TOON BOOM HARMONY 12.2.1- Essentials Edition -Gaming Animation Guide (Server)

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Publication Date
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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Contents
Toon Boom Harmony 12.2.1- Essentials Edition -Gaming Animation Guide (Server)

1

Contents

3

Chapter 1: Introduction

7

Chapter 2: About Gaming in Harmony

9

Chapter 3: Guidelines and Resources

13

Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

19

Preparation

19

Sketching the Model

20

Relative Size

22

Sketching the Character32

Cleaning and Inking the Model

35

Drawing Tasks

36

Drawing Tool References

72

Chapter 5: Colour Styling

109

Preparation

109

Working with Palettes

114

Colours

135

Painting the Model

147

Chapter 6: Timing

151

Preparation

151

Setting the Scene Length

153

Creating Drawings

155

Filling Exposure

164

Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

170

Managing Key Exposures

183

Navigating between Frames and Columns

185Managing Drawings

187

Merging Drawings

191

Chapter 7: Character Building

197

About the Model

198

Relative Sizes

199

Studying the Model

202

Setting the Default Separate Position Preferences

205

Naming Conventions

205

Breaking Down the Character

206

3

Contents

Ordering the Layers

212

Rigging214

Adding Extra Drawings

228

Setting the Pivots

230

Setting Anchors and Props

231

Storing the Character in the Library

236

Appendix238

Chapter 8: Gaming Deformation

247

About Game Bone Deformations

247

Creating a Basic Deformation Rig

248

Setting Up the Resting Position

250

Displaying the Deformation Controls

255

Assembling Pieces

256

Animating Deformations

258

Deformation Toolbar

262

Deformation Nodes

263

Chapter 9: Library

267

Understanding the Library Concept267

Library View

270

Organizing the Library272

Templates

276

Symbols

278

Importing Symbols and Templates

286

Importing Files Through the Library

290

Using Paste Special

290

Chapter 10: Cut-out Animation

293

Getting the Character

294

Keyframes and Drawing Blocks

297

Creating a Simple Cut-out Animation

299

Selecting Layers to Animate or Position

302

Navigating the Hierarchy

304

Animating Using the Transform Tool

306

Animating in Stop-motion

308

Animating Using Computer-generated Interpolation

309

Marking the Timeline

315

Flipping Through Poses

316

Using the Onion Skin in Cut-out Animation

317

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Flipping Parts

319

Using Action Templates

320

Swapping Drawings

321

Animating Lip-Sync

327

Adding a New Drawing

331

Ordering Layers Over Time

335

Resetting a Transformation

336

Creating Cycles

337

Adding Pegs

339

Offsetting a Portion of an Animation

341

Chapter 11: Export Harmony Animations to Unity

343

Harmony Game Previewer

347

Placing a Target in an Imported Animation

354

Export to Sprite Sheets

357

Export to Easel JS

359

Chapter 12: Troubleshooting

363

Glossary

367

Index

377

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

6

Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Chapter 1: Introduction

Harmony is a great tool for creating character rigs and animation for games. Artists and programmers can work
together to create content for many platforms, including Windows, Mac, Mobile, iOS, PS, XBOX, and so on.
The Toon Boom gaming pipeline is evolving constantly. For more information:•

Toon Boom Gaming: https://www.toonboom.com/games•

For information: sales@toonboom.com.

•

Technical inquiries: store.toonboom.com/contact/support.

This guide is divided as follows:•

About Gaming in on page 1•

Guidelines and Resources on page 1•

Design and Drawing Tools on page 19•

Colour Styling on page 109•

Timing on page 151•

Character Building on page 197•

Gaming Deformation on page 247•

Library on page 267•

Cut-out Animation on page 293•

Importing Animations into Unity on page 1•

Troubleshooting on page 1
7Chapter 1: Introduction

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Chapter 2: About Gaming in Harmony

As gaming pipelines are constantly evolving, Toon Boom is breaking the boundaries of how to create 2D animation
for games.
There are two main pipelines for exporting data from Harmony to your game engine:•

Raw Game Data Export on page 10•

Frame-by-Frame Export on page 11

Creating Animation in Harmony
When creating character rigs and animation for games, there are a few things to think about before starting. Artists
and programmers should work together to make sure their needs are met.
•

What platform will your game be going on? Windows, Mac, Mobile, iOS, PS, XBOX, etc.

•

What game engine will you be using?

•

What is the style of the game? Hand drawn, cut-out, with textures, etc.

These are just a few of the questions to consider before getting started. They all have an impact on how you design,build, and animate characters.
For example, if you’re planning a mobile game for smart phones, then you will most likely want to keep your gameunder 50 MB, so it can be downloaded without having to be on Wi-Fi. In that case, your most important consideration
is to create efficient characters with very tight sprite sheets and reuse a lot of the animation to keep the file sizes
small. During the process, you will need to:•

Rig and animate characters in Harmony.

•

Extract out the Harmony data.

•

Import the Harmony data into the game engine.

9Chapter 2: About Gaming in Harmony

Keep in mind, if you’re working with a custom engine, you can also process the Harmony data that’s exported anduse it in a custom game engine. If you need assistance with adapting data for your engine, contact
store.toonboom.com/contact/support.
If you’re making a game for consoles, like the PS or Xbox, then you have the freedom to create larger textures.
You may want to animate frame-by-frame, or you may want to animate with a cut-out character.
If you're simply going to export on a frame-by-frame sequence, then you can use all tool in Harmony without
limitations. You can then process an exported image sequence into a sprite sheet.

Raw Game Data Export

Raw game data export is appropriate when you want the file sizes to be as small as possible. Toon Boom lets you
extract all the data from Harmony to incorporate into a game engine. You can extract the skeleton information,
drawing information, and keyframe animation data, as well as deformations (bones and articulations only), cutter,transparency nodes, and timing columns.
•

Advantage: This is the lightest export, and will keep file sizes small which is ideal for mobile applications.

•

Disadvantage: You are somewhat limited in the tools you can use in Harmony. You can use tools like
Morphing as well as Curve and Envelope deformers, but you’ll need to bake it out to drawings so they'reinterpreted properly in the game engine. You can use Cutter effects (masking), but you cannot cascadethem, meaning you cannot have more than one in a hierarchy chain. The Game Bone deformers can beused on your rig with having to bake it to drawings.

However, even with these limitations, you can create really great cut-out character animation in Harmony andextract all the data. By moving, rotating, scaling, and skewing the different drawing layers, you can create
advanced looking animation.
When you extract the data, you'll have sprite sheets that contain only the drawings of the body parts used in yourHarmony scene file. You can also support multiple animations, such as idle, run, and jump, and reuse the same
skeleton and drawings when possible by simply exporting new animation data.

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Toon Boom has fully integrated this solution with the Unity game development rendering engine. If you are creating
your game in Unity, you have a seamless pipeline without the need to re-treat the data in your game engine.

Frame-by-Frame Export

You can export from Harmony using an image sequence, which can be recompiled into a sprite sheet.
Advantage: You can use any of the tools in Harmony when you animate!
Disadvantage: These sprite sheets can become quite heavy and end up as large textures to process in the game.
This may be fine for many games, like console games, but when you’re doing game development for mobile devices,such as iOS or Android, you need to be very light on your texture space. Also, file sizes should be kept under 50 MB
to facilitate downloading without needing to be connected to Wi-Fi.
There is a script available in Harmony that allows you to export your animation in frame-by-frame to the EaselJS
game engine EaselJS is a javascript web compatible game engine. It uses a json data structure to map each frameto an entry in the sprite sheet. The data structure is easy to understand and can be adapted or converted to adifferent game engine if you need to.
To export to EaselJS, you need to add the script in the Scripting toolbar (TB_ExportToEaselJS). This script isincluded in Harmony. See Export Animations to Unity on page 1 for more information on how to add the script to your
Scripting toolbar and the interface parameters.

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Chapter 3: Guidelines and Resources

In this chapter, you'll find guidelines for rigging, deformation, cutter and many useful animation tips.
This chapter contains the following topics:•

on page 14•

Deformation Guidelines on page 15•

Cutter Guidelines on page 15•

Animation Tips on page 16

13

Chapter 3: Guidelines and Resources

Rigging Guidelines
The following is a list of general guidelines to keep in mind when rigging your character. As you're planning thecharacter rig for your game, keep in mind the style of the character, and create your custom colour palette.
However, there are some limitations to consider if you plan to extract the game data:•

Set your Harmony scene to be a square resolution (e.g. 1024 x 1024). You can do this in the Scene Setting
dialog box.

•

Draw the art on the Line Art and Colour Art layers only. The information contained in the Overlay andUnderlay will not be exported to Unity. It is however safe for using as a reference layer, just not anythingthat will be exported.

•

Create rigs in the Timeline view only. The Node view can have complex connections that are not always
interpreted well by game engines.

•

Nudge layers in Z space if you need to reorder layers. However, significant Z offsets are not supported
within a character rig.

•

Make every layer in your game engine a separate scene in Harmony. If you have two characters at
different depths, put them in separate scene files.

•

Character rigs in groups at the root level of your Harmony scene will render to a single plane in Unity, but
use separate sprite sheet and animation data sets. Keep this in mind for scenes in which you may havemore than one character interacting with each other.

•

Don’t use any effects. Effects like colour overrides are not interpreted by game engines. Use only direct
hierarchy, drawing swaps, and keyframe animation.

•

Don’t use 3D space. If you want to set things up in 3D space, you can do this when you get to your gameengine.

•Set your pivot points on Peg layers using the Rotate tool to set the pivot on the entire layer. Peg pivots arerecommended over drawing pivots. You should also set the pivot points on your drawing layers, even if
you don’t animate on them, as this will allow you to retrieve the information later on in the game engine if
you need to put a locator on a drawing layer.

•

Don’t use Morphing. This is not yet supported in game engines.

•

Both Morphing and Deform can be used and then baked out to individual drawings. These drawings willthen show up as new drawings in your sprite sheet. Be wary of doing this too often as it will increase yourtexture space!

•

For your pegs, when you animate, use Bezier curves and set them to Separate. If you use 3D Path, it’sheavier than Separate.

•

Be mindful of where you put your character before exporting. The master pivot of your exported gameobject will be the center of your Harmony scene (0,0).

•Be sure to have a Display at the end of your hierarchy.

Keeping these tips in mind will allow you to create a tight, efficient 2D game character in Harmony while taking
advantage of all the great tools.
Here are some things you should do:•Create a simple parent-child relationship hierarchy in the Timeline view.

•

Use peg layers to contain keyframe animation data, set to Separate Position.

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide•

Use drawing layers to draw on, creating new drawings when needed.

•

Use the Rotate tool to set the pivot points on the peg layers.

•

Name your layers properly so if you need to fetch a specific layer’s pivot point later on in the game engine,
you can easily recognize the layer you need. If you have a top-level Group A, which has a child group inside it(Group B), and the drawing layer is a child of Group B, then the drawing layer is exported as A_B_
DrawingLayer.

You can use any of the drawing tools you want: Pencil and Brush tools, textured lines, solid areas, and gradients.
Each individual drawing will be rendered out and assembled into a sprite sheet later.

NOTE: Because the Unity game engine does not support Unicode characters, it is recommended to avoid using it inscenes intended for games.

Deformation Guidelines
Harmony can export deformations to the game engine XML format. Only hierarchies made of Game Bones can be
successfully exported. In addition, Kinematic Outputs were implemented to complement your game bones.
Although deformation comes equipped with a wide range of features, many were restrained to ensure that
performance is on par with gaming industry standards. The following features are not compatible with the gameengine SDK:•

Zones of influence•

Curve and Envelope deformations•

Only a single pose is allowed per deformation hierarchy

The deformation in the game engine SDK does not behave exactly as the deformation in Harmony.
To comply with most game engines and maintain fast calculations, the SDK implements a linear base skinningalgorithm to linearly blend the bones at articulations. You may notice some differences depending on the curvature of
the articulations used.

