. Every drawing layer has a palette list.
The scene also has a palette list. For example, a drawing layer can use three different palettes stored in threedifferent locations, while another drawing layer can use two of these palettes plus another one coming fromanother scene. The palette list keep track of the locations of the palettes.
There are two types of palette lists:•

Scene Palette List
The Scene Palette list is mainly used with cut-out animation, but is also very useful for paperless andtraditional animations. A cut-out character will often be divided into 20 to 30 different drawing elements that
use the character’s master palette.
The palette list is stored at the scene level instead of the Element directory. This way, all palettes linked tothis list will appear in every drawing element created in the scene. There is no need to manually load thepalette in each element.
The Scene Palette list is the simplest one to use. By default, Toon Boom Harmony is set to use only
Scene Palette lists.

•

Element Palette List

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In Toon Boom Harmony, you can switch to Advanced Palette List mode and choose to save your palette at
an element’s level. The Element Palette list is mainly used with traditional and paperless animation. Unlike
cut-out animation, all columns (drawing elements) contain different characters, props, backgrounds, andeffects. The Element Palette list is used when you do not necessarily want all of the palettes for all of yourelements linked in every column.
The palette list is stored in the drawing element’s directory instead of directly in the Scene level. This ensuresthat the links to the palettes appear only in the appropriate element. If you prefer to access a global palettelist, link your palettes to the Scene Palette list.

When you are using several cloned palettes that are related to the same original palette, Toon Boom Harmony uses
the palette located highest in the list to determine the colour of the painted zones—see Cloning a Colour Palette .
How to show or hide the Palette list‣

In the Colour view, click the Show/Hide Palette List View
List area.

The Palette List window opens and displays all your palettes.

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button to expand or collapse the PaletteChapter 3: Colour Styling

How to set the Advanced Palette Lists mode
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences (Windows/Linux) or Stage Advanced > Preferences(Mac OS X).

‣

Press Ctrl + U (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + U (Mac OS X).

2. Select the Advanced tab.
3. In the Advanced Options section, select the Advanced Palette Lists option.
4. Click OK.
How to reorder palettes in the Palette list
Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Move Up or Move Down.

‣

In the Palette list, click the Up

and Down

buttons.

Palette File Storage

In Harmony, palettes are individual *.plt files that can be copied, transferred and stored. When a palette is
created from Harmony, it needs to be stored somewhere. By default, the palette file is stored in the scene
directory in a palette-library folder unless you specify a different location.
There are four locations where you can find palette-library folders:194Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guidel

Element: The Palette Library folder is stored directly in the drawing Element folder.

l

Scene: The Palette Library folder is stored directly in the Scene folder.

lJob: The Palette Library folder is stored in a Job folder contained in the Scene folder.

lEnvironment: The Palette Library folder is stored in an Environment folder contained in the Scene folder.

By default, the palette is stored at the scene level. For simple projects and standalone projects, it is recommended
to keep it as is. If you work with a larger studio, it is recommended to verify with them on the file structure.
This existing structure is compatible with Harmony Server. Harmony’s database has a leveled structure startingfrom the Environment down to the Element. Its client-server configuration allows all data, such as palettes andscenes, to be shared between a series of client machines.

Element Level
Working with Harmony Stand Alone, the Element level is very useful when there are a lot of different palettes. Whena colour model drawing is created, it is stored in its element folder. By storing the corresponding palette file with thecolour model, the colourist can load them both from the same location. This also creates a more organized structure.

Scene Level
Working with Harmony Stand Alone, a palette file can also be saved at the scene level, so that all of the palettes
from the scene are stored together. The palette naming must be structured so the colourist or character builders canfind the correct one. Saving the palettes at the scene level makes it very easy to back up the palettes and retrieve
their location.
The scene level can also be useful for cut-out animation. Instead of creating a colour model scene that includes all of
the characters, props, effects, and location, the colour palette or model will often be directly imported to, or createdin, the character building scene. Just as with a cut-out character building scene, each element uses the same
palette so it would not be efficient to save the palette inside one element. Instead, it is saved at the scene level. This
prevents a palette overload because all of the models are in different scenes. It also allows each scene to have its
own set of palettes corresponding to its model.
When working on a cut-out animation production, it is highly recommended that you work with the Scene level.

Palette Backup
When sharing palettes between scenes, some users may accidentally modify the colours, even though the palettes
are locked by default. That is why it is a good idea to copy and back up your palette libraries and master palette
directories.
When a palette file is copied, it automatically becomes a clone palette, so there will not be any trouble replacing analtered file. Harmony automatically updates all of the files and drawings linked to it.

Creating a Colour Palette
You can create a palette in either Basic or Advanced mode.
By default, Toon Boom Harmony is set to the Basic mode. For simple productions, it is recommended to use the
Basic mode. This setting stores the palettes automatically for you and saves them at the Scene level. When you
use the Advanced Palette Lists mode, you can decide at which level you want to store your palettes: Environment,
Job, Scene, or Element.

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Before you can create a palette in the Advanced Palette Lists mode, you must first set your preferences to
Advanced Palette Lists mode in the Preferences dialog box.
You can remove palettes from your Palette list if they're not needed in your scene. The actual palette file will not
be deleted and you can reimport it in your Palette list later on.
How to set the Advanced Palette Lists mode
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences (Windows/Linux) or Stage Advanced > Preferences(Mac OS X).

‣

Press Ctrl + U (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + U (Mac OS X).

2. Select the Advanced tab.
3. In the Advanced Options section, select the Advanced Palette Lists option.
4. Click OK.
How to create a new palette (Basic Palette Lists mode)
1. From the Colour view menu, select Palettes > New or click the New Palettebutton.

The Create Palette dialog box opens.
2. Enter the palette name according to the model.

3. Click OK.
The palette appears in the drawing element’s palette list.

How to create a palette from the Advanced Palette Lists mode
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawing that requires a palette.
2. In the Colour view, click the Show Palette List View button to display the palette list.

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3. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour view menu, select Palettes > New.

‣

Click the Create Palettebutton.

The Palette Browser: Create Palette dialog box opens.

4. Select the level to store the palette file.
‣

Environment: The palette-library folder is stored in the scene's parent environment folder.

‣

Job: The palette-library folder is stored in the scene's parent job folder.

‣

Scene: The palette-library folder is stored directly in the scene folder.

‣

Element: The palette-library folder is stored directly in the drawing element folder.

When you select a level that has a palette stored in it, the palette names are displayed in the Palette field.
5. Name the palette. There is no need to add the suffix "palette" to the name as it is always recognized as apalette file.

6. Select a Palette List option.

The Scene Palette List is mainly used with cut-out animation. A cut-out character will often be divided in twenty tothirty different drawing elements that use the character's master palette.
The palette list is stored at the scene level instead of the Element directory. This way, all palettes linked to this list
will appear in every drawing element created in the scene. There is no need to manually load the palette in eachelement.

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Chapter 3: Colour Styling

The Element Palette List is mainly used with traditional and paperless animation. Unlike cut-out animation, allcolumns (drawing elements) contain different characters, props, backgrounds and effects. The Element Palette
List is used because you do not necessarily want all of the palettes for all of your elements linked in every
column.
The palette list is stored in the drawing element's directory instead of directly in the Scene level. This ensures thatthe links to the palettes appear only in the appropriate element. If you prefer to access a global palette list, link
your palettes to the Scene Palette List.
7. Click OK.
The new palette appears in the palette list.
How to rename a palette
1. In the Colour view, select the palette to rename.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Rename.

‣

From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Rename.

3. In the Rename dialog box, give the palette a new name and click OK.

How to remove a palette
1. In the Colour view, select the palette to remove.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Remove.

‣

Right-click on the selected palette and select Remove.

‣

Click the Remove Palettebutton located above the Palette list.

If the palette was used in your scene, the zones painted with its colours turn red.

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Duplicating a Colour Palette
A duplicated palette is a simple copy of the original palette. It uses the same names, colour values, but has adifferent ID and is independent from the original palette. This ensures that both palettes are completely independent.
This option is used when there are similar models and you want to avoid recreating and naming all the colours. You
can change the values and the names afterward without affecting the original palette. You can also keep some
RGBA values, such as the eyes, teeth, tongue, inside mouth, etc.
How to duplicate a palette
1. In the Colour view, select the palette to be duplicated.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour menu, select Palettes > Duplicate.

‣

Right-click on the selected palette and select Duplicate.

The Palette Browser: Duplicate Palette window opens.
3. If you are in Advanced Palette List mode, select the palette storage level—see Palette File Storage .

4. In the New Palette Name field, name the palette.

5. In the New Palette Name field, name the palette.
6. Click OK.
The palette appears in the palette list.

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Cloning a Colour Palette

A character usually has only one master palette, although there are times when the characters are placed indifferent lighting conditions and require a different colour shading. The night palette is a popular choice when ascene or sequence changes from day to night. It can be difficult and time-consuming to repaint everything andcreating two independent palettes can be quite complex. As an alternative, Toon Boom Harmony provides clone
palettes.
The clone palette is a copy of the master palette. The colours in each palette have the same properties. The
colours have the same identification number pointing to the same colour zones, but they can have different
names and RGBA values. Depending on the palette (night or day) you're currently using, the painted drawing will
update. So there's no need to repaint the animation. All you have to do is create or import a clone palette (palettestyle).
How to clone a palette
1. In the Colour view, select a palette to clone.

2. From the Colour menu, select Palettes > Clone or right-click and select Clone.
The Palette Browser: Clone Palette dialog box opens.

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3. If you're in Advanced Palette List mode, select the palette storage level—see Palette File Storage on page194.

4. In the New Palette Name field, name the palette. We recommend keeping the "-clone" in the name.
5. Click OK.
The cloned palette appears in the palette list.

6. In the Palette list, select the clone palette you created to offset or blend colours—see Mixing Colours on page
222.
7. From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Tint Panel or right-click and select Tint Panel.
The Blend/Offset Tint panel opens.

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8. Select one or more colours to modify. You can select all your colours by pressing Ctrl + A (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + A (Mac OS X).
9. Offset, blend, or mix the colours using the sliders and increasing the Amount value.

10. Select the Preview option to see a preview of the colours while you adjust them.

NOTE: You can also modify the colours individually with the Colour Picker window.

Importing and Linking Palettes
Before starting colouring work such as ink and paint or even creating new colour models, you may want to load
existing colour palettes to your scene. You can do so by linking colour palettes to your palette lists.
You may encounter a case where only a colour palette is visible when a layer is selected. If you need that palettein a second layer, you can link the palette to the second layer's palette list. A good example would be a scene
where there is a character on one layer and its arm is on another. In order for both layers to access the palette,you must link both Element Palette lists to that palette. If your palette is linked to the Scene Palette list, it will beaccessible by all layers.

202Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

If you created a palette in another project and you want to import it in your current project, you can browse for the
palette file on your computer and add it to your scene. When the palette is imported in your scene, the file is copied in
the project’s directory. It is not linked to the original file.
With Toon Boom Harmony as a stand-alone application, every scene is local to the machine. This means that all of
the scene’s data is only accessible from that particular scene. Palettes are also local to the scene; they can beshared between all drawing layers, but not between scenes.
However, you may want to share palettes across a whole project. Harmony offers that possibility. By default, a
palette is an independent file stored in your scene. This file can be copied, moved, or deleted.
To link a palette throughout an entire project, you need to create a central directory where you can copy all the
palettes you created. Every time you link a palette in an element, it is linked to this folder. If you modify the palette, itwill be updated throughout the whole project.
You will notice that when you create or link a palette, a small icon appears on its left. These icons represent the
palette's link status.
Icon

Description
Indicates that the palette is safe.
There won’t be any problems once the scene is exported. For example, the palette file is stored
in the scene folder and is linked to the Scene Palette List.
Indicates that the palette file is stored in a directory external to the scene’s structure.
The palette file is probably stored in a Master Palette directory on a hard drive external to thepalette-libraries planned for the palette storage. The warning in this case is that if you move your
Master Palette directory to another location, you may loose the palette in your scene.
Indicates that a palette file stored in a level such as Element, Scene, Job or Environment islinked to a Palette list that is not on the same level.
For example, a palette file is stored into the Environment folder and is linked to the Element
Palette list. The palette is shared.
Indicates a potentially dangerous situation.
Problems may occur when trying to export or link to the palette file. For example, a palette file isstored into the element folder and is linked to the Scene Palette list. The issue in this case isthat if you decide to delete the layer containing the palette, it will be lost from your scene.

How to link a colour palette
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Link.

‣

Right-click and select Link.

‣

Click the Importbutton.

The Palette Browser: Link Palette dialog box opens.

203Chapter 3: Colour Styling

2. Select the level where the palette file is stored—see Palette File Storage on page 194.
3. Select the palette list linking level by enabling either Scene Palette List or Element Palette List—see
Palette Lists on page 191.
The palette appears in the Colour view.
How to import a palette into your project
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour menu, select Palettes > Import.

‣

Right-click and select Import.

The Browser window opens.
2. Browse for a palette file located (*.plt) on your hard drive. You will generally find the palettes in your project's palette-library directory.
3. Click Open.
The Palette Browser opens.

204Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

4. If you're in Advanced Palette mode, select the level where the palette file is stored—see Palette File Storage .
5. If you're in Advanced Palette mode, select the palette list linking level by enabling either Scene Palette List
or Element Palette List—see Palette Lists.
6. In the New Palette Name, name the imported palette.
The palette appears in the Colour view and the file is copied in your project.
How to link to an external palette
1. In the Colour view, click on the Create Palettebutton to create a palette to be used as external.

2. Save your scene by selecting File > Save from the top menu or by clicking the Save
+ S (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + S (Mac OS X).

button or press Ctrl

3. On your computer or server, create a master directory. Ideally, this should be created in your Root folder tokeep it within the project directory. You could also place it inside your Colour Model’s subdirectory—see
Chapter 6: Project Organization and File Structure in the Fundamentals Guide.

4. Name the folder appropriately, for example: Joe_master_palette.
5. From your operating system, browse to your Toon Boom Harmony scene and open the palette-library folder.

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6. Select and copy your palette *.plt file to copy it to the master palette directory.

7. Create a new Toon Boom Harmony scene or open the scene where you will link this palette.
8. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the element to link the palette to.

9. From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Link to External.
The Link to External Palette dialog box opens.

10. Click Browse to search for your master palettes folder and select the palette *.plt file you want to link.
11. In the Palette list section, select how you want to load the palette; at the scene or element level.
12. Click OK.
The linked palette appears in the Colour view.
If a palette is outside the scene, the External

206

icon appears beside the palette name.

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

NOTE: To link an element (such as a colour model) to the palette that is stored in the external palette directory, youmust remove the original palette from the element’s palette list. You will then load the duplicated palette into thepalette list using the Link to External command, like you did for the other elements.

Colours
Toon Boom Harmony has some very powerful colouring features when it comes to painting. To paint your drawings,
you will use different colour swatches, unlike some other painting programs where you modify the main swatch eachtime you want to paint with a different colour.

In the Colour view, you choose a different colour swatch for each colour you want to paint in your drawing. You can
add as many swatches as you want. You can also rename them and modify existing ones.

When you modify the colour of an existing swatch, it automatically updates all the zones painted with this swatch
throughout the entire project. The colour swatch has a unique ID number that associates it with the painted zones.
This way, you can change the look of your character at any time without having to repaint it!
This section is divided as follows:207

Chapter 3: Colour Styling•

Adding a Colour Swatch•

Editing Gradients and Textures on page 214•

Colour Display Modes on page 219•

Copying and Pasting Colours on page 220•

Mixing Colours on page 222

Adding a Colour Swatch
You can use several different types of colour swatches, including solid colour, gradient colour and bitmap texture
swatches.

In Toon Boom Harmony, when you click the Add Colour
button, a new colour swatch is created using thecolour of the currently selected swatch from your palette. However, you can set a default colour to be used every
time you create a new colour in your colour palette. This is useful for creating different shades of the same basic
colour.
The default colour is also the colour used when you choose to vectorize images you're scanning into your scene,
however you add the Default colour swatch to your palette in a different way, so it's unique. It has a unique ID
number that makes it easily recognizable from all the other colours in your colour palettes. Being able to change
this colour allows you to change the basic colour of all scanned drawings. This can be useful on more than just an
aesthetic level as sometimes when you go to NTSC or PAL, pure colours, such as pure black, can create
problems.

How to add or modify a solid colour swatch
1. In the Colour view, click the Add Colour

button.

2. From the Colour view menu, select Colours > Edit or double-click on the colour swatch.
The Colour Picker window opens.

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3. To set your colour, do one of the following:‣

In the colour wheel, select a colour.

‣

Enter the HSV or RGB values in the corresponding fields. Select the R,G,B,H,S or V options to change
the look of the colour picking area.

‣

Click the Dropper
button to select any colour on your screen. It can be from the Harmony interface,your operating system or any other open application.

You can also click Multi Wheel Mode to open the Multiwheel Colour window. This displays all the picking
area styles together and also contains a picking undo list. To return to the regular Colour Picker window, click
Single Wheel Mode.

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4. Click on the Shade Scale swatches to modify the shade of the selected colour.

5. Adjust the transparency with the Alpha slider or type the value directly in the Alpha field.

6. Click the Add button to add the current selected colour to the Colour Storage Library, so you can quickly
access it later.

7. Rename the colour swatch in the Colour Picker window or directly in the colour list by double-clicking on
its name.

How to change the default swatch colour for all your colour palettes
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences (Windows/Linux) or Stage Advanced > Preferences210

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide(Mac OS X).
2. In the Preferences dialog box, select the Drawing tab.
3. In the New Colour Pots section, select the Create New Colour Pots Using the Default Colour option. You
can also click on the colour swatch beside the option to change the default colour.
How to add a new colour swatch using the default colour‣

From the Colour View menu, select Colours > New.

A new swatch is added to your palette using the default colour swatch colour. The new swatch created with
the New command will be named New 0.
How to create a gradient colour swatch
1. In the Colour view, select a colour to modify .
2. Do one of the following:‣

Click the new colour and from the Colour View menu, select Colours > New.

‣

Double-click on the colour swatch.

The Colour Picker window opens.

3. Select the Gradient option.
4. Select the Linear or Radial option.
5. Adjust the Gradient arrows to modify the colours.

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Chapter 3: Colour Styling‣

Add extra colours by clicking between the arrows below the gradient bar. Then click on the Colour
Preview to select a colour.

‣

Pull down the arrows to remove them.

‣Move the arrows left and right to modify the gradient distance.

NOTE: To learn how to reposition the gradient zones in your drawings, see Editing Gradients and Textures on
page 214.

How to create a texture colour
1. From the Colour menu, select Colours > New Texture or click the New Texture

button.

The Browser window opens.
2. Browse for a PSD or TGA bitmap file created with a third party software and click Open.
The texture is added to the colour list.

NOTE:
To learn how to reposition the textured zones in your drawings, see Editing Gradients and Textures on page 214.

You can also replace a texture once it is painted. If you decide to make the character’s shirt wool instead of plaid,
just update the texture file in the swatch and the entire project updates. Any transformation previously applied tothe texture’s position in your drawings will be kept.

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

How to replace a texture swatch
1. In the Colour view, select the texture swatch that contains the bitmap texture you want to replace.

2. From the Colour View menu, select Colours > Edit Texture or double-click on the swatch.
The Browser window opens.
3. Browse for the new PSD or TGA bitmap file created in a third party software.

4. Click Open to update the colour swatch.

How to delete a colour swatch
1. In the Colour view, select the colour swatches to delete.

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2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour View menu, select Colours > Delete.

‣

Click the Delete Colour‣

Right-click and select Delete.

‣Press Delete.

button.

If the colour swatch is used in a drawing, the Delete Colour dialog box opens.

3. Click OK to delete the colours or click Cancel to abort the operation.
‣

If you delete colour swatches already in use, the zones painted with them turn red so you can easily
identify them.

Editing Gradients and Textures

If you paint a zone with a gradient or texture colour, you can use the Edit Gradient/Texture tool to modify its
position in the zone. You can move, scale, rotate and skew. If you want to match the colour to the animation, set214Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

the first texture position and copy the Edit Gradient/Texture position. When moving to the next drawing, you canselect the next texture and paste the previous position to continue the modifications.
If you are painting a hand-drawn animation or if your want the Brush tool and Paint tool to use your gradient’s
position, angle and scale settings instead of the default ones, you can store your own settings and reuse themafterward.
This way of editing a texture using the Edit Gradient/Texture tool also works with pencil lines drawn with textured“brushes”. If you then paint your textured pencil line with a gradient, you can do so and then edit both elements
independently at the same time.
How to use Edit Gradient/Texture tool
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, click the Edit Texture

tool.

‣

From the Camera or Drawing View menu, select Drawing Tools > Edit Gradient/Texture.

‣

Press Shift + F3.

2. Click the gradient or texture colour to modify.

A blue selection frame surrounds the selected gradient or texture.

3. Edit the gradient or texture by adjusting the control handles around the selection frame.

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How to store gradient and texture settings
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, select the gradient or texture zone to store.

3. In the Tool Properties view, click the Store Colour Gradientbutton.

How to use the stored gradient and texture settings
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brushor Paint

tool.

2. In the Tool Properties view, click the Use Stored Colour Gradientbutton.

3. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw and paint.
How to use Pencil Editor tool to edit the texture or gradient on a pencil line
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil Editor‣

Press Alt + W.

tool.

2. Click on the pencil line to be modified to bring up its contour envelope.

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3. Select one of the contour points around the envelope and move its position to change the size of the tiled texture or gradient. You can also pull directly on the lines of the contour envelope or play with the Bezier handlesof any given point in order to continue to modify the envelope form.

Expanding the width of the envelope parallel to the pencil line’s central vector will cause the tiled texture to be
stretched. Conversely, reducing the envelope’s width will cause the tiled texture to look squashed.
Reducing the contour’s width perpendicular to the pencil line’s central vector will reduce the number of tiles,
while expanding it will increase the number of tiled images.

This editing technique does not just work on texture fills, but can also be applied to pencil lines drawn with atextured “brush”.
How to use Edit Gradient/Texture tool to edit the texture or gradient on a pencil line
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Edit Gradient/Texture

tool.

‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Drawing Tools > Edit Gradient/Texture.

‣

Press Shift + F3.

2. Click on the pencil line to be modified to bring up the editor controls.

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3. The editor controls delineate a single tile in the texture. For gradients, this is less applicable. Pull on the topof the editor controls to stretch the tiled texture throughout the length of the stroke.
As gradients are parallel to the stroke’s central vector, this will stretch the way that the gradient is
distributed in the pencil line’s envelope. The envelope still acts as a boundary for the texture or gradient.

4. Drag the editor control perpendicular to the stroke. You will feel it glide along the strokes central vector
line. This is another way to resize the texture tile. Instead of stretching or shrinking it vertically, this motion
stretches or shrinks it vertically. As gradients are parallel to the pencil line’s central vector, stretching themvertically gives no visual result.

How to use Edit Gradient/Texture tool to edit the texture and gradient of a pencil line
1. Do one of the following:218

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Edit Gradient/Texture

tool.

‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Drawing Tools > Edit Gradient/Texture.

‣

Press Shift + F3.

2. Click on the pencil line to be modified to bring up the editor controls.

3. Use the top editor controls edit the gradient.

4. Use the bottom controls edit the “brush” texture.

Colour Display Modes
The Colour view has two display modes:
•

List

•

Swatch219

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You can also display the RGB values and names of your solid colour swatches instead of only the name. This
option is not available when displaying the colours in Swatch mode.

How to switch between the display modes
1. From the Colour View menu, and do one of the following:‣

Select Colours > Swatch Mode to display the swatches.

‣

Deselect Colours > Swatch Mode to display the colour list.

How to display the swatch colour values‣ From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Display Colour Values.
The solid colour swatches’ RGB values are displayed between the colour swatch and its name. The
gradient colour swatches will be identified as (gradient).

Copying and Pasting Colours
When you're creating palettes, you may want to copy colour swatches or their values and paste them in otherpalettes to save time. You can also quickly copy a colour value from a palette in your scene to a selected colour
swatch in a different palette.
You can copy a selected colour swatch and paste it as a clone. Since it produces a clone colour swatch, it is
impossible to use the Paste as Clone command in the same palette as you copied the original colour swatch
from.
If you would like to keep a reference file of some colour IDs or use them with custom plug-ins, you can copy thecolour swatch IDs. Here is an example of colour ID: 075cf5b552401130.

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How to copy and paste colours
1. In the Colour view, select one or more colours to copy.

2. In the Colour View menu, select Colours > Copy or press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C (Mac OS X).
3. In the Palette list, select the palette in which you want to paste the colours.

4. From the Colour View menu, select Colours > Paste as New Colours or press Ctrl + V (Windows/Linux) or⌘ + V (Mac OS X).
‣

To paste the colour values of the copied swatch over an existing colour swatch, select Colours > Paste
Colour Values.

How to clone a colour swatch
1. In the Colour view, select the colour swatch you want to clone.
2. From the Colour View menu, select Colours > Copy or press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C (Mac OS
X).
3. In the Colour view, select the colour palette you want to paste the clone into or create a new palette.
4. From the Colour View menu, select Colours > Paste as Clone.
The cloned colour swatch appears in the palette.
How to copy a colour ID
1. In the Colour view, select the colour swatch you want toget the ID from.

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2. From the Colour View menu, select Colours > Copy Colour ID or press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ +C (Mac OS X).
3. Paste the copied value as plain text in the desired document.

Mixing Colours
If you want to modify a series of colours to blend a tint in them or offset their RGBA values, you can use the Tint
panel. You can also create palette styles, such as night and day styles.
How to mix colours
1. In the Colour view, select the palette that contains the colours you want to offset or blend.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Tint Panel.

‣

Right-click and select Tint Panel.

The Tint Blend/Offset panel opens.

3. Select one or more colours to modify in the colour list. To select all the colours, press Ctrl + A (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + A (Mac OS X).

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4. Select Preview option.
5. Select the Offset, Blend, or Mixer option.

Parameter

Description

OffsetOffsets the selected colours by the adjustments made using the HSB and RGB
sliders. Use the Amount slider to adjust the degree of offset. Use the Alpha slider
to adjust the opacity of the selected colour.

Blend

Blends the selected colours with the colour swatch in the top-right corner. Use theAmount slider to adjust the degree of blend. A blend of 100% turns the selectedcolours into the same colour as the swatch. Adjusting the HSB and RGB sliders
affect the swatch colour, which in turn affects the selected colours on the left.
Use the Alpha slider to adjust the opacity of the swatch.

Mixer

Select a Base and Tint colour to form a third colour swatch. Use the slider justbeneath to mix the Base and Tint colours by different amounts. This will affect themixed swatch whether it is selected or not. Select either the Tint or Base swatch
and use the HSB and RGB sliders to adjust its colour. This will affect the mixed
swatch colour, which in turn affects the selected colours on the left.

6. Click Apply.

Painting the Model
Now that you've created the colours and the palette, you're ready to paint your model.

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The colour model needs to be painted in order to adjust the colours with the other elements in the production. You
can paint your model regardless of the colour RGBA and adjust them later when all the elements are together.
Once your palette is created and your model is painted, you can import a key background and other charactersusing the Import Drawings option or the Library to compare and adjust the palettes—see Sharing the Colour Modelon page 225 to learn how to import your background file.

For paperless and cut-out animation, it's a good idea to provide a line-up template with the colour model to show
the scale ratio between the characters, props and backgrounds.

Once your colour model is completed, create a line-up template by pasting one of the production's main
characters, or even just a hand, beside the colour model to show the relative size. This allows the animator,
layout artist, or scene setup artist to retain the correct scaling throughout the entire project when setting theelements in the scene. You can store your template in the Library.
How to paint a colour model
1. From the Drawing or Camera View menu, select View > Switch to Colour Art/Switch to Line Art or pressL.
2. Create your master colour palette—see Creating a Colour Palette on page 195
3. Add new colours to the palette—see Adding a Colour Swatch on page 208.

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4. Select your Paint Bucket

tool. We recommend the Paint Unpainted

tool.

5. In the Colour view, select a colour to paint your drawing.

6. Paint the model by selecting colour swatches in the palette and clicking on your drawing. Note that only
closed zones will be painted. If there's a gap in your artwork, you must close before you can paint it.

7. To separate the lines and fill zones on separated art layers, see Art Layers on page 333.
8. Adjust the colours—see Mixing Colours on page 222.

Sharing the Colour Model
When your colour models are prepared and organized in a colour model scene, it's time to share them. However,since the Harmony scenes are local, the palettes cannot be shared with other scenes. You must prepare templates
from the models and store them in the Library.
The Library is a central repository for all the data which will be reused throughout the production. It can be accessedfrom any Harmony scene; if multiple users are connected to the same network, all machines can access a central
library. These models can be shared among all the users to ensure that everyone has the same set of colours andreferences.

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A template is a set of elements created from a Harmony scene that can be imported into other scenes. It cancontain drawings, palettes, and any other elements available in Harmony.
A colour model template is very simple to make. When a drawing is stored in the Library, the corresponding
palette is attached to it. This means that whenever the colour model is imported from the Library into the scene,
the palette is also imported. To learn more about libraries and templates—see the Harmony Cut-Out Animation
Guide.

NOTE: It is recommended that you add a colour model subfolder to your library.

In the Timeline view, you can create a template by selecting the drawing element's node. This contains all
drawings from the drawing element, palettes, and exposure. A template that was created by selecting the drawing
exposure contains the selected drawings, their exposures, and the palettes.
How to create a template from the Timeline view
1. In the Library, select a folder to store the template. Right-click and select Right to Modify.
2. From the Timeline view, select the drawings, pegs, effects, keyframes, sounds, exposures, and nodes,
and drag them to the Library's folder. Anything that is available in the Timeline view can be stored as a template.

The Rename window opens.

3. Type in a name for the template and click OK.
There is no need to save the library. Everything is automatically stored and saved as soon as it is pasted in
the library.
How to load a colour model from the Timeline or Xsheet view
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a drawing (*.tvg).

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2. Bring the model into the Model view by doing one of the following:‣

In the Timeline view, drag the selected drawing and drop it directly in the Model view.

‣

From the Model View menu, select Use Current Drawing as Model.

NOTE: The Use Current Drawing as Model button is not part of the default Model View toolbar. To add the Use
Current Drawing as Model button to the Model toolbar, right-click in the Model view toolbar and select Customize.
Drag the Use Current Drawing as Modelbutton from the Available Tools column and move it to the right(Toolbar) column. Click OK.

‣

In the Model View toolbar, click Current Drawing

button.

The model appears in the Model view.
How to browse for a colour model drawing on your hard drive
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Model View toolbar, click the Import Model‣

From the Model View menu, select Import Model.

‣

Select File > Import > Colour Model.

button.

2. In the Browser window, browse for any *.tvg drawing file on your hard drive.
3. Click Open.
The model appears in the Model view.
How to load the default models
1. In your scene’s folder, create a new folder and name it: models.
2. On your hard drive, copy the *.tvg drawing file you want to use as colour models in your scene.
3. Do one of the following:‣

From the Model View menu, select Load Default Models.

‣In the Model View toolbar, click the Load Default Model227

button.

Chapter 3: Colour Styling

NOTE: The Load Default Model button is not part of the default Model View toolbar. To add the Load Default
Model button to the Model toolbar, right-click in the Model view toolbar and select Customize. Drag the Load
Default Modelbutton from the Available Tools column and move it to the right (Toolbar) column. Click OK.

How to load a single drawing from the Library view
1. In the Library view, click the template containing the drawing to import in the Model view.
2. Right-click on the template and select Open As Folder.
3. In the Library view’s left side, select the template’s folder and continuing expanding its subfolders until*.tvg files appear on the right side.

4. In the Library view’s right side, select the TVG drawing to import and drag it into the Model view.
How to load a template with multiple drawings from the Library view
1. In the Library view, find the template you want to import in the Model view.
2. In the Library view’s right side, drag the template (*.tpl file) and drop it directly in the Model view.
3. Use the Previous Model
and Next Modelbuttons in the Model View toolbar to view all the drawings contained in the template. This can often be the front, profile, and 3/4 views of a character.

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How to load a symbol from the Library view
1. In the Library view’s left side, select the Symbols folder.
2. In the Library view’s right side, select the symbol you want to use as a model, and drag and drop it into theModel view.

3. Use the Previous Model
and Next Modelbuttons in the Model View toolbar to view all the drawings
contained in the template. This can often be the front, profile, and 3/4 views of a character.
How to clear a colour model‣

In the Model View menu, select Clear Model or press Delete.

How to copy the entire model from the Model view
1. In the Model View toolbar, select the Selecttool.

1. In the Model view, select your model.

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2. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy Drawing Object or pressCtrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C (MacOS X).
2. In the Timeline view, make sure you have the correct layer and frame selected.
3. Select the Drawing or Camera view, then go to the top menu and select Edit > Paste Drawing Object, or
select the Timeline view and from the top menu, select Edit > Paste cells in the Timeline or pressCtrl + V(Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + V (Mac OS X).
The model appears in the selected view.
How to copy part of the model in the Model view
1. In the Model View toolbar, select the Cutter

tool or press Alt + T.

1. In the Model view, use the Cutter tool to create a selection around the part of your model that you want tocopy.

2. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy Drawing Object or pressCtrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C (MacOS X).
2. In the Timeline view, make sure you have the correct layer and frame selected.
3. Do one of the following:‣

Select the Drawing or Camera view and select Edit > Paste Drawing Object.

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Select the Timeline view and select Edit > Paste cells in the Timeline or press Ctrl + V (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + V (Mac OS X).

The model appears in the selected view.

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Chapter 4: Timing

When you create hand-drawn animation traditionally or in a paperless environment, it's important to know how to set
and modify the timing of your drawings.
In a traditional workflow, the person in charge of the digital exposure sheet reproduces the paper exposure sheet
created by the animator. In a paperless workflow, the animator creates and manages their own exposure sheet
directly in Harmony without the need for reproduction.
If you're more of a traditional animator, you will probably work with an exposure sheet. If you're a digital animator,
you may prefer to work with a timeline to visualize your timing. Harmony offers both.
The Xsheet view displays the digital reproduction of a traditional paper exposure sheet used in hand-drawn
animation. You can set the animation sequence's exposure and name the drawings.
The Timeline view is also used to visualize timing, and represents elements and groups of elements as layers.
You can adjust timing in both views; your choice depends on which technique you're accustomed to using.
Depending on your working style, some actions may seem preferable to do in one view instead of another. Many of
the actions you perform in the Xsheet can also be accomplished in the Timeline. This chapter will often show bothtechniques. You can choose which one you prefer.
In this chapter, you will learn how to work on your drawing’s exposure and length. The exposure and animation paths
for symbols are covered in separate chapters.

NOTE: The exposure sheet is not mandatory for cut-out animation. It can be useful for creating characters and parts,
but is not really needed for animation and timing. If you plan to work with cut-out animation, you can still learn usefultips by reviewing the section on exposure sheets.

The basic digital exposure sheet process is divided into the following steps:

Preparation
The digital exposure task is quite simple. There are very few things to prepare in order to get ready.
Opening the Scene
The scene is generally created during a previous step, such as scanning (in a traditional animation workflow), scene
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set up, digital layout, or production organization.
Using the Workspace
The person creating the exposure sheet will need only the Xsheet view to create the digital exposure sheet,although the Timeline view may also be helpful. If you're doing paperless animation, use the Camera or Drawing
view if you want to sketch at the same time.
If you work with this layout often, you can use the Workspace Manager to save it as a workspace,and name it
Xsheet, for example.

While drawing and animating paperless animation, you can use the Workspace Manager to save a frequently
used layout and name it Paperless Animation, for example.
Preparing References

To start an exposure sheet, you need to prepare your references. For traditional animation, you will need toreproduce the animator's paper exposure sheet. If you're working remotely, the studio can scan the paper
exposure sheet using third-party software and send the digital files to be opened and viewed digitally.

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In paperless animation, you will usually create an exposure sheet from the Xsheet view.The information from yourlayout and posing or storyboard will help you approximate how many elements are required in the scene.

Setting the Scene Length
Once the references are ready, you need to set the scene length by adding the right number of frames to your scene.
You can set the global scene length from the top menu.
In the Xsheet and Timeline view, you can add and remove frames from a scene to edit its length.
How to set the scene length
1. From the top menu, select Scene > Scene Length.
The Set Scene Length dialog box opens.

2. In the Number of Frames field, enter the number of frames needed.
How to extend or reduce the scene length in the Timeline view
When you remove frames at the end of a scene to reduce the scene length in the Timeline view, the exposeddrawings and symbols are not deleted. They're still available if you extend the scene afterward.
1. In the Timeline view, drag the scene length bracket:‣

Right: To add more frames to your scene.

‣

Left: To reduce the number of frames in your scene.

How to add frames in the middle of a scene
You can add frames anywhere in the middle of the scene—before or after a selection. If you select a frame row in the
Xsheet view, Harmony will add the new frames before or after the selection, depending on your choice.
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline view, select the frame to which you want to add frames before or after.

‣

In the Xsheet view, select a frame row.

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In the Timeline view, select the frame to which you want to add frames before or after.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Scene > Frame > Add Frames Before Selection or Add Frames After
Selection.

‣

In the Xsheet view, right-click and select Frames > Add Frames Before Selection or Add Frames
After Selection.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Add Frames‣

Press Ctrl + G and Ctrl + H (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + G and Ctrl + H (Mac OS X).

button to add frame after your selection.

