Toon Boom Harmony 11.1
Paperless Animation Guide (Network)1

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

Legal Notices
Toon Boom Animation Inc.
4200 Saint-Laurent, Suite 1020
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
H2W 2R2
Tel: +1 514 278 8666
Fax: +1 514 278 2666
toonboom.com
Disclaimer
The content of this guide is covered by a specific limited warranty and exclusions and limit of liability
under the applicable License Agreement as supplemented by the special terms and conditions for
Adobe®Flash® File Format (SWF). For details, refer to the License Agreement and to those special
terms and conditions.
The content of this guide is the property of Toon Boom Animation Inc. and is copyrighted.
Any reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited.
Trademarks
Product Trademark
Credits
Art Development:
Technical Editor:
Technical Reviewer:
Technical Writer:
Publication Date
11/28/2014
Copyright © 2014 Toon Boom Animation Inc. All rights reserved.

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

Contents
Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)
Legal Notices

1
2

Contents

3

Chapter 1: Paperless Animation - An Introduction

11

Chapter 2: Character, Prop and Location Design

13

Preparation

14

Getting References

14

Using the Workspace

14

Sketching the Model

16

Drawing with the Brush or Pencil Tool

16

Override Tool

17

Relative Size

18

Palettes and Colours

22

Sketching the Character

26

Cleaning and Inking the Model

29

Drawing Tasks

31

Current Drawing on Top

31

Drawing with the Pencil Tool

32

Working with Pencil Presets

35

Pencil Line Texture

38

Drawing with the Brush Tool

42

Drawing with Textured Brushes

49

Drawing with Bitmap Brushes

54

Viewing the Final Lines as You Draw

63

Full Scene Antialiasing

63

Selecting the Current Colour of a Tool

64

Using Independent Colours when Working with Bitmap Layers

66

Selecting Drawing Objects

67

Erasing Parts of a Drawing

70

Reshaping a Drawing Using the Contour Editor Tool

72

Reshaping Pencil Lines with the Pencil Editor Tool

74

Drawing with Shapes

76

Drawing with the Polyline Tool

78
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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network) Contents

Drawing with Invisible Lines

79

Deforming a Drawing with the Perspective Tool

81

Warping a Drawing with the Envelope Tool

82

Cutting Drawing Parts

84

Smoothing Lines

85

Working With Text

85

Working with Tool Presets

86

The Tool Presets Toolbar

86

More Drawing Tools

89

Arrange89

Convert Brush Strokes to Pencil Lines

90

Pencil Lines to Brush Strokes

91

Strokes to Pencil Lines

91

Optimize

91

Remove Extra Strokes

92

Reduce Drawing Texture Resolution

92

Crop Brush Textures

93

Create Contour Stroke

94

Remove Contour Stroke

94

Grid

95

Group/Ungroup

95

Hand

96

Rotate View

96

Drawing Tool References

97

Pencil Tool Options

97

Brush Tool Options

102

Select Tool Options

104

Reverse Pencil Thickness

111

Eraser Tool Options

114

Contour Editor Options

115

Pencil Editor Options

118

Shape Tool Options

121

Polyline Tool Options

126

Stroke Tool Options

127

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

Perspective Tool Options

128

Envelope Tool Options

129

Cutter Tool Options

132

Smooth Editor Tool Options

134

Text Tool Options

136

Drawing Pivot Tool

140

Chapter 3: Colour Styling and Colour Models

143

Preparation

144

Colour Model Storage

144

Scene Creation

144

Colour Model Scene Structure

145

Setting Up the Workspace

145

Naming146

Working with Palettes

149

Palette Lists

150

Palette File Storage

153

Element Level

154

Scene Level

154

Where to Save the Palette File

155

What happens when you export a palette file?

155

Palette Backup

156

Creating a Colour Palette

156

Duplicating a Colour Palette

160

Cloning a Colour Palette

162

Palette Operations

164

Importing and Linking Palettes

168

Colours174

Adding a Colour Swatch

175

Colour Display Modes

181

Copying and Pasting Colours

182

Mixing Colours

183

Painting the Model

186

Chapter 4: Painting the Background

189

Preparation

191

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network) Contents

Importing the Background Layout

193

Importing Palettes and Models

195

Importing a Colour Model Template

195

Loading Palettes and Models

197

Painting the Background

199

Chapter 8: Timing

207

Preparation

209

Frames211

Creating Drawing Elements

214

Layer and Column Concepts

214

Layer and Column Types

215

Advanced Column Types

218

Adding New Drawing Elements

218

Deleting Layers and Columns

222

Layer and Column Properties

224

Modifying Layers and Columns

225

Duplicating Layers and Columns

228

Cloning Layers and Columns

228

Adding an Annotation Column

229

Drawing and Typing in the Annotation Column

230

Changing the Drawing Settings

232

Displaying Tick Marks

233

Importing an Annotation File

234

Linking External Files with Timing Columns

235

Filling Exposure

237

Filling Exposure Mode

237

Typing Exposure

238

Holding Exposure

240

Extending a Single Exposure

241

Extending an Exposure Sequence242

Dragging Cells

242

Increasing and Decreasing Exposure

245

Deleting Exposure

247

Inserting Blank Cells

248

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

Setting the Exposure

249

Filling a Selection with a Single Exposure

250

Filling a Selection with a Sequence

251

Filling a Selection Randomly

253

Filling Empty Cells

254

Creating Cycles

255

Managing Drawings

259

Renaming a Drawing

259

Deleting a Drawing

260

Duplicating a Drawing

261

Copying and Pasting Drawings

261

Merging Drawings

264

Modifying the Layer and Column Display

266

Expanding and Collapsing Layers and Columns

266

Showing and Hiding Layers

267

Showing and Hiding Columns

269

Modifying the Look of the Column

271

Drawing Identification

273

Xsheet Thumbnails

276

Changing the Colour of a Layer or Column

276

Setting Scene Markers

278

Setting Tempo Markers

281

Printing the Xsheet

282

Chapter 9: Paperless Animation

285

Preparation

287

Setting Up Your Workspace

287

Setting the Scene Resolution and Length

287

Importing the Layout, Storyboard and Animatic

289

Importing the Animatic

289

Importing the Background Elements

292

Creating the Drawing Elements

292

Importing the Models

294

Importing Model Templates295

Loading Palettes and Models

296

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network) Contents

Creating the Drawings

299

Rough Animation

301

Secondary Animation

305

Bringing Your Animation on Model

309

Animation Clean-up

311

Tracing in a New Layer

311

Tracing Directly Over

313

Tools

317

Texture Pen and Transparent Pen

331

Pen Tablet

332

Field Chart

332

Advanced Tools

333

Flipping and Easy Flipping Toolbars

335

Onion Skin Toolbar

337

Drawing Identification

339

Drawing Desk

343

Shift and Trace

347

Art Layers

353

Previewing Drawings

359

Paperless Animation Preferences

361

Chapter 23: Ink and Paint

363

Preparation

365

Dirt Clean Up

369

Art Layers

372

Creating Strokes

378

Painting

380

Painting Using the Paint Tool

381

Advanced Painting Features382

Selecting a Colour in a Drawing

386

Importing Models

387

Editing Gradients and Textures

391

Closing Gaps

396

Protecting Colours

398

Respecting Protected Colours

398

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

Highlighting the Selected Colour

398

Inverting a Colour Selection

399

Inking the Lines

400

Verifying the Zones are Painted

405

Ink and Paint Tool Properties

408

Ink Tool Properties

408

Paint Tool Properties

409

Lasso and Marquee

410

Painting Modes

410

Paint Mode

411

Paint Unpainted Mode

411

Repaint Mode

411

Unpaint Mode

412

Paint and Remove Texture

412

Apply to Multiple Drawings

412

Apply to All Visible Drawings

413

Respect Protected Colour

413

Use Stored Colour Gradient414

Select Newly Painted/Repainted/Unpainted Contours/Lines

414

Automatic Close Gap

414

Chapter 24: Morphing

417

Understanding Morphing

418

Ideas Behind Morphing

418

Source and Destination Drawings

419

Morphing Rules

420

Creating a Basic Morphing Sequence424

Tool Properties View

427

Adjusting the Velocity and Timing

430

Morphing Tool and Hints

434

Using the Morphing Tool

434

Hints

437

Copying Hint Points from One Drawing to Another440

Morphing Layers

442

Morphing Two Sequences in a Row

449

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network) Contents

Inserting a Morphing Key Drawing

450

Converting Morphing Inbetweens to Drawings

451

Morphing Holes and Transparencies

452

Adjusting the Morphing Quality

455

Tips and Tricks

456

Glossary

457

Index

468

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

Chapter 1: Paperless Animation - An Introduction
Harmony is a high-performance animation software which not only offers a wide range of features, butalso handles more than one animation type and workflow. In this guide, you will learn how to performtasks 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
the Fundamentals Guide. Each chapter is self-contained. so you can concentrate only on the chapter
pertaining to your task. You do not need to read the entire guide, but you should read the wholechapter before starting to work.

Topics in this section:

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Chapter 1: Paperless Animation - An Introduction

Contents•

See "Character, Prop and Location Design" on page 13•

Colour Styling and Colour Models on page 143•

Painting the Background on page 189•

Timing on page 207•

Paperless Animation on page 285•

Ink and Paint on page 363•

Morphing on page 417

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

Chapter 2: Character, Prop and Location Design

Another important step in the project creation is the character, prop and location design. This
determines the style and models to follow for the entire project.
The design can be created on paper and scanned in or it can be created digitally. You can draw andeven create the colours entirely on paper, while others like to design on paper and scan the drawings
to create the colour model in a software program. The most popular method is to design directly inHarmony.
To save paper and time and avoid having to recreate colour palettes, Harmony gives you the ability todesign all elements 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 the next page•

Sketching the Model on page 16•

Cleaning and Inking the Model on page 29

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

Drawing Tasks on page 31

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 97

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Chapter 2: Character, Prop and Location Design

Preparation

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

Getting References below•

Using the Workspace below

Getting References

Creating models requires two main reference sources, the script and the storyboard. Once you havethe script in hand, you can learn about the characters and their personalities, the props, theambiances, 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 the final 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.

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Chapter 2: Character, Prop and Location Design

Sketching the Model

Sketching the Model

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 below•

Override Tool on the facing page•

Relative Size on page 18•

Palettes and Colours on page 22•

Sketching the Character on page 26

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 vectorlines. The Pencil and shape tools produce central vector lines. This means that a pencil line’s control
points (used to deform its shape) are located along the length of the central spine, while the Brushline’s control points are located along the contour.

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)•

If you draw with the Brush tool and want to modify the thickness, 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 theBrush tool as it produces a more realistic and natural feel. The pencil line is very useful for tracing cleanor 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 shorttasks and your previous tool. Most drawing tool shortcuts are accessed using the Alt key followed byanother key, such as the Eraser tool which is accessed by pressing Alt + E.
If you are drawing with the Brush tool and need to briefly switch to the Eraser before continuing, holddown the E key while you are erasing. Once you are done, release the E key to return to the previous
tool; in this case, the Brush tool. You can do the same for most drawing tools that have a shortcut
composed of Alt followed by another key.

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Chapter 2: Character, Prop and Location Design

Relative Size

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 bydifferent people. If there is no size control implemented, the characters and elements created bydifferent 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 themto the correct size.
When a character or prop is scaled down, the outline will become increasingly thinner. By the time theelement is scaled 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.

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

Line UpA line up consists of copying and pasting all your character designs into the same drawing and thenscaling them to the 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 thefull body beside the 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 modelto the breakdown scene, the size relation should be correct.

Field Chart

Harmony includes a field chart in its Camera and Drawing views. This tool is very useful in setting thecharacters' 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 use the Reposition All Drawings tool and reposition, scale or rotate
multiple drawings from different layers all at once.

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Chapter 2: Character, Prop and Location Design

Relative Size

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

Show
Grid

ButtonDescription

Displays the grid

Keyboard Shortcut
From the top menu,
select View > Grid >Show Grid
Press Ctrl + '(Windows/Linux) or⌘ + ' (Mac OS X).

SquareDisplays a standard square grid

From the top menu,
select View > Grid >Square.

12 Field Grid

Displays a 12-field size grid

From the top menu,
select View > Grid >12 Field Grid.

16 Field Grid

Displays a 16-field size grid

From the top menu,
select View > Grid >16 Field Grid.

Underlay

Displays the grid under the drawing
elements

From the top menu, selectView > Grid > Underlay

Overlay

Displays the grid over the drawing
elements

From the top menu, selectView > Grid > Overlay

How to use the Reposition All Drawings
1. In the Tools toolbar from the Select drop-down menu, select the Reposition All Drawings
tool. This also automatically selects every stroke in your drawing in the Drawing and Camera
views.
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 Shiftto lock the selection’s ratio.

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

3. When you release your cursor, every drawing contained in the drawing layer you repositioned,scaled, rotated or 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 a tool preset.
It is a good idea to create and save pens with precise sizes and parameters to trace and design yourmodels and breakdowns.

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 thetool. Note that when using this preset in another scene not using that colour palette, uponselecting this new preset, a colour recovery dialog box will appear asking to add this colour toyour scene.
4. In the Tool Presets toolbar, click the New Tool Preset

button.

5. In the New Tool 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 theFilebutton.

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Chapter 2: Character, Prop and Location Design

Relative Size

7. (Optional) From the Shortcut menu, set a keyboard shortcut to quickly access your preset.
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.

‣

Tool: Only the colour will be associated. You could, for example, set three different
colours with shortcuts. It would use the current tool with the chosen preset colour.

9. Click OK.

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

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

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

You can sketch and design using the default palette without any problem. However, it is notrecommended that you use the default palette for the colour models. A different colour palette shouldbe 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, you will 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‣button.

Make sure that you have the necessary rights to modify the palette list. If you do not, select
Edit > Edit Palette List Mode.

The Create Palette window 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 lock or unlock the palette list‣

In the Colour view, click the Edit Palette Modebutton.

A grey pencil icon appears in the top-right corner of the Palette list.

How to add or modify a solid colour swatch
1. In the Colour view, click the New 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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Chapter 2: Character, Prop and Location Design

Relative Size

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 Toon
Boom Harmony interface, your operating system or any other open application.

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.

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

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 canquickly 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.

25Chapter 2: Character, Prop and Location Design

Sketching the Character

Sketching the Character

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

Add a drawing layer•

Sketch the model

You have the choice to sketch your model as a bitmap or vector drawing. If you like the feel of drawing
with bitmap lines, you can set your layer as bitmap. If you like drawing with vectors, you can set yourlayer 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 372

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

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

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 abitmap layer.
4. Click OK.
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.

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Chapter 2: Character, Prop and Location Design

Sketching the Character

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.

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

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

to rotate your workspace.You can press

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 Skinby pressing Alt + O.

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

Cleaning and Inking the Model

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 havealready created a palette for your model, 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 372

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
Cuttertool, 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 this29

Chapter 2: Character, Prop and Location Design

Cleaning and Inking the Modelmode, you can automatically delete any extra sections of line in your artwork by simply clicking,holding and dragging your mouse over it.

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‣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.

tool.

30

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

Drawing Tasks
Harmony has a wide variety of drawing tools for all kinds of drawing tasks. This section covers how to
use these tools. For the complete details on their options in the Tool Properties view, see Drawing
Tool References on page 97.
In this topic, you will learn about:•

Current Drawing on Top below•

Drawing with the Pencil Tool on the next page•

Drawing with the Brush Tool on page 42•

Drawing with Textured Brushes on page 49•

Viewing the Final Lines as You Draw on page 63•

Selecting the Current Colour of a Tool on page 64See "Selecting the Current Colour of a Tool "on page 64•

Selecting Drawing Objects on page 67•

Erasing Parts of a Drawing on page 70•

Reshaping a Drawing Using the Contour Editor Tool on page 72•

Reshaping Pencil Lines with the Pencil Editor Tool on page 74•

Drawing with Shapes on page 76•

Drawing with the Polyline Tool on page 78•

Drawing with Invisible Lines on page 79•

Deforming a Drawing with the Perspective Tool on page 81•

Warping a Drawing with the Envelope Tool on page 82•

Cutting Drawing Parts on page 84•

Smoothing Lines on page 85•

Working With Text on page 85•

Working with Tool Presets on page 86•

More Drawing Tools on page 89

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 on which you are drawing is located behind an object on another layer, the lines you are
drawing will be hidden behind that object.

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Chapter 2: Character, Prop and Location Design

Drawing Tasks

This lets you display the selected drawing on top of everything while you draw. By enabling thisoption, each time you select a drawing tool, the selected drawing is displayed in front of everything in
the Camera view. The Timeline and Network view ordering remain unchanged.
The Show 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.

How to display your 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 modules, cut-out puppet and clean
animation. The pencil creates a central vector shape. Pencil lines support pressure sensitivity andtexture.

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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 tothe existing one. Pencil lines are central vector lines and you might think your line isconnected, but in fact, only the contour is touching the other one. Also, make sure thecentral 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.

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The Pencil Properties window opens.

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

Description

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 resultin a smoother line with fewer control points.

Contour Smoothness

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

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

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

Texture•Start: Lets you select the style of the start tip, which is thefirst tip you drew. You can choose between Round or Flatstyle.

•

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

•

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

See Pencil Line Texture on page 38.

Working with Pencil Presets

A 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, thethickness 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, butdisregards the pressure you use with your pen and tablet. The line thickness varies. You can accessthickness stencils from the list 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.

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

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 33.
3. In the Tool Properties view, click the New Brush36

button.

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

The New Preset dialog box opens.

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.

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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

tool.

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.

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.

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 yourlines. You can also change it afterwards using the Select tool. Textures are independent 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 bank that you will reuse in different scenes, you can add that texture to your preferences.

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There is a pencil texture palette created in each scene. In order for this palette to be created, you needto draw a pencil stroke using texture. To see it, you need to enable the Advance Palette Lists option.
Once enabled, you will see a palette named pencilstyle_opacity in your palette list.
For advanced usage, you can assign a custom palette as your pencil texture palette. All textures used
to draw in your scene will be added to this custom palette. This gives you the ability to save yourcustom palette at the Environment or Job level if you want to reuse that palette in more than one
scene—see .

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.

In the Pencil Properties display.

3. In the Texture section, select a texture for the pencil.
4. 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.

3. In the Pencil Properties editor, click the New Texture
Texture menu.

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button or select New Texture from theChapter 2: Character, Prop and Location Design‣

Drawing Tasks

To delete a preset style, click the Delete Texture

button.

4. Browse for your bitmap texture file.

The file must be a TGA or PSD. Your texture MUST HAVE an alpha channel.

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

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

7. In the Tool Properties view, 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 lines.

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

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 property editor, select a texture from the Textures area to add to yourpreferences.
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.

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

How to assign a custom palette as the Pencil Texture Palette
1. In the Colour view, create your custom palette and save it at the level of your choice—see .
2. Select the palette you want to assign as your pencil texture palette.
3. From the Colour view menu, select Palette > Pencil Texture Palette.

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How to enable the Advanced Palette Lists preference
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences ( Windows/Linux ) or Stage > Preferences ( Mac
OS X ).
2. In the Preferences dialog box, select the Advanced tab,
3. In the Advanced Options section, select the Advanced Palette Lists option.
4. Click OK.

Drawing with the Brush Tool

The Brush tool is pressure sensitive and can create a contour shape which gives a thick and thin line
effect, as if the drawing was made with a paint brush.
With the Brush tool, you can draw as vector or bitmap, depending on your preference. When you add
your drawing layer, you can simply select the vector or bitmap option. If you use vector, you will beable 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 beable 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 andsave your own.This way you can create brushes with precise sizes and parameters and save them so
you can draw and design. 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 will automatically switch through the patterns as you
draw.

To draw with the Brush tool
1. In the Timeline view, click the Add Drawing Layer
The Add Drawing Layer window opens.

42

button the .

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

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 abitmap layer.
4. Click OK.
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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The last colour you select while using the Brush tool is recalled the next time you select the Brush tool.

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

tool or press Alt + B.

2. In the Tool Properties, select a brush style from the Brush 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 in the Tool Properties view. Click the arrow button.

The Brush Properties window opens.

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

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

Description

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 resultin a smoother line with fewer control points.

Contour Smoothness

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

Tip Shape

TextureLets you select a tip shape from round and square ones tostar shaped.

See How to draw with textured lines on page 50

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How to create a brush preset
1. Make sure your current brush has the settings you want in the preset you are will create.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Brush view, click the New Brush‣

From the Brush‣In the Properties window of the tool you are using, click thecorner.

button.

menu, select New Brush Preset.
button in the upper-left

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 preset.

Brush presets cannot be updated. However you can select a preset, which applies those properties to thecurrent brush. Then you can modify the properties, and create a new preset with the new properties. If
desired, you can delete the old preset.

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.

How to delete a brush preset
1. Select the brush preset you want to delete.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Brush Preset view, click the Delete Brush‣

From the Brush Preset

button.

menu , select Delete Brush.

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

3. In the Tools toolbar, click the Selectrepeat.

tool and select the parts of the drawing you want to46

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

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.

The Rename Preset dialog box opens.
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 Size value in the Tool Properties view.

How to create a dynamic brush with multiple drawings
sbutton to create the layers you want to use
1. In the Timeline view, click the Add Drawing Layers
as patterns in your dynamic brush. Make sure to rename your layers.

2. In the Camera view, draw your individual pattern on a separated layer.

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3. In the Tools toolbar, select the SelectDrawing Tasks

tool.

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

option to allow the Select

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

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.
When you use this brush, you will cycle through the drawings.

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Drawing with Textured Brushes

In Harmony, you can use the Brush

tool to draw with bitmap textured lines.

In the Brush Tool Properties view, you will find a series of default textured brushes, but you can also
create your own collection by importing PSD or TGA files in the Preset list.
To create your own texture brush, you must prepare your texture file in a third-party software, such as
Adobe Photoshop. If your image has transparency in it, it will be supported. The texture file must beeither a PSD or TGA file. It is recommended that you maintain your texture resolution between 100 x
100 pixels and 400 x 400 pixels.
When you use the Eraser tool to erase a portion of a textured line, the vector frame is cut straight andyou lose the feather created while drawing with the Brush tool. In Harmony, a special option in the
Eraser tool lets you create a soft edge on your textured lines. You can also cut or keep the vector
frame as is.
Sometimes you need to hide the line texture to see the complete vector frame around your lines. Thisis useful to help you see any dirt floating around your drawing.

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At some point, you may want to modify the look of a textured drawing. Maybe you find that your line
is too smooth or too faint. You can adjust those parameters by using the Adjust Line Texture Opacitycommand.
To hide the line texture in the Camera view, you must enable the Show Drawing on Top option. From
the top menu, select View > Show > Current Drawing on Top—see Current Drawing on Top on
page 31.
To draw with textured lines, use the Brush tool and the correct pen in the list. You can also draw withpencil line texture—see Pencil Line Texture on page 38

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. In the Texture section, select the Select Texture option.

4. Set the following parameters:‣

Hardness: The hardness value corresponds to the smoothness of the line edge. The lower
the value, the more blurry and smooth the line edge will be. The higher the value, thesharper the line edge will be.

‣

Minimum Opacity: This value corresponds to the transparency of the brush when thepressure is very light. Values closer to 0 produce a more transparent line.

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)‣

Maximum Opacity: This value corresponds to the transparency of the brush when thepressure is heavy. Values closer to 1 produce a more opaque line.

‣

Select Texture: Lets you use and select a texture for your brush. The thumbnail displays thecurrent texture. You can also browse for a texture file to import. Browsing for a texture filein a brush already using texture will replace the file currently in use, although it will not
replace the texture in the lines already drawn. If your image has transparency in it, it will besupported. The texture file must be either a PSD or TGA file. It is recommended that you
maintain your texture resolution between 100 x 100 pixels and 400 x 400 pixels.

‣

Texture Scale: Changes 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.

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

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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 Brush Properties window opens.

3. Adjust the following:52

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)‣

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

‣

Smoothing: Defines the number of control points added to the centre line.

‣

Contour Smoothing: Defines the number of control points added to the contour
boundaries (around the line). Lower values mean that the line will appear as you draw it(with more control points added along the centre line). Higher values mean that the line will
be smoothed out (removing control points from the centre line).

‣

Tip Shape: Lets you select a shape for the tip of the eraser. There are a variety of tips tochoose from: round, square, oval, star-shaped, and more. This option is only available when
the textured tip is not in use.

‣

Soft Tip: Gives the tip of your stroke a soft edge.

‣

Keep Vectors: Keeps your vector frames and does not cut them.

‣

Hardness: The smoothness of the line edge. The lower the value, the more blurry andsmooth the line edge will be. The higher the value, the sharper the line edge will be.

‣

Saturation: The intensity of line colour.

‣

Maximum Opacity: The transparency of the brush when the pressure is heavy. Values closer
to 1 produce a more opaque line.

‣

Minimum Opacity: The transparency of the brush when the pressure is very light. Values
closer to 0 produce a more transparent line.

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 31.
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.

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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.

Drawing with Bitmap Brushes

With Harmony, you have the choice to draw with vector or bitmap brushes. When adding a new
drawing layer in , 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 whatever other combination
suits you.

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Not all drawing tools are available when working on a bitmap layer. You can use the following tools:
•

Brush

•

Cutter•Dropper•

Ellipse•Eraser

•

Line

•

Paint

•

Paint Unpainted

•

Pivot

•

Rectangle•

Repaint•

Reposition All Drawings•

Select•Text•

Unpaint

In , when adding a new drawing layer to the Timeline view, you can select the art mode for each art
layer. You can set the Line Art layer to vector while setting the Colour Art as bitmap. You also have theopportunity to adjust them later by converting them from one to the other. If you are using theOverlay and Underlay layers, you can also set them to either bitmap or vector.
If you selected the incorrect art mode for your layers, you can open the Layer Properties view andmodify them there directly. If you switch the art mode for a layer that already has strokes on it, theartwork will NOT be converted. You will be able to add new strokes. A drawing with bitmap strokes
will be converted to a vector layer but the bitmap artwork will remain as bitmap. You will be able touse vector drawing tools to continue drawing on it. A drawing with vector lines switched to a bitmap
layer will allow you to draw new bitmap strokes and move the vector strokes with the Select tool, but
you will not be able to edit the vector art further. You need to convert the drawings in order to pass
the artwork from one mode to the other.
To always reuse the same art mode settings, you can adjust them in the Preferences dialog box.
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 planahead and decide how high of a resolution you need your artwork to be. If you plan to zoom in yourscene, the smallest section of the image that the camera will frame must be 100% the size of yourscene resolution. For example, if your scene resolution is set to 1920 x 1080 and you zoom in at 300%,
then the resolution of the bitmap also has to be set to 300%. It is important to change the bitmap
layer resolution before you start drawing.

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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 bevery heavy. It depends on the amount of artwork your draw in it.

There is a function to change the resolution of bitmap art for individual drawings. You can reduce theresolution of your 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, you used the default scene’s resolution for bitmap art but then discover you are zooming
quite close into the lines. 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 a higher resolution withsmaller 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 drew an outline drawing on a bitmap layer, you can vectorize your artwork. Using a vector
drawing layer, you can simply select your bitmap drawing and the vector cell on which you want yournew vector layer 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 thatwhen you continue drawing, your image will be resampled and your new strokes will be at the original
resolution and not the scaled up size.

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Your drawing should be scaled up using the Transformvery large bitmap layers.

tool instead of the Select tool to avoid creating

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

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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.

4. In the Art Layers section, select the art mode for each art layer.

How to adjust the art mode settings in the Preference Panel
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences ( Windows/Linux ) or Stage > Preferences ( Mac
OS X ).
2. Select the Network tab.

3. In the Layer Drawing Options section, set the art layers to the desired art mode. Once this option
is enabled, all new layers will follow these settings. It will not affect any existing layers.
4. Click OK.

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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 notvectorized 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.

Parameter

Description

Scene Resolution

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

WidthThis 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 Boomdrawing native format) have an infinite size. Bitmap TVGs are composedof small tiles. Therefore it does not mean that because you have artwork at the four corners of your camera frame or even quite far outside

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Drawing Tasksof your drawing that your bitmap image will be very large and heavy. Bydefault, 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 thesmaller area in which you will zoom 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 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.

Parameter

Description

Scene Resolution

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

WidthThis 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 Boomdrawing native format) have an infinite size. Bitmap TVGs are composedof small tiles. Therefore it does not mean that because you have artwork at the four corners of your camera frame or even quite far outsideof your drawing that your bitmap image will be very large and heavy. Bydefault, it is set to the same width as the scene resolution.

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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 thesmaller area in which you will zoom will be 100% of the scene resolution.

Resample Bitmap

When this option is selected, the existing bitmap image ismodified to match the new resolution. If the width and heightare increased, more pixels will be created to enlarge theimage. Visually, the existing artwork will look the same,
maybe a little bit smoothed out, but the size will look thesame. When this option is deselected, the artwork is not
modified. Only the reference grid is resized. If the scene
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 isenabled, 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 57.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush

tool or press Alt + B.

3. In the Colour view, select a colour.

‣

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

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Drawing Tasks

When using bitmap colours, there is no longer a link between the painted zones and selected colour.
You can modify the colour picker as much as you want. Your drawing will not be affected. You canstill select colours from your vector 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 thedrawing to vectorize. In your bitmap drawing, the artwork to vectorize must be placed on the LineArt layer (default drawing layer).

If you place the vector drawing on top of the bitmap layer, you will not be able toperform 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 thevector drawing layer.

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3. Right-click and select Drawing > 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.

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 real-time display called OpenGL. If you prefer to see smooth lines as you
draw, you can enable the antialiasing preference.

Full Scene Antialiasing
Full scene antialiasing is generated by your computer’s graphics card. This antialiasing will not only
antialias your drawings, 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.

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

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Drawing Tasks

How to customize the full scene antialiasing parameters

For Mac OS X, you must restart Harmony after you change the parameters.

1. In the Harmony, do one of the following:‣

Windows/Linux: Select Edit > Preferences.

‣

Mac OS X: Stage > Preferences.

‣

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.

Number or samples (For Mac OS): If you are using a Mac OS X computer, enter the number of samples
you want to be used for the antialiasing process. The number of samples is basically equivalent to theamount of times a pixel will be enlarged to calculate the antialiasing. This technique is calledsupersampling. The higher the number of samples, the better the antialiasing quality will be, but thelonger it will take to calculate.
3. Restart Harmony.