NOTE: * Not currently available in the Cocos2d-x implementation of the game engine SDK.

Cutter Guidelines
The cutter, or mask, operation in Harmony is used for cutting off drawings with custom shapes. The game engine
SDK implements both cutters and inverted cutters with the following limitations:•

For a sprite, only a single cutter drawing can be applied when it is rendered. This also applies to a composite
of multiple matte drawings. The game engine SDK will only use the first matte drawing during rendering anddiscard the others.

•

A deformed drawing cannot be cut, but a cut drawing can be deformed.

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Chapter 3: Guidelines and Resources

NOTE: * Not currently available in the Cocos2d-x implementation of the game engine SDK.

Animation Tips
When animating for games, depending on the type of game you’re creating, you may need to limit your animation.
For example, if you’re creating mobile games and you want to keep the file sizes small and playback fast on all
devices, then limit yourself to simple keyframe animation with as few drawing swaps as possible. If you’recreating console games, you have the freedom to create more drawings and have a higher complexity. You can
explore with your programmer the limitations of the platforms you’re exporting to, and what your game engine
supports.
Here are some tips for efficient, lightweight animation:•

Use mainly transformations, such as move, rotate, scale, and skew.

•

Create additional drawing swaps when needed.

•

If you use Curve and Envelope deformers or Morphing, you’ll need to bake out the drawings for export. Be
careful when doing this, as you may want to keep the number of drawings small. Don’t bake out an entire
sequence, just selected drawings. You don't need to bake the Game Bone deformers.

•

The bigger the drawings are in the Drawing view, the more pixels they will occupy in the texture size on the
sprite sheet. When setting up your rig, make sure to not scale individual layers by using a keyframe with
the Transform tool. If you want to scale things up or down, use the Select tool. This will keep things thesame relative size on the sprite sheet. When you export the sprite sheets, in the script you can also set theresolution of the sprite sheet so the drawings can be scaled down for smaller devices.

•

Only drawings which are exposed in the scene will be exported to the sprite sheet. For example, if you
have 10 drawings in your Library view, but only two of them are showing in your scene, only those two will
be exported. This keeps the sprite sheet as tight as possible.

Animating Multiple Sequences
You will always have multiple animations for your characters. For example, an idle sequence, a run sequence, an
action sequence, and so on. You need to work in a specific structure so you can export all of these animations toa single sprite sheet.
First, create a scene file with the name of the character, such as Space Duck. This is the file where you cancreate or import your game rig. In the top menu, select File > Save As New Version, and give this new version
the name of the animation. For example, Idle.
Every time you need to do a new animation using the same character, perform a Save As New Version. In theend, you may have something like this:Scene: Space Duck
Versions:
•

Run

•

Idle

•

Jump

•

Shoot

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

When you run the export script, it will export the drawings from the current scene into the export folder. It will also let
you know if there are any other scene versions that were already exported to that folder. If so, then it will recompile
the sprite sheet to include all the drawings from all the animations. This allows the maximum possible reuse ofdrawings.

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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

Preparation on page 19•

Sketching the Model on page 20•

Cleaning and Inking the Model on page 35

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

Drawing Tasks on page 36

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 72

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

Getting References on page 20•

Using the Workspace on page 20

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

Getting References

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

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

Sketching the Model

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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

Drawing with the Brush or Pencil Tool

The Brush
tool takes account of pressure sensitivity, allowing you to create lines with variable thicknesses
when using a pen tablet, creating a contour vector shape. You can set different parameters, such as the size andsmoothness of the Brush tool in the Tool Properties view. If you draw with the Brush tool and want to modify the
thickness variation, use the Contour Editor
tool.
The Pencil, Polyline and Shape tools let you create a central vector line of uniform thickness. Pressure
sensitivity is not supported with pencil lines. You can set different parameters, such as the size and smoothness of
the Pencil tool in the Tool Properties view.

Override Tool
The Override tool lets you increase productivity by rapidly switching between tools used for short tasks and yourprevious tool. Most drawing tool shortcuts are accessed using the Alt key followed by another key, such as theEraser tool which is accessed by pressing Alt + E.
If you are drawing with the Brush tool and need to briefly switch to the Eraser before continuing, hold down the E key
while you are erasing. Once you are done, release the E key to return to the previous tool; in this case, 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 4: Design and Drawing Tools

Relative Size

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

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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

Harmony includes a field chart in its Drawing and Camera views. This tool is very useful in setting the characters'
and props' heights.
It is recommended that you keep the character design and breakdown inside the 12 field size. This ensures that it
fits the default camera size and the template thumbnails. If some parts were drawn too big or too far apart, you can23

Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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

ButtonDescription

Keyboard Shortcut
View > Grid > Show Grid

Show Grid
Displays the grid.

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

Grid Outline Only

Displays the outline of the grid only.

View > Grid > Grid Outline Only

SquareDisplays a standard square grid.

View > Grid > Square

12 Field Grid

Displays a 12-field size grid.

View > Grid > 12 Field Grid

16 Field Grid

Displays a 16-field size grid.

View > Grid > 16 Field Grid

Underlay

Displays the grid under the drawing
elements.

View > Grid > Underlay

Overlay

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

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

tool. This

2. To deform or reposition a selection:‣

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

‣

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

24Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

3. When you release your cursor, every drawing contained in the drawing layer you repositioned, scaled, rotatedor skewed will follow the same transformation.
Brush Size
Harmony provides a variety of pens and brushes and also allows you to create and save your own through creating atool preset.
It is a good idea to create and save pens with precise sizes and parameters to trace and design your models andbreakdowns.

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

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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

You can sketch and design using the default palette without any problem. However, it is not recommended thatyou use the default palette for the colour models. A different colour palette should be created for each colour
model.
To sketch and design with a different colour swatch or create a palette for each character, prop or key location,
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 you have the rights to modify the palette list. If not, select Edit > Edit Palette List Mode.

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

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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

How to create a palette from the Advanced Palette Lists mode
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawing that requires a palette.
2. 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.

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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.

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

7. Select a Palette List option.

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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

button.

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

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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

In the colour wheel, select a colour.

‣

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

‣

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

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

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

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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

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

Sketching the Character

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

Add a drawing layerlSketch the model

You have the choice to sketch your model as a bitmap or vector drawing. If you like the feel of drawing withbitmap lines, you can set your layer as bitmap. If you like drawing with vectors, you can set your layer as vector.
If you use vector, you will be able to enlarge your drawing and zoom into it without losing quality or resolution. You
can also use the Contour Editor and Select tools to resize and modify lines. If you draw with bitmap, you will not
be able to scale the drawing beyond 100% of its resolution without encountering pixelization issues.

32Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

How to add a drawing layer
1. In the Timeline view, click the Add Drawing Layer(Mac OS X).

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

The Add Drawing Layer window opens.

2. In the Name field, name your new layer.
3. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

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

tool or press Alt + B.

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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

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

to rotate your workspace.You can press Ctrl+Alt

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

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

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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 have already created a palette for yourmodel, you can add new colours for tracing.
If you want to keep your roughs and sketches, add a new drawing layer and trace in it using the Light Table. This is
the equivalent of adding a sheet of paper and tracing over the rough using the animation disk light table. You only
need to disable the rough layer to prevent it from appearing in the final scene render.
How to trace your character in a new layer
1. In the Timeline view, add a new drawing layer and name it: clean.
2. If you work in the Drawing view, enable the Light Tableor press Shift + L.

3. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select a drawing tool.

‣

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

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

6. To make perfect points and corners, you can intersect the two strokes to create a point. Using the Cutter
tool, you can automatically trim the excess portion. In the Tool Properties view, enable the Lasso

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

selection type. Make sure the Use Mouse Gesturebutton is enabled. In this mode, you can automatically delete any extra sections of line in your artwork by simply clicking, holding and dragging yourmouse over it. The intersection will not work well with the Pencil tool. It is recommended to use the Brush
tool.

Drawing Tasks
Harmony has a wide variety of drawing tools for all kinds of drawing tasks. This section covers how to use thesetools. For the complete details on their options in the Tool Properties view, see Drawing Tool References on page72.
In this topic, you will learn about:•

Current Drawing on Top on page 37•

Drawing with the Pencil Tool on page 38•

Drawing with the Brush Tool on page 43•

Viewing the Final Lines as You Draw on page 47•

Selecting Drawing Objects on page 49•

Erasing Parts of a Drawing on page 53•

Reshaping a Drawing Using the Contour Editor Tool on page 55•

Drawing Shapes on page 57•

Drawing with the Polyline Tool on page 59•

Drawing with Invisible Lines on page 60•

Deforming a Drawing with the Perspective Tool on page 62•

Warping a Drawing with the Envelope Tool on page 63

36

Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide•

Cutting Drawing Parts on page 65•

Smoothing Lines on page 66•

Working With Text on page 67•

More Drawing Tools on page 68

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

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

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

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

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

37

button.

Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

Drawing with the Pencil Tool

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

tool or press Alt + /.

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

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

When you get close to an existing pencil line, hold Alt to draw and connect your stroke to the existingone. Pencil lines are central vector lines and you might think your line is connected, but in fact, only thecontour is touching the other one. Also, make sure the central vector crosses the other one.
To connect the start or end of your stroke, hold Alt when you start or finish drawing a line.

‣

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

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Working with Pencil Presets

A pencil preset is a pencil with specific properties.

Regular pencil presets allow you to set the size and smoothing of a pencil line, or the size of a shape.
How to select a pencil preset
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil, Line, Ellipse, or Rectangle

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

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

39

tool.

Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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.
3. In the Tool Properties view, click the New Brushbutton.

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

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

, select Rename Brush.

The Rename Preset dialog box opens.

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

tool.

2. In the Presets menu, select the thickness stencil or preset to delete.

40

tool.

Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

3. Click the Delete Preset

button.

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

, select Import Brushes.

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

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

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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

Description

Small Thumbnail

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

Large Thumbnail

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

Stroke View

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

42Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Drawing with the Brush Tool

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

2. In the Name field, name your new layer.

43button or press Ctrl + R (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + R

Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

3. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

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

tool or press Alt + B.

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

7. 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.

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

tool or press Alt + B.

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

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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

tool or press Alt + B.

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

The Brush Properties window opens.

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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

Description

Size and Smoothness
Maximum Size

Sets the maximum width of the line.

Minimum Size

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

Smoothness

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

Contour Smoothness

Optimizes the contour line smoothness of the line. This parameter smooths thecontour of the line once it has been traced. The higher the value, the fewer control points will compose your line.
Lets you select a tip shape—from round and square ones to star shaped. This
option is disabled when using a textured brush.

Tip Shape

How to create a brush preset
1. Make sure your current brush has the settings you want in the preset you will create.
2. In the Tool Properties view, do one of the following:‣

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

‣

Click the New Brush‣

From the Brushbutton in

button.

menu, select New Brush Preset.

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

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

46

button in the upper-right corner.

Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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

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

Click the Delete Brush‣

From the Brushbutton.

menu , select Delete Brush.

Viewing the Final Lines as You Draw

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

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

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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

How to customize the full scene antialiasing parameters

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

1. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

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

‣

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

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

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Selecting Drawing Objects

The Select tool is used to select strokes in both the Drawing and Camera views, and apply basic transformations,such as repositioning, rotating, scaling or skewing using the different handles of the bounding box.
Sometimes, when you want to select multiple objects while leaving one unselected, it can be handy to select only
the stroke or line that you do not want included in your selection. Then, you can invert the selection so thateverything else becomes selected. This can be quite a time saver.
By default, when you draw a selection box, the Select tool will select only the drawing strokes of the current
drawing. If you prefer the Select tool to select all the strokes on all layers, you can disable the Works on Single
Drawing option in the Tool Properties view or the Select Tool Works on Single Drawing option in the Preferences
dialog box.
Some of the transformations, such as rotation, scale, skew, and flip are done relative to the position of the pivot
point. You can temporarily reposition this pivot point for a transformation using the Select tool.
How to select with the Select tool
1. In the Timeline view, select the cell on which you want to select drawing objects.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

3. In the Camera 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.

49Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools‣

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

‣

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

‣

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

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

How to invert a selection
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Invert Selection or press Ctrl + Shift + I.
How to enable and disable the Select Tool Works on Single Drawing preference
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

2. Do one of the followings:‣

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

‣

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

option.