The Add Frames dialog box opens.

3. In the Number of Frames to Add field, enter the number of frames needed in the scene.
4. Click OK.

How to add frames at the start or end of a scene
1. In the top menu, select Scene > Frames > Add Frames at Start or Add Frames at End.
The Add Frames dialog box opens.

2. In the Number of Frames to Add field, enter the number of frames needed in the scene.

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3. Click OK.
How to remove a frame or a range of frames to reduce the scene length in the Xsheet view
In the Xsheet view, you can remove any selected frame range, such as the last frame.
1. In the Xsheet view, do one of the following:‣

Select a frame in a given column.

‣

Select a frame range by clicking the first frame’s number and then dragging the selection highlight down to
the last frame to delete.

2. To delete the selected frames, do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Scene > Frame > Remove Selected Frames.

‣

Press Delete to delete the selection.

‣

Click the Remove Frames

button. To remove several frame selections, click the button repeatedly.

If you selected a range of frames, the Warning dialog box may open.

3. To complete the operation:‣

Click Yes to delete the selection.

‣

Click No to delete only the exposure in the cell and not the frames.

‣

Select the Don’t Show This Message Again option to prevent the warning message from being
displayed each time you delete a frame range.

Creating Drawings
Before filling any value or setting any timing or exposure, you need to add different drawing elements.

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Each drawing element is represented as a vertical element column in the Xsheet view and a horizontal element
layer in the Timeline view.
In Harmony, whether you work in the Timeline or Xsheet view, any modification you do to one view will be applied
to both. You can also see your layers displayed in the Node view as nodes.
To start an exposure sheet, you will use drawing elements. Drawing elements are drawing containers. Any image
file, either bitmap or vector, will use a drawing element.
When you add a drawing element to your scene, a folder is added to the scene directory. This folder is named thesame way as the drawing element. Its purpose is to contain all the drawings related to this element. For example,
in cut-out animation, a character can have many heads available. All of the head drawings will be contained in thisfolder, even if they are not exposed in the Timeline or the Xsheet view. There is always a drawing container
connected to a drawing element (layer, column).

NOTE: There are different element types available, such as sound and expression. A sound element contains
sound files. Expressions, Beziers, 3D path, Quadmaps and Pegs are for motion purposes during the compositing
step. It's not necessary to create these types to create your exposure sheet.

You can add drawing elements from the Timeline view, Xsheet view, and the Scene menu.
This section is divided as follows:•

Layer and Column Basics on page 238•

Layer and Column Types on page 239•

Adding Layers and Columns on page 242•

Deleting Layers and Columns on page 245•

Layer and Column Properties on page 246•

Modifying Layers and Columns on page 249•

Duplicating Layers and Columns on page 252•

Cloning Layers and Columns on page 252•

Adding an Annotation Column on page 253

Layer and Column Basics
A layer is linked to a directory, the location where all its drawings are saved. This directory has the same name as
the layer. When a name is typed in a cell ,Harmony searches the layer's directory for the corresponding drawing
to display. If there is no corresponding drawing, a new one is created.
Drawings are exposed in cells and linked to the drawings saved in the layer's directory. When you remove adrawing from a cell, it is not displayed and still exists in the directory.
A drawing that is exposed multiple times (for example, in a walk-cycle) would be linked to the same original
drawing in the layer's directory. If you modify, repaint, or correct the drawing, all exposed drawings with the same
name are updated simultaneously. You must duplicate or create a new drawing to modify a single exposure andretain the others.

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When you create a drawing cycle, all of the repeated drawings are linked to the original files. This means that when
you modify, repaint, or correct a drawing named “1,” all drawings named “1” are updated simultaneously. In order tomodify a drawing independently from its other exposures, you must duplicate the drawing.

Layer and Column Types
A column is also known as a layer. There are several types of layers that you can add in the Xsheet and Timeline
view. Each layer is indicated by an icon to help you differentiate them. Some layers are represented differently in the
Xsheet view.
Drawing Layer

The most common layer type is the drawing layer. Any time you need to create a vector drawing or import a symbol
or image, you can use a drawing layer. You can also create bitmap artwork on a drawing layer.

NOTE: Bitmap images are contained in bitmap layers.

Bitmap Layer

If you import a bitmap images (as original bitmap) in your project, they are inserted in a Bitmap layer. If you choose tovectorize your image when you import, the vectorized object will be placed on a Drawing layer.
When importing a bitmap image, you have the option of encapsulating the image in a symbol. If you place a bitmap
into a symbol, you will be able to mix vector drawings with it on the same layer.

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Camera Layer

You can only have one Camera layer at a time in the Timeline view. By default, there is no Camera layer when
you create a scene. You need to add a Camera layer when you want to create a camera motion.
The Camera layer is not visible in the Xsheet view.

NOTE: If you want to have several cameras with different settings, you can keep adding Camera layers in yourTimeline view (however, only one will ever be visible at a time as you can only have one camera at a time in yourtimeline). To switch to a different camera, select Scene > Camera and select another camera layer.

Effect Layer

To enhance the look of your scene, you can add effect layers and attach your drawings to them.
In Harmony, there is a series of effect nodes in the Node Library view.
When you select the Effect layer in the Timeline view, the effect’s parameter columns are displayed in the
Functions section of the Xsheet view.
Colour-Card Layer

The Colour-Card layer is used to add a plain colour background to a scene. By default, your scene has nobackground colour and if you render it as a QuickTime movie or image sequence, it will have a black background.
This layer is not visible in the Xsheet view.
Group Layer

A Group layer can be used to organize the Timeline view. You can drag and drop other layers onto a Group layer
and then collapse the Group layer to hide these other layers from view.
If you create the Group layer in the Timeline view.

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Peg Layer

A Peg layer is a trajectory or motion path layer that does not contain drawings. It can be attached to any drawing
layer, cut-out puppet, or other peg layers; they will all follow the trajectory you set in the Peg layer.
When you select the Peg layer in the Timeline view, the peg’s function columns are displayed in the Functions
section of the Xsheet view.
Quadmap Layer

A Quadmap layer can be described as a deformation transformation layer that does not contain drawings. This canbe attached to any drawing layer, cut-out puppet, or even other Peg layers. They will all follow the deformation you
set in the Quadmap layer.
When you select the Quadmap layer in the Timeline view, the Quadmap’s function columns are displayed in the
Functions section of the Xsheet view.
Sound Layer

You can import sound files to add dialog and sound effects to your project. The sound layer will be added to yourTimeline and Xsheet view when you import a sound file in your scene.
In the Xsheet view, the Sound layer is a dark grey colour.

Advanced Column Types
In the Xsheet view, you can add several advanced column types to create particular animation paths. When you
create these columns, they are not linked automatically to any particular drawing layer. You can create a motion pathusing these columns and then link or unlink several drawing or peg layers to it.
Advanced column types include:•

Timing•

3D Path•

3D Rotation•

Bezier Curve•

Expression•

Annotation

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Adding Layers and Columns
There are different ways to add a drawing layer to your project. By default, when you create a new scene there is
one Drawing column in the Xsheet view and one corresponding Drawing layer in the Timeline view.
You can add an element for each drawing and it will appear as a column in the Xsheet view or as, a layer in theTimeline view, and a node in the Node view.
How to add a drawing element from the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, click the Add Drawing Layer(Mac OS X).

button or press Ctrl + R (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + R

The Add Drawing Layer window opens.

2. In the Name field, name your new layer.
3. Set the Line Art and Colour Art options to Vector to get a vector layer or to Bitmap to have a bitmap layer.
4. Do one of the following:‣

Click Add to add a first layer and keep the window open to add more layers.

‣

Click Add and Close to add a new layer and close the window.

A new drawing layer is added to the Timeline view.
How to add a drawing element from the top menu
1. From the top menu, select Insert > Drawing.
The Add Drawing Layer dialog box opens.

2. In the Name field, type a relevant element name and click OK.
The new drawing element appears in your scene.

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How to add a drawing element from the Xsheet view
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet menu, select Columns > Add Columns.

‣

Click the Add Columns‣

Press Shift + C.

button.

The Add Column dialog box opens.

2. In the Name field, type a relevant element name.

3. In the Type field, select Drawing.

4. To complete the operation:‣

Click OK to add your new layers and close the dialog box.

‣

Click Apply to add your new layers and keep the dialog box open to add column.

‣

Click Close to cancel the operation.

The new drawing element appears in the Timeline, Xsheet and Node views—see Layer and Column Types on
page 239.
How to create a column using the advanced Add Column dialog box
You can use the advanced Add Column dialog box to make more file format and field size options available when
you insert a column.
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences (Windows/Linux) or Stage Advanced > Preferences (MacOS X) and select the Advanced tab.
2. In the Advanced Options section, select the Advanced Element Mode option to access the advanced Add
Column dialog box.

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3. Click OK.
4. In the Xsheet menu, select Columns > Add Column or press Shift + C.
The Add Column dialog box opens.

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5. In the Name field, type the new column’s name.
6. In the Type menu, select the Drawing type.
7. In the Element section, select one of the following:‣

Create New Element: Creates an independent column with its own drawing folder.

‣

Use Existing Element: Uses drawings from an existing column in the new column. Both columns will be
attached to the same set of drawings, but their timing will remain independent from one another. If you
modify one of the drawings, it will be modified in both columns. This is the same principle as the Clone
column.
In the Name menu, select the column to which you want to link your new column.

8. If you selected the Create New Element option:‣

Deselect the Vector option if you want your layer to contain bitmap images or enable it if you want thelayer to contain vector drawings. Most of the time, the Vector option will be enabled.

‣

If you deselected the Vector option, from the Bitmap Format list, select which type of bitmap image youwant to insert in the column. Select the SCAN type if you are planning to scan drawings using the Toon
Boom Harmony Scan module.

‣

If you deselected the Vector option and you chose the SCAN type, from the Scan Type menu, selectwhat kind of scanning you want to achieve.

‣

In the Field Chart field, when importing traditional animation, indicate the size of paper on which theanimation or background was drawn. If you are not using perforated animation paper, leave the 12 field
default value as is.

9. Do one of the following:‣

Click OK button to create the new column and close the dialog box.

‣

Click Apply to create the new column but keep the dialog box opened to create other new columns.

Deleting Layers and Columns
You can delete an element in the Timeline view or Xsheet view.
How to delete layers in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select the layers to delete.

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2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline’s Layer toolbar, click the Delete Layers‣

Right-click on the selection and select Delete.

button.

How to delete columns in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet view, select the columns to be deleted by clicking on their header.

2. Do one of the following‣

Right-click on the selection and select Delete Columns.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Delete Columns‣

Press Delete.

button.

The Confirm Delete dialog box opens.

‣

Select the Delete Drawing Files and Element Folder option if you want to delete the drawings andfolders linked to the selected column.

3. To complete the operation:‣

Click OK to delete the selected layers.

‣

Click Cancel to cancel the operation.

The Warning dialog box may open.

4. Do one of the following:‣

Click Yes to delete all the frames from your scene.

‣

Click No to keep the frames in your scene.

‣

Select the Don’t Show This Message Again option if you do not want the dialog box to display again
in the future.

Layer and Column Properties
Each element has its own set of properties that you can modify, including effect and peg layers.

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If you want to modify an element’s properties, you can display the properties of a selected layer in the Timeline viewor selected node in the Node view. If you're working with the Xsheet, you can display its properties as well. You candisplay a layer's properties as a window or as a view of its own.
The Layer Properties editor allows you to:•Rename the layer•

Enable or disable the layer•

Lock the layer•

Change the track colour•

Activate the onion skin preview•

Adjust the positioning and animation parameters•

Adjust many other advanced parameters

The Column Properties editor allows you to:•Rename the layer•

Enable or disable the layer

How to display a layer's properties
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Layer Properties view is not part of your workspace, from the top menu, select Windows > Layer
Properties. In the Timeline view, select a layer‣

In the Timeline view, double-click on a layer.

‣

Press Shift + E.

The properties display.

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How to display a column's properties in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet view, do one of the following:‣

Double-click on a column header.

‣

Right-click on a column header and select Column Editor.

The properties for the column are displayed.

2. (Optional) To view additional properties, select Edit > Preferences from the top menu.
3. In the Preferences dialog box, select the Advanced tab, then select the Advanced Element Mode
option.

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4. In the Xsheet view, double-click on a column header.
Additional properties for the column are displayed.

Modifying Layers and Columns
Once you add layers and columns to your project, you can modify their properties, names, or ordering.
You can change the order of your elements in the Timeline view and Xsheet view. When you change the order ofyour elements in one view, the other one is updated.
The Element Manager window lets you add, delete or modify elements (drawing folders) in your scene. If you havedrawing folders that are not linked to a column in your scene, use the Element Manager to delete them if needed.
How to rename a layer in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, double-click on the name of the layer to rename.
2. In the Name field, rename the layer and press Enter/Return.

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How to rename a layer in the Layer Properties editor
1. In the Timeline view, double-click anywhere on the layer except the layer name to rename.
The Layer Properties editor opens.
2. In the Name field, rename the layer.

3. Click Close.
How to rename a column
1. In the Xsheet view, double-click on a column name. Do not click on the drawing folder name that thecolumn is linked to (this also appears in the column header just below the column name).
The Drawing dialog box opens.

2. In the Name field, rename the column.
3. Click OK.
How to reorder layers in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select the layers to move.
2. Drag the selection to the new location.
3. Do one of the following:‣

Drop the selection on an existing layer to make it a child of another element layer.

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Drop it between the existing layers. Timeline layers that are located above the selection are displayed in
front it. Layers located under it in the Timeline View are displayed behind it.

How to reorder columns in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet view, click on the column’s header with the middle mouse button.
2. Drag the column to its new position.

How to use the Element Manager‣ From the top menu, select Scene > Element Manager.

Parameter

Description

Elements

Elements

Delete Elements

Deletes the selected elements.

Delete Elements and Directories

Deletes the selected layer and its directories(drawing folder).

Add/Modify Element
Name

Add/Modify Element
Type in a new name in this field to create anelement or to rename the selected element.

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Parameter

Description

Vector

Select this option if the new element is a vector
drawing or if you want to enable the parameters on
the selected element in the Elements list.

Bitmap Format

Lets you select the file format of the bitmap layer.

Scan TypeIf you're planning to scan elements with the Toon
Boom Harmony Scan module, select the scan
type from the list.

Field Chart

If you're importing traditional animation, select thesize of the paper on which the animation was
drawn.

Add

Creates a new element with the current parameters entered in the Add/Modify Element section.

ModifyApplies the parameter changes made to the selected element.

Duplicating Layers and Columns
Duplicating an element provides you with a copy of the drawings and their exposure. You can modify anything
you want in the duplicated element without affecting the original one.
How to duplicate an element
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, click the layer or column to duplicate.

2. Do one of the following:‣(Xsheet) Right-click on the column and select Duplicate Selected Columns.

‣(Xsheet) In the Xsheet menu, select Drawings > Duplicate Drawings.

‣(Timeline) Right-click on the layer and select Duplicate Selected Layers.

‣(Timeline) In the Timeline menu, select Layers > Duplicate Selected Layers.

The new duplicated layer or column appears.

Cloning Layers and Columns
Cloning a layer or column provides you with a copy of the selected element that uses the same drawings as theoriginal. For example, if you modify a drawing in the cloned or original column, it is updated in both columns.
You can choose whether or not to copy the column timing to the cloned columns.
•

You can modify the column timing independently from each other, but the drawings remain linked.

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You can copy the columns timing, so drawings and timings remain linked.

You can clone selected nodes from the Node view in the same way.
This is useful when you want to reuse a hand-drawn animation but have different timings.
How to clone an element
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the layer or column to clone.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Clone: Drawings Only to clone only the layer or column drawings.

‣

From the Timeline menu, select Layers > Clone Selected Layers: Drawings Only.

‣

From the Xsheet menu, select Columns: Clone Selected Columns: Drawings Only.

The new cloned layer or column appears.

Adding an Annotation Column
The annotation columns are useful for marking actions, corrections or other information related to your animation thatyou want to draw or write. This way, you can print your Xsheet, take it back to your animation table and work withthe annotations.
Before you can draw in the Annotation column, you must first activate the Enable Drawing option to activate theDrawing mode. Pen tablet pressure sensitivity is not supported in the annotation column.

In the annotation column, you can type in your notes and relevant information, as well as draw sketches and ideasthat will be useful in producing your animation.
Typing in an annotation column is independent from the Drawing mode. You can be in either mode and the typing will
work. To learn about typing values in the Xsheet view, see Typing Exposure on page 1.
You can erase part or all of the annotation column’s text and drawn annotations. Annotations that you type in cannot
be erased using this method.
You can change the pen size and colour when you draw in the annotation column.
When working with the annotation columns, it is useful to display tick marks on odd-numbered frames.

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To display the tick marks, you must run a short script.
If you scanned your paper exposure sheet’s annotations or if you need to place some pictures or drawings in the
Annotation columns, you can easily import them.
How to add an annotation column
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet menu, select Columns > Add Columns.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Add Columns‣

Press Shift + C.

button.

The Add Column dialog box opens.

2. In the Name field, type in an appropriate name.
3. From the Type list, select Annotation and click OK.
The new column appears.
How to draw in the annotation column
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet menu, select Annotation > Enable Drawing.

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In the Annotation column header, click the icon in the upper-right corner to cycle through the icons until theBrushicon is displayed.

The Drawing mode is enabled.
2. To draw in an Annotation column, simply use your mouse or pen tablet.

How to type in an annotation column
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the selected cell, press Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X).

‣

In the selected cell, hold down Ctrl + Shift + click (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Shift + click (Mac OS X).

2. In the selected cell, type the desired text.

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How to erase part of a drawn annotation using Erasing mode
1. In the annotation column header, click the icon in the upper-right corner to cycle through the icons until theErasericon is displayed.
2. In the column, click and drag the cursor on top of the drawn annotation to erase parts of it.

NOTE: When using a pen on a tablet, you MUST flip your pen to the eraser side for the eraser towork.

How to change the pen width
1. In the Xsheet menu, select Annotation > Pen Width and do one of the following:‣

Select a pen width preset.

‣

Select Change Current to display the Pen Width dialog box. In the Pen Width field, type the numberof pixels for the pen size and click OK.

How to change the pen colour
1. In the Xsheet menu, select Annotation > Change Pen Colour.
The Select Colour dialog box opens.

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2. Choose a new colour.
3. Click OK.
How to display tick marks
1. From the top menu, select Windows > Script Editor.
2. From the Script Editor menu, select File > New Script.
3. Type in a name for your script and click OK.
4. In the File list, select the script you created.
5. On the right side of the view, type the following script:
function display_tick_marks(){
preferences.setBool("XSHEET_ANNOTATION_FRAME_MARKER", true);MessageLog.trace( preferences.getBool("XSHEET_ANNOTATION_FRAME_MARKER", false));}
6. Click Verify.
The script is verified.
7. From the Script Editor menu, select Play/Debug > Run.
A dialog box opens with your script selected in the Files column.
8. In the Functions column, select display_tick_marks and click OK.
Tick marks appear on odd frames in the Annotation column. If you do not see tick marks, close and restart
Harmony.

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How to turn off the display of tick marks
1. Follow steps 1 to 5 of How to display tick marks and use the following script:{
preferences.setBool("XSHEET_ANNOTATION_FRAME_MARKER", false);
MessageLog.trace( preferences.getBool("XSHEET_ANNOTATION_FRAME_MARKER", false));}
2. Follow steps 6 to 8.
All tick marks are removed from the Annotation column.
How to import annotation files
1. In the Xsheet view, select the first cell in the Annotation column where you want the imported image tostart.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click on the cell and select Annotation > Import File.

‣

From the Xsheet menu, select Annotation > Import File.

3. Browse for the bitmap image to import.
4. Click Open.
The image appears in the Annotation column.

Filling Exposure
Harmony provides different tools to fill in exposures and values, create cycles, and set increments.
This section is divided as follows:•

Filling Exposure Mode on page 259•

Typing Exposure on page 260•

Holding Exposure on page 261

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Extending a Single Exposure on page 262•

Extending an Exposure Sequence on page 263•

Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings on page 265•

Dragging Cells on page 266•

Increasing and Decreasing Exposure on page 269•

Inserting Blank Cells on page 272•

Setting the Exposure on page 273•

Filling a Selection with a Single Exposure on page 274•

Filling a Selection with a Sequence on page 275•

Filling a Selection Randomly on page 277•

Filling Empty Cells on page 278•

Deleting Exposure on page 271•

Creating Cycles on page 279•

Managing Key Exposures on page 283

Filling Exposure ModeIn the Xsheet view, you can fill columns using two different filling modes: Overwrite or Insert. These modes control
the filling behaviour. The Timeline view only uses the Overwrite mode.
By default, the Xsheet view is set to Overwrite mode. Adding a new value or a new value sequence overwrites
existing ones. The existing timing sequence remains in the same place and is not pushed down the column.

The Insert mode is the opposite of the Overwrite mode. When you add a new value or a new value sequence overexisting ones, the new values are inserted between the old ones. The existing timing sequence is pushed down thecolumn.

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How to switch between Overwrite and Insert modes
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the bottom-right corner of the Xsheet view, click Overwrite/Insert.

‣

Press I.

Typing Exposure
To fill in your exposure, you can type the values directly in the Xsheet view.
If you want to type an exact drawing name or value in the Timeline view, you must use the Parameters section of
the Timeline.

NOTE: You can only use alphanumeric values. (0-9, a-z, underscore (_) and dash (-)).

How to type a value in the Timeline view
1. In the Drawing Substitution field, double-click to edit the field and type the name of the drawing you want tocreate.

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2. Press Enter/Return to validate the value.

How to type values in the Xsheet view
1. In an Xsheet column, double-click on a cell.

2. Type a value or drawing name in the cell.

3. Press Enter/Return to move to the next cell.

4. Press Esc to exit the typing mode and return to normal mode.

Holding Exposure
Drawings in an animation project are often exposed for more than one frame. The most common exposure of adrawing is two frames. In the industry, this type of exposure is known as animation in double frames or animation on
twos. A drawing can also be exposed for three, four, or five cells and so on. To prevent mistakes and save time, you
can hold cells automatically as you type in the Xsheet view.

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How to hold exposure
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet menu, select Exposure > Hold Exposure > Hold 2 Cells.

‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Hold Exposure > the desired option.

2. Type a value or drawing name in the cell.
‣Press Enter/Return to move on to the next cell.

‣Press Esc to quit the typing mode.

Extending a Single Exposure
Extending the exposure lets you select a cell that contains a value and pull it down to the desired frame.
How to extend a cell exposure gesturally
1. In the Xsheet view, select the red arrow in the cell’s right side. Make sure you see the drag down
cursor.

2. Pull down the selected cell to the desired frame.

NOTE: The red selection box must be visible when releasing the cursor. If not, the action isconsidered cancelled.

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How to extend a sequence from the top menu
1. Select a cell and do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Extend Exposure.

‣Press F5.

The Extend Exposure dialog box opens.
2. Enter the frame number you want to extend the cell to.

Extending an Exposure Sequence
When working with a sequence that contains only numbers, you can extend an exposure sequence in a similarmanner to extending a single exposure.
How to extend an exposure to create a sequence
1. In the Xsheet view, select a cell containing a number.
2. In the selected cell, click the red arrow on the cell’s right side. Make sure to see the drag down

3. Hold down the Shift key. Make sure a plus sign (+) appears.
4. Pull down the selection box to the desired frame.

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NOTE: The red selection box must be visible when releasing the cursor. If not, the action isconsidered cancelled.

5. First release the Shift key, then release the mouse button.

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Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings
When drawing on a blank frame you can automatically create a new drawing and extend the timing from the previous
exposed drawing.
In the following example, a cell is selected on the timeline for creating a new drawing in image A. In image B, theprevious exposure does not extend to the new drawing, while in image C, it does.

How to extend the exposure of previous drawings
1. Open the Preferences dialog box by doing one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences.

‣

Press Ctrl + U (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + U (Mac OS X).

The Preferences dialog box opens.
2. Select the Exposure Sheet tab.

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Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

3. In the Drawing Creation section, select the Extend Exposure of Previous Drawing option.

4. On the left side of the Timeline view, select a cell and create a new drawing.
The previous exposure automatically extends to the beginning of the new drawing.

Dragging Cells
To readjust your timing, you can drag one or more cells to a new location. You can drag a cell to any other frame inthe same column or into another column.
You can turn off the Gestural Drag mode for the Xsheet view to prevent drawings from being dragged from one
location to another. This feature does not apply to Annotation columns.
How to drag a cell to another location in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select one or more cells to move.

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2. Drag the cells to the new location.

3. Drop the selection by doing one of the following:‣

Drop by simply releasing the mouse or pen.

‣

Hold Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) while dropping the selection to copy the cells. The original
cells will not be moved.

‣

Press Shift while dropping the selection to insert them between existing frames.

How to drag a cell to another location in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet view, select one or more cells.

2. In the Xsheet view, position the pointer over the small dotted area267

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Chapter 4: Timing

Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

3. Drag the selection to any other cell in the same column or in another column.

4. Do one of the following:‣

Drop the selection to overwrite the existing cells.

‣

Hold down Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) while dropping the selection to copy the cells. The
original selection will not be moved.

‣

Press Shift while dropping the selection to insert it between existing frames.

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How to turn off the Gestural Drag mode
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet view, right-click and deselect Gestural Drag Mode.

‣

From the Xsheet menu, select Edit > Gestural Drag Mode‣In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Toggle Gestural Drag Mode
toolbar to display it).

button (you may have to customize the

The dragging pad disappears on selected cells when the Gestural Drag mode is off.

Increasing and Decreasing Exposure
Once a value is entered in the Timeline or Xsheet view, you can increase and decrease its exposure.
Increasing the exposure adds one more exposure to a selected cell; repeating this action adds an extra cell eachtime. This is an efficient way to extend a drawing's exposure and is always set in Insert mode. Increasing an
exposure pushes the existing exposure forward.
Decreasing the exposure removes one exposure from a selected cell and pulls any cells following it to the beginningof selection.
How to increase exposure
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell.

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2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Increase Exposure.

‣In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Increase Exposure‣

At the bottom-right corner of the Xsheet view, set the number of cells over which the drawing will be
exposed.

‣Right-click and select Exposure > Increase Exposure.

‣Press +.

button.

How to decrease exposure
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Decrease Exposure.

‣In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Decrease Exposure‣

At the bottom-right corner of the Xsheet view, set the number of cells over which the drawing will be
exposed.

‣Right-click and select Exposure > Decrease Exposure.

‣Press -.

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How to use the Clear Exposure and Pull feature
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a range of cells.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Clear Exposure and Pull.

‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Clear Exposure and Pull.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Clear Exposure and Pullbutton.

The exposure is reduced by the selected number of cells.

Deleting Exposure
You can delete a drawing’s exposure in several ways. When you delete a drawing’s exposure from the Timeline or
Xsheet view, you are not deleting the actual drawing file. You can always retrieve it by typing its name again in acell.
You can delete the exposure in a selected cell range or delete the entire exposure of a drawing exposed over several
cells. Note that you can also delete the exposure for drawings inside a collapsed group.
How to delete selected exposures
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the exposure you want to delete.
2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Delete.

‣Press Delete.

How to clear the entire exposure of a drawing
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell of a drawing exposed over several cells.
2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Clear Exposure.

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Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings‣

In the Timeline view, right-click and select Exposure > Clear Exposure.

‣In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Clear Exposure
display it).

button (you may have to customize the toolbar toInserting Blank Cells
You can place an empty cell between other cells.
How to insert blank cells
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell in which you want to insert a blank cell.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Insert Blank Cell.

‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Insert Blank Cell.

‣In the Timeline or Xsheet toolbar, click the Insert Blank Cell
the toolbar to display it).

‣Press Shift + J.

A blank cell is inserted.

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How to clear a selected cell range without changing the exposure and timing
1. In the Xsheet view, select a frame range to clear.

2. Right-click and select Clear.

Setting the Exposure
You can easily increase or decrease the exposure for a selected cell range.
How to set the exposure
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell range on which you want to set the exposure.

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2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Set Exposure to > Set Exposure to 1, 2, 3, or Set
Exposure.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click one of the Set Exposure
customize the toolbar to display them).

‣

In the Xsheet view, right-click and select Exposure > Set Exposure to > Set Exposure to 1, 2, or 3,
or Set Exposure.

buttons (you may have to

3. If you chose the Set Exposure option, the Set Exposure dialog box opens. Enter the number of frames you
want the drawings to display and click OK.

The new timing is displayed in the Xsheet view.

Filling a Selection with a Single Exposure
You can fill the same value over an entire selection. The selection can be over one cell, a cell range in one
column, a cell range over many columns, an entire column, or many columns. You can use numbers, words,
letters, or any alphanumeric value.

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How to fill a selection with a single exposure
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell range.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Fill Selection.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Fill Selection
it).

‣Press Ctrl + T (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + T (Mac OS X)).

button (you may have to customize the toolbar to display

The Fill Selection dialog box opens.

3. In the Value field, type the desired value.
4. To insert a key exposure in the frame following the last cell in the selection, select the Add Key Exposure
After option. Otherwise, leave it deselected.
5. Click OK.

Filling a Selection with a Sequence
You can create a numbered sequence over a selection. The sequence can be forward, backward, single, double orhigher increment, as a cycle, and so on. The selection can be over one cell or a cell range in one column or more oran entire column or many entire columns.

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How to fill a selection with a sequence
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell range.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Sequence Fill.

‣

In the Timeline view, right-click and select Exposure > Sequence Fill.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Sequence Fill
display it).

‣Press Ctrl + M (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + M (Mac OS X)).

button (you may have to customize the toolbar to

The Sequence Fill dialog box opens.

3. In the Starting Value field, type the first number in the sequence.
4. In the Increment field, type the number by which the drawing number will increase from frame to frame. For
example, an increment of 1 gives you: 1-2-3-4; an increment of 2 gives you: 1-3-5-7; and -2 gives you
this: 8-6-4-2.

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Filling a Selection Randomly
You can fill in random values over a selection. You can give a maximum and a minimum value and create a range for
Harmony to choose the random values from. The selection can be over one cell or a cell range in one column or moreor an entire column or many entire columns.
How to fill cells randomly
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell range.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Select Animation > Cell > Fill Cells Randomly.

‣

In the Xsheet view, click the Fill Cells Randomly
display it).

The Fill Cells Randomly dialog box opens.

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3. In the Minimum Value field, enter the lowest acceptable value.
4. In the Maximum Value field, enter the highest acceptable value.
5. In the Hold field, choose an exposure holding value.
6. If you are applying this option to a drawing column, select the Whole Numbers option to avoid decimal
points.
7. Click OK.

Filling Empty Cells
You can fill empty cells to extend the exposure of single frame drawings to fill the range of empty cells after each
one.When creating drawings on cells that are not side-by-side, the exposure of the first drawing no longer fills
automatically. You must select the frame range where you want your drawings to hold their exposure up to thenext drawing and use the Fill Empty Cells command.
How to fill empty cells
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell range.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Fill Empty Cells.

‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Fill Empty Cells.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Fill Empty Cells

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Each drawing in the selection is exposed in the range of empty cells that follow it.

Creating Cycles
Once you have entered a series of drawings and exposures, you can create cycles out of them in several ways.
You can loop your drawings using the following commands:•

Create Cycle•

Paste Cycle•

Paste Reverse

When you create a drawing cycle, all the repeated drawings are linked to the same original files. When modify,
repaint, or correct a drawing named “1” for example, all drawings named “1” are updated simultaneously. In order tomodify a drawing independently from its other exposures, you must duplicate the drawing.
How to create a cycle
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell range to loop.

2. In the Timeline toolbar, click the Create Cycle
it).

button (you may have to customize the toolbar to display

The Create Cycle dialog box opens.

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3. Enter the number of cycles you want, including the current selection.
How to paste a cycle
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell range to loop.

1. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy Cell from Timeline or Xsheet or press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + C (Mac OS X).
2. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell where you want your cycles to start.

3. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Paste Cycle.

‣

Right-click and select Paste Cycle.

‣

Press Ctrl + / (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + / (Mac OS X).

The Paste Cycle dialog box opens.

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4. Do one of the following:‣

In the Number of Cycles field, enter the number of cycles you want to paste.

‣

Increase or decrease the number of cycles you want to paste.

5. In the Cycle Type menu, select the type of cycle you want to paste.

‣

Normal (forward): Pastes cycles as for all cycles, starting with the first cell of your selection and ending
with the last.

‣

Reverse: Pastes cycles in the reverse order of the original selection, starting with the last cell of yourselection and ending with the first one.

‣

Forward > Reverse: Pastes the first cycle in your selection as is, then the following one in reverse order.
This repeated until all cycles are pasted.

‣

Reverse > Forward: Pastes the first cycle in your selectionin reverse order, then the following one as is.
This repeated until all cycles are pasted.

6. Click OK.

NOTE: You can perform the same operation using the Paste Special dialog box. To open the Paste
Special dialog box, select Edit > Paste Special or press Ctrl + B (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + B (Mac OSX).

How to paste a reversed cycle
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell range to paste in reverse order.

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2. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy Cell from Timeline or Xsheet or press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + C (Mac OS X).
3. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell where you want your cycles to start.

4. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Paste Reverse.

‣

Right-click and select Paste Reverse.

‣

Press Ctrl + . (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + . (Mac OS X).

Overwriting Exposures and Keyframes
If the area on which you are dropping a selection contains exposures and/or keyframes, they are overwritten by
the content you are selected by dragging. You can set this mode in two places: the Timeline toolbar and thePreferences dialog box.
How to override exposure and keyframes
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, drag to select the drawings you want to move.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Toggle Override Exposure and Keyframe During Drag and Dropbutton (you may have to customize the toolbar to display it).

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From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences or press Ctrl + U (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + U (Mac OS X).
Select the Timeline tab, then select the Override Exposure and Keyframe During Drag and Drop
option.

3. Drop your selection at the desired location.

Managing Key Exposures
Before working with key exposures, it's important to understand how keyframes, exposure and key exposure workin Harmony:•

Keyframe: A keyframe is a point in time where a change to the properties of the object or character occurs. In
Harmony, keyframes consist of the coordinates that determine how an entire layer and its contents are
moved. Keyframes include these parameters: XYZ position, skew, scale, angle and pivot.

•

Exposure: Exposure is a property; it is the length of time that a drawing is visible over a series of frames. In
Harmony, exposure is independent of keyframes. That is, keyframes are not linked to drawings. Keyframes
can be moved independently from the drawing exposure.

•

Key Exposure: A key exposure in Harmony is a type of exposure that forces a drawing to remain exposed ona specific frame. If a drawing is exposed before a key exposure and you swap out that drawing for anotherone, then the original drawing is retained. This preserves the key drawing. Note that Harmony automaticallysets a key exposure when you perform a drawing swap.

Adding Key Exposures
Key exposures are mainly used for swapping drawings in cut-out animation where you will have numerous drawings
for the various positions of the mouth or eyes of a character for example.
If there is a particular drawing you want to keep on a specific frame, you can set it as a key exposure. This prevents
it from be overwritten by a drawing swap on a preceding frame. A key exposure is simply a property of an exposurethat forces it to be exposed on a certain frame regardless of whether the previous exposure is the same drawing ornot.

NOTE: Keep in mind that if you modify the artwork in a drawing, all instances of that drawing will be automatically
updated even if set as a key exposure. This keeps your existing animation key poses intact. It is frequently used on amouth or eyes layer.

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In the following example, drawing 3 (DR 3) is selected on the timeline and it contains no key exposure.

When it is swapped for drawing 4 (DR 4), the entire duration of drawing 3 substituted for drawing 4.

Example: Swapping a drawing with a key exposure
Here's what happens when swapping a drawing with a key exposure. In the following example, the playhead is
positioned in the middle of drawing 5 (DR 5) to set the position for the new key exposure. When the new key
exposure is added, drawing 5 is split in two; both halves contain drawing 5. Now if you swap the first drawing 5 fordrawing 1, the second drawing 5 retains its exposure.

How to add a key exposure
1. In the Timeline view, select the drawing cell to set as the key exposure.
2. Do one of the following:In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Key Exposure‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Key Exposure‣

In the Timeline menu, select Exposure > Add Key Exposure.

‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Add Key Exposure.

A new key exposure is added.

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If you added a key exposure at the beginning of the drawing, the entire exposure is filled with that samedrawing. If you added a key exposure anywhere other than the beginning of the drawing, then the drawing is
split in two and both parts contain the same drawing.

Removing Key Exposures
When you no know longer need a key exposure, you can remove it. When you do this, the existing key exposure is
replaced by the preceding exposure. In the following example, a key exposure is set to drawing 1 (DR 1). When the
key exposure is removed, the exposure is replaced by the preceding exposure, drawing 4 (DR 4).

How to remove a key exposure
1. In the Timeline view, select a key exposure to remove.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Remove Key Exposure

button.

‣In the Timeline menu, select Exposure > Remove Key Exposure.

‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Remove Key Exposure.

The key exposure is removed and replaced by the preceding exposure.

Removing Duplicate Key Exposures
When working with drawings to adjust the timing of a mouth in a lipsync, for example, and forcing the use of specific
key exposures, unnecessary key exposures will be created. You can delete these duplicates without affecting therest of the drawing. The first drawing of the selection will be used for the range.

NOTE: Duplicate key exposures may occur when pasting with the Enforce Key Exposure option selected.