Selecting the Current Colour of a Tool

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.

64Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

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.

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Drawing Tasks

If you prefer to have Toon Boom 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.

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 can however, 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 modify the colour picker as much as you want. Your drawing will not be affected. You canstill 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.

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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 thebounding box.
Sometimes, when you want to select multiple objects while leaving one unselected, it can be handy toselect only the stroke or line that you do not want included in your selection. Then, you can invert the
selection so that everything else becomes selected. This can be quite a time saver.
By default, when you draw a selection box, the Select tool will select only the drawing strokes of thecurrent 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 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 Selecttool.

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.

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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 tolock the selection’s ratio.

‣

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

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How to invert a selection
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Invert Selection or press Ctrl + Shift + I (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ +Shift + I (Mac OS X).
‣

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

How to enable and disable the Select Tool Works on Single Drawing preference
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences (Windows/Linux) or Stage > Preferences (Mac OS
X).
The Preferences dialog box opens.
2. In the Camera tab, go to the Tools section and select or deselect the Select Tool Works on Single
Drawing option and click OK.
3. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

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

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.

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Drawing Tasks

Erasing Parts of a Drawing

The Eraser tool is pressure sensitive, like the Brush tool, giving you more precision when erasing partsof a drawing. You can also use the Select tool to select drawing objects and delete them instead oferasing.

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 Tool Properties view. Click the arrow button.

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The Brush Properties window opens.

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

Description

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 resultin a smoother line with fewer control points.

Contour Smoothness

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

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Tip Shape

TextureDrawing Tasks

Lets you select a tip shape from round and square ones tostar shaped.

See How to draw with textured lines on page 50

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 avector line and control them with Bezier handles. It is used to correct line shapes and modify a single
part of a colour zone. If a line is too thin or has a gap in it, you can modify and correct it with theContour Editor tool. You can also use this tool 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 anddeleted. Each point has two Bezier handles for correcting the curves between two points. Shapes canbe modified by pulling and pushing directly on the segment between the points. You can use it toperfect a central shape pencil line, a contour shape brush line, or even create an elaborate shape froma 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
pencil size to 0.

button, click the Auto Fill

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

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5. In the Tools toolbar, select the Contour Editor

tool.

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
the contour.
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 moveindependently from the other one.

‣

Move the selected points to a new area.

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Drawing Tasks‣

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

‣

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 with the Pencil Editor Tool

The Pencil Editor tool is used to modify the thick and thin contour of 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 curveand position. When using the Contour Editor tool, you can reposition the spine of the stroke. When using thePencil Editor tool, you can adjust the thick and thin areas of lines.

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

tool or press Alt + W.

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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.

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 toadjust 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 theline, holding the Shift key will move them both. This way you can thicken or thin a line fromboth sides at the same time.

‣

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

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Drawing Tasks‣

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

‣

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 with Shapes

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In Harmony, you can use the shape tools to draw circles, lines and squares. You can also easily reshapea square or circle into a much more complex drawing such as these butterfly wings—see Reshaping a
Drawing Using the Contour Editor Tool on page 72 and Reshaping Pencil Lines with the Pencil Editor
Tool on page 74.

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:.

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.

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Drawing Tasks

Drawing with the Polyline Tool

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 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
the Contour Editor Tool on page 72.

78

tool—see Reshaping a Drawing Using

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

Drawing with Invisible Lines

There are two different ways to draw invisible lines.
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 that creates a short, straight line between two points. The stroke line will stay exactly where you
draw it. This tool can be useful for closing a zone in a particular way or creating some hard shadows orhighlight 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 and washed-out the colours of your drawings
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, a Message dialog box opens.

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Drawing Tasks

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.
2. In the Tools toolbar from the Paint drop-down menu, select the Stroke
3. From the top menu, select View > Show Drawing > Show Strokes

tool or press Alt + V.
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, a Message 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 show the strokes with washed-out colours‣ From the top menu, select View > Show > Show Stroke With Colour Wash.

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Deforming a Drawing with the Perspective Tool

The Perspective tool lets you deform a drawing selection and alter its perspective.

How to deform a drawing with the Perspective tool
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Perspective
press Alt + 0.

tool from the Contour Editor drop-down menu or

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, select a drawing to deform.
3. Click and drag the different anchor points to deform the shape.

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Drawing Tasks

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 deform

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

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

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

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Drawing Tasks

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.

2. In the Camera 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.

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Smoothing Lines

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 tocorrect the look of your lines.
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
Editor.

tool or select Drawing > Tools > Smooth

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, place your pointer over the lines to smooth. You may need to passover the same line several times to remove more points and make the line smoother. Note that bydefault, the Smooth Editor tool colour is yellow, it was changed to orange for screen grab clarity—
see Smooth Editor Tool Options on page 134 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 part of a drawing, so you can manipulate them in the same way. OTF fonts are also
supported.

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Drawing Tasks

How to add text to drawings
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Text‣

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

‣

Press Alt + 9.

tool.

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.

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 Options on page 136.
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 to edit 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 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.

The Tool Presets Toolbar
The Tool Presets toolbar lets you create new tool presets and manage them. There are four default
brush presets to get you started—Rough Brush, Clean Pencil, Fill Paint, and Inking Brush. By default,
this toolbar is not displayed.

How to display the Tool Presets toolbar‣

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 thetool. Note that when using this preset in another scene not using that colour palette, uponselecting this new preset, a colour recovery dialog box will appear asking to add this colour toyour scene.
4. In the Tool Presets toolbar, click the New Tool Preset

button.

5. In the New Tool 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 theFilebutton.

7. (Optional) From the Shortcut menu, set a keyboard shortcut to quickly access your preset.
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.

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Drawing Tasks‣

Colour: Saves the current colour into the tool preset.

‣

Tool: Only the colour will be associated. You could, for example, set three different colours
with shortcuts. It would use the current tool with the chosen preset colour.

9. Click OK.

How to select a tool preset‣

In the Tool Presets toolbar, click the tool preset
icon you assigned when creating thepreset. Note that when using this preset in a new scene not using the assigned colour
swatch, a colour recovery dialog box appears asking to add this colour to your 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.
2. Click Import.
3. In the Select Folder window that opens, locate and select the preset(s) to import and click SelectFolder.

How to export a tool preset
1. In the Tool Presets toolbar, click the Manage Tool Presets
The Manage Tool Presets dialog box opens.
2. Click Export.
3. In the Export Brush Presets window that opens, click Export.

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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 dialog box that opens, select the tool preset from the left side of the
dialog box.
4. Make any changes you would like 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 as Group, Arrange, and the animation disk to rotate your workspace.
•

Arrange below•

Convert Brush Strokes to Pencil Lines on the next page•

Pencil Lines to Brush Strokes on page 91•

Strokes to Pencil Lines on page 91•

Optimize on page 91•

Remove Extra Strokes on page 92•

Reduce Drawing Texture Resolution on page 92•

Crop Brush Textures on page 93•

Create Contour Stroke on page 94•

Remove Contour Stroke on page 94•

Grid on page 95•

Group/Ungroup on page 95•

Hand on page 96•

Rotate View on page 96

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 top)

89

From the top menu,
select Drawing >Arrange > Bring to
Front.
Press Ctrl + Shift +PgUp(Windows/Linux) orChapter 2: Character, Prop and Location Design

Drawing Tasks⌘ + Shift + PgUp
(Mac OS X).

Bring Forward

Send Backward

Send to Back

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

Moves the selected art one level
lower (behind)Moves the selected art
behind everything (bottom/ back)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.
Press Ctrl + PgDown(Windows/Linux) or⌘ + PgDown (MacOS X).
From the top menu,
select Drawing >Arrange > Send to
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. This command is only available from the top menu.

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 ^90

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

Pencil Lines to Brush Strokes

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

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)

Optimize91

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Drawing Tasks

The Optimize command reduces the number of layers, such as overlapping brush strokes, in theselected drawing objects. Drawing objects will only be flattened and optimized if the selected objects
do not change the appearance of the final image when they are merged.
For example, if you have selected a number of partially transparent objects, which you layered tocreate an additive colour effect, the selected transparent drawing objects will not be merged. This isbecause merging the transparent drawing objects will cause them to lose the effect of the layeredtransparent 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.

‣

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

Remove Extra Strokes
The Remove Extra Strokes option let 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 you want toremove invisible lines from.
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
If you import and vectorize as texture (colour) a high resolution image, the size of your drawing can beheavy. This option is used to reduce the size and resolution of the textures in your drawing. When you
import and vectorize drawings using the grey or colour preset styles, you don't have control on thesize of the bitmap texture. This tool allows you to 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 you want to
reduce the texture resolution for.
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.

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5. Enable the Apply to All Drawings option if you want the modification to be applied to all thedrawings in your layer.
6. Click OK.

Crop Brush Textures

The Crop Brush Textures option is used to crop an unnecessarily large texture bitmap that lies unseen
beneath the 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 the entire unseen texture bitmap from the source drawing into the new one,even if you only took a small portion of the source 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 aswell. However, using the Contour Editor tool to expand the vector envelope of the textured line, it isrevealed 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 view menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Crop Brush Textures.

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Drawing Tasks

Create Contour Stroke

The Create Contour Stroke
option is used to add a permanent invisible line around a shape thatwas drawn directly in Harmony. This allows you to unpaint your lines with the Paint
tool butmaintain 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 tocreate 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 werecreated while scanning and vectorizing drawings or manually adding contour strokes. This is useful if
you want to remove the intersection 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 toremove contour strokes for.
3. From the top menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Remove Contour Strokes.

94Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

Grid

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

Show
Grid

ButtonDescription

Keyboard Shortcut
From the top menu,
select View > Grid >Show Grid

Displays the grid

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

SquareDisplays a standard square grid

From the top menu,
select View > Grid >Square.

12 Field Grid

Displays a 12-field size grid

From the top menu,
select View > Grid >12 Field Grid.

16 Field Grid

Displays a 16-field size grid

From the top menu,
select View > Grid >16 Field Grid.

Underlay

Displays the grid under the drawing
elements

From the top menu, select View
> Grid > Underlay

Overlay

Displays the grid over the drawing
elements

From the top menu, select View
> Grid > Overlay

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.

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Drawing Tasks•

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.

•You can also Hold down the Spacebar, click in the Drawing or Camera view and move yourmouse 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 dowith a real animation 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.

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Drawing Tool References
Harmony has a wide variety of drawing tools and each one of them has a series of options and modes
available. This section covers these options. For details on how to use these tools, see Drawing Tasks
on page 31.
•

Pencil Tool Options below•

Brush Tool Options on page 102•

Select Tool Options on page 104•

Eraser Tool Options on page 114•

Contour Editor Options on page 115•

Pencil Editor Options on page 118•

Shape Tool Options on page 121•

Polyline Tool Options on page 126•

Stroke Tool Options on page 127•

Perspective Tool Options on page 128•

Envelope Tool Options on page 129•

Cutter Tool Options on page 132•

Smooth Editor Tool Options on page 134•

Text Tool Options on page 136•

Drawing Pivot Tool on page 140

Pencil Tool Options
When you select the Pencil

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

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Drawing Tool References

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

Maximum Size and Smoothing
This is where you set the minimum and maximum sizes of your drawing tool which will produce thethick and thin effect on your stroke. This works with the pressure sensitivity of a pen tablet.
‣

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

‣

Smoothing: Defines the number of control points added to the centre line.

Adjusting the Pencil Line Style98

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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.

Thickness Stencils
Harmony provides a variety of thickness stencils and also lets you create and save your own. It is agood idea to create and save pencils with precise sizes and parameters when you draw and design.
A thickness stencil saves a preset of how the thickness information looks across the length of theline. When drawing with a thickness stencil, the pressure sensitivity of the tablet is discarded in order
to apply the thickness stencil.
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 preset ones
or importing your own—see Working with Pencil Presets on page 35 and Pencil Line Texture on
page 38.

Pencil Line Texture
You can apply a bitmap texture on your pencil line and adjust it as needed—see Pencil Line Texture
on page 38

Draw Behind

Create Colour Art AutomaticallyAs you draw in the Line Art layer, the Create Colour Art Automatically
option automaticallycreates the corresponding strokes in the Colour Art layer. To access this option, you must be in the
Advanced Art mode.

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Drawing Tool References

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 no longer access the individual stroke after you draw it.

Using the Select tool, you can use the middle mouse button to select a segment of aflattened pencil line to create a nice finish on the lines and corners of your artwork.

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 incrementswith pencil lines. As the pencil lines are central vector lines and it may be difficult to align the line tips
perfectly to create 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.

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This mode only works with pencil lines.

Auto Adjust Thickness

The Auto Adjust Thickness
tool is useful when you want to render a portion of a line thicker.
When tracing a drawing 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 overthe 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 thePencil Editor tool. You do not have to add extra points and adjust the position 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 canreshape the curves. Depending how you draw the pushing stroke over your line, the highlighted
section will be reshaped in one direction or the other.

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Drawing Tool References

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 Modebutton.

3. Click the colour swatch.

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

Brush Tool Options
When you select the Brush

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 thedifferent parameters in the Tool Properties view. Click on the Show Extended Properties arrow todisplay advanced customization parameters,

Maximum Size and Smoothing
This is where you set the minimum and maximum sizes of your drawing tool which will produce thethick and thin effect on your stroke. This works with the pressure sensitivity of a pen tablet.
‣

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

‣

Smoothing: Defines the number of control points added to the centre 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 page 42.

Draw Behind

When the Draw Behindalready exists.

mode is enabled, the lines you draw will appear behind the art that

Repaint Brush Mode

The Repaint Brushis used to repaint zones that have already been painted, it will not affectempty zones or pencil lines. It also automatically flattens each of its brush lines so it does not add

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Drawing Tool References

new brush lines on top of existing ones. You can use this mode to paint tones or highlights onto yourcharacter.

Create Colour Art AutomaticallyAs you draw in the Line Art layer, the Create Colour Art Automatically
option automaticallycreates the corresponding strokes in the Colour Art layer. To access this option, you must be in the
Advanced Art mode.

Auto-Flatten Mode
When enabled, the Auto-Flatten mode automatically flattens the new lines created with the existingartwork 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 gradientposition. This way, every new brush line or colour fill will use the stored gradient position.

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

Lasso and Marquee
Choose between the Lassoand Marquee

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options to change the selection style of the tool.

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)•

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 Selecttool.
•

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 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.
tool or press Alt + Q.

2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Contour Editor

3. In the Contour Editor Tool Properties view, click the Snap to Gridbutton.

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

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Drawing Tool References

Select by Colour

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

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
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

2. In the Tool Properties view, click the Select by Colour

button.

3. In the Camera view, click on any zone in your drawing.
All zones 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 thisoption is enabled, the selection zone made using the Select tool will remain as you navigate throughdrawings from a layer and drawings from other drawing layers. This option can be used to106

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

simultaneously delete artwork inside or outside of the selection on several drawings when combinedwith the Apply to Multiple Drawings option.

Apply to All Drawings in Layer

The Apply to All Drawings in Layer
option is used to perform an action on all the drawings
contained in a layer. 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 theaction 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 or resizing a drawing on both Line Art and Colour Art
layers, as well as the Overlay and Underlay layers.

Works on Single Drawing

By default, when you draw a selection box in the Camera view, the Select tool will select only thedrawing strokes of the current drawing. If you prefer the Select tool to select all the strokes on alllayers, you can disable the Works on Single Drawing option in the Tool Properties view or the SelectTool Works on Single Drawing preference.

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Drawing Tool References

Flip Horizontal and Vertical

The Flip Horizontal
vertically.

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or‣ From the top menu, select Drawing > Transform > Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical.
Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

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

operations rotate the current‣

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.
Flatten108

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The Flatten
operation is used to merge drawing objects and brush strokes into a single layer. If
you draw new lines to fix a drawing or line with many brush strokes, it can be useful to flatten them
all into a single shape. By default, lines are drawn one on top of each other. If you intend to repaintthe lines or modify their shape, it will be easier if they are flattened.

‣ From the top menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Flatten or pres Alt + Shift + F.
Create Colour Art from Line Art
You can use the outline you traced on one of the four embedded layers and create invisible strokes
to paint your drawings on separate layers. This provides more inking and painting flexibility.
You can also configure the 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 Drawing View toolbar, click the Create Colour Art from Line Art button or press *.

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, 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 thecentreline that 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.
Fitting error for rendered Bez- This value represents how precise the fitting of the colour art zone iniers
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.

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Drawing Tool References

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

Destination layer
Clear Destination Art Layer
First

Deletes the content before the colour art is added. This isuseful 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
option is used to separate the selected art strokes and send them to
The Distribute to Layers
new drawing layers. In the Camera view, once you have drawn your artwork, you can select thestrokes you want to distribute using the Selecttool and click on the Distribute to Layers
button; you can also select Drawing > Distribute to 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 stored position of the gradient when drawing new brush lines or painting colour zones. Enable
the Use Stored Colour Gradientoption in the Paint or Brush Tool Properties view to do this.

Pencil to BrushThe Pencil to Brush
strokes brush lines.

operation converts the selected centre line pencil strokes into contour

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 alignthem and make 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.

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 thethinnest to the thickest.

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Drawing Tool References

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.

Offset X and Y
Use the Offset X and Offset Y operation fields to enter specific values and precisely reposition theselected shape.

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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 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 35.

Adding Texture to a Pencil Line
Pencil lines support texture. Once a pencil line is drawn, you can apply a preset texture or load yourown. Textures are independent from pencil stencils—see Pencil Line Texture on page 38.

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 the view. You can also press Alt + 9 to display only the Text properties in the Tool
Properties view—see Text Tool Options on page 136.

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Drawing Tool References

Eraser Tool Options
When you select the Eraser

tool, its properties and options appear 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 thedifferent parameters in the Tool Properties view. Click on the Show Extended Properties arrow todisplay advanced customization parameters,

Maximum Size and Smoothing
This is where you set the minimum and maximum sizes of your drawing tool which will produce thethick and thin effect on your stroke. This works with the pressure sensitivity of a pen tablet.
‣

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

‣

Smoothing: Defines the number of control points added to the centre line.

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Eraser Presets
Eraser presets are created by saving the properties of the current eraser to a new preset, which you
can reuse for repeated tasks. You can create as many eraser presets as you need—see Erasing Partsof a Drawing on page 70.
The Eraser tool uses its own preset list, separated from the Brush tool. Toon Boom Harmony
provides a variety of eraser styles and allows you to create and save your own. It is a good idea tocreate and save eraser with precise sizes and parameters to draw and design.

Eraser Blur Parameters
Since Harmony lets you draw with textured lines and create feathered edges on them, you may also
want to erase with smooth edges instead of the solid vector based eraser. The Eraser Blur
Parameters allow you to adjust the smoothness of your eraser for the textured lines—see How toerase textured lines on page 52

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 or resizing a drawing on both Line Art and Colour Art
layers, as well as the Overlay and Underlay layers.

Tip Style

Use the Tip Style option to customize the tip of the pencil line you are cutting.

Contour Editor Options
When you select the Contour Editor
view.

tool, its properties and options appear in the Tool Properties

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.

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Drawing Tool References

Snap to Contour

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 whiledisplaying 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 isdisplayed, 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 or resizing 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 to adjust the thickness point by point, but if you want to adjust it quicker, you can use theSplit Pencil Line and Point Pencil Lines options to create segments and apply a pencil stencil to yourdrawing. 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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Drawing Tool References

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 minimum and maximum sizes of your drawing tool which will produce thethick and thin effect on your stroke. This works with the pressure sensitivity of a pen tablet.
‣

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

‣

Smoothing: Defines the number of control points added to the centre line.

Adjusting the Pencil Line Style

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

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Drawing Tool References•

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.

PresetTo work with Pencil line presets, see Working with Pencil Presets on page 35.

TexturesTo work with Pencil Line Texture, see Pencil Line Texture on page 38

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.
Pump Pencil Pressure

The Pump Pencil Pressure
pencil line.

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

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The Deflate Pencil Pressure
pencil line.

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

Merge Pencil Lines

Pencil lines are central vector lines and it might be difficult to match pencil line’s tips properly to alignthem and make 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.

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 thethinnest 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.

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Drawing Tool References

Previewing the Stroke
The Preview area lets you see a preview of the stroke that will be produced after you customize thedifferent parameters in the Tool Properties view. Click on the Show Extended Properties arrow todisplay 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.

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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.

Thickness Stencils
Toon Boom Harmony provides a variety of thickness stencils and also lets you create and save yourown. It is a good idea to create and save pencils with precise sizes and parameters when you draw
and design.
A thickness stencil saves a preset of how the thickness information looks across the length of theline. When drawing with a thickness stencil, the pressure sensitivity of the tablet is discarded in order
to apply the thickness stencil.
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 preset ones
or importing your own—see Working with Pencil Presets on page 35

Draw Behind

When the Draw Behindalready exists.

mode is enabled, the lines you draw will appear behind the art that

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, whiledisplaying 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.

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Drawing Tool References

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 contour of an empty shape that you can later fill using
the Paint tool.

Create Colour Art AutomaticallyAs you draw in the Line Art layer, the Create Colour Art Automatically
option automaticallycreates the corresponding strokes in the Colour Art layer. To access this option, you must be in the
Advanced Art mode.

Auto-Flatten Mode
When enabled, the Auto-Flatten mode automatically flattens the new lines created with the existingartwork 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.

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Auto-Close Gap

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

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 gradientposition. This way, every new brush line or colour fill will use the stored gradient position.

Line Building Mode

The Line Building
mode is very useful when drawing long lines and curves in small incrementswith pencil lines. As the pencil lines are central vector lines and it may be difficult to align the line tips
perfectly to create 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.

This mode only works with pencil lines.

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Drawing Tool References

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 circle or square.
Holding down the Shift key as you create your shape will maintain proportion.

Polyline Tool Options
When you select the Polyline tool, its properties and options appear 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 thedifferent parameters in the Tool Properties view. Click on the Show Extended Properties arrow todisplay advanced customization parameters,

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

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Thickness Stencils
Harmony provides a variety of thickness stencils and also lets you create and save your own. It is agood idea to create and save pencils with precise sizes and parameters when you draw and design.
A thickness stencil saves a preset of how the thickness information looks across the length of theline. When drawing with a thickness stencil, the pressure sensitivity of the tablet is discarded in order
to apply the thickness stencil.
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 preset ones
or importing your own—see Working with Pencil Presets on page 35

Snap to Contour
The Snap to Contour

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

Create Colour Art AutomaticallyAs you draw in the Line Art layer, the Create Colour Art Automatically
option automaticallycreates the corresponding strokes in the Colour Art layer. To access this option, you must be in the
Advanced Art mode.

Auto-Flatten Mode
When enabled, the Auto-Flatten mode automatically flattens the new lines created with the existingartwork 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

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Drawing Tool References

perfect straight line. 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 toconnect to your existing 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 existingartwork as you draw in the Drawing or Camera view. Brush strokes will flatten with brush strokes
and pencil lines will flatten with pencil lines.

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 and right arrows to increment the value by one full unit. Use the Up - Down slider
to quickly increment the value.

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 115.

•

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 115.

•

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 or resizing a drawing on both Line Art and Colour Art
layers, as well as the Overlay and Underlay layers.

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Flip Horizontal and Vertical

The Flip Horizontal
vertically.

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or‣ From the top menu, select Drawing > Transform > Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical.
Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

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

operations rotate the current‣

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.

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Drawing Tool References

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

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 115.

•

The Snap and Alignoption lets you snap the selected anchor point to any existing line whiledisplaying temporary rulers as a guide that you can also snap your anchor point to—see
Contour Editor Options on page 115.

•

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 or resizing a drawing on both Line Art and Colour Art
layers, as well as the Overlay and Underlay layers.

Flip Horizontal and Vertical

The Flip Horizontal
vertically.

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or‣ From the top menu, select Drawing > Transform > Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical.
Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

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Drawing Tool References

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

operations rotate the current‣

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 deformed lines. Increasing the value will result in a smoother line with fewer control points. The
more you increase the value, the less details and curves you will get. Use the left and right arrows toincrement 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 or resizing 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
selection type, the Use Mouse Gesture
option lets you automaticallydelete any extra sections of line in your artwork by simply dragging your mouse over it.

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

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

This option only works with pencil lines.

Tip Style

Use the Tip Style option to customize the tip of the pencil line you are cutting.

Antialiasing

When drawing on a bitmap layer, lines are no longer clean vector shapes. For the edges to besmooth, a slight amount of antialiasing is used. When using the Cutter tool, you can cut a portion ofyour drawing with or without antialiasing. By default, the option is enabled. If you want to cut yourdrawing using a hard edge, you can select the Antialiasing Off option.

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Drawing Tool References

Flip Horizontal and Vertical

The Flip Horizontal
vertically.

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or‣ From the top menu, select Drawing > Transform > Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical.
Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

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

operations rotate the current‣

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.

Brush, Marquee and Lasso Smoothing Style
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stroke over the zone 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 ofpoints left on the curve. When it is turned 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 thethick and thin effect 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 morepoints are removed and the smoother the curve. The Smoothness range is from 0 to 100; the default
value is 20.

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Drawing Tool References

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 Options
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 toformat.

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.

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Drawing Tool References

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 negativevalue 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 or left. Using the Select tool will distort and scale your text itself rather than changing thewidth and height of your text 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 each character 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 can edit.
4. If you want to convert your independent letter to a complete vector object that you can deform,
use the Select tool to select the letters to convert.
5. From the top menu, select Drawing > Convert > Break Apart Text Layers to break theselection 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 Tool References

Drawing Pivot Tool
tool lets you set the pivots on your character. You can set the drawing pivots
The Drawing Pivot
on drawings and symbols.

Setting the Drawing Pivot for Symbos on All Frames
The Set the Pivot for Symbol on All Frames
option is enabled by default. When you set a drawing
pivot on a symbol, 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 on each cell or cell range.

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 is released, it either snaps to the reference grid, drawing's contour, or aligns with an existingdrawing stroke.

Reset Pivot
When you click the Reset Pivot
option, the drawing pivot of the selected drawing or symbol isreset to the centre of the Camera view.

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

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 to140

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perform the operation again. If you need to modify the symbol's pivots, you can do it directly on thesymbol's cells.

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Chapter 3: Colour Styling and Colour Models

Once the characters, props and locations are designed, it is 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 and organized 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
carried through the entire project called the master palette. If the master is modified, the colours in
the entire project are updated simultanously.
By doing the colour styling in Harmony, your master palette will be created at the same time, so you
do not need to use third party software. Also you will not have to recreate the colour palette again in
Harmony. It is possible to create this step in an external software, but it is a great time saver to do it
directly in Harmony.
To create the colour style and colour models, follow these steps:•

Preparation on the next page•

Working with Palettes on page 149•

Colours on page 174•

Painting the Model on page 186

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

Colour Model Storage below•

Scene Creation below•

Setting Up the Workspace on the facing page•

Naming on page 146

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 to create a colour model scene. There are different possibilities available to structure yourdesigns and colour model scenes. We strongly recommend that you put all of your colour models inthe same scenes. It is important to maintain 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 thecharacters, 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 theFundamentals Guide to learn more about creating a scene.

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If you have not already done so, refer to the Fundamentals Guide to learn about production structure,
file organization, and how to create a Project root directory. We recommend storing your colour
model scenes in the root directory or in a colour models subdirectory for even better organization.
A useful way to name your colour model scene is to include the project name, then the colour modeltype such as characters, props, effects, or locations, and finally colourmodel. For example, acharacter colour model scene for the Adventure project would be named adventure_characters_
colourmodel. This ensures that you always know what scene corresponds to what.

To learn how to create environment, job, and scene for your colour models, refer to the Control
Center and Server Guide.

Colour Model Scene Structure
To store your colour models in a scene, it is recommended that you create one drawing layer for eachcharacter, 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 a character colour model scene, it is a good idea to import some of the key locations tocompare 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:

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Xsheet•Camera•Drawing•

Colour•Model

NamingNow that your models are imported, you can rename them appropriately. You should rename
elements (layers) and drawings 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.

2. Type in a new name.

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Xsheet menu, select Drawings > Rename Drawing.

‣

Right-click on the drawing name and select Drawings >Rename Drawing.

‣

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

The Rename Drawing dialog box opens.

3. Type in a new name and click OK.

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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.
These are referred to as master palette1s.
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 palette2 is created by assigning a set of colours to each character, prop or effect. You will create a
new palette and 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 name extension—see Palette File Storage on page 153.
When a zone on the character is painted with the colour contained in a colour swatch, a link is
automatically created between that colour swatch and the zone. This means that if the tint of thecolour in the colour swatch is changed, any zone linked to it will update to the new tint. This is one waythat colour palettes can save time and money 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 thatcharacter 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 mood and atmosphere of the scene without tediously
repainting each element.

1A master palette is a group of colours attributed to a character or a prop. The palette is used throughout theentire production to maintain consistency in the look and to ensure that the same colours are used throughout
the production. Also known as palette.
2A palette or master palette is a group of colours attributed to a character or a prop. The palette is usedthroughout the entire Toon Boom Studio project to maintain a consistency in the look and avoid the colourchanging during the animation. Also referred to as a master palette.

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This section is divided as follows:•

Palette Lists below•

Palette File Storage on page 153•

Creating a Colour Palette on page 156•

Duplicating a Colour Palette on page 160•

Cloning a Colour Palette on page 162•

Palette Operations on page 164•

Importing and Linking Palettes on page 168

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

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Basic Mode
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 thedefault palette, but for movies, series, or shorts it is recommended that you create palettes foryour characters. To create a palette, you have to switch to the Advanced mode of the Colour viewand 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 your characters, 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 apalette list. The scene also has a palette list. For example, a drawing layer can use three different
palettes stored in three different locations, while another drawing layer can use two of these palettes
plus another one coming from another scene. The palette list keep track of the locations of thepalettes.
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 paperlessand traditional 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 to this list will appear in every drawing element created in the scene. There is no need tomanually load the palette 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
In Toon Boom Harmony, you can switch to Advanced Palette List mode and choose to save yourpalette at an element’s level. The Element Palette list is mainly used with traditional and paperlessanimation. Unlike cut-out animation, all columns (drawing elements) contain different characters,

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props, backgrounds, and effects. The Element Palette list is used when 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 that the links to the palettes appear only in the appropriate element. If you prefer toaccess a global palette list, link your palettes to the Scene Palette list.