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

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.

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Erasing Parts of a Drawing

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

‣

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

‣

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

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

tool or press Alt + E.

3. In the Camera or Drawing view, start erasing.

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

How to modify the eraser settings
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Eraser

tool .

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

The Eraser Properties window opens.

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

Description

Size and Smoothness
Maximum Size

Sets the maximum width of the line.

Minimum Size

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

Smoothness

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

Contour Smoothness

Optimizes the contour line smoothness of the line. This parameter smooths thecontour of the line once it has been traced. The higher the value, the fewer con-54

Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

trol points will compose your line.

Tip Shape

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

Reshaping a Drawing Using the Contour Editor Tool

The Contour Editor tool is a powerful tool that allows you to add, remove or modify points on a vector line 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 the Contour 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 and deleted. Each point has two
Bezier handles for correcting the curves between two points. Shapes can be modified by pulling and pushing directlyon the segment between the points. You can use it to perfect a central shape pencil line, a contour shape brush line,
or even create an elaborate shape from a basic ellipse or square.
How to reshape with the Contour Editor tool
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell in which you want to draw.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select a shape tool:
3. In the Tool Properties view, click the Ellipse
to 0.

.
button, click the Auto Fill

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

55

button and set the pencil sizeChapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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 thecontour.
9. To modify the shape, you can:‣Pull on the Bezier handle. Both point’s handles will move as one.

‣

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

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide‣

Move the selected points to a new area.

‣

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

‣

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.

Drawing Shapes

In Harmony, you can use the shape tools to draw circles, lines and squares. You can also easily reshape a square or
circle into a much more complex drawing such as these butterfly wings—see Reshaping a Drawing Using theContour Editor Tool on page 55 .

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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.

58

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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

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

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

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

5. Repeat the previous step until your shape is completed.
6. Press Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) and click to release the Polyline tool from the current path or
shape that it is creating. Continue to use the tool to make multiple, independent paths or shapes.
7. If necessary, reshape the lines using the Contour Editor
tour Editor Tool on page 55.

59

tool—see Reshaping a Drawing Using the Con-

Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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 thatcreates a short, straight line between two points, the stroke line will stay exactly where you draw it. This tool canbe useful for closing a zone in a particular way or creating some hard shadows or highlight areas.

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

tool or press Alt + /.

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

or press K.

4. In the Tool Properties view, set the Pen Style size to 0. You can also adjust the smoothness.

60Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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

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

tool.

How to 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

tool or press Alt + V.

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

or press K.

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

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

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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
0.

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

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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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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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

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

64

button.

Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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 or Drawing view, make a selection around an area to cut away.

‣

To delete the selected zone, press Delete.

‣

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

65Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools‣

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

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 to correct the look of yourlines.
Harmony has a very powerful tool you can use to optimize contours and reduce the number of points on the lines,
the Smooth Editor tool.
How to optimize lines with the Smooth Editor tool
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Smooth Editor

tool or select Drawing > Tools > Smooth Editor.

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, place your pointer over the lines to smooth. You may need to pass overthe same line several times to remove more points and make the line smoother. Note that by default, theSmooth Editor tool colour is yellow, it was changed to orange for screen grab clarity—see Smooth Editor
Tool Options on page 101 to learn about the various settings available.

66Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Working With Text

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

In the Tools toolbar, select the Text

tool.

‣

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

‣

Press Alt + 9.

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

4. You can use the Tool Properties view to select the font, font size and format of the text you will type—see
Text Tool on page 103.
5. Type in the desired text.

6. Click outside the text box to exit the typing mode.

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

If you want to create another text object, click outside the currently active text box. You can always returnto edit the text by selecting the Text
tool and clicking in the text.

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

Arrange on page 68•

Convert Brush Strokes to Pencil Lines on page 69•

Pencil Lines to Brush Strokes on page 69•

Strokes to Pencil Lines on page 69•

Optimize on page 70•

Grid on page 70•

Group/Ungroup on page 71•

Hand on page 71•

Rotate View on page 71

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

ButtonDescription

Access Method
From the top menu, select Drawing> Arrange > Bring to Front.

Bring to Front

Bring Forward

Moves the selected art to the front (onPress Ctrl + Shift + PgUp
top).
(Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Shift +PgUp (Mac OS X).
Moves the selected art one level forward (closer to the front).

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

Send Backward

Moves the selected art one level
lower (behind).

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

Send to Back

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

68

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

Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Convert Brush Strokes to Pencil Lines

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

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

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

The Pencil Lines to Brush Strokes operation converts the selected centreline pencil strokes into contour strokes
brush lines.
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
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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools(Windows/Linux only).
‣

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

Optimize

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

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

‣

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

‣

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

Grid

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

70Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Name

ButtonDescription

Keyboard Shortcut
View > Grid > Show Grid

Show Grid
Displays the grid.

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

Grid Outline Only

Displays the outline of the grid only.

View > Grid > Grid Outline Only

SquareDisplays a standard square grid.

View > Grid > Square

12 Field Grid

Displays a 12-field size grid.

View > Grid > 12 Field Grid

16 Field Grid

Displays a 16-field size grid.

View > Grid > 16 Field Grid

Underlay

Displays the grid under the drawing
elements.

View > Grid > Underlay

Overlay

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

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

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

•

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

•

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

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

In the Tools toolbar, select the Hand

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

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

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

71Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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

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

‣

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

‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Rotate View‣

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

tool.

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

Drawing Tool References
Harmony has a wide variety of drawing tools and each one of them has a series of options and modes available.
This section covers these options. For details on how to use these tools, see Drawing Tasks on page 36.
•

Pencil Tool Options on page 73•

Vector Brush Tool Options on page 75•

Select Tool Options on page 78•

Eraser Tool Options on page 84•

Contour Editor Options on page 88•

Shape Tool Options on page 90•

Polyline Tool Options on page 93•

Stroke Tool Options on page 94•

Perspective Tool Options on page 95•

Envelope Tool Options on page 96•

Cutter Tool Options on page 99•

Smooth Editor Tool Options on page 101

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide•

Text Tool on page 103

Pencil Tool Options
When you select the Pencil

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

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

MaximumSize: Defines the width of the stroke.

‣

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

Pencil Presets
Harmony provides a variety of pencil presets and also lets you create and save your own. It is a good idea to createand save pencils with precise sizes and parameters when you draw and design for efficiency and consistency.
You can export the pencil presets that you have created and import those that others have created. This is a good
way for you and project collaborators to keep a consistent look for the project—see Working with Pencil Presets on
page 3973

Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

Draw Behind

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

tool, its properties and options appear in the Tool

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

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

MaximumSize: Defines the width of the stroke.
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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools‣

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

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

, select Import Brushes.

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

5. Click Import.
The imported brush, eraser and pencil styles will appear in the presets library. You can reuse any of theimported tips to create other brush, eraser and pencil style presets.

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How to export pencils, brushes and erasers
1. From the Brush menu, select Export.
2. In the Export Brushes dialog box, select the vector brushes and erasers to export, as well as any pencils.

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

Description

Small Thumbnail

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

Large Thumbnail

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

Stroke View

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

77Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

Draw Behind

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

Repaint Brush Mode

The Repaint Brushis used to repaint zones that have already been painted, it will not affect empty zones or
pencil lines. It also automatically flattens each of its brush lines so it does not add new brush lines on top ofexisting ones. You can use this mode to paint tones or highlights onto your character.
Auto-Flatten Mode
When enabled, the Auto-Flatten
mode automatically flattens the new lines created with the existing artwork
as you draw in the Drawing or Camera view. Brush strokes will flatten with brush strokes and pencil lines will
flatten with pencil lines.

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

78Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Lasso and Marquee
Choose between the Lasso•and Marquee

options to change the selection style of the tool.

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

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

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

•

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

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

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

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

‣

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

2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Contour Editor

tool or press Alt + Q.

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

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

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

Selecting by Colour

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

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

How to select areas by colour
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 or Drawing view, click on any zone or line in your drawing.
All zones and lines of the same colour are selected.
4. Click the Select tool again to return to the regular Select mode.

80Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Single Mode

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

The Flip Horizontal‣

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or vertically.

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

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

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

operations rotate the current selection 90‣

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

‣

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

SmoothThe Smooth

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

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

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

‣ From the top menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Flatten or pres Alt + Shift + F.

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Distribute to Layers
The Distribute to Layers
option is used to separate the selected art strokes and send them to new drawing
layers. In the Camera view, once you have drawn your artwork, you can select the strokes you want to distributeusing the Selecttool and click on the Distribute to Layers
button; you can also select Drawing > Distributeto Layers. It will automatically take every stroke from the drawing selection made in the Camera view and separate
them into a different layer for each. If an artwork is composed of several strokes, you must group them using Edit >Group > Group before using the Distribute to Layers option. This option cannot be done from the Drawing view.
Pencil to BrushThe Pencil to Brush

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

From the top menu, select Drawing > Convert > Pencil Lines to Brush or press &.
Offset X and Y
Use the Offset X and Offset Y operation fields to enter specific values and precisely reposition the selected 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.
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.

83Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

Angle
The Angle operation lets you to enter specific values and accurately rotate the selected shape.

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

Adjusting the Text Selection
When you select text with the Select tool, the tool properties will display the Text tool options on the bottom of theview. You can also press Alt + 9 to display only the Text properties in the Tool Properties view—see Text Tool on
page 103.

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

84

tool, its properties and options appear in theHarmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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

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

MaximumSize: Defines the width of the stroke.

‣

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

Eraser Presets
It is a good idea to create and save erasers with precise sizes and parameters in order to save time when drawing

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

and designing. Toon Boom Harmony provides you with a variety of default eraser styles and allows you to createand save your own.
Eraser presets are created by saving the properties of the current eraser as a preset, in order to reuse it again andagain. You can create a new preset from the Eraser Tool Properties view, but it is better to do it from the Eraser
Properties—see Erasing Parts of a Drawing on page 53.
The Eraser tool uses its own preset list, separated from the Brush tool.
How to import pencils, brushes and erasers
1. From the Brush menu

, select Import Brushes.

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

5. Click Import.
The imported brush, eraser and pencil styles will appear in the presets library. You can reuse any of theimported tips to create other brush, eraser and pencil style presets.

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How to export pencils, brushes and erasers
1. From the Brush menu, select Export.
2. In the Export Brushes dialog box, select the vector brushes and erasers to export, as well as any pencils.

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

Description

Small Thumbnail

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

Large Thumbnail

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

Stroke View

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

87Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

Contour Editor Options
When you select the Contour Editor

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

Lasso and Marquee
Choose between the Lasso•and Marquee

options to change the selection style of the tool.

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

Snap to Contour

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 topof the contour line area and release it.

88Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Snap and Align

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

tool or press Alt + Q.

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

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

Show Contour Editor Controls

Use the Show Contour Editor Controls
option to show the contour editor controls. You can use these controls toscale, reposition and rotate the selected anchor points.
Smooth Selection

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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.

Shape Tool Options
When you select a shape tool (Rectangle, Ellipse, Line), 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 the different
parameters in the Tool Properties view.
1. Select a brush style from the Presets section. It's a good idea to choose a brush preset that is closest to
the style you want to create.
2. Click on the Show Extended Properties arrow to display advanced customization parameters.