How to remove duplicate key exposures
1. In the Timeline view, select the layer that contains duplicate key exposures.

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2. In the Timeline toolbar, click the Remove Duplicate Key Exposure
the toolbar to display it).

button (you may have to customize

Pasting Key Exposures Using Different Modes
As you animate, you will find that you reuse key exposures. There are different options to paste your selecteddrawings when they contain key exposures:•

Enforce Key Exposure: If there are key exposures that exist on copied drawings, they are preserved
when pasting. No key exposures are added. This is the default behavior when pasting.

•Fill Gap with Previous Drawing: Fills selected area in the Xsheet or Timeline view with the previous
drawing.

•

Fill to Next Key Exposure: Fills selected area till the next key exposure.

How to paste using different modes
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawings you want to copy and press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + C (Mac OS X).
2. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell where you want your pasted selection to start.
3. Do one of the following:‣

Press Ctrl + B (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + B (Mac OS X).
The Paste Special dialog box opens.

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From the Timeline menu, select Edit > Modify Paste Presets > Exposure.
The Edit Exposure Paste Preset dialog box opens.

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4. Select the Enforce Key Exposure or Fill to Next Key Exposure option. In the Paste Special dialog box,
these options are on the Basic tab.
5. Click OK.
6. Press Ctrl + V (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + V (Mac OS X) to paste your selection.

Navigating between Frames and Columns
Once a cell is selected in the Timeline or Xsheet view, you can navigate between the drawings, frames, andlayers using keyboard shortcuts that work in the Camera, Drawing, Xsheet and Timeline views.
You can navigate through:•Drawings•

Frames•Columns

How to navigate through drawings, and frames and columns
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell.

2. Once the cell is selected, you can navigate between:‣

Previous and next layers: From the top menu, select Drawing > Previous Layer and Next Layer orpress H and J.

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Previous and next drawings: From the top menu, select Drawing > Previous Drawing and Next
Drawing or press F and G..

‣

Previous and next frames: From the top menu, select Play > Previous Frame and Next Frame orpress comma (,) and period (.).

Managing Drawings
Drawings that are created in Toon Boom Harmony are not stored in their cells. They are actual files stored in the
project’s folder. If you want to rename a drawing or delete a drawing from your project, you need to edit the file andnot the cells.
This section is divided as follows:•

Renaming a Drawing on page 289•

Deleting a Drawing on page 291•

Duplicating a Drawing on page 292•

Copying and Pasting Drawings on page 292•

Merging Drawings on page 294

Renaming a Drawing
To rename a drawing, you need to select the drawing cell and use the Rename Drawing command.
How to rename a drawing
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawing to rename.

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2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Drawings > Rename Drawing.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Rename Drawing
to display it).

‣Press Ctrl + D (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + D (Mac OS X).

button (you may have to customize the toolbar

The Rename Drawing dialog box opens.

3. In the New Name field, type in the new drawing name.
How to rename a drawing sequence with a prefix
You can rename a drawing sequence with a prefix, which can be quite useful for cut-out puppet breakdown anddeformation animation.
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a drawing sequence. Note that you can only select a drawing range
in one column or layer at a time.
2. Right-click and select Drawings > Rename Drawing with Prefix.
The Rename Drawing with Prefix dialog box opens.

3. In the Prefix to Add field, type the prefix to add before the drawing name.
How to rename drawings by their frame position
You can rename a series of drawings relative to their frame position. This is useful in hand-drawn animation.
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawing sequence to rename.

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2. From the top menu, select Drawing > Rename by Frame.

Deleting a Drawing
You can permanently delete a drawing file from a project's folder.

NOTE: Deleting a drawing file is an operation that cannot be undone.

How to delete a drawing
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawings to delete.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Delete Selected Drawings.

‣

Right-click and select Drawings > Delete Selected Drawings.

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Duplicating a Drawing
If you want to modify a drawing that already exists, but keep the original drawing intact, you can duplicate thedrawing and work on the copy. When duplicating a drawing, the selected cell is replaced with the new drawing.
The exposure of the original drawing that was on the current cell is removed. The original drawing is not deleted
from the project folder or other cells in which it is exposed.
With Toon Boom Harmony, you can create a keyframe at the same time as you duplicate your drawing. This way,
you can modify and reposition drawings without affecting the original drawing.
How to duplicate a drawing
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawing to duplicate.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Duplicate Drawings.

‣

Right-click and select Drawings > Duplicate Drawings.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Duplicate Drawing‣

Press Alt + Shift + D.

button.

Copying and Pasting Drawings
When you copy and paste a selection in the Timeline or Xsheet view, you are not copying and pasting the actual
drawings, you are pasting the exposure. Exposure is a property; it is the length of time that a drawing is visible
over a series of frames. In Harmony, exposure is independent of keyframes. That is, keyframes are not linked to
drawings. Keyframes can be moved independently from the drawing exposure.
If you want to copy and paste selected drawings into a different layer or paste the selection in the same layer toduplicate the drawings, you must use the Paste Special feature.
There are four different ways to paste your selected drawings with the Paste Special dialog box:
When adding exposures to a drawing layer, drawing files will not be created.
Only create drawing files when they do not exist: When adding exposures to a drawing layer,
new drawings will be created only when drawings with the same name do not already exist in thedestination.

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Replace existing drawings. Create drawing files when they do not exist: Replace drawings withthe same names to update a scene with new modified drawings and preserve the animation.
Tip: If you don't want to lose the existing animation when pasting a template, such as
when placing new drawings after the animation, then delete the template's animation. It
will still have updated the drawings but not override the existing animation.
Always create drawing files: When adding exposures to a drawing layer, new drawings will always
be created. If drawing files with the same name already exist, Harmony will create a new name for thedrawing.
If you want to perform another Paste Special operation using the same settings you used previously, you can use
the Paste Special Again command instead. You can paste your selection using the same settings as in the mostrecent Paste Special operation, without opening the Paste Special dialog box.
How to paste drawings with the Paste Special command
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawings to copy and press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C(Mac OS X).

2. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell where you want your pasted selection to start.

3. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Paste Special.

‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Paste Special.

‣

In the Xsheet or Timeline toolbar, click the Paste Special
toolbar to display it).

‣Press Ctrl + B (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + B (Mac OS X).

The Paste Special dialog box opens.

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4. Select the Basic tab.
5. In the Drawings section, select the Always Create Drawings or Only Create Drawings When They Do
Not Exist option.
How to paste new drawings with the previous Paste Special settings
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Paste Special Again.

‣

Right-click and select Paste Special Again‣

In the Timeline or Xsheet toolbar, click the Paste Special Again
the toolbar to display it).

‣Press Ctrl + Shift + B (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Shift + B (Mac OS X).

Merging Drawings
There are two methods of merging drawings.

294

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You can merge selected drawings in adjacent elements. The columns and layers will be left intact, and eachnew merged drawing will reside in the frames of the left-most column or lower layer.

•

You can merge elements. All drawings will be merged. Unused columns and layers will be deleted, but theoriginal drawing files are still accessible.

How to merge selected drawings
1. In the Xsheet view, select the drawings to merge.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet menu, select Columns> Merge Selected Drawings.

‣

In the Timeline menu, select Layers > Merge Selected Drawings.

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3. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet menu, select Columns > Merge Selected Columns.

‣

In the Timeline menu, select Layers > Merge Selected Layers.

In the Xsheet view, the right-most column will contain the merged drawings and the remaining columns will be left
blank at the corresponding frames. In the Timeline view, the bottom timeline layer will contain the merged
drawings from all layers and the other layers will be left blank at the corresponding frames. Drawings are notdeleted and are still accessible.
How to merge drawings in entire layers or columns
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline view, select the layers you want to merge.

‣

In the Xsheet view, Shift-click the headers of the columns you want to merge.

‣

In the top menu, select Edit > Merge.

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In the Xsheet menu, select Columns > Merge Selected Columns.

‣

In the Timeline menu, select Layers > Merge Selected Layers.

In the Xsheet view, the right-most column will contain the merged drawings and the other columns will bedeleted. In the Timeline view, the bottom timeline layer will contain the merged drawings from all layers andthe other layers will be deleted. Drawings are not deleted and are still accessible.

Customizing Layers and Columns
You can change the way a column in the Xsheet view displays. You can change the way a layer in the Timeline viewor a column in the Xsheet view displays. You can stay organized without changing the content of elements or youranimation output.
This section is divided as follows:•

Expanding and Collapsing Layers and Columns on page 297•

Showing or Hiding Layers on page 298•

Showing and Hiding Columns on page 300•

Customizing Columns on page 303•

Displaying Thumbnails in the Xsheet on page 309•

Changing the Layer or Column Colour on page 309•

Setting Scene Markers on page 311•

Setting Tempo Markers on page 314

Expanding and Collapsing Layers and Columns
To simplify the look of the Timeline or Xsheet view, you can expand and collapse the layers and columns. If somelayers are parented to other ones, you can collapse the parent layer to hide its children.
How to collapse or expand selected layers in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select the layer(s) to collapse or expand.
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Right-click on the selection and select Collapse/Expand > Collapse/Expand.

‣

Click the Expand Children Arrow‣

Click the Collapse/Expand‣

Press Ctrl + I (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + I (Mac OS X).

button on the parent layer.

button (you may have to customize the toolbar to display it).

How to collapse or expand all layers in the Timeline view
1. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click on the layers and select Collapse/Expand > Expand All or Collapse All.

‣In the Timeline toolbar, click the Collapse All
customize the toolbar to display them).

‣

Press 0 and 9.

or Expand All

buttons (you may have to

How to collapse and expand 3D path or rotation columns in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Show Column List

button to display the Functions list.

2. In the Xsheet view, select the column header of the 3D path or 3D rotation column to collapse or expand.
3. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click on the column’s header and select Expand/Collapse > Collapse Selection or Expand
Selection.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Collapse Selection
have to customize the toolbar to display it).

or Expand Selection

buttons (you may

How to collapse or expand all 3D path and 3D rotation columns in the Xsheet view
Do one of the following:‣

Right-click on any column’s header and select Expand/Collapse > Collapse All or Expand All.

‣

Press 0 and 9.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Collapse All
the toolbar to display it).

or Expand All

buttons (you may have to customize

Showing or Hiding Layers
As you work in the Drawing or Camera view, some layers may be in the way or are used as references. You canhide these layers to make your work area less cluttered and easier to navigate. You can show and hide layers in
the Timeline view in several different ways.
When using the Solo mode to show or hide layers, here's how it works:•

If you have anything selected, it is not affected.

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When multiple layers are selected and you enable/disable the Solo mode on any of those layers, it is applied
to all the selected layers.

•

When multiple layers are selected and you enable/disable the Solo mode on layers that are not part of theselection, it is applied only to those particular layers.

When exporting or rendering a scene, the Solo mode setting of layers is ignored.

NOTE: When a layer is affected by an inverted cutter, enabling the Solo mode for this layer will not show it unless themask is also enabled.

How to show or hide all layers
1. Click one of the following in the Layers toolbar:‣

Enable/Disable All

button to show or hide all layers.

Any hidden layers are unhidden, so you can view all layers.
‣

Solo Modebutton to view disable your current Solo mode selection. Any soloed drawing or soundlayers are disabled, so you can view all layers. When you click again on the Solo Mode button, you last
Solo selection is displayed.

How to show or hide individual layers
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Layer toolbar, click the Solo Modebutton.

‣Click the layer's Enable/Disable All‣

Press A to show a layer or D to hide selected layers.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Enable/Disabledisplay it).

button to show or hide that layer.

button (you may have to customize the toolbar to

When you deselect a layer in the Timeline view, the corresponding column is hidden in the Xsheet view.
How to enable the selected layer and disable all others
1. Do one of the following:‣

Hold down Alt and click the Solo Modebutton of the layer you want to solo and hide all other layers.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Disable All Others
display it).

button (you may have to customize the toolbar to

In the Timeline view, you can hide or show certain types of layers such as Effect.

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How to show and hide layer types in the Timeline view
1. From the Timeline menu, select View > Show > Show Manager.
The Show Manager dialog box opens.

2. Select the types of layers you want to display and deselect the ones you want to turn off.
3. Click Set As Default to make these new settings the default ones that will be used each time to start theapplication. Click Restore Default to restore the settings used when installing the application.
In the Xsheet view, you have the choice of hiding or showing certain types of columns such as Annotation
and Functions.

Showing and Hiding Columns
The Xsheet view has a Column List section that displays all the columns contained in the exposure sheet. It canbe used to hide individual columns.
If you need to see a column after it has been hidden, you can display it directly from the Xsheet view without
using the Column List section.
You can also hide a column type, such as Drawing or Sound. When you do this, its corresponding layer isdisabled in the Timeline view.
How to show or hide columns in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Show Column List

button.

2. On the right side of the Functions section, click the Expand button to display the Column List section.
3. Do one of the following:‣

In the Column List section, select the columns to display and deselect the columns to hide.

‣In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Hide Selected Column
toolbar to display it).

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How to show a hidden column in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet view, do one of the following:‣

Click the thick grey line that represents a hidden column.

‣

Right-click on the column header and select Show Hidden Columns.

‣

Press Alt + Shift + H.

The Show Hidden Columns dialog box opens.

2. In the Show column, select the hidden columns you want to display in the Xsheet view.
‣

Click Check to select all the selected columns.

‣

Click Uncheck to deselect all selected columns.

How to show all columns‣

In the Xsheet menu, select View > Unhide All Columns.

How to show and hide column types
1. In the Xsheet view, select View > Column Types Manager.
The Column Types dialog box opens.

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2. Select the types of columns you want to display and disable the ones you want to hide.
Click Set As Default if you want to make these new settings the default ones used each time you start Harmony.
Click Restore Default if you want to return the settings to their defaults.
How to show or hide Xsheet columns using the Column List
1. In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Show Column List

button.

2. On the right side of the Functions section, click the Expand button to display the Column List section.
3. In the Column List section, select the columns to display and deselect the columns to hide.

How to show or hide an Xsheet column type using the Column List
1. In the Column List section, click the button corresponding to the column type you want to show or hide.

Column Type

ActionShow/Hide All Columns
Show/Hide Drawing Columns
Show/Hide Function Columns
Show/Hide 3D Path Columns
Show/Hide 3D Rotation Columns

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Show/Hide Sound Columns
Show/Hide Annotation Columns

Customizing Columns
In Harmony, you can customize the way the column displays drawings, empty cells and the column width.
You can modify the following elements:•

Empty cells•

Row units•

Held exposure•

Column width

How to modify the look of empty cell
1. From the Xsheet menu, select View > Empty Cells > With an “X” or Blank.

How to modify row units
1. From the Xsheet menu, select View > Row Units > Frames or Feet.

How to modify the look of a held exposure
1. In the Xsheet menu, select View > Held Exposures > Line or Value.

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How to modify column width
1. In the Xsheet view, select a column.
2. From the Xsheet menu, select View > Set Columns Width.
The Xsheet Column Width dialog box opens.

3. In the Column Width field, enter the desired width in pixels.
4. Do one of the following:‣

Click OK to validate and close the dialog box.

‣

Click Apply to validate the operation and keep the dialog box opened to adjust the next column’s width.

‣

Click Set As Default to create all the new columns to this width.

‣

Click Close to cancel the operation.

5. To restore all columns to the default value, in the Xsheet menu, select View > All Columns to Default
Width.

Drawing Identification
In the Xsheet view, you can identify drawings as Key, Breakdown or In-between.
This helps to keep the Xsheet well organized while animating.
When working with several animators, directors or even other studios, the necessity for retakes will often arise.
Harmony gives you the possibility to mark new drawings as either Retake Key, Retake Breakdown, or Retake Inbetweens.
If your production requires you to mark drawings with a custom marker, you also have the option to create yourown.
Make custom marks for the Xsheet by creating your own icons, then cutting, pasting and changing a bit of code.
Not only is it possible to have your custom mark appear in the Xsheet and Mark Drawing toolbars, but also in theOnion Skin and Flip toolbars.

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NOTE: You can create custom shortcuts for the Drawing Identification options in the Preferences dialog box.

Key Drawing
A key drawing is a visually significant pose in a movement, often an extreme position. For example, if a character
that is sitting down falls on his back, the key poses would be the character sitting and the character on his back. Of
course, it may vary from one animation to another.

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Breakdown Drawing
A breakdown drawing is a pose somewhere between two key poses that better shows the movement. Most
animation moves are arcs, such as an arm waving, somebody bending, or a leg walking. All of these movements
are rotations. The breakdown pose is used to describe this curve better.
The breakdown drawing is then used to indicate secondary poses, also called the follow-through. These actions
can be a big stomach jiggle as somebody jumps, a cloak floating behind somebody that is running, or arms
moving after the main body action. These moves will generally have a different timing than the primary action.
They will mainly start later and finish later. So, the breakdown drawings are used to complete the key drawings.
Note that a breakdown drawing is not always placed exactly in the middle of two keys. It will often be closer toone or the other depending on the timing and the action. Also, you can have more than one breakdown pose
between two keys.

How to mark a drawing as Key, Breakdown or In-between
1. From the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > Mark Drawing.
The Mark Drawing toolbar displays.

2. In the Xsheet view, select the cell you want to identify. This option is not available in the Timeline view.
3. In the Mark Drawing toolbar, click one of these buttons: Mark as Key Drawing, Mark as Breakdown
Drawing
or Mark as In-between Drawing. In the Xsheet menu, you can also select Drawing >Mark Drawing As > Key Drawing, Breakdown Drawing, In-between Drawing, Retake Key, Retake
BD and Retake IB.
‣

If you selected Mark as Key Drawing, a‣

If you selected Mark as Breakdown Drawing, a‣

If you selected Mark as In-Between Drawing, there is no icon displayed in the cell since it is used toremove a Key or Breakdown marker.

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icon appears in the cell.
icon appears in the cell.

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How to create custom markers
1. With a bitmap editing software, create the following icons in PNG format:‣

Mark Drawing Toolbar icon (24 x 24 pixel)‣

Onion Skin Toolbar icon (24 x 24 pixel)‣

Flip Toolbar icon (24 x 24 pixel)‣

Xsheet Column icon (16 x 16 pixel)

2. Close Harmony.
3. When your icons are ready, open the Toon Boom Harmony drawingTypes.d folder.
••

Windows:•

Toon Boom Harmony Premium: C:\Users\[user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Toon
Boom Animation\Toon Boom Harmony\full-1200-pref\drawingTypes.d•Toon Boom Harmony Advanced: C:\Users\[user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom
StageAdvanced\full-1200-pref\drawingTypes.d

Mac OS X:

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On Mac OS X, the Library folder is a hidden folder. To display the display the folder, told
down the Alt key.

••

Toon Boom Harmony Premium: /Users/[user_name]/Library/Preferences/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom Harmony/full1200-pref/drawingTypes.d•Toon Boom Harmony Advanced: /Users/[user_name]/Library/Preferences/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom Stage
Advanced/full-1200-pref/drawingTypes.d

Linux:•/home/user_name/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom Harmony/full-1200pref/drawingTypes.d•/home/user_name/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom StageAdvanced/full1200-pref/drawingTypes.d

NOTE:
If the drawingTypes.d folder does not exist, you must create it. To do so, copy the resources
folder from the following location.
•

Windows: Start > Programs > Harmony 12.2 Advanced•

Mac OS X: Applications > Toon Boom Harmony 12.2.1 Advanced > resources >drawingTypes.d•

Linux: /usr/local/ToonBoomAnimation/harmony_12/lnx86_
64/bin/StageAdvanced/resources/drawingTypes.d

4. Paste your icons in the drawingTypes.d directory.
5. In the same directory, open the drawingTypes.xml file in a text editor.
6. For each custom icon you want to create, add the following line. Make sure to place it before this closing
tag: </DrawingTypes>.
‣<DrawingType text="NewButtonName" pixmapFile="XsheetIcon.png"
commandIcon="MarkDrawingIcon.png" flipIcon="FlipIcon.png" onionIcon="OnionIcon.png" />7. In that line, replace the following information with your new icon information:‣

NewButtonName: Write the name of your new marker. This name will appear in the button tooltip.

‣

XsheetIcon.png: Write the name of the icon that you created to appear in the Xsheet column. Include
the file extension.

‣

MarkDrawingIcon.png: Write the name of the icon that you created to appear in the Mark Drawing
toolbar. Include the file extension.

‣

FlipIcon.png: Write the name of the icon that you created to appear in the Flip toolbar. Include the fileextension.

‣

OnionIcon.png: Write the name of the icon that you created to appear in the Onion Skin toolbar. Include
the file extension.

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8. Save the file and close it.
9. Start Harmony.

Displaying Thumbnails in the Xsheet
When there are a large number of columns in the exposure sheet, it's not easy to quickly identify a particular column.
Displaying the column thumbnails makes this easier. This option displays a small thumbnail picture of the current
frame below the column header.
How to display the thumbnails
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Show Thumbnails

button.

‣In the Xsheet menu, select View > Show Thumbnails.

The thumbnails appear.

Changing the Layer or Column Colour
To easily identify elements in the Timeline or Xsheet view, you can change the colour of layers and columns.
How to change the layer’s colour in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, click the Change Track Colour

button of the layer you want to modify.

2. In the Select Colour dialog box, select a new colour for your layer.

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3. Click OK.
The layer’s background colour is updated. In a Drawing layer, exposed cells are the brighter, selectedcolour for easy identification. The corresponding column colour is also updated in the Xsheet.

How to reset a layer’s colour in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select the layers to reset.
2. In the Timeline toolbar, click the Default Track Colour
to display it).

button (you may have to customize the toolbar

How to change a column’s colour in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet view, select one or more columns to modify.
2. Right-click on the column’s header and select Colour > Change Columns Colour.
3. In the Select Colour dialog box, select a new colour for your columns.

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4. Click OK.
The column’s colour is updated. The corresponding column colour is also updated.

How to reset the column’s colour in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet view, select the columns to reset.
2. Right-click on the column’s header and select Colour > Default Columns Colour.

Setting Scene Markers
Scene markers are visual indicators displayed at the top of the Timeline view in the frame counter area. You can use
it to denote anything relevant to your work. You can indicate the frames you want to clean up, a change in action, an
impact, or where you intend to apply an effect. You can also add a note to a scene marker, which is displayed when
you hover over the scene marker.
There are two ways to add a scene marker. You can mark the current frame or make a frame range selection andmark the whole section.
How to mark the current frame
1. In the Timeline view, make sure the red playhead is set on the frame you want to mark. Even if you right-click
on a different frame, the scene marker will be created on the current frame on which the playhead is positioned.
2. Right-click in the frame counter area and select Scene Markers > Mark Current Frame.

The Timeline Scene Marker dialog box opens. The Colour box displays a black colour swatch, or the colour ofthe last scene marker you created.

3. Click the Colour swatch to open the Marker Colour dialog box and select a colour for the scene marker. Click
OK.

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4. In the Note field, enter text to display as the tooltip and click OK.

In the Timeline view, the scene marker is displayed at the current frame.
5. Hover over the scene marker to display its tooltip.

How to create a scene marker on a frame range
1. In the frame counter area, select the frame range you want to mark.

2. Right-click and select Create Scene Marker.
The Timeline Scene Marker dialog box opens. The Colour box displays a black colour swatch, or thecolour of the last scene marker you created.

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3. Click the Colour swatch to open the Marker Colour dialog box and select a colour for the scene marker. Click
OK.

4. In the Note field, enter text to display as the tooltip and click OK.
In the Timeline view, the scene marker is displayed over the selected frame counters.
5. Hover over the scene marker to display its tooltip.

How to edit a scene marker
1. In the frame counter area, select the entire scene marker.

NOTE: It's important to select the entire length of the scene marker, otherwise the Timeline Scene Marker dialog box
will not open for editing.

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2. Right-click and select Scene Markers > Edit Scene Marker.
The Timeline Scene Marker dialog box opens.

3. Make your changes.
4. Click OK.
How to delete a scene marker
1. In the frame counter area, select at least one frame in the scene marker you want to delete.

2. Right-click and select Scene Markers > Delete Scene Marker.

Setting Tempo Markers
Tempo markers are used to synchronize your animation with a musical score. This lets you reproduce the FPB(Frames Per Beat) and use the tempo signature as tempo markers. The Xsheet view lets you pace your animationaccording to the tempo or beat of the soundtrack music or to any rhythmic sound, such as the ticking of a clock orwater leaking from a spout.

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How to set the tempo markers
1. In the Xsheet menu, select View > Set Tempo Marker.
The Tempo Marker dialog box opens.

2. Reproduce the tempo and beat value of your music or sound for the Xsheet view marker display.
‣

Starting Frame: Enter the number of the frame where you want the tempo markers to begin.

‣

Frames/Beat: Set the frames per beat value. This will determine the frequency (in frames) in which abeat marker will appear. Keep in mind that, by default, 24 frames represent 1 second.

‣

Beat/Bar: Set the tempo of your music or sound. This will determine the frequency (in beats) in which a
tempo marker will appear in the Xsheet view.

3. Click OK.

Printing the Xsheet
Once you have marked all the information, corrections, and timing you want in the Xsheet view, you can print yourexposure sheet. Printing the Xsheet allows you to take it with you to your animation table or give a copy to theanimator. You can also use it to create your Xsheet skeleton directly in Harmony.
How to print your exposure sheet
1. Select File > Print > Xsheet.
The Print dialog box opens.

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2. To set up your print:‣

Windows: In the Select Printer section, select your printer and adjust the rest of the printing settings.

‣

Linux: In the Print Destination section, select your printer and adjust the rest of the printing settings.

‣

Mac OS X: In the Printer section, select your printer and adjust the rest of the settings by clicking on
the Parameters
button. You can also click PDF and select an option from the menu if you want tosave a PDF version of your exposure sheet.

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NOTE: Refer to your printer user guide to learn more about its options.

3. Do one of the following:‣

Windows and Mac OS X: Click Print.

‣

Linux: Click OK.

Modifying Paste Presets
When pasting key frames and exposures, you can modify the existing presets to your liking. There are three presets
you can modify: the default presets for both key frames and exposures, key frames only and exposures only.
How to modify paste presets
1. From the Timeline view menu, select Edit > Modify Paste Presets and one of the following options:‣

All to edit the default paste preset settings.

‣

Key Frame to edit the preset settings for pasting key frames.

‣

Exposure to edit the preset settings for pasting exposures.

The Edit Paste Presets dialog box opens.

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2. Refer to the following table and edit the presets as desired.
Edit Paste Preset Dialog Box Parameters
Parameter

Description

Drawings
Never create drawing files: When adding exposures to a drawing layer,drawing files will not be created.
Only create drawing files when they do not exist: When adding exposures
Add/Remove Exposure to a drawing layer, new drawings will be created only when drawings with thesame name do not already exist in the destination.
Always create drawing files: When adding exposures to a drawing layer, newdrawings will always be created. If drawing files with the same name alreadyexist, Harmony will create a new name for the drawing.
Enforce Key Exposure

If there are key exposures that exist on copied drawings, they are preserved
when pasting. No key exposures are added. This is the default behavior when
pasting.

Fill Gap with Previous
Drawing

Fills selected area in the Xsheet or Timeline view with the previous drawing.

Fill to Next Key
Exposure

Fills selected area till the next key exposure.

Keyframes
Motion: Copies the properties of the selected motion keyframe to the newframe.

Add/Remove
Keyframes

Velocity: Copies the properties of the selected velocity keyframe to the newframe.
Rotation: Copies the properties of the selected rotation keyframe to the newframe.
Scale: Copies the properties of the selected scale keyframe to the new frame.
Skew: Copies the properties of the selected skew keyframe to the new frame.

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Force Keyframes at Function's Beginning and End: Adds a keyframe to thebeginning and end of the pasted function, reproducing the source function.

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Chapter 5: Character Building

Harmony is a great tool for building characters. You can use different techniques and features to break down yourpuppets.
This chapter will guide you through all the steps to create a complete simple rig. Harmony allows you to create very
advanced puppets using deformations, hierarchies and z ordering. As you practice and get familiar with thoseconcepts, you will be able to develop more complex rigs and combine various advanced features.
For more great options and features to create powerful rigs, refer to Deformation on page 399.
This chapter contains the following topics:•

Importing a Model on page 1•

Relative Sizes on page 1•

Studying the Model on page 326•

Setting the Default Separate Position Preferences on page 329•

Naming Conventions on page 329•

Disabling the Animation on Drawing Layers on page 331•

Art Layers on page 333•

Breaking Down the Character on page 338•

Ordering the Layers on page 344•

Rigging on page 346•

Adding Extra Drawings on page 362•

Setting the Pivots on page 364•

Storing the Character in the Library on page 372•

Appendix on page 374321

Chapter 5: Character Building

About the Model

To begin breaking down your puppet, you must first import your character into a new project. You can also draw
your character directly in the scene.
You can import your character in several different formats:•

Library template—see Library on page 423•

Bitmap image or picture—see Compositing Guide > Import chapter > Import Bitmap Images topic•

External vector format—see Compositing Guide > Import chapter > Import AI and PDF Files topic

Model Alignment

When setting the character model in your scene, we recommend that you to center it in the Camera view andscale it to fit inside the safe area frame—see Field Chart on page 1.

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If you have several views of your character, place each view in a separate cell and center them one on top of
another. This will facilitate the break down process and ensure that all of your puppets are aligned and the same
size.

Photo Puppets
If you are creating a cut-out puppet out of photos, break down the different parts in a bitmap editing software. Then,
import your parts and vectorize them as textured images.
A good way to set and import your bitmap parts is to organize them in a multilayered PSD file.
In Adobe Photoshop, organize your file so that all your layers are “grouped” into individual folders, or that all theelements you want to import as a single layer in Harmony are grouped together in their own folder. Any layer that is
not in a folder group, by itself or otherwise, will not be imported.

Relative Sizes
Understanding the relative size of every character and prop is important for maintaining consistency and structure
throughout your project.
A production may contain many characters and props. It is not unusual for these to have been created by different
people. If there is no size control implemented, the characters and elements created by different artists can vary
greatly in size. When this occurs, the characters that are put together in a scene will be out of proportion. The
animator or person doing the scene setup will then have to scale them to the correct size.

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When a character or a prop is scaled down, the outline will get increasingly thinner. By the time the element isscaled to its proper size, the outline may be so thin that the difference between one character's outline andanother's will not look very good.
These tips will help you to create and determine the correct relative sizes for each puppet:•

Line Up on page 324•

Field Chart on page 325•

Brush Size on page 325

Line UpA line up consists of copying and pasting all of your character designs into the same drawing and then scaling
them so they are in proportion with each other. This line up is very important and should be handed to any
animator, layout and posing artist, or scene setup person working on the project.
For the prop design, it is recommended that you paste one of the main character's hands or even the full bodybeside the prop. This enables the animator to know what size to draw or set the prop.
In your character design scene, it is a good idea to create a layer for the character line up. The line up is usually
done during the character design step. When the character builder imports the model to the break down scene,
the size relation should be correct.

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Field Chart

The field chart in Harmony is a tool that is very useful when setting the height of characters and props. You candisplay the field chart using the Show Grid option in the Camera and Drawing views.
How to display the field chart
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select View > Grid > Show Grid.

‣

Press Ctrl + ' (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + ' (Mac OS X).

‣

Click the Show Gridbutton in the Camera View and Drawing View toolbars.

Brush Size
There are a variety of pens and brushes in Harmony and you can also create and save your own. It is a good idea tocreate and save pens with precise sizes and parameters to trace and design your models and break downs—see
Drawing with the Brush Tool on page 43.

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Studying the Model

Now that you have imported or designed your model, the next step is to analyze it. This is to determine what parts
will be broken apart and how they will be divided. Will the hair be separated into one, two or three sections? Will
the hand be separated from the sleeve? To determine what is best for your character, observe the model in the
Camera or Drawing view.
•

Eyelids and Pupils on page 327•

Separating the Mouth Elements and Jaw on page 327•

Keeping Fingers Attached to the Hand on page 327•

Flipping Logos on page 328•

Complete and Overlapping Pieces on page 328

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Eyelids and Pupils

For increased flexibility when animating the eyes, you can split them into three layers: the eyeball, the pupil and theeyelid. The eyelid layer is used for the blink and to cut the pupil when it gets too close to the side of the eyeball. For a
more advanced break down, the two eyes are separated on their own individual three-layer sets.

Separating the Mouth Elements and Jaw

To get a greater level of flexibility, you can separate the jaw from the head. You can also separate the mouth shape,
teeth, tongue and interior one from another.

Keeping Fingers Attached to the Hand

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To avoid needlessly complicating the break down, the fingers are not usually separated from the hand. The fullhand is a single layer with a bank of different hands stored inside. This technique is easy to work with andproduces a less mechanical effect.

Flipping Logos

You can separate logos and letters that appear on a character or a prop. This allows you to flip and reuse acharacter's puppet.

Complete and Overlapping Pieces

For a better result with animated parts, it is important to understand that they must be properly overlapping andcomplete. A common mistake is to trace the part just as it appears on the model.

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Setting the Default Separate Position Preferences
Before you adding layers to your puppets, make sure the Default Separate Position for Elements and the Default
Separate Position for Pegs preferences are enabled.
With the Default Separate Position preferences selected, when you create new layers, their X, Y and Z axes are
independent from each other.
By default, the Default Separate Position for Elements preference is enabled. For cut-out animation, you want tohave three independent axes so you can control them individually.
When you lock the three positions together, each time you add a keyframe, it is added on all three positions at thesame time.

When you separate the three positions and add a keyframe on one axis, it is not added on the other two. This gives
you more freedom when animating with motion keyframes and nudging parts forward and backward over time.

How to set the Default Separate Position options
1. Do one of the following:‣

Windows/Linux: Select Edit > Preferences.

‣

Mac OS X: Select Stage Advanced > Preferences.

‣

Press Ctrl + U (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + U (Mac OS X).

2. In the Preferences dialog box, select the General tab.
3. In the Settings section, select the Default Separate Position for Elements and the Default Separate Position for Pegs options.
4. Click OK.

Naming Conventions
When working on a production, it is critical to keep work well organized with a naming convention chart before
starting the project. It is crucial that everyone follows the criteria laid out in the naming convention chart. Whendealing with thousands of characters, pieces and puppets, it is easy to get lost.

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Adding a Prefix or Suffix to a Layer
It is highly recommended that you incorporate a naming convention for the layers. This will be very convenient inlater steps. We suggest that you add one or two letters for the character/prop name before the part name and an"R" or "L" for right and left to identify the corresponding character/prop:•

Character Abby's right arm = ab_r_arm.

If you plan to work with different angles for your characters (front, side, three-quarter, back), you can add one or
two letters to identify the angle:•

Character Abby's right arm, front view = ab_r_arm_f.

How to add a prefix to a series of layers
1. In the Network or Timeline view, select all the nodes or layers to rename or press Ctrl + A (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + A (Mac OS X).
2. In the Scripting toolbar, click the Add Prefix or Suffix Script
button. If the Scripting toolbar is not visible, you can display it by selecting Windows > Toolbars from the top menu. If the script is not available
in your Scripting toolbar, refer to Fundamentals Guide > Interface chapter > Managing Toolbars topic tolearn how to add it.
The Add Prefix or Suffix dialog box opens.

3. Select the Prefix or Suffix option depending on what you want to add to the layer's name.
4. Type the prefix or suffix information to be added to the layer's name.
5. Click OK.

Naming the Drawings
We recommend that you use a naming convention for your drawings. If you combine all the angles of a characterin the same breakdown scene, it is a good idea to identify each angle used.

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Before breaking down the characters for your production, we recommend that you create a drawing name convention
that represents the angle used. For example, use "f" for front, "s" for side, "q" for three-quarter so that the drawing
name looks like this: f1, f2, f3, s1, s2, etc. This will be quite useful during animation and drawing substitution. Since
drawings are displayed in alphabetical and numerical order, all the drawings for the front view will be together, then
all the drawings for the three quarter view, and so on.
How to add a prefix to one or more drawings
1. In the Timeline view, select the drawing range to rename.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click on the selection and select Drawings > Rename Drawing with Prefix.

‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Rename Drawing with Prefix.

The Rename Drawing with Prefix dialog box opens.

3. Type the characters you want to add before the current drawing name.
4. Click OK.

NOTE: To rename a drawing, select the drawing and use the Rename Drawing option. Do not double-click on theframe and write a new name, as this will create a new drawing and hide your actual one. Note that the hidden
drawing has not been deleted and is still located within the element folder. Simply retype the name and it will
reappear.

Disabling the Animation on Drawing Layers
By default, a drawing layer can be animated, but Harmony lets you disable this feature. Being able to switch yourdrawings so they can no longer be animated without a peg has certain advantages. It means that you can access thedrawing substitution feature for this drawing layer, while being able to create keyframes on its parent peg. Thisfeature is also available for backward compatibility when bringing in templates created in older versions of Harmony,so as not to lose their offset keyframes or drawing substitution keyframes.