To prevent users from accidentally removing a link to a palette, the palette lists are locked. To link orcreate a new palette, the palette list must first be unlocked.
When you are using several cloned palettes that are related to the same original palette, Toon Boom
Harmony uses the highest palette in the list to determine the colour of the painted zones—see Cloninga Colour Palette on page 162.

How to show or hide the Palette list‣

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

The Palette List window opens and displays all your palettes.

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How to lock and unlock to the palette list‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Edit Palette List Mode.

A grey pencil appears on the top-right corner of the Palette list to indicate that it can be modified.

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 > Preferences(Mac OS X).

‣

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

2. Select the Advanced tab.
3. 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 apalette is created from Harmony, it needs to be stored somewhere. By default, the palette file isstored in the scene directory in a palette-library folder unless you specify a different location. There are
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Element
The Palette Library folder is stored directly in the drawing Element folder.

•

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

•

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

•

Environment
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 isrecommended to keep it as is. If you work with a larger studio, it is recommended to verify with themon the file structure.
This existing structure is compatible with Toon Boom Harmony Server. Toon Boom Harmony’s
database has a leveled structure starting from the Environment down to the Element. Its client-server
configuration allows all data, such as palettes and scenes, to be shared between a series of clientmachines.

Element Level
Working with Harmony as a stand alone, the Element level is very useful when there are a lot ofdifferent palettes. When a colour model drawing is created, it is stored in its element folder. By
storing the corresponding palette file with the colour model, the colourist can load them both fromthe same location. This also creates a more organized structure.

Scene Level
Working with Toon Boom Harmony as a 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 can find the correct one. Saving the palettes at the scene levelmakes it very easy to back up the palettes and retrieve their location.

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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 created in, the character building scene. Just as with a cut-out characterbuilding 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 allof 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.

Where to Save the Palette File
The palette storage location depends on the type of production and the backup plan being used.
Some studios like to store their palettes at the Element level and others at the Environment level as
this will not create a problem so long as the scene is in the Harmony structure. In fact, as long as the
Harmony structure is maintained it can be stored at any level. However, difficulties may occur when thescene is backed up or transferred to another studio or database and removed from the structure.

What happens when you export a palette file?
It is important to understand what is happening to a palette file when the scene is exported.
Because of the Harmony client-server configuration, all of the data can be shared through all of thescenes in the database. This also includes the palette files, even if they are stored at the Element,
Scene, Job, Drawing or Environment level. The palette files can be accessed from any scene of any
project.
When you export scenes from Harmony to either archive or send them to other users or studios, thepalettes stored in external scenes, jobs or environment will NOT be exported.
An exported scene will carry palettes stored in its own Element’s Palette Library, scene’s palette
library, the Job and the Environment where it is stored. Any other palette from other Environments,
Jobs, Elements or Scenes (even from the same job) will NOT follow. Instead a recovery palette will becreated when the scene is reopened in another Harmony system. A recovery palette is a local palettecreated by the system when palettes and colours are missing. This palette is no longer shared with therest of the project.
For example, in the following chart, if you export Scene 2 from Job 1, the package will carry the
palettes from Scene 2, Job 1 and Environment. It WILL NOT carry the palettes from Element 3 in
Scene 1, Scene 1 and Job 2. If Scene 2 was linked to any of these, the system will create a recovery
palette the next time Scene 2 is opened in another Harmony system.

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The best place to store your palette is:•Environment level for a movie or series•

Job level for a publicity or small project•

Scene level for a student exercise

To store your palette with their colour models, you can use the Element level, however, it will require
more structure when exporting the scenes. The scene will have to be exported along with its colour
model scene. The other studio you are working with must recreate an identical structure to yours, thenimport the received scenes into the same location as you have them in order to maintain the links.

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 an altered 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.

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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 tostore your palettes: Environment, Job, Scene, or Element.
If you are using Harmony Network, see Palette File Storage on page 153.
Before you can create a palette in the Advanced Palette Lists mode, you must first set yourpreferences to Advanced Palette Lists mode in the Preferences dialog box. You also need to have therights to modify the palette list. If you do not, select Edit > Edit Palette List Mode from the top menu.
You can remove palettes from your Palette list if they are not needed in your scene. The actual palettefile 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 > Preferences(Mac OS X).

‣

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

2. Select the Advanced tab.
3. 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 Palette‣button.

Make sure that you have the necessary rights to modify the palette list. If you do not, select
Edit > Edit Palette List Mode.

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

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

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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. Make sure that you have the necessary rights to modify the palette list. If you do not, select Edit >Edit Palette List Mode.
3. In the Colour view, click the Show Palette List View button to display the palette list.

4. 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.

5. 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.

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6. Name the palette. There is no need to add the suffix "palette" to the name as it is always
recognized as a palette file.

7. 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 to thirty 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, allpalettes linked to this list will appear in every drawing element created in the scene. There is noneed to manually load the palette in each element.

‣

The Element Palette List is mainly used with traditional and paperless animation. Unlike cutout animation, all columns (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 that the links to the palettes appear only in the appropriate element. If you preferto access a global palette list, link your palettes to the Scene Palette List.

8. 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.

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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.

Duplicating a Colour Palette
A duplicated palette is a simple copy of the original palette. It uses the same names, colour values, but
has a different ID and is independent from the original palette. This ensures that both palettes arecompletely independent.
This option is used when there are similar models and you want to avoid recreating and naming all of
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.

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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 View 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
on page 153.

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 areplaced in different lighting conditions and require a different colour shading. The night palette is a
popular choice when a scene or sequence changes from day to night. It can be difficult and timeconsuming to repaint everything and creating two independent palettes can be quite complex. As analternative, 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, butthey can have different names and RGBA values. Depending on the activated palette (night or day), thepainted drawing will update. So there is no need to repaint the animation, but to create or import aclone palette (palette style).

How to clone a palette
1. In the Colour view, select a palette to clone.

2. From the Colour View 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 are in Advanced Palette List mode, select the palette storage level—see Palette File Storage
on page 153.

4. In the New Palette Name field, name the palette. It is recommended that you keep the "-clone" inthe 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 183.
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.

You can also modify the colours individually with the Colour Picker window.

Palette Operations
When you start Toon Boom Harmony connected to the database, you can access the PaletteOperations dialog box which lets you clone, rename, or delete palettes.

How to open the Palette Operations dialog box
1. Start Harmony and log in.
2. Close the Database Selector dialog box.
3. From the top menu, select Tools > Palette Operations.

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The Palette Operations dialog box opens.

How to clone a palette in the Palette Operations dialog box
1. Select the palette you want to clone at the location and level in which it was stored.

2. Click Clone.
A Warning dialog box opens.

3. Select the Don't show this message again option if you do not want to see this message every
time you perform this operation.
4. Click Yes.

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The Palette Browser dialog box opens.
5. Select the level to store the palette file.

6. Name the palette. There is no need to add the suffix "palette" to the name as it is always
recognized as a palette file.

7. 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 to thirty 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, allpalettes linked to this list will appear in every drawing element created in the scene. There is noneed to manually load the palette in each element.

‣

The Element Palette List is mainly used with traditional and paperless animation. Unlike cutout animation, all columns (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 that the links to the palettes appear only in the appropriate element. If you preferto access a global palette list, link your palettes to the Scene Palette List.

8. Click OK.

How to rename a palette in the Palette Operation dialog box
1. Select the palette you want to rename at the location and level in which it was stored.

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2. Click Rename.
A Warning dialog box opens.

3. Select the Don't show this message again option if you do not want to see this message every
time you perform this operation.
4. Click Yes.
The Rename Palette dialog box opens.

5. Type in a name for the palette.
6. Click OK.

How to delete a palette in the Palette Operation dialog box
1. Select the palette you want to delete at the location and level in which it was stored.

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2. Click Delete.
A Warning dialog box opens.

3. Select the Don't show this message again option if you do not want to see this message every
time you perform this operation.

It is not recommended to disable the warning message as deleting a palette cannot be undone.

4. Click Yes.

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 yourpalette lists.
You may encounter a case where only a colour palette is visible when a layer is selected. If you needthat palette in 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 orderfor both layers to access the palette, you must link both Element Palette lists to that palette. If you
palette is linked to the Scene Palette list, it will be accessible by all layers.

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If you created a palette in another project and you want to import it in your current project, you canbrowse for the palette file on your computer and add it to your scene. When the palette is imported inyour scene, the file is copied in the project’s directory. It is not linked to the original file.
Harmony lets you link an external palette to your scene without copying it in your project. This method
is not recommended. It is always safer to have the palettes contained within the database to avoid
data loss if the source palette were to be deleted or the project exported without including theexternal palettes.
You will notice that when you create or link a palette, a small icon appears on its left. These icons
represent the palette linkage status.
Icon

Description
Indicates that the palette is safe.
There won’t be any trouble once the scene will be 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 the palette-libraries planned for the palette storage. The
warning in this case is that if you move your Master Palette directory toanother 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 is linked 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.

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.

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2. Select the level where the palette file is stored—see Palette File Storage on page 153.
3. Select the palette list linking level by enabling either Scene Palette List or Element Palette List—
see Palette Lists on page 150.
The palette appears in the Colour view.

How to import a palette into your project
4. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Import.

‣

Right-click and select Import.

The Browser window opens.
5. Browse for a palette file located (*.plt) on your hard drive. You will generally find the palettes inyour project's palette-library directory.
6. Click Open.
The Palette Browser opens.

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7. If you are in Advanced Palette mode, select the level where the palette file is stored—see PaletteFile Storage on page 153.
8. If you are in Advanced Palette mode, select the palette list linking level by enabling either Scene
Palette List or Element Palette List—see Palette Lists on page 150.
9. 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 Palette
external.

button to create your palette to be used as

2. Save your scene by selecting File > Save from the top menu or by clicking the Save
press Ctrl + S (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + S (Mac OS X).

button or

3. On your computer or server, create a master directory. Ideally, this should be created in your Rootfolder to keep it within the project directory. You could also place it inside your Colour Model’s
subdirectory. Refer to the Fundamentals Guide to learn more about project organization.

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 palettelibrary 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 wantto 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

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To link an element (such as a colour model) to the palette that is stored in the external palette directory,
you must remove the original palette from the element’s palette list. You will then load the duplicatedpalette into the palette list using the Link to External command, like you did for the other elements.

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Colours
Toon Boom Harmony has some very powerful colouring features when it comes to painting. To paintyour drawings, you will use different colour swatches, unlike some other painting programs where you
modify the main swatch each time 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 yourdrawing. You can add as many swatches as you want. You can also rename them and modify existingones.

When you modify the colour of an existing swatch, it automatically updates all the zones painted withthis swatch throughout the entire project. The colour swatch has a unique ID number that associates itwith the painted zones. This way, you can change the look of your character at any time without having
to repaint it!
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Adding a Colour Swatch below•

Colour Display Modes on page 181•

Copying and Pasting Colours on page 182•

Mixing Colours on page 183

Adding a Colour Swatch
You can use several different types of colour swatches.

A colour palette is an actual file that is on the hard drive. These palette files can be stored in a different
location on the server. They can be stored in the Environment, Job, Scene, or Element folder andlinked to any palette list. This means that if the original palette file is modified, it will update in every
drawing element the palette is linked to.
To avoid accidentally modifying the palette, the palette files can be locked. If a palette must be
modified, you must get the rights to modify them before doing so.s
In Toon Boom Harmony, when you click on the Add Colour
button, a new colour swatch is createdusing the colour 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 might be useful if you
want to create different shades of the same basic colour.
The default colour is also the colour used when you choose to vectorize images that you are scanning
into your scene, however you add the Default colour swatch to your palette in a different way, so that
it is unique. It has a unique ID number that makes it recognizable from all the other colours in yourcolour 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 lock or unlock the palette list‣

In the Colour view, click the Edit Palette Mode

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A grey pencil icon appears in the top-right corner of the Palette list.

How to add or modify a solid colour swatch
1. In the Colour view, click the New Colour

button.

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

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 Toon
Boom Harmony interface, your operating system or any other open application.

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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.

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.

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6. Click the Add button to add the current selected colour to the Colour Storage Library, so you canquickly 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.

How to change the default swatch colour for all your colour palettes
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences (Windows/Linux) or Stage > Preferences (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 Pot 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.

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3. Select the Gradient option.
4. Select the Linear or Radial option.
5. Adjust the Gradient arrows to modify the colours.

‣

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.

Refer to the Editing Gradients and Textures on page 391 topic to learn how to reposition the gradientzones in your drawings.

How to create a texture colour
1. From the Colour View menu, select Colours > New Texture or click the New Texture
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.

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Refer to the Editing Gradients and Textures on page 391 topic to learn how to reposition your textured
zones in your drawings.

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. Anytransformation previously applied to the texture’s position in your drawings will be kept.

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.

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How to delete a colour swatch
1. In the Colour view, select the colour swatches to delete.

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.

Colour Display Modes
The Colour view has two display modes:
•

List

•

SwatchYou can alsodisplay 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.

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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 will be displayed between the colour swatch and its name.
The gradient colour swatches will be identified as (gradient).

Copying and Pasting Colours
When you are creating palettes, you may want to copy colour swatches or their values and paste themin other palettes to save time. You can also quickly copy a colour value from a palette in your scene toa 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 cancopy the colour 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.
‣

In the Colour view, click the Edit Palette Modebutton to be able to edit the colour list.

2. In the Colour View menu, select Colours > Copy or press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C (MacOS 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, selectColours > Paste Colour Values.

How to clone a colour swatch
1. In the Colour view, select the colour swatch you want to clone.
‣In the Colour view, click the Edit Palette Modebutton to be able to edit the colour list.

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 newpalette.
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.
‣In the Colour view, click the Edit Palette Modebutton to be able to edit the colour list.

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 at once to blend a tint in them or offset their RGBA values, you
can use the Tint panel. This panel is quite useful when creating palette styles such as night and day

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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 Blend/Offset Tint 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).

4. Select Preview option.
5. Select the Offset, Blend, or Mix option.

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Parameter

Description

OffsetOffsets the selected colours by the adjustments made using
the HSB and RGB sliders. Use the Amount slider to adjust thedegree of offset. Use the Alpha slider to adjust the opacity ofthe selected colour.

Blend

Blends the selected colours with the colour swatch in the top-rightcorner. Use the Amount slider to adjust the degree of blend. A blend of
100% turns the selected colours into the same colour as the swatch.
Adjusting the HSB and RGB sliders affect the swatch colour, which inturn affects the selected colours on the left. Use the Alpha slider toadjust the opacity of the swatch.

Mixer

Select a Base and Tint colour to form a third colour swatch.
Use the slider just beneath to mix the Base and Tint colours
by different amounts. This will affect the mixed swatch
whether it is selected or not. Select either the Tint or Baseswatch 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.

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Chapter 3: Colour Styling and Colour Models Painting the Model

Painting the Model
Now that you have created the colours and the palette, you are ready to paint your model.
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 othercharacters using the Import Drawings option or the Library to compare and adjust the palettes—see
Importing Models on page 387 to learn how to import your background file.

For paperless and cut-out animation, it is 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 theanimator, layout artist, or scene setup artist to retain the correct scaling throughout the entire project
when setting the elements 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 Artor press L.

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2. Create your master colour palette—see Creating a Colour Palette on page 156
3. Add new colours to the palette—see Adding a Colour Swatch on page 175.
4. Select your Paint Bucket

tool. We recommend the Paint Unpainted

tool.

5. In the Colour view, select the colour you need 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 is a gap in your artwork, you will need to close it in orderto paint it.

7. If you would like to separate your lines and fill zones on separated art layers, see Art Layers on
page 372.
8. Adjust the colours—see Mixing Colours on page 183.

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Chapter 4: Painting the BackgroundNot only does Toon Boom Harmony give you the ability to animate and composite, you can also use it
to paint your backgrounds. You can use solid, gradient or textured colours to create vector-based
and bitmap colouring.
If you create multiplane moves, a vector background will generally be lighter and will allow extreme
truck-ins.

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Chapter 4: Painting the BackgroundThe background painting process consists of painting the black and white production backgrounds,
also known as background layouts. For traditional animation, the background layouts are usuallydrawn on paper and then scanned in. For paperless and cut-out animation, the background layouts
can either be drawn on paper or designed directly in Harmony.
This chapter is divided as follows:•

Preparation on the facing page•

Importing the Background Layout on page 193•

Importing Palettes and Models on page 195•

Painting the Background on page 199

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Preparation
Before you begin painting, prepare by organizing your work and bringing in your references.

Setting the Scene
Once you chose your technique, it is time to open or create your scene and get ready to import yourbackground layouts.

Working Directly in the Production Scenes
You can decide to import the background layout directly in the corresponding production scene
and paint it there. This way, the background exists only in the production scene and not in a central
storage scene, saving space on the hard disc drive and avoiding duplicate files.

Working in a Special Background Scene
You can decide to create a new scene, import all your background layouts and paint them in thatscene. This scene will become the colour background storage scene.
It is useful to keep all the backgrounds in the same scene to compare the style and colours, use thesame master palette, and keep track of the work and all existing backgrounds.
We recommend that you store this scene in the project root folder.

Using the Workspace
While inking and painting, you can use the Workspace Manager to save a frequently used layout andname it Ink and Paint, for example.

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Importing the Background Layout

When the background painting or production scene is ready, import your background layout in it.
Designing your backgrounds and locations directly in Harmony can be a time saver and allows you tokeep all your project materials in the same software.

Refer to Chapter 2: Import in the Compositing Guide to learn how to import bitmap images and the Scan
Guide to learn how to scan the layout.

Importing a Bitmap Layout
If your background layout was drawn on paper and scanned in a third-party software or simply
drawn in a bitmap third-party software, you can import them using the Import Drawings command.

Scanning the Layout from a TWAIN Device
If your models were drawn on paper, you can also scan and import them using a TWAIN Device.

Importing a Toon Boom Harmony Vector-Based Layout
If the background layout was designed in Harmony, it can be imported into the scene through the
Library view. To do so, create a template out of the main background layout and then import it in
the scene.

Importing the Template in the Background Painting Scene
Once the template is created, you are ready to import it into your background painting scene. Drag
the template to import it.

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There is no need to obtain the right to modify the library to import a template.

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Importing Palettes and Models

In order to paint your background, you have to load the location colour model and its corresponding
palettes. Prior to the painting process, the colour stylist creates the palettes and models and storesthem in colour model templates and colour model scenes—see Colour Styling and Colour Models on
page 143.
Once your background layout is imported, you can start painting it. If you already created the location
colour model in Harmony, you can load the required palette. If not, see Working with Palettes on
page 149 to learn how to create a colour palette.

Importing a Colour Model Template
A good method of importing a palette is to import a template from the template library that contains
the location colour model and master palette. This template should be created when you are creating
your colour styling and colour model for your project. If you did not create any colour models, you cancreate your colour palette directly in the scene.
Once the templates are created, you are ready to import them in your scene. Import the templates
from the template library to make the models and their palettes available in your scene. Then you will
be able to load the palettes in the corresponding drawing element and the colour models to theModel View.

There is no need to obtain the right to modify the library to import a template.

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Importing Palettes and Models

How to import a template
1. Open the scene to ink and paint.

2. In the Library view, browse to the colour model storage folder.

3. Select the corresponding colour model template.

4. Drag the selection to the Network or Timeline view.
‣

If you drop the selection in the Timeline's left side, new elements and modules are created.

‣

If you drop the selection in the Timeline's right side, the information is inserted into existingelements. In order for the template to combine with existing elements, the structure needs

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to be consistent. If it is not possible to merge the elements together, move on to theTimeline's left side to create new elements.

When you import a template in a scene, there is no link between the library and the scene. Instead,a copy of all drawings, effects, trajectories, and so on is created. This means that you are free tomodify anything copied to your scene without affecting the original.

Loading Palettes and Models
Importing the colour model template in your scene creates a new drawing element. Importing also
updates the master palettes; these palettes are now local to the scene.
If you are painting a drawing sequence, you can refer to the visual model to know where colours go,
especially if the palette uses many colour swatches. Use the Model view to load the colour model so
you can see it at the same time as you paint.

How to load your current drawing in the Model view
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet View, select the desired colour model drawing.

2. From the Model View menu, select Model > Use Current Drawing As Model.
The colour model is loaded in the Model View.

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Once your model is loaded, you can import palettes in your drawing element.

How to add a palette to your element
1. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the drawing element in which you want to load the palette.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Colour view menu, select Palettes >Link.

‣

In the Colour view toolbar, click the Link Palettebutton.

The Palette Browser window opens.
3. Select the location where the palette file is stored; it is usually at the Scene or Element level.
4. If you are working in Advanced Palette List mode, decide how you want the palette loaded: as a
Scene or Element palette list.

5. Click OK.
In the Colour view of the drawing element, the palette appears in the palette list.

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Painting the BackgroundNow that your background layout, master palette and location colour model are imported in yourscene, you are ready to paint your background.
A Harmonydrawing is composed of several art layers. Lines and colours can be separated or joined,
depending on the animation process. When a traditional drawing is scanned in, strokes areautomatically created in the Colour Art from the Line Art. For paperless drawings, once the drawing
sequence is completed, create your Colour Art strokes if you plan to paint your animation in the
Colour Art layer. Use the Create Colour Art from Line Art option to create strokes from your lines—
see Art Layers on page 372.

How to create strokes once the drawing is completed
You may prefer to create strokes once the drawing is cleaned up. In this case, select the full drawing
and create the strokes in Colour Art.
1. Skip this step if you are creating strokes for a single drawing. Do one of the following:

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Painting the Background‣In the Select Tool Properties view, click the Permanent Selection‣

PressCtrl + Shift + P (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Shift + P (Mac OS X).

tool.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Drawing Tools toolbar, click the Select‣Press Alt + S.

tool.

3. Select the entire animation sequence.
4. Do one of the following:‣

In the Drawing or Camera view, select Drawing > Create Colour Art from Line Art.

‣

Press *

5. Repeat steps 1 to 4 for each drawing in the animation sequence.

How to create strokes while drawing in Line Art modeIf you have some traditional drawings that need to be fixed, for example, need extra lines to patch
gaps, the strokes can be created in the Colour Art layer at the same time as the lines are drawn using
the Auto-Create Colour Art from Brush feature. This feature creates strokes from the lines and brushstrokes created in the Line Art layer as you draw.
You can use it to fix drawings, but if you draw a sketch from scratch it is better to create the strokes
afterward using the Create Colour Art from Line Art option.
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Drawing or Camera View toolbar, click the Automatically Create Colour Art fromBrush
button. You may have to customize the toolbar to display it.

‣

When the Brush, Pencil or any shape tool is enabled, in the Tool Properties editor, click the
Automatically Create Colour Art from Brushbutton.

2. Draw the extra lines required.
3. Once you are done, deselect the Automatically Create Colour Art option.
You are now ready to paint your background.

How to paint your background
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Camera or Drawing view, switch to the Line Art or Colour Art to paint your model.

‣

Press L.

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2. Select one of the Paint Bucket

tools. The Paint Unpainted

tool is recommended.

3. Paint the background by selecting the colours from the colour model or the palette, and clicking on
the different drawing zones.

How to use the Stroke tool to create tone and highlight zones
You can use the Stroke
tool to draw invisible vector strokes and separate some of the drawing
sections to create tone and highlight zones.
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Camera view or Drawing view menu, select Drawing Tools > Stroke.

‣

Press Alt + V.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Camera view or Drawing view menu, select View > Show Strokes.

‣

Press K.

The strokes appear.

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Painting the Background

3. Draw the stroke on the background drawing.

4. In your colour palette, select the colour needed to paint the new zone.

5. In the Tools toolbar, click the Repaintbutton.

6. Do one of the following:‣

In the Drawing or Camera View toolbar, select View > > Show Strokes to hide the strokes.

‣

Press K.

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How to use gradient colour
Using a gradient colour adds more depth and variation to your drawings.

1. In the Colour view, select the colour to be modified.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Colour view menu, select Colour > Edit Colour.

‣

Double-click on the colour swatch.

The Colour Picker window opens.

3. Select the Gradient option.

4. Select the Linear or Radial option.

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5. Select the Gradient arrows to modify the colours.

‣

Click between the arrows to add extra colours.

‣

Pull down the arrows to remove them.

‣Move the arrows left and right to modify the gradient distance.

6. Use the Edit Gradient/Texture tool to set your gradient's position.

How to use the Edit Gradient and Texture tool
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Camera view or Drawing view menu, select Drawing Tools > Edit
Gradient/Texture.

‣

Press Shift + F3.

2. Click on the gradient or texture colour to be modified.
The Edit Gradient/Texture selection frame appears.

3. Move the edit texture's parameters to the desired result.

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4. If the same modification needs to be applied to another gradient or texture zone, do one of thefollowing:‣

Select the modified zone and select Edit > Copy.

‣

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

5. Select the zone you want to modify.
6. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Paste.

‣

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

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Chapter 8: Timing

When you create hand-drawn animation traditionally or in a paperless environment, it is important toknow 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
his own exposure sheet directly in Harmony without the need for reproduction.
If you are more of a traditional animator, you are more likely to work with an exposure sheet. If you area 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 handdrawn 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 aslayers.
You can adjust timing in both views; your choice depends on which technique you are used to working
with. Depending on your working style, some actions may seem preferable to do in one view insteadof another. Many of the actions you perform in the Xsheet can also be accomplished in the Timeline.
This chapter will often show both techniques. You will be able to choose which one you prefer.
In this topic, you will learn how to work on your drawing’s exposure and length. The exposure andanimation paths for symbols are covered in separate chapters.

The exposure sheet is not mandatory for Cut-out animation. It can be useful for creating characters andparts, but is not really needed for animation and timing. If you plan to work with Cut-out animation, you canstill gain useful tips by reviewing the section on exposure sheets.

The basic digital exposure sheet process is divided into the following steps:

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Preparation on the facing page•

Frames on page 211•

Filling Exposure on page 237•

Managing Drawings on page 259•

Modifying the Layer and Column Display on page 266•

Printing the Xsheet on page 282

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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 setup, 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 are doing paperless animation, use theCamera 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 aworkspace,and name it Xsheet, for example.

While drawing and animating paperless animation, you can use the Workspace Manager to save afrequently used layout and name it Paperless Animation, for example.

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Preparing References

To start an exposure sheet, you need to prepare your references. For traditional animation, you willneed to reproduce the animator's paper exposure sheet. If you are working remotely, the studio canscan the paper exposure sheet using third-party software and send the digital files to be opened andviewed digitally.
In paperless animation, you will usually create an exposure sheet from the Xsheet view.The
information from your layout and posing or storyboard will help you approximate how many
elements are required in the scene.

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FramesOnce 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 a scene in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, drag the scene length bracket to the right to add more frames to your scene.

How to add frames before or after a selection to the extend scene length in the
Xsheet view
You can add frames anywhere in the middle of the scene. 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. In the Xsheet view, select a frame row.

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.

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In the Xsheet view toolbar, click the Add Frames
selection.

‣

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

button to add frame after your

The Add Frames dialog box opens.

3. In the Number of Frames to Add field, enter the number of frames needed in the scene.

How to add frames at the start or end to extend the scene length from the top menu
1. From the top menu, select Scene > Frame > Add Frames At Start or Add Frames At End.
‣In the Xsheet view toolbar, press the Add Frames
selection.

button to add frame after your

The Add Frames dialog box opens.

2. In the Number of Frames to Add field, enter the number of frames needed in the scene.

How to 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, theexposed drawings and symbols are not deleted. They are still available if you extend the scene
afterwards.
1. In the Timeline view, drag the scene length bracket to the left to remove frames from the scene.

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.

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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 Remove Frames
repeatedly.

button. To remove several frame selections, click the button

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 frombeing displayed each time you delete a frame range.

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Creating Drawing Elements
Before filling any value or setting any timing or exposure, you need to add different drawing elements.
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 Network view as modules.
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 isnamed the same way as the drawing element. Its purpose is to contain all the drawings related to thiselement. For example, in cut-out animation, a character can have many heads available. All of the headdrawings will be contained in this folder, 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).

There are different element types available such as Sound and Expression. A sound element will containsound files. Expressions, Beziers, Eases, 3D Path, Quadmaps and Pegs are for motion purposes during thecompositing step. It is 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 Concepts below•

Layer and Column Types on the facing page•

Adding New Drawing Elements on page 218•

Deleting Layers and Columns on page 222•

Layer and Column Properties on page 224•

Modifying Layers and Columns on page 225•

Duplicating Layers and Columns on page 228•

Cloning Layers and Columns on page 228•

Adding an Annotation Column on page 229

Layer and Column Concepts
A layer is linked to a directory, the location where all its drawings are saved. This directory has thesame name as the layer. When a name is typed in a cell,Harmony searches the layer's directory for thecorresponding 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. Removing adrawing from a cell means it is not displayed. It will not be deleted from the directory.
A drawing that is exposed multiple times (for example, in a walk cycle) would be linked to the same
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drawings with the same name are updated simultaneously. You must duplicate or create a new
drawing to modify a single exposure and retain the others.

When you create a drawing cycle, all of the repeated drawings are linked to the original files. This means thatwhen you modify, repaint, or correct a drawing named “1,” all drawings named “1” are updated simultaneously.
In order to modify 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 andTimeline view. Each layer is tagged with an icon to help 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 orimport a symbol or image, you can use a drawing layer. You can also create bitmap artwork on a
drawing layer.

Bitmap images are contained in Bitmap layers.

Bitmap Layer

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If you import a picture or bitmap images in your project, they are inserted in a Bitmap layer. If you
choose to vectorize your image when you import, the bitmap object will be placed on a Drawing
layer. This way, you can have bitmap images mixed with vector drawings on a Drawing layer.
When importing a bitmap image, you have the option of encapsulating the image in a symbol. If you
place a non-vectorized bitmap into a symbol, you will still not be able to mix vector drawings with iton the same layer. If you place a vectorized bitmap in a symbol, you must enter the symbol to be able
to mix it with vector artwork.

Camera Layer

You can only have one Camera layer at a time in your timeline. 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.

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 timein your timeline). 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 modules in the Module 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 no background 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

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A Group layer can be used to organize both the Timeline and Network views. You can drag and drop
other layers onto a Group layer and then collapse the Group layer to hide these other layers fromview.
If you create the Group layer in the Timeline view, a corresponding module will appear in the
Network view. Any layers that you connect to the Group layer will appear in the Group moduleconnected to an Input and Output port.