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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

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

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

•

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

•

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

Pencil Presets
Harmony provides a variety of pencil presets and also lets you create and save your own. It is a good idea to createand save pencils with precise sizes and parameters when you draw and design for efficiency and consistency.
You can export the pencil presets that you have created and import those that others have created. This is a good
way for you and project collaborators to keep a consistent look for the project—see Working with Pencil Presets on
page 39
Draw Behind

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

Automatic Filling

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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

The Snap to Contour

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

•

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

•

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

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

Auto-Close Gap

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

92Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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

Keep Proportion

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

Polyline Tool Options
When you select the Polyline

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

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

93Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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

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

Pencil Presets
Harmony provides a variety of pencil presets and also lets you create and save your own. It is a good idea tocreate and save pencils with precise sizes and parameters when you draw and design for efficiency andconsistency.
You can export the pencil presets that you have created and import those that others have created. This is a good
way for you and project collaborators to keep a consistent look for the project—see Working with Pencil Presets
on page 39
Snap to Contour
The Snap to Contour

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

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

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

94Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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

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 88.

•

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 page88.

•

The Snap to Grid

option snaps your selection according to the currently enabled grid.

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Flip Horizontal and Vertical

The Flip Horizontal‣

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or vertically.

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

Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

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

operations rotate the current selection 90‣

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

‣

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

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

96Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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 88.

•

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 page88.

•

The Snap to Grid

option snaps your selection according to the currently enabled grid.

97Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

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

button.

Flip Horizontal and Vertical

The Flip Horizontal‣

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or vertically.

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

98Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

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

operations rotate the current selection 90‣

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

‣

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

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

Use Mouse Gesture
When using the Lasso
selection type, the Use Mouse Gesture
option lets you automatically delete any
extra sections of line in your artwork by simply dragging your mouse over it.

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

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

NOTE: This option only works with pencil lines.

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

When drawing on a bitmap layer, lines are no longer clean vector shapes. For the edges to be smooth, a slightamount of antialiasing is used. When using the Cutter tool, you can cut a portion of your drawing with or without
antialiasing. By default, the option is enabled. If you want to cut your drawing using a hard edge, you can selectthe Antialiasing Off option.

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Flip Horizontal and Vertical

The Flip Horizontal‣

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or vertically.

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

Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

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

operations rotate the current selection 90‣

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

‣

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

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

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

Show Control Points
The Show Control Points
option allows you to show or hide the Bezier points around lines. When the Bezier
points are displayed, you can see the result of your smoothing and the number of points left on the curve. When it
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 the thick and thineffect on your stroke. This works with the pressure sensitivity of a pen tablet.
This options is available while using the Brush Smoothingstyle.

‣

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

•

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bold

•

ItalicAlignment
Use these buttons to align the paragraph.
Left

Centered

Right

Justified

Font SizeEnter a size for the text.

104Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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

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

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

Resizing the Text Box
You can resize the text box by selecting your text box with the Text
tool and moving the anchor point right or left.
Using the Select tool will distort and scale your text itself rather than changing the width 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 eachcharacter becomes an individual drawing object that you can select and modify independently.
How to break a text object
1. In the Tools toolbar, click the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

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

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

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

Each character is surrounded by a bounding box that you can modify; they remain text objects that you
can edit.
4. If you want to convert your independent letter to a complete vector object that you can deform, use theSelect tool to select the letters to convert.
5. From the top menu, select Drawing > Convert > Break Apart Text Layers to break the selection into aregular 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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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Chapter 5: Colour Styling

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

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

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

Preparation on page 109•

Working with Palettes on page 114•

Colours on page 135•

Painting the Model on page 147

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

Colour Model Storage on page 110

109Chapter 5: Colour Styling•

Scene Creation on page 110•

Setting Up the Workspace on page 111•

Naming on page 112

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

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

Scene Creation
In order to create colour models, you need to create your scenes.
When working on a paperless or cut-out animation project, if you have designed your characters, props, effects
and locations directly in Harmony, you can paint your models directly in your design scene. You can also create a
new colour model scene and import your designs in that one. Refer to the Fundamentals Guide to learn more
about creating a scene.
If you have not already done so, refer to the Fundamentals Guide to learn about production structure, fileorganization, and how to create a Project root directory. We recommend storing your colour model scenes in theroot directory or in a colour models subdirectory for even better organization.
A useful way to name your colour model scene is to include the project name, then the colour model type such as
characters, props, effects, or locations, and finally colourmodel. For example, a character colour model scene110Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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 Guide.

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

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

Xsheet•Camera111

Chapter 5: Colour Styling•

Drawing•

ColourNamingNow 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 tofollow.
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.

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.

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide‣

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

The Layer Properties window opens.

2. Type in a new name.

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

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2. Do one of the following:‣

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.

Working with Palettes
In animation, specific colours are used to paint each particular character. In order to maintain absoluteconsistency, a colour palette is created for each character, prop and effect throughout the production. This isreferred to as a master palette 1.
Master palettes contain a colour swatch for each zone to colour with a precise RGBA colour value.
Using a master colour palette has many benefits, including:•

Each character consistently retains their dedicated colours.

•

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

•

Standardization and colour consistency throughout the production•

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

Toon Boom Harmony uses palettes to hold all the colours needed to paint your elements, allowing complete
control and consistency in your painting process.
A palette is created by assigning a set of colours to each character, prop or effect. You will create a new paletteand add a new colour, known as a colour swatch, for each zone of the character, such as the skin, hair, tongue,
shirt, pants, and so on.
In Harmony, palettes are individual files that you can copy, transfer, and store. Palettes have a *.plt file nameextension—see Palette File Storage.
When a zone on the character is painted with the colour contained in a colour swatch, a link is automaticallycreated between that colour swatch and the zone. This means that if the tint of the colour in the colour swatch ischanged, any zone linked to it will update to the new tint. This is one way that colour palettes can save time andmoney in your production.
Another advantage of this system is that you can create complete palettes for different lighting situations. For
instance, in addition to the regular palette for a character, you could have one for that character in the rain using

1A group of colours attributed to a character or 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.
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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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 andatmosphere of the scene without tediously repainting each element.

This section is divided as follows:•

Palette Lists•

Palette File Storage•

Creating a Colour Palette on page 121•

Duplicating a Colour Palette on page 126•

Cloning a Colour Palette on page 127•

Importing and Linking Palettes on page 130

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

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Chapter 5: Colour Styling•

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 the default
palette, but for movies, series, or shorts it is recommended that you create palettes for your characters. To
create a palette, you have to switch to the Advanced mode of the Colour view and show the Palette list.

•

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

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

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

•

Element Palette List
In Toon Boom Harmony, you can switch to Advanced Palette List mode and choose to save your paletteat an element’s level. The Element Palette list is mainly used with traditional and paperless animation.
Unlike cut-out animation, all columns (drawing elements) contain different characters, props,
backgrounds, and effects. The Element Palette list is used when you do not necessarily want all of thepalettes 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 to access a116

Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

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 or create a newpalette, 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 palette located highest in the list to determine the colour of the painted zones—see Cloning a Colour Palette .
How to show or hide the Palette list‣

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

button to expand or collapse the Palette

The Palette List window opens and displays all your palettes.

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.

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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 Essentials > Preferences(Mac OS X).

‣

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

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

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

‣

In the Palette list, click the Up

and Down

Palette File Storage

118

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

In Harmony, palettes are individual *.plt files that can be copied, transferred and stored. When a palette is createdfrom Harmony, it needs to be stored somewhere. By default, the palette file is stored in the scene directory in apalette-library folder unless you specify a different location.
There are four locations where you can find palette-library folders:lElement: The Palette Library folder is stored directly in the drawing Element folder.

l

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

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

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

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

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

Scene Level
Working with Harmony Stand Alone, a palette file can also be saved at the scene level, so that all of the palettes
from the scene are stored together. The palette naming must be structured so the colourist or character builders canfind the correct one. Saving the palettes at the scene level makes it very easy to back up the palettes and retrieve
their location.
The scene level can also be useful for cut-out animation. Instead of creating a colour model scene that includes all of
the characters, props, effects, and location, the colour palette or model will often be directly imported to, or createdin, the character building scene. Just as with a cut-out character building scene, each element uses the same

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Chapter 5: Colour Styling

palette so it would not be efficient to save the palette inside one element. Instead, it is saved at the scene level.
This prevents a palette overload because all of the models are in different scenes. It also allows each scene tohave 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 liketo store their palettes at the Element level and others at the Environment level as this will not create a problem solong 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 the scene is backed up or transferred to another studioor 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 the scenes in the
database. This also includes the palette files, even if they are stored at the Element, Scene, Job, Drawing orEnvironment 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, the palettes
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 be created when the scene is reopened
in another Harmony system. A recovery palette is a local palette created by the system when palettes andcolours are missing. This palette is no longer shared with the rest 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 inanother 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, then import 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 analtered file. Harmony automatically updates all of the files and drawings linked to it.

Creating a Colour Palette
You can create a palette in either Basic or Advanced mode.

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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 to store your palettes:
Environment, Job, Scene, or Element.
If you are using Harmony Server, see Palette File Storage on page 1.
Before you can create a palette in the Advanced Palette Lists mode, you must first set your preferences to
Advanced Palette Lists mode in the Preferences dialog box. You also need to have the rights to modify the palettelist. If you do not, select Edit > Edit Palette List Mode from the top menu.
You can remove palettes from your Palette list if they're not needed in your scene. The actual palette file will not
be deleted and you can reimport it in your Palette list later on.
How to set the Advanced Palette Lists mode
1. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

123Chapter 5: Colour Styling

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.

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

7. Select a Palette List option.

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

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.

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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 adifferent ID and is independent from the original palette. This ensures that both palettes are completely
independent.
This option is used when there are similar models and you want to avoid recreating and naming all the colours.
You can change the values and the names afterward without affecting the original palette. You can also keepsome RGBA values, such as the eyes, teeth, tongue, inside mouth, etc.
How to duplicate a palette
1. In the Colour view, select the palette to be duplicated.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour menu, select Palettes > Duplicate.

‣

Right-click on the selected palette and select Duplicate.

The Palette Browser: Duplicate Palette window opens.
3. If you are in Advanced Palette List mode, select the palette storage level—see Palette File Storage .

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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.

Cloning a Colour Palette

A character usually has only one master palette, although there are times when the characters are placed in different
lighting conditions and require a different colour shading. The night palette is a popular choice when a scene orsequence changes from day to night. It can be difficult and time-consuming to repaint everything and creating two
independent palettes can be quite complex. As an alternative, Toon Boom Harmony provides clone palettes.
The clone palette is a copy of the master palette. The colours in each palette have the same properties. The colours
have the same identification number pointing to the same colour zones, but they can have different names and
RGBA values. Depending on the palette (night or day) you're currently using, the painted drawing will update. So
there's no need to repaint the animation. All you have to do is create or import a clone palette (palette style).

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

2. From the Colour menu, select Palettes > Clone or right-click and select Clone.
The Palette Browser: Clone Palette dialog box opens.

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3. If you're in Advanced Palette List mode, select the palette storage level—see Palette File Storage on page118.

4. In the New Palette Name field, name the palette. We recommend keeping the "-clone" in the name.
5. Click OK.
The cloned palette appears in the palette list.

6. In the Palette list, select the clone palette you created to offset or blend colours—see Mixing Colours on page145.
7. From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Tint Panel or right-click and select Tint Panel.
The Blend/Offset Tint panel opens.

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).

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9. Offset, blend, or mix the colours using the sliders and increasing the Amount value.