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When selecting the element in the Camera view, the actual drawing layer is selected, but the motion you will
create will automatically be transposed to the peg layer. You cannot animate (add keyframes) directly onto thedrawing layer if the option is disabled. You will still be able to perform certain offset movements in theTransformation tab of the Layer Properties, but not using any of the animation tools in the Tools toolbar.
There are two ways to disable animation on drawing layers, via the Layer Properties window and the Preferences
dialog box. When you disable animation in the Layer Properties window, it affects only the selected layer and not
any others.
If you prefer this style of animation and want every drawing element that you create to not be animated, you candisable the Element Node “Animate Using Animation Tools” Default Value preference. This will disable theAnimate Using Animation Tools option on all the new layers you will create from that point on so you don't have todo this through the Layers Properties window for every layer. It is recommended to disable this preference before
starting a new character rig.
How to disable animation in the Layer Properties view
1. In the Timeline view, double-click on a layer.
The Layer Properties window opens.
2. In the Controls tab, disable the Animate Using Animation Tools option.
Notice that the layer functions are no longer available in the Timeline view.

3. Click Close.
How to disable the option in the Preferences dialog box
1. Do one of the following:‣

Windows/Linux: Select Edit > Preferences.

‣

Mac OS X: Select Stage Advanced > Preferences.

‣

The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + U (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + U (Mac OS X).

2. Select the Advanced tab.
3. In the Advanced Options section, deselect the Element Node "Animate Using Animation Tools"
Default Value option.

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Art Layers

Art layers give you the possibility to divide the artwork in your drawing on different layers. For example, you canseparate the outline and colour fill on two art layers, similar to 1950s traditional cell animation. These art layers arecontained within a single drawing as opposed to the layers in the Timeline view or Xsheet columns where individualdrawings with individual timing are stacked one on top of the other—see Creating Strokes on page 336.
Toon Boom Harmony drawings include two layers in Advanced Art mode.
•

Line Art on page 333•

Colour Art on page 334

You can access the Art layers through the Camera and Drawing views bottom toolbar. By default, the art layers are
hidden. Everything is drawn on the Line Art layer. You need to enable the Use Advanced Art Mode option.
Each layer can be used for separate hand-drawn animation tasks, letting you organize your work and facilitatecreation and revision.
Line Art

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In hand-drawn animation, the Line Art layer is mainly used to trace and clean up animation. The outline is drawn in
the Line Art layer and colour is painted in the Colour Art layer.
Colour Art

In hand-drawn animation, you use the Colour Art layer to paint your animation. The outline is drawn in the Line Art
layer and colour is painted in the Colour Art layer. Strokes (invisible lines) are generated from Line Art to containthe painted area.

When you are doing rough animation, you may want to send a clip for feedback or approval before carrying on withyour work. If you have several characters in your project that are overlapping, it may be difficult to understandwhat is going on as you can see through the characters. Toon Boom Harmony can generate a matte automaticallyin the Underlay, or even in the Colour Art layer, and fill all the zones inside your characters to make them opaque.
This process is fast and easy, and allows you to send easy-to-understand movies.
How to enable the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences ( Windows/Linux ) or Stage Advanced > Preferences (Mac OS X ).
2. In the Preferences dialog box, select the Advanced tab.
3. In the Advanced Options section, select the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option.
4. Click OK.
How to switch between drawing layers
1. In the Art Layer toolbar, click the Line Art
or Colour Art
can edit the select layer without affecting the other one.

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2. Click the Preview All Enabled Art Layers
button to display both layers together. Even when the Preview
mode is enabled, you will only be able to edit the select art layer. The other ones are only displayed as a reference. By default, the Preview mode is always enabled in the Camera view. You will only be able to see theselect art layer by itself if you enable the Current Drawing on Top
option located in the Camera bottom
toolbar.

NOTE:
To edit both Line Art and Colour Art at the same time, you must enable the Apply to Line Art and Colour Art
button in the Tool Properties of the tools supporting the operation.

How to generate a matte
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Select‣Press Alt + S.

tool.

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, select the drawing you want to create a matte for.

NOTE: You can also apply the operation to all the drawings in the layer at the same time.

3. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Generate Auto-Matte.

‣

In the Camera or Drawing menu, select Drawing > Generate Auto-Matte.

The Auto-Matte dialog box opens.

4. If you want to create a matte for all the drawings included in your layer, select the Apply to All Drawings
option.
5. Depending on how precise or rough your line is, increase or decrease the radius value. Use a lower value, thecloser to your lines’ contours the matte will be shaped. The higher the value, the looser the matte will be
shaped.

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6. In the Source Art menu, select the layer from which you want the matte created: Line Art orColour Art.
7. In the Destination Art menu, select the layer on which you want the matte to be created: Line Art orColourArt.
8. If you already have artwork on the destination layer and you want the content to be deleted before thematte is added into it, select the Clear Destination Art First option.
9. If you want the contour of your lines to be copied as invisible lines in your matte drawing (in case you everneed to keep them for later), select the Copy Stroke in Destination option.
10. Click OK.

Creating Strokes
A drawing is composed of Line and Colour filling layers. Lines and colours can be separated or kept together,
depending on which animation process you use. The following diagram presents Line Art and Colour Art
recommendations based on the selected animation workflow.

When a traditional drawing is scanned, strokes are automatically created in the Colour Art from the Line Art whendrawings are vectorized unless you specified otherwise.
When working with Cut-out animation, we recommend that you do all of the work in the Line Art.
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Once the drawing sequence is completed for paperless drawings, you can proceed with creating Colour Art strokes
if you plan to paint the animation in the Colour Art. Use the Create Colour Art from Line Art option to create strokes
from your lines.
You can create strokes in the Colour Art during the following stages:•

After the full drawing is completed in Line Art•

While drawing in Line Art

You may have some traditional drawings that need to be fixed; for example, needing extra lines to patch gaps. Use
the Auto-Create Colour Art from Brush option to create the strokes at the same time as the lines are drawn. This
creates strokes from the lines and brush strokes created in the Line Art while you draw and is useful for fixing
drawings. However, if you are drawing a new sketch, it is better to create the strokes afterward using the Create
Colour Art from Line Art option.
How to create Colour Art zones out of the Line Art content
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

2. In the Tool Properties view, click the Permanent Selection
drawings in the layer.

button if you want to apply the operation on all

3. In the Camera or Drawing view, select the artwork to transfer to the Colour Art. Create a selection around theentire animation sequence if you want to apply the operation to all your drawings.
4. In the Drawing View toolbar, click the Create Colour Art from Line Art

button or press *.

How to create strokes with the Create Colour Art Automatically option
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush tool.
2. In the Tool Properties view, enable the Create Colour Art Automatically
3. Draw the required lines.
4. Once you're done, deselect the Create Colour Art Automatically
You are now ready to paint your model.

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Breaking Down the Character

There are many techniques you can use to break down a puppet. In this section, you will learn about one of themost common and simplest methods. For your first character breakdown, follow these instructions to get an ideaof the way Harmony works. Once you understand Harmony's basic functions and commands, you will be able tocreate your own techniques to satisfy the needs of your production.
Refer to the Appendix on page 374 at the end of the chapter for alternate tips.
This section is divided as follows:•

Tracing the Model on page 1•

Articulations on page 341

Tracing the Model
The main breakdown technique shown here is to trace your model—see the Appendix on page 374 to learn about
more techniques.
How to break down a character
1. In the Timeline view, add a new drawing layer for each body part to separate. You can press Ctrl + R (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + R (Mac OS X)—see Naming Conventions on page 329.

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2. In the Timeline view, select the layer's first cell in which you want to draw the part.

3. In the Tools toolbar, select a drawing tool.
4. In the Colour view, select a colour swatch. If you haven't created a palette for your character yet, see Colour
Styling on page 185.
5. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw the new part with as with as few points as possible so the pieces areeasy to manipulation, modify or redraw. Using the Polyline
tool would make it easy to do this.

If you are working in the Drawing view, click the Light Table
button in the Drawing View toolbar to display
the other layers as washed out colours. You can also press Shift + L.
6. You can use the Stroke tool in the Tools toolbar to create an invisible hairline if you want to close a shapewithout drawing an actual stroke.
‣

Select View > Show > Show Strokes or press K to display the invisible lines.

7. In the Tools toolbar, select the Paint

or Paint Unpainted

8. In the Colour view, select the corresponding colour.

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9. In the Camera or Drawing view, paint your drawing.

10. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool. Select your drawing and flatten the lines by clicking the Flatten
button in the Tool Properties view.
11. If your lines are composed of several pencil strokes, you might want to combine them into one single
smooth pencil line. Using the Select tool, select the pencil lines to be merged and in the Tool Properties
view, click the Merge Pencil Lines
button.

12. Repeat the entire process until the break down is completed.

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Articulations

Once your pieces are traced, you can go ahead and complete the articulations.
Articulations are an important aspect of any cut-out break down because without them, a puppet cannot moveproperly and will not look good.

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If you are using deformations to animate the limbs, your articulations don't need to overlap. The deformer effectwill create the joint for you.

Classical Articulation
Classical articulation is the most popular technique for basic characters. It is quite simple and produces excellent
results, but it's not the most efficient method. In many instances, it causes limitations and extra drawing
corrections. For example, there may be a gap in the articulation if the part is bent too far. Joint design is usually acircle; the overlapping part cannot be sent behind without showing the joint.

Classical articulation is done by erasing a part of the line from the overlay layer, leaving the colour overlapping thebottom layer. You can use this technique for all the articulations on your puppet.
How to create a classical articulation
1. In the Timeline view, select the cell containing the part to modify (piece located behind), such as the upper
arm.

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2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil, Polyline, Ellipse, Cutter, or Contour Editor

tool.

3. In the Colour view, select an outline colour.
4. In the Drawing or Camera view, use your drawing tool to make sure the joint overlaps the other part in a halfcircle shape.

If you are working in the Drawing view, click the Light Table
L.

button in the Drawing toolbar or press Shift +5. From the top menu, select View > Show > Show Strokes or press K to display the invisible lines that may
be present in your drawing.
6. In the Drawing or Camera view, select all the strokes in your drawing.
7. In the Tools Properties view, click the Flatten

button.

8. In the Drawing or Camera view, select all the strokes in your drawing.
9. In the top menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Remove Extra Strokes to remove any unnecessary, invisible lines in your drawing.
10. Repeat the previous steps for the other articulations.
11. In the Timeline view, select the cell of the part that will be on top of the joint.

NOTE: When placing rotation pivots later on, make sure they are positioned at the centre of thearticulation.

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Ordering the Layers

At this point, it is possible that your character's pieces may show up in the wrong order.
There are several ways to fix this. First, you can reorder your layers by dragging them to a higher or lower level in
the Timeline view. The top layer is displayed in front of the others and the bottom one is displayed behind.
Second, you can use the Z-axis nudging (forward and backward) if you have extra views included in the samelayers (front, three-quarter, back, etc.).
This topic is divided as follows:•

Ordering the Timeline Layers on page 344•

Nudging Parts Backwards and Forwards on page 345

Ordering the Timeline Layers
In the Timeline view, the layer positioned at the top will be displayed in front and the ones below will be displayed
behind. If you have multiple views, you should order your layers based on the most common view, which is
generally the three-quarter front.

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How to order the layers‣

In the Timeline view, drag a layer to reorder it and drop it between other layers.

If you drop it on a layer, it will create a parent hierarchy, so make sure to drop it between layers.

Nudging Parts Backwards and Forwards
If you created a hierarchy on your arms, legs or other body parts, it is possible that you will want a part, such as thehand, to appear in front of its parent. Yet, if you move the hand layer above the arm layer, you will break thehierarchy. To reorder a layer rigged in a hierarchy, nudge it backwards or forwards on the z-axis.

NOTE: You will do the same for the layers that are not in the right order on the extra views. Do not place the drawing
on another layer. You want to keep all your drawings of the body parts in the same layers like a box containing all of
the hands or all of the shoes.

Harmony allows you to move your elements in three dimensions:•

Up and down (Y-axis)•

Left and right (X-axis)•

Backwards and forwards (Z-axis)

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In the same way you create multiplane backgrounds (depth), you can perform a micro nudge of the part to bereordered and see it in front of the other elements, even if its layer is actually behind the other ones in the Timeline
view. The forward-backward position can also be animated over time.
Repeat the following instructions for all the views.
How to nudge your parts backward and forward
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transformtool. Make sure to enable the Animate

mode.

2. In the Camera view, select the element you want to reorder. Make sure the focus (red outline) is around the
Camera view before selecting the element.
3. To move the element forward, press Alt + Down Arrow and to move the element backward, press Alt + Up
Arrow.

Riggings
The rigging process is where building a puppet can take several different directions.

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In this section, you will learn how to create a simple rig. Afterwards, you will learn how to add pegs and create ahierarchy. You can also see more advanced tricks in the Appendix on page 374. For a very flexible and advanced rig,
see Deformation on page 399.
•

About Rigging on page 347•

Adding Pegs on page 351•

Rigging the Head on page 352•

Rigging the Body on page 353•

Creating a Hierarchy on page 354•

Ordering the Layers on page 1•

Adding the Master Peg on page 356•

Creating the Keyframes on page 357•

Setting Properties for Many Layers on page 358•

Masking on page 359

About Rigging
There are some basic concepts to know when rigging and layer parenting:•

Simple Rigging on page 347•

Parenting Layers on page 349•

Rigging Using Pegs on page 350

Simple Rigging
Simple rigging is very fast and easy to do. It is built as follows:•

All the body parts are independent•

All the timeline layers are attached to a master peg layer (trajectory layer)

The advantage of using this technique is that you are free to move any part around without being influenced by aparent layer.

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However, since the parts are not parented to each other, the parts will move from point A to point B along a
straight trajectory. The hand will not follow the arm's rotation. You will have to set more keyframes for the hand tomove along a curved path.

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Parenting Layers

When you want one part to follow another part, such as the forearm following the arm, you can attach the layers one
to the other. For example, you can attach the forearm layer to the arm layer without having to encapsulate theforearm into the arm layer. They will still be parented, but you can access the forearm directly without having to enter
the arm layer.

The advantage of parenting layers is that the child layers will follow the parent smoothly without having to selectthem or create a series of keyframes.

The disadvantage of parenting layers is that you are not able to move the parent independently of its children, since
the child layers receive all the transformation information from their parent.

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Parenting layers, such as the arms and legs, and allowing the torso and hips to be independent from them is often
a good solution.

NOTE:
To attach one layer to another, you must drag the desired layer onto the other one in the Timeline view.
Harmony offers powerful techniques to create hierarchies between your layers without having to encapsulate
layers into each other. These techniques are a great improvement over the less efficient and time consuming
method of creating parenting between your layers by inserting symbols into other symbols. Therefore, rigging withsymbols inside symbols is NOT recommended.

Rigging Using Pegs
Peg layer are useful when you are doing more advanced puppet rigging. Peg layers are trajectory layers that do
not contain drawings. They are motion paths that you can use to control your entire puppet or advanced
hierarchies.
Parenting a drawing layer to a peg layer allows you to divide your motions on two separate levels. You can scale abody part up the chain of pegs directly on the drawing layer. This way, you do not affect any child layers that could
be attached to that part.
Then, you can perform your translation and rotation on the peg layer so all the parts attached to that peg layer
follow the same trajectory.

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Adding Pegs
It is recommended to add parent pegs to your drawing layers which are path layers that let you add keyframes tomodify the positions of pieces over time. It is not mandatory, but it is helpful to have your drawings and keyframes
separated—see Disabling the Animation on Drawing Layers on page 331.
How to parent drawing layers to pegs
1. In the Timeline view, select all the layers.

2. In the Timeline Layer toolbar, click the Add Parent Peg

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Rigging the HeadYou will start by attaching the facial features to the head.
The advantage of parenting the head and the facial features to the same peg is that you can easily animate eachfacial feature, and they will all follow the head motion.
You can also use additional pegs to control smaller groups of pieces such as the facial features or all the left eye
pieces. You can parent as many pegs as you want to obtain a maximum of control on your rig.

How to parent the facial features to the head
1. In the Timeline view, deselect any selected layers.
2. Select the head peg layer.
3. In the Timeline View Layer toolbar, click the Add Parent Peg
button to add a new peg layer to yourtimeline. You can rename the peg to keep your work organized.

A new peg is added and parented to the head peg layer.

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1. Select all the remaining head and facial feature layers and drag them ONTO the peg layer or BETWEEN thehead peg layer and the new head peg to parent them.

Rigging the Body
When the character's head is ready, you can move on to rigging the body. You can do a simple rigging where all the
body parts are independent of each other, or create parenting between some of the layers. Refer to Creating a
Hierarchy on page 354 to learn how to parent your layers.
Simple rigging consists of leaving the layers in the Timeline view without doing any kind of parenting. Later on, youwill attach those layers to a master peg and organize them in the correct order—see Adding the Master Peg on page356 and Ordering the Layers on page 344.

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Creating a Hierarchy
Harmony lets you extend your rigging techniques beyond normal boundaries and sets new standards. You cancreate hierarchies without encapsulating pieces inside each other by creating a linked structure between layers.
You should create a hierarchy on the arms and legs, and keep them separated from the body. This gives you moreanimation freedom, and when you need to scale or skew the torso, it will not affect the entire body.

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How to create a hierarchy in the Timeline view
1. Drag the child piece (hand) and drop it ON the parent piece (forearm). Then, you can drag the parent (forearm)piece onto another parent piece (upper arm).

‣

You can unparent layers by holding down Shift and dragging the selected parents away from the childlayer. Drop your selected between other layers.

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Adding the Master Peg

When you animate your character, you will probably need to resize and reposition it to fit your scene. When you
need to scale down or move your character, it is a good idea to hook (attach) the whole puppet to a trajectory.
Attaching your puppet to a peg will allow you to scale it and reposition it without having to do this to the different
parts and pieces. Only one layer will contain the position information, which makes your animation easier tomodify and control.
How to add a master peg
1. In the Timeline view, select the top layer to parent a peg to it. You need to select a layer to be able to add apeg to your scene.
2. In the Timeline view, click on the Add Peg

button.

A new peg is added to the timeline as a parent of the selected layer.
3. Name the new peg Master plus the character's name.
4. In the Timeline view, select all the layers you want to attach to your new peg. Remember that one item isalready parented to that peg.
5. Drag your selection ON to the peg layer to parent all your character's pieces to the peg. If your layers areadded above the already parented layers, move that parented layer back on top of the layer stack.

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Creating the Keyframes
Once all your drawings are ordered and your master peg is added, you need to insert keyframes on each cell tocreate all of the function curves and block your pose in place.
How to create the keyframes
1. In the Timeline view, collapse the master peg by clicking the Expand

2. In the Timeline view, select the first cell.

3. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Insert > Keyframe.

‣

In the Timeline View toolbar, click the Add Keyframe‣

Press F6.

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NOTE: If you use the F6 shortcut when working Flash keyboard shortcuts flavour, this not only creates a keyframe
but also duplicates a drawing.

Setting Properties for Many Layers
When working with several nodes, you may frequently want to modify a series of settings. Instead of opening theproperties for each individual layer, you can set the properties for many layers so you can change a common
setting in a single click.
This allows you to modify the following settings:•

3D Path or Separate mode•

Use Embedded Pivot•

Overlay•Line Art•

Colour Art•

Underlay•

Animate Using Animation Tools

NOTE: You can add the button to the Timeline View toolbar through the Toolbar Manager. In the
Toolbar Manager, you will find the feature in the script section under the name Script: TB_Set_Properties_on_
manu_layers in TB_Set_Properties_on_many_layers.js.

How to set properties for many layers
1. In the Timeline view, select all the layers you want to modify at the same time.
2. In the Timeline View toolbar, click the Set Properties for Many Layers
button. This option is not available by default in the Timeline View toolbar. You must add it through the Customize option. Right-click on
the toolbar and select Customize. In the Available Tools list, select Script: TB_Set_Properties_on_many_layers and move it to the Toolbar list.
The Set Properties for Many Layers dialog box opens.

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3. Modify the properties. If your nodes have different parameters enabled for a certain setting, leave the As Is
option selected to avoid modifying it. Each node will keep its original setting. Select any other options for all
nodes to change to this parameter regardless of their original setting.
4. Click OK.

Masking

When rigging a character, there may be instances when you want to have the ability to move a particular piece togive the illusion of a rotation or move the pupil within the white of an eye without having the extra bit of the drawing
sticking out of the character or eyeball. To do so, you can use masks to cut anything you don't want to be visible.

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How to mask an object in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, make sure the keyframe is added on the object that will be masking the piece to cut.

2. Select the layer that will act as the mask.
3. In the Timeline view, right-click on the layer and select Clone Selected Layers: Drawings and Timing.

4. Select the layer to be masked.
5. In the Layer toolbar, click the Add Layer button and select Effects > Cutter.

6. Click the Expand Parameters

button to display the Cutter properties.

7. Drag the cloned layer ONTO the Matte parameter connection area.
The masking layer name appears in the Matte parameter area and the masking layer is repositionned
above the effect.

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The masking layer is no longer visible in the Camera view. You can see that the masking layer is connectedto the Cutter effect by clicking the Show/Hide Additional Links
button to display the Additional Links
section.

8. Your masking effect is most likely inverted and what you want to cut is probably showing. Double-click on the
Mask layer to open the Layer Properties window. In the Layer Properties window, enable the Inverted option.

9. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool and move the cut object within the masking zone.

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Adding Extra Drawings

Your break down is now complete. You can move on to adding the extra drawings your character needs, such as
principal hand positions and mouth shapes. If you ever forget to add extra drawings in your main character's
template, you can easily add them later.

NOTE: Add your extra drawings in the layer corresponding to the part you are drawing. You should see the layers
as containers for the different pieces. Each body part has its own container in which you can add more drawings ofthe same part.

If you want to use the auto lip-sync detection feature to animate your dialog, you should create the following
mouths for your puppet.
The mouth shapes used by Harmony are based on the conventional mouth chart used in the animation industry.

NOTE: The letters used to represent the shapes do NOT correspond to an actual sound.

NOTE: If you are doing cut-out animation, refer to the Cut-out Animation Guide, Character Building chapter,"Adding Extra Drawings" topic to learn how to add extra drawings to your character.

Here is an approximation of the sound each mouth shape can produce:•

A: m, b, p, h•

B: s, d, j, i, k, t

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C: e, a•

D: A, E

•

E: o

•

F: u, oo•

G: f, ph•X: Silence, undetermined soundYou can lip-sync the traditional way or let the system automatically create the basic detection.
You can refer to the mouth chart positions as you draw the shape of the character's mouth.
How to add extra drawings
1. In the Timeline view, select the cell where you want to add a new drawing. If you want to duplicate the current
drawing and work from it, you can select Drawing > Duplicate Drawings or press Alt + Shift + D.
A new drawing is created in the selected cell and automatically extended to the next one. The new drawing is
a duplicate of the one that was selected so it contains a duplicate of the art. You can modify it to create yournew drawing or delete its contents in the Camera or Drawing view and start from scratch.

1. In the Tools toolbar, select a drawing tool for drawing your extra part.
2. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw your new drawing.

2. Using the Selecttool, select your drawing and flatten the lines by clicking the Flatten
Tool Properties view.

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Setting the Pivots

One of the last steps before storing the character in the library is to set the pivots for the different parts.
Harmony has three types of pivots:•

Permanent Pivot
This is a permanent pivot, sometime referred to as peg pivot, that is applied to the entire drawing or peg
layer. If you modify its position, it will be changed for the entire layer, modifying the animation, scale androtation interpolation. The permanent pivot is set using the Rotate, Translate or Scale tool. The Transform
tool will only move that pivot temporarily for positioning purposes, but the animation interpolation will bedone from the original permanent pivot's position. The Transform tool is designed to move the pivot
temporarily during the animation process. It also permits you to select multiple pegs and apply a common
temporary pivot.
To permanently move a peg pivot, use the Rotate or Scale tool. You can also directly type the values in theLayer Properties window in the Pivot section's (x) Axis and (y) Axis fields.
In the Layer Properties window, in the Drawing Pivot section, select the Don't Use Embedded Pivot
option to use the permanent pivot.

•

Drawing Pivot
The Drawing pivot is contained within each drawing. In one layer, each drawing can have its own pivot. If
you have many different views of a character within one layer, the pivot can be different and the animation
will adjust to the pivot. The Drawing pivot can also be referred to as embedded pivot. If you are not mixing
different views within the same layers or are using pegs to animate your layers, it is recommended to use
the permanent pivot.

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You can set a different pivot for each one of your drawings. For example, if you have a series of drawings
from different views, they are not likely to rotate from the same location. In that case, you can set a different
pivot for these drawings by using the Drawing Pivot
tool.
In the Layer Properties window, in the Drawing Pivot section, select the Apply Embedded Pivot on
Drawing Layer option to use the drawing pivot directly on the drawing layer. If you want to apply the drawing
pivot to a parent peg to force the peg to follow the drawing pivot variations, enable the Apply Embedded
Pivot on Parent Peg option.
•

Symbol Pivot
The Symbol pivot is similar to the Drawing pivot. Each symbol cell can have its own pivot and act the sameas the Drawing pivot. The Symbol pivot can also be referred to as embedded pivot. Inside a symbol, eachdrawing can have its own pivot. If you are not mixing different views within the same layers or are using pegs
to animate your layers, it is recommended to use the Peg pivot.

For a simple character rig, it is recommended to set the Peg pivot (even on drawing layers) using the Rotate
tool.
If you want the puppet's pieces to rotate correctly, you must set the pivot points right in the middle of an articulation,such as an elbow or a knee.
By default, your master peg pivot is placed at the centre of the Camera view, which generally equates to yourcharacter's hips. A good way to set your peg's pivot is to move it between the character's feet.
How to set the pivots with the Rotate tool
1. In the Advanced Animation toolbar, select the Rotate

tool.

2. In the Camera or Timeline view, select the layer whose pivot you want to set. In the Camera view, you canalso hold down Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) and click on the piece whose pivot you want to set.
3. In the Camera view, drag the blue pivot to reposition it.

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4. Repeat the previous steps for all the pieces, including the eyes, nose and mouth. If you are unsure as
where to place the pivot, put it in the center of the selected piece or group of pieces.

NOTE: If you added other pegs to your rig, you must set their pivot using the same method.

Setting Anchors and Props
An anchor is an attachment point you can use to bind one or several props to a specific location that is predefinedby the anchor.
A prop is a game item that will be attached to an anchor. It could be a stick held within the character’s hand, ahelmet attached to the character’s head...the possibilities are endless. Props are easy to turn on or off, and easily
swappable from within Harmony or Unity.
How to create an anchor
1. Create a new Drawing node and rename it according to the anchor you are creating.
2. Inside the Layer Properties of your drawing node, make sure that pivot option is set to Don’t Use Embedded Pivot or Apply Embedded Pivot on Drawing Layer. The Apply Embedded Pivot on Parent Peg
does not transition well to Unity and you will lose your pivot information.

3. Once this is done, you can use any of the animation tools to reposition the pivot point of your node, suchas the Rotate tool in the Advanced Animation toolbar. You should be able to see the pivot coordinates fromthe Layer Properties of your Drawing node. If the pivot is not repositioned, its default place will be at the366Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

centre of your Harmony scene (0,0).
4. Once this is set up, select the Drawing node and click the Toggle Anchor

button in the Game toolbar.

The Drawing node is highlighted in red in the Timeline and Node views. Your anchor can now be used toattach a prop.
How to create a prop
1. Create a new Drawing node or take an existing prop on which you want to attach an anchor.
2. Position the Drawing Pivot of the prop node using a tool on the Advanced Animation toolbar, such as the
Rotate tool. The position of the prop’s pivot will align with that of the anchor. Make sure it is positioned accordingly.
3. With the prop Drawing Node selected, click the Toggle Prop

button in the Game toolbar.

The prop Drawing node is highlighted in green in the Timeline and Node views.
4. Do one of the following:‣

Connect the anchor and prop to the parent peg.

‣

Connect the prop under the anchor to create a parent/child hierarchy.

Toon Boom Harmony 12.2.1- Advanced Edition -Cut-out Animation Guide

1

Contents

3

Chapter 1: Cut-out Animation - An Introduction

7

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

9

Preparation

9

Sketching the Model

10

Relative Size

12

Sketching the Character

22

Cleaning and Inking the Model

24

Drawing Tasks

29

Drawing Tool References

109

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Bitmap Brush Tool Options

119

Chapter 3: Colour Styling

185

Preparation

185

Working with Palettes

190

Colours207

Painting the Model

223

Sharing the Colour Model

225

Chapter 4: Timing

233

Preparation

233

Setting the Scene Length

235

Creating Drawings

237

Filling Exposure

258

Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

265

Overwriting Exposures and Keyframes

282Managing Key Exposures

283

Navigating between Frames and Columns

288Managing Drawings

289

Merging Drawings

294

Setting Tempo Markers

314

Printing the Xsheet

315

Modifying Paste Presets

317

Chapter 5: Character Building

321

About the Model

322

Relative Sizes

323

Studying the Model

326

Setting the Default Separate Position Preferences

329

Naming Conventions

329

Disabling the Animation on Drawing Layers

331

Art Layers

333

Breaking Down the Character

338

Ordering the Layers

344

Rigging346

Adding Extra Drawings

362

Setting the Pivots

364

Setting Anchors and Props

366

Storing the Character in the Library

372

Appendix374

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Chapter 6: Deformation

399

Main Types of Deformations

399

Adding Basic Deformation Chains

401

Setting the Resting Position

404

Displaying the Deformation Controls

408

Assembling Pieces

409

Animating Deformations

412

Deformation Toolbar

416

Rigging Tool Properties

418

Mode

418

Rig Tool Options

418

Operations

418

Deformation Nodes

419

Chapter 7: Library

423

Understanding the Library Concept423

Library View

425

Organizing the Library427

Templates

431

Symbols

433

Importing Symbols and Templates

441

Importing Files Through the Library

445

Using Paste Special

445

Chapter 8: Cut-out Animation

451

Getting the Character

452

Keyframes and Drawing Blocks

455

Creating a Simple Cut-out Animation

457

Selecting Layers to Animate or Position

459

Navigating the Hierarchy

461

Animating Using the Transform Tool

463

Animating in Stop-motion

465

Animating Using Computer-generated Interpolation

466

Marking the Timeline

472

Flipping Through Poses

475

Using the Onion Skin in Cut-out Animation

476

Flipping Parts

479

Using Action Templates

480

Swapping Drawings

481

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Animating Lip-Sync

487

Adding a New Drawing

490

Ordering Layers Over Time

494

Resetting a Transformation

495

Creating Cycles

496

Copying and Pasting Animation

498

Adding Pegs

499

Offsetting a Portion of an Animation

501

Chapter 9: Morphing503

Understanding Morphing

504

Source and Destination Drawings

504

Morphing Rules

505

Creating a Basic Morphing Sequence509

Tool Properties View

511

Adjusting the Velocity and Timing

514

Morphing Tool and Hints

515

Morphing Layers

523

Morphing Two Sequences in a Row

530

Inserting a Morphing Key Drawing

531

Converting Morphing Inbetweens to Drawings

532

Morphing Holes and Transparencies

532

Adjusting the Morphing Quality

535

Tips and Tricks

535

Glossary

537

Index

547

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Metadata Editor View

The Metadata Editor view lets you access the information of the props and anchors to be exported to Unity.

NOTE: Because the Unity game engine does not support Unicode characters, it is recommended to avoid using it inscenes intended for games.

How to access the Metadata Editor view
1. In the top-right corner of a view, click the Add View
Parameter

button and select Metadata Editor.

Description
This is a list of optional parameters you can create in a scene project to beexported to Unity. It will not have any incentive towards your scene assets, but
can help developers know what to do with the assets contained in your Harmony
scene.

Scene Metadata

Once in Unity, scene Metadata will appear in Inspector view > Metadata whenthe Asset is selected in the Hierarchy view.
Name: Name of the Scene entry. (e.g. game.Armor001)
Value: This can be anything that describes the state of an object. You could, forexample, have three different stages of armour: new, damaged and destroyed.

Node Metadata

Displays only the props and anchors held inside your selection. If nothing isselected, no information will display. Name and value appear in this box as well.
Name will show you the associated .tvg name and value will be set as either On
or Off, depending on whether you want the connection to be set as active or not.
Once in Unity, scene Metadata will appear in the Hierarchy view.

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Name: Name of the selected anchor or prop. (e.g. game.isAnchor). Notice that it
differs from the drawing layer name on the top-left corner of the Node Metadata
section.
Value: Can be set to be active (On) or inactive (Off).

NOTE: For any anchor or prop information created within the Metadata Editor, the naming convention must always
use the prefix "game.". The term "game." is recognized automatically by Unity as a metadata information. For
example: game.Armor001.

Storing the Character in the Library
For maximum efficiency and reuse of your character in different scenes, you must store a template in the Libraryview. You can create different kinds of templates, such as templates that include all the layers, a template for abody, key pose or even some containing only the head.
When you create a template from the Timeline view's right side, you must first import your master template inorder for everything to work properly when you reimport it into a scene. Once the master template is imported, you
can import the key pose (action) template's content into the right side of the Timeline view.
How to create a template from the Timeline view
1. In the Library view, right-click on the desired library folder and select Right To Modify.
2. In the Timeline view, collapse the master peg layer.

3. If your scene has a series of blank cells, they will also be included in the template if you drag the layer tothe Library view. Reduce the scene length to have no empty cells before creating your template.
4. In the Timeline view, select your master peg and drag it to the Library view.

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The Rename dialog box opens.

5. In the Name field, name the new template.
6. Click OK.
How to create a key pose (action template)
1. In the Library view, right-click on the desired library folder and select Right To Modify.
2. In the Timeline view, collapse the master peg layer.

3. Select the cell containing the desired view and drag it into the desired library folder.

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The Rename dialog box opens.

4. In the Name field, type in a name for the template.
5. Click OK.

Appendix

The many options and animation techniques available for building a puppet make it impossible to determine only
one method to break down a character. Here are some advanced tips on breaking down puppets. As you become
more familiar with the software, you will find more ways to improve the construction of your puppet.
This section is divided as follows:•

Break Down: Cutting the Character in Pieces on page 375•

Break Down: Distribute to Layers on page 386•

Converting the Layers into Symbols on page 387•

Patch Articulation on page 390•

Setting Different Pivots for a Puppet Using Symbols on page 393•

Setting Pivots on a Frame Range on page 395•

Adding New Drawings to an Existing Template

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Break Down: Cutting the Character in Pieces

If you do not want to redraw all the artwork for your character, you can use the cut away technique where, with the
Cutter tool, you select and send pieces of the model on a new layer.
The first step in breaking down your character is to do a rough cut down of the main parts, such as the body, arms,
legs and head. Using the Create Drawing from Drawing Selection feature lets you automatically create layers andcopy your selection in it.
This section is divided as follows:•

Breaking Down the Main Parts on page 375•

Breaking Down the Secondary Parts on page 378•

Selecting and Incorporating to an Existing Layer•

Breaking Down the Extra View Main Parts on page 381•

Breaking Down Secondary Parts in the Extra Views on page 382

Breaking Down the Main Parts
To break down the main body parts, you will use the Create Drawing From Drawing Selection feature.
There is no need to create any layers prior to this process. Make sure your model is well centered and sized in the
Camera view.
You do not need to make clean cuts around your parts; a rough one is sufficient as long as it includes all the artworkof the part you want to break down. You will clean the extra bits and pieces later.

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Using the Cutter tool, you can roughly cut the main sections, and then use the Select tool to select precise lines
and colour zones.
How to break down the main parts
1. In the Timeline view, select the cell of the model that corresponds to the first view to break down.

2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Cutter

tool.

‣

If you prefer to use the Select tool, choose the Select‣In the Tool Properties view, you can switch to the Lasso

tool from the Tools toolbar or press Alt + S.
selection mode.

3. In the Camera view, create a selection around the first part to break down. If you click on a zone, the Cutter tool will select the zone. It will end the selection at the first point of intersection that it meets.

‣

Hold down Shift to create a new lasso selection around another zone and add it to your previous
selection.

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4. From the top menu, select Edit > Create Drawing From Drawing Selection or press F9 (Windows/Linux) or⌘ + F9 (Mac OS X).
The Create Drawing From Drawing Selection dialog box opens.

5. In the Layer Name field, type the name of the layer you want to create following the naming convention you
established previously.
6. Deselect the Cut Artwork From Source option to keep the selected artwork on your original drawing. You do
not want to cut the artwork from the colour model.
7. Click OK.
The new layer is created and your selection is copied in it. The drawing is created in the same frame number
as the cell it was taken from.

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8. Repeat the previous steps for each main body part.

Breaking Down the Secondary Parts

You should now have a layer for each main part of the character for the first view to break down. You are now
ready to break down those main pieces into smaller ones.
Breaking down the secondary parts is similar to the main part break down process except that this time you will
cut away the artwork from the layer it has been selected from.
How to break down the secondary parts
1. In the Timeline view, lock your model layer by clicking its Lockbutton.

2. In the Timeline view, select the cell that corresponds to the main part you want to break down.

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3. In the Tools toolbar, select the Cutter
‣

tool.

If you prefer to use the Select tool, choose the Selecttool from the Tools toolbar or press Alt + S.

4. In the Camera view, create a selection around the part to break down.

‣

If you click on a zone, the Cutter
tool will select the zone and end the selection at the first point ofintersection that it meets. Click on the line with the Cutter tool to select it up to the next intersection.

5. From the top menu, select Edit > Create Drawing From Drawing Selection or press F9 (Windows/Linux) or⌘ + F9 (Mac OS X).
The Create Drawing From Drawing Selection dialog box opens.

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Chapter 5: Character Building

6. In the Layer Name field, type the name of the layer you want to create following the naming convention you
established previously.
7. Select the Cut Artwork From Source option to remove the selected artwork from your original drawing. In
this case, you want to cut the artwork from the colour model.
8. Click OK.
The new layer is created and your selection is copied in it. The drawing is created in the same frame
number as the cell it was taken from.