Peg Layer

A Peg layer is a trajectory or motion path layer that does not contain drawings. It can be attached toany 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 containdrawings. This can be 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

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You can import sound files to add dialog and sound effects to your project. The sound layer will be
added to your Timeline 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 path using these columns and then link or unlink several drawing or peg layers toit.
Advanced column types include:•

Timing•

3D Path•

3D Rotation•

Bezier Curve•

Ease Curve•

Expression•

Annotation

Adding New Drawing Elements
There are different ways to add a drawing layer to your project. By default, when you create a newscene there is one Drawing column in the Xsheet view and one corresponding Drawing layer in theTimeline view.
You can add an element for each drawing and it will appear as a column in the Xsheet view, a layer in
the Timeline view, and a module in the Network view.

How to add a drawing element from the Timeline view
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline View menu, select Insert > Drawing.

‣

In the Timeline view toolbar, click the Add Layers‣‣

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

The Add Drawing Layer dialog box opens.

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2. In the Name field, enter a relevant element name.

3. Do one of the following:‣

Click OK to add the layer and close the dialog box.

‣

Click Apply to add the layer and keep the dialog box open to add another layer.

‣

Click Close to cancel the operation.

The new drawing element appears in the Timeline, Xsheet and Network Views.

How to add multiple drawing elements from the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline View menu, select Insert > Add Layer(s).
The Add Layers dialog box opens.

2. In the Type menu, select the Drawing option.
3. In the Number field, enter the number of layers you want to add.
4. In the Name field, type the name of the layer you want to add. If you are adding more than one
layer, a numerical suffix will be added to subsequent layers.
5. Do one of the following:‣

Click OK to add the layers and close the dialog box.

‣

Click Apply to add the layers and keep the dialog box open to add another layer.

‣

Click Close to cancel the operation.

The new drawing elements appear in the Timeline, Xsheet and Network views.

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.

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3. Click OK.
The new drawing element appears in the Timeline, Xsheet and Network views.

How to add a drawing element from the Xsheet view
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet view 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 Network Views—see Layer andColumn Types on page 215.

How to create a column in Harmony 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 the column.

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1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences (Windows/Linux) or Stage > Preferences (Mac OSX) and select the Advanced tab.
2. In the Advanced Options section, select the Advanced Element Mode option to access theadvanced Add Column dialog box.

3. Click OK.
4. In the Xsheet View menu, select Columns > Add Column or press Shift + C.
The Add Column dialog box opens.

5. In the Name field, type the new column’s name.
6. In the Type drop-down menu, select the Drawing type.
7. In the Element section, select one of the following:‣

Create New Element: Create an independent column with its own drawing folder.

‣

Reuse Existing Folder: Link your column to an existing folder within the Element folder ofyour scene. If you select this option, in the Folder drop-down field, select the folder to which
you want to link your new column.

‣

Use Existing Element:Use drawings from an existing column in the new column. Bothcolumns will be attached to the same set of drawings, but their timing will remain

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independent from one another. If you modify one of the drawings, it will be modified in bothcolumns. This is the same principle as the Clone column.
If you selected the Use Existing Element option, in the Name drop-down field, select thecolumn 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 the layer to contain vector drawings. Most of the time, the Vector option will beenabled.

‣If you deselected the Vector option, from the Bitmap Format list, select which type ofbitmap image you want to insert in the column. Select the SCAN type if you are planning toscan drawings using the Toon Boom Harmony Scan module.

‣

If you deselected the Vector option and you chose the SCAN type, from the Scan Typemenu, select what kind of scanning you want to achieve.

‣

In the Field Chart field, when importing traditional animation, indicate the size of paper onwhich the animation 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 be deleted.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline’s Layer toolbar, click the Delete Layers‣

Right-click on the selection and select Delete.

The Confirm Delete dialog box opens.

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Select the Delete Drawing Files and Element Folders option to delete all drawings andfolder linked to this layer.

3. Select the Delete Xsheet Columns option if you also want to delete the existing column in the
Xsheet view.

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 View 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 thedrawings and folders 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 todisplay again in the future.

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Layer and Column Properties
Each element has its own set of properties that can be modified, including effect and peg layers.
If you want to modify some of the element’s properties, display the Layer Properties or Column
Properties editor. You can display the Layer Properties editor from the Timeline or Network view as a
dialog box or open the Layer Properties 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

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Rename the layer•

Enable or disable the layer•

Adjust parameters for bitmap format, scan type and field chart

How to display the Column Properties editor from the Xsheet view
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet view, double-click on a column’s header.

‣In the Xsheet view, right-click on a column's header and select Column Editor.

‣

Press Shift + E.

How to display the Layer Properties editor
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Windows > Layer Properties.

‣

In the Timeline view, double-click on a layer.

‣

Press Shift + E.

‣

In the Network view, click on the module’s yellow properties button.

2. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the layer whose properties you want to view.
The Xsheet column will not open the Layer Properties editor, but it will show the column properties
allowing you to modify settings related to the Xsheet column.

Modifying Layers and Columns
Once you add layers and columns to your project, you can modify their properties, names, orordering.
You can change the order of your elements in the Timeline view and Xsheet view. When you change theorder of your elements in one view, the other one is updated.
The Element Manager lets you add, delete or modify elements (drawing folders) in your scene. If you
have drawing folders that are not linked to a column in your scene, use the Element Manager to deletethem if needed.

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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.

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 thatthe column 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.

‣

Drop it between the existing layers. Timeline layers that are located above the selection aredisplayed in front it. Layers located under it in the Timeline View are displayed behind it.

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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 dialog box‣ From the top menu, select Scene > Element Manager.

Interface Element

ActionElements

Displays a list of the elements
contained in your scene.

Delete Elements

Deletes the selected elements.

Delete Elements and Directories

Deletes the selected layer, as well as
its directories (drawing folder).

Add/Modify Element

Use this area to add or modify an element.

NameType a new name in this field to create
an element or to rename the selected
element.

VectorCheck this box if the new element is a vector
drawing or if you want to enable the parameters on the selected element in the Elements list.

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Interface Element

ActionBitmap Format

Select the file format of the bitmap layerfrom the drop-down list

Scan TypeIf you are planning to scan elements with theToon Boom Harmony Scan module, selectthe scan type from the drop-down list.

Field Chart

If you are importing traditional animation,
select the size of the paper on which theanimation was drawn.

Add

Creates a new element with the current parameters entered in the Add/Modify Element
section.

ModifyApplies the parameter changes made to theselected 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. In the Network view,
you can duplicate the selected modules in the same way.

How to duplicate an element
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, click the layer you want to duplicate.

2. From the top menu, select Edit > Duplicate.
3. In the Xsheet view or Timeline view toolbar, click the Duplicate Drawing

button.

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 samedrawings as the original. 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.

•You can copy the columns timing, so drawings and timings remain linked.

You can clone selected modules from the Network view in the same way.
This feature is useful when you want to reuse a hand-drawn animation but have different timings.

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How to clone an element
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the layer or column you want to clone.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Clone.

‣In the Xsheet View toolbar, click the Clone Selected Columns: Drawings Only‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Clone to clone the columns' drawings only.

‣

From the Timeline View menu, select Layers > Clone Selected Layers: Drawings Only or
Layers > Clone Selected Layers: Drawings Only.

‣

In the Xsheet View or Timeline View toolbar, click the Clone Selected Layers/Columns:
button.
Drawings Only

button.

The new cloned layer or column appears.

Adding an Annotation Column
The Annotation columns are useful for marking actions, corrections or other information related toyour animation that you want to draw or write. This way, you can print your Xsheet, take it back toyour animation table and work with the annotations.

How to add an annotation column
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet View menu, select Columns > Add Columns.

‣

In the Xsheet View toolbar, click the Add Columns‣

Press Shift + C.

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.

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Drawing and Typing in the Annotation Column

In the annotation column, you can type in your notes and relevant information, as well as draw
sketches and ideas that will be useful in producing your animation.

How to draw in the Annotation column
Before you can draw in the Annotation column, you must first activate the Enable Drawing option toactivate the Drawing mode.

Pen tablet pressure sensitivity is not supported in the Annotation column.

1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet View menu, select Annotation > Enable Drawing.

‣

In the Annotation column header, click to cycle through the icons, until the Brushdisplayed.

icon isThe 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
Typing in an Annotation column is independent from the Drawing mode. You can be in either mode

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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 (MacOS X)..

2. In the selected cell, type the desired text.

To learn about typing values in the Xsheet view, refer to Typing Exposure on page 238.

How to erase part of a drawn annotation using Erasing mode
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.

1. In the Annotation column header, click to cycle through the icons until the Eraser
displayed.

icon is2. In the column, click and drag the cursor on top of the drawn annotation to erase parts of it.

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When using a pen on a tablet, you MUST flip your pen to the eraser side for the eraser to work.

How to erase an Annotation column selection
1. In the Annotation column header, click to cycle through the icons until the Selectdisplayed.

icon is2. In the Xsheet view, select the cell range you want to clear of text or drawn annotations. A selection
is indicated by four pairs of dots on the left side of a cell. Do not select any cells if you plan to clear
everything.

3. In the Xsheet view, right-click in the Annotation column.
4. Do one of the following:‣

Select Annotation > Erase All to erase the entire content of the column.

‣

Select Annotation > Erase Selected Images to erase the images contained in the selected
cell range.

‣

Select Annotation > Erase Selected Texts to erase the text contained in the selected cellrange.

Changing the Drawing Settings
You can change the pen size and colour when you draw in the Annotation column.

How to change the pen width
1. Right click on a frame within an annotation column or in the Xsheet View menu, select Annotation> Pen Width.
2. Do one of the following:‣

Select a pen width preset.

‣

Select Change Current.

If you selected the Change Current option, the Pen Width dialog box opens.

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3. In the Pen Width field, type the number of pixels you want the pen size to be.
4. Click OK.

How to change the pen colour
1. In the Xsheet View menu, select Annotation > Change Pen Colour.
The Select Colour dialog box opens.

2. Choose the new colour.
3. Click OK.

Displaying Tick Marks
When working with the Annotation columns, it is useful to display tick marks on odd-numberedframes.

To display the tick marks, you must run a short script.

How to display tick marks
1. From the top menu, select Windows > Script Editor.

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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 File 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.

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.

Importing an Annotation FileIf you scanned your paper exposure sheet’s annotations or if you need to place some pictures ordrawings in the annotation columns, you can easily import them.

How to import annotation files
1. In the Xsheet view, select the first cell in the annotation column where you want the imported
image to start.

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2. Right click on the frame or from the Xsheet view menu, select Annotation > Import File.
3. Browse for the bitmap image to import.
4. Click Open.
The image appears in the annotation column.

Linking External Files with Timing Columns
Timing columns are unique in that they can reference a source folder outside of the project folder tobring images into the project. For example, you may have background scenes created in a third party
software that you might need to update in the future; by using Timing columns, you can dynamicallylink your backgrounds, expose different backgrounds at different times, and have live, automatic
updating capabilities.

If the project file is moved, or the folder that the column is linked to is moved, then dynamic linking isbroken and the images that were in that folder will disappear in Toon Boom Harmony.

How to use a Timing column
1. In the Xsheet view, click on the Add Columns

button.

2. In the Add Column dialog box, type in the name of the new column, then from the Type menu,
select Timing.
3. Do one of the following:‣

Click OK if you are finished.

‣

Click Apply if you want to continue adding more columns and column types.

A peach coloured column appears in the Xsheet with the name you typed in, and for the header,<unused>.

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4. In the Network view, add a new element module.
5. Open the Layer Properties editor by clicking on the yellow square of the module.
6. In the Drawing tab, select the Timing Columns option.
7. In the Name field, enter the path of the folder you want to access. If you use the Browse button tolocate a folder, you must select a file in the folder you want and then delete the dash and the suffix(for example, background-01 should be renamed to background) from the file name in thefield. If you leave the full file name selected, Harmony will display that file for the entire duration of
the scene, regardless of the contents of the Timing Column field.

This means that all the images in the folder that you are linking to are named using the naming convention
described above. If for some reason you are unable to access a certain directory, type the directory
extension directly in the path extension field at the top of the browser window.

8. In the Timing Column field, click the Arrow button to create a new timing column, or select thename of the column from the list. If you have an element directory selected in the Name field, theTiming Column will indicate which files are called from that element directory. Remember that thefile displayed at each frame is based on the element name, cell label, and extension. If the element
is toto, the timing column is labeled 1, 2, and 3, and the extension is TVG, Harmony will display
drawings totobody-1.tvg, totobody-2.tvg, and totobody-3.tvg at the selected frames.

In the Xsheet, the <unused> header changes to the name of the module in the Network view.
9. From the Extension list, select the file format of the files you want to display.
10. Click OK.
11. In the Xsheet view, in the Timing column, type the number that corresponds to the suffix of thedrawing file that you want to expose to make it appear in the Camera view.

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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 below•

Typing Exposure on the next page•

Holding Exposure on page 240•

Extending a Single Exposure on page 241•

Extending an Exposure Sequence on page 242•

Dragging Cells on page 242•

Increasing and Decreasing Exposure on page 245•

Inserting Blank Cells on page 248•

Deleting Exposure on page 247•

Setting the Exposure on page 249•

Filling a Selection with a Single Exposure on page 250•

Filling a Selection with a Sequence on page 251•

Filling a Selection Randomly on page 253•

Filling Empty Cells on page 254•

Creating Cycles on page 255•

Managing Drawings on page 259•

Renaming a Drawing on page 259•

Deleting a Drawing on page 260•

Duplicating a Drawing on page 261•

Copying and Pasting Drawings on page 261•

Merging Drawings on page 264

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.

How to toggle between Overwrite and Insert modes
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the bottom-right corner of the Xsheet view, click the Overwrite/Insert button.

‣

Press I.

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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.

Insert Mode
The Insert mode is the opposite of the Overwrite mode. When you add a new value or a new value
sequence over existing ones, the new values are inserted between the old ones. The existing timing
sequence is pushed down the column.

Typing Exposure
To fill in your exposure, you can directly type the values in the Xsheet view and Timeline view.

How type a value in the Timeline view
If you want to type an exact drawing name or value into the Timeline view, you must use the Data
view section of the Timeline.

You can only use alphanumeric values. (0-9, a-z, underscore (_) and dash (-)).

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1. In the Timeline view, click the Show Data View

button.

2. In the Drawing Substitution field, type the name of the drawing you want to create, and press
Enter/Return.

How to type values in the Xsheet view

You can only use alphanumeric values. (0-9, a-z, underscore (_) and dash (-)).

1. In an Xsheet column, double-click on one 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.

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Holding Exposure
Drawings in an animation project are not always exposed on a single frame; they are often exposed
for more than one frame. The most common exposure of a drawing is two frames. In the industry, thistype of exposure is known as animation in double frames or animation on twos. A drawing can also be
exposed for three, four, five cells and so on. To prevent mistakes and save time, the Xsheet lets you
hold your cells automatically as you type.
The Set Exposure option allows you to choose how many frames you want to hold for your exposure.

•This option is only available in the Xsheet view.

•

The selected Set Exposure settings will be kept from session to session. You will nothave to set them every time you use Toon Boom Harmony.

How to hold exposure
1. In the Xsheet View menu, select Exposure > Hold Exposure > Hold 2 Cells.
2. In the Xsheet view, right-click and select Exposure > Set Exposure To > Set Exposure to 1, 2,3,
or Set Exposure.
3. 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.

‣If you selected Set Exposure, the Set Exposure dialog box opens. You can hold as manycells as needed.

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Extending a Single Exposure
Extending the exposure lets you select an Xsheet cell that contains a value and pull it down to thedesired 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.

The red selection box must be visible when releasing the mouse button. If not, the action is considered
cancelled.

How to extend a sequence from the top menu
1. Do one of the following:‣

In 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.

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Extending an Exposure Sequence
When working with a sequence that contains only numbers, you can extend an exposure sequence in asimilar manner 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
cursor.

3. Hold down the Shift key. Make sure a plus (+) sign appears.
4. Pull down the selection box to the desired frame.

The red selection box must be visible when releasing the mouse button. If not, the action is considered
cancelled.

5. First release the Shift key, then release the mouse button.

Dragging Cells
To readjust your timing, you can drag one or several cells to a new location. You can drag a cell to any
other frame in the same column or into another column.

How to drag a cell to another location in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select one or several cells to move.

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2. Click on the cells selection and drag it to the new location.

3. Drop the selection. Do one of the following:‣

Drop by simply releasing the mouse or pen to overwrite the existing cells.

‣

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 to insert the selection between the 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, select the small dotted areaon the left side of the selected cells.

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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 thecells. The original selection will not be moved.

‣

Press Shift while dropping the selection to insert it between the existing frames.

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You can turn off the Gestural Drag Mode for the Xsheet view to prevent drawings from being
dragged from one location to another.

How to turn off the Gestural Drag mode
1. Do one of the following:‣ In the Xsheet view, right-click and deselect the Gestural Drag Mode option.
‣ Click the Toggle Gestural Drag Mode button (you may have to customize the toolbar to displayit).

The dragging pad disappears when the Gestural Drag mode is off.

This feature does not apply to Annotation columns.

Increasing and Decreasing Exposure
Once a value is entered in the Timeline or Xsheet view, you can increase and decrease its exposure.

How to increase exposure
Increasing the exposure adds one more exposure to a selected cell; repeating this action adds anextra cell each time. This is an efficient way of extending a drawing exposure and is always set inInsert mode. Increasing an exposure pushes the existing exposure ahead.
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell.

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2. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Increase Exposure.

‣

Right-click on the selected cell and select Exposure > Increase Exposure.

‣Press +.

‣In the Xsheet or Timeline View toolbar, click the Increase Exposure

button.

How to decrease exposure
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Decrease Exposure.

‣

Right-click on the selected cell and select Exposure > Decrease Exposure.

‣In the Xsheet or Timeline View toolbar, click the Increase Exposure‣

Press -.

button.

How to increase and decrease exposure using the Increase/Decrease Exposure field
You can use this option in the Xsheet view to increase or decrease the exposure of a selected drawing.
1. In the Xsheet view, select the cell to modify.

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2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet's bottom right-corner, enter the number of cells over which the drawing will be
exposed.

‣In the Xsheet’s bottom-right corner, increase or decrease the drawing’s exposure byclicking the up or down arrows.

‣

Press + to increase exposure.

‣Press - to decrease exposure.

How to use the Clear Exposure and Pull feature
You can use this option to reduce a drawing’s exposure.
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select or range of cells.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Clear Exposure and Pull.

‣

Right-click on the selected cell and select Exposure > Clear Exposure and Pull.

‣

In the Xsheet or Timeline View toolbar, click the Clear Exposure and Pullbutton.

3. 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 theTimeline or Xsheet view, you are not deleting the actual drawing file. You can always retrieve it bytyping its name again in a cell.

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You can delete the exposure contained in a selected cell range or delete the entire exposure of adrawing exposed over several cells . Note that you can also delete the exposure for drawings
contained 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:‣

In the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Clear Exposure.

‣In the Timeline view, right-click on the selection and select Exposure > Clear Exposure.

‣In the Xsheet View toolbar, click the Clear Exposure
the toolbar to display it).

button (you may have to customize

Inserting Blank Cells
You can place an empty cell between other cells. This is always done in Insert mode and pushes down
existing exposure, even if you are set to Overwrite mode.

How to insert blank cells
1. In the Xsheet or Timeline 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 on the selected cell and select Exposure > Insert Blank Cell.

‣In the Xsheet or Timeline view toolbar, click the Insert Blank Cellto customize the toolbar to display it).

‣Press Shift + J.

The 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 the frame range to clear.

2. Right-click on the selected cells and select Clear.

Setting the Exposure
You can easily increase or decrease the exposure for a selected cell range by using the Set Exposure
options.

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, Animation > Cell > Set Exposure to > Set Exposure to 1, 2, or 3, or
Set Exposure.

‣In the Xsheet view, right click and select Exposure > Set Exposure to > Set Exposure to 1,
2, or 3, or Set Exposure.

‣In the Timeline View toolbar, click one of the Set Exposure
have to customize the toolbar to display them).

buttons (you may

3. In the Xsheet view, right-click and select Exposure > Set Exposure to > Set Exposure to 1, 2, or
3, or Set Exposure.
If you chose the Set Exposure option, the Set Exposure dialog box opens.

4. Type 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
The Fill Selection option lets you 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 manycolumns. 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 Xsheet or Timeline view, select a cell range.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Animation > Cell >Fill Selection.

‣

Click the Fill Selection
button in the Xsheet or Timeline view toolbar (you may have tocustomize the toolbar to display it).

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

The Fill Selection dialog box opens.

3. In the Value field, type the desired value.
4. To insert a keyframe 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 or higher increment, as a cycle, and so on. The sequence can be over one cell, a cellrange in one or more columns, or one or more columns.

How to fill a selection with a sequence
1. In the Xsheet or the Timeline view, select a cell range.

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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 View toolbar, click the Sequence Fillthe toolbar to display it).

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

button (you may have to customize

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 toframe. For example, an increment of 1 is used in this sequence:1-2-3-4; this sequence incrementsby 2: 1-3-5-7; and this one, by -2: 8-6-4-2.
5. In the Hold field, select an exposure holding value.
6. Select the Cycle option if you want a cycle; enter the number of cells for this cycle’s duration.

If you choose a two-cell hold, a cycle of three drawings will last for six cells.

7. If you selected a larger range than the amount of frames needed, select the End Frame option andtype the last frame needed.

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8. If you want to have more than one digit in your numbers such as “001” instead of “1”, select thePadding option and add as many pound signs (#) as digits needed. In the field, you can type aletter or word to add before the drawing number.

9. To insert a keyframe in the frame following the last cell in the selection, select the Add Key
Exposure After option. Otherwise, leave it deselected.
10. Click OK.

Filling a Selection Randomly
You can fill in random values over a selection. You can give a maximum and a minimum value andcreate a range for the system to choose the random values from. The selection can be over one cell,a cell range in one column or more, or an entire column or many entire columns.

How to fill cells randomly
1. In the 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
toolbar to 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, enable the Whole Numbers option to avoid
decimal points.
7. Click OK.

Filling Empty Cells
The Filling Empty Cells feature is used to extend the exposure of single frame drawings to fill therange 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 need to select the frame range where you want your drawings to hold their
exposure up to the next drawing and use the Fill Empty Cells command.

How to fill empty cells
1. In the Xsheet view or Timeline view, select a cell range.

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2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Fill Empty Cells.

‣

In the Timeline View toolbar, click on the Fill Empty Cells

button.

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 inseveral ways.
You can loop your drawings using the following commands:•

Paste Cycle•

Paste Reverse•

Create Cycle
When you create a drawing cycle, all of the repeated drawings are linked to the same original files.
This means that when you modify, repaint, or correct a drawing named “1,” all drawings named “1”255Chapter 8: Timing Filling Exposure

are updated simultaneously. In order to modify a drawing independently from its other exposures,
you must duplicate the drawing.

How to create a cycle
1. In the Timeline view, select the cell range to loop.

2. In the Timeline View toolbar, click the Create Cycle
toolbar to display it).

button (you may have to customize the

The Create Cycle dialog box opens.

3. Enter the number of cycles you want, including the current selection.

How to paste a cycle
1. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the cell range to loop.

2. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy.
3. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the cell where you want your cycles to start.

4. Do one of the following:256

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)‣

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.

5. 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.

6. 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 selectionand ending with the last.

‣

Reverse: Pastes cycles in the reverse order of the original selection, starting with the lastcell of your selection and ending with the first one.

‣

Forward > Reverse: Pastes the first cycle in your selection as is, then the following one inreverse order. This repeated until all cycles are pasted.

‣

Reverse > Forward: Pastes the first cycle in your selectionin reverse order, then thefollowing one as is. This repeated until all cycles are pasted.

7. Click OK.

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 OS X).

How to paste a reversed cycle
1. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the cell range to paste in reverse order.

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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 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).

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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 and not the cells.
This section is divided as follows:•

Renaming a Drawing below•

Deleting a Drawing on the next page•

Duplicating a Drawing on page 261•

Copying and Pasting Drawings on page 261•

Merging Drawings on page 264

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 Xsheet or Timeline view, select the drawing to rename.

2. Do one of the following:
In the Xsheet or Timeline View toolbar, click the Rename Drawing
customize the toolbar to display it).
‣button (you may have to

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

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 and deformation animation.
1. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select your drawing sequence. Note that you can only select adrawing range in one column or layer at the time.
2. Right-click and select Drawings > Rename Drawing with Prefix.
The Rename Drawing with Prefix dialog box opens.

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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 Xsheet or Timeline view, select the drawing sequence to be renamed.

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.

Deleting a drawing file is an operation that cannot be undone.

How to delete a drawing
1. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the drawings to delete.

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2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Delete Selected Drawings.

‣

Right-click and select Drawings > Delete Selected Drawings.

Duplicating a Drawing
If you want to modify a drawing that already exists, but keep the original drawing intact, you canduplicate the drawing and work on the copy. When duplicating a drawing, the selected cell is replacedwith 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 Xsheet or Timeline view, select the drawing to duplicate.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Duplicate Drawing.

‣

Right-click and select Drawings > Duplicate Drawings.

‣

In the Xsheet view toolbar, click the Drawing > 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.
If you want to copy and paste the selected drawings into a different layer or paste the selection in thesame layer to duplicate the drawings, you must use the Paste Special feature.
There are three methods of pasting your selected drawings with the Paste Special dialog box:

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Never Create Drawing Files: Pastes all of your drawings as is. If there is a drawing in a cell, it isoverwritten by the pasted selection.

•

Always Create Drawings: Pastes all of your drawings as is, unless a pasted drawing has thesame name as an existing one. In this case, the pasted drawing is duplicated and renamed.

•

Only Create Drawings When They Do Not Exist: Pastes only the drawings that are named
differently from existing drawings. If a drawing has the same name as an existing one, it isignored and not pasted. This avoids the duplication of drawings in your layers.
This option is useful when you are pasting cut-out character templates containing drawings you
may already have in your scene and some new ones. Using this option, you only paste the new
drawings and are not duplicating all of the other parts you already have.

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 samesettings as in the most recent Paste Special operation, without opening the Paste Special dialog box.

How to paste drawings with the Paste Special command
1. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the drawings to copy and press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or⌘ + C (Mac OS X).

2. In the Xsheet or Timeline 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 View toolbar, click the Paste Special
customize the toolbar to display it).

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

The Paste Special dialog box opens.

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button (you may need toToon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

4. Select the Basic tab.
5. In the Drawings section, select an option: Always Create Drawings or Only Create Drawings
When They Do Not Exist.

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 Xsheet or Timeline view toolbar, click the Paste Special Again
have to customize the toolbar to display it).

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

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Chapter 8: Timing Merging Drawings

Merging Drawings
There are two methods of merging drawings.
•

You can merge selected drawings in adjacent elements. The columns and layers will be left
intact, and each new 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 bedeleted, but the original drawing files are still accessible.

How to merge selected drawings
1. In the Xsheet view, select the drawings you want to merge.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet View menu, select Columns> Merge Selected Drawings.

‣

In the Timeline View menu, select Layers > Merge Selected Drawings.

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3. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet View menu, select Columns > Merge Selected Columns.

‣

In the Timeline View menu, select Layers > Merge Selected Layers.

In the Xsheet view, the right-most column will contain the merged drawings and the remainingcolumns will be left blank at the corresponding frames. In the Timeline view, the bottom timelinelayer will contain the merged drawings from all layers and the other layers will be left blank at thecorresponding frames. Drawings are not deleted 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.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet View menu, select Columns > Merge Selected Columns.

‣

In the Timeline View menu, select Layers > Merge Selected Layers.

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In the Xsheet view, the right-most column will contain the merged drawings and the other columns
will be deleted. In the Timeline view, the bottom timeline layer will contain the merged drawings
from all layers and the other layers will be deleted. Drawings are not deleted and are still accessible.

Modifying the Layer and Column Display
You can change the way a layer in the Timeline view or a column in the Xsheet view display. You canstay organized without changing the content of elements or your animation output.
This section is divided as follows:•

Expanding and Collapsing Layers and Columns below•

Showing and Hiding Layers on the facing page•

Showing and Hiding Columns on page 269•

Modifying the Look of the Column on page 271•

Xsheet Thumbnails on page 276•

Changing the Colour of a Layer or Column on page 276•

Setting Scene Markers on page 278•

Setting Tempo Markers on page 281

Expanding and Collapsing Layers and Columns
To simplify the look of the Xsheet or Timeline view, you can expand and collapse your timeline layers
and 3D columns. If some timeline layers are parented to other ones, you can collapse the parent layer
to hide its children.

How to collapse or expand a layer selection in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select the layer(s) to collapse or expand.
2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click on the selection and select Collapse/Expand > Collapse/Expand.

‣

Click the Expand Children Arrow‣

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

‣

Click the Collapse/Expand

button on the parent layer.

button (you may have to customize the toolbar to display it).

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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 View toolbar, click the Collapse All
have to customize the toolbar to display them).

‣

Press 0 and 9.

or Expand All

buttons (you may

How to collapse and expand 3D path or rotation columns in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet View 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.

‣

or Expand Selection
In the Xsheet View toolbar, click the Collapse Selection
buttons (you may have to customize the toolbar to display it).

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 > Expand All or Collapse
All.

‣

Press 0 and 9.

‣

In the Xsheet View toolbar, click the Collapse All
have to customize the toolbar to display it).

or Expand All

buttons (you may

Showing and Hiding Layers
As you work in the Drawing or Camera view, some layers may be in the way or are used as references.
You can hide 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.

How to show or hide all layers
1. Do one of the following:‣ In the Timeline View toolbar, click the Enable All

button (you may have to customize thetoolbar to display it).

‣ In the Timeline view’s Layer toolbar, click the Enable/Disable Alllayers.

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How to show or hide individual layers
1. Do one of the following:‣ In the Timeline View toolbar, click the Enable/Disable

button (you may have to customize thetoolbar to display it).

‣ On the right side of the Timeline view, select or deselect the layer’s checkbox.

When you deselect a layer in the Timeline view, the corresponding column is hidden in the Xsheetview.

How to enable the selected layer and disable all others
1. Do one of the following:‣ In the Timeline View toolbar, click the Disable All Others

button (you may have to customize

the toolbar to display it).

‣ In the Timeline view’s Layer toolbar, click the Show Selection and Hide All Others

button.

In the Timeline view, you can hide or show certain types of layers such as Group and Effect.

How to show and hide layer types in the Timeline view
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the Timeline View menu, select View > Show > Show Manager.