10. Select the Preview option to see a preview of the colours while you adjust them.

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

Importing and Linking Palettes
Before starting colouring work such as ink and paint or even creating new colour models, you may want to load
existing colour palettes to your scene. You can do so by linking colour palettes to your palette lists.
You may encounter a case where only a colour palette is visible when a layer is selected. If you need that palettein a second layer, you can link the palette to the second layer's palette list. A good example would be a scene
where there is a character on one layer and its arm is on another. In order for both layers to access the palette,you must link both Element Palette lists to that palette. If your palette is linked to the Scene Palette list, it will beaccessible by all layers.
If you created a palette in another project and you want to import it in your current project, you can browse for the
palette file on your computer and add it to your scene. When the palette is imported in your scene, the file iscopied in the project’s directory. It is not linked to the original file.
With Toon Boom Harmony as a stand-alone application, every scene is local to the machine. This means that allof the scene’s data is only accessible from that particular scene. Palettes are also local to the scene; they can beshared between all drawing layers, but not between scenes.
However, you may want to share palettes across a whole project. Harmony offers that possibility. By default, a
palette is an independent file stored in your scene. This file can be copied, moved, or deleted.
To link a palette throughout an entire project, you need to create a central directory where you can copy all the
palettes you created. Every time you link a palette in an element, it is linked to this folder. If you modify the
palette, it will be updated throughout the whole 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 the external palettes.

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You will notice that when you create or link a palette, a small icon appears on its left. These icons represent the
palette's link status.
Icon

Description
Indicates that the palette is safe.
There won’t be any problems once the scene is exported. For example, the palette file is stored
in the scene folder and is linked to the Scene Palette List.
Indicates that the palette file is stored in a directory external to the scene’s structure.
The palette file is probably stored in a Master Palette directory on a hard drive external to thepalette-libraries planned for the palette storage. The warning in this case is that if you move your
Master Palette directory to another location, you may loose the palette in your scene.
Indicates that a palette file stored in a level such as Element, Scene, Job or Environment islinked to a Palette list that is not on the same level.
For example, a palette file is stored into the Environment folder and is linked to the Element
Palette list. The palette is shared.
Indicates a potentially dangerous situation.
Problems may occur when trying to export or link to the palette file. For example, a palette file isstored into the element folder and is linked to the Scene Palette list. The issue in this case isthat if you decide to delete the layer containing the palette, it will be lost from your scene.

How to link a colour palette
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Link.

‣

Right-click and select Link.

‣

Click the Importbutton.

The Palette Browser: Link Palette dialog box opens.

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2. Select the level where the palette file is stored—see Palette File Storage on page 118.
3. Select the palette list linking level by enabling either Scene Palette List or Element Palette List—see
Palette Lists on page 115.
The palette appears in the Colour view.
How to import a palette into your project
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour menu, select Palettes > Import.

‣

Right-click and select Import.

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

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4. If you're in Advanced Palette mode, select the level where the palette file is stored—see Palette File Storage .
5. If you're in Advanced Palette mode, select the palette list linking level by enabling either Scene Palette List
or Element Palette List—see Palette Lists.
6. In the New Palette Name, name the imported palette.
The palette appears in the Colour view and the file is copied in your project.
How to link to an external palette
1. In the Colour view, click on the Create Palettebutton to create a palette to be used as external.

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

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Chapter 5: Colour Styling

3. On your computer or server, create a master directory. Ideally, this should be created in your Root folder tokeep it within the project directory. You could also place it inside your Colour Model’s subdirectory—see
Chapter 6: Project Organization and File Structure in the Fundamentals Guide.

4. Name the folder appropriately, for example: Joe_master_palette.
5. From your operating system, browse to your Toon Boom Harmony scene and open the palette-libraryfolder.

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.

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The Link to External Palette dialog box opens.

10. Click Browse to search for your master palettes folder and select the palette *.plt file you want to link.
11. In the Palette list section, select how you want to load the palette; at the scene or element level.
12. Click OK.
The linked palette appears in the Colour view.
If a palette is outside the scene, the External

icon appears beside the palette name.

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

Colours
Toon Boom Harmony has some very powerful colouring features when it comes to painting. To paint your drawings,
you will use different colour swatches, unlike some other painting programs where you modify the main swatch eachtime you want to paint with a different colour.

In the Colour view, you choose a different colour swatch for each colour you want to paint in your drawing. You can
add as many swatches as you want. You can also rename them and modify existing ones.

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When you modify the colour of an existing swatch, it automatically updates all the zones painted with this swatch
throughout the entire project. The colour swatch has a unique ID number that associates it with the painted
zones. This way, you can change the look of your character at any time without having to repaint it!
This section is divided as follows:•

Adding a Colour Swatch•

Editing Gradients and Textures on page 142•

Colour Display Modes on page 143•

Copying and Pasting Colours on page 144•

Mixing Colours on page 145

Adding a Colour Swatch
You can use several different types of colour swatches, including solid colour, gradient colour and bitmap texture
swatches.

A colour palette is an actual file on the hard drive. These palette files can be stored in a different location on theserver. They can be stored in the Environment, Job, Scene, or Element folder and linked to any palette list. Thismeans that if the original palette file is modified, it will update in every drawing element the palette is linked to.

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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.
How to lock and 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 Add 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 Harmony interface,your operating system or any other open application.

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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 createdwith 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.

NOTE: To learn how to reposition the gradient zones in your drawings, see Editing Gradients and Textures on page142.

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

button.

The Browser window opens.
2. Browse for a PSD or TGA bitmap file created with a third party software and click Open.
The texture is added to the colour list.
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NOTE:
To learn how to reposition the textured zones in your drawings, see Editing Gradients and Textures on page 142.

You can also replace a texture once it is painted. If you decide to make the character’s shirt wool instead of plaid,
just update the texture file in the swatch and the entire project updates. Any transformation previously applied tothe texture’s position in your drawings will be kept.

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.

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4. Click Open to update the colour swatch.

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

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.

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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 to modify 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 canselect the next texture and paste the previous position to continue the modifications.
If you are painting a hand-drawn animation or if your want the Brush tool and Paint tool to use your gradient’s
position, angle and scale settings instead of the default ones, you can store your own settings and reuse themafterward.
This way of editing a texture using the Edit Gradient/Texture tool also works with pencil lines drawn with textured“brushes”. If you then paint your textured pencil line with a gradient, you can do so and then edit both elements
independently at the same time.
How to use Edit Gradient/Texture tool
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, click the Edit Texture‣

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.

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

List

•

SwatchYou can also display the RGB values and names of your solid colour swatches instead of only the name. This option
is not available when displaying the colours in Swatch mode.

How to switch between the display modes
1. From the Colour View menu, and do one of the following:‣

Select Colours > Swatch Mode to display the swatches.

‣

Deselect Colours > Swatch Mode to display the colour list.

How to display the swatch colour values‣ From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Display Colour Values.
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The solid colour swatches’ RGB values are displayed between the colour swatch and its name. The
gradient colour swatches will be identified as (gradient).

Copying and Pasting Colours
When you're creating palettes, you may want to copy colour swatches or their values and paste them in otherpalettes to save time. You can also quickly copy a colour value from a palette in your scene to a selected colour
swatch in a different palette.
You can copy a selected colour swatch and paste it as a clone. Since it produces a clone colour swatch, it is
impossible to use the Paste as Clone command in the same palette as you copied the original colour swatch
from.
If you would like to keep a reference file of some colour IDs or use them with custom plug-ins, you can copy thecolour swatch IDs. Here is an example of colour ID: 075cf5b552401130.

‣

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

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 edit the colour list.

2. In the Colour View menu, select Colours > Copy or press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C (Mac OS
X).
3. In the Palette list, select the palette in which you want to paste the colours.

4. From the Colour View menu, select Colours > Paste as New Colours or press Ctrl + V (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + V (Mac OS X).
‣

To paste the colour values of the copied swatch over an existing colour swatch, select Colours >Paste Colour Values.

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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 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 new palette.
4. From the Colour View menu, select Colours > Paste as Clone.
The cloned colour swatch appears in the palette.
How to copy a colour ID
1. In the Colour view, select the colour swatch you want toget the ID from.
‣In the Colour view, click the Edit Palette Modebutton 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 to blend a tint in them or offset their RGBA values, you can use the Tint
panel. You can also create palette styles, such as night and day styles.
How to mix colours
1. In the Colour view, select the palette that contains the colours you want to offset or blend.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Tint Panel.

‣

Right-click and select Tint Panel.

The Tint Blend/Offset panel opens.

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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 Mixer option.

Parameter

Description

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

Blend

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

Mixer

Select a Base and Tint colour to form a third colour swatch. Use the slider justbeneath to mix the Base and Tint colours by different amounts. This will affectthe 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 affectthe mixed swatch colour, which in turn affects the selected colours on the left.

6. Click Apply.

Painting the Model
Now that you've created the colours and the palette, you're ready to paint your model.
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.

For paperless and cut-out animation, it's a good idea to provide a line-up template with the colour model to show thescale ratio between the characters, props and backgrounds.

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Once your colour model is completed, create a line-up template by pasting one of the production's main
characters, or even just a hand, beside the colour model to show the relative size. This allows the animator,
layout artist, or scene setup artist to retain the correct scaling throughout the entire project when setting theelements in the scene. You can store your template in the Library.
How to paint a colour model
1. Create your master colour palette—see Creating a Colour Palette on page 121
2. Add new colours to the palette—see Adding a Colour Swatch on page 136.
3. Select your Paint Bucket

tool. We recommend the Paint Unpaintedtool.

4. In the Colour view, select a colour to paint your drawing.

5. Paint the model by selecting colour swatches in the palette and clicking on your drawing. Note that only
closed zones will be painted. If there's a gap in your artwork, you must close before you can paint it.

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6. Adjust the colours—see Mixing Colours on page 145.

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Chapter 6: Timing

When you create hand-drawn animation traditionally or in a paperless environment, it's important to know how to set
and modify the timing of your drawings.
In a traditional workflow, the person in charge of the digital exposure sheet reproduces the paper exposure sheet
created by the animator. In a paperless workflow, the animator creates and manages their own exposure sheet
directly in Harmony without the need for reproduction.
If you're more of a traditional animator, you will probably work with an exposure sheet. If you're a digital animator,
you may prefer to work with a timeline to visualize your timing. Harmony offers both.
The Xsheet view displays the digital reproduction of a traditional paper exposure sheet used in hand-drawn
animation. You can set the animation sequence's exposure and name the drawings.
The Timeline view is also used to visualize timing, and represents elements and groups of elements as layers.
You can adjust timing in both views; your choice depends on which technique you're accustomed to using.
Depending on your working style, some actions may seem preferable to do in one view instead of another. Many of
the actions you perform in the Xsheet can also be accomplished in the Timeline. This chapter will often show bothtechniques. You can choose which one you prefer.
In this chapter, you will learn how to work on your drawing’s exposure and length. The exposure and animation paths
for symbols are covered in separate chapters.

NOTE: The exposure sheet is not mandatory for cut-out animation. It can be useful for creating characters and parts,
but is not really needed for animation and timing. If you plan to work with cut-out animation, you can still learn usefultips by reviewing the section on exposure sheets.

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

Preparation
The digital exposure task is quite simple. There are very few things to prepare in order to get ready.
Opening the Scene
The scene is generally created during a previous step, such as scanning (in a traditional animation workflow), scene151Chapter 6: Timing

set up, digital layout, or production organization.
Using the Workspace
The person creating the exposure sheet will need only the Xsheet view to create the digital exposure sheet,although the Timeline view may also be helpful. If you're doing paperless animation, use the Camera or Drawing
view if you want to sketch at the same time.
If you work with this layout often, you can use the Workspace Manager to save it as a workspace,and name it
Xsheet, for example.

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

To start an exposure sheet, you need to prepare your references. For traditional animation, you will need toreproduce the animator's paper exposure sheet. If you're working remotely, the studio can scan the paper
exposure sheet using third-party software and send the digital files to be opened and viewed digitally.

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In paperless animation, you will usually create an exposure sheet from the Xsheet view.The information from yourlayout and posing or storyboard will help you approximate how many elements are required in the scene.