9. Repeat the previous steps for each body part.

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NOTE:
If you forgot to add some artwork to a layer you previously created, you can always add it later.
In the Camera view, select the artwork to send to the existing layer. Open the Create Drawing from Drawing Selection
dialog box by pressing F9 (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + F9 (Mac OS X). In the dialog box, select an existing layer from thelist instead of typing a new name. Click OK to add the artwork to the existing drawing in the layer you selected.

Selecting and Incorporating to an Existing Layer
Your first view should now be completely broken down. If your articulations are still rough and bits and pieces are
missing you will fix those in the next step.
If your character model has more than one view, now is the time to break them down.
The process is very similar to breaking down the first view. You have two choices:•

Breaking down the new view in a net set of layers•

Braking down the new views in the same existing layers
If your layers are not in the correct order, you can reorder them later. Simply add the part that you are breaking
down to the layer you previously created for the same body part.

Start by breaking down the main pieces, as you did before. The secondary parts will be broken down later on.

Breaking Down the Extra View Main Parts
Repeat the following steps for each extra view you need to break down.
How to break down the other views
1. In the Timeline view, selected the model's cell corresponding to the view to break down. Don't forget to
unlock the layer.

2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Cutter
‣

tool.

If you prefer to use the Select tool, in the Tools toolbar select the Select381

tool or press Alt + S.

Chapter 5: Character Building

3. In the Camera view, create a selection around the first part to break down.

4. From the top menu, select Edit > Create Drawing From Drawing Selection or press F9 (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + F9 (Mac OS X).
The Create Drawing From Drawing Selection dialog box opens.

5. In the Layer Name field, select the corresponding layer from the list if you want to use the same layers ortype a new name if you want to create a new layer.
6. Deselect the Cut Artwork From Source option to keep the selected artwork on your original drawing. You
do not want to cut the artwork from the colour model.
7. Click OK.
The artwork is inserted into the existing layer. The drawing is created in the same frame number as the cellit was taken from. It is not incorporated in the other view's drawings.

8. Repeat step 1 to 7 for each main body part.

Breaking Down Secondary Parts in the Extra Views
To break down the secondary parts for your extra views, follow the exact same process as you did for the firstview you broke down, but you will incorporate the new parts in the existing layers—see Breaking Down theSecondary Parts on page 378.
Each view can have its own set of layers in the Timeline view, therefore each view does not necessarily need tohave the same layer structure.

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Here is an example of how your timeline should look at this stage:Completing the Parts and Articulation

Now that all the layers are created and the parts are basically broken down, it is time to clean up the parts andcomplete the articulation.

Cleaning the Parts
You will need to use a series of drawing tools to clean the parts:•

Brush tool•

Eraser tool•

Select tool•

Cutter tool•

Contour Editor tool•

Paint tool•

Close Gap tool383

Chapter 5: Character Building

How to clean your drawings
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the drawing tool you need to fix your drawings.

2. In the Timeline view, select the cell containing the drawing to fix.
3. In the Camera view, delete the extra bits using the SelectErasertool.

or Cuttertool. You can also use the4. Draw the missing lines using the Brush
tool. If you use the Brush tool, it is recommended that you
enable the Auto-Flatten
option in the Tool Properties view.

5. Using the Paint
tool, paint the gaps. You can close some gaps with invisible lines using the Close Gap
tool or press Alt + C.

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6. Reshape your lines using the Contour Editor

tool or press Alt + Q.

7. Using the Selecttool, select the entire drawing and click the Flatten
view to flatten your drawings.

button in the Tool Properties

8. From the top menu, select View > Show > Show Strokes to display the invisible lines that could be present
in your drawing or press K.

9. From the top menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Remove Extra Strokes to remove any unnecessary invisible lines in the drawing.
10. Repeat this entire process for each drawing to fix.

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Break Down: Distribute to Layers
When breaking down a character, you can distribute each selected art stroke to a new layer.
Each stroke you select in the Camera view is automatically placed on a new layer. One layer per stroke.
If one part of your puppet is composed of several strokes, you must group them before distributing them onto newlayers.

NOTE: You cannot distribute layers in the Drawing view; it must be done in the Camera view.

How to distribute to layers
1. In the Tools toolbar, click the Selecttool.

2. In the Camera view, select the art strokes you want to distribute to different layers.

3. From the top menu, select Drawing > Distribute to Layers or click the Distribute to Layers
the Tool Properties view.

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button inHarmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

Drawing layers are created in the Timeline view, each corresponding to the different strokes or groups ofstrokes selected. Each stroke or group of strokes is distributed into each new Drawing layer. The selected
strokes in the original drawing layer are removed.

Converting the Layers into Symbols

NOTE: Converting your layers into symbols is optional. When animating, you will need to enter the symbol to create a
new drawing. If you want to use morphing when animating, keep your layers as drawings. Do NOT use symbols.

Once the breakdown is completed, you can create symbols out of each drawing. The symbol will encapsulate eachdrawing of the layer. Later on, even if you only expose the first frame, such as the front head, you will still haveaccess to all of the head drawings you placed in the symbol. This will also allow you to add more drawings, as yourcharacters' master templates will evolve throughout the production of your movie or series.
All your layers should be stored in the library as symbols. Before building your puppet, remove all the current layers
in your scene. All of your work is saved in the library.
If you are not sure that you put everything in your library, you can always perform a Save As on your scene and workon a new version.

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How to create a symbol
1. Create a symbol by doing one of the following:‣

From the Timeline view, drag the layer to the Symbols library folder.

‣

In the Timeline view, select the layer to convert to a symbol. From the top menu, select Edit > Create
Symbol or press F8. You can also click on the Create Symbol
button available in the Edit toolbar.

The Create Symbol dialog box opens.

2. In the Enter Symbol's Name field, type the new symbol's name. It is recommended that you keep your original layer's name.
3. Click OK.
4. Repeat this process for each layer in the Timeline view.

NOTE: Make sure all your layers are stored in the symbol library.

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How to save your scene as a new version‣ From the top menu, select File > Save As. You can also click the Save As

button available in the Filetoolbar.
How to clean the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select all of your layers.

2. In the Timeline's Layer toolbar, click the Delete Layers

button.

3. In the Confirm Delete dialog box, click OK.
Your timeline is now ready to receive the body part symbols for the rigging process.

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Patch Articulation

The Harmony advanced rigging can use an articulation fixing technique called Patch Articulation. This technique
is a colour fill patch that is drawn on a third layer and is used to cover the joint lines. It is a simple, yet powerful
method.

With this technique, you avoid having to create a correction layer at the end of the animation to fill the gaps in the
joints. You do not need to worry about the articulations at all. Once a patch is set, the articulation is fixed for theentire length of the animation.
To make this technique even more efficient, Harmony lets you draw the patch inside the same drawing, but on a
separate contained layer. The Line Art and Colour Art layers are not only useful in traditional ink and paint, butalso in advanced cut-out breakdown. You can draw the patch in the Colour Art layer and extract it in the Nodeview. The advantage of doing it this way is that when animating and using the drawing substitution, the patch
drawing will change at the same time as the main drawing.
How to create a patch articulation
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool or press Shift + T.

2. If you plan to create your patch on an independent layer, do the following. If not, go the next step.
‣In the Timeline view, add a new drawing layer by clicking the Add Drawing Layer
Ctrl + R (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + R (Mac OS X).

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button or pressHarmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

3. In the Camera view, select the part for which you want to create a patch. For example, if you are fixing theelbow articulation, select the arm or forearm drawing to edit it.

4. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

5. If you drew your lines with pencil lines, it is recommended to convert them to brush lines (fill shapes):‣

In the Camera view, select the pencil lines.

‣

In the Tools Properties view, click the Convert Brush Strokes to Pencil Lines391

button.

Chapter 5: Character Building‣

In the Camera view, select the piece's outline and fill.

‣

In the Tool Properties view, click the Flatten
the contour stroke.

button to remove the excess colour fill located under

6. In the Camera view, select the fill zone of the part's drawing.

7. In the Camera view, right-click and select Copy.

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8. In the Camera view, right-click and select Paste.
9. In the Tools toolbar, select the Cutter

tool.

10. In the Camera view, make a selection around the pasted zone to cut everything out but a small overlappingzone to cover the articulation.

1. Repeat the process for each articulation which requires fixing.

Setting Different Pivots for a Puppet Using Symbols
If you want the puppet's pieces to rotate correctly, you must set the pivot points onto the articulations. You can set
the pivots using the Rotate tool which sets it for the entire layer or you can set the pivots directly on your symbol andhave a different pivot for each symbol cell. By default, when you create symbols, the symbol pivot is located at thecentre of your drawing. You will need to move it onto the shoulder or elbow.
You will set the pivot on the symbol's cells, not directly on the drawings. To set your pivots, you must be at the top
level of your character building scene and not inside the symbols.
By default, when you set the pivot onto a symbol, all the cells use the same pivot. If you need different pivots fordifferent cells, refer to the following procedure.
Do the following steps for each layer in the Timeline view.

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How to set the pivots for the body parts
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Drawing Pivot

tool or select Drawing > Tools > Drawing Pivot.

2. In the Camera or Timeline view, select the symbol on which you want to set a pivot.

3. If you only want to set one pivot for your symbol, in the Tool Properties view, select the Set the Pivot for
Symbol on All Frames
button.

‣Deselect this button if you want to set a series of different pivots for your symbol's cells.

4. In the Camera view, click where you want the pivot to be. You can also drag the pivot marker to thedesired location.

5. If you want to set a different pivot for another drawing or symbol cell, select the drawing or cell and in the
Camera view, set the new pivot.

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Make sure the Set the Pivot for Symbol on All Frames button is deselected.

Setting Pivots on a Frame Range
If you are using the drawing pivots rather than the Rotate tool pivot and if some elements need the same drawing
pivot, such as all of the three-quarter hands, you can select all of these hands cells and set the pivot all at once. If
your pivot is already correctly set on your first drawing, copy and paste that pivot onto the other drawings in theTimeline or Xsheet view.

You must have the same drawing pivots on the extra parts from the same angle. If you substitute a drawing while thepart is rotating, the animation risks popping out of place if the pivot is uneven.
How set the drawing pivot of a frame range
1. In the Drawing or Camera view, set the first drawing pivot of the series. For example, set it on hand-1.

2. In the Timeline view, select the cell that contains the correct pivot.

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3. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy.
4. In the Timeline view, select the cell range that requires the same pivot.

5. From the top menu, select Edit > Paste Special or press Ctrl + B (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + B (Mac OS X).
The Paste Special dialog box opens.

6. In the Paste Special dialog box, select the Advanced tab.
7. In the Drawings section, select the Update Drawing Pivot option.
8. Click OK.

NOTE: You can also copy and paste the pivot from one drawing to another using the keyboard
shortcuts Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C and ⌘ + V (Mac OS X) when the drawing
pivot tool is active and the focus is around the Camera view.

Adding New Drawings to an Existing Template
How to add new drawings to an existing drawing template
1. In the Library view, right-click on the library folder containing the template to modify and select Right To
Modify.
2. In the Library view's right side, right-click on the extra drawings template to modify and select Edit Template.
A new instance of Harmony opens.
3. In the Tools toolbar, select a drawing tool.
4. In the Colour view, select a colour.
5. In the template's timeline, select the blank cell where you want to draw your new piece.
6. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw the new pieces.

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7. If you are using drawing pivots, in the Tools toolbar, select the Drawing Pivot
tool and in the Camera
view, set the pivot directly on the new drawing's cell. If you are using symbols and symbol pivots, you do not
set the pivot on the symbol's cell.
8. From the top menu, select File > Save or press Ctrl + S (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + S (Mac OS X).
9. From the top menu, select File > Quit (Windows/Linux) or Stage Advanced > Quit Toon Boom Stage (MacOS X).

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Chapter 6: Deformation

Deformations let you animate bitmap or vector-based graphics, including gradients and textures. Deformations act
as a skeleton with limbs and articulations you can bend, reshape, and curve. You can deform a character made outof one, or many, drawing or image layers and make it move as if it were a cut-out puppet. A deformation skeleton iscomposed of deformation nodes, which are the various pieces (here represented as layers or nodes) required to
articulate or deform your drawings, such as a series of bones or game bones—see Deformation Nodes on page 419.

Main Types of Deformations
These are the types of deformations.

Bone Deformation

The Bone deformation allows you to create a skeleton structure in which the parent bone moves the child bone. The
Bone deformation is useful when animating the extremities of a character, such as the arms or legs, adding fluidity399

Chapter 6: Deformation

and a natural feel to the animation. It can be manipulated to rotate a limb at an articulation joint and to shorten or
elongate the extremities of a limb. It's also quite handy for bending the torso.

NOTE: If you are creating a rig to be used in a game, use the Game Bone deformation.

Game Bone Deformation

The Game Bone deformation is very similar to the Bone deformation and allows you to create a skeleton structurein which the parent bone moves the child bone. The difference is that the Game Bone deformation is optimized toexport to game engines, mainly Unity.
The Game Bone deformation is mostly used when animating the extremities of a character, such as the arms orlegs, adding fluidity and a natural feel to the animation. The Game Bone deformation can be manipulated to rotate
a limb at an articulation joint and to shorten or elongate the extremities of a limb. It's also quite useful for bending
the torso.
The main difference between the Bone and Game Bone deformations is that the Game Bone deformation doesn't
have the Bias parameter. The rendered result is also different for the articulation folds. They are slightly rounded.

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Adding Basic Deformation Chains
Using the Rigging tool, you can quickly create a basic deformation rig.
As you create your chains, the controls will be showing. However, whenever you close your project, the deformation
controls display is turned off. When you reopen the project, you can display all controls or only some of them—see
Displaying the Deformation Controls on page 408.
The Insert menu allows you to manually add the nodes necessary to create the deformation skeleton. Additional
nodes such as the Kinematic Output are available to create advanced rigs.
How to select an element on which to add deformation
1. From the Deformation toolbar, click the Rigging

tool.

2. In the Camera or Timeline view, select the element on which you want to add a deformation. When selecting
a drawing node, the deformation components will be automatically added on top of the drawing node. Whenselecting a peg node, the deformation components will be added below the peg.

NOTE: Never place a deformation node above a peg node. Having a peg below a deformation node (Bone, Game
Bone, etc.) will cause unexpected result. The animation on the peg will move the image out of the defined
deformation zone. The same applies to animations created on the drawing layer itself. A drawing layer has anembedded peg.

3. In the Camera view, create your rig. See the following procedures to learn how to add a specific deformation
type.
How to add a Bone or Game Bone deformation chain
1. Once your element and the Rigging tool selected, in the Tool Properties view, enable the Bone
mode orthe Game Bone mode depending on your purpose—see Main Types of Deformations on page 399.
2. Place the cursor at the root of your drawing or group of drawings, click once and release. For example, on theshoulder.

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Adding Basic Deformation Chains

3. Click again at the location where you want your first bone to finish and your second bone to start. An articulation control point will automatically be inserted between each bone you create. Note that the articulation
parameters are part of the Bone and Game Bone nodes since Harmony 12.

4. Repeat this until you are finished creating the Bone chain.

5. If you need to insert a bone between existing ones, hold down the Alt key. When the Insert Bone cursor isdisplayed, click on the existing bone segment at the location where you want to add an additional bone.

lNote that you can click on any Bone articulation point to start a new bone chain from thatpoint. Once the articulation point is selected (white), click on the location where you want to
add a bone and a new bone chain will be created, parented to the previous one.

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When you have several chains controlling the same drawing or group of drawings, a Deformation Composite node is automatically be created and appears in the Timeline view. In the Additional Links section of the Timeline view, you can see which nodes are connected to the
Deformation Composite.

6. With the deformation nodes still selected, in the Deformation toolbar, click the Reset Current Keyframe
button. This will set the current resting position as the current frame one.
How to add a deformation node
1. In the top menu, select Insert > desired deformation node .

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Setting the Resting Position

Setting the Resting Position
Once you have a deformation chain created, you can optimize its positioning to fit the element it will deform.
A deformation rig has a resting position and an animated position. The resting position is the original pose thecharacter is in when not animated with keyframes. You can always revert your animated character to its resting
position to recover the initial scale, angle, and shape. You can revert the entire character or only certain
deformation chains, such as the arm or leg. Just make sure your resting position is fully set before deploying thecharacter in production.
You can also set additional parameters in the Layer Properties window—see Deformation Nodes on page 419.
How to set up Bone and Game Bone deformation chains
1. In the Timeline view, select the deformation nodes you want to set.
2. In the Deformation toolbar, click the Show Selected Deformers and Hide All Others
button to display
the deformer controls in the Camera view. This also hides all the deformer controls that were displayed.
3. In the Deformation toolbar, click the Rigging

tool.

The chain turns from green to red. A green chain indicates the puppet is in animation mode. A red chain
indicates the puppet is in a resting position. Make sure your chain is red.

4. In the Camera view, set up the deformation chain.
‣

Rotate the first bone to change the angle of the chain.

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Use the root control to reposition (offset) the entire chain.

‣

Use the control points to reposition the articulations. This will elongate, shorten or change the direction of
the bone and offset the subsequent children.

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Setting the Resting Position

Use the articulation's control (square) to change the size of the articulation. For quality purposes, it isrecommended to have an articulation which fits the diameter of the part it controls.

5. Repeat until all the articulations and bones of the chain are correctly aligned to the element to which it islinked. You can also set additional parameters in the Layer Properties window—see Deformation Nodes on
page 419.
6. With the deformation nodes still selected, in the Deformation toolbar, click the Reset Current Keyframe
button. This will set the current resting position as the current frame one.
7. Use the Transformtool. For optimal results, make sure the size of the articulation is approximately thesame size as the drawing.
8. If you need to insert a bone between existing ones, hold down the Alt key. When the Insert Bone cursor isdisplayed, click on the existing bone segment at the location where you want to add an additional bone.

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Displaying the Deformation Controls

Displaying the Deformation Controls
Before you can manipulate the deformer outside of the Rigging mode, you must display the deformation controls.
If you just created the deformation rig, the controls will still be showing. However, when you close your project,
the deformers are turned off. When reopening a project, you must display the controls so you can you see theones you need while animating.
How to display the selected deformation controls
1. In the Camera, Timeline view, select the drawing layer or deformation nodes you want to display.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Camera toolbar, click the Show Control

button.

‣From the top menu, select View > Show > Control.

‣

Press Shift + F11.

How to display the selected deformation controls and hide all the others
1. In the Camera, Timeline view, select the drawing layer or deformation nodes you want to display.
2. In the Deformation toolbar, click the Show Selected Deformers and Hide All Others

button.

The selected deformation controls appear in the Camera view and all the others are hidden.
How to display all the deformer controls at the same time
1. In the Timeline view, select Edit > Select All from the top menu to select all the nodes or press Ctrl + A(Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + A (Mac OS X).
2. In the Camera toolbar, click the Show Control

button or press Shift + F11.

All deformation controls in scene are displayed.
How to hide the deformer controls
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Camera toolbar, click the Hide All Controls‣

From the top menu, select View > Hide All Controls.

‣

Press Shift + C.

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Assembling Pieces
After you have created all the deformation chains for your character, you will need to assemble these separate bodyparts into a puppet. Your pieces should be properly overlapping and not set apart.

To avoid problems such as having the head stretched by the neck deformers or a hand modified by the bodydeformers, you can use the Kinematic Output node to assemble your pieces without propagating the deformations
down the hierarchy chains.
The Kinematic Output node lets you hook a separate element that you want to be linked to the deformation chain but
not be part of the deformation, such as a hand to an arm or an arm to the body. These elements will follow the
movement of the chain just like a regular cut-out character hierarchy piece without being influenced by the
deformation of the arm. If you don't use the Kinematic Output, the piece's pivot will not follow the deformation.
When building a cut-out puppet with deformations, each part controlled by a deformation chain will automaticallyrotate from the chain root point, which acts like a pivot. Because it is unlikely that every piece of your character will
be rigged with a deformation chain, you must set pivot points for the pieces that are not using deformations—see
Setting the Pivots on page 364.

Assembling Guidelines
When assembling a puppet with deformers, there are some guidelines to keep in mind:l

You cannot parent deformers directly because deformers are not designed to be used on other deformers. To
assemble deformers, you must insert a Kinematic Output node.

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Your peg must be placed above the deformer.

How to assemble a puppet using the Kinematic Output node in the Timeline view
1. Select the element to attach to the Kinematic Output node, such as the hand or head peg.

2. From the top menu, select Insert > Kinematic Output.
The node appears in the Timeline view as a parent of your selection.

3. In the Timeline view, drag and drop the Kinematic Output layer ONTO the deformation layer you want yourlimb or piece to follow. For example, onto the neck deformer if you want your head to follow it without being
deformed or onto the arm deformer if you want your hand to follow.

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If your pieces are no longer ordered properly, use the Z-nudging feature to reorder them—see
Nudging Parts Backwards and Forwards on page 345.
It's good practice to rename the Kinematic Output layer to reflect which deformer it is assigned
to as the Timeline view can become very large and layers can be positioned far apart. Selectthe Kinematic Output node and in the Layer Properties window, rename the node. You can also
double-click on the layer's name.

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Animating Deformations

Animating Deformations
The controls to animate deformations work the same as those for setting up the chains. You simply need tocreate keyframes and position the control points.
If you need to reset the current pose of the entire chain for the entire scene, you have the possibility to reset the
deformation chain to the resting position on the current or all frames.
When adding new drawings while animating, you may need to see the reference drawings as their original resting
position as it may be quite difficult to draw on a deformed canvas. You have the possibility to disable thedeformations to see the resting position while drawing. Note that this will not affect the exported images. It's only
a display mode. You can see the result in OpenGL and Render modes in the Camera view, but the exported
images will always be deformed.
How to animate Bone and Game Bone deformations
1. In the Timeline view, go the frame on which you want to create the first animation pose.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transformtool.

3. If you want to create animation keyframes, enable the Animate

mode in the Tools toolbar.

4. Do one of the following:l

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add KeyframelRight-click and select Add Keyframe.

lPress F6.

button.

A keyframe is added on the current frame.
5. In the Timeline view, select the deformation nodes you want to animate—see Displaying the Deformation
Controls on page 408.
6. In the Deformation toolbar, click the Show Selected Deformers and Hide All Others
the deformer of the selected piece.
7. In the Camera view, do the following:l

Rotate the first bone to rotate the limb.

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Rotate the subsequent bones to bend the limb.

l

Use the root control to reposition (offset) the entire chain.

ll

Use the control points to reposition the articulations. This will elongate, shorten, or change thedirection of the bone and offset the subsequent children.

Use the articulation's control (square) to change the size of the articulation. For quality purposes, it is recommended to have an articulation which fits the diameter of the part it controls.

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Animating Deformations

8. In the Timeline view, go the frame on which you want to set the next key pose. You will need to expend theexposure to see your drawings further down the Timeline view.
9. Add a keyframe on the current frame by doing one of the following:l

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add KeyframelRight-click and select Add Keyframe.

lPress F6.

button.

10. Repeat the previous steps to animate your character.
You can also manipulate the deformer by typing values directly in the Layer Properties of the deformation
effect nodes.

How to remove keyframes and reset positions
1. In the Timeline view, move the playhead to the frame where you want to reset the puppet to the resting position.
2. In the Timeline or Node view, select the deformation group or node you want to reset.
3. In the Deformation toolbar, click on the Reset Current Keyframe
selected chain on the current frame.
lbutton to reset the position of the

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All Keyframes

button.

How to disable the deformations to create new drawings
1. In the Timeline or Camera view, create or duplicate your new drawing.
2. In the Deformation toolbar, enable or disable the Enable Deformations

button, depending on your needs.

3. In the Camera view, start drawing.
4. To continue animating, in the Deformation toolbar, reactivate the Enable Deformations

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Chapter 6: Deformation

Deformation Toolbar

Deformation Toolbar
The Deformation toolbar contains the various tools and options used to create a deformation rig. This toolbar isdisplayed in the default interface.
By default, the Deformation toolbar only contains the essential options. If you right-click on the toolbar and selectCustomize, you can add additional buttons.

Icon

Tool Name

Description

Rigging Tool

The Rigging tool is used to create a Bone deformation
chain. You also use it to set up the resting position—see
Adding Basic Deformation Chains on page 401 and Setting
the Resting Position on page 404.
To learn more about the Rigging tool's properties, see
Rigging Tool Properties on page 418.

The Show Selected Manipulators and Hide All Others
button hides all manipulators displayed in the Camera view.
Show Selected ManipOnly the manipulators of the selected deformation node areulators and Hide All Othdisplayed—see Displaying the Deformation Controls on
ers
page 408 to learn how to make the manipulators visible in
the Camera view.
The Reset Current Keyframe copies the resting position,
the original setup of your skeleton before undergoing any
deformation, to your current frame. Once you have createda deformation chain, you can use the Rigging tool to adjust
Reset Current Keyframe
the position and appearance of the rig to fit the element.
When the skeleton is in place, you can use the Reset
Current Keyframe button to reset the current frame position
to the resting position.
The Enable Deformations button allows you to display yourdrawings in their original state or with deformations while
creating additional drawings. Depending on the artwork youneed to create, you might need to refer to the other images
either deformed or in their original position.

Enable Deformations

Note that this will not affect the exported images. It's only adisplay mode. You can see the result in OpenGL and
Render modes in the Camera view, but the exported images
will always be deformed.
Remove All Keyframes

The Remove All Keyframes option removes all keyframes

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guideon the selected deformation chain.
The Show All Controls button lets you visualize the resting
position in red (Setup mode) and the active position(Animation) in green at the same time—see Displaying theDeformation Controls on page 408 to learn how to make themanipulators visible in the Camera view.
Show All Controls

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Rigging Tool Properties

Rigging Tool Properties
In the Tool Properties view, you can customize not only the behaviour of the tool but also the settings of thedeformers that you will create.

lMode on page 418l

Rig Tool Options on page 418

lOperations on page 418

Mode
Name

ButtonDescription

Bone Mode

Sets the Rigging tool to create Bone deformers.

Game Bone Mode

Sets the Rigging tool to create Game Bone deformers.

Rig Tool Options
Parameter

ButtonShow All Manipulators(Show All Controls)

Description
Lets you immediately see the resting position in red (Setup)
and the animated position in green.

Operations
Name

ButtonDescription

Reset Deform (Reset Current Keyframe)

Copies the resting position of the deformation skeleton to
the current frame.

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Deformation Nodes
The deformation rigs are composed of several different types of nodes. Additional ones such as the Kinematic
Output node can be used to enhance the results.
From the Insert menu, you can insert the following nodes.
Bone
The Bone node is one of the main nodes used to build a deformation rig. Each Bone node consists of a bone and anarticulation. You can chain Bone nodes to create a skeleton chain for your character. The Rigging tool can be used tocreate and connect those nodes automatically—see Adding Basic Deformation Chains on page 401.

Parameter

Descriptions

Resting Parameters Rest Offset(x) AxisThis is the bone x-axis (horizontal) coordinates for the resting position.

(y) AxisThis is the bone y-axis (vertical) coordinates for the resting position.

Rest RadiusThis is the articulation's radius value (articulation size) for the resting position.

Rest Orientation

This is the bone's orientation angle for the resting position.

Rest Bias

This is the articulation's bias (roundness and smoothness) for the resting position.

Rest Length

This is the bone's length for the resting position.

Deform Parameters Offset
2D PathWhen this option is enabled, the X and Y-axis parameters are controlled by thesame 2D path function.

Separate

When this option is enabled, the X and Y-axis parameters are individual one fromanother.

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Deformation Nodes

Path

When using a 2D Path, this field displays the name of the function.

(x) AxisThis is the bone X-axis (horizontal) coordinates for the animation position. Thisparameter can be linked to a function to be animated over time.

(y) AxisThis is the bone y-axis (vertical) coordinates for the animation position. This parameter can be linked to a function to be animated over time.

RadiusThis is the articulation's radius value (articulation size) for the animation position.
This parameter can be linked to a function to be animated over time.

Orientation

This is the bone's orientation angle for the animation position. This parameter canbe linked to a function to be animated over time.

Bias

This is the articulation's bias (roundness and smoothness) for the animation position. This parameter can be linked to a function to be animated over time.

LengthThis is the bone's length for the animation position. This parameter can be linked
to a function to be animated over time.

Game BoneThe Bone node is one of the main node used to build a deformation rig. Each Bone node consists of a bone and anarticulation. Chaining Bone nodes will create a skeleton chain for your character. The Rigging tool can be used tocreate and connect those nodes automatically—see Adding Basic Deformation Chains on page 401.

Parameter

Descriptions

Resting Parameters Rest Offset(x) AxisThis is the bone X-axis (horizontal) coordinates for the resting position.

(y) AxisThis is the bone Y-axis (vertical) coordinates for the resting position.

Rest RadiusThis is the articulation's radius value (articulation size) for the resting position.

Rest Orientation

This is the bone's orientation angle for the resting position.

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Rest Length

This is the bone's length for the resting position.

Deform Parameters Offset
2D PathWhen this option is enabled, the X and Y axis parameters are controlled by thesame 2D path function.

Separate

When this option is enabled, the X and Y axis parameters are individual fromeach other.

Path

When using a 2D Path, this field displays the name of the function curve.

(x) AxisThis is the bone X-axis (horizontal) coordinates for the animation position. Thisparameter can be linked to a function curve to be animated over time.

(y) AxisThis is the bone Y-axis (vertical) coordinates for the animation position. Thisparameter can be linked to a function curve to be animated over time.

RadiusThis is the articulation's radius value (articulation size) for the animation position. This parameter can be linked to a function curve to be animated overtime.

Orientation

This is the bone's orientation angle for the animation position. This parametercan be linked to a function curve to be animated over time.

LengthThis is the bone's length for the animation position. This parameter can belinked to a function curve to be animated over time.

Kinematic Output
The Kinematic Output node lets you hook a separate element that you want to be linked to the deformation chain but
not be part of the deformation, such as a hand to an arm or an arm to the body. These elements will follow the
movement of the chain just like a regular cut-out character hierarchy piece without being influenced by the
deformation of the arm. If you don't use the Kinematic Output, the piece's pivot will not follow the deformation.
Connect a Kinematic Output node below the deformation node you want your drawing to follow.

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Chapter 7: Library

Using templates and symbols , you can share and reuse any elements you create in Harmony. The Harmony librarylets you store several different elements such as puppets, backgrounds, animations and key poses. In fact,
anything you create in Harmony can be stored in the library.
This chapter contains the following topics:•

Understanding the Library Concept on page 423•

Library View on page 425•

Organizing the Library on page 427•

Templates on page 431•

Symbols on page 433•

Importing Symbols and Templates on page 441•

Importing Files Through the Library on page 445•

Using Paste Special on page 445

Understanding the Library Concept
The Library view is where you can store and reuse your artwork and animation in other scenes or build props andpuppets.
•

What is a Library? on page 424•

Understanding the Library Concept on page 423•

What is a Symbol? on page 424•

Understanding the Library Concept on page 423

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Chapter 7: Library

What is a Library?
The library is a storage centre for all production assets; the elements stored in the library are called templates.
Although it is mainly used for cut-out animation, the library is also useful for paperless and traditional animation
processes. The library can contain any asset used in a Toon Boom Harmony production.
Using the library is as simple as dragging the content into the library to store your artwork and then dragging it to
the Timeline or Camera view when you want to reuse it.
You can organize your library using several different subfolders and store them on your hard drive or network.

What is a Template?

A template is an individual copy of the artwork stored in the library which you can reuse in different scenes. Oncea template is stored in the library, you can access it from any project.
Dragging a template into your scene copies the content in your Timeline and does not link it to the original. You
can modify this individual copy at any time.

What is a Symbol?

A symbol is a container used to build your props, puppets and looping clips. You can use symbols to containartwork and animation and manipulate them as a single object. You can also use symbols as a placeholder inwhich you place a series of different drawings for each body part of your puppets or when you have a repeating
cycle. However, symbols are not necessary for creating characters.
To create a symbol, drag your artwork to the Symbol library. When you drag a symbol from the Symbol library into
your scene, it will be linked to the original symbol. If you drag a symbol into your scene several times in theTimeline view, they will all be linked to the original symbol. If you modify one, they will all be modified.

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A symbol is local to the project and cannot be accessed directly from other scenes. To reuse a symbol's content inanother scene, you must create a template out of it.
When a symbol is exposed in the Timeline view, the symbol's cells are represented as a movie strip.

Library View

You use the Library view to create and manage your symbols and templates, display the folders and manage and allof the content.
Library View Menu
The Library menu lets you access commands specific to the Library view, such as opening a Library or getting therights to modify a library folder.
Preview Window

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The Preview window lets you preview the content of a symbol or template, and swap between drawings andsymbol cells in the Timeline view. This window is also used as the Drawing Substitution window.
How to preview a template or symbol's content
1. In the Library view's right side, click or double-click on the symbol or template to preview.
2. In the Preview window, click the Playbutton or drag the slider to scrub through the frames.

Library Search Tool
When working on a movie or series, you will probably end up with many templates and symbols in your library.
Using the Search tool, you can quickly find the templates and symbols in your folders.
How to use the Library Search tool
1. From the left side of the Library view, select the library in which you want to search.

2. In the Search field, type the name or partial name of the symbol or template you are looking for.

3. Click the left

and right

arrows to see the previous and next results. The Search engine will look forresults within the library master folder and its subfolders. It will not look in other libraries.

Library List

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The Library list lets you navigate through the different libraries and subfolders. You can also open, close and create
new libraries from here.
The Library folders have these default libraries:•

Symbols: The only library folder containing symbols for your project. You can organize the symbols libraryfolder using subfolders, but you cannot create a second library for your symbols. This library is local to yourproject.

•

Harmony Library: This folder contains templates and is stored on your hard drive. You can organize theHarmony library folder using subfolders. This folder does not contain symbols.

Templates and Symbols Lists
The symbols and templates contained in the selected Library list can be displayed on the right side of the Libraryview as thumbnails, in a list or as details.
How to access the templates and symbols list display options‣ In the Library view's right side, right-click and select View > List, Thumbnails or Details.
‣ In the Library View toolbar, you can click the following buttons:
Thumbnails
List
Details

Organizing the Library
As you will probably create a large number of symbols and templates, you will soon realize they need to beorganized. You can create different libraries and subfolders to easily access your assets. For example, you cancreate a different library for each project and divide it into several categories, such as:•Characters

•

Props

•

Backgrounds

Although you can only have one symbol library folder, you can organize it by creating subfolders.
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There are two ways to create library folders.
•

Directly through your operating system•

Using Harmony's interface

Folders can be opened in Harmony when you require it. You can open any folder on your hard drive or network as
a library. Opening a library means linking the folder to your Library view. You only need to open the library once.
The library folder is available every time you open the application until you decide to close the library and unlink it.
You may not always require all the library folders in the Library List. If so, you can close the ones you do not need.
Closing a folder does not delete it; it only unlinks it from the Library view. If you want to reopen it, locate it on yourhard drive or network and open it in the Library view.
Symbol and template libraries need to be organized. You can create different subfolders on your hard drive or in
the Harmony Library view, so you can easily access assets. By default, any new library you link to your Libraryview is locked to prevent accidental deletion or modification of symbols and templates. You must obtain the rightto modify it before being able to add a new folder to it.
You can delete a folder from the library if its contents are no longer needed.

NOTE: Warning: All templates and symbols in the folder will be deleted from your hard drive. Once deleted, thedata cannot be retrieved.

Once you add a folder, you can rename it. This also renames the folder on your hard drive.
If you update the content of your libraries through your operating system, you will need to refresh your libraryfolders in the Library view.
When you display thumbnails in the Library view, the system generates a series of small images (thumbnails) foryou. You can generate template thumbnails yourself, if they do not display or if the process has been stopped.
You can also delete thumbnails if you want to send a template to another user or studio and keep your packages
small.
How to create a library folder through your operating system
1. On your computer, create a new folder with a relevant name in the location where you want the library to be
stored.
How to create a library folder in Harmony
1. In the Library View menu, select Folders > Open Library.
The Browser window opens.
2. Browse for the location where you want to store your new library folder.
3. Click the New Folder button.
A new folder appears.
4. Name the new library folder with a relevant name and click OK.

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The new library appears in the Library List section.

How to open a library
1. In the Library View menu, select Folders > Open Library.
The Browser window opens.
2. Browse to the location of the library folder.
3. Select the folder and click OK.
The new library appears in the Library Folders section.

How to close a library
1. On the right side of the Library view, select the library folder to close.
2. In the Library View menu, select Folders > Close Library.
The library closes.
How to create a folder
1. On the left side of the Library view, select the library folder to which you want to add a subfolder.
2. In the Library View menu, select Edit > Right to Modify.
3. In the Library View menu, select Folders > New Folder.
The new folder appears in the Library. Click on the library containing the new folder and click the plus [+] sign
to expand it.

How to delete a folder
1. In the Library view's left side, select the folder to delete.

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2. In the Library View menu, select Edit > Right to Modify or right-click on the selected library and selectRight to Modify.
3. In the Library View menu, select Folders > Delete Folder or press Delete.
How to rename a folder
1. In the Library view's left side, select the folder to rename.
2. In the Library View menu, select Edit > Right to Modify or right-click on the selected library and selectRight to Modify.
3. In the Library View menu, select Folders > Rename Folder.
4. Rename the selected folder.