‣

You can also select View > Show > Show Sounds, Show Effects or Show Groups toimmediately show or hide the selected type. This option will remain only for the current
session. When you close and reopen Harmony, the default settings will return.

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 tostart the application. Click Restore Default to restore the settings used when installing theapplication.

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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 can display all the columns contained in the exposure
sheet. It can be 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 an entire column type, such as Drawing or Sound.
When a column is hidden in the Xsheet view, the corresponding layer is disabled in the Timeline view.

How to show or hide columns in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet View 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 view toolbar, click the Hide Selected Column
customize the toolbar to display it).

button (you may have to

How to show a hidden column in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet view menu, click on the thick grey line that represents a hidden column. You can also
right-click on the column header and select Show Hidden Columns.

The Show Hidden Columns dialog box opens.

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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 deselcted all selected columns.

How to show all columns‣

In the Xsheet view 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.

2. Select the types of columns you want to display and disable the ones you want to hide.
3. Click Set As Default if you want to make these new settings the default ones that will be used eachtime to start the application.
4. Click Restore Default if you want to restore the settings used when installing the application.

How to show or hide Xsheet columns using the Column List
1. In the Xsheet view 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.

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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 type you want to show or hide.

Column Type butAction
tonShow/Hide All Columns
Show/Hide Drawing Columns
Show/Hide Function Columns
Show/Hide 3D Path Columns
Show/Hide Sound Columns
Show/Hide 3D Rotation Columns
Show/Hide Annotation Columns

How to show or hide function columns on the left side of the Xsheet view
1. Right-click on a column and select Tag > Function Columns Visible or Function Columns
Invisible.

Modifying the Look of the Column
In Harmony, you can modify the way the column displays drawings, empty cells and the column width.
You can modify the following elements:

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Empty cells•

Row units•

Held exposure•

Column width

How to modify the look of empty cell
1. From the Xsheet View menu, select View > Empty Cells > With an “X” or Blank.

How to modify row units
1. From the Xsheet View menu, select View > Row Units > Frames or Feet.

How to modify the look of a held exposure‣

In the Xsheet View menu, select View > Held Exposures > Line or Value.

How to modify column width
1. In the Xsheet view, select any column to modify the width.
2. From the Xsheet view menu, select View > Set Columns Width.
The Xsheet Column Width dialog box opens.

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3. In the Column Width field, enter the desired width in pixels.
4. To end the operation:‣

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 View menu, select 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 willoften arise. Harmony also 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 tocreate your own.
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 the Onion Skin and Flip toolbars.

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You can create custom shortcuts for the Drawing Identification options in the Preferences dialog box.

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 Timelineview.
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 View menu, you canalso 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 isused to remove a Key or Breakdown marker.

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.

If the drawingTypes.d folder does not exist, you must create it. To do so, copy the
resources folder from the following location.
•

Windows: C:/Program Files (x86)/Toon Boom Animation/Harmony
11.1/resources/drawingTypes.d•

Mac OS X: /Applications/Harmony 11.1/resources/drawingTypes.d•

Linux:/usr/local/ToonBoomAnimation/ProductNameVersion/resources/drawingTypes.d

Stand-alone‣

Windows: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Toon Boom Animation\Toon
Boom Harmony\full-1100-pref\drawingTypes.d‣

Mac OS X: /Users/USERNAME/Library/Preferences/Toon Boom
Animation/Toon Boom Harmony/full-1100-pref/drawingTypes.d

The Library folder is usually hidden in the Finder. To see all the hidden folders and files,
type the following in a terminal window:
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES‣

Linux: /home/USERNAME/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom Harmony/full1100-pref/drawingTypes.d/

Network
In Harmony Network, the path is global for all users so you must create the folder and place in/USA_DB.
‣/USA_DB/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 thisclosing tag: </DrawingTypes>.

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Chapter 8: Timing Merging Drawings‣<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 file extension.

‣

OnionIcon.png: Write the name of the icon that you created to appear in the Onion Skin
toolbar. Include the file extension.

8. Save the file and close it.
9. Start Harmony.

Xsheet Thumbnails
When there are a large number of columns in the exposure sheet, it is not always easy to quickly
identify a particular column. Displaying the column thumbnails makes this easier. This option displays asmall thumbnail picture of the current frame below the column header.

How to display the thumbnails
1. In the Xsheet view, select View > Show Thumbnails.
The thumbnails appear.

Changing the Colour of a Layer or Column
To easily identify elements in the Timeline or Xsheet view, you can change the colour of layers andcolumns. The colours you choose will be reflected in the Network view.

How to change the layer’s colour in the Timeline view
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline view, click the colour swatch 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,selected colour for easy identification. The corresponding column colour is also updated.

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 View toolbar, click the Default Track Colour
the toolbar to display it).

button (you may have to customize

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.

4. Click OK.

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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 in the frame counter area. You
can use it to denote anything relevant to your work. You can indicate at 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 ascene marker, which is displayed when you hover over the scene marker.
There are two ways to add a scene marker. You can make a frame range selection and mark thatwhole section or simply mark the current frame.

How to mark the current frame
1. In the Timeline view, make sure the 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, which means
where the red playhead is.
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, orthe colour of the last scene marker you created.

3. Double-click the Colour box to select a colour for your scene marker.
4. In the Note field, enter text to display a tooltip.

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5. Click OK.
6. In the Timeline view, the scene marker is displayed at the current frame. Hover over the scene
marker to display its note as a tooltip.

How to create a scene marker on a frame range
1. In the Timeline view frame counter, select the frame range on which you want to mark your scene.

2. Right-click and select Scene Markers.
The Timeline Scene Marker dialog box opens. The Colour box displays a black colour swatch, orthe colour of the last scene marker you created.

3. Click the colour swatch and select a colour for the scene marker.
4. In the Note field, enter text to display as a tooltip.

5. Click OK.
6. In the Timeline view, the scene marker is displayed over the selected frame counters. Hover overthe scene marker to display its note as a tooltip.

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How to edit a scene marker

If you select only a part of a scene marker, you will not open the scene marker for editing. You will only beable to create a new scene marker to overwrite it.

1. In the Timeline view frame counter, select the entire scene marker.

2. Right-click the selection and select 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 Timeline view frame counter, at least one frame counter in the scene marker you want todelete.

2. Right-click the selection and select Delete Scene Marker.

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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 allows
you to pace your animation according to the tempo or beat of the soundtrack music or to any rhythmic
sound, such as the ticking of a clock or water leaking from a spout.

How to set the tempo markers
1. In the Xsheet View menu, select View > Set Tempo Marker or in the sound column, right-click andselect 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) inwhich a beat 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.

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Printing the Xsheet
Once you have marked all the information, corrections, and timing you want in the Xsheet view, you
can print your exposure sheet. Printing the Xsheet allows you to take it with you to your animationtable or give a copy to the animator. You can also use it to create your Xsheet skeleton directly inHarmony.

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 byclicking on the Parameters
button. You can also click PDF and select an option from themenu if you want to save a PDF version of your exposure sheet.

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.

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)

Chapter 9: Paperless Animation

Toon Boom Harmony is a powerful paperless animation software that incorporates animation anddrawing tools to make your work easier and more efficient.
Although it is a digital process, paperless animation is still hand-drawn and the fundamental principles
of animation still apply.
One of the advantages of working with paperless animation is that you do not lose time scanningelements in and testing them because everything is already digital. You can simply draw youranimation and play back your line test right away. This also saves the substantial amount of paper
required by traditional animation. Another practical advantage is the ability to undo and redo someactions that are often difficult on paper, such as erasing brush strokes.
This chapter is divided as follows:•

Preparation on page 287•

Rough Animation on page 301•

Secondary Animation on page 305•

Bringing Your Animation on Model on page 309•

Animation Clean-up on page 311•

Tools on page 317•

Advanced Tools on page 333•

Paperless Animation Preferences on page 361

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Preparation
To prepare for paperless animation with Harmony, you will need to complete the following tasks.
•

Setting Up Your Workspace below•

Setting the Scene Resolution and Length below•

Importing the Layout, Storyboard and Animatic on page 289•

Importing the Background Elements on page 292•

Creating the Drawing Elements on page 292•

Importing the Models on page 294

Setting Up Your Workspace
To sketch the animation directly in Harmony, you will mostly frequently need the Camera or Drawing
view, the Xsheet or Timeline view, and the Tool Properties and Colour views.
While drawing and animating paperless animation, you can use the Workspace Manager to save afrequently used layout and name it Paperless Animation, for example.

For more information on setting up your workspace, refer to Chapter 2: Interface in the Fundmentals
Guide.

Setting the Scene Resolution and Length
If the scene resolution was not already set by the digital layout artist or by a Toon Boom Storyboard
Pro import, it is the next step to be accomplished. The layout artist, scene planner or animator willoften take care of this task prior to the animation when working with paperless and cut-out animation.

How to set the resolution and frame rate
1. From the top menu, select Scene > Scene Settings.
The Scene Settings dialog box opens.
2. Choose a resolution from the list or enter a new one.

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3. Set your frame rate.

4. Click OK.

It is important to set the resolution before you begin to set positioning and camera moves, as it may affectthe ratio and composition.

Once you have set the resolution and frame rate, you must set the scene length by adding the rightnumber of frames to the scene. You can set the scene length from the top menu. If you do not yet
know the number of frames that will be needed, simply add some frames so you can draw different
poses. However, if you only need to draw a background and one pose, you do not need to add more
frames.

You do not need to do this step if you are importing your animatic in the QuickTime movie fileformat. The QuickTime import feature takes care of the scene length at the same time as the movie
import.

How to set the scene length
1. From the top menu, select Scene > Scene Length.
The Set Scene Length dialog box opens.

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2. Type the scene duration in the Number of Frames field.

3. Click OK.

Importing the Layout, Storyboard and Animatic

To animate a scene, you need to import your layout, storyboard or animatic, depending on which
technique you are using. The most popular method is the animatic.
If you created a digital layout prior to the scene animation, you will animate directly in that scene. In
this case, there is no need to import references since they are already there.

Importing the Animatic
If you have an animatic available, you can import it. The animatic will give you the right timing toexpose your animation poses.
There are three ways to import an animatic in a scene.

How to import a QuickTime animatic
Toon Boom lets you import QuickTime movie files in the scene, cut them as image sequences andimport the sound as an independent soundtrack.
1. From the top menu, select File > Import > Movie.
The Select QuickTime Movie window opens.

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2. Browse to your animatic.

3. Click Open.
4. The Import Movie window displays the conversion progress.

When the conversion is complete, the Import Images dialog box opens.

5. Click OK.

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How to import an image sequence animatic
You can also import an animatic composed of a sequence of bitmap images that were created in athird-party software by using the Import Images feature.
Use the same technique to import layouts and poses that were created on paper and scanned inthird-party software.
1. From the top menu, select Import > Images.
2. The Import Images dialog box opens.

3. Click OK.

How to import a Toon Boom Storyboard Pro animatic
If the animatic was created with Toon Boom Storyboard Pro, you need to create an Export to Toon
Boom function from that software. This will create your scenes and import your layout and posing
and camera moves. This must be done at the beginning of the production. When you work in
Harmony, use the same technique as you would in any QuickTime animatic.
If your project was created using Toon Boom Storyboard Pro, the animatic and camera moves are
already set in your scene and you can go ahead and import the background elements.

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Importing the Background Elements

Once the layout or animatic is set, you can import the background elements.
There are two types of background elements you can import: bitmap and vector-based.

Bitmap backgroundYou can import external bitmap background elements to your scene using the Import Images dialog
box. Be sure to deselect the Convert to Toon Boom Vector Drawing option to retain your elements
as bitmaps and preserve your colours.
To import a bitmap background, follow the procedure to import an image sequence animatic—see
Importing the Animatic on page 289. For in-depth information on importing bitmap images, refer to
Chapter 7: How to Import Bitmap Images in the Getting Started Guide.

Vector-based backgroundIf your background was painted using Harmony, it can be imported via the Template Library or with
the Import Images dialog box. Select the Convert to Toon Boom Vector Drawing option since it isalready a vector-based image.
If your background was created with a third party vector-based software, you can import it via theTemplate Library.
The external vector based formats supported are:
•

AI

•

PDF

•

SWF

Creating the Drawing Elements
Before beginning to draw in the Camera or Drawing view, you must add a drawing element to the
Xsheet or Timeline view. You will also need to select the appropriate cell in your drawing element.

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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.

3. Click OK.
The new drawing element appears in the Timeline, Xsheet and Network views.

How to add a drawing element from the Timeline view
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline View menu, select Insert > Drawing.

‣

In the Timeline view toolbar, click the Add Layers‣‣

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

The Add Drawing Layer dialog box opens.

2. In the Name field, enter a relevant element name.

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3. Do one of the following:‣

Click OK to add the layer and close the dialog box.

‣

Click Apply to add the layer and keep the dialog box open to add another layer.

‣

Click Close to cancel the operation.

The new drawing element appears in the Timeline, Xsheet and Network Views.

To learn more about creating new elements, see See "Adding New Drawing Elements" on page 218.

Importing the Models
In order to animate your characters and props, you must load the colour models and theircorresponding palettes.
Harmony makes good use of palettes. Each character can have his or her own colour palette with its
own set of colours that can be reused in all the scenes. Each zone (for example, the shirt, eyes, shoes,
and hair) can have its own colour swatch stored in the colour palette. Once the zone is painted with its
corresponding colour, the zone and the colour are linked throughout the entire scene.
There is no need to repaint each zone individually. If you modify the colour after the painting process,all the corresponding zones in all drawings and all layers are changed simultaneously.

To learn more about palettes, see Working with Palettes on page 149.

Prior to the paperless animation process, the colour stylist creates the palettes and models and storesthem in templates or colour model scenes.

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To learn about creating colour models, see Colour Styling and Colour Models on page 143.

Importing Model Templates
Once the model templates are created, you are ready to import them into the scene. From the Library,
import the appropriate templates to make the models and their palettes available in the scene.
From there, you can:•Load the palettes in the proper drawing element and•Load the drawing models to the Model view.

There is no need to obtain the right to modify the Library in order to import a template.

How to import a model template
1. Open the Template Library.
2. In the Template Library, select the colour model storage folder.

3. Select the colour models you need and drag them to the Network or Timeline view.

295Preparation‣

To create new layers and modules, drop the selection on the left side of the Timeline view.

‣

To insert the information into pre-existing layers, drop the selection on the right side of theTimeline view. In order for the template to combine with existing layers, the structure needs
to be consistent. If you cannot merge the layers together, create new layers on the left sideof the Timeline view.

When you import a template into a scene, there is no link between the Library and the scene.
Instead, a copy of all elements is created, such as drawings, effects, and trajectories. You can modify
anything copied in your scene.

Loading Palettes and Models
By importing the model templates in the scene, you have created a new drawing element. This also
saves the master palettes in your scene. These palettes are local to the scene.
The first step is to load your model in the Model view. You will then have to load the palette in youranimation column.

How to load the current drawing in the Model view
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the model's cell.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Model view menu, select Use Current Drawing as Model.

‣

Right-click on the Model view and select Use Current Drawing as Model.

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The model appears in the Model view.

Once your model is loaded, you can import palettes in the animation column/layer.
If you are animating a character or prop, it is always a good idea to use its proper palette fordrawing, especially if you need to use different colours to clean the drawing outlines. This will savethe colourist from having to load the palette and repaint with the correct colours.

How to add a palette to your element
1. In the Timeline view or Xsheet view, select the cell in the drawing element that you plan to animate.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour view menu, select Palettes > Link.

‣

Click the Link Palettebutton.

The Palette Browser window opens.

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3. Select the level in which the palette file is stored (usually Element or Scene).

4. Select the palette from the list.

5. Click OK.

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Creating the Drawings

Once your drawing elements have been created and your palettes are loaded, you are ready to create
drawings for your animation. But before creating the drawings, you should familiarize yourself with thefollowing operations.
There are two different ways to create drawings. You can create drawings automatically by letting
Harmony do it for you or by typing names (Typing mode) in the Xsheet cells.

How to automatically create a drawing
1. From the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the appropriate cell and start drawing in the Camera or
Drawing view.
Harmony creates the drawing and names it using the next available number. If there is no existingdrawing, then it will be named "1", then "2" and so on—see Paperless Animation Preferences on
page 361 to learn more about the Use Current Frame As Drawing Name option.

How to create a drawing using the Typing mode
1. To insert a drawing name in a column cell, double-click on the cell and type the name usingalphanumeric values: 0-9, a-z, underscore (_) and dash (-). By default, if you press theEnter/Return key, the cursor will move on to the next cell. If you press the Esc key, it will quit thetyping mode and return to normal mode—see See "Typing Exposure" on page 238 to learn more
about the Typing mode.

Drawing Concept
When you add a drawing element to your scene, a folder is automatically added to the scene
directory. This folder is named the same as the drawing element. Its purpose is to store all thedrawings related to this drawing element. For example, when working with cut-out animation, acharacter can have many hands available. All of these hand drawings will be contained in this folder
even if they are not exposed in the Timeline or Xsheet view. In other words, there is always a drawing
container associated with a drawing element (layer, column).
All the drawings that were scanned in or created directly in Harmony will be saved in this directory.
This means that when a value or drawing name is entered in the column, the Harmony will search the299Preparation

directory for the corresponding drawing to display. If it is unable to find it, a new drawing will becreated. The column cells are not storage places, but simply links to the corresponding directory. If
you remove a drawing from the column exposure, it will not be deleted; it is simply not displayed.
You can always access it again.
When you create a drawing cycle, all repeated drawings are linked to the same original files. So when
you modify, repaint or correct drawing 1, the entire cycle will be updated; every time drawing 1
appears, it is accessed from a single file.

Renaming a Drawing
When you want to rename a drawing, use the Rename Drawing command. Do not double-click on
the frame and write a new name, as this will create a new drawing and hide your actual drawing.
Note that your drawing will not be deleted; it is still contained inside the element folder. Simply reenter the name and it will reappear.

To learn how to rename a sequence of cells by prefix or by frame position, see See "Renaming a Drawing"on page 259.

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Rough Animation

The first step to complete a traditional paperless animation is the rough construction, which is theskeleton of your animation. You would usually start with the main action. For example, to animate awalk cycle, you will start with the torso motion and the legs. Head, arms and clothes will be added
later during the secondary animation.
For a satisfactory animation, complete the main action before adding all the details. If you start
animating all the details right away, you will lose a lot of time if you have to make corrections. Your
animation will often look too rigid.

How to animate
1. Press Ctrl + U (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + U (Mac OS X) to open the Preferences dialog box.
2. Select the Exposure Sheet tab.
3. Select the Use Current Frame as Drawing Name option. When this preference is enabled,drawings will be named like the frame they are created on (frame number).
4. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush

tool or press Alt + B.

5. In the Colour view, select a colour for the brush. It is a good idea to choose a light colour for yourrough animation. This will help you in the task that follows, the clean up process.

6. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell where the first drawing will appear.
7. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw the first key drawing.

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8. With your first cell still selected, do one of the following to mark your drawing as a key drawing.
This will help you stay organized.
‣

In the Mark Drawing toolbar, click the Mark Selected Drawings as Key‣

In the Xsheet view, select Drawings > Mark Drawing As > Key Drawing.

‣

In the Timeline view, select Drawings > Mark Drawing As > Key Drawing.

button.

9. In the Tools toolbar, click the Onion Skinbutton. The Onion Skin feature displays your previous
and next drawings as visual references to help you draw your new pose.
10. In the Timeline view, click and drag the blue onion skin markers to extend the number of previous
and next visible drawings.

11. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell where your next key drawing will appear.

12. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw your second key drawing.

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13. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, identify the drawing as a key drawing.

14. In the Xsheet view, select a cell between the two key drawings.

15. From the Timeline View toolbar, click‣to create an empty drawing or press Alt + Shift + R.

In the Xsheet view, right-click and select Drawings > Create Empty Drawing or press Alt +Shift + R.

16. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw your new pose.

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Rough Animation

17. If necessary, in the Xsheet or Timeline view, identify the new drawing as a key, breakdown or inbetween drawing using the Mark Drawing toolbar.

18. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a new cell and repeat the previous steps for each new
drawing.
19. In the Timeline view, disable the layers you do not want to show during playback by disabling thecheck box.
20. In the Playback toolbar, click the Loopbutton if you want the playback to loop.

21. In the Playback toolbar, click the Playbutton to start the animation.

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Secondary Animation

Once your rough animation is correct, you can start adding extra details, such as arms, clothes or hair.
You can add the extra details on the same layer with the same colour or you can also create a newcolour so that you can always see your original sketch.

If you want to keep your rough animation as it is to avoid any mistakes, you can add an extra drawing
element and use the Light Table feature to draw over the first drawing element. This technique can also be
used if you want to reuse your rough animation for other characters. For example, if you have a rough walkcycle, you can reuse it for another character and add its personal features in a new layer. This way, you only
need to animate the secondary animation instead of the whole body again.

How to create secondary animation on the same layer
1. In the Xsheet View, select the cell in which you want to add new details.

2. In the Colour view, create a new colour (give it the same name and add the prefix _2 or _sec, forexample) or select the same rough colour as before.
3. In the Drawing Tools toolbar, select your drawing tool.
4. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw the secondary animation.

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Secondary Animation

5. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet View, select the next cell in which you want to draw.

‣

In the Camera, Drawing or Xsheet view, press F and G to navigate between your drawings.

6. Do one of the following:‣

In the top, Drawing View or Camera View menu, select View > Onion Skin > Show Onion
Skin.

‣

In the Timeline view menu, select Onion Skin > Show Onion Skin.

‣

Press Alt + O.

7. Extend the onion skin.
8. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw the secondary animation.

9. Use the Flip and Easy Flipping toolbars to review your animation. You can also use the Playback
toolbar to play the animation in real time.

How to create your secondary animation on an extra layer
1. In the top menu, Xsheet view or Timeline view, add a new drawing element and name it properly.
2. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the rough layer's timing.

3. Copy the timing and in the top menu, select Edit > Paste Special or Ctrl + B (Windows/Linux) or ⌘+ B (Mac OS X).
4. Choose Never create drawing files from the options to paste the timing but not the drawing files.

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5. In the Drawing view, enable the Light Table.
6. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet view, click the Columns List Panel‣In the Timeline view, on its left-hand side, disable the extra columns.

button to view and disable columns.

7. In the Xsheet View, select the cell where you want to add the new details.

8. In the Colour Palette, create a new colour (give it the same name and add the prefix _2 or _sec, forexample) or select the same rough colour as before.
9. In the Drawing Tools toolbar, select your drawing tool.
10. In the Drawing or Camera view, draw the secondary animation.

11. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet View, select the next cell in which you want to draw.

‣

In the Camera, Drawing or Xsheet view, press F and G to navigate between your drawings.

12. Do one of the following:307

Secondary Animation‣

In the top, Drawing View or Camera View menu, select View > Onion Skin > Show Onion
Skin.

‣

In the Timeline view menu, select Onion Skin > Show Onion Skin.

‣

Press Alt + O.

13. Extend the onion skin.
14. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw the secondary animation.

15. Use the Flip and Easy Flipping toolbars to review your animation.

You can also use the Playback toolbar to play the animation in real time.

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Bringing Your Animation on ModelIf your primary and secondary animation were done as a rough drawing, it is now time to put yourdrawing on model. This means that you have to review your animation and ensure that every single
detail is on model and there is no volume distortion. You can do this directly on the original sketch
layer or on a new layer.
If your primary and secondary animation was done quite on model, you can proceed directly to theanimation clean-up. If not, proceed the same way as you did for the secondary animation task to bringyour animation on model.

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Animation Clean-up

When your rough animation is ready, it is time to clean it up and ink it. The clean-up is also called
tracing. It consists of tracing solid and clean lines over the rough animation to get closed zones. This is
the final paperless animation step before the ink and paint step.
You will need to add a new drawing layer to create your cleaned up drawing. This is the equivalent ofadding a sheet of paper and tracing the rough using the animation disk.

Tracing in a New Layer

If you plan on tracing your animation in the Drawing view, enable the light table to display all the layers inyour project.

How to trace your animation in a new layer
1. In the Timeline View toolbar, click the Add Drawing Layerbutton.

2. In the Timeline view, click the Lockbutton of the layer containing your rough animation to avoid
selecting the layer in the Camera view.

3. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, in the new layer, select the cell corresponding to the first key
drawing of your rough animation.
4. In the Tools toolbar, select the drawing tool of your choice. The Pencil

tool is recommended.

5. In the Colour view, select a colour for tracing your animation. A dark bold colour, such as black,
would ensure that it contrasts well with the light colour of your rough animation.
6. In the Camera or Drawing view, start tracing the first key drawing.

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Animation Clean-up

7. If you have some other layers in the way, you can disable them temporarily from the Timeline viewso that only the rough animation and clean-up layer are displayed in the Camera view.
8. In the Tools toolbar, click the Onion Skinbutton and pull on the blue onion skin handles in theTimeline view to extend the number of frames you can see.
9. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the next cell corresponding to a rough drawing.
10. In the Camera view, trace your next drawing.

11. Repeat the previous steps for each drawing.

This method allows you to keep the roughs and the cleans intact. You only need to disable the rough layer
to prevent it from appearing in the scene.

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Tracing Directly Over

Tracing or cleaning directly over means to clean your drawing in the same cell. This method avoids
adding too many layers to your scene or demanding too much power from a low performancegraphics card when using the light table or onion skinning. However, the rough animation has to be
removed.
This technique is the equivalent of sketching on paper with a blue animator pencil and then inking
directly onto it in black. Harmony allows you to select all the zones using a certain colour from yourpalette. Then you can trace over your sketch with a different colour. Once you are done, you can selectall the zones painted with the sketch colour and delete them, keeping only the clean drawing.

How to trace directly over your rough animation
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet View, select the first rough drawing to clean.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Colour view, if you have already made a palette for this character, select its outline
colour.

‣Create a new colour in your palette and select it. It is recommended to name it Clean orTrace.

3. Select a drawing tool.
4. In the Camera or Drawing View, trace over your rough model.

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Animation Clean-up

5. Do one of the following:‣

In the Drawing or Camera view menu, select View > Onion Skin > Show Onion Skin.

‣In the Timeline view menu, select Onion Skin > Show Onion Skin.

‣

Press Alt + O.

6. In the Timeline view, extend the onion skin.
7. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet View, select the next cell in which you want to draw.

‣

In the Camera, Drawing or Xsheet view, press F and G to navigate between your drawings.

8. In the Camera or Drawing view, trace your next drawing.

9. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for each drawing.
10. Use the Flip and Easy Flipping toolbars to review your animation. You can also use the Playback
toolbar to play the animation in real time.
11. Once the drawings are completed, select the rough colour from the Colour view.

12. Do one of the following:‣

In the Drawing or Camera View menu, select Edit > Select Strokes With Current Colour.

‣

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

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13. In the Drawing or Camera View, Press Delete to delete the selected zone.

14. Repeat steps 10 to 13 for each drawing.

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)Tools
To understand paperless animation, you must first discover the tools available. There are, of course,
drawing tools, but also practical features such as setting a drawing as a key, breakdown or inbetween.
When you create hand-drawn animation digitally, there are certain tools you require in order to work
efficiently, as you would with an animation table, paper and pencils.
The onion skin and light table are used to preview previous and next drawings, cells, elements andframes. When designing or animating, it is very useful to see your previous drawings. Just as if you
were building a cut-out puppet, you want to view other drawing elements to know where to draw the
new element.

Onion Skin

The Onion Skin
tool lets you preview the previous and next drawings. By default, the previous
drawings appear in a shade of red and the next drawings are displayed with a shade of green. You
can change these colours in the Preferences dialog box.
In the Drawing view, onion skinned drawings are based on the actual number of drawings before andafter the current drawing. In the Camera view, onion skinned drawings can be based on actual
drawings or the drawings in the frames before and after the current drawing.

How to enable onion skinning
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select View > Onion Skin > Show Onion Skin.

‣In the Timeline view, click the Onion Skinturns red.

button on a layer. When enabled, the icon

317

‣

In the Tools toolbar, click the Onion Skin‣

Press Alt + O.

button.

How to onion skin by drawing in the Camera view
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select View > Onion Skin > Onion Skinning by Drawing.

‣

In the Camera view menu, select View > Onion Skin > Onion Skinning by Drawing.

‣

In the Timeline view menu, select Onion Skin > Onion Skinning by Drawing.

2. Click an icon, menu operation or keyboard shortcut to edit the display.
View > Onion Skin
Menu Command

Tools toolbar
icon

Keyboard Shortcut

No Previous Drawing~

Previous Drawing!

Previous Two Drawings@

Previous Three Drawings#

No Next Drawing

Ctrl + ` (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + ` (Mac OS X)

Next Drawing

Ctrl + 1 (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + 1 (Mac OS X)

Next Two Drawings

Ctrl + 2 (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + 2 (Mac OS X)

Next Three Drawings

Ctrl + 3 (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + 3 (Mac OS X)

3. In the Camera view, the previous and next drawings appear with the current one.

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Onion skinning by frame in the Camera view
1. If they are not visible, display the blue onion skin markers in the Timeline view by doing one of thefollowing:‣

From the top menu, deselect View > Onion Skin > Onion Skinning by Drawing.

‣

In the Camera view menu, deselect View > Onion Skin > Onion Skinning by Drawing.

‣

In the Timeline view menu, deselect Onion Skin > Onion Skinning by Drawing.

2. In the Timeline view, drag the blue onion skin markers to select the number of previous and next
drawings to display.

3. In the Camera view, the previous and next drawings appear with the current one.

Using the top light to modify onion skin settings
1. In the Camera or Drawing View toolbar, click the Top Lightbutton.

The Top Light dialog box opens.

2. Adjust the Onion Skin Opacity slider to modify the opacity value of the onion skin display.
3. Click OK.

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Using the Light Table

The light table is used to preview the previous and subsequent active layers in washed-out colours. It
is useful for seeing the other layers when designing, animating or cleaning up your animation.
In the Camera view, when the light table is activated, all layers but the currently selected one areshown washed-out. The display returns to the normal mode when the Select tool or a scene setup
tool is selected.
Only the currently selected drawing is displayed by default in the Drawing view. When enabling thelight table, the other layers appear as a washed-out display and are used as a reference. You can notselect or manipulate them.

How to enable the light table
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select View > Light Table.

‣

In the Drawing View toolbar, click the Light Table‣In the bottom Camera View toolbar, click the Light Table‣

Press Shift + L.

button.
button.