Setting the Scene Length
Once the references are ready, you need to set the scene length by adding the right number of frames to your scene.
You can set the global scene length from the top menu.
In the Xsheet and Timeline view, you can add and remove frames from a scene to edit its length.
How to set the scene length
1. From the top menu, select Scene > Scene Length.
The Set Scene Length dialog box opens.

2. In the Number of Frames field, enter the number of frames needed.
How to extend or reduce the scene length in the Timeline view
When you remove frames at the end of a scene to reduce the scene length in the Timeline view, the exposeddrawings and symbols are not deleted. They're still available if you extend the scene afterward.
1. In the Timeline view, drag the scene length bracket:‣

Right: To add more frames to your scene.

‣

Left: To reduce the number of frames in your scene.

How to add frames in the middle of a scene
You can add frames anywhere in the middle of the scene—before or after a selection. If you select a frame row in the
Xsheet view, Harmony will add the new frames before or after the selection, depending on your choice.
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline view, select the frame to which you want to add frames before or after.

‣

In the Xsheet view, select a frame row.

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In the Timeline view, select the frame to which you want to add frames before or after.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Scene > Frame > Add Frames Before Selection or Add Frames After
Selection.

‣

In the Xsheet view, right-click and select Frames > Add Frames Before Selection or Add Frames
After Selection.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Add Frames‣

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

button to add frame after your selection.

The Add Frames dialog box opens.

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

How to add frames at the start or end of a scene
1. In the top menu, select Scene > Frames > Add Frames at Start or Add Frames at End.
The Add Frames dialog box opens.

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

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3. Click OK.
How to remove a frame or a range of frames to reduce the scene length in the Xsheet view
In the Xsheet view, you can remove any selected frame range, such as the last frame.
1. In the Xsheet view, do one of the following:‣

Select a frame in a given column.

‣

Select a frame range by clicking the first frame’s number and then dragging the selection highlight down to
the last frame to delete.

2. To delete the selected frames, do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Scene > Frame > Remove Selected Frames.

‣

Press Delete to delete the selection.

‣

Click the Remove Frames

button. To remove several frame selections, click the button repeatedly.

If you selected a range of frames, the Warning dialog box may open.

3. To complete the operation:‣

Click Yes to delete the selection.

‣

Click No to delete only the exposure in the cell and not the frames.

‣

Select the Don’t Show This Message Again option to prevent the warning message from being
displayed each time you delete a frame range.

Creating Drawings
Before filling any value or setting any timing or exposure, you need to add different drawing elements.

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Each drawing element is represented as a vertical element column in the Xsheet view and a horizontal element
layer in the Timeline view.
In Harmony, whether you work in the Timeline or Xsheet view, any modification you do to one view will be applied
to both.
To start an exposure sheet, you will use drawing elements. Drawing elements are drawing containers. Any image
file, either bitmap or vector, will use a drawing element.
When you add a drawing element to your scene, a folder is added to the scene directory. This folder is named thesame way as the drawing element. Its purpose is to contain all the drawings related to this element. For example,
in cut-out animation, a character can have many heads available. All of the head drawings will be contained in thisfolder, even if they are not exposed in the Timeline or the Xsheet view. There is always a drawing container
connected to a drawing element (layer, column).

NOTE: There are different element types available, such as sound and expression. A sound element contains
sound files. Expressions, Beziers, 3D path, Quadmaps and Pegs are for motion purposes during the compositing
step. It's not necessary to create these types to create your exposure sheet.

You can add drawing elements from the Timeline view, Xsheet view, and the Scene menu.
This section is divided as follows:•

Layer Basics on page 156•

Layer and Column Types on page 157•

Adding Layers and Columns on page 159•

Deleting Layers and Columns on page 160•

Layer and Column Properties on page 161•

Modifying Layers and Columns on page 162•

Duplicating Layers and Columns on page 163•

Cloning Layers and Columns on page 164•

Adding an Annotation Column

Layer Basics
A layer is linked to a directory, the location where all its drawings are saved. This directory has the same name as
the layer. When a name is typed in a cell ,Harmony searches the layer's directory for the corresponding drawing
to display. If there is no corresponding drawing, a new one is created.
Drawings are exposed in cells and linked to the drawings saved in the layer's directory. When you remove adrawing from a cell, it is not displayed and still exists in the directory.
A drawing that is exposed multiple times (for example, in a walk-cycle) would be linked to the same original
drawing in the layer's directory. If you modify, repaint, or correct the drawing, all exposed drawings with the same
name are updated simultaneously. You must duplicate or create a new drawing to modify a single exposure andretain the others.

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When you create a drawing cycle, all of the repeated drawings are linked to the original files. This means that when
you modify, repaint, or correct a drawing named “1,” all drawings named “1” are updated simultaneously. In order tomodify a drawing independently from its other exposures, you must duplicate the drawing.

Layer and Column Types
A column is also known as a layer. There are several types of layers that you can add in the Xsheet and Timeline
view. Each layer is indicated by an icon to help you differentiate them. Some layers are represented differently in the
Xsheet view.
Drawing Layer

The most common layer type is the drawing layer. Any time you need to create a vector drawing or import a symbol
or image, you can use a drawing layer. You can also create bitmap artwork on a drawing layer.

NOTE: Bitmap images are contained in bitmap layers.

Bitmap Layer

If you import a bitmap images (as original bitmap) in your project, they are inserted in a Bitmap layer. If you choose tovectorize your image when you import, the vectorized object will be placed on a Drawing layer.
When importing a bitmap image, you have the option of encapsulating the image in a symbol. If you place a bitmap
into a symbol, you will be able to mix vector drawings with it on the same layer.
Camera Layer

You can only have one Camera layer at a time in the Timeline view. By default, there is no Camera layer when you
create a scene. You need to add a Camera layer when you want to create a camera motion.
The Camera layer is not visible in the Xsheet view.

NOTE: If you want to have several cameras with different settings, you can keep adding Camera layers in yourTimeline view (however, only one will ever be visible at a time as you can only have one camera at a time in yourtimeline). To switch to a different camera, select Scene > Camera and select another camera layer.

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Effect Layer

To enhance the look of your scene, you can add effect layers and attach your drawings to them.
When you select the Effect layer in the Timeline view, the effect’s parameter columns are displayed in the
Functions section of the Xsheet view.
Colour-Card Layer

The Colour-Card layer is used to add a plain colour background to a scene. By default, your scene has nobackground colour and if you render it as a QuickTime movie or image sequence, it will have a black background.
This layer is not visible in the Xsheet view.
Group Layer

A Group layer can be used to organize the Timeline view. You can drag and drop other layers onto a Group layer
and then collapse the Group layer to hide these other layers from view.
If you create the Group layer in the Timeline view.
Peg Layer

A Peg layer is a trajectory or motion path layer that does not contain drawings. It can be attached to any drawing
layer, cut-out puppet, or other peg layers; they will all follow the trajectory you set in the Peg layer.
When you select the Peg layer in the Timeline view, the peg’s function columns are displayed in the Functions
section of the Xsheet view.
Quadmap Layer

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A Quadmap layer can be described as a deformation transformation layer that does not contain drawings. This canbe attached to any drawing layer, cut-out puppet, or even other Peg layers. They will all follow the deformation you
set in the Quadmap layer.
When you select the Quadmap layer in the Timeline view, the Quadmap’s function columns are displayed in the
Functions section of the Xsheet view.
Sound Layer

You can import sound files to add dialog and sound effects to your project. The sound layer will be added to yourTimeline and Xsheet view when you import a sound file in your scene.
In the Xsheet view, the Sound layer is a dark grey colour.

Advanced Column Types
In the Xsheet view, you can add several advanced column types to create particular animation paths. When you
create these columns, they are not linked automatically to any particular drawing layer. You can create a motion pathusing these columns and then link or unlink several drawing or peg layers to it.
Advanced column types include:•

Timing•

3D Path•

3D Rotation•

Bezier Curve•

Expression•

Annotation

Adding Layers and Columns
There are different ways to add a drawing layer to your project. By default, when you create a new scene there is one
Drawing column in the Xsheet view and one corresponding Drawing layer in the Timeline view.
You can add an element for each drawing and it will appear as a column in the Xsheet view, a layer in the Timelineview.
How to add a drawing element from the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, click the Add Drawing Layer(Mac OS X).
The Add Drawing Layer window opens.

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2. In the Name field, name your new layer.
3. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

A new drawing layer is added to the Timeline view.
How to add a drawing element from the top menu
1. From the top menu, select Insert > Drawing.
The Add Drawing Layer dialog box opens.

2. In the Name field, type a relevant element name and click OK.
The new drawing element appears in your scene.

Deleting Layers and Columns
You can delete an element in the Timeline view or Xsheet view.
How to delete layers in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select the layers to delete.

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

Right-click on the selection and select Delete.

button.

How to delete columns in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet view, select the columns to be deleted by clicking on their header.

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2. Do one of the following‣

Right-click on the selection and select Delete Columns.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Delete Columns‣

Press Delete.

button.

The Confirm Delete dialog box opens.

3. To complete the operation:‣

Click OK to delete the selected layers.

‣

Click Cancel to cancel the operation.

Layer and Column Properties
Each element has its own set of properties that you can modify, including effect and peg layers.
If you want to modify an element’s properties, you can display the properties of a selected layer in the Timeline view.
If you're working with the Xsheet, you can display its properties as well. You can display a layer's properties as awindow or as a view of its own.
The Layer Properties editor allows you to:•Rename the layer•

Enable or disable the layer•

Lock the layer•

Change the track colour

The Column Properties editor allows you to:•Rename the layer•

Enable or disable the layer

How to display a layer's properties
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Layer Properties view is not part of your workspace, from the top menu, select Windows > Layer
Properties. In the Timeline view, select a layer‣

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

‣

Press Shift + E.

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The properties display.

Modifying Layers and Columns
Once you add layers and columns to your project, you can modify their properties, names, or ordering.
You can change the order of your elements in the Timeline view and Xsheet view. When you change the order ofyour elements in one view, the other one is updated.
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.

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3. Click Close.
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 are displayed in
front it. Layers located under it in the Timeline View are displayed behind it.

How to reorder columns in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet view, click on the column’s header with the middle mouse button.
2. Drag the column to its new position.

Duplicating Layers and Columns
Duplicating an element provides you with a copy of the drawings and their exposure. You can modify anything you
want in the duplicated element without affecting the original one.
How to duplicate an element
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, click the layer or column to duplicate.

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2. Do one of the following:‣(Xsheet) Right-click on the column and select Duplicate Selected Columns.

‣(Timeline) Right-click on the layer and select Duplicate Selected Layers.

The new duplicated layer or column appears.

Cloning Layers and Columns
Cloning a layer or column provides you with a copy of the selected element that uses the same drawings as theoriginal. For example, if you modify a drawing in the cloned or original column, it is updated in both columns.
You can choose whether or not to copy the column timing to the cloned columns.
•

You can modify the column timing independently from each other, but the drawings remain linked.

•

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

You can clone selected nodes from the Node view in the same way.
This is useful when you want to reuse a hand-drawn animation but have different timings.
How to clone an element
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the layer or column to clone.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Clone: Drawings Only to clone only the layer or column drawings.

The new cloned layer or column appears.

Filling Exposure
Harmony provides different tools to fill in exposures and values, create cycles, and set increments.
This section is divided as follows:•

Filling Exposure Mode on page 165•

Typing Exposure on page 166•

Holding Exposure on page 167

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Extending a Single Exposure on page 167•

Extending an Exposure Sequence on page 168•

Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings on page 170•

Dragging Cells on page 171•

Increasing and Decreasing Exposure on page 173•

Inserting Blank Cells on page 176•

Setting the Exposure on page 177•

Filling a Selection with a Single Exposure on page 179•

Filling a Selection with a Sequence on page 179•

Filling a Selection Randomly on page 180•

Filling Empty Cells on page 181•

Deleting Exposure on page 175•

Creating Cycles on page 182•

Managing Key Exposures on page 183

Filling Exposure ModeIn the Xsheet view, you can fill columns using two different filling modes: Overwrite or Insert. These modes control
the filling behaviour. The Timeline view only uses the Overwrite mode.
By default, the Xsheet view is set to Overwrite mode. Adding a new value or a new value sequence overwrites
existing ones. The existing timing sequence remains in the same place and is not pushed down the column.