5. Press Enter/Return to validate the operation.
How to refresh a library
1. In the Library view's left side, select the folder to refresh.
2. In the Library View menu, select Folders > Refresh or press F5.
The library displays the new content.
How to generate thumbnails
1. In the Library view's right side, select the template in which you want to generate thumbnails.

2. In the Library View menu, select View > Generate Thumbnails.
The progress bar appears.
How to delete thumbnails
1. In the Library View menu, select Edit > Delete Thumbnails.

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All the thumbnails contained in the library are removed.

Templates

When you want to reuse artwork and animation from your project in other scenes, you must create a template from
it. A template can be seen as a portable scene or package that you can drag inside your project. You can open atemplate and edit it just like any other project. If you want modify your templates, you can edit them using the Edit
Template command.
You can create a template using the Timeline view.
To delete templates from your library, use the Library view. Harmony lets you undo the action if necessary.
How to create a template from the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select some cells or layers.
2. In the Library view, select a folder to store the template.
3. If a library folder is locked, right-click and select Right to Modify.
4. Drag the selection to the Stage Advanced Library folder or any other library folder.

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5. In the Rename dialog box, give the new template a name.
To rename a template once it is created, right-click on the symbol and select Rename.
6. Click OK.
How to delete a template
1. In the Library view, select the folder containing the template to delete.

NOTE: If the library folder is locked, right-click on the folder and select Right to Modify.

2. Right-click on the selection and select Delete or press Delete.
How to edit a template
1. In the Library view, select the folder containing the template to edit.

NOTE: If the library folder is locked, right-click on the folder and select Right to Modify.

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2. Right-click on the selection and select Edit Template.
A new Harmony application opens.
3. Edit the template.
4. From the top menu, select File > Save.
5. In the top menu, select File > Quit (Windows/Linux) or Stage Advanced > Quit (Mac OS X).

Symbols

A symbol combines animation, artwork or layers into a single object that you can control in one layer. You can also
create symbols out of each body part in your cut-out puppets.
You do not need to create symbols in order to create drawings or characters in Toon Boom Harmony.
When you delete a symbol, it will be deleted from your hard drive. You can use the Undo function to retrieve the data.
The symbol cannot be retrieved once you close the application.
When you import a symbol from the library to the Timeline view it is linked to the original symbol in the library. If you
import a symbol into your scene several times in the Timeline view, they will all be linked to the original symbol. If
you modify one, they will all be modified.
If you want to edit a symbol without modifying the other instances, you must duplicate the symbol first. If othersymbols are nested inside the new symbol, they are not duplicated. If you modify them, the original and otherinstances will also be modified.
You can either edit a symbol from the Timeline view or from the Library view.
When you edit a symbol, the drawings contained in it are not placed at the centre of the stage, but are located in theposition where they were created. The pivot is translated at the centre of the symbol.

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When you enter a symbol to edit it, you are entering another scene with an independent timeline. You can nest
many symbols one inside the other. To help you follow the hierarchy of your nested symbol, take note of theEditing stack at the top of the Camera view which displays the path to your symbol's location. You can click on
the symbol's name to move up the chain.
You can share a symbol and use its contents (the drawings) in another scene. To do this, you must first convert
your symbol into a template. This conversion breaks the drawing's link with both the original scene and symbol. It
then becomes a separate entity that you can import into other projects.
How to create a symbol from a drawing selection
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selector Cuttertool.

2. In the Camera view, select the drawing elements to create a symbol.

3. From the top menu, select Edit > Create Symbol or press F8.
‣

Clicking the Create Symbol

button in the Edit toolbar will create a symbol from the entire layer.

The Create Symbol from Drawing Selection dialog box opens.

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4. In the Symbol Name field, type the name of the symbol.
‣

You can also select an existing layer from the Symbol Name drop-down menu. It will add your symbol on
the layer's current cell. If there is already an exposure on that cell, the symbol will be added to a newlayer.

5. You can choose to place the current selected artwork in the drawing or remove it:‣

To remove currently selected artwork from the drawing and place it in the new symbol, select the Cut
Artwork From Source Drawing option.

‣

To keep currently selected artwork in both the drawing and in the new symbol, deselect the Cut Artwork
From Source Drawing option.

6. Click OK.
The new symbol appears in the Library view's symbol folder and in the Timeline view as a new layer.

How to create a symbol from the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select the layer or cells from which your want to create a symbol.
2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Create Symbol.

‣

In the Edit toolbar, click the Create Symbol‣

Press F8.

‣

Drag your selection to the Symbol folder in the Library view.

button.

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The Create Symbol dialog box opens

3. In the Enter Symbol's Name field, type the new symbol's name.
To rename a symbol once it is created, right-click on the symbol and select Rename.
4. Click OK.
The new symbol appears in the Library view's Symbol folder. The current selection is not replaced by the
new symbol. The new symbol only appears in the library. You must drag it into your scene to use it.
How to create an empty symbol
1. In the Library view, select the Symbol folder.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Library view's right side, right-click and select New Symbol.

‣

From the top menu, select Insert > Create Empty Symbol in Library.

The new empty symbol appears in the Library view.

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The symbol is ready for you to edit (add content to). To go back to the root timeline, click the Top
in the Camera view.

buttonTo rename a symbol once it is created, right-click on the symbol and select Rename.
How to delete a symbol
1. In the Library view, select the symbol to delete.
2. Right-click and select Delete or press Delete.
‣

If the symbol is currently in use in the scene, a warning message displays. Click OK to delete the symbolfrom the library and scene.

How to edit a symbol from the Timeline view
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline view, double-click on the symbol's cell to edit the symbol.

‣

In the Camera view, double-click on the symbol or press Ctrl + E (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + E (Mac OS X)).

‣

Click the Edit Selected Symbol

button in the Camera View toolbar's extra buttons.

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You are now inside the symbol and you are able to edit it.

2. Do one of the following:
To return to the project's timeline, click the Top
button in the Camera view's top-left corner, press Ctrl + Shift+ E (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Shift + E (Mac OS X).
‣

In the Timeline view's right side, right-click and select Symbols > Leave Current Symbol.

How to edit a symbol from the Library view
1. In the Library view, select the symbol to edit.
2. Right-click and select Edit > Edit Symbol or double-click on the symbol.
You are now inside the symbol and you are able to edit it.

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To return to the project's timeline, click the Top
E (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Shift + E (Mac OS X).

button in the Camera view's top-left corner, press Ctrl + Shift +How to duplicate a symbol
1. In the Timeline view, go to the frame where you want to duplicate the symbol.
2. Select the symbol's cell.

3. From the top menu, select Edit > Duplicate Selected Symbol.
In the Library view, the symbol is duplicated and in the Timeline view, the current cell and its held exposure is
replaced with the new symbol. You can now modify the symbol's content.

How to convert a symbol into a template
1. From the Library view, select the symbol to convert into a template and drag it to the Camera or Timeline
view. If you drop your symbol into the Camera view instead of the Timeline view, it will not be placed in thecentre of your camera frame, but rather wherever your cursor drops it within the camera frame.

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2. In the Timeline view, select the symbol's cells or layer and drag it to the Stage Library folder or to any otherlibrary folder. Make sure you have the right to modify the library folder.

3. In the Rename dialog box, rename the new template.

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4. Click OK.

Importing Symbols and Templates
There are several ways you can import symbols and templates in your scene.
Sometimes a character rig is not a straightforward matter. Rigs, which are usually saved as templates, can containsymbols such as a leg that was made with a patch. However, a symbol does not work in the same way as an action
template. In the Timeline view, you can add an action template into another template of the same structure. When
working on a layer on the right side of the Timeline view and you place a symbol into a symbol of the same structure,
instead of being added to the previous symbol, the new symbol becomes a copy.
For greater control over how the action template behaves when brought into the Timeline view, you can use the
Paste Special feature—see Using Paste Special on page 445.
Since a template is like a scene, you can open the template's folder and select elements inside it such as drawings.
Instead of importing the entire contents of a template, you may only want to import a few drawings or a palette. In
this case, use the Open As Folder command to import the items you want.
If you want to import a palette, simply drag the palette file into the Palette list section of the Colour view.
You can use the Expand Symbol command to extract a symbol's contents and place it on the root timeline. The
symbol will not be removed from the Timeline view. Its contents will be copied and inserted into the root timeline.
The symbol's layers will be parented to it in case you created motions and transformations on the drawing layer that
contains the symbol. Breaking the hierarchy could result in the loss of any scaling and animation you may havecreated.
You can also expand a symbol within a group to avoid crowding the timeline with a series of layers. When you
expand the symbols, the layers will be contained in a group node that you can expand to see the content.
How to import a template into the Timeline or Camera view
1. In the Library view, select the template you want to import.
2. Drag the selected template to the Camera view or to the left side of the Timeline view.

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3. You can also drag a template to the right side of the Timeline view and into existing layers if the layer structure is the same as the existing one.

How to import a symbol in the Timeline view
1. In the Library view, select the symbol you want to import.
2. Drag the selected symbol to one of the following:‣

The Timeline view's left side to import it into the centre of the camera frame.

‣

The Camera view to place it at the location where you release your cursor.

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NOTE: This may be useful if you saved a character's body parts as separate symbols. If you dropped them into theTimeline view, then they would all appear in the centre, haphazardly one on top of the other. It would be more
efficient to arrange them into their correct places as you bring them into the scene.

How to import a template with symbols
1. From the right side of the Library view, select the action template that contains symbols.
2. Hold down Alt (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) as you drag it from the Library view to the right side of theTimeline view and drop it next to a template with the exact same rig.
The Paste Special window opens.

3. Select the Advanced tab.
4. Select one of the following options from the Symbols menu:‣

Copy symbols if they do not exist: This is the default setting for this operation and will prevent symbols
in an action template from being copied.

‣

Duplicate symbols: Makes copies of the symbols in your template.

How to open a template as a folder
1. In the Library view, select the folder that contains the template to open. If the library folder is locked, rightclick on the folder and select Right to Modify.
2. Right-click on the selection and select Open As Folder.
3. In the library list section, click on the template's folder to display its content.

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4. Drag the content to the Timeline or Colour view.
How to expand a symbol
1. In the Timeline view, select the symbol to expand.

2. From the top menu, select Edit > Expand Symbol or press Shift + F8.

How to expand a symbol in a group
1. In the Timeline or Node view, select the symbol cell or symbol node you want to expand.

2. From the top menu, select Edit > Expand Selected Symbol in a Group.
3. In the Timeline view, click the plus sign (+) to see the group content. In the Node view, click the Expand
Arrow to enter the group.

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Importing Files Through the Library
Harmony lets you import sound files and images directly through the library. Simply open the folder containing yourfiles in the Library view and drag them directly from there.
How to open a file through the Library
1. In the Library View menu, select Folders > Open Library.
2. Browse for the folder containing the files you want to import.
3. Click Open.
4. From the Library's template list, drag the file you want to import in the Timeline or Camera view.

Using Paste Special
When you import a template in the Timeline view, all layers are created as well as drawings and keyframes. You canchoose to import only the keyframes without the drawings or import only the drawings that are not already in yourlayers. You can adjust the behaviour using the Paste Special dialog box.When you import a symbol in your scene,
its full length is exposed by default. If you import a symbol in the Timeline view’s left side, all the frames will be
exposed. However, if you import it into an existing layer, you can use the Paste Special dialog box to adjust theimport behaviour to fit your requirements.Once you set the parameters, Harmony will reuse them each time you
import a symbol in the Timeline view’s right side until you set new parameters.
How to open the Paste Special dialog box
1. In the Library view, select the symbol or template to import.
2. Press Ctrl + B (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + B (Mac OS X) and drag the selection to the Timeline view.

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NOTE: Drop the selection in the Timeline view before releasing the keyboard shortcut key.

The Paste Special dialog box opens.
3. Set the parameters and click OK.
Basic Tab

Parameter

Description

Drawings
Only create drawing
files when they do not
exist

When adding exposures to a drawing layer, new drawings will be created only
when drawings with the same name do not already exist in the destination.

Always create drawing
files

When adding exposures to a drawing layer, new drawings will always be created. If drawing files with the same name already exist, Harmony will create a
new name for the drawing.

Paste all Frames of the
Symbols (full movie)

When enabled, the Paste Special command exposes all the symbol's frames
instead of only the first one.

Enforce Key Drawings

Creates a key exposure on the same drawing.

Number of Cycles

Lets you set the number of cycles.

Cycle

Normal (forward): Pastes your selection as is, starting with the first cell andending with the last.

Cycle Type

Reverse: Pastes your selection in reverse, starting with the last cell andending with the first.
Forward > Reverse: Pastes your selection as a yo-yo, starting with the firstcell, going to the last one and ending with the first cell.
Reverse > Forward: Pastes your selection as a reverse yo-yo, starting withthe last cell, going to the first one and ending with the last cell.

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Advanced Tab

Parameter

Description

Drawings
Do Nothing

Does not create or overwrite drawings.

Update Drawing Pivot

Revises the drawing pivot in the destination to use the same drawing pivot as thefirst drawing in the template. If you have a range of drawings selected in thedestination, the pivot points of all selected drawings will be updated.
Never create drawing files: When adding exposures to a drawing layer, drawing
files will not be created.

Only create drawing files when they do not exist: When adding exposures to a
drawing layer, new drawings will be created only when drawings with the same
Add/Remove Exposure name do not already exist in the destination.
Replace existing drawings. Create drawing files when they do not exist:
Replace drawings with the same names to update a scene with new modified
drawings and preserve the animation.
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template, such as when placing new drawings after the animation,then delete the template's animation. It will still have updated thedrawings but not override the existing animation.
Always create drawing files: When adding exposures to a drawing layer, newdrawings will always be created. If drawing files with the same name alreadyexist, Harmony will create a new name for the drawing.
Paste all frames of the symbol (full movie): When enabled, the Paste Special
command exposes all the symbol's frames instead of only the first one.
Enforce Key Exposure: If there are key exposures that exist on copied drawings, they are preserved when pasting. No key exposures are added. This is thedefault behavior when pasting.
Fill Gap with Previous Drawing: Fills selected area in the Xsheet or Timelineview with the previous drawing.
Fill to Next Key Exposure: Fills selected area till the next key exposure.
Add Remove/Keyframes
MotionCopies the properties of the selected motion keyframe to the new frame.

Velocity

Copies the properties of the selected velocity keyframe to the new frame.

Rotation

Copies the properties of the selected rotation keyframe to the new frame.

Scale

Copies the properties of the selected scale keyframe to the new frame.

Skew

Copies the properties of the selected skew keyframe to the new frame.

Force Keyframes at
Function's Beginningand EndAdds a keyframe to the beginning and end of the pasted function, reproducing thesource function.

Offset Keyframes

When pasting functions, offsets keyframes from the function's last frame value
by the values in the pasted function. This will continue the progression of a function instead of repeating the values.

Options
Do nothing: Does not create, overwrite, merge or link palettes.
Reuse palettes. Copy palettes if they do not exist: Palettes in the destination
drawings are left as they are.
Copy and overwrite existing palettes: Overwrites destination palettes with thepalettes from the source drawings.

Palettes

Copy and create new palette files: Creates new palette files, placing them atthe same relative environment and scene level as the source. If the palettes in thetemplates were stored at the environment level of the source scene, the paste
operation will place the palettes in the environment level of the destination scene.
Copy and create new palette files in element folder: Creates new palette files
in the element folders of the destination scene, rather than in the same relative job
or environment.
Copy palette and merge colours. Add new colours only: Adds new colours to
the destination palettes and ignores colours that are the same in the two palettes.

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Copy palettes and update existing colours: Adds new colours to thedestination palette and updates duplicate colours in the destination with colour
values from the source.
Link to original palettes (colour model): Links the colour palettes in thedestination scene to the palettes in the source. Use this to link drawings to thepalettes in a colour model.
Copy scene palettes and merge colours. Add new colours only: Adds newcolours to the destination scene palettes and ignores colours that are the same in
the two palettes.
Copy scene palettes and update existing colours: Adds new colours to thedestination scene palette and updates duplicate colours in the destination with thecolour values from the source.
Copy symbols if they do not exist: This is the default setting for this operation
and will prevent Symbols in an Action template from being copied.
Symbols
Duplicate symbols: Creates a duplicate of the symbol instead of linking the Symbol instance to the original one. The new Symbol is created in the Library.
Normal (forward):Pastes your selection as is, starting with the first cell and ending with the last.
Reverse: Pastes your selection in reverse, starting with the last cell and ending
with the first.
CyclesForward > Reverse:Pastes your selection as a yo-yo, starting with the first cell,going to the last one and ending with the first cell.
Reverse > Forward: Pastes your selection as a reverse yo-yo, starting with thelast cell, going to the first one and ending with the last cell.
Nodes

Create New Columns: A new column is created when you copy and paste
nodes from the layer in the Timeline view. If the layers are linked to function
curves, the function curves, drawings and timing will be duplicated.

Elements

Reuse existing elements: Lets you paste existing elements without creating
new ones. This should be used only when pasting within versions of the same
scene.

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Chapter 8: Cut-out Animation

Harmony provides some great tools for animating puppets. You can create simple animation using the Transform
tool, as well as create advanced animation using both forward and inverse kinematics. Harmony has advanced
onion skinning and image swapping features to help you animate efficiently and quickly. For animation freedom, youhave the ability to mix several different techniques of animation, such as simple rigging, hierarchy and symbol
animation.
•

Getting the Character on page 452•

Keyframes and Drawing Blocks on page 455•

Creating a Simple Cut-out Animation on page 457•

Selecting Layers to Animate or Position on page 459•

Navigating the Hierarchy on page 461•

Animating Using the Transform Tool on page 463•

Animating in Stop-motion on page 465•

Animating Using Computer-generated Interpolation on page 466•

Marking the Timeline on page 472•

Flipping Through Poses on page 475•

Using the Onion Skin in Cut-out Animation on page 476•

Flipping Parts on page 479•

Swapping Drawings on page 481•

Animating Lip-Sync on page 487•

Adding a New Drawing on page 490•

Ordering Layers Over Time on page 494•

Resetting a Transformation on page 495•

Creating Cycles on page 496•

Copying and Pasting Animation on page 498•

Adding Pegs on page 499

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Getting the Character
The first step in animating your character is to import a master template from the library.
How to import a character from the library
1. Create a new Harmony project.
2. In the Library view, select a character master template to animate.

3. Drag the selected template to the Camera or Timeline view’s left side.

4. In the Timeline view, drag the red scene length bracket to extend or shorten the scene length.

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How to import a network template (master template)
1. Create a new Harmony project.
2. In the Library view, select the character's master template you want to animate.

3. Drag the selected template in the Node view.

4. In the Node view, connect the template's group node to the Composite node by clicking its out-port and dragging the connection to the Composite node until an in-port appears.

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5. In the Timeline view, extend or shorten the scene length by dragging the scene length bracket.

Extending the Exposure
Once you have chosen a pose, all that's left to do is extend the exposure of the character to the end of the scene.
How to extend the exposure of the character
1. In the Timeline view, collapse the character.

2. In the Timeline view’s right side, select the last cell of the character.

3. Right-click and select Extend Exposure or press F5. You can also copy the first pose and paste it in thelast cell.
The drawing exposure is extended to the end. You will not see any changes in the Timeline view when themaster peg is collapsed.

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Keyframes and Drawing Blocks
When you extend the exposure of a drawing, it is represented by a grey block in the Timeline view. When you
expose a second drawing, a second grey block is displayed.
You can consider these blocks as drawing blocks.

To animate the position of a block over time, you don't need to create a second block, just add a position keyframe.
The position keyframes are coordinates indicating the position of your drawing on a particular frame. These appear
as black squares in the Timeline view.
In the example below, notice that the keyframes are positioned on frames independently from the beginning and endof each drawing block.

You can keyframe three different positions for a drawing in the same drawing block and create a motion path
between them.

Creating Keyframes and Drawings in the Timeline View
You can see how the Timeline view behaves differently depending on whether you create a new drawing, a new
keyframe, or both at the same time.
How to create a drawing in the Timeline view
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Create Empty Drawing.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Create Empty Drawing

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Press Alt + Shift + R.

A new drawing block is inserted.

How to create a keyframe in the Timeline view
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Insert > Keyframe‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Keyframe‣

Press F6.

button.

A keyframe is created in the layer.

How to create a drawing and a keyframe simultaneously in the Timeline view
1. From the top menu, select Insert > Keyframe and Duplicate Drawing.
A drawing block is created which contains copies of the selected drawing and a keyframe.

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Creating a Simple Cut-out Animation

Here is how you can create a simple cut-out animation. Follow these steps so you can try the animation tools you'll
be learning in the next topics.
How to create a simple cut-out animation
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool or press Shift + T.

2. In the Tools toolbar, enable the Animate

mode so everything you move will be keyframed automatically.

3. From the top menu, select Animation > Stop-Motion Keyframe so the interpolation is not created automatically between keyframes.
4. In the Timeline view, collapse your character.

5. In the Timeline view, go to the frame where you want to set the first pose.

6. To ensure that nothing moves on the new pose, in the Timeline view, select the frame corresponding to thepose, right-click and select Add Keyframe or press F6.
7. In the Camera view, select the parts to animate.

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8. Use the Transform
tool to rotate, skew, scale or translate the selection to its new position. To rotate
the piece, place your cursor slightly outside of a corner until you see the rotation cursor.

A new keyframe appears in the Timeline view if you did not create one previously. Always create yourkeyframe first.
9. In the Tools toolbar, enable the Onion Skinfeature.

10. In the Timeline view, go to the frame where you want to set the second keyframe. You will need to expend
the exposure to see your drawings further down the Timeline view.

11. To ensure that nothing moves on the new pose, in the Timeline view, select the frame corresponding to thepose, right-click and select Add Keyframe or press F6.
12. In the Camera view, animate your character.

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13. Repeat this process for all the poses.

Selecting Layers to Animate or Position

When you're animating characters, it's important to understand how the Animate mode allows you to create
keyframes on the current frame or reposition the entire layer.

Animate Mode
The Animate
button, in the Tools toolbar, turns keyframing on or off. With this mode enabled, as soon as you
move an element in the Camera view, a keyframe is positioned on the current frame in the Timeline view to indicate
the new position.

When you turn off the Animate mode, and you select and move an element, the entire animation in the layer will be
offset.

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This means that when you are animating a character, you must enable the Animate mode. If you are scaling down
your puppet to fit the scene composition and want to resize the entire animation, you must disable the Animate
mode.
How to turn the Animate mode on or off
1. In the Tools toolbar, click the Animate

button or select Animation > Animate.

Selecting Drawing Layers Using the Transform Tool
To manipulate the drawing layers in order to animate them, you must use the Transform
is used to modify the drawing strokes and not the actual drawing layer.

tool. The Select tool

When selecting the drawing layers with the Transform tool, make sure the Peg Selection Mode option is turned off
in the Transform Tool Properties view. Otherwise, if it's left on, it will limit the selection in the Camera view topegs only.
How to select using the Transform tool
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, click the Transform

tool.

‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Tools > Transform.

‣

Press Shift + T.

2. In the Transform Tool Properties view, make sure the Peg Selection
3. In the Camera view, select the element to animate.

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Selecting an Element in the Camera View Using the Transform Tool
When you select an element in the Camera view using the Transform tool, make sure the Peg Selection
mode isdisabled in the Transform Tool Properties view. The element selected is the actual drawing layer corresponding to
the selected element. If you have a layer parented to a peg, you must use the keyboard shortcuts to go up thehierarchy chain, select it in the Timeline view, or enable the Peg Selection
mode option in the Transform Tool
Properties view. This will limit the selection in the Camera view to pegs only.

If the layer has child layers, they will also be highlighted. Depending on whether you're using pegs or only drawing
layers in your rig, the selection can be magenta, yellow or both.

Selecting a Layer in the Timeline View
When you select a layer in the Timeline view, the corresponding element is highlighted in the Camera view. If theselected layer has child layers, they are also highlighted.

Navigating the Hierarchy
If there is a layer hierarchy in the puppet you built, use the keyboard shortcuts to travel up and down the parent-childchain. You can also navigate between the children of the same parent.
How to select the parent or child layer
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool.

2. In the Transform Tool Properties view, make sure the Peg Selection
3. In the Camera or Timeline view, select a layer attached to a hierarchy.

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4. From the top menu, select Animation > Select Parent or press B to select the parent layer. Select Animation > Select Child or press Shift + B to select the child layer.

How to select the children layers
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool.

2. In the Camera or Timeline view, select a layer attached to a parent layer with several children or not parented at all.

3. From the top menu, select:‣Animation > Select Previous Sibling or press / to select the previous child layer.

‣

Animation Select Next Sibling or press ? to select the next child layer.

‣

Animation > Select Children to select all child layers at the same time.

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Animating Using the Transform Tool
The Transform tool is the main tool to use when working with a cut-out character. The Transform tool has many
useful functions:

Using the individual Rotate, Translate, Scale and Skew tools is not recommended, as they move each piece fromtheir own pivot point. They are compositing tools. The Transform tool creates a global selection, so when many parts
are selected, you can move them as one unit. The Transform tool is highly recommended for cut-out animation.
When animating with the Transform tool, make sure to select the right selection mode. In this example, make surethat the Peg Selection
Mode is disabled in the Tool Properties view or it will limit the selection in the Camera
view to pegs only.

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If there are hierarchy connections in the cut-out character, the Transform tool will also be used as the Forward
Kinematics equivalent.
The Transform tool can be used on any kind of rigging.
When many parts are selected with the Transform tool, the first selected part's pivot will be used as the global
selection's pivot. This pivot can be moved temporarily for the animation. When you offset the pivot, thepermanent pivot is displayed as a ghost.

NOTE: The interpolation of the animation poses is always calculated from each individual part's permanent pivot.
If there's a parent peg on a limb, make sure to select it instead of making a selection of each part to avoid setting
individual keyframes.

How to use the Transform tool
1. In the Tools toolbar, click the Transform

tool or press Shift + T.

2. In the Transform Tool Properties view, make sure the Peg Selection

mode is deselected.

3. In the Timeline view, go to the frame on which you want to set the first position.
4. In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Keyframe
button or press F6. It is recommended to add a keyframe before moving the character. Moving a character's part without setting a keyframe will create keyframes only on certain parameters of the animation. You could run into issues later on when setting poses
between existing ones. Creating a keyframe on all layers and parameters will ensure your pose is set andwill not be modified by other poses later on.
5. In the Camera view, select the element to animate and move it.

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6. In the Timeline view, go to the frame where you want to set the next position.

7. In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Keyframe

button or press F6.

8. In the Camera view, animate the character.

Animating in Stop-motion
To start animating your character, start by doing your key poses. In fact, most of your time will be spent doing key
poses. It is better to work with stop-motion keyframes so Harmony does not automatically create the interpolation
between your keyframes.
When using stop-motion keyframes, also known as step keyframes, the segment between two keyframes isconstant. There is no animation generated by the computer between the poses. The drawing remains in position until
the next keyframe, then moves to its new position.

Creating a Stop-motion Keyframe
You can create a stop-motion keyframe in several different ways. You can have Harmony create it automatically,transform a motion keyframe into a stop-motion keyframe, or even switch your preferences to get Harmony toalways create stop-motion keyframes by default.

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How to automatically create stop-motion keyframes
1. In the top menu, make sure the Animation > Stop-motion Keyframe option is selected.
2. In the Timeline view, select the cell on which you want to add a keyframe.

3. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Insert Keyframe.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Keyframe‣

Press F6.

button.

In the Camera view, if the Animate mode is enabled, as soon as you move the selected element, a
keyframe is automatically created on the current frame.

How to convert a motion keyframe into a stop-motion keyframe
1. In the Timeline view, select the motion keyframes to convert into stop-motion keyframes or press S.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Set Stop-Motion Keyframes.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Stop-Motion Keyframe‣

Press Ctrl + L (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + L (Mac OS X).

button.

Animating Using Computer-generated Interpolation
After you have created the key poses, you can animate the in-between poses yourself or let Harmony do it using
motion keyframes. When you use motion keyframes, the drawings gradually move to the next position instead ofstaying on the spot until the next keyframe.

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Creating a Motion Keyframe
You can create a motion keyframe in several different ways. You can have Harmony create it automatically,transform a stop-motion keyframe into a motion keyframe and even switch your preferences to have Harmony
always create motion keyframes by default.
How to automatically create motion keyframes
1. In the top menu, make sure the Animation > Stop-Motion Keyframe option is disabled.
2. In the Timeline view, select the cell on which you want to add a keyframe.

3. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click on the selection and select Insert Keyframe.

‣

Click the Add Keyframe‣

Press F6.

button in the Timeline toolbar.

In the Camera view, if the Animate mode is enabled, as soon as you move the selected element, a keyframe
will be automatically created on the current frame.

How to convert a stop-motion keyframe into a motion keyframe
1. In the Timeline view, select the stop-motion keyframes to convert into motion keyframes.

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2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click on the selection and select Set Motion Keyframe.

‣

Click the Motion Keyframe‣

Press Ctrl + K (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + K (Mac OS X).

button in the Timeline View toolbar.

Adjusting the EaseTo add ease in and ease out on motion paths, you can display the function curve and modify the Bezier or Ease
curve. To apply an ease to multiple functions and keyframes, use the Set Ease for Multiple Parameters featureand set the amount desired.
The velocity, or ease, is used on motion keyframes. The velocity must be adjusted directly on the function curvein the Function view or Function editor. When a keyframe is selected, easing values appear in the right handle andleft handle fields, as well as the Bezier handle or Ease wheel controls on each selected keyframe. You can pull onthem to adjust the ease in and ease out, or type values in the fields.
If there are several functions whose velocity you want to adjust at the same time, such as the hand, forearm andarm of a cut-out character, you can apply the same velocity parameters to all the selected keyframes in one
frame.
How to adjust the velocity in the Function view
1. In the Timeline view, click the Expand Function

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2. Double-click on a function.

The Function Editor opens.

NOTE: The Function editor will not display if the function does not already exist. Add a keyframe to create thefunction.

3. Select a keyframe and pull on its Bezier handles or Ease wheel to adjust the velocity. Refer to the Compositing and Effects Guide to learn how to create Ease curves instead of Bezier curves.

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How to set ease on multiple parameters
1. In the Timeline view, select a keyframe from one or more layers.

NOTE: Only the first keyframe selected on each layer is considered when using the Set Ease for Multiple
Parameter function. If many keyframes are selected on the same layer, the ease values will be applied only to thefirst one and the rest will be ignored.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline view, right-click and select Set Ease For Multiple Parameters.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, you can click the Set Ease For Multiple Parameters
button. If the button is
not in the toolbar, you can add it through the Toolbar Manager. Right-click on the toolbar and selectCustomize.

The Set Ease For Multiple Parameters dialog box opens.

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3. In the graph, pull on the Bezier handle to adjust the velocity for all the selected functions.

4. To apply these easing parameters to a certain type of function only, such as Rotation or Scale, in the Filters
section, deselect the function types you do not want to affect.
‣

Motion: Applies the easing parameters to the selected Position X, Position Y, Position Z and 3D Pathfunctions‣Rotation: Applies the easing parameters to the selected Angle functions.

‣

Scale: Applies the easing parameters to the selected Scale functions.

‣

Skew: Applies the easing parameters to the selected Skew functions.

‣

Morphing: Applies the easing parameters to the selected Morphing Velocity functions. Note that it isapplied to the Morphing Velocity function in the Layer Properties window, not to the basic Morphing easein the Tool Properties view.

‣

Other: Applies the easing parameters to all the other selected functions, such as all functions created toanimate effect parameters.

5. You can also adjust the easing by typing values in the Time Ratio and Value Ratio fields. The values are calculated in percentage.
‣

In the Left Time Ratio and Right Time Ratio fields, type the percentage value corresponding to the lengthof time you want the easing to last. The value must be between 0% and 100%.

‣In the Left Value Ratio and Right Value Ratio fields, type the percentage value of how strong you want theeasing out. The value must be between 0% and 100%.

‣

If your Time Ratio and Value Ratio values are equal, you will have a linear motion.

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6. Click one of the following buttons:‣

Apply: Applies the easing parameters to the selected keyframes.

‣

Apply/Previous: Applies the easing parameters to the selected keyframes and then selects theprevious keyframe in the timeline.

‣

Apply/Next: Applies the easing parameters to the selected keyframes and then selects the next
keyframe in the timeline.

‣

Close: Closes the dialog box. If you did not apply the modifications, they will be cancelled.

Marking the Timeline
As you animate, the Timeline view will contain many layers and keyframes. You might want to identify themusing coloured layers and scene markers.
Scene markers are visual indicators displayed at the top of the Timeline view in the frame counter area. You canuse it to denote anything relevant to your work. You can indicate the frames you want to clean up, a change inaction, an impact, or where you intend to apply an effect. You can also add a note to a scene marker, which isdisplayed when you hover over the scene marker.
There are two ways to add a scene marker. You can mark the current frame or make a frame range selection andmark the whole section.
How to mark the current frame
1. In the Timeline view, make sure the red playhead is set on the frame you want to mark. Even if you rightclick on a different frame, the scene marker will be created on the current frame on which the playhead is
positioned.
2. Right-click in the frame counter area and select Scene Markers > Mark Current Frame.

The Timeline Scene Marker dialog box opens. The Colour box displays a black colour swatch, or thecolour of the last scene marker you created.

3. Click the Colour swatch to open the Marker Colour dialog box and select a colour for the scene marker.
Click OK.

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4. In the Note field, enter text to display as the tooltip and click OK.

In the Timeline view, the scene marker is displayed at the current frame.
5. Hover over the scene marker to display its tooltip.

How to create a scene marker on a frame range
1. In the frame counter area, select the frame range you want to mark.

2. Right-click and select Create Scene Marker.
The Timeline Scene Marker dialog box opens. The Colour box displays a black colour swatch, or the colour ofthe last scene marker you created.

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3. Click the Colour swatch to open the Marker Colour dialog box and select a colour for the scene marker.
Click OK.

4. In the Note field, enter text to display as the tooltip and click OK.
In the Timeline view, the scene marker is displayed over the selected frame counters.
5. Hover over the scene marker to display its tooltip.

How to modify a layer's colour
1. Click the Change Track Colour

button of a layer.

The Select Colour dialog box opens.

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2. Select a colour for the layer. You can modify the colour for any type of layer, such as group, peg, drawing andeffects.

Flipping Through Poses

When animating, it is useful to flip through poses to see the flow of your animation without going through each framein the Timeline view. Harmony lets you flip between the selected element’s keyframes.

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How to flip through poses
1. In the Camera or Timeline view, select a layer that contains the poses you want to view.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Go to Previous Keyframe or Go to Next Keyframe‣

Press semicolon (;) and single quote (').

Using the Onion Skin in Cut-out Animation

When animating cut-out characters, it is useful to see the previous and next frames on the animation. However, it
can sometimes be confusing to see the onion skin for every part of the character. You will often only want to see
the onion skin on a single part or a few parts, such as the arm that is currently being animated. Harmony offersthat possibility.
While animating in the Camera view, there is a series of different onion skin options. You can enable these
options in the menu or manually in the Timeline view using the layer's Show Onion Skinbutton. Unless you

476Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guidechange the onion skin options when you display the onion skin, only the selected layers will be displayed in the onion
skin preview.
How to use the onion skin
1. In the Tools toolbar, click the Onion Skinbutton or press Alt + O.

2. In the Tools toolbar, click the Transform

tool or press Shift + T.

3. In the Camera view, select one or more elements.
4. From the top menu, select View > Onion Skin > Add to Onion Skin, Remove From Onion Skin, Remove
Unselected from Onion Skin, Add All to Onion Skin or Remove All from Onion Skin.
Add to Onion Skin

The Add to Onion Skin command is used to add a series of selected elements to the onion skin preview. The
keyboard shortcut is Shift + S.
Remove from Onion Skin

The Remove From Onion Skin command is used to remove a series of selected elements from the onion skinpreview.

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Remove Unselected from Onion Skin

The Remove Unselected from Onion Skin command is used to remove all elements except the ones selectedfrom the onion skin preview.
Add All to Onion Skin

The Add All to Onion Skin command is used to add all of the scene's elements to the onion skin preview. The
keyboard shortcut is Alt + Shift + O.
Remove All from Onion Skin

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The Remove All Onion Skin command is used to remove all of the scene's elements from the onion skin preview.
The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + Shift + O (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Shift + O (Mac OS X).

Flipping Parts

If you want to flip a part, a limb or a whole puppet, use the Transform tool and the Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical
options. If the Scaling parameter is not set to Separate Scale, the flip is not applied to the selection.
How to flip a selection
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool or press Shift + T.

2. In the Tool Properties view, make sure the Peg Selection Modeis disabled.

3. In the Camera view, select the parts to be flipped.

4. In the Tool Properties view, click the Flip Horizontal

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Using Action Templates

Reusing animation and assets is an important aspect of cut-out animation. This is why Harmony includes alibrary for storing all the reusable information.
When you created the character rig, you most likely created a master template along with some action templates
To save time, you can take an action that you've already animated, such as a walk-cycle or jump, and reuse it.
You can store the initial animation's keyframes in the Library view, then drag it into a master template of a newscene.
You can import a master template into the Timeline view and start animating with it. You can import an action
template into the right side of the Timeline view. An action template is composed of drawings (like a blink) or
keyframes (like a walk cycle) that you can reuse in an animation sequence.
To insert an action template into a master template, the layer ordering has to be exactly the same. If it's
inconsistent, the templates cannot be combined.