2. The drawings for the other layers are displayed as washed-out colours in the Camera andDrawing views.

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3. In the Timeline view, you can deselect the layers you want to hide from the light table.

Using the top light to modify light table settings
1. In the Camera or Drawing View toolbar, click the Top Lightbutton.

The Top Light dialog box opens.

2. Adjust the Light Table Opacity slider to modify the opacity value of the light table display.
3. Adjust the Light Table Wash slider to modify the washed-out value of the light table display.
4. Use the Bitmap Background Wash to modify the washed-out value of bitmap images in thescene.
5. Click OK.

Using the Rotary Table
Use the rotary table (animation disk) to rotate your Camera or Drawing view while you draw forincreased flexibility. The rotary tables in each view are independent; if you rotate the Drawing view
25 degrees, if you switch to the Camera view, you can use the rotary table in that view and rotate it
to a different angle without affecting the settings in the other view.

321How to use the rotary table
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Camera or Drawing view, press Ctrl + Alt (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Alt (Mac OS X)‣

In the Tools toolbar, click the Rotate View

button.

The rotary table appears.

2. Rotate the view to the desired angle.

3. Release the keyboard shortcut or switch to a new drawing tool.
4. Press Shift + X to reset the rotation.

Drawing Identification
The Drawing Identification tool can help you stay well organized and save time when identifying key,breakdown or in-between drawings in the Xsheet and Timeline view.
With this tool, you the animator can retain some habits from traditional paper animation, but feel
just as comfortable animating in a paperless environment.
When working with several animators, directors, or even other studios, the necessity for retakes willoften arise. You can also mark your new drawings as either Retake Key, Retake Breakdown, or
Retake In-betweens.

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If your production requires that you mark your drawing with a custom marker, you also have theoption to create your own.

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 andthe character on his back. Of course, it may vary from one animation to another.

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, thebreakdown 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 to one or the other depending on the timing and the action. Also, you can have morethan one breakdown pose between two keys.

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In-between Drawing
In-between drawings can be considered the filling drawings. Once the timing is established by the
key and breakdown poses, the in-between drawings will be added to complete the animation andmake it more fluid.
In-betweens do not necessarily need to be placed exactly in the middle of two other poses. They
can be placed closer to one or the other to create ease in or ease out of the movement.

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How to display the Mark Drawing toolbar
1. In the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > Mark Drawing.
The Mark Drawing Toolbar appears.

How to mark a drawing as a key, breakdown or in-between
1. In the Xsheet view or Timeline view, select the cell that you want to mark.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Mark Drawing toolbar, select an icon.

‣

In the Xsheet or Timeline view menu, select a command in Drawing > Mark Drawing.

‣

Right-click the selection and select Drawings > Exposure > Mark Drawing.

Mark Drawing Commands

Mark Drawing toolbar icon

Colour of marker inTimeline

Key Drawing

Red (default)

Breakdown Drawing

Blue (default)

In-between Drawing

Not applicable

Retake Key

Green

Retake BD

Yellow

Retake IB

Purple325

If you mark an in-between drawing, there is no icon displayed in the cell since it is used to remove
a key or breakdown marker.

You can change the colour of the key and breakdown markers in the Timeline view.
Refer to the Preferences Guide to learn how to customize timeline markers.

You can create your own custom shortcuts for the Drawing Identification options. Refer to thePreferences Guide to learn how to customize keyboard shortcuts.

Custom Marks in the Xsheet View
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 toolbar, but also in the Onion Skin and Flip toolbars.

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How to create your 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. Once your icons are ready, go to the Toon Boom Harmonyresources/drawingTypes.d
directory:•

Stand-alone‣

Mac OS X: /Applications/Toon Boom Harmony 11Toon Boom Harmony
11.1/resources/drawingTypes.d‣

Linux: /usr/local/ToonBoomAnimation/harmony_
11.0/resources/drawingTypes.d/‣

Windows: C:/Program Files (x86)/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom
Harmony 11.1/resources/drawingTypes.d•

Network‣

Mac OS X: /Users/*username*/Library/Preferences/Toon Boom
Animation/Toon Boom Harmony/full-1100-pref/drawingTypes.d‣

Linux:~/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom Harmony/full-1000pref/drawingTypes.d

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‣

Windows: C:/Users/*username*/AppData/Roaming/Toon Boom
Animation/Toon Boom Harmony/full-1100-pref/drawingTypes.d

4. Paste your icons in the resources/drawingTypes.ddirectory.
5. In that same directory, open the drawingTypes.xml file in a text editor.
6. For each custom icon you want to create, add the following line. Ensure it is placed before theclosing </DrawingTypes> tag.
‣

<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 theMark 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 file extension.

‣

OnionIcon.png: Write the name of the icon that you created to appear in the Onion Skin
toolbar. Include the file extension.

8. Save the file and close it.
9. Start Harmony.

Note that no marker will appear in the Xsheet view for an in-between drawing. The in-between drawing
is a regular drawing. The option is mainly used to remove a key or breakdown identification marker froma drawing.

Create Empty Drawing
The Create Empty Drawing command automatically creates a drawing in the selected cell, replacing
any drawing that may already be exposed in that cell and the following ones until it meets anotherdrawing or a blank cell.

How to create an empty drawing
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell in which you want to create an empty drawing.

2. Do one of the following:328

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In the top menu, select Animation > Create Empty Drawing.

‣

In the Xsheet view menu, select Drawings > Create Empty Drawing.

‣

In the Xsheet View toolbar, click the Create Empty Drawing‣

Press Alt + Shift + R.

button.

The new drawing is created in the Xsheet and Timeline views.

Reposition All Drawings

The Reposition All Drawings
option is used to reposition, scale, rotate or skew all drawing
strokes on every drawing included in a layer.

How to reposition all drawings
tool. This also automatically
1. From the Tools toolbar, select the Reposition All Drawings
selects every stroke in your drawing in the Drawing and Camera view.

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2. Do any of the following:‣

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

‣

To rotate, rotate the selection box handle.

‣

To scale, pull or push on the top, side, bottom or corner control points. Hold down Shiftto maintain the selection’s ratio.

‣

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

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3. When you release your cursor, every drawing in the drawing layer you repositioned, scaled,rotated or skewed will follow the same transformation.

Tips and Tricks
Here are some tips and tricks that you can use to feel more comfortable while drawing:

Texture Pen and Transparent Pen

Use the texture pen or a transparent colour for a paper sketch effect.

331

Pen Tablet

Use a pen tablet to draw with a pen instead of the mouse. This allows for increased dexterity andspeed, and accounts for pressure sensitivity.

Field Chart

Toon Boom Harmony also has a field chart included in its Camera and Drawing view. It is a useful
tool to set the height of characters and props.

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Advanced Tools
Harmony has many useful features such as the Flipping toolbar, enhanced onion skin, extra drawing
layers, and automated matte generation.
This section is divided as follows:•

Flipping and Easy Flipping Toolbars on page 335•

Onion Skin Toolbar on page 337•

Drawing Identification on page 339•

Drawing Desk on page 343•

Shift and Trace on page 347•

Art Layers on page 372•

Previewing Drawings on page 359

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Flipping and Easy Flipping Toolbars
Toon Boom Harmony allows you to rapidly flip through drawings in the Drawing view just as you dowith paper drawings. You can flip through the key, breakdown or in-between drawings individually, orview a combination.

How to flip through drawings
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > Easy Flipping.

‣Select Windows > Toolbars > Flip.

2. In the Easy Flipping toolbar, click the Previous
drawing of your animation.

or Next

button to see the previous or next

3. To display drawings in the first frame after you reach the last frame of your animation, select the
Loop option.

4. Move the slider to the right to flip forward and to the left to flip backward through your drawings.

‣

The further you move the slider to the left or right, the faster the drawings will flip.

5. If you marked some of your drawings, you can flip through the markers and avoid seeing all the inbetweens. Enable the Flip Key, Breakdown or In-between buttons in the Flip toolbar to see only
one type or a combination—see See "Drawing Identification" on page 322

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Onion Skin Toolbar

In the Drawing view, you can set up your onion skin to display marked drawings only, in the same waythat you flip through your drawings marked as key, breakdown or in-between drawings—see See"Drawing Identification" on page 322

How to display marked drawings in the onion skin
1. From the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > Onion Skin.

2. In the Tools toolbar, click the Show Onion Skinbutton.

3. In the Timeline view, pull on the blue arrows to extend the number of drawings displayed in theonion skin preview.

4. In the Onion Skin toolbar, enable the markers you want to see in your Onion Skin preview.

337How to enable the onion skin in other layers
You might need to refer to previous and next drawings in other layers than the current one. In the
Drawing view, use the Enable Onion Skin in Other Elements feature to see the previous and next
drawings of the layers visible in Light Table mode.
1. In the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > Onion Skin.

2. In the Tools toolbar, click the Onion Skinbutton.

3. In the Drawing view, click the Light Table

button.

4. In the Timeline view, pull on the blue arrows to extend the number of drawings displayed in theonion skin preview.

5. In the Onion Skin toolbar, enable the Enable Onion Skin in Other Elements option.

‣

The current layer is displayed by default in shades of green and red.

‣Drawings in timeline layers above the current layer are displayed by default in shades of
blue.

‣

Drawings in timeline layers below the current layer are displayed by default in shades ofyellow.

You can change default onion skin display colours in the Preferences dialog box.

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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 willoften arise. Harmony also 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 tocreate your own.
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 the Onion Skin and Flip toolbars.

You can create custom shortcuts for the Drawing Identification options in the Preferences dialog box.

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.

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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 View menu, you canalso 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 isused to remove a Key or Breakdown marker.

icon appears in the cell.
icon appears in the cell.

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.

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If the drawingTypes.d folder does not exist, you must create it. To do so, copy the
resources folder from the following location.
•

Windows: C:/Program Files (x86)/Toon Boom Animation/Harmony
11.1/resources/drawingTypes.d•

Mac OS X: /Applications/Harmony 11.1/resources/drawingTypes.d•

Linux:/usr/local/ToonBoomAnimation/ProductNameVersion/resources/drawingTypes.d

Stand-alone‣

Windows: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Toon Boom Animation\Toon
Boom Harmony\full-1100-pref\drawingTypes.d‣

Mac OS X: /Users/USERNAME/Library/Preferences/Toon Boom
Animation/Toon Boom Harmony/full-1100-pref/drawingTypes.d

The Library folder is usually hidden in the Finder. To see all the hidden folders and files,
type the following in a terminal window:
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES‣

Linux: /home/USERNAME/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom Harmony/full1100-pref/drawingTypes.d/

Network
In Harmony Network, the path is global for all users so you must create the folder and place in/USA_DB.
‣/USA_DB/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 thisclosing 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.

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‣

FlipIcon.png: Write the name of the icon that you created to appear in the Flip toolbar.
Include the file extension.

‣

OnionIcon.png: Write the name of the icon that you created to appear in the Onion Skin
toolbar. Include the file extension.

8. Save the file and close it.
9. Start Harmony.

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Drawing Desk
You can work on a portion of an animation sequence or many drawings from different layers. To dothis, select the segment needed in one or more layers in the Xsheet or Timeline view and then use thedrawing desk to allow you to work only on these drawings.
The Drawing Desk is only available in the Drawing view.

How to send several drawings to the drawing desk
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select a consecutive cell range from one or several layers.

‣

In the Xsheet view, hold down Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) and click on any cell to
add it to the selection, even if it is not consecutive.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline or Xsheet view menu, select Drawings > Send Drawings to Desk.

‣In the Xsheet view, right-click and select Send Drawings to Desk.

‣In the Xsheet view, hold down the Alt key and click on the selection.

The drawing desk opens on the side of the Drawing view.

343

The drawing desk is by default on the left side of the Drawing view. You can change its positioning in the
Preferences dialog box.

3. If the drawing desk side panel is hidden, click the Arrow button, located on the right side of theview.

How to add more drawings to the drawing desk
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawings to be added.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline or Xsheet view menu, select Drawings > Add Drawings to Desk‣

Alt + click the selection.

How to clear drawings and send new ones to the drawing desk
1. Select a new drawing in the Timeline or Xsheet view.
2. In the Timeline or Xsheet view menu, select Drawings > Send Drawings to Desk.
The previous drawing desk selection is removed and replaced with the current selection.

How to change the size of drawing desk thumbnails‣

Right-click the drawing desk and select No Thumbnail, Small Thumbnail, Medium

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Thumbnail or Large Thumbnail.

How to change the position of a thumbnail in the drawing desk‣In the drawing desk, select the thumbnail.

‣

Click the Move Drawing Up
and Moving Drawing Down
move it to the new position in the drawing desk.

buttons as needed, to

How to clear selected or all drawings from the drawing desk
1. In the drawing desk, select one or more drawings to remove.
2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click the drawing desk and select Remove Selected Drawings or Remove All
Drawings.

‣

In the Drawing view, press Esc to remove all drawings.

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Shift and Trace
When hand drawing animation, it is very important to stay on model as it is easy to lose theproportions or features of a character. The Shift and Trace feature lets you temporarily move adrawing so you can trace it on a new drawing. This is similar to animators working on an animation
light table and using an entire character or cut-out pieces of a character and moving it underneath the
new drawing to trace it.
Your drawings will not be modified. It will only be moved, rotated or scaled in the Shift and Tracemode. When you turn off this mode, the repositioned drawing returns to its normal state.

How to enable the Shift and Trace mode
1. Go to the Drawing view.
2. In the Tools toolbar, click the Show Onion Skinbutton—see See "Onion Skin" on page 317.

3. Send the selected drawings to the drawing desk—see Drawing Desk on page 343.

4. In the Drawing Desk toolbar, click the Shift and Trace Enablebutton.

Registration marks appear at the bottom of your drawings.

How to shift
Using the shift and trace manipulator, you can move the registration marks to reposition selecteddrawings while you work.
1. In the Drawing Desk toolbar, click the Shift and Trace Manipulator

button.

At the bottom of the Drawing view, a window displays a zoomed in view of the manipulator. You
can move the dividing line between the manipulator and the Drawing view to resize the area.

347

2. In the Drawing view, transform the drawing as needed, positioning it between your two key poses.
‣

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

‣

To rotate from the centre peg, click the flat peg hole and rotate.

‣

To scale, pull or push on the triangle control.

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To show the pivot point, hold Alt. The pivot point is in the middle of your current drawing
view. To rotate from the pivot point, hold Alt and rotate.

‣

To scale from the pivot point, hold Shift and move your cursor.

349

‣

Click and drag the pivot point to move it to a new position. Once the pivot point is moved,
you can hold Alt and move your drawing to show it again.

3. To select another drawing and reposition it, hold down Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X).

4. If necessary, click the Shift and Trace Resetdrawing.

button to reset the position of the modified

How to trace
1. In the drawing desk, select the drawing into which you want to trace.

2. Select the check box next to the drawing you want to allow to be temporarily transformed. By
default, all drawings are enabled for Shift and Trace operations.

3. Select the drawing you want to move.

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4. If you want to trace more than one drawing at the same time, you can link them together. In the
button to lock their position
drawing desk, select several drawings and click the Link Drawings
together—see See "How to link your shift and trace drawings" on page 351.
5. In the Tools toolbar, select a drawing tool.
6. In the Drawing view, trace your drawing.

How to link your shift and trace drawings
When using the Shift and Trace feature, you can link different drawings from the drawing desk, sothey move together when dragging or scaling. These drawings can be from different columns in the
Xsheet view.
1. In the drawing desk, display the drawings you want to use for the Shift and Trace operation.
2. Hold down Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) and select the drawings you want to link
together.
3. In the Drawing Desk toolbar, click the Link Drawings

button to enable linking.

Coloured boxes appear beside drawing thumbnails to identify different linked drawing groups.
A link icon appears beside the currently selected drawing and all drawings linked to it.

4. Shift your linked drawings.

351

5. To unlink your drawings, select one of the linked drawings and click the Link Drawing
again to disable it.

button

6. You can shift your drawings independently.

7. To unlink your drawings, select one of the linked drawings and click the Link Drawing
again to disable it.

button

How to enable and disable individual onion skin drawings
You may end up with a lot of drawings in your onion skin display while working with the Shift andTrace feature. You can disable individual drawings from the onion skin display without deactivating
them.
button.

1. In the Tools toolbar, click the Onion Skin

2. In the drawing desk, click on the drawing’s Onion Skinenabled, the icon turns red.

button to enable or disable it.When

Customizing Shift and Trace Shortcuts
If you use the Shift and Trace feature frequently, you can assign custom shortcuts for Shift and Trace
operations in the Preferences dialog box—see See "Paperless Animation Preferences" on page 361.

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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 can separate the outline and colour fill on two art layers, similar to 1950s traditional cell
animation. These art layers are contained within a single drawing as opposed to the timeline layers or
Xsheet columns where individual drawings with individual timing are stacked one on top of the other—see Creating Strokes on page 378.
Toon Boom Harmony drawings include four art layers.
•

Overlay on the next page•Line Art on page 355•

Colour Art on page 355•

Underlay on page 356

You can access the art layers through the Art Layer toolbar. By default, only the Line Art and Colour
Art are displayed. You need to enable the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option in the
Preferences dialog box.

Each layer can be used for separate hand-drawn animation tasks, letting you organize your work andfacilitate creation and revision.

353

Art Layers

Overlay

The Overlay layer can serve multiple purposes:•

Highlights and tones•

Annotations and corrections•

Sketching
You can also draw in the Overlay layer as it is a regular layer.

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Line Art

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 contain the painted area.

When you are doing rough animation, you may want to send a clip to somebody for feedback orapproval before carrying on with your work. If you have several characters in your project that are
overlapping, it may be difficult to understand what is going on as you can see through thecharacters. Toon Boom Harmony can generate a matte automatically in the Underlay, or even in the
Colour Art layer, and fill all the zones inside your characters making them opaque. This process isfast and easy and allows you to send easy-to-understand movies.

355

Art Layers

Underlay

The Underlay layer can serve multiple purposes. It is frequently used by animators to sketch roughanimation or generate a matte colour when doing line testing.

How to enable the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences ( Windows/Linux ) or Stage > 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
or Colour Art
buttons. When switching art layer,
1. In the Art Layer toolbar, click the Line Art
it will allow you to edit the select layer without affecting the other one.

2. Click the Preview All Enabled Art Layers
button to display both layers together. Even when thePreview 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 the select art layer by itself if you enable the Current Drawing on Top
option located in the Camera bottom toolbar.

To edit both Line Art and Colour Art at the same time, you must enable the Apply toLine Art and Colour Art button in the Tool Properties of the tools supporting theoperation.

How to switch between the drawing layers in Advanced Art mode
1. In the Art Layer toolbar, click the Overlay Art, Line Art, Colour Art
or Underlay Art
buttons to display the appropriate layer—see How to enable the Support Overlay and Underlay
Arts option above. When switching art layer, it will allow you to edit the select layer without
affecting the other one.

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2. Click the Preview All Enabled Art Layers
button to display all the layers together. The otherones 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 the select art layer by itself if you enable the Current
option located in the Camera bottom toolbar.
Drawing on Top

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.

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 view 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 toMultiple Drawings option.
5. Depending on how precise or rough your line is, increase or decrease the radius value. The lower
the value is, the closer to your lines’ contours the matte will be shaped. The higher the value is, thelooser the matte will be shaped.

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Art Layers

6. In the Source Art menu, select the layer from which you want the matte created: Line Art, Colour
Art, Underlay or Overlay.
7. In the Destination Art menu, select the layer you want the matte to be created on: Line Art, Colour
Art, Underlay or Overlay.
8. If you already have artwork on the destination layer and you want the content to be deleted before
the matte 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 ever need to keep them for later), select the Copy Stroke in Destination option.
10. Click OK.

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Previewing Drawings
It is a good idea to preview your drawings to check your animation ink and paint, verify that there areno colour mistakes, or to play your animation in real time. You can do this by scrolling through yourdrawings or pressing F and G. You can also use the Preview option in the Xsheet view.

How to preview drawings from the Xsheet view
1. Save your scene.
2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select File > Save.

‣

Click the Save‣

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

button.

3. In the Xsheet view, select the range of drawings or the whole column to preview.
4. In the Xsheet view menu, select View > Preview Selected Drawings.
Toon Boom Play opens.
5. In the Play window, press the Playbutton to play back your drawings.

6. Select the Preroll option to see blank frames at the beginning and end of the animation sequence
while looping the playback.

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Paperless Animation Preferences
When working in paperless animation, there are some preferences you can set in the Preferences
dialog box to make your work easier and faster.

How to open the Preferences dialog box‣

Windows/Linux: Select Edit > Preferences.

‣

Mac OS X: Select Stage > Preferences.

‣

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

Task

Tab

SectionOption, button orparameter
Shift andTrace
DrawingMove Down
Shift andTrace
DrawingMove Up
Shift andTrace
Drawing
Reset
Position

If you use the Shift and Tracefeature frequently, you canassign custom shortcuts.

Shortcuts

Drawing Mode

Shift andTrace
Drawing
Toggle Peg
State
Shift andTrace
Drawing
ToggleVisibility
Shift andTrace Move
Tool
Shift andTrace
Rotate Tool
Shift andTrace Scale
Tool
Shift and
Trace

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Paperless Animation Preferences

ToggleManipulator
Shift andTrace
ToggleView
You can change the colours
for the onion skin and otherelements. You can alsochange the colour of the key
and breakdown markers
displayed in the Timelineview.
When naming your drawings
in the Xsheet or Timelineview, you can set apreference to name yourdrawings based on theirframe positions, whichfacilitates the creation of key
poses (for example, adrawing created on frame 1
is named "1", a drawing
created on frame 5 is named"5").
In the Drawing and Camera
view, you can work in Line
Art and Colour Art, or an
Advanced Art mode that
supports Overlay Art andUnderlay Art layers.

GeneralColours

Edit Colours

Drawing

Colours

Edit Colours

Exposure Sheet Drawing Creation

Advanced

Advanced Options

Use Current Frame as
Drawing Name

SupportOverlay andUnderlay
Arts

Refer to the Preferences Guide for complete descriptions of each option, button and parameter.

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Chapter 23: Ink and Paint

When traditional animation is traced, cleaned up, scanned in and properly exposed, it is time for the
ink and paint process. This consists of cleaning all dirt and hair (for example, dust that was in thescanner, dots that do not belong in the drawing, extra floating artwork around the drawing that must
be removed), painting the lines and filling the colours in the empty zones on an entire animation
sequence.
For paperless animation, the drawings are cleaned up directly in Harmony, so there is generally no dirt
to clean, only painting and inking.
For cut-out animation, once the character builder paints the pieces, there is no more ink and paintprocess because the same parts are always reused and moved around. The ink and paint processapplies only to traditional and paperless animation workflows.
Harmony is optimized to ink and paint drawings efficiently. Since most of the drawings are vectorbased, the colour zones are completely filled and there are no scattered spots left blank. Also, there
are some actions that can be applied on an entire animation sequence at once, like dirt removal, somecolour filling, line repainting, and so on.
Harmony uses palettes to hold all the colours you need to paint your elements. A palette is created byassigning a set of colours to each character, prop or effect. The colour styling artist will create a newpalette and add a new colour for each zone of the character, such as the skin, hair, tongue, shirt,pants, and so on. Each colour is known as a colour swatch—see Working with Palettes on page 149.

When a zone on the character is painted with the colour contained in a colour swatch, a link is
automatically created between that colour swatch and the zone. This means that if the tint of thecolour in the colour swatch is changed, any zone linked to it will update to the new tint. This is one waythat colour palettes can save time and money in your production.

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Chapter 23: Ink and Paint

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 thatcharacter 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 mood and atmosphere of the scene without tediously
repainting each element.
The ink and paint process is divided into the following steps:•

Preparation on the facing page•

Dirt Clean Up on page 369•

Art Layers on page 372•

Creating Strokes on page 378•

Painting on page 380•

Inking the Lines on page 400•

Verifying the Zones are Painted on page 405•

Ink and Paint Tool Properties on page 408364

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Preparation
The optimal workspace for creating colour models and inking/painting in traditional animation
includes the following views:•

Xsheet•Camera•Drawing•

Colour•Model

As there is no default workspace for these tasks you will need to create a custom workspace foryourself—refer to the Fundamentals Guide.

You may have a character or element palette that has colours that are very similar to the Drawing and
Camera view's background colour. For example, a white eyeball colour on a white background whichmakes it difficult to know if the zone was painted. You can change the background colour of the
Camera or Drawing view in the Preferences dialog box.

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How to change a view's background colour
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences.

‣

Mac OS X: Select Stage > Preferences.

‣

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

The Preferences dialog box opens.
2. Select the General tab.
3. In the Colours section, click Edit Colours.
The Colours dialog box opens.

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4. Select the Camera or Drawing tab.

5. Change the background colour of:‣

Camera View: Click the Clear colour swatch.

‣

Drawing View: Click the Background colour swatch.

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The Select Colour dialog box opens.
6. Select a colour by clicking a colour swatch, clicking a colour in the colour gradient, or entering a
HSV/RGB Value.

7. Click OK in the three opened dialog boxes to apply your changes.

When you need to paint drawings with similar colours throughout the palette, you cancreate a clone of that palette and change all the colours to very bright tints to facilitate
the paint process—see .

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Dirt Clean Up
When paper drawings are passed through a scanner, there can be some hair and dirt scattered acrossthem. These lines and dots need to be cleaned. Harmony provides different tools to help get rid ofthem quickly.

The Remove Dirt tool selects small dots and hairs on the drawing. Raising the Remove Dirt level will
select bigger dots. When selecting larger dots, be careful not to lose small details like pupils andnostrils. Once you have chosen the level, you can apply it to the current drawing or the entire
animation sequence. This is a quick way to get rid of most dirt and dust.
During this process, the dirt that will be removed is highlighted in red.

The Remove Art Outside Selection option lets you remove any art existing outside a selection. It is
recommended that you clean your Colour Art level as well. If you have a stroke accumulation in your
Colour Art, it can result in large output files, especially if you work in high-definition resolutions.

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If there are some marks that cannot be removed with the automated tools, you can erase them with
the Eraser tool or select them with the Select tool and then delete them. It is always safer to select anddelete them than to erase them, so you do not overlook anything.

How to use the Remove Dirt tool
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Clean Up > Remove Dirt.

‣

From the Camera or Drawing View menu, select Drawing > Clean Up > Remove Dirt.

‣

Press Shift + D.

2. Increase the Remove Dirt value by moving the slider to the right.
3. Enable the Apply to All Drawings if you want to operation to be apply to all drawings in the layer.

How to clean dirt with Remove Art Outside Selection
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool.

2. In the Tool Properties view, enable the Permanent Selection option.
3. Draw a selection around the animation making sure to include the entire animation sequence.

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4. In the Camera or Drawing View menu, select Drawing > Clean Up and one of the following
options:‣

Remove Art Outside Selection to delete artwork outside your selection on a single
drawing.

‣

Remove Art Outside Selection on All Drawings to delete artwork outside your selection
on all the drawings.

The art outside the selection is removed.

How to access the Eraser tool‣

From the Tools toolbar, click the Eraser‣

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

‣

From the Camera or Drawing View menu, select Drawing Tools > Eraser.

‣

Press Alt + E.

button.

How to access the Select tool‣

From the Tools toolbar, click the Select‣From the top menu, select Drawing > Drawing Tools > Select.

‣

From the Camera or Drawing View menu, select Drawing Tools > Select.

‣Press Alt + S.

button.

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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 can separate the outline and colour fill on two art layers, similar to 1950s traditional cell
animation. These art layers are contained within a single drawing as opposed to the timeline layers or
Xsheet columns where individual drawings with individual timing are stacked one on top of the other—see Creating Strokes on page 378.
Toon Boom Harmony drawings include four art layers.
•

Overlay on the facing page•Line Art on page 374•

Colour Art on page 374•

Underlay on page 375

You can access the art layers through the Art Layer toolbar. By default, only the Line Art and Colour
Art are displayed. You need to enable the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option in the
Preferences dialog box.

Each layer can be used for separate hand-drawn animation tasks, letting you organize your work andfacilitate creation and revision.

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Overlay

The Overlay layer can serve multiple purposes:•

Highlights and tones•

Annotations and corrections•

Sketching
You can also draw in the Overlay layer as it is a regular layer.

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Line Art

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 contain the painted area.

When you are doing rough animation, you may want to send a clip to somebody for feedback orapproval before carrying on with your work. If you have several characters in your project that are
overlapping, it may be difficult to understand what is going on as you can see through thecharacters. Toon Boom Harmony can generate a matte automatically in the Underlay, or even in the
Colour Art layer, and fill all the zones inside your characters making them opaque. This process isfast and easy and allows you to send easy-to-understand movies.

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Underlay

The Underlay layer can serve multiple purposes. It is frequently used by animators to sketch roughanimation or generate a matte colour when doing line testing.

How to enable the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences ( Windows/Linux ) or Stage > 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
or Colour Art
buttons. When switching art layer,
1. In the Art Layer toolbar, click the Line Art
it will allow you to edit the select layer without affecting the other one.

2. Click the Preview All Enabled Art Layers
button to display both layers together. Even when thePreview 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 the select art layer by itself if you enable the Current Drawing on Top
option located in the Camera bottom toolbar.

To edit both Line Art and Colour Art at the same time, you must enable the Apply toLine Art and Colour Art button in the Tool Properties of the tools supporting theoperation.

How to switch between the drawing layers in Advanced Art mode
1. In the Art Layer toolbar, click the Overlay Art, Line Art, Colour Art
or Underlay Art
buttons to display the appropriate layer—see How to enable the Support Overlay and Underlay
Arts option above. When switching art layer, it will allow you to edit the select layer without
affecting the other one.

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2. Click the Preview All Enabled Art Layers
button to display all the layers together. The otherones 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 the select art layer by itself if you enable the Current
option located in the Camera bottom toolbar.
Drawing on Top

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.

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 view 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 toMultiple Drawings option.
5. Depending on how precise or rough your line is, increase or decrease the radius value. The lower
the value is, the closer to your lines’ contours the matte will be shaped. The higher the value is, thelooser 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, Colour
Art, Underlay or Overlay.
7. In the Destination Art menu, select the layer you want the matte to be created on: Line Art, Colour
Art, Underlay or Overlay.
8. If you already have artwork on the destination layer and you want the content to be deleted before
the matte 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 ever need to keep them for later), select the Copy Stroke in Destination option.
10. Click OK.