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

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

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

‣

Press I.

Typing Exposure
If you want to type an exact drawing name or value in the Timeline view, you must use the Parameters section of
the Timeline.

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

How to type a value in the Timeline view
1. In the Drawing Substitution field, double-click to edit the field and type the name of the drawing you want tocreate.

2. Press Enter/Return to validate the value.

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Holding Exposure
Drawings in an animation project are often exposed for more than one frame. The most common exposure of adrawing is two frames. In the industry, this type of exposure is known as animation in double frames or animation on
twos. A drawing can also be exposed for three, four, or five cells and so on. To prevent mistakes and save time, you
can hold cells automatically as you type in the Xsheet view.
How to hold exposure
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Hold Exposure > the desired option.

2. Type a value or drawing name in the cell.
‣Press Enter/Return to move on to the next cell.

‣Press Esc to quit the typing mode.

Extending a Single Exposure
Extending the exposure lets you select a cell that contains a value and pull it down to the desired frame.
How to extend a cell exposure gesturally
1. In the Xsheet view, select the red arrow in the cell’s right side. Make sure you see the drag down

2. Pull down the selected cell to the desired frame.

NOTE: The red selection box must be visible when releasing the cursor. If not, the action is considered
cancelled.

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How to extend a sequence from the top menu
1. Select a cell and do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Extend Exposure.

‣Press F5.

The Extend Exposure dialog box opens.
2. Enter the frame number you want to extend the cell to.

Extending an Exposure Sequence
When working with a sequence that contains only numbers, you can extend an exposure sequence in a similarmanner to extending a single exposure.
How to extend an exposure to create a sequence
1. In the Xsheet view, select a cell containing a number.
2. In the selected cell, click the red arrow on the cell’s right side. Make sure to see the drag down
cursor.

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

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NOTE: The red selection box must be visible when releasing the cursor. If not, the action is considered
cancelled.

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

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Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings
When drawing on a blank frame you can automatically create a new drawing and extend the timing from theprevious exposed drawing.
In the following example, a cell is selected on the timeline for creating a new drawing in image A. In image B, theprevious exposure does not extend to the new drawing, while in image C, it does.

How to extend the exposure of previous drawings
1. Open the Preferences dialog box by doing one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences.

‣

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

The Preferences dialog box opens.
2. Select the General tab.

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3. In the Timeline section, select the Extend Exposure of Previous Drawing option.

4. On the left side of the Timeline view, select a cell and create a new drawing.
The previous exposure automatically extends to the beginning of the new drawing.

Dragging Cells
To readjust your timing, you can drag one or more cells to a new location. You can drag a cell to any other frame inthe same column or into another column.
You can turn off the Gestural Drag mode for the Xsheet view to prevent drawings from being dragged from one
location to another. This feature does not apply to Annotation columns.
How to drag a cell to another location in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select one or more cells to move.

2. Drag the cells to the new location.

3. Drop the selection by doing one of the following:‣

Drop by simply releasing the mouse or pen.

‣

Hold Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) while dropping the selection to copy the cells. The original
cells will not be moved.

‣

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

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How to drag a cell to another location in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet view, select one or more cells.

2. In the Xsheet view, position the pointer over the small dotted areaon the left side of the selected cells.

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.

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Hold down Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) while dropping the selection to copy the cells. The
original selection will not be moved.

‣

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

Increasing and Decreasing Exposure
Once a value is entered in the Timeline or Xsheet view, you can increase and decrease its exposure.
Increasing the exposure adds one more exposure to a selected cell; repeating this action adds an extra cell eachtime. This is an efficient way to extend a drawing's exposure and is always set in Insert mode. Increasing an
exposure pushes the existing exposure forward.
Decreasing the exposure removes one exposure from a selected cell and pulls any cells following it to the beginningof selection.

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Increase Exposure‣

At the bottom-right corner of the Xsheet view, set the number of cells over which the drawing will be
exposed.

‣Right-click and select Exposure > Increase Exposure.

‣Press +.

button.

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Decrease Exposure

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At the bottom-right corner of the Xsheet view, set the number of cells over which the drawing will be
exposed.

‣Right-click and select Exposure > Decrease Exposure.

‣Press -.

How to use the Clear Exposure and Pull feature
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a range of cells.

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Clear Exposure and Pull.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Clear Exposure and Pullbutton.

The exposure is reduced by the selected number of cells.

Deleting Exposure
You can delete a drawing’s exposure in several ways. When you delete a drawing’s exposure from the Timeline or
Xsheet view, you are not deleting the actual drawing file. You can always retrieve it by typing its name again in acell.
You can delete the exposure in a selected cell range or delete the entire exposure of a drawing exposed over several
cells. Note that you can also delete the exposure for drawings inside a collapsed group.
How to delete selected exposures
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the exposure you want to delete.
2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Delete.

‣Press Delete.
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How to clear the entire exposure of a drawing
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell of a drawing exposed over several cells.
2. Do one of the following:‣

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

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

Inserting Blank Cells
You can place an empty cell between other cells.
How to insert blank cells
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell in which you want to insert a blank cell.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Insert Blank Cell.

‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Insert Blank Cell.

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

‣Press Shift + J.

A blank cell is inserted.

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How to clear a selected cell range without changing the exposure and timing
1. In the Xsheet view, select a frame range to clear.

2. Right-click and select Clear.

Setting the Exposure
You can easily increase or decrease the exposure for a selected cell range.
How to set the exposure
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell range on which you want to set the exposure.

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2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Set Exposure to > Set Exposure to 1, 2, 3, or Set
Exposure.

‣

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

‣

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

buttons (you may have to

3. If you chose the Set Exposure option, the Set Exposure dialog box opens. Enter the number of frames you
want the drawings to display and click OK.

The new timing is displayed in the Xsheet view.

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Filling a Selection with a Single Exposure
You can fill the same value over an entire selection. The selection can be over one cell, a cell range in one column, acell range over many columns, an entire column, or many columns. You can use numbers, words, letters, or any
alphanumeric value.
How to fill a selection with a single exposure
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell range.

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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 key exposure in the frame following the last cell in the selection, select the Add Key Exposure
After option. Otherwise, leave it deselected.
5. Click OK.

Filling a Selection with a Sequence
You can create a numbered sequence over a selection. The sequence can be forward, backward, single, double orhigher increment, as a cycle, and so on. The selection can be over one cell or a cell range in one column or more or179

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an entire column or many entire columns.
How to fill a selection with a sequence
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell range.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Cell > Sequence Fill.

‣

In the Timeline view, right-click and select Exposure > Sequence Fill.

‣

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

The Sequence Fill dialog box opens.

3. In the Starting Value field, type the first number in the sequence.
4. In the Increment field, type the number by which the drawing number will increase from frame to frame. For
example, an increment of 1 gives you: 1-2-3-4; an increment of 2 gives you: 1-3-5-7; and -2 gives you
this: 8-6-4-2.

Filling a Selection Randomly
You can fill in random values over a selection. You can give a maximum and a minimum value and create a rangefor Harmony to choose the random values from. The selection can be over one cell or a cell range in one column
or more or an entire column or many entire columns.
How to fill cells randomly
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell range.

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1. In the Xsheet view, click the Fill Cells Randomly
play it).

button (you may have to customize the toolbar to dis-

The Fill Cells Randomly dialog box opens.

2. In the Minimum Value field, enter the lowest acceptable value.
3. In the Maximum Value field, enter the highest acceptable value.
4. In the Hold field, choose an exposure holding value.
5. If you are applying this option to a drawing column, select the Whole Numbers option to avoid decimal
points.
6. Click OK.

Filling Empty Cells
You can fill empty cells to extend the exposure of single frame drawings to fill the range of empty cells after each
one.When creating drawings on cells that are not side-by-side, the exposure of the first drawing no longer fills
automatically. You must select the frame range where you want your drawings to hold their exposure up to the next
drawing and use the Fill Empty Cells command.

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Fill Empty Cells.

‣

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

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Fill Empty Cells

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 in several ways.
You can loop your drawings using the following command:•

Create Cycle

When you create a drawing cycle, all the repeated drawings are linked to the same original files. When modify,
repaint, or correct a drawing named “1” for example, all drawings named “1” are updated simultaneously. In orderto modify a drawing independently from its other exposures, you must duplicate the drawing.
How to create a cycle
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell range to loop.

2. In the Timeline toolbar, click the Create Cycle
play it).
The Create Cycle dialog box opens.

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

Managing Key Exposures
Before working with key exposures, it's important to understand how keyframes, exposure and key exposure workin Harmony:•

Keyframe: A keyframe is a point in time where a change to the properties of the object or character occurs. In
Harmony, keyframes consist of the coordinates that determine how an entire layer and its contents are
moved. Keyframes include these parameters: XYZ position, skew, scale, angle and pivot.

•

Exposure: Exposure is a property; it is the length of time that a drawing is visible over a series of frames. In
Harmony, exposure is independent of keyframes. That is, keyframes are not linked to drawings. Keyframes
can be moved independently from the drawing exposure.

•

Key Exposure: A key exposure in Harmony is a type of exposure that forces a drawing to remain exposed ona specific frame. If a drawing is exposed before a key exposure and you swap out that drawing for anotherone, then the original drawing is retained. This preserves the key drawing. Note that Harmony automaticallysets a key exposure when you perform a drawing swap.

Adding Key Exposures
Key exposures are mainly used for swapping drawings in cut-out animation where you will have numerous drawings
for the various positions of the mouth or eyes of a character for example.
If there is a particular drawing you want to keep on a specific frame, you can set it as a key exposure. This prevents
it from be overwritten by a drawing swap on a preceding frame. A key exposure is simply a property of an exposurethat forces it to be exposed on a certain frame regardless of whether the previous exposure is the same drawing ornot.

NOTE: Keep in mind that if you modify the artwork in a drawing, all instances of that drawing will be automatically
updated even if set as a key exposure. This keeps your existing animation key poses intact. It is frequently used on amouth or eyes layer.

Example: Swapping a drawing with no key exposure
In the following example, drawing 3 (DR 3) is selected on the timeline and it contains no key exposure.

When it is swapped for drawing 4 (DR 4), the entire duration of drawing 3 substituted for drawing 4.

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Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

Example: Swapping a drawing with a key exposure
Here's what happens when swapping a drawing with a key exposure. In the following example, the playhead is
positioned in the middle of drawing 5 (DR 5) to set the position for the new key exposure. When the new key
exposure is added, drawing 5 is split in two; both halves contain drawing 5. Now if you swap the first drawing 5 fordrawing 1, the second drawing 5 retains its exposure.

How to add a key exposure
1. In the Timeline view, select the drawing cell to set as the key exposure.
2. Do one of the following:In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Key Exposure‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Key Exposure‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Add Key Exposure.

button.

button.

A new key exposure is added.
If you added a key exposure at the beginning of the drawing, the entire exposure is filled with that samedrawing. If you added a key exposure anywhere other than the beginning of the drawing, then the drawing
is split in two and both parts contain the same drawing.

Removing Key Exposures
When you no know longer need a key exposure, you can remove it. When you do this, the existing key exposure
is replaced by the preceding exposure. In the following example, a key exposure is set to drawing 1 (DR 1). Whenthe key exposure is removed, the exposure is replaced by the preceding exposure, drawing 4 (DR 4).

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How to remove a key exposure
1. In the Timeline view, select a key exposure to remove.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Remove Key Exposure

button.

‣Right-click and select Exposure > Remove Key Exposure.