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You can create a single keyframe action template of the different views (front, three-quarter or side view). Then
import and insert them into the animation to turn the character. The same pattern can be created for a head, arm, full
upper body, etc.
If you created templates for different body parts, you can reuse them in your scene by dragging them to your layers.
You can also open a template as a folder and select a particular drawing from it and drag it onto a drawing layer.

Swapping Drawings

Cut-out animation is not only about moving parts around. It's also about swapping drawings to give the animation amore traditional animation look. You can add as many new drawings as you want in your scene and use them in yourcurrent animation. You can also add new drawings to the library and use them in other scenes. But before starting toswap drawings, it's important to understand how keyframes, exposure and key exposure work in Harmony:•

Keyframe: A keyframe is a point in time where a change to the properties of the object or character occurs. In
Harmony, keyframes consist of the coordinates that determine how an entire layer and its contents are
moved. Keyframes include these parameters: XYZ position, skew, scale, angle and pivot.

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Exposure: Exposure is a property; it is the length of time that a drawing is visible over a series of frames.
In Harmony, exposure is independent of keyframes. That is, keyframes are not linked to drawings.
Keyframes can be moved independently from the drawing exposure.

•

Key Exposure: A key exposure in Harmony is a type of exposure that forces a drawing to remain exposedon a specific frame. If a drawing is exposed before a key exposure and you swap out that drawing foranother one, then the original drawing is retained. This preserves the key drawing. Note that Harmony
automatically sets a key exposure when you perform a drawing swap.

When you want to swap drawings, you can do so in the Timeline or Library view. In the Timeline view, theParameters area is where you can select a drawing to swap. In the Library view, the Drawing Substitution windowlets you see the drawings before selecting one for swapping. In this view, you are actually selecting drawings inyour scene layers, not drawings in the Library.

NOTE: Keep in mind that when you swap a drawing, its entire exposure is replaced up to the next drawing
exposure.

When selecting a certain frame range to be swapped, the behaviour of the Timeline and Library views is different.
If you are using the Parameters area of the Timeline view to select a drawing to replace a selected frame range,
the new drawing will replace the frame range and continue until the next key exposure. In the following example,
drawing 2 (DR2) is replaced by a new drawing, starting at the beginning of the selected frame range and ending at
the next key exposure.

If you use the Drawing Substitution window in the Library view to select a drawing, the drawing is split in two andthe exposure before and after the frame range remain the same. In the following example, drawing 2 (DR 2) is split
in two and the selected frame range is filled with a new drawing.

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How to swap a drawing in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view’s right side, select the cell containing the drawing or symbol cell to swap.

2. In the Drawing Substitution field, position the pointer over the value and drag left or right to change the cell or
drawing exposed for another one. You can also type in the drawing name or symbol’s cell number if you knowit.

How to swap images in the Library view
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool.

2. In the Transform Tool Properties view, make sure the Peg Selection
3. In the Camera view, use the Transformbutton is deselected.

tool to select a part of the drawing to swap.

NOTE: You can swap the frames in symbols or the drawings in a layer. However, you cannot swap one symbol for
another.

4. In the Timeline view, select the cell range in which you want to swap the drawing.

5. In the Library view, go to the Drawing Substitution window.

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6. Scroll through the symbol's frames or drawings by doing one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Substitute Drawing Previous or Substitute Drawing Next.

‣

Drag the slider left or right.

‣

Press +.

The drawing or symbol’s cell on the current frame is replaced.

Adding Key Exposures
If there is a particular drawing you want to keep on a specific frame, you can set it as a key exposure. This
prevents it from be overwritten by a drawing swap on a preceding frame. A key exposure is simply a property ofan exposure that forces it to be exposed on a certain frame regardless of whether the previous exposure is thesame drawing or not.

NOTE: Keep in mind that if you modify the artwork in a drawing, all instances of that drawing will be automatically
updated even if set as a key exposure. This keeps your existing animation key poses intact. It is frequently used ona mouth or eyes layer.

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Example: Swapping a drawing with no key exposure
In the following example, drawing 3 (DR 3) is selected on the timeline and it contains no key exposure.

When it is swapped for drawing 4 (DR 4), the entire duration of drawing 3 substituted for drawing 4.

Example: Swapping a drawing with a key exposure
Here's what happens when swapping a drawing with a key exposure. In the following example, the playhead is
positioned in the middle of drawing 5 (DR 5) to set the position for the new key exposure. When the new key
exposure is added, drawing 5 is split in two; both halves contain drawing 5. Now if you swap the first drawing 5 fordrawing 1, the second drawing 5 retains its exposure.

How to add a key exposure
1. In the Timeline view, select the drawing cell to set as the key exposure.
2. Do one of the following:In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Key Exposure‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Key Exposure‣

In the Timeline menu, select Exposure > Add Key Exposure.

‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Add Key Exposure.

A new key exposure is added.

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If you added a key exposure at the beginning of the drawing, the entire exposure is filled with that samedrawing. If you added a key exposure anywhere other than the beginning of the drawing, then the drawing
is split in two and both parts contain the same drawing.

Removing Key Exposures
When you no know longer need a key exposure, you can remove it. When you do this, the existing key exposure
is replaced by the preceding exposure. In the following example, a key exposure is set to drawing 1 (DR 1). Whenthe key exposure is removed, the exposure is replaced by the preceding exposure, drawing 4 (DR 4).

How to remove a key exposure
1. In the Timeline view, select a key exposure to remove.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Remove Key Exposure

button.

‣In the Timeline menu, select Exposure > Remove Key Exposure.

‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Remove Key Exposure.

The key exposure is removed and replaced by the preceding exposure.
How to remove a key exposure
1. In the Timeline view, select a key exposure to remove.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Remove Key Exposure

button.

‣In the Timeline menu, select Exposure > Remove Key Exposure.

The key exposure is removed and replaced by the preceding exposure.

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Animating Lip-Sync

Adding a lip-sync to a project can really enhance its quality and storytelling. However, it can be difficult to shape acharacter's mouth to match the sound at a precise frame.

To solve this problem, Harmony provides a lip-sync feature which analyzes the contents of a sound element andgenerates a mouth chart (see below) based on the eight animation phonemes (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and X for silence).
The mouth shapes used by Harmony are based on the conventional mouth chart used in the animation industry.

NOTE: The letters used to represent the shapes do NOT correspond to an actual sound.

NOTE: If you are doing cut-out animation, refer to the Cut-out Animation Guide, Character Building chapter, "Adding
Extra Drawings" topic to learn how to add extra drawings to your character.

Here is an approximation of the sound each mouth shape can produce:•

A: m, b, p, h•

B: s, d, j, i, k, t•

C: e, a•

D: A, E

•

E: o

•

F: u, oo•

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You can lip-sync the traditional way or let the system automatically create the basic detection.
You can refer to the mouth chart positions as you draw the shape of the character's mouth.
How to generate a sound detection for lip-sync using the Layer Properties view
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the sound layer.
The options for that layer will appear in the Layer Properties view.
2. In the Layer Properties, click Detect.

A progress bar appears while Harmony analyzes the selected sound clips and assigns a lip-sync letter toeach sound cell.
3. Click the Map button to open the Lip-Sync Mapping dialog box.

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4. From the Destination Layer menu, select the layer that contains the mouth positions for the character's voice
track.

5. If the selected layer contains symbols, you can map the lip-sync using drawings located directly on the layeror use the symbol's frames. In the Symbol Layer field select Don't Use Any Symbol if you want to use thedrawings or select the desired symbol from the drop-down menu.
6. In the Mapping section, type the drawing name or Symbol frames in the field to the right of the phoneme it represents. If your drawings are already named with the phoneme letters, you do not have to do anything.
7. Click OK.
8. Press the Playbutton in the Playback toolbar to see and hear the results in the Camera view. To playback your scene with sound, enable the Soundbutton in the Playback toolbar.
Harmony allows for the manual swapping of mouth position drawings to match a voice track. For this process, bothsound scrubbing (listening to a sound wave broken up frame-by-frame) and drawing substitutions are used.
How to animate lip-sync using the Timeline view
1. In the Playback toolbar, enable the Sound Scrubbing

button.

2. In the Timeline view, drag the red playhead along the sound layer waveform.
3. When you reach a frame where a mouth position should go, for example, an open mouth with rounded lips foran "oh" sound, click on that frame on your mouth shapes layer.
4. In the Parameters section, staying on your mouth shapes layer, place your cursor on top of the drawing name(often a letter) until it changes to the swapping
pointer.
5. Pull the cursor to see the list of mouth shape names and choose the one you want. The current drawing automatically changes to the new selection.

How to animate lip-sync using the Library view
1. In the Playback toolbar, click the Sound Scrubbing

button.

2. In the Timeline view, drag the red playhead along the waveform of your sound layer.

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3. When you reach a frame where a mouth position should go, for example, an open mouth with rounded lips
for an "oh" sound, click on that frame on your mouth shapes layer.
4. In the Drawing Substitution window of the Library view, drag the slider to choose a mouth shape. The current drawing is swapped for the one in the preview window.

Adding a New Drawing
If you need to add a new drawing to a scene, you can do so by duplicating the existing drawing on the current
frame. If you're using symbols, you can also add a new drawing inside the body part’s symbol.

Duplicating a Drawing
If your character doesn't use symbols, you must duplicate the drawing on the cell on which you need to a new
drawing. You could also create a new blank drawing, but duplicating the existing drawing allows you to keep thepivot you previously set (if you're using drawing pivots) and you can also reuse a portion of the existing artwork.
When you create a new drawing, you get a blank cell with a pivot set at the centre of the Camera view.
How to duplicate a drawing
1. In the Timeline or Camera view, select the drawing to duplicate.

2. From the top menu, select Drawing > Duplicate Drawing or press Alt + Shift + D.
The new drawing appears in the currently selected cell.

3. In the Camera view, draw the new piece.

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Repositioning Drawings
When creating additional drawings for a cut-out puppet, you should generally try to create them in the same location
as the original drawings (resting position) so you can scale and rotate the same pivot.

Although, when adding drawings that are specific to an animation, it may be easier to draw it in relation to thecharacter's position and scene's composition. If you draw a series of drawings that are not in the same location, you
can use the Reposition Drawing
tool to reposition the drawing strokes while simultaneously creating keyframes
in the Timeline view to compensate for the repositioning. In the Camera view, the drawings will retain the locationand position in which you drew them while in the Drawing view, all your drawings will be aligned.

How to reposition and align drawings
1. In the Advanced Animation toolbar, select the Reposition Drawingtool.

2. In the Camera view, Ctrl + click (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + click (Mac OS X) to select the drawing to reposition. You can also select the drawing layer or the parented peg in the Timeline view.
The Reposition Drawing controls appear in the Camera view. They are positioned on top of each other. The
source controls are represented by black lines. The destination controls are represented by dotted blue lines.
3. On your first drawing (reference drawing), position the black source controls to indicate the position at which
all other drawings will be aligned.

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4. In the Timeline view, move to the next drawing.
5. In the Camera view, move the blue destination controls to match the reference position you set on the original drawing. You can use the long handle to rotate the position. If you rotate the control multiple times,
the drawing will rotate multiple times.

6. Select the blue checkbox once the position is correct.
7. Repeat the previous two steps for all drawings in your animation.

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8. Once all the drawings are completed, in the Drawing view, verify that the drawing strokes are correctlyaligned.

9. If necessary, delete the last keyframe if the last drawing moves back to the reference drawing's position.

10. If the animation does not require interpolation, in the Timeline view, select the newly created keyframes. In
the Timeline toolbar, click the Set Stop-Motion Keyframe
button to remove any computer-generated interpolation.

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Ordering Layers Over TimeThe layer ordering system in Harmony saves time and simplifies your work. There is no need to create a newlayer or copy and paste artwork into other layers to change the order. The Z-axis (forward/backward) allows you tocreate a multiplane and move elements closer or farther from the camera. This allows you to move the puppet’s
pieces in front of or behind other ones without physically changing the layer position.

Harmony provides you with a shortcut to move the piece with a micro nudge on the Z-axis. A keyframe is created
where different Z values can be entered. This allows the piece to move forward and backwards in space without
requiring you to change the drawing’s original position or break the layer hierarchy. This also means that the layerordering is maintained throughout the scene. You can combine animation assets so Harmony can interpolatethem.
How to nudge elements on the Z-axis
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform
2. In the Tools toolbar, click the Animate

tool or press Shift + T.
button.

3. In the Camera view, select the part to be repositioned and hold down the Alt key.
4. Using the Up or Down arrow keys, nudge the part until it moves to the desired position.

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Resetting a Transformation
If you made too many transformations and it's not going where you want it to go, or simply because you want toreset a pose you're reusing from another animation, you can reset your character's position. Once the layers are
positioned in the Camera view, you can easily return them to their original position. There are three different ways toreset a transformation.
Using the Reset command, you can reset the value of the selected element to the initial value of the active tool. For
example, if the Rotate
tool is active, the transformation angle will be reset to 0 and if the Transform
tool isactive, all the transformation values will be reset.
The Reset All option resets all transformations on the current frame in a selected layer. Your keyframe will remain,
but all the values will return to the default position. All transformations are reset regardless of the tool you're using.
The Reset All Except Z option resets all transformations on the current frame except the Z position. This is usefulwhen doing cut-out animation. Cut-out puppets often have a particular Z ordering for the different views of acharacter. You might want to reset the transformation, but not necessarily the Z position.
In the Timeline view, you can also use the Clear All Values command to reset all transformation values on theselected layers. Right-click on the selected layers and select Layers > Clear All Values.

NOTE: When using the Transform tool to select elements in the Camera view, always make sure the Peg Selection
Mode option in the Tool Properties view is disabled or it will limit the selection to peg only.

How to reset the transformation on the current frame
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool or any Advanced Animation

tool.

2. In the Timeline view or directly in the Camera view, select the drawing layer(s) to reset.
3. From the top menu, select Animation > Reset or press Shift + R.
The selected layer(s) return to their original position.
How to reset all transformations on the current frame
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool or any Advanced Animation

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2. In the Timeline view or directly in the Camera view, select the drawing layer(s) to reset.
3. From the top menu, select Animation > Reset All or press Shift + R.
The selected layer(s) return to their original position.
How to reset all transformations except the Z position on the current frame
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool or any Advanced Animation

tool.

2. In the Timeline view or directly in the Camera view, select the drawing layer(s) to reset.
3. From the top menu, select Animation > Reset All Except Z.
The selected layer(s) return to their original position, except for the Z values.

Creating Cycles
You can create cycles from a portion of your animation or completely reverse the flow of your animation.
How to create an animation cycle
1. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the cell range and keyframes to loop.

2. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy Cells From the Timeline.
3. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the cell where you want your cycles to start.

4. From the top menu, select one of the following:‣

Edit > Paste Cycle or press Ctrl + / (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + / (Mac OS X).
The Paste Special dialog box opens.

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Edit > Paste Special or press Ctrl + B (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + B (Mac OS X).
The Paste Special dialog box opens.

5. In the Number of Cycles field, enter the number of cycles to paste.
6. In the Cycle Type menu, select a type of cycle to paste.

‣

Normal (forward): Pastes the selection as is, starting with the first cell and ending with the last.

‣

Reverse: Pastes the selection reversed, beginning with the last cell and ending with the first.

‣

Forward -> Reverse: Pastes the selection as a yo-yo, starting with the first cell, going to the last cell andending with the first cell.

‣

Reverse -> Forward: Pastes the selection as a reversed yo-yo, starting with the last cell, going to thefirst one and ending with the last cell.

7. Click OK.

How to create a reverse animation cycle
1. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the cell range and keyframes to paste inverted.

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2. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy.
3. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the cell where you want the cycles to start.

4. From the top menu, select Edit > Paste Reverse or press Ctrl + . (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + . (Mac OS X).

Copying and Pasting Animation
As you animate, you will find that you reuse many positions, drawings, and keys. However, you may only want topaste the drawings or just the keys or maybe everything. There are different paste options available in theTimeline view which give you maximum flexibility when reusing and pasting.
Note that these modes also apply when you drag instead of copying and pasting.
There are three different modes for pasting your selection:•

Paste Mode: All Drawing Attributes: Pastes the drawing exposure and keyframes.

•

Paste Mode: Keyframes Only: Pastes only the keyframes.

•

Paste Mode: Exposures Only: Pastes only the drawing exposure.

How to paste a selection using different modes
1. In the Timeline view, select the cells you want to copy and paste.

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2. In the Timeline toolbar, click the desired Paste

mode button.

3. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy Cells from the Timeline or press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C(Mac OS X).
4. In the Timeline view's right side, select the cell on which you want to paste your selection.

5. Select Edit > Paste Cells in the Timeline or press Ctrl + V (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + V (Mac OS X).
Paste Mode: All Drawing Attributes

Paste Mode: Keyframes Only

Paste Mode: Exposures Only

Adding Pegs
Now that you have your puppet on stage, you probably need to resize and reposition it to fit the scene. When you
need to scale down or move a character, it's a good idea to hook (attach) the whole puppet to a trajectory.

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In Harmony, there is a type of layer you can add to your timeline, allowing you to create a motion path or
reposition drawings. This trajectory layer is called a peg. Any drawing or layer you hook to a peg will follow thedefined motion path, rotation, scaling and skewing information.
Attaching your puppet to a peg allows you to scale and reposition it without having to do the same on all thedifferent parts and pieces. Only one layer will contain the position information, making your animation easier tomodify and control.
Next, position your character on the stage by moving it and scaling it to the correct size. You will not scale eachlayer individually. You can do it on the top symbol or top peg layer.
How to add a repositioning peg
1. In the Timeline view, select the top layer on which you want to parent a peg.

NOTE: You must select a layer to be able to add a peg to your scene. Unless you use the Display All mode fromthe Display toolbar, an error message will display if you try to add a peg without any selection.

2. In the Timeline view, click the Add Peg

button.

A new peg is added to the timeline as a parent of the selected layer.

3. Double-click on the name of new peg layer and rename it: Master_Peg.

4. In the Timeline view, select all the layers you want to attach to the new peg. Remember that one item isalready parented to that peg.

5. Drag the selection and drop it on the peg layer to parent all the character's pieces to the peg. If your layers
are added above the already-parented layers, move that parented layer back on top of the layer stack.

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How to reposition a character
1. In the Timeline view, select the top peg layer (master peg).
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool and disable the Animate

mode.

3. In the Camera view, position the character.

Offsetting a Portion of an Animation
If there is a section of the animation that you want to reposition, such as the head's height or the puppet's position,
you can do so using the function curve.
How to reposition a portion of an animation
1. In the Timeline view, click the Expand Function
button of the body part layer to reposition. If you want toreposition the entire body, expand the master peg's parameters.

2. Double-click on the layer's parameter controlling the keyframes you want to reposition.

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The Function Editor opens.
3. In the Function editor, select the keyframes you want to reposition by tracing a selection box.

4. Click the Show Current Framethem.

button to view the transformation results in the Camera view as you do

5. Drag the keyframe selection up or down to reposition the sequence.

6. Close the Function editor.

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Chapter 9: Morphing

Hand-drawn animation requires you to spend a lot of time tracing in-between drawings. Harmony speeds up theprocess using its helpful morphing feature. This powerful and useful feature creates computer-generated drawings
and places them between vector drawings to save time and increase productivity. Animation created with themorphing feature can be reused in different projects. You can easily modify the timing and velocity (ease in and easeout).
One of the main uses of the morphing feature is effects animation. For example, animating smoke or water can betime-consuming because these types of effects are usually slow moving requiring a large number of closely placed
inbetweens.
This chapter is divided as follows:•

Understanding Morphing on page 504•

Source and Destination Drawings on page 504•

Morphing Rules on page 505•

Creating a Basic Morphing Sequence on page 509•

Tool Properties View on page 511•

Adjusting the Velocity and Timing on page 514•

Morphing Tool and Hints on page 515•

Morphing Layers on page 523•

Morphing Two Sequences in a Row on page 530•

Inserting a Morphing Key Drawing on page 531•

Converting Morphing Inbetweens to Drawings on page 532•

Morphing Holes and Transparencies on page 532•

Adjusting the Morphing Quality on page 535•

Tips and Tricks on page 535

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Understanding Morphing
The morphing feature is used to animate similar and simple shapes such as hair or smoke. It helps you by saving
time when you are working on tedious inbetweening and tracing tasks This, in turn, provides you with more timeto spend on complex animation tasks such as walk cycles or acrobatic sequences.

Ideas behind Morphing
To learn how to morph drawings, it is better to start with basic shapes such as circles and rectangles. Once you
are more familiar with the tool, you can increase your knowledge and expertise. In a very short time you will be
producing some remarkable effects.
It is helpful to know the pros and cons of morphing before you start. Understanding what you can do and which
drawing lines may be more useful or problematic will enable you to design your key drawings so they morph
efficiently.

NOTE: The more complex the shape is, the longer it takes to morph. If it takes more time to morph a drawing thanto hand-draw it, then it is better to animate it instead of morphing. However, if you spot an occasion when you canmorph your drawings, do it! It allows you to fix your timing and velocity in no time without having to create any extra
drawings!

Source and Destination Drawings

The morphing feature matches similar shapes in a source and a destination drawing. Harmony evaluates thesource's shape properties and matches them to the most similar ones in the destination drawing.
Morphing works between similar shapes, which are drawings that have the same palette, colours and number ofshapes. You can even change any shape into another one, as long as the source and destination keep the same
colours, number of lines and number of shapes.

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Morphing Rules
Harmony follows a set of rules as it evaluates the shapes. Familiarize yourself with these basic morphing rules
before you start morphing.

NOTE: Note that a morphing sequence can only be done on vector drawings. You cannot morph bitmap layers orToon Boom bitmap drawings.

Closest Similar ShapeA colour, line shape or zone will morph with the closest similar one in the destination drawing. This means it willmorph with the zone nearest to it, as long as that zone uses the same palette's colour swatch (colour ID) and has thesame vector properties (Central or Contour).

In the example above, the red heart shape (1) will morph with the closest shape using the same colour swatch. It willmorph with the red diamond shape (1) in the next drawing. The red diamond shape (2) in the source drawing willmorph with the red heart shape (2) located in the same area in the destination drawing. The black spade shape (3) inthe source drawing will morph with the black club shape (3) located in the same area in the destination drawing.
Finally, the black club shape (4) in the source drawing will morph into the black spade shape (4) located above in thedestination drawing.
Pencil Line to Pencil LineIf you trace a shape using a pencil line such as the Ellipse, Rectangle, Polyline, Lineor Pencil
tool, you have to morph it with another pencil line. Make sure that both drawings are pencil shapes (central vector).

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A pencil line will never morph with a brush stroke.

Pencil lines with thickness are supported in morphing sequences. The thickness will morph according to thethickest and thinnest areas in the source and destination drawings.

Pencil lines with textures are not supported in a morphing sequence. During the morphing, the texture will
disappear and show without pencil line opacity texture.

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If you have pencil lines in your source drawing, the same number of pencil lines must be present in the destination
drawings. A pencil line will appear if it is not found in the destination drawing. It will pop out on the first or last frame
depending on which one it is drawn.
When two pencil lines cross one another, they are considered to be two lines and not four lines anymore (as it was inversion 7.8 and below of the application). In this case, you must have two pencil lines in your destination drawing foryour morphing to work correctly.

Fill Shape to Fill Shape
If you have a brush stroke or a colour fill ( contour vectors), make sure that you morph it with another brush stroke orfill zone. It is important to undersand that strokes drawn with the Brush tool are the same thing as zones painted with
the Paint tool. Vector points are located along the contour. They are simply not the same size. Contour vectors will
not morph with pencil lines (central vectors). A brush stroke can morph into a colour fill zone and vice versa as they
are the exact same thing.

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Colour Swatch to Same Colour Swatch
Harmony does not morph between colours. If you want to perform a colour transition, you have to create theeffect during the compositing step of your production. A colour palette is composed of colour swatches. Eachcolour swatch has its own unique identification number, even if two swatches are the same colour value, they are
identified independently. A colour zone or shape will morph with another one painted with the same colour
swatch.

Vanishing and Appearing
If a colour zone does not find a match in the first or the second drawing, it will progressively appear or disappear.

Colour Art to Colour Art and Line Art to Line Art
In Harmony, there is an advanced concept for painting your drawings called Line Art and Colour Art. Basically, an
extra layer is added in your drawings so that you can fill the colour zones on a separate layer. The regular layer onwhich you are drawing is called Line Art and the extra layer under the Line Art is the Colour Art.
•A shape drawn in Colour Art can only be morphed with another shape existing in the Colour Art.

•A shape drawn in Line Art can only be morphed with another shape existing in the Line Art.

•A shape created in Colour Art can never morph with a shape created in Line Art.

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Creating a Basic Morphing Sequence

When it comes to morphing, you will need to practice and become at ease with it. Once you are familiar with thebasic rules, you can start creating morphing sequences. To begin, start with simple elements. When you are
confident with the morphing process, you can start to use complex and advanced morphing techniques, such ashead rotations or full characters.
You may want to delete an entire morphing sequence in order to redo a sequence from scratch.
How to create a basic morph
1. In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Drawing Layerbutton to add a new layer to your project.

2. Rename the new layer ( for example, Morphing).
3. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the first cell in the layer.

4. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Rectangle‣

Press Alt + 7.

tool.

5. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw a rectangle.
6. Do one or both of the following:‣

Hold down the Shift key to draw a square.

‣

Hold down the Alt key to draw the rectangle from its centre.

7. Paint your rectangle using the Paint tool.

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8. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the cell on which you want your morphing sequence to end.

9. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Ellipse‣

Press Alt + =.

tool.

10. Draw and paint the ellipse using the same outline colour as the rectangle.

11. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the first frame and all the frames up to and including the last frame,
which is the rectangle drawing.

12. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Morphing > Create Morphing.

‣

In the Xsheet or Timeline view, right-click and select Morphing > Create Morphing‣

Press Alt + M.

Arrows appear between the two key drawings to show that computer generated inbetweens have beencreated.

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NOTE: Use the Playback toolbar to play the morphing sequence. To flip through the inbetweens, toggle between
comma ( , ) and period ( . ). Press F4 to toggle between the two key drawings.

How to delete an entire morphing sequence
1. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select a cell in the morphing sequence.
2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Morphing > Delete Morphing.

‣

In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select Morphing > Delete Morphing.

‣

Right-click on your sequence and select Morphing > Delete Morphing.

The entire sequence between the two keyframes is removed.

Tool Properties View

As you create and adjust your morphing sequences, you will often use the Tool Properties view. Using this view
allows you to do things such as toggle between your key drawings, adjust the easing or select a hint type.
How to access the content of the Tool Properties view
1. Do one of the following:‣ In the Tools toolbar, select the Morphingtool.

‣ Press F3.

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Hint TypeThe Hint Type drop-down menu allows you to select the correct hint to remedy any problem areas in yourdrawing—see Contour Hint on page 519 and Morphing Tool and Hints on page 515.
You can have more than one hint type in your drawings. You can mix all of the hint types in your morphing
sequence.
Hide Hints

The Hide Hints
button temporarily hides the hint points from the key drawings. Use this option when you
have a series of hint points hiding some lines you would like to see.
Show Morphing in PlaceThe Show Morphing In Place
option is used with morphing layers. Enabling this option prevents the currently
selected morphing layer from being shown on top of the others and maintains the correct layer ordering—seeMorphing Layers on page 523.
Suggest Hints
The Suggest Hints
option is used to automatically set hint points on key drawings as a help tool. If you're notsure where to set hints, you can use this option. It will set the main hints which you can then fine tune.
Switch Between Drawings
The Switch Between Drawings
button is used to toggle between the two key drawings in your morphing
sequence. This option is useful while setting hints. You can use the default keyboard shortcut F4 to toggle
between your drawings.
Flatten
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option is used when you have to morph a sequence with a semi-transparent or transparent colour in it—see
Morphing Holes and Transparencies on page 532.
Quality

The Quality setting is used to make the lines of the morphed drawings smoother. Adjust this parameter when you aredoing an extreme close up of your animation—see Adjusting the Morphing Quality on page 535.
Morphing Layers

The Morphing Layers option is used when working with morphing layers. You can add, remove and manage yourdifferent morphing layers in this space—see Morphing Layers on page 523
Easing

The Easing option is used to adjust the starting and ending velocity of your morphing sequence so that the motion issmooth and not mechanical.
You can adjust the Ease In and Ease Out value by dragging your cursor up and down or typing a new value. The
values go from -1.0 to 1.0—see Adjusting the Velocity and Timing on page 514
Convert Hints

The Convert Hints
option is used to switch the type of the selected hint points. This option is useful when you
position hints and then realize they are not the right type. You can select them and convert them to the correct type
instead of deleting them and setting new ones.
Use the Morphing tool to select the hints and then convert them by going to the Tool Properties view and selecting
the new hint type from the Convert Hints drop-down menu.

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The Time field is used to set the timing on Appearing Point and Vanishing Point hints. These hints are used to set
the trajectory of appearing and vanishing objects, With the Time field, select your Appearing Point or Vanishing
Point hint and type the frame number on which the object will start its appearing or vanishing animation.

Adjusting the Velocity and Timing

Once you have set up a morphing sequence, you can control its timing and velocity. When you look at youranimation you will notice that the morphing motion is constant. To produce a less mechanical motion, you willprobably want to create some ease in or ease out.
If you did not place your source and destination drawings on the correct frames you may need to extend or shrink
the sequence length.
If you have several morphing sequences on a single layer, you may find it easier to adjust their velocities on one
function curve rather than several separate ones. Having all of your velocity parameters in one place is more
efficient and easier to modify.
Adjusting the velocity in the Layer Properties editor also allows you to reverse a section of the morphing
sequence. The sequence will always start with the source drawing and end at the destination. You can play themorphing sequence backwards or forwards during the animation.
You can have two levels of easing:•In the Tool Properties View, you can adjust the velocity of each sequence in your layer independently•

In the Layer Properties editor, you can adjust the morphing velocity function to control the entire layer's
easingHow to extend or shrink a morphing sequence length
1. In the Timeline view, select the source or destination drawing.
2. Click on your selection and drag the drawing to its new frame.

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How to adjust the velocity in the Tool Properties view
1. In the Timeline view, click on a frame in the morphing sequence you want to adjust.
2. In the Tool Properties view, increase and decrease the Ease In and Ease Out value to adjust the sequence's
velocity.

Morphing Tool and Hints

Harmony's Morphing
tool controls your morphing sequence, this works by placing different types of hints to help
the system morph the animation the way that you want it.
Hints are points that are placed in both the source and destination drawings. They associate zones and lines
between the two drawings. Hints are used to fix problem zones, such as a line that is not following the colour fill
zone.

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Corners and points are more challenging, in general. Animation curves are complex and may be unable to match
corners. It will generally associate a corner with its nearest neighbour; this is not always correct and it is why weuse hint points to determine what goes with what.

Using the Morphing Tool
Hints are identification points existing in both the source and destination drawings to create associations between
the two of them.
To correct morphing distortions, Harmony has different types of hints available for controlling different types ofproblems:•

Contour Hint on page 519•

Zone Hint on page 519•

Pencil Hint on page 520•

Vanishing Point Hint on page 520•

Appearing Point Hint on page 521

Each type of hint has a different purpose and they can all be used in the same drawing. Use the Morphing tool to
add hints to your morphing sequences.
A hint will automatically appear in both the source and destination drawings when it is added. A hint cannot exist
in a single drawing. If you delete a hint from one drawing, it will be also deleted from the other.
The key to placing your hints is to put them where the biggest problem is. Fix the largest distortions first, this may
also fix the smaller ones at the same time.

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Do not add too many hints, this is a common mistake when morphing, it takes some practice to learn how tocorrectly use and place hints.
How to Add and Remove Hints
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the source or destination drawing of your morphing sequence.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Morphing

tool or press F3.

Use your other morphing key drawing, shown in the Drawing view's bottom right corner, as a reference.

3. In the Tool Properties view, select the type of hint you want to use.

‣

Select Contour Hint to correct a brush line or colour zone's contour (Contour vector).
Contour Hint points will behave similar to Pencil Hint points when used on a pencil line. Note that you
obtain better results using the Pencil Hint point on pencil line rather than Contour Hint points.

‣

Select Pencil Hint to correct a pencil line (Central vector).

‣

Select Zone Hint to correct a colour zone morphing match.

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Select Vanishing Point Hint to correct a vanishing shape's trajectory.

‣

Select Appearing Point Hint to correct an appearing shape's trajectory.

4. In the Camera or Drawing view, click on the drawing near the problematic area.

5. Select the hint's point and move it to its correct position.

6. Select one or many hints and press Delete to remove extra or unused hints.
‣

To delete all of the hint points at once, press Shift + Delete.

7. In the Playback toolbar, press the Playbutton to see the result.

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Hints

Hint points in the source drawing are green and red in the destination drawing.
Contour Hint
The Contour Hint
point is used on the colour fill zone and brush lines; in other words, on Contour vectors. It
allows you to control the line thickness and contour position. Also, if a contour is not animated correctly, you can use
hints to correct the animation. For example, if a flag is not waving properly.
When adding a Contour Hint point, make sure to place it far enough away from the contour so you can see it snap to
the contour.
Contour Hint points are yellow.

NOTE: Do not place the Contour Hint directly on the line as it may look like it has snapped to the contour, when infact, it has not and the morphing will remain unchanged.

NOTE: To correct a brush stroke, place a hint on both sides of the line to indicate its thickness variations over time.

Zone Hint
The Zone Hint
point is used on a colour zone to control the proximity rule. The Zone Hint is placed in the centreof the colour zone. Sometimes a colour zone is not associated with the corresponding one by default. For example,
in a splash animation there are many water droplets that are the same colour. Harmony automatically morphs thedroplet to the nearest one. This is not always the one you may have predicted. A Zone Hint will force a colour zone tomorph with another one.
Zone Hint points are cyan in colour.

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Pencil Hint
A Pencil Hint
point is used to control a pencil line, also known as central vector. It can be used on drawings
that were done using the Pencil, Polyline, Ellipse, Line and Rectangle tools. Like the Contour Hint, the Pencil Hint
snaps to the central vector. Make sure to place it far enough away from the line so you will see it snap when you
move it.
Pencil Hint points are magenta in colour.

Vanishing Point Hint
A Vanishing Point Hint
is used to control the trajectory of a vanishing shape. A shape will vanish from thesource drawing when there is no corresponding shape in the destination drawing. If you do not place a Vanishing
Point Hint to control the point of disappearance, the shape will vanish into its centre.
Vanishing Point Hint points are green in colour.

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Appearing Point Hint
An Appearing Point Hint
is used to control the trajectory of an appearing shape. A shape will appear in thedestination drawing when there is no corresponding shape in the source drawing. If you do not place an Appearing
Point Hint to control the point of appearance, the shape will appear from its centre and expand outwards.
Appearing Point Hint points are violet in colour.

Copying Hint Points

If you have two morphing sequences that use the same drawing and you would like to copy it and its hint points, you
can do so in the Drawing view.

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How to copy a drawing and its hints
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, click the Select‣Press Alt + S.

tool.

2. In the Drawing view, select the drawing to reuse in your second morphing sequence.
3. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Edit > Copy.

‣

Press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C (Mac OS X).

4. In the Timeline view, select the cell where the new drawing will be.

5. In the Drawing view, paste your selection.
6. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Edit > Paste .

‣Press Ctrl + V (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + V (Mac OS X).

7. In the Timeline view, select the cell where the second drawing will be.

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8. In the Drawing or Camera view, draw your second drawing.

9. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline view, create the morphing sequence for the new drawings.

‣

Press Alt + M.

10. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Morphing‣

Press F3.

tool.

11. In the Drawing or Camera view, position your hint points.

Morphing Layers
Morphing layers simplify the morphing animation. Complex shapes are often too difficult to control and may not work
properly, by dividing the drawings into morphing layers, the task becomes much easier.
The major points used in controlling a morphing sequence are the intersections. If there are many lines intersecting
within a drawing, the system will require more control—see Hints on page 519
An important aspect of morphing is to identify possible problem zones in order to fix them and avoid potentiallyfrustrating situations.

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Identifying Problem Zones
Simple details that look easy to morph can sometimes be more challenging than they may initially appear to be.
For example, you may find that the nose becomes an issue when performing a head rotation. As explained earlier,the drawings need to be similar in their number of shapes. Generally, on a head rotation, the source nose is in thecentre of the face, but on the destination, the nose line is part of the face outline. This means that on the source
drawing, the nose and the face outline are two separate shapes, whereas they are combined into one shape on
the destination drawing.
Morphing a full face as demonstrated on the figure below will cause the source nose to slowly vanish as thedestination nose grows from the character's cheek.

Any shape that is contained inside another one and has to morph out of that shape will be problematic for thesame reasons as the nose is. At some point during the morphing sequence, the shape contained inside the face
will merge with the face outline, and then become a separate shape again.

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Morphing Layer Properties
It is because of these reasons, explained in the section, Identifying Problem Zones on page 524, that morphing
layers exist. Morphing layers are all contained in the same drawing layer. It is like having a mini Timeline within aTimeline layer, or a mini Xsheet within an Xsheet column.
Each morphing layer can have its own duration and velocity. Also, because you only have a single element to handle
in your Timeline or Xsheet view, it will be treated as one element for the Compositing process, making thecompositor's work easier.
You can separate all of your elements into different drawing elements and have many layers, but you would have tocreate a large number of morphing sequences and make sure that you modify all of their timings properly.