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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 theLine Art when drawings 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.
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 fromLine 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 topatch gaps. Use the Auto-Create Colour Art from Brush option to create the strokes at the same timeas 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 betterto 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, enable the Permanent Selection
operation on all drawings in the layer.

option if you want to apply the

3. In the Camera or Drawing view, select the artwork to transfer to the Colour Art. Create a selection
around the entire animation sequence if you want to apply the operation to all your drawings.

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4. In the Drawing View toolbar, click the Create Colour Art from Line Art

button or press *.

How to create strokes with the Auto-Create Colour Art From Brush option
1. From the Camera or Drawing View menu, select Drawing >Auto-Create Colour Art from Brushor press [Shift]+[F2].
2. Draw the required lines.
3. Once you are done, deselect the Auto-Create Colour Art from Brush option. You are now readyto paint your model.

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Painting
You can choose to paint your animation in the Line Art or Colour Art level. You can paint in Line Art,but for traditional and paperless animation, you should fill your colour zones in Colour Art. You canaccess the art layers through the Art Layer toolbar—see Art Layers on page 372.
There are many advantages to separating the lines and colour zones, but the main one concerns thepainting process. To paint very quickly, it is useful to not worry about painting over the lines. If thelines are separated, you can fill the zones very quickly and you will never accidentally paint the lines.
Conversely, if you are inking the lines, you will not repaint the colour zones either.
If you have transparent lines, bitmap lines or textured lines with transparency, it is better to have yourcolour zones bleeding under your lines to avoid seeing the backgrounds and other elements throughthe lines.

To avoid painting in Line Art by mistake, turn off the Preview mode and paint in the Drawing view rater
than the Camera view. Press P to turn the mode on or off.
This section is divided as follows:•

Painting Using the Paint Tool on the facing page•

Advanced Painting Features on page 382•

Selecting a Colour in a Drawing on page 386•

Importing Models on page 387•

Editing Gradients and Textures on page 391•

Closing Gaps on page 396•

Protecting Colours on page 398•

Highlighting the Selected Colour on page 398•

Inverting a Colour Selection on page 399

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Painting Using the Paint Tool

The main tool you will use to paint your drawings with is the Paint tool. The Paint tool can be used inseveral different modes, which can be customized in the Tool Properties view.
The Paint tool paints closed zones, including brush strokes and pencil lines. If there are gaps in thelines defining a zone, you must close them using the Brush, Pencil, or Close Gap tools or the Automatic
Close Gap option.

How to paint with the Paint tool
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell on which you want to paint.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, click the Paint‣

Press Alt + I.

tool.

3. In the Colour view, select a colour.

4. In the Drawing or Camera view, start painting. You can click on a zone or pencil line to paint it, or
you can trace a lasso or marquee selection to paint several zones or pencil lines at once.

The last colour you select while using the Paint tool will be remembered the next time you select the Paint
tool if you are using the unlocked painting tools in the Colour view.

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Advanced Painting Features
The following advanced painting features are available in Toon Boom Harmony and are described inthis section:•

Repaint Selection•

Repaint Selection On All Drawings•

Repaint Outside Selection•

Repaint Outside Selection On All Drawings•

Unpaint Selection•

Unpaint Selection On All Drawings•

Unpaint Outside Selection•

Unpaint Outside Selection On All Drawings

The Repaint Selection command is used to repaint any art inside a selection. You must first draw aselection using the Select tool in order for this command to be available.

The Repaint Selection On All Drawings command is used to repaint any art inside a selection on all thedrawings contained within the same layer. You must enable the Permanent Selection
option in the
Select tool Tool Properties view and then select an area of your drawing using the Select tool in orderfor this command to be available. The Permanent Selection option lets you maintain the same
selection throughout the drawings of a same layer.

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The Repaint Outside Selection command is used to repaint any art outside a selection. If no selection
has been drawn using the Select tool, the entire drawing will be repainted.

The Repaint Outside Selection On All Drawings command is used to repaint any art outside a selection
on all the drawings contained within the same layer. You must enable the Permanent Selection
option in the Select tool Tool Properties view and then select an area of your drawing using the Selecttool in order for this command to be available. The Permanent Selection option lets you maintain thesame selection throughout the drawings of a same layer.

The Unpaint Selection command is used to unpaint any art existing inside a selection. You must firstdraw a selection using the Select tool in order for this command to be available.

The Unpaint Selection on All Drawings command is used to unpaint all art contained inside a selection
on all the drawings within the same layer.

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You must enable the Permanent Selection
option in the Select tool Tool Properties view and thenselect an area of your drawing using the Select tool in order for this command to be available. The
Permanent Selection option lets you maintain the same selection throughout the drawings of a samelayer.

The Unpaint Outside Selection command is used to unpaint any art existing outside a selection. If noselection have been drawn using the Select tool, the entire drawing will be unpainted.

The Unpaint Outside Selection on All Drawings command is used to unpaint all art outside a selection
on all the drawings within the same layer. You must enable the Permanent Selection
option in the
Select tool Tool Properties view and then select an area of your drawing using the Select tool in orderfor this command to be available. The Permanent Selection option lets you maintain the same
selection throughout the drawings of a same layer.

How to access the Repaint Selection command‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Paint > Repaint Selection.

‣

From the Camera or Drawing view menu, select Drawing > Paint > Repaint Selection.

How to access the Repaint Selection On All Drawings command‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Paint > Repaint Selection On All Drawings.

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From the Camera or Drawing view menu, select Drawing > Paint > Repaint Selection On
All Drawings.

How to access the Repaint Outside Selection command‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Paint > Repaint Outside Selection.

‣

From the Camera or Drawing view menu, select Drawing > Paint > Repaint Outside
Selection.

How to access the Repaint Outside Selection on All Drawings command‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Paint > Repaint Outside Selection on All Drawings.

‣

From the Camera or Drawing view menu, select Drawing > Paint > Repaint Outside
Selection on All Drawings.

How to access the Unpaint Selection command:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Paint > Unpaint Selection.

‣

From the Camera or Drawing view menu, select Drawing > Paint > Unpaint Selection.

How to access the Unpaint Selection On All Drawings command:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Paint > Unpaint Selection On All Drawings.

‣

From the Camera or Drawing view menu, select Drawing > Paint > Unpaint Selection On
All Drawings.

How to access the Unpaint Selection command‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Paint > Unpaint Outside Selection.

‣

From the Camera or Drawing view menu, select Drawing > Paint > Unpaint Outside
Selection.

How to use the Unpaint Outside Selection On All Drawings command‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Paint > Unpaint Outside Selection On All
Drawings.

‣

From the Camera or Drawing view menu, select Drawing > Paint > Unpaint Outside
Selection On All Drawings.

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Selecting a Colour in a Drawing

While working in your Camera or Drawing view, you can use the Dropper tool to pick a colour fromyour drawing without going to the Colour view.

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

In the Tools toolbar, select the Dropper‣

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

‣

Press Alt + D.

tool.

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, click on the desired colour.
‣

If you are using another drawing tool such as the Paint tool, you can temporarily hold down
the D key and click in your drawing before releasing the key to pick your colour. When you
release the key, Toon Boom Harmony will return to your previous tool. You may also want
to select the zones painted with the colour currently selected in the Colour view. This can be
useful for removing rough lines from a clean drawing.

How to select the zones painted with the current colour
1. In the Colour view, select the colour you want to select the corresponding zones from.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Select Drawing > Select Strokes with Current Colour.

‣

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

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Importing Models

Once you have a fully painted drawing, you can use it as a colour model and load it in the Model view.
That drawing can be used and loaded in any of your Harmony scenes.
Once a drawing is loaded in the Model view, you can use the Dropper
to select a colour from themodel and use it to paint in your Camera or Drawing view without having to pick the colour from thecolour palette.
You can do more than just copy colours from a colour model. Harmony gives you the ability to copy
parts of the character directly from its colour model and paste these elements into the Drawing or
Camera views.

How to load a colour model from the Timeline or Xsheet view
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a drawing (*.tvg).

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.

‣

In the Model View toolbar’s extra buttons, 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:‣

From the Model View menu, select Import Model.

‣

Click the Import Model‣

Select File > Import > Colour Model.

button or from the Model View’s toolbar.

2. In the Browser window, browse for any *.tvg drawing file on your hard drive or in the database.
3. Click Open.

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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 Model.

‣

In the Model View toolbar’s extra buttons, click the Load Default Modelbutton .

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’s toolbar to view all
the drawings contained in the template. This can often be the front, profile, and 3/4 views of acharacter.

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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 that you want to use as a model, and drag anddrop it directly into the Model view.

3. Use the Previous Model and Next Model buttons in the Model view’s toolbar to view all thedrawings contained in the template. This can often be the front, profile, and 3/4 views of acharacter.

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’s toolbar, select the Selecttool.

2. In the Model view, select your model.

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3. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy Drawing Object or press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ +C (Mac OS X).
4. In the Timeline view, make sure that you have the correct layer and frame selected.
5. Select either 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 men select Edit > Paste cells in theTimeline or pressCtrl + V (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + V (Mac OS X).
The model now appears in the selected view.

How to copy part of the model from the Model view
1. In the Model view’s toolbar, select the Cutter

tool or press Alt + T.

2. In the Model view, use the Cutter tool to create a selection around the part of your model that you
want to copy.

3. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy Drawing Object or press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ +C (Mac OS X).
4. In the Timeline view, make sure you have the correct layer and frame selected.
5. Do one of the following:‣

Select the Drawing or Camera view and select Edit > Paste Drawing Object.

‣

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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Editing Gradients and Textures

If you paint a zone with a gradient or texture colour, you can use the Edit Gradient/Texture tool tomodify its position in the zone. You can move, scale, rotate and skew. If you want to match the colour
to the animation, set the first texture position and copy the Edit Gradient/Texture position. When
moving to the next drawing, you can select the next texture and paste the previous position tocontinue the modifications.
If you are painting a hand-drawn animation or if your want the Brush tool and Paint tool to use yourgradient’s position, angle and scale settings instead of the default ones, you can store your own
settings and reuse them afterward.
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 andthen 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‣

From the Camera or Drawing View menu, select Drawing Tools > Edit Gradient/Texture‣

Press Shift + F3.

tool.

2. Click the gradient or texture colour to modify.

A blue selection frame surrounds the selected gradient or texture.

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3. Edit the gradient or texture by adjusting the control handles around the selection frame.

How to store your 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‣

From the top menu, Drawing > Drawing Tools > 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 ofthe tiled texture or gradient. You can also pull directly on the lines of the contour envelope or playwith the Bezier handles of 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 tolook squashed.
Reducing the contour’s width perpendicular to the pencil line’s central vector will reduce thenumber 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 a textured “brush”.

How to use Edit Gradient/Texture tool to edit the texture or gradient on a pencil line
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Edit Gradient/Texture
tool. You can also select this tool fromthe top menu under Drawing > Tools > Edit Gradient/Texture or 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. Pullon the top of 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 them vertically gives no visual result.

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How to use Edit Gradient/Texture tool to edit both the texture and the gradient of a
pencil line
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Edit Gradient/Texture‣

From the top menu, Drawing > Drawing Tools > Edit Gradient/Texture.

‣

Press Shift + F3.

tool.

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.

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Closing Gaps

When painting, you may notice that some drawing areas are not closed. To close the zone, you caneither draw the missing line with the Brush or Pencil tool, or close the gap with an invisible line using
the Close Gap tool.
The Close Gap tool lets you close small gaps in a drawing by creating small, invisible strokes between
the two closest points to close the colour zone. You do not need to trace directly over the gap. You
can draw it a few millimeters away. The two closest points automatically close the gap.

How to close gaps
1. From the top menu, select View > Show > Show Strokes or press K to see a preview of the result.
option in the Tool Properties view if you want the strokes you draw to
2. Enable the Auto-Flatten
be flattened in your drawing instead of being on top.
3. From the top menu, select Drawing > Clean Up > Close Gaps or pressShift + F10 (Windows/Linuxonly).
The Close Gaps dialog box opens.
4. Adjust the slider to set the size of the gap you want to be closed.

5. To close all gaps in the drawings of the selected layer, select the Apply to all drawings option andclick OK.
6. In the Tools toolbar, select the Close Gaps

tool.

7. In the Camera or Drawing view, trace a line near the gap to be closed. Your strokes will be invisible
The gap automatically closes.

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Chapter 23: Ink and Paint Protecting Colours

Protecting Colours
When you are finished painting some zones, you can protect the colour swatch they are associatedwith, so the work cannot be accidentally painted over.
When you are done inking one colour, you can lock it so that if you ever paint over it accidentally, thework already done will not be affected. You can also use the Protect Colour feature to block the filling
colours if you painted all of the animation in Line Art and you plan to repaint the lines.

How to protect colours
1. In the Colour view, select the colour to be protected.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Protect Colour.

‣

From the Colour view menu, select Colours > Protect Colour.

A red bar appears beside the colour to indicate that it is locked.

Respecting Protected Colours
When painting, the Respect Protected Colour
option is enabled by default. In the Colour view, you
can protect a colour swatch to avoid repainting or unpainting the zones linked to that swatch. If you
disable this option, the Paint tool will not follow the protect colour rule and you will repaint or unpaintthe protected colours on your drawings until you enable the option again.

How to toggle the Respect Protected Colours option
Do one of the following:‣

Paint tool properties, click the Respect Protected Colour‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Colour Protection > Respect Colour Protection.

‣

Press Shift + S.

button.

Highlighting the Selected Colour
The Highlight Selected Colour option is used to identify colour swatch used in a drawing. For example,
if you have unnamed colours in your palette and want to know if a particular colour was used on thecurrent model or drawing, you can select the colour and use the Highlight Selected Colour option.
Harmony will dim all the colours in the drawing except the selected one, so it stands out and can be
identified. You can rename it accordingly.

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How to use the Highlight Selected Colour option
1. In the Colour view, select the colour you want to highlight.
2. From the Camera or Drawing menu, select View > Show > Highlight Selected Colour.

Inverting a Colour Selection
When you need to select all colour swatches but one, or select only a few swatches here and there, it
might be faster to select the only colour you do not need, in order to select and invert the selection.

How to invert a colour swatch selection in the Colour view
1. In the Colour view, select the colour swatch you DO NOT want to have in your final selection.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Camera or Drawing View menu, select Edit > Invert Selection‣

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

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Chapter 23: Ink and Paint Inking the Lines

Inking the Lines
Some animation styles require you to paint the lines, a process also be called inking. To ink your lines,
you must be in Line Art mode. You can repaint any type of lines including the texture lines—see Art
Layers on page 372.
Unless you are repainting all of the lines on the whole animation sequence, do not use the Apply Tool
to All Drawings option. Since the line positions change a lot over time, you risk painting lines that are
not supposed to be painted.
These are the main tools used to ink the lines:•

Repaint Tool•

Repaint Brush Tool•

Ink Tool•

Protecting Colours•

Breaking Triangles

The main tool used to ink the lines is the Repaint tool. As the colour filling is probably done in the
Colour Art, you will not have to worry about not touching it. The Repaint tool will not paint empty
zones either.
During the vectorization process on traditional scanned drawings, triangles are added on the lines'
intersections to break the artwork in segments. This way, when you paint a line, it will not repaint thewhole drawing, only the relevant segment.

The Repaint Brush tool is used to paint a section by manually painting over the lines. This is usefulwhen the vectorization triangles are not placed as you would like or you simply need to repaint a
section of a segment. It is also useful for paperless animation, where there are no triangles. So, theRepaint Brush is used to paint a certain area. It acts like the Brush tool, but will only show on painted
areas that are already painted.
Unlike the Brush tool, the Repaint Brush flattens automatically. The brush strokes are not added one
on top of each other.

When you are done inking one colour, you can lock it so if you ever paint over it accidentally, the work
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colours if you painted all of the animation in Line Art and you plan to repaint the lines—see Protecting
Colours on page 398.
The Brush tool is often the most intuitive and rapid tool for creating rough sketches and clean lines. A
single colour, such as black, is often used when tracing a clean version of a rough sketch. However,when it comes time to soft trace the lines in different colours, the flattened or unflattened clean brushstrokes can suddenly become time consuming to ink.
Toon Boom Harmony lets you create triangular breaks at natural line intersections. These
intersections are the probable locations where colour line breaks may occur, such as where a sleevemeets a hand.
Although pencil lines can be painted in much the same way as closed zones, you can use the Paint,
Repaint, Repaint Brush, and Ink tools to make painting segmented lines easier. Normally when you
have a drawing, such as the one below, and you use the Paint tool to paint one of the lines, the entire
line is painted.

However, if you select the Inktool instead and click on the same pencil line, only the segment thatyou clicked on between two intersections will be painted.

The newly inked segment will always be moved to the front of all other pencil strokes, even if it wasbehind all other pencil strokes before it was inked.

That is, unless you hold down Alt while clicking a segment. Then the opposite becomes true. The inked
segment will be sent to the back, even if it was in front of all other segments to begin with.

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Painting and Inking can be used in combination depending on what it is that you need to paint. If you
need to ink a character’s outline in black, it might be easier to use the Paint tool. If you need to paintthe outline of a character’s neck with a tan colour and its shirt outline blue and both the neck and shirt
belong to the same continuous outline, then the Ink tool might prove more useful.

How to select the Repaint Tool
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Repainttool located in the Paint tool drop-down menu.

How to select the Repaint Brush
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brushtool.

2. In the Tool Properties view, enable the Repaint Brushmode.

How to select the Ink Tool
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Inktool located in the Paint tool drop-down menu.

How to protect colours
1. In the Colour view, select a colour to lock.

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Right-click and select Protect Colour.

‣

From the Colour view menu, select Colours > Protect Colour.

A red bar appears beside the colour to indicate that it is locked.

How to create breaking triangles on a drawing
1. In the Drawing or Camera view, use the Selectbroken.

tool to select part or all of the drawing to be

2. From the top menu, select Drawing > Create Breaking Triangles. If your brush strokes are notflattened, they will be flattened automatically before the breaking occurs.

3. Use the Repaint tool

to paint the outline of different colour zones with different colours.

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Verifying the Zones are Painted
When the ink and paint process is completed, it is always a good idea to verify that every zone waspainted properly.
The first step to check your ink and paint is to go through all your drawings and verify that there are nocolour mistakes. You can use the F and G keyboard shortcuts or the Preview option available in the
Xsheet.
The backlight produces a silhouette effect by changing the drawing’s coloured areas into a single
dark, solid colour use this to verify the completeness of the ink and paint process. Any unpainted
zones can be seen as the light shows through the unpainted areas of the silhouetted drawing.

How to preview drawings from the Xsheet
1. First, save your scene.
2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select File> Save.

‣

Click the Save‣

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

button.

3. In the Xsheet view, select the range of drawings or the whole column to preview.

4. In the Xsheet View menu, select View > Preview Selected Drawings or press Alt + P.
The Play window opens.

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5. Play your drawings.

6. Select the Preroll option to see blank frames at the beginning and end of the animation sequence
while looping the playback.

How to use the backlight

This feature is only available in the Drawing view.

1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select View > Backlight.

‣

In the Drawing View toolbar, click the Backlight‣

Press Alt + Shift + B.

button.

2. Verify the drawings in the Colour Art to make sure that all the areas are painted. From the Camera
or Drawing View menu , select View > Switch to Colour Art or press L.
3. In the Art Layer toolbar, click the Preview All Art Layers
button to see the colour zones withlines to ensure that you did not forget any spots between the colour filling and lines.

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Chapter 23: Ink and Paint Ink and Paint Tool Properties

Ink and Paint Tool Properties
The Ink and Paint tool properties contain many options that will help you along with your task.
•

Ink Tool Properties below•

Paint Tool Properties on the facing page

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

Icon

Tool Name

Tool
The Lasso and Marquee options let you
choose the type of selection the current tool
will perform. The default selection mode isMarquee.
•Lassolets you draw a custom selection
box around zones.

•

Marqueebox.

makes a rectangle selection

Hold down the Alt key to switch
to the opposite mode of yourselection.

Lasso and Marquee

How to invert a selection
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit >Invert Selection.

‣

From the Camera or Drawing
menu, select Edit > Invert
Selection.

‣

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

Highlights all pencil lines (no brush strokes)
on the selected layer. Pencil line segmentsthat are already inked with the selectedswatch colour from the colour palette arealso not highlighted.

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As you hover and move the cursor acrossintersecting pencil lines, the path that you
create will be highlighted. When you click on
your mouse or stylus the highlighted
segments are inked.
Be Smart on Connecting Lines

With this option disabled, all the intersecting
segments that your cursor comes near will
be highlighted and become part of theselection, even if they were not situated in
the direction of the chosen path.
Note: This option only works if the Ink tool
is in Hover mode.

Select ModeUse thismode instead of the Hover
Mode. In the Hover Mode, any potentiallyinkable pencil line will have its central vectorline highlighted as the Ink tool’s cursor
hovers over it. Use Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or⌘ (Mac OS X) to toggle between the twomodes.

Select Newly Painted,
Repainted, Unpainted
Contours and Lines

Keeps a selection highlighted around thelatest painted zone after using the Paint,
Repaint, Unpaint, or Paint Unpainted tool.

Arrange Ink Lines

Brings all newly-inked lines to the front. Disable thisoption if you want all newly-inked lines to be sent tothe back. Press Alt to toggle between the two options.
As you hover over two perpendicular ornearly perpendicular segments, ahighlighted path with a corner is created.
Clicking on these highlighted segments inks
both segments and makes them appear as asingle stroke with a corner or bend.

Mitre

Click the Mitre
button to choose from
As is, Round, Mitre, and Bevel.

Lets you customize the edge of the Ink tool.
Options include: Round, Flat, and Bevel.
Tip Style

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

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Icon

Tool
Lasso and Marquee below
Painting Modes below
Paint and Remove Texture on page 412
Apply to Multiple Drawings on page 412
Apply to All Visible Drawings on page 413Apply to All Visible
Drawings on page 413
Respect Protected Colour on page 413
Use Stored Colour Gradient on page 414
Select Newly Painted/Repainted/Unpainted Contours/Lines on
page 414
Automatic Close Gap on page 414

Lasso and Marquee
The Lasso and Marquee options let you choose the type of selection the current tool will perform. The
default selection mode is Marquee.
•

Lasso

lets you draw a custom selection box around zones.

•

Marqueemakes a rectangle selection box.

Hold down the Alt key to switch to the opposite mode of your selection.

How to invert a selection
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Invert Selection.

‣

From the Camera or Drawing menu, select Edit > Invert Selection.

‣

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

Painting Modes
The Paint tool has four different modes available:

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You can also find these tools directly in the Tools toolbar and in the Drawing Tools menu.

Paint Mode

The Paintmode paints everything it touches, including empty and filled zones.

Paint Unpainted Mode

The Paint Unpainted

mode paints only empty zones. Any line or filled zone will remain unchanged.

Repaint Mode

The Repaintmode paints everything it touches except empty zones. Any zone that is not painted
will remain intact.

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Unpaint Mode

The Unpaintmode unpaints everything it touches, including empty and filled zones.

Paint and Remove Texture

The Paint and Remove Texture
option is used when you vectorized images as greyscale texture
style. An image vectorized as texture is a mix of bitmap filling encapsulated in a vector-based frame.
Painting a textured zones with the Paint tool will change the tint of the textured lines. Painting the
textured zones using the Paint and Remove Texture option transforms the bitmap filling into a 100%
vector based zone and fills it with a solid colour.

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The Apply to Multiple Drawings
option is used for fast painting in hand-drawn animation. When
you want to paint several drawings in a same layer at once, such as a walk cycle, you can enable thisoption and make a selection in your Camera or Drawing view. All the closed zones located within your
Paint tool selection are painted with the selected colour swatch.
You do not need to enable the Onion Skin preview to use this option. The option will stay enabled only
for the next action. If you want to use it again, you must click on the Apply to Multiple Drawings
button again, or press Alt + A.

Apply to All Visible Drawings

The Apply to All Visible Drawings
option is used to paint several drawings on separated layers on
the current frames. If you have a character broken in several layers, you can enable this option to paint
all your layers at once. The operation is only applied on the current frame. This option will stay enabled
only for the next action. If you want to use it again, you must click on the Apply to All Visible Drawings
button again.

This option is only available in the Camera view and does not affect symbols.

Respect Protected Colour
The Respect Protected Colour
option is enabled by default. In your Colour view, you can protect
some colour swatches to avoid repainting or unpainting the zones linked to that swatch.
If you disable this option the Paint tool will not follow the protect colour rule and will repaint or
unpaint the protected colours on your drawings until you enable the option again—see Protecting
Colours on page 398.

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Use Stored Colour Gradient

When you paint a zone with a gradient or textured colour swatch, the gradient or texture’s position is
set relative to the size of the zone your are painting. If you want the Paint tool to use a particular sizeand position, you must first store your desired position and size using the Selecttool and thenenable the Use Stored Colour Gradientoption in the Paint tool Tool Properties view—see Editing
Gradients and Textures on page 391.

Select Newly Painted/Repainted/Unpainted Contours/Lines

In the Paint tool Tool Properties view, enabling this option
will keep a selection highlighted
around the latest painted zone after using the Paint, Repaint, Unpaint, or Paint Unpainted tool.

Automatic Close Gap
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The Automatic Close Gap
options are used while painting drawings with small gaps.
Instead of having to close them manually with the Brush tool or Close Gap tool, Toon Boom Harmony
will analyze the drawing and close the gaps while you paint according to the selected mode. The
automated gap closing should be done using the zoom function setting of your Camera or Drawing
view. If your eye does not see the gap, Toon Boom Harmony won’t either—see Closing Gaps on
page 396.

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Chapter 24: Morphing

Hand-drawn animation requires you to spend a lot of time tracing in-between drawings. Harmony
speeds up the process using its helpful morphing feature. This powerful and useful feature createscomputer-generated drawings and places them between vector drawings to save time and increase
productivity. Animation created with the morphing feature can be reused in different projects. You caneasily modify the timing and velocity (ease in and ease out).
One of the main uses of the morphing feature is effects animation. For example, animating smoke orwater can be time-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 the next page•

Source and Destination Drawings on page 419•

Morphing Rules on page 420•

Creating a Basic Morphing Sequence on page 424•

Tool Properties View on page 427•

Adjusting the Velocity and Timing on page 430•

Morphing Tool and Hints on page 434•

Morphing Layers on page 442•

Morphing Two Sequences in a Row on page 449•

Inserting a Morphing Key Drawing on page 450•

Converting Morphing Inbetweens to Drawings on page 451•

Morphing Holes and Transparencies on page 452•

Adjusting the Morphing Quality on page 455•

Tips and Tricks on page 456

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Chapter 24: Morphing Understanding Morphing

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 time to 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.

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 can morph your drawings, do it! It allows you to fix your timing and velocity in no time without having tocreate any extra drawings!

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Source and Destination Drawings

The morphing feature matches similar shapes in a source and a destination drawing. Harmony
evaluates the source'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 andnumber of shapes. You can even change any shape into another one, as long as the source anddestination 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 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. Thismeans it will morph with the zone nearest to it, as long as that zone uses the same palette's colour
swatch (colour ID) and has the same 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 will morph with the red diamond shape (1) in the next drawing. The red diamondshape (2) in the source drawing will morph with the red heart shape (2) located in the same area inthe destination drawing. The black spade shape (3) in the source drawing will morph with the blackclub shape (3) located in the same area in the destination drawing. Finally, the black club shape (4) inthe source drawing will morph into the black spade shape (4) located above in the destination
drawing.

Pencil Line to Pencil LineIf you trace a shape using a pencil line such as the Ellipse, Rectangle, Polyline, Linetool, you have to morph it with another pencil line. Make sure that both drawings are
or Pencil
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 the thickest and thinnest areas in the source and destination drawings.

Pencil lines with textures are not supported in a morphing sequence. During the morphing, thetexture 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 thedestination 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 in version 7.8 and below of the application). In this case, you must have two pencil
lines in your destination drawing for your 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 anotherbrush stroke or fill zone. It is important to undersand that strokes drawn with the Brush tool are thesame 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 tocreate the effect during the compositing step of your production. A colour palette is composed ofcolour swatches. Each colour 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 withanother 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 on which 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 ColourArt.

•

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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Chapter 24: Morphing Creating a Basic Morphing Sequence

Creating a Basic Morphing Sequence

When it comes to morphing, you will need to practice and become at ease it. Once you are familiar
with the basic 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 as head 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 View toolbar, click the Add Drawing Layer
project.

button to add a new layer to your

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 last cell.

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 in-betweens havebeen created.

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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, right-click on a cell between two keyframes.
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.

The entire sequence between the two keyframes is removed.

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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.
Hint TypeThe Hint Type drop-down menu allows you to select the correct hint to remedy any problem areas inyour drawing—see Contour Hint on page 437 and Morphing Tool and Hints on page 434.
You can have more than one hint type in your drawings. You can mix all of the hint types in yourmorphing sequence.

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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 thecorrect layer ordering—see Morphing Layers on page 442.

Suggest Hints
The Suggest Hints
option is used to automatically set hint points on your key drawings as a help
tool. If you are not sure where to set your 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 yourmorphing sequence. This option is useful while setting hints. You can use the default keyboard
shortcut F4 to toggle between your drawings.

Flatten
The Flatten
option is used when you have to morph a sequence with a semi-transparent ortransparent colour in it—see Morphing Holes and Transparencies on page 452.

Quality

The Quality setting is used to make the lines of the morphed drawings smoother. Adjust thisparameter when you are doing an extreme close up of your animation—see Adjusting the Morphing
Quality on page 455.

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Morphing Layers

The Morphing Layers option is used when working with morphing layers. You can add, remove andmanage your different morphing layers in this space—see Morphing Layers on page 442

Easing

The Easing option is used to adjust the starting and ending velocity of your morphing sequence sothat the motion is smooth and not mechanical.
You can adjust the Ease In and Ease Out value by dragging your cursor up and down or typing a newvalue. The values go from -1.0 to 1.0—see Adjusting the Velocity and Timing on the next page

Convert Hints

The Convert Hints
option is used to switch the type of the selected hint points. This option isuseful when you position hints and then realize they are not the right type. You can select them andconvert 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.

Time

The Time field is used to set the timing on Appearing Point and Vanishing Point hints. These hints areused to set the trajectory of appearing and vanishing objects, With the Time field, select yourAppearing Point or Vanishing Point hint and type the frame number on which the object will start its
appearing or vanishing animation.