The key exposure is removed and replaced by the preceding exposure.

Removing Duplicate Key Exposures
When working with drawings to adjust the timing of a mouth in a lipsync, for example, and forcing the use of specific
key exposures, unnecessary key exposures will be created. You can delete these duplicates without affecting therest of the drawing. The first drawing of the selection will be used for the range.

NOTE: Duplicate key exposures may occur when pasting with the Enforce Key Exposure option selected.

How to remove duplicate key exposures
1. In the Timeline view, select the layer that contains duplicate key exposures.
2. In the Timeline toolbar, click the Remove Duplicate Key Exposure
the toolbar to display it).

button (you may have to customize

Navigating between Frames and Columns
Once a cell is selected in the Timeline or Xsheet view, you can navigate between the drawings, frames, and layers
using keyboard shortcuts that work in the Camera, Drawing, Xsheet and Timeline views.
You can navigate through:•Drawings•

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Columns

How to navigate through drawings, and frames and columns
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell.

2. Once the cell is selected, you can navigate between:‣

Previous and next layers: From the top menu, select Drawing > Previous Layer and Next Layer orpress H and J.

‣

Previous and next drawings: From the top menu, select Drawing > Previous Drawing and Next
Drawing or press F and G..

‣

Previous and next frames: From the top menu, select Play > Previous Frame and Next Frame orpress comma (,) and period (.).

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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 andnot the cells.
This section is divided as follows:•

Renaming a Drawing on page 187•

Deleting a Drawing on page 188•

Duplicating a Drawing on page 188•

Copying and Pasting Drawings on page 189•

Merging Drawings on page 191

Renaming a Drawing
To rename a drawing, you need to select the drawing cell and use the Rename Drawing command.
How to rename a drawing
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawing to rename.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Drawings > Rename Drawing.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Rename Drawing
display it).

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

The Rename Drawing dialog box opens.

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3. In the New Name field, type in the new drawing name.

Deleting a Drawing
You can permanently delete a drawing file from a project's folder.

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

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

Right-click and select Drawings > Delete Selected Drawings.

Duplicating a Drawing
If you want to modify a drawing that already exists, but keep the original drawing intact, you can duplicate thedrawing and work on the copy. When duplicating a drawing, the selected cell is replaced with the new drawing.
The exposure of the original drawing that was on the current cell is removed. The original drawing is not deleted
from the project folder or other cells in which it is exposed.
With Toon Boom Harmony, you can create a keyframe at the same time as you duplicate your drawing. This way,
you can modify and reposition drawings without affecting the original drawing.
How to duplicate a drawing
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawing to duplicate.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Duplicate Drawings.

‣

Right-click and select Drawings > Duplicate Drawings.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Duplicate Drawing

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Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide‣

Press Alt + Shift + D.

Copying and Pasting Drawings
When you copy and paste a selection in the Timeline or Xsheet view, you are not copying and pasting the actual
drawings, you are pasting the exposure. Exposure is a property; it is the length of time that a drawing is visible over aseries of frames. In Harmony, exposure is independent of keyframes. That is, keyframes are not linked to drawings.
Keyframes can be moved independently from the drawing exposure.
If you want to copy and paste selected drawings into a different layer or paste the selection in the same layer toduplicate the drawings, you must use the Paste Special feature.
There are four different ways to paste your selected drawings with the Paste Special dialog box:
When adding exposures to a drawing layer, drawing files will not be created.
Only create drawing files when they do not exist: When adding exposures to a drawing layer, newdrawings will be created only when drawings with the same name do not already exist in thedestination.
Replace existing drawings. Create drawing files when they do not exist: Replace drawings withthe same names to update a scene with new modified drawings and preserve the animation.
Tip: If you don't want to lose the existing animation when pasting a template, such as
when placing new drawings after the animation, then delete the template's animation. It
will still have updated the drawings but not override the existing animation.
Always create drawing files: When adding exposures to a drawing layer, new drawings will always
be created. If drawing files with the same name already exist, Harmony will create a new name for thedrawing.
If you want to perform another Paste Special operation using the same settings you used previously, you can use
the Paste Special Again command instead. You can paste your selection using the same settings as in the mostrecent Paste Special operation, without opening the Paste Special dialog box.
How to paste drawings with the Paste Special command
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawings to copy and press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C(Mac OS X).

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2. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell where you want your pasted selection to start.

3. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Paste Special.

‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Paste Special.

‣

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

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

button (you may need to customize the

The Paste Special dialog box opens.

4. In the Drawings section, select the Always Create Drawings or Only Create Drawings When They Do
Not Exist option.

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How to paste new drawings with the previous Paste Special settings
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Paste Special Again.

‣

Right-click and select Paste Special Again‣

In the Timeline or Xsheet toolbar, click the Paste Special Again
the toolbar to display it).

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

button (you may have to customize

Merging Drawings
Combines all drawings. Unused columns and layers will be deleted, but the original drawing files are still accessible.
How to merge drawings in entire layers or columns
1. In the Timeline view, select the layers you want to merge.

2. In the top menu, select Edit > Merge.

Customizing Layers and Columns
You can change the way a column in the Xsheet view displays. You can change the way a layer in the Timeline viewor a column in the Xsheet view displays. You can stay organized without changing the content of elements or youranimation output.
This section is divided as follows:•

Expanding and Collapsing Layers and Columns on page 191•

Showing or Hiding Layers on page 192•

Showing and Hiding Columns on page 1•

Xsheet Thumbnails on page 1•

Changing the Layer or Column Colour on page 194

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

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How to collapse or expand selected layers 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‣

Click the Collapse/Expand‣

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

button on the parent layer.

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

How to collapse or expand all layers in the Timeline view
1. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click on the layers and select Collapse/Expand > Expand All or Collapse All.

‣In the Timeline toolbar, click the Collapse All
customize the toolbar to display them).

‣

Press 0 and 9.

or Expand All

buttons (you may have to

How to collapse and expand 3D path or rotation columns in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Show Column List

button to display the Functions list.

2. In the Xsheet view, select the column header of the 3D path or 3D rotation column to collapse or expand.
3. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click on the column’s header and select Expand/Collapse > Collapse Selection or Expand
Selection.

How to collapse or expand all 3D path and 3D rotation columns in the Xsheet view
Do one of the following:‣

Right-click on any column’s header and select Expand/Collapse > Collapse All or Expand All.

‣

Press 0 and 9.

Showing or Hiding Layers
As you work in the Drawing or Camera view, some layers may be in the way or are used as references. You canhide these layers to make your work area less cluttered and easier to navigate. You can show and hide layers in
the Timeline view in several different ways.
When using the Solo mode to show or hide layers, here's how it works:

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If you have anything selected, it is not affected.

•

When multiple layers are selected and you enable/disable the Solo mode on any of those layers, it is applied
to all the selected layers.

•

When multiple layers are selected and you enable/disable the Solo mode on layers that are not part of theselection, it is applied only to those particular layers.

When exporting or rendering a scene, the Solo mode setting of layers is ignored.

NOTE: When a layer is affected by an inverted cutter, enabling the Solo mode for this layer will not show it unless themask is also enabled.

How to show or hide all layers
1. Click one of the following in the Layers toolbar:‣

Enable/Disable All

button to show or hide all layers.

Any hidden layers are unhidden, so you can view all layers.
‣

Solo Modebutton to view disable your current Solo mode selection. Any soloed drawing or soundlayers are disabled, so you can view all layers. When you click again on the Solo Mode button, you last
Solo selection is displayed.

How to show or hide individual layers
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Layer toolbar, click the Solo Modebutton.

‣Click the layer's Enable/Disable All‣

Press A to show a layer or D to hide selected layers.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Enable/Disabledisplay it).

button to show or hide that layer.

button (you may have to customize the toolbar to

When you deselect a layer in the Timeline view, the corresponding column is hidden in the Xsheet view.
How to enable the selected layer and disable all others
1. Do one of the following:‣

Hold down Alt and click the Solo Modebutton of the layer you want to solo and hide all other layers.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Disable All Others
display it).

button (you may have to customize the toolbar to

In the Timeline view, you can hide or show certain types of layers such as Effect.
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Changing the Layer or Column Colour
To easily identify elements in the Timeline or Xsheet view, you can change the colour of layers and columns.
How to change the layer’s colour in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, click the Change Track Colour

button of the layer you want to modify.

2. In the Select Colour dialog box, select a new colour for your layer.

3. Click OK.
The layer’s background colour is updated. In a Drawing layer, exposed cells are the brighter, selectedcolour for easy identification. The corresponding column colour is also updated in the Xsheet.

How to reset a layer’s colour in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select the layers to reset.
2. In the Timeline toolbar, click the Default Track Colour
to display it).

button (you may have to customize the toolbar

How to change a column’s colour in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet view, select one or more columns to modify.
2. Right-click on the column’s header and select Colour > Change Columns Colour.
3. In the Select Colour dialog box, select a new colour for your columns.

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4. Click OK.
The column’s colour is updated. The corresponding column colour is also updated.

How to reset the column’s colour in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet view, select the columns to reset.
2. Right-click on the column’s header and select Colour > Default Columns Colour.

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Chapter 7: Character Building

Harmony is a great tool for building characters. You can use different techniques and features to break down yourpuppets.
This chapter will guide you through all the steps to create a complete simple rig. Harmony allows you to create very
advanced puppets using deformations, hierarchies and z ordering. As you practice and get familiar with thoseconcepts, you will be able to develop more complex rigs and combine various advanced features.
This chapter contains the following topics:•

Importing a Model on page 1•

Relative Sizes on page 1•

Studying the Model on page 202•

Setting the Default Separate Position Preferences on page 205•

Naming Conventions on page 205•

Breaking Down the Character on page 206•

Ordering the Layers on page 212•

Rigging on page 214•

Adding Extra Drawings on page 228•

Setting the Pivots on page 230•

Storing the Character in the Library on page 236•

Appendix on page 238

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About the Model

To begin breaking down your puppet, you must first import your character into a new project. You can also draw
your character directly in the scene.
You can import your character in several different formats:•

Library template—see Library on page 267•

External vector format—see Compositing Guide > Import chapter > Import AI and PDF Files topic

Model Alignment

When setting the character model in your scene, we recommend that you to center it in the Camera view andscale it to fit inside the safe area frame—see Field Chart on page 1.

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If you have several views of your character, place each view in a separate cell and center them one on top of
another. This will facilitate the break down process and ensure that all of your puppets are aligned and the same
size.

Photo Puppets
If you are creating a cut-out puppet out of photos, break down the different parts in a bitmap editing software. Then,
import your parts and vectorize them as textured images.
A good way to set and import your bitmap parts is to organize them in a multilayered PSD file.
In Adobe Photoshop, organize your file so that all your layers are “grouped” into individual folders, or that all theelements you want to import as a single layer in Harmony are grouped together in their own folder. Any layer that is
not in a folder group, by itself or otherwise, will not be imported.

Relative Sizes
Understanding the relative size of every character and prop is important for maintaining consistency and structure
throughout your project.
A production may contain many characters and props. It is not unusual for these to have been created by different
people. If there is no size control implemented, the characters and elements created by different artists can vary
greatly in size. When this occurs, the characters that are put together in a scene will be out of proportion. The
animator or person doing the scene setup will then have to scale them to the correct size.

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When a character or a prop is scaled down, the outline will get increasingly thinner. By the time the element isscaled to its proper size, the outline may be so thin that the difference between one character's outline andanother's will not look very good.
These tips will help you to create and determine the correct relative sizes for each puppet:•

Line Up on page 200•

Field Chart on page 201•

Brush Size on page 201

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

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Field Chart

The field chart in Harmony is a tool that is very useful when setting the height of characters and props. You candisplay the field chart using the Show Grid option in the Camera and Drawing views.
How to display the field chart
1. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

‣

Click the Show Gridbutton in the Camera View and Drawing