NOTE: Both solutions are correct, but morphing layers makes it easier to handle and does not change the scene
structure by adding more elements, which can be very important for Cut-out animation puppets. For example, if you
morph a front head to a three-quarter head where the ear needs to be separate, you do not want to add a new ear
layer at the same time and have to worry about connecting it inside the puppet's construction. Instead, simply create
an ear morphing layer within the head layer.

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How to create a morph with morphing Layers
When you click on a morphing layer drawing, it automatically appears on top of the others. If you want it to stay inplace, for example the wing behind the body, enable the Show Morphing in Place
option in the Morphing Tool
Properties view.

NOTE: Use a naming convention for each morphing layer such as ear_1, ear_2 or head_1, head_2. You can also
use the numbers 1 to 9 for the first layer, 10 to 19 for the second one, 20 to 29 for the third one and so one. This

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technique is useful if you plan to do more than one morphing sequence in the same column. For example, front headto three-quarter head to side head. The three-quarter drawings will be used in both morphing sequences.

How to create a morph with morphing layers
1. In the Timeline view, add a new drawing element and name it properly.
2. In the first cell, draw the main source shape such as the head shape or body shape. Do not add details likeeyes.

3. In the Timeline view, select the destination cell.
4. Enable and extend the Onion Skin.

5. In the destination cell, draw the second drawing.

6. In the Timeline view, select the in-between cells.
7. Do one of the following:

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Right-click and select Morphing > Create Morphing.

‣Press Alt + M.

8. In the Tools toolbar, select the Morphingtool.

9. In the Morphing Tools Properties view, click on the Add Layerbutton to add a new morphing layer.

10. Double-click on the new layer's name and name it appropriately.
11. Press Enter/Return.

12. Use the Up‣

and Down

arrow buttons to move the new layer above or below the Main layer.

If placed above the Main layer, it will be displayed in front. If it is placed below, it will be displayed
behind.

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13. To create new drawings, double-click on the blank area under the From section to create the source drawing
and the To section for the destination drawing and type a different value than the ones used for the main
layer.
14. Press Enter/Return.
You do not need to type any value for the Main layer as it uses the one from the Xsheet column.

15. Click on the new source drawing to start drawing the new part. (Make sure that you are working on the proper
drawing by verifying the name in the Camera or Drawing view's bottom left corner.)

16. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw the source drawing.

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17. Once the source drawing is done, use the Morphing Tool Properties view and click on the destination drawing's name and draw it in the Camera or Drawing view.
18. Repeat steps 9 to 15 for each layer needed. You can add as many layers as you want.
19. Enable or disable the layers that you want to display or hide while drawing.

20. If you want to change the layer duration, click on the layer and change the start and stop numbers.

The length indicator changes according to the new values.

Morphing Two Sequences in a Row
If you are morphing two sequences in a row, you will have to create a different set of hint points for eachsequence.

Morphing two sequences in a row requires three drawings: 1, 2 and 3. Using these three drawings you create twomorphing sequences; one sequence between drawings 1 and 2, and a second sequence between drawings 2 and3.

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NOTE: Each morphing sequence has its own set of parameters and hints. This means that Drawing 2 will have a setof hints for the first sequence and another set for the second sequence. The two sets of hints will not show at thesame time. Each set of hints that appears always corresponds to the morphing sequence you are working on.

Inserting a Morphing Key Drawing

Once you have a morphing sequence, you can add a morphing key drawing.
A morphing key drawing allows you to insert extra details into a morphing sequence. For example, during a morphing
sequence you may need to insert a detail such as teeth or a mouth; this is easy to do when you use a morphing key
drawing. Instead of creating an entirely new drawing, convert a computer generated in-between to a morphing key
drawing and add your extra details to it and the next key drawing.
A morphing key drawing converts a computer-generated morphing frame into a real drawing that you can edit. It
splits the morphing sequence into two sequences, retaining any previous modifications.
How to insert a morphing key drawing
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the morphing frame you want to transform into a morphing keyframe.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Animation > Morphing > Insert Morphing Key Drawing.

‣

Right-click and select Morphing > Insert Morphing Key Drawing.

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The new morphing key drawing appears.

3. In the Drawing or Camera view, draw your new details on the morphing key drawing.
4. In the Playback toolbar, press the Playbutton to see the result.

Converting Morphing Inbetweens to Drawings
Harmony lets you convert your morphing inbetweens to real drawings you can edit. This is useful when manually
editing a morphing sequence or if you prefer to have animation timing in double frame (on twos) instead of single
frame (on ones).
How to convert morphing inbetweens to drawings
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a morphed drawing in the morphing sequence you want to convert toreal drawings.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Animation > Morphing > Convert Morphing to Drawings.

‣

Right-click and select Morphing > Convert Morphing to Drawings.

The Converting Morph dialog box opens.

3. Type the drawing basename you want to give to your new drawings. In this case, you could type circle.
4. Click OK.

Morphing Holes and Transparencies
To be able to morph shapes with holes or transparent colours, it is important to understand the process ofanalyzing and morphing a shape. Harmony begins the process by reading the exterior outline of the entire shape.
So if you are morphing a doughnut, it will first read the entire circular shape and ignore the central hole.

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Once the general morphing shape is analyzed, the system will carry on analyzing the interior details such as colour
zones and holes.

As you can see, because the hole was placed on top after the main shape was morphed, the centre is filled with an
opaque brown colour. In order to avoid opaque holes, you have to paint the zone with a transparent colour so that you
can control it and flatten the transparency to cut a hole through the main shape.
The same thing happens when you have holes painted with semi-transparent colours. To see through your shapes,
you have to follow the same process as morphing shapes with holes.
How to morph a shape with a hole
1. In your Colour view, select an unused colour swatch and set its alpha (transparency) to 0.

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2. Paint both holes on the source and destination drawings.

3. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, click on a cell in your morphing sequence.

4. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Morphing‣

Press F3.

5. In the Tool Properties view, enable the Flatten

A hole appears in the shape.

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Adjusting the Morphing Quality
Increasing the morphing quality settings improves the line shape between vector points. It also creates a larger file,
so only increase quality when you are zooming in closely. You can adjust the quality in the Tool Properties view andin the Preferences panel.

When morphing in Toon Boom Harmony, there is a preference you can set to help you set the default quality ofmorphing sequences. Refer to the following parameter in the Preferences Guide for complete descriptions.
•

Drawing tab: Settings, Morphing Quality

How to set a morphing sequence's quality level
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, click on a cell in your morphing sequence.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Morphing‣

Press F3.

tool.

3. In the Tool Properties view, adjust the Quality level.

Tips and Tricks
This section provides a list of easy tips and tricks to help you morph your drawings more efficiently.
Using the Brush Tool as a Beginner
When learning about morphing, it is recommended that you use the Brush tool. You can use the Pencil line for simple
closed shapes.
Using the Contour Hint on Pencil Lines
If you are using pencil lines, use Contour hints instead of Pencil hints. Use Pencil hint if you want the Pencil line to535

Chapter 9: Morphingswitch direction.
Flattening Drawings
Flatten your drawing before starting a morphing sequence.
Cleaning-up your Drawings
If you leave a dot, even the smallest one, it is possible that your morphing will create odd shapes. If the sourceline is closer to the dot than the destination line, the source line will morph into the dot and the destination line will
disappear.
Using the Same Colour Swatch
Use the same colour swatch between two drawings. You cannot morph between two different colour swatcheseven if they have the same RGB values. This can be turned to your advantage for complex morphing.
Morphing Similar Shapes
Similar shapes should have the same number of colour zones. This only applies to the number of zones and lines
and not the number of points on a curve.
Avoiding Crossing Zones During Morphing
If a zone inside a larger zone on the source drawing ends up outside on the destination drawing, the morphing will
fail.
A line cannot cross another line during a morphing sequence.
For example, if you are morphing a face so it turns from the front to the side, the nose is located in the middle ofthe face on the source drawing. However if after morphing, the nose ends up outside or merged with the face
profile line on the destination drawing, this will give undesirable results. You can avoid this by using morphing
layers and splitting the nose on a separate layer.

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Glossary
3D stereoscopic

The ability to create stereo images which, when animated and viewed through 3D active
shutter glasses or using glasses with one red and one blue lens, will appear as a threedimensional movie.

alpha channel

An image channel that carries transparency information. An image already has threechannels: red, green and blue (RGB). The alpha channel is the fourth channel (A). The
matte, or the transparency information, is stored in this fourth channel. An image without analpha channel is always opaque.

animatic

A movie with sound that is developed from the storyboard. The storyboard panel is exposed
for the duration of the scene and at times, the characters are placed on a trajectory toindicate motion. The camera moves are also animated. The animatic is used to determine
the rhythm of a project and provides a good overview of the project before beginning
production.

animation

A simulation of movement created by displaying a series of pictures or frames.

anime

An animation style known for its sinister and dark feel; popular in Japan.

arc

Action rarely occurs in a straight-forward manner; rather it typically unfolds in whatstorytellers refer to as an arc. The purpose of a story arc is to move a character or situationfrom one state or scenario to the next.

aspect ratio

The relationship between the width and height dimensions for any scene, frame or film
format. Television ratio is 4:3 and widescreen ratio is 16:9.

auto-feed

An automated method of feeding drawings into a scanner in which multiple drawings arestacked into a sheet feeder. When the scanner is activated, the drawings are scanned
consecutively, without further user intervention.

automatic lip-sync
detection

Automatically mapping drawings in an element to the mouth chart generated for a sound.
This can save time when lip-syncing a voice track.

axis

An imaginary line around which an object rotates.
For 2D graphics, there are two axes: X (horizontal and Y (vertical).
For 3D graphics, there are three axes: X (horizontal, Y (vertical) and Z (depth).
In animations that constantly rotate, the axis element specifies what axis the object rotatesaround. A negative number causes an animation to rotate counter clockwise whereas apositive number causes an animation to rotate clockwise.

background

The part of a scene that is farthest to the rear. The background is the artwork, or decor,
against which the animation takes place.

Bézier

A method of defining curved lines invented by French mathematician Pierre Bézier. A Bézier
curve is a mathematical or parametric curve. Bézier curves use at least three points todefine a curve.

bitmapAn image composed of pixels with a single resolution (size). If it is enlarged too much, it willlose definition and individual pixels will begin to appear. This is known as pixelation.
Bitmap image files are defined as a standard rectangular mesh of individual pixels. Eachindividual pixel contains a value that represents a specific colour.

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Glossarybreakdown

In cut-out animation, breakdown is the action of breaking a character into pieces to create apuppet with articulations. To break down a character, the artist cuts parts, such as thehands and arms, from the character's model and pastes them in separate layers. Next, thejoints are fixed and the pivots set.
In traditional animation, a breakdown is an animation pose generally found between two key
poses. The key poses are the main poses in an animation and the breakdowns aresecondary poses, ones that help describe the motion and the rotation curve (usually referred
to as an arc).

camera shake

Camera shake occurs in a scene when the camera moves slightly and quickly in several
directions. This gives the impression of an impact, vibration or, for example, bumps on theroad.

captionA text field containing dialogue, effects, sound or slugging information in a storyboard.

cel

In traditional animation, a cel (also known as celluloid) is a transparent sheet on which theanimation is inked and painted before being sent to the camera. The picture's outline isdrawn on the front of the cel and then coloured along the back.

character design

Each character in an animated film is drawn from multiple angles in poster-style format,
called a model sheet, which serves as a reference for the animators.

chromatic
aberration

In optics, chromatic aberration (CA), achromatism or chromatic distortion, is a type of
distortion in which there is a failure of a lens to focus all colours to the same convergencepoint.

clean up

After rough drawings have been tested and approved, all the noise in the image (excess
lines, notes, etc.) is removed to create final drawings which can be inked, painted and shot.
The clean up process refers to either tracing a clean line over a rough drawing to achieve thefinal version or removing dirt and extra lines left by the scanning process.

CMYK

Acronym for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black. These colours are the standard model used in aprocess called offset printing.

colour card

A colour card is a card containing one solid colour that is the same size as the camera. The
colour card fills the background with a solid colour when there is no background image
included.

colour model

The official colour design that must be used to paint the animation. A model is the definitive
character, prop or location design that each artist must follow for the production.

colour wheel

A display of the colour spectrum in the form of a circle.

compositing

Compositing is the action of incorporating all of a scene's elements to create the final result
prior to rendering. For example, the compositing artist will import all the animation
sequences, background, overlays and underlays in the scene and position them correctly.
The artist will then set the camera frame and animate it, if needed. Finally, the animator will
create all the computer-generated effects for the project.

cross dissolve

An effect used to fade two scenes, one into the other.

cut

A direct transition between two scenes. When a cut is used, there are no transition effects
inserted to pass from one scene to the next. The first scene ends and the second one starts
immediately.

cut-out animation

The process known as cut-out animation is the action of animating characters made out ofseveral pieces by moving them around frame by frame. Cut-out animation can either be

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computer generated or done traditionally using paper.
cycle

A group of images that together make up an action, such as walking. A cycle is an action
repeated as a loop over a period of time. It can be a series of animated drawings or
keyframes.

dialogue

The text spoken by a character in a movie or animation.

dope sheet

Used by animators, directors and other members of a crew to track the sequence and timingof images, dialogue, sound effects, sound tracks and camera moves. Also known as an
exposure sheet.

dopingTo assign a particular drawing to a range of frames.

double bounce
walk

In the key frames and passing positions in a double bounce walk, the body is lower than areference line drawn in the upright position. During the in-betweens, the body is above thisline giving the appearance of a bounce.

DPI

Dots per inch is the standard measure of resolution for computerized printers. It issometimes applied to screens, in which case it should more accurately be referred to as
pixels per inch. Either way, the dot is the smallest discrete element making up the image.

ease

In animation, the ease, also known as velocity, is the acceleration and deceleration of amotion. It can be a motion created by a function curve, or a series of animated drawings.
Other common terms for ease-in and ease-out are slow-in and slow-out.

ease-in

Gradual acceleration in the action. Also known as slow-in.

ease-out

Gradual deceleration in the action. Also known as slow-out.

establishing shot

A scene in which the viewer can see the whole area in which a sequence is happening. For
example, if a child is playing on the ground in front of his house, the establishing shot would
be a scene where the viewer can see the house, the ground, a part of the street and thebuildings around the central point of action. This helps the viewer understand the story
location and scene orientation.

exposure

In animation, an exposure is the number of cels on which a drawing appears in the scene.
For a drawing to appear longer, the exposure must be extended over a greater number ofcels.

exposure sheet

A sheet with several vertical columns and horizontal frames used to indicate a scene's
timing. Each column represents a scene layer. The drawing numbers in each column are
indicated and repeated over the particular amount of frames they need to appear.
The exposure sheet is used by animators, directors and other members of a crew to track
the sequence and timing of images, dialogue, sound effects, sound tracks and camera
moves. Also known as a dope sheet.

fade in/fade out

Fade in or fade out is a transition effect used to open or close a sequence. A fade in occurs
when the first scene appears progressively, from complete transparency to its complete
opacity. A fade out occurs when the last scene progressively disappears, going fromcomplete opacity to complete transparency.

fast-inDramatic acceleration at the start of the action.

fast-out

Dramatic acceleration at the end of the action.

field

A measurement unit used to calculate motion, registration and camera positioning. A
standard animation scene will vary between 6 to 12 fields.

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Glossary

field chart

A guide containing all the field units that animation and layout artists use to determine ascene size or camera motion.

film-1.33

A resolution that is ideal for the widescreen film format that conforms to the standard 4:3
pixel aspect ratio.

film-1.66

A resolution that is ideal for the widescreen film format that conforms to the 16:9 pixel
aspect ratio. (The pixels are wider than they are high).

flipping

In traditional animation, flipping is the action of going through the drawings of an animation
sequence very quickly in order to see the animation in motion. Flipping can also be theaction of creating a mirror transformation of an object.

follow-throughThe secondary motion caused by the main action. For example, a character wearing a cloak
is running. The main action is the body running. This will cause the cloak to follow the
motion, although it will not move at the same time, but react a few frames later and follow
the main motion curve.

forward kinematics Forward kinematics is a feature used to animate principally 3D characters and cut-out
puppets with hierarchy. It is used to animate a puppet from one of parent parts, such as ashoulder, and make the rest of the arm move with it as a single piece.
frame

An animation frame is a single photographic image in a movie. In traditional animation, theNorth American standard generally contains 24 frames per second, while in Europe thestandard is 25 frames per second.

frame rate

The frame rate is the speed at which the frames are played. They are generally calculated
by frame per second. For example, a scene could be played back at 12, 24, 25, 30 or 60
frames per second or any other number.
This is the measurement of the frequency (rate) at which an imaging device produces
unique consecutive images, called frames. The term applies equally to computer graphics,
video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems.
Frame rate is most often expressed in frames per second (fps) and in progressive-scanmonitors as hertz (Hz).

function

A computer-generated motion, trajectory or path on which elements, other trajectories andeffects parameters can be attached. The function can be controlled by adding keyframes
and control points on the function curve.

gamut

The range of colours that a particular device can represent.

HDTV

Acronym for High Definition Television which delivers a higher quality image than standard
television because it has a greater number of lines of resolution. To take advantage of thesuperior quality and make full use of your resolution setting, the output device must becompatible with HDTV technology.

hold

A frame in the animation in which the character maintains its position without moving. A
hold can be created between any two keyframes.

HSV

Hue, Saturation, Value. A method of defining colours in terms of hue (tint), saturation(shade) and value (tone or luminance).

in-between

The drawings that exist between the key poses. These are drawn to create fluid transitions
between poses.

ink and paint

The ink and paint process is the action of painting the empty zones and colouring the lines

540Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guideon the final animation drawings, while following a colour model.
interpolation

The computer-generated motion created between two keyframes. You have the choice tocreate interpolation, or not, between your keyframes.

inverse kinematics(IK)

A feature used mainly to animate 3D characters and cut-out puppets with hierarchy. Inverse
kinematics will animate a puppet from one of the extremities, such as a hand, and make therest of the body follow naturally.

jump cut

A jerky cut between two scenes. Typically, a jump cut is not visually pleasing. It is generally
caused by one scene ending, and a second one starting, with a similar image. The lack ofdifference causes the eye to see a little jump between the two scenes.

key pose

Important positions in the action defining the starting and ending points of any smoothtransition. Keys, or key poses, are the main drawings in an animation sequence describing
the motion. For example, if an arm is waving, the keys will be of the arm at one extremity of
the wave motion and the other extremity. By flipping those drawings, the animator can see
the skeleton of the motion without having all the drawings.

keyboard
shortcuts

One or more keyboard keys which, when used, cause an operation to be performed.

keyframe

Important positions in the action defining the starting and ending points of any action. A
keyframe is a computer-generated position at a specific moment (frame) on a given
trajectory.

layer

In animation, a layer is an individual column, level or character. A scene's layers aresuperimposed to form the final image.

layout

The communication step between the storyboard and the animation. It is the action of
putting the storyboard on model. That is, drawing the character by following the design in themodel pack, so the animator can start working.
The layout artist draws the background, creates the camera and field guide matching thescene and camera motion. Lastly, the animator draws on model the main action poses.

layout and posing

The action of putting on model (at the right scale) the storyboard for the animator to startworking.

layout artist

The artist who draws the background, and creates the camera and field guide to match thescene and camera motion. They will draw on model the main action poses.

layout planning

Drawing of the main features of the scene used as reference when planning the animationand executing the initial stages of it.

layout process

The communication step between the storyboard and the animation.

library

A storage area containing templates and assets that can be reused in any project or scene.

light table

A device that allows you to see other layers in transparency while you are working on aparticular layer.

line of action

The direction that the action will follow. Also known as path of action.

lip-sync

The process of synchronizing a character's mouth to sounds in the dialogue soundtrack.
The mouth is adjusted frame-by-frame to match the sound of the dialogue and provide theillusion that the character is speaking. Lip-sync can be used for any sound sequence, notonly speech, you could for instance have a bird chirping or a wolf howling at the moon.

low resolution

A format that is ideal for videos destined for the web, where size and fast download of a541

Glossary

video file take precedence over quality. A low-resolution image is one that lacks fine detail.
manual lip-sync
detection

The manual swapping of mouth position drawings to match a voice track. For this process,both sound scrubbing (listening to a sound wave broken up frame-by-frame) and drawing
substitutions are used.

master palette

A group of colours attributed to a character or prop. The palette is used throughout the entire
production to maintain consistency in the look and to ensure that the same colours are usedthroughout the production. Also known as palette.

model/colour
model

The definitive character, prop or location design each artist must follow for a production. A
colour model is the official colour design that must be used to paint the animation.

morphing

A feature for creating computer-generated drawings between a source drawing and a
destination drawing. Animation created with the morphing feature can be reused in different
projects.

motion keyframe

A keyframe with computer-generated interpolation.

mouth chart

A chart based on the eight animation phonemes (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and X, which is used
to represent silence) used for lip-sync.

multiplane

The effect of passing through multiple levels of drawings to create a sense of depth in a
shot. A multiplane is a scene in which the layers are placed at different distances from thecamera so that when the camera moves, a depth illusion occurs. With a multiplane, all theperspective and scale is calculated automatically.

NTSC

The standard analogue television broadcasting system used in North America. NTSC
conforms to North American standards on how rectangular pixels are displayed forcomputer and television screens.

nudge

A small push (left, right, up, down, forward or backward) done with the keyboard arrow keys
on a selected element. Nudging is used to move a selection very slightly and precisely.

onion skin

A feature that lets you see the previous and next drawings of a sequence.

overlay

A part of the scene environment, such as a chair or a bush, that is placed in front of the main
animation.

PAL

A resolution that works best with the European format for television and computer screens,as the rectangular pixels are displayed at a different orientation.

palette/master
paletteA palette or master palette is a group of colours attributed to a character or a prop. The
palette is used throughout the entire project to maintain a consistency in the look and avoid
the colour changing during the animation. Also referred to as a master palette.

palette style

A palette style is a second version of an existing palette with a slight change in the tint andvalue. A palette style can be used to create the night version of a palette. It may also becalled a clone palette.

pan

To move the camera across the scene in any direction.

panel

In a storyboard, a panel is a frame in a shot. A shot can be composed of one or several
panels.

paperless
The paperless animation process is the action of animating digitally. The main paperlessanimation/tradigital animation process is to draw, frame by frame, the animation directly in the software.
passing position

When drawing a walk sequence for a character, the passing position is the point at which
one leg passes the other.

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

path of action

Direction that the action will follow. Also known as line of action.

peg

In traditional animation, a tool used to ensure accurate registration of action as cel layers
move. In digital animation, in which you are doing a more advanced puppet rigging, you can
use peg layers. Peg layers are trajectory layers that do not contain drawings. They are
motion paths that you can use to add path articulations. For the latter, you can also use an
inverse kinematics tool.

phonemeA unit of sound in a language.

pivot

The point around which a peg or drawing rotates.

pixel

The smallest element of an image displayed on a monitor or TV screen.
Pixel, short for picture element, is a single point in a graphic image. It is a small sample of
an image, a dot, a square, or a very small section made out of smooth filtering. If you zoom
in close enough on a digital image, you will see the pixels, which look like small squares ofdifferent colours and intensity.

pose-to-poseanimation

The pose-to-pose animation process is the action of creating all the main action poses,
called key poses, and then placing the secondary poses between the keys. The secondary
poses are called breakdown. Finally, the animator fills the gaps with the in-between
drawings to achieve a smooth animation.

rendering

The final step when animating by computer. During rendering, the computer takes eachpixel that appears on screen and processes all of the components, as well as adding motion
blur before it produces a final image. The process of calculating the final images after thecompositing process.

resolution

The size of a scene, generally calculated in pixels. For example, the NTSC resolution is 720
x 480. The resolution should match the final output: HDTV, film-1.33, film-1.66, NTSC,
PAL, low.

RGB

Red, Green, Blue. A method of defining colour by specifying amounts of these three colour
components.

rigging

The process of attaching the various parts of a cut-out puppet.

rotary table

Equivalent to the animation disk/table, a device that allows you to rotate the workspace forgreater comfort while drawing.

rotoscoping

An animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame byframe, for use in animated films. The act of sketching over live-action footage to create an
animated sequence.

roughsRough is a common name in an animation movie for a drawing that is used as a reference
but which does not form part of the final image. A layout is a rough.
The skeleton sketch of an animation or design. Roughs mainly consist of sketch lines andshapes, but can also contain design details.

safe area

The zone at the center of a scene's frame that is safe from being cropped by the TV frame.
As a TV frame cuts a margin off the original frame size, maintaining a safe area ensures thatthe scene's main action will remain clearly visible once the film is screened on television.

scene

A shot in a movie or show. A sequence is composed of several scenes. A scene changes toanother scene by a simple cut or transition.

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Glossary

scriptThe original text containing all the movie or show information. In animation, the script
contains all of the location descriptions, dialogue, time and more. A project starts with ascript.

sequence

A series of scenes or shots forming a distinct part of the story or movie, usually connectedby unity of location or time.

shot

A scene in a movie or show. A sequence is composed of several shots. A shot changes toanother shot by a simple cut or transition.

slow-in

The gradual acceleration in the action. Also known as ease-in.

slow-out

The gradual deceleration in the action. Also known as ease-out.

slugging

To indicate the start and stop times of dialogue and relevant actions.

sound scrubbing

A process that lets you hear sound in real time while you move the playhead forward or
backward. This is very useful for finely-tuning a lip-sync.

stop-motion
keyframe

A keyframe with no computer-generated interpolation.

storyboard

A visual plan of all the scenes and shots in an animation. The storyboard indicates what will
happen, when it will happen and how the objects in a scene are laid out.

straight-ahead
animation

A technique in which an entire sequence is drawn from the first position to the last, in order.
There is very little planning in this methodology. Where the character ends up and how itgets there can be a surprise for both the audience and the animator. While this approach isspontaneous and creative, it can create inaccurate results.

strokes

Invisible vector lines forming the drawing zones. They can be adjusted with Bézier handles.

symbol

A symbol combines animation, artwork or layers into a single object that you can control in
one layer. You can also create symbols out of each body part in your cut-out puppets.
You can place whatever you want in a symbol. You can use symbols to animate a puppet or
create reusable animations such as blinking.

tablet/pen

A device used in conjunction with, or instead of, a mouse to move a mouse pointer(sometimes referred to as the cursor) around the computer screen.

template

An asset stored in the library that can be reused in any project. A template can be a drawing,a series of keyframes, a sound file, a panel, a cut-out character, an effect, a trajectory, ananimation, or anything else used in the animation.

thumbnailA very small image used as a reference or indicator.

timecode

The timing information printed on a movie clip to indicate the scene, hour, minute andsecond that is currently displayed on the screen.

timeline

A horizontal representation of a scene's elements, timing and keyframes.

trace and paint

After the rough animations have gone through cleanup and a final line or pencil test, eachdrawing is traced and painted for the final animation. In today's digital world, this may bedone in a variety ways other than the traditional celluloid or acetate methods.

track breakdown

The break down of an animated film's soundtrack into individual sounds to produce theprecise frame-by-frame position of each sound.

traditional

A type of animation process whereby all the animation sequences are drawn by hand on

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paper before scanning or inking them on cels.
trajectory

A computer-generated path or trajectory that elements can follow. The trajectory can becontrolled by control points, keyframes and velocity.

transition

An effect placed between two scenes as they pass from one to the other. Common
transition effects are cross-dissolve and wipe.

underlay

In animation, an underlay is a specific part of the decor placed behind the main animation.

vector

A vector-based image is composed of points and Bézier curves. The computer reads thepoints and traces the segments, linking them to reproduce the image shape. There is no
fixed size or resolution in a vector image. The graphic can be enlarged and distorted asmuch as desired and the system will simply recalculate the segments and rebuild theshapes. Vector images are translated and displayed in pixels once the calculation is done.

velocity

In animation, the velocity, also known as ease, is the acceleration or deceleration of amotion. This can be achieved by a function curve, or via a series of animated drawings.
Other common terms for ease-in and ease-out are slow-in and slow-out.

walk cycle

A series of drawings "on the spot" that describe the walk for a character. The illusion of
movement is created by the use of background pans. To avoid making innumerable
drawings, animators routinely make a walk cycle for a character.

zone

An area which can be painted with colour.

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

546

Index •Index

Brush tool

colour swatch

drawing 11

adding 19

alpha channel 537

presets 15, 100

colour wheel 538

animatic 537

size 15

colours 16

animation 537

brushes

adding colour swatch 19

anime 537

exporting 38, 117, 154

Annotation column 253

importing 37, 116, 154

Column Properties editor
displaying in Xsheet 248

erasing annotations 256

Camera layer 240

pen colour 256

camera shake 538

advanced types 241

pen width 256

caption 538

changing colour 309

cel 538

cloning 252

celluloid

collapsing 297

annotations
changing pen colour 256
changing pen width 256
erasing 256
arc 537
aspect ratio 537

columns

See cel. 538

deleting 245

character building

duplicating 252

breaking down 338
character design 538

expanding 297
modifying 249

auto-feed 537

drawing with brush 11

modifying look 303

axis 537

drawing with pencil 11

navigating 288

background 537

getting references 10

properties 246

backing up

preparation 9

renaming 250

sketching model 10

reordering 251

palettes 195
Bezier 537

chart

types 239

bitmap images 537

field 13

Xsheet 238

Bitmap layer 239

clean up 538

compositing 538

bitmap resolution

cleaning

copyingheight 68-69
resolution factor 68-69
width 68-69

model 24

drawings 292

cloning

cross dissolve 538

layers and columns 252

cut 538CMYK 538

cut-out animation 538

basic rig 401

Colour-Cardcreating 457

Bone rig 401

layer 240

Bone deformer

Bone rigcreating 401
breakdown 538
character 338
brush size 15

selecting layers 461

colour card 538

cycle 539

colour model 538, 542

cyclescolour palettesback up 195
location 194

exposure, creating 279
deformation
basic rig 401
Bone rig 401

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Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

chain, setting up bone andarticulation 404
deleting
drawings 291
design tools 9
Override 11
designingbrush size 15
characters 22
drawing with brush 11
drawing with pencil 11
field chart 13
getting references 10line up 13
preparation 9
relative size 12
sketching model 10
tool presets 15, 100dialogue 539
dope sheet 539
doping 539
DPI 539
drawing
applying thickness stencil 36
brush size 15
Brush tool 11
brushes, exporting 38, 117, 154
brushes, importing 37, 116, 154characters 22
cleaning model 24colour swatch, adding 19
colours 16
creating thickness stencil 36
current drawing on top 30
deletiing thickness stencil 37
exporting brushes 38, 117, 154

importing brushes 37, 116, 154
inking model 24line up 13
model 23

duplicatingdrawings 292
ease 539
setting on multiple parameters 470

Override tool 11

ease-in 539

palettes 16

ease-out 539

pencil presets, creating 35

editors

pencil presets, selecting 34

Column Properties 248

Pencil tool 11, 31

Effect layer 240

presets, pencil 35

Element Manager dialog box

relative size 12

parameters 251

stencils 34

establishing shot 539

tasks 29

exportingthickness stencil, applying 36

brushes 38, 117, 154

thickness stencil, creating 36

erasers 38, 117, 154

thickness stencil, deleting 37

pencils 38, 117, 154

thickness stencil, renaming 37

exposure 539

thickness stencil, selecting 35

creating cycles 279

tool presets 15, 100

decreasing 269

drawing elements

deleting 271

adding 242

extending 262

creating 237

extending sequence 263

duplicating 252

Fill Exposure mode 259

Drawing layer 239

filling 258

drawing tools 9filling empty cells 278

drawings

filling selection 275

copying/pasting 292

filling selection randomly 277

deleting 291

filling sequence with single
exposure 274

duplicating 292
identifying 306
managing 289
marking 306
merging 294
navigating 288
renaming 289
repositioning 14

field chart 13

holding 261
increasing 269
inserting blank cells 272
moving cells 266
setting 273
typing in values 260
exposure sheet 539
printing 315

548

Index •extendinginterpolation 541

light table 541

exposure 262

jump cut 541

line of action 541

exposure sequence 263

key pose 541

line up 13

fade-in 539

keyboard shortcuts 541

lip-sync 541

fade-out 539

keyframes 541

field chart 13, 540

Layer Properties editor

lip-sync detection

Fill Exposure mode 259

displaying 247

manual 542

film-1.33 540

renaming layers 250

film-1.66 540

layers 238, 541

flipping 540

bitmap 239

follow-through 540

camera 240

forward kinematics 540

changing colour 309

frame 540

cloning 252

frame rate 540

collapsing 297

frames 235

Colour-Card 240

auto detection 537

low resolution 541
manual lip-sync detection 542
markers
tempo, setting 314
markers, scene
setting 311
marking
drawings 306

adding before/after selection 235

deleting 245

master palette 542

navigating 288

drawing 239

master peg

functions 540

duplicating 252

adding 356

gamut 540

effect 240

Gestural Drag mode 269

expanding 297

Group layer 240

Group 240

HDTV 540

hiding 298

cleaning 24

hidingmodifying 249

inking 24

columns 300

Peg 241

rough 25

layers 298

properties 246

sketching 10, 23

merging
drawings 294
model 542

Hold 540

Quadmap 241

model sheet See character design

holding exposure 261

renaming 249-250

morphing

HSV 540reordering 250

importingselecting parent or child layer 461

motion keyframe 542

brushes 37, 116, 154

showing 298

moutherasers 37, 116, 154

Sound 241

chart 542

pencils 37, 116, 154

types 239

multiplane 542

templates 441

layout 541

deleting 511

navigating

in-between 540

layout and posing 541

columns 288

ink and paint 540

library 541

drawings 288

inkingLibrary viewframes 288

model 24

importing templates 441

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NTSC 542

Harmony 12.2 Advanced - Cut-out Animation Guide

nudge 542

pixelation See bitmap image

onion skinning 542

pose-to-pose 543

overlay 542

presets

Overrride tool 11

creating 15, 100

PAL 542

pencil 34

palettes 16, 542

pencil, creating 35

backup 195

pencil, selecting 34

creating, Advanced Palette Listmode) 18, 196

exposure sheet 315

location 194

relative size 12

style 542

renaming
drawings 289
rendering 543

paperless animation 542

repositioning

pasting with 293
pasting
drawings 292-293
path of action 543

resolution 543
factor, bitmap 68-69
height, bitmap 68-69
scene 68-69
width, bitmap 68-69
RGB 543

pegs 543

rigging 543

adding master 356

adding master peg 356

pencil line

Bone rig 401

creating 35
renaming 37
selecting 34
Pencil tooldrawing 11, 31
settings, modify 32
phoneme 543
pivot 543

shot 544
showinglayers 298
size

relative 12
sketching
characters 22
model 10, 23
slow-in 544
slow-out 544

soundbasic deformation rig 401

pencil presets 34

sequences 544

slugging 544

pen 544

texture 39

script 544

brush 15

drawings 14

Peg layer 241

setting length 235

columns 300

panning 542

Paste Special

extending 235

scrubbing 544

printing

Quadmap layer 241

passing position 542

adding frames before/after
selection 235

removing frames 237

creating, Basic Palette Listmode) 17, 196

panel 542

scenes 543

chain, setting up bone andarticulation 404

scrubbing 544
Sound layer 241
stencils, thickness
applying 36
deleting 37

rotary table 543

pencil 36

rotoscoping 543

renaming 37

roughselecting 35

models 25

thickness 34

roughs 543

stop-motion keyframe 544

safe area 543

storyboard 544

scene markers

straight-ahead 544

setting 311
scene resolution 68-69

pixel 543

550

strokes 544
tablet 544

Index •templates 544

filling exposure 258

creating 431

filling selection randomly 277

importing 441

filling selection with sequence 275

tempo markers
setting 314
texturespencil line 39
thickness stencil 34
applying 36
deleting 37
pencil, creating 36
pencil, selecting 35
renaming 37
thumbnails 544
tick marks, Xsheet
turning off 258
timecode 544
timeline 544
Timeline viewcloning layers and columns 252
expanding and collapsinglayers/columns 297

filling sequence with single
exposure 274
frames 235
holding exposure 261
increasing exposure 269
inserting blank cells 272
moving cells 266
preparing 233
references 234
removing frames 237
scene length 235
setting exposure 273
setting scene markers 311
setting tempo markers 314
typing in exposure values 260
tool presets
creating 15, 100
tools
Override 11

modifying layers and columns 249

trace and paint 544

renaming layers 249-250

track breakdown 544

reordering layers 250

tradigital 542

timingadding frames before/after
selection 235
Annotation column, adding 253
creating cycles 279
decreasing exposure 269
deleting exposure 271
erasing annotation 256
extending exposure 262

traditional animation 544
trajectory 545transition 545
underlay 545
vector 545
velocity 539, 545
walk cycle 545
Xsheet view 249

extending exposure sequence 263

adding frames before/after
selection 235

extending scenes 235

advanced column types 241

Fill Exposure mode 259

Annotation column, adding 253

filling empty cells 278

cloning layers and columns 252

551

collapsing/expanding 3D path orrotation columns 298
columns 238
displaying thumbnails 309
erasing annotations 256
expanding and collapsinglayers/columns 297
layers 238
modifying layers and columns 249
printing exposure sheet 315
removing frames 237
renaming columns 250
reordering columns 251
showing/hiding columns 300
zone 545

552