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Adjusting the Velocity and Timing

Once you have set up a morphing sequence, you can control its timing and velocity. When you look at
your animation you will notice that the morphing motion is constant. To produce a less mechanicalmotion, you will probably 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 toextend or shrink the sequence length.
If you have several morphing sequences on a single layer, you may find it easier to adjust theirvelocities 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 themorphing sequence. The sequence will always start with the source drawing and end at thedestination. You can play the morphing 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 easing

How 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 thesequence's velocity.

How to adjust the velocity in the Layer Properties editor
1. In the Timeline view, double-click on the drawing layer to open the Layer Properties editor.

2. In the Layer Properties editor, go to the Advanced tab and click on the Function
create a function curve.

3. In the Layer Properties editor, click the Function

button to

button again to open the velocity curve.

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4. Add a keyframe at the first frame of the morphing (source) and one at the end (destination) by
clicking on the Add/Remove Keyframe
button.

5. Move the destination keyframe upward.

It is important that the last keyframe remains above the first one.

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6. Make sure that the first keyframe is not a stop-motion keyframe. To do this, disable the Stopmotion Keyframe
button. To use the Toggle Stop-Motion Segment feature, press S.
7. Click on the keyframes and pull the Bezier handles to create ease in and ease out. If you make thecurve go downward instead of upward, the animation will play backward until the curve starts togo upward again.

If you have more than one morphing sequence in the same layer, you need to add a keyframe on thevelocity curve for each source and destination drawing.

8. If you want your morphing to play back on a double frame exposure rather than single frame, you
can use the Hold Value editor and set the velocity to change every second frame, instead of every
frame.
9. In the Morphing Function editor, click on the Hold Value Editor
to hold the value for two frames.

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button and set the parametersChapter 24: Morphing Morphing Tool and Hints

Morphing Tool and Hints

Harmony's Morphing
tool controls your morphing sequence, this works by placing different typesof 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 notfollowing the colour fill zone.

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 we use 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
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Contour Hint on page 437•

Zone Hint on page 438•

Pencil Hint on page 438•

Vanishing Point Hint on page 439•

Appearing Point Hint on page 439

Each type of hint has a different purpose and they can all be used in the same drawing. Use theMorphing 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 hintcannot exist in a single drawing. If you delete a hint from one drawing, it will be also deleted from theother.
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.

Do not add too many hints, this is a common mistake when morphing, it takes some practice to learn
how to correctly use and place hints.
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.

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Use your other morphing key drawing, shown in the Drawing view's bottom right corner, as areference.

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. Notethat 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.

‣

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.

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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.

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 the control of line thickness and contour position. Also, if a contour is notanimated the way that it should be you can use hints to correct the animation. For example, if a flagis not waving properly.
When adding a Contour Hint point, make sure that you place it far enough away from the contour sothat you can see it snap to the contour.
The Contour Hint points are yellow.

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Do not place the Contour Hint directly on the line as it may look like it has snapped to the contour, when
in fact, it has not and the morphing will remain unchanged.

To correct a brush stroke, place a hint on both sides of the line to indicate its thickness variations overtime.

Zone Hint
point is used on a colour zone to control the proximity rule. The Zone Hint is
The Zone Hint
placed in the centre of the colour zone. Sometimes a colour zone is not associated with thecorresponding one by default. For example, in a splash animation there are many water dropletsthat are the same colour. The system automatically morphs the droplet to the nearest one. This is
not always the one you may have predicted. A Zone Hint will force a colour zone to morph withanother one.

Zone Hint points are cyan in colour so you can easily see them.

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 theContour Hint, the Pencil Hint snaps to the central vector. Make sure to place it far enough away fromthe line so you will see it snap when you move it.

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Pencil Hint points are magenta in colour so you can easily see them.

Vanishing Point Hint
A Vanishing Point Hint
is used to control the trajectory of a vanishing shape. A shape will vanish
from the source drawing when there is no corresponding shape in the destination drawing. If you do
not place a Vanishing Hint to control the point of disappearance, the shape will vanish into its centre.

Vanishing Point Hint points are green in colour so you can easily see them.

Appearing Point Hint
An Appearing Point Hint
is used to control the trajectory of an appearing shape. A shape willappear in the destination 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.

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Appearing Point Hint points are violet in colour so you can easily see them.

Copying Hint Points from One Drawing to AnotherIf 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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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 mucheasier.
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 437
An important aspect of morphing is to identify possible problem zones in order to fix them and avoid
potentially frustrating situations.

Identifying Problem Zones
Simple details that look easy to morph can sometimes be more challenging than they may initiallyappear to be. For example, you may find that the nose becomes an issue when performing a headrotation. As explained earlier, the drawings need to be similar in their number of shapes. Generally,
on a head rotation, the source nose is in the centre 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 the destination nose grows from the character's cheek.

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Any shape that is contained inside another one and has to morph out of that shape will be
problematic for the same reasons as the nose is. At some point during the morphing sequence, theshape contained inside the face will merge with the face outline, and then become a separate shapeagain.

Morphing Layer Properties
It is because of these reasons, explained in the section, Identifying Problem Zones on the previous
page, that morphing layers exist. Morphing layers are all contained in the same drawing layer. It is
like having a mini Timeline within a Timeline 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 theCompositing process, making the compositor's work easier.
You can separate all of your elements into different drawing elements and have many layers, but you
would have to create a large number of morphing sequences and make sure that you modify all of
their timings properly.

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 thepuppet'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 in place, for example the wing behind the body, enable the Show Morphing in Place
option in the Morphing Tool Properties view.

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 soone. This technique is useful if you plan to do more than one morphing sequence in the same column. For

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example, front head to three-quarter head to side head. The three-quarter drawings will be used in bothmorphing 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 like eyes.

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:‣

Right-click and select Morphing > Create Morphing.

‣Press Alt + M.

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8. In the Tools toolbar, select the Morphingtool.

9. In the Morphing Tools Properties view, click on the Add Layer
layer.

button to add a new morphing

10.Double-click on the new layer's name and name it appropriately.
11.Press Enter/Return.

12. Use the Uplayer.
‣and Down

arrow buttons to move the new layer above or below the Main

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 thesource drawing and the To section for the destination drawing and type a different value than theones 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.

17. Once the source drawing is done, use the Morphing Tool Properties view and click on thedestination drawing's name and draw it in the Camera or Drawing View.
18. Repeat steps Step 9 to Step 15 for each layer needed. You can add as many layers as you want.

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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.

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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 foreach sequence.

Morphing two sequences in a row requires three drawings: 1, 2 and 3. Using these three drawings you
create two morphing sequences; one sequence between drawings 1 and 2, and a second sequence
between drawings 2 and 3.

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 showat the same time. Each set of hints that appears always corresponds to the morphing sequence you areworking on.

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Chapter 24: Morphing Inserting a Morphing Key Drawing

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 acomputer generated in-between to a morphing key drawing and add your extra details to it and thenext 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.

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.

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Converting Morphing Inbetweens to Drawings
Harmony lets you convert your morphing inbetweens to real drawings that you can edit.
This is useful when you manually edit your morphing sequence or if you prefer to have your 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 toconvert to real 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 typecircle.
4. Click OK.

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Morphing Holes and Transparencies
To be able to morph shapes with holes or transparent colours, it is important to understand theprocess of analyzing 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 shapeand ignore the central hole.

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 isfilled with an opaque brown colour. In order to avoid opaque holes, you have to paint the zone with atransparent colour so that you can control it and flatten the transparency to cut a hole through themain shape.
The same thing happens when you have holes painted with semi-transparent colours. To see throughyour shapes, you have to follow the same process as morphing shapes with holes.

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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.

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

tool.
button.

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 createsa larger file, so only increase quality when you are zooming in closely. You can adjust the quality in the
Tool Properties view and in the Preferences panel.

When morphing in Toon Boom Harmony, there is a preference you can set to help you set the default
quality of morphing sequences. Refer to the following parameter in the Preferences Guide forcomplete 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.

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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 thePencil line for simple closed shapes.

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 source line 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 swatches even if they have the same RGB values. This can be turned to your advantage forcomplex morphing.

Morphing Similar Shapes
Similar shapes should have the same number of colour zones. This only applies to the number ofzones 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, themorphing 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 of the 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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Glossaryalpha channel

The image's channel carrying the transparency information. An
image already has three channels: red, green and blue (RGB). The
alpha channel is the fourth channel (RGBA). The matte, or thetransparency information, is stored in this fourth channel. An image
without an alpha 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 attimes, the characters are placed on a trajectory to indicate motion.
The camera moves are also animated. The animatic is used todetermine the rhythm of a project and provides a good overview ofthe 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 inJapan.

arc

Action rarely occurs in a straight-forward manner; rather it typicallyunfolds in what storytellers refer to as an arc. The purpose of astory arc is to move a character or a situation from 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 are stacked into a sheet feeder. When thescanner 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.
An imaginary line around which an object rotates.
For 2D graphics, there are two axes:

axis

•

X: Horizontal•

Y: Vertical

For 3D graphics, there are three axes:•

X: Horizontal•

Y: Vertical•

Z: Depthbackground

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

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Glossary

Tips and Tricks

mathematician Pierre Bézier. A Bézier curve is a mathematical orparametric curve. Bézier curves use at least three points to define acurve.
In Toon Boom, a function can be hooked to a Bézier curve and varyalong with the curve value information. Bézier curves are also very
useful in vector graphics. They are used to model smooth curves
and can be scaled indefinitely.
bitmapAn image composed of pixels with a single resolution (size). If it isenlarged too much, it will lose definition and pixels will begin toappear. This is known as pixelation.
In cut-out animation, breakdown is the action of breaking acharacter into pieces to create a puppet with articulations. To
break down a character, the artist cuts part, such as hands andarms, from the character's model and pastes them in separate
layers. Next, the joints are fixed and the pivots set.

breakdown

In traditional animation, a breakdown is an animation pose
generally found between two key poses. The key poses are themain poses in an animation and the breakdowns are secondary
poses, ones that help to describe the motion and the rotation
curve.

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 the road.

captionIn a storyboard, a caption is a text field containing dialogue,
effects, sound, or slugging information.

cel

In traditional animation, a cel, also known as a celluloid, is atransparent sheet on which the animation is inked and painted
before being sent to the camera.The picture's outline is drawn on
the front of the cel and then coloured along the back.
In Toon Boom, a cel is an individual space encountered in an
Xsheet's column, from which you can expose a drawing or afunction`s coordinate.

character design

Each character in an animated film is drawn from multiple angles inposter-style format, called a model sheet, which serves as areference for the animators.

clean up

After rough drawings have been tested and approved, all the noisein the image (excess lines, notes, etc) is removed to create final
drawings which can be inked, painted and shot. The cleanup
process refers to either tracing a clean line over a rough drawing toachieve the final version, or removing dirt and extra lines left by thescanning process.

CMYK

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black. Refers to the process used byprinters to define colour on the printed page.

colour card

A Colour Card is a solid colour card that is the same size as thecamera. The Colour Card can be used to fill the background with asolid colour when there is no background image included.

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colour model

In animation, a colour model is 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, thecompositing artist will import all the animation sequences,background, overlays and underlays in the scene and position themcorrectly. The artist will then set the camera frame and animate it, if
needed. Finally, the animator will create all the computergenerated 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 thenext. The first scene ends and the second one starts immediately.

cut-out animation

The action of animating characters made of several pieces bymoving them around frame by frame. Cut-out animation can either
be 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 oftime. 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 timing of images, dialogue, sound effects,
sound tracks and camera moves. Also known as an exposure sheet
or Xsheet.

dopingTo assig a particular drawing to a range of frames.

DPI

Dots Per Inch is the standard measure of resolution forcomputerized printers. It is sometimes applied to screens, in whichcase it should more accurately be referred to as pixels per inch.
Either way, the dot is the smallest discrete element making up theimage.

ease/velocity

In animation, the ease, also known as velocity, is the accelerationand deceleration of a motion. It can be a motion created by afunction 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. Another common term for easein is slow-in.

ease-out

Gradual deceleration in the action. Another common term for easeout is slow-out.

establishing shot

A scene in which the viewer can see the whole area in which asequence is happening. For example, if a child is playing on the
ground in front of his house, the establishing shot would be a scene459

Glossary

Tips and Tricks

where the viewer can see the house, the ground, a part of thestreet and the buildings around the central point of action. This
helps the viewer understand the story location and sceneorientation.
exposure

In animation, an exposure is the number of cels on which a drawing
appears in the scene. For a drawing to appear longer, theexposure must be extended over a greater number of cels.
The exposure sheet or Xsheet, is a sheet with several verticalcolumns and horizontal frames used to indicate a scene's timing.

exposure sheet (Xsheet)

Each column represents a scene's layer. In each column, thedrawing's numbers are indicated and repeated over the particularamount of frames they need to appear.
The exposure sheet is used by animators, directors and othermembers 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 asequence. 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 from complete opacity to complete transparency.

fast-inDramatic acceleration at the start of the action.

fast-out

Dramatic acceleration at the end of the action.

field

In animation, a field is a measurement unit used to calculatemotion, registration and camera positioning. A standard animation
scene will vary between 6 to 12 fields.

field chart

A guide containing all the field units that animation and layout artists use todetermine a scene size or camera motion.

film-1.33

Use this resolution setting for the widescreen film format that
conforms to the standard 4:3 pixel aspect ratio.

film-1.66

Use this resolution setting for the widescreen film format that
conforms to the 16:9 pixel aspect ratio. (The pixels are wider thanthey are high).

flipping

In traditional animation, flipping is the action of going through thedrawings of an animation sequence very quickly in order to see theanimation in motion. Flipping can also be the action of creating amirror transformation of an object.

follow-throughThe follow-through is the 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

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)a puppet from one of parent parts, such as a shoulder, and makethe rest of the arm move with it as a single piece.

frame

A frame is a single photographic image in a movie. In traditional
animation, the North American standard generally contains 24
frames per second, while in Europe the standard is 25 frames per
second.
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

Frame rate is most often expressed in frames per second (FPS) andin progressive-scan monitors as hertz (Hz).
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

functions

A function is a computer generated motion, trajectory or path thatelements, other trajectories and effects parameters can be
attached to. 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

High Definition Television delivers a higher quality image thanstandard television does because it has a greater number of linesof resolution. To take advantage of the superior quality and makefull use of your resolution setting, your output device must becompatible with HDTV technology.

holdThis is 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 ofhue (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 on the final animation drawings, while
following a colour model.

interpolation

In animation, the interpolation is the computer generated motion
created between two keyframes. You have the choice to create
interpolation, or not, between your keyframes.

jump cut

A jump cut is 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 similar a image. The lack ofdifference causes the eye to see a little jump between the twoscenes.

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Glossary

Tips and Tricks

key pose

Important positions in the action defining the starting and ending
points of any smooth transition. Keys, or key poses, are the maindrawings 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 of the drawings.
One or more keyboard keys which, when used, cause an operation
to be performed. Keyboard shortcuts are used throughout theToon Boom software and form an integral part of the workflow. It
is, in most cases, possible to customize the shortcuts in the
Preferences dialog of the software.

keyboard shortcuts

The shortcuts are written as follows in the Toon Boom user
documentation: Each key in a sequence is shown inside square
brackets as in: [Ctrl]+[A]. The brackets "[ ]" separate the key fromthe plus sign (+). Neither the brackets, nor the plus sign are part ofthe sequence. To use a shortcut, press the key and the character
simultaneously.

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 are superposed to form the final image.

layout

The layout process is the communication step between thestoryboard and the animation. The layout and posing process isthe action of putting the storyboard on model, that is drawing thecharacter following the design in the model pack, so that the
animator can start his work. The layout artist will draw thebackground, create the camera and field guide matching the scene
and the camera motion. Lastly, he will draw on model the main
action poses.

layout and posing

The action of putting on model, that is, at the right scale, thestoryboard for the animator to start his work.

library

A library is a storage area containing templates and assets that canbe reused in any project or scenes.

light table

The Light Table feature allows you to see the other layers intransparency while you are working on a particular one in the
Drawing view.

line of action

Direction that the action will follow. Also known as the Path of
Actionlip-sync

The lip-sync is the character`s mouth synchronization with thedialogue sound track. Frame by frame, the mouth will be adjusted
to fit the sound to give the illusion of the character is speaking.

low resolution

This format is ideal for videos destined for the web, where size andfast download of a video file might take precedence over quality. A
low-resolution image is one that lacks fine detail.

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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 soundwave broken up frame-by-frame) and drawing substitutions fromthe Library view are used.

master palette

A master palette is a group of colours attributed to a character ora prop. The palette is used throughout the entire production tomaintain consistency in the look and to ensure that the same
colours are used throughout the production. Also known as
palette.

model/colour model

In animation, a model is the definitive character, prop or location
design that each artist must follow for the production. A colour
model is the official colour design that must be used to paint the
animation.

motion keyframe

In Toon Boom, the motion keyframe is a keyframe with computergenerated interpolation.

mouth chart

Adding a lip-sync to a project can really enhance its quality andstorytelling. However, it can be difficult to shape a character's
mouth so that it matches the sound at the precise frame. To solve
this problem, Toon Boom provides a lip-sync feature whichanalyses the contents of a sound element and generates a mouth
chart based on the eight animation phonemes (A, B, C, D, E, F, G,
and X, which is used to represent silence).

multiplane

The effect of passing through multiple levels of drawings to createa sense of depth in a shot. A multiplane is a scene in which thelayers are placed at different distances from the camera so thatwhen the camera moves, a depth illusion occurs. With a multiplane,
all the perspective 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 for computer and televisionscreens.

nudge

A small push (left, right, up, down, forward or backward) donewith the keyboard arrow keys on a selected element. Nudging isused to move a selection very slightly and precisely.

onion skin

A feature that lets you see the previous and next drawings of asequence.

overlay

A part of the scene environment, such as a chair or a bush, that isplaced 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 palette

A palette or master palette is a group of colours attributed to acharacter or a prop. The palette is used throughout the entire
project to maintain a consistency in the look and avoid the colourchanging during the animation. Also referred to as a master
palette.

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Glossary

Tips and Tricks

palette style

A palette style is a second version of an existing palette with aslight change in the tint and value. A palette style can be used tocreate the night version of a palette. It may also be called 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 becomposed of one or several panels.

paperless animation/tradigital

The paperless animation process is the action of animating
digitally. The main paperless animation process is to draw, frameby 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.

path of action

Direction that the action will follow. Also known as the Line of
Action.

peg

In traditional animation, a tool used to ensure accurate registrationof action as cel layers move. In digital animation, in which you aredoing 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 the Inverse Kinematics tool.

phoneme

Unit of sound in a language.

pivot

A pivot is the point around which a peg or a drawing rotates.
Smallest element of an image displayed on a monitor or TV screen.

pixel

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 enoughon a digital image, you will see the pixels, which look like small
squares of different colours and intensity.

pose-to-pose animation

The pose-to-pose animation process is the action of creating all themain action poses, called key poses, and then placing thesecondary poses between the keys. The secondary poses arecalled breakdown. Finally, the animator fills the gaps with the inbetween drawings to achieve a smooth animation.

rendering

The final step when animating by computer. During rendering, thecomputer takes each pixel that appears on screen and processes
all of the components as well as adding motion blur before it
produces a final image. In animation, the rendering process is theaction of calculating the final images after the compositing
process.

resolution

The resolution is the size of a scene, generally calculated in pixel.
For example, the NTSC resolution is 720 x 480. Resolution typeshould match your final output: HDTV, film-1.33, film-1.66, NTSC,
PAL, low.

RGB

Red, Green, Blue: method of defining colour by specifying amounts464

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)of these three colour components.
rigging

The rigging process is the action of attaching the cut-out puppet
parts one to the other.

rotary table

The Rotary Table is equivalent to the animation disk/table andallows one to rotate the workspace to be more comfortable while
drawing.

rotoscoping

Is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action
film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films. The actof sketching over live-action footage to create an animatedsequence.

roughs

The roughs are the skeleton sketch of an animation or a design.
Roughs mainly consist of sketch lines and shapes, though they canalso contain design details.

safey area

In animation and movie parlance, the safey area is the zone at thecentre of the scene's frame, one safe from being cropped by the TV
frame. As a TV frame cuts a margin off the original frame size,
maintaining a safey area ensures that the scene's main action willremain clearly visible once the film is screened on television.

scene

A scene is a shot in a movie or show. A sequence is composed ofseveral scenes. A scene changes to another scene by a simple cut,or a transition.

scriptThe script is the original text containing all the movie or show
information. In animation, the script contains all of the location
descriptions, dialogues, time and more. A project starts with ascript.

sequence

In animation, a sequence is a series of scenes or shots forming a
distinct part of the story or movie, usually connected by unity oflocation or time.

shot

A shot is a scene in a movie or show. A sequence is composed ofseveral shots. A shot changes to another shot by a simple cut, or atransition.

slow-in

Gradual acceleration in the action. Another common term for slowin is ease-in.

slow-out

Gradual deceleration in the action. Another common term for slowout is ease-out.

slugging

In Storyboard Pro, slugging refers to indicating 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 theplayhead forward or backward. This is very useful for finely-tuned
lip-syncing.

stop-motion keyframe

A stop-motion keyframe is 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 and465

Glossary

Tips and Tricks

how the objects in a scene are laid out.

straight-ahead

A technique in which an entire sequence is drawn from the first
position to the last, in order. There is very little planning in thismethodology, and where the character ends up and how it getsthere can be a surprise for both the audience and the animator.
While this approach is a lot more spontaneous and creative, it cancreate inaccurate results.

strokes

Strokes are invisible vector lines forming the drawing zones. They
can be adjusted with Bézier handles.

tablet/pen

Device used in conjunction with, or instead of, a mouse to move amouse pointer (sometimes referred to as the cursor) around thecomputer screen.

template

In Toon Boom, a template is an asset stored in the library, one thatcan be reused in any project. A template can be a drawing, a seriesof keyframes, a sound file, a panel, a cut-out character, an effect, a
trajectory, an animation, or anything else used in the software.

thumbnails

A thumbnail is a very small image used as a reference or indicator.

timecode

Timecode is timing information printed on a movie clip to indicate
what scene, hour, minute and second is currently displayed on thescreen.

timeline

The timeline is a horizontal representation of the scene`s elements,
timing and keyframes.

trace and paint

After the rough animations have gone through cleanup and a final
line or pencil test, each drawing is traced and painted for the final
animation. In today's digital world, this may be done in a variety
ways other than via the traditional celluloid or acetate methods.

track breakdown

The soundtrack for animated film is broken down into individual
sounds documenting the precise frame-by-frame position of eachsound.

traditional animation

The traditional animation process is the action of drawing on paper
all of the animation sequences, before either scanning them or
inking them on cels.

trajectory

A computer generated path or trajectory that elements can follow.
The trajectory can be controlled by control points, keyframes andvelocity.

transition

A transition is an effect placed between two scenes as they passfrom one to the other. Common transition effects are crossdissolve and wipe.

underlay

In animation, an underlay is a specific part of the decor placed
behind the main animation.

aspect ratio

The aspect ratio describes the shape of the grid unit. A square grid
unit would have the ratio 1:1, whereas a grid unit of aspect ratio
4:3 is a unit with one side 1.33 times as big as the other side.

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vector

A vector-based image is composed of points and Bézier curves.
The computer reads the points and traces the segments, linking
them to reproduce the image shape. There is no fixed size orresolution in a vector image. The graphic can be enlarged anddistorted as much as desired and the system will simply recalculate
the segments and rebuild the shapes. Vector images are translated
and displayed in pixels once the calculation is done.

velocity/ease

In animation, the velocity, also known as ease, is the acceleration or
deceleration of a motion. This can be achieved by a function curve,
or via a series of animated drawings. Other common terms forease-in and ease-out are slow-in and slow-out.

walk cycle

To avoid making innumerable drawings, animators routinely makea walk cycle for their character. This comprises a series of drawings``on the spot`` that describe the walk for that character. The illusionof movement is created via the use of background pans.

workspace

In Toon Boom, the workspace is made up of the views, toolbars,
and menus.
The Xsheet or exposure sheet, is a sheet with several verticalcolumns and horizontal frames used to indicate a scene's timing.

Xsheet (exposure sheet)

Each column represents a scene's layer. In each column, thedrawing numbers are indicated and spread over the specificamount of frames they need to appear.
The exposure sheet is used by animators, directors and othermembers 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.

zone

An area which can be painted with colour.

467IndexTips and Tricks

Index
alpha channel_defined 457
animatic_defined 457
animation_defined 457
anime_defined 457
Annotation column 229
changing drawing settings 232
drawing 230
erasing annotations 231-232
importing Annotation file 234
pen colour 233
pen width 232
tick marks, displaying 233
typing 230
annotations
changing drawing settings 232
changing pen colour 233
changing pen width 232
drawing 230
erasing 231-232
typing 230
arc_defined 457
aspect ratio_defined 457
defined 466
auto-feed_defined 457
axis_defined 457

468

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)background_defined 457
backing up
palettes 156
Bezier_defined 457
bitmap images_defined 458
Bitmap layer 215
bitmap resolution
height 60-61
resolution factor 60-61
width 59-60
breakdown_defined 458
Camera layer 216
camera shake_defined 458
caption_defined 458
cel_defined 458
celluloid
See cel. 458
character design_defined 458
clean up_defined 458
cloninglayers and columns 228
CMYK_defined 458
Colour-Cardlayer 216

469

IndexTips and Tricks

colour card_defined 458
colour model_defined 463
defined 459
colour palettesback up 156
location 153
storage location 155
colour wheel
defined 459
Column Properties editor
displaying in Xsheet 225
columns
advanced types 218
cloning 228
deleting 222
duplicating 228
modifying 225
properties 224
renaming 226
reordering 227
Timing 235
types 215
Xsheet 214
compositing
defined 459
cross dissolve
defined 459
cut
defined 459
cut-out animation
defined 459

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cycle
defined 459
dialoguedefined 459
dope sheet
defined 459
dopingdefined 459
DPI
defined 459
drawing elements
adding 218
creating 214
duplicating 228
Drawing layer 215
ease
defined 459
ease-indefined 459
ease-out
defined 459
editors
Column Properties 225
Effect layer 216
Element Manager dialog box
parameters 227
establishing shot
defined 459
exportingpalettes 155
exposure_defined 460
exposure sheet_defined 467, 460

471

IndexTips and Tricks

fade-in_defined 460
fade-out_defined 460
field_defined 460
field chart_defined 460
film-1.33_defined 460
film-1.66_defined 460
flipping_defined 460
follow-through_defined 460
forward kinematics_defined 460
frame_defined 461
frame rate
_defined 461
frames 211
adding 212
adding before/after selection 211
functions_defined 461
gamut_defined 461
HDTV_defined 461
Hold_defined 461

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HSV_defined 461
importing
Annotation file 234
in-between_defined 461
ink and paint_defined 461
interpolation_defined 461
jump cut_defined 461
key pose_defined 462
keyboard shortcuts_defined 462
keyframes_defined 462
Layer Properties editor
displaying 225
renaming layers 226
layers 214_defined 462
bitmap 215
camera 216
cloning 228
Colour-Card 216
deleting 222
drawing 215
duplicating 228
effect 216
Group 216
modifying 225
Peg 217473

IndexTips and Tricks

properties 224
Quadmap 217
renaming 226
reordering 226
Sound 217
types 215
layout_defined 462
layout and posing_defined 462
library_defined 462
light table_defined 462
line of action_defined 462
linkingexternal files 235
lip-sync_defined 462
auto detection, defined 457
lip-sync detection
manual, defined 463
low resolution_defined 462
manual lip-sync detection_defined 463
master palette_defined 463
exporting 155
model_defined 463
model sheet See character design474

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morphing
deleting 426
motion keyframe_defined 463
mouthchart 463
multiplane_defined 463
NTSC_defined 463
nudge_defined 463
onion skinng_defined 463
overlay_defined 463
PAL_defined 463
palettes_defined 463
backup 156
exporting 155
location 153
storage location 155
style, defined 464
panel_defined 464
panning_defined 464
paperless animation_defined 464
passing position_defined 464

475

IndexTips and Tricks

path of action_defined 464
Peg layer 217
pegs_defined 464
pen_defined 466
phoneme_defined 464
pivot_defined 464
pixel_defined 464
pixelation See bitmap image
pose-to-pose_defined 464
Quadmap layer 217
rendering_defined 464
resolution_defined 464
factor, bitmap 60-61
height, bitmap 60-61
scene 59-60
width, bitmap 59-60
RGB_defined 464
rigging_defined 465
rotary table_defined 465
rotoscoping_defined 465

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Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Paperless Animation Guide (Network)roughs_defined 465
safe area_defined 465
scene resolution 59-60
scenes_defined 465
adding frames before/after selection 211
extending 211-212
reducing length 212
removing frames 212
setting length 211
script_defined 465
scrubbing_defined 465
sequences_defined 465
shot_defined 465
slow-in_defined 465
slow_out_defined 465
slugging_defined 465
soundscrubbing_defined 465
Sound layer 217
stop-motion keyframe_defined 465
storyboard_defined 465

477

IndexTips and Tricks

straight-ahead_defined 466
strokes_defined 466
tablet_defined 466
templates_defined 466
thumbnails_defined 466
tick marks, Xsheet
displaying 233
turning off 234
timecode_defined 466
timeline_defined 466
Timeline viewcloning layers and columns 228
modifying layers and columns 225
reducing scene length 212
renaming layers 226
reordering layers 226
timingadding frames before/after selection 211
Annotation column, adding 229
changing drawing settings 232
drawing in Annotation column 230
erasing annotation 231-232
extending scenes 211-212
frames 211
importing Annotation file 234
linking external files 235
preparing 209

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reducing scene length 212
references 210
removing frames 212
scene length 211
Timing column 235
typing in Annotation column 230
Timing column 235
linking external files 235
using 235
trace and paint_defined 466
track breakdown_defined 466
tradigital_defined 464
traditional animation_defined 466
trajectory_defined 466transition_defined 466
underlay_defined 466
vector_defined 467
velocity
defined 459, 467
walk cycle_defined 467
workspace_defined 467
Xsheettyping in Annotation column 230

479

IndexTips and Tricks

Xsheet view
_defined 225, 467
adding frames before/after selection 211
advanced column types 218
Annotation column, adding 229
changing drawing settingss 232
cloning layers and columns 228
columns 214
erasing annotations 231-232
importing Annotation file 234
layers 214
modifying layers and columns 225
removing frames 212
renaming columns 226
reordering columns 227
tick marks, displays 233
Timing column 235
zone_defined 467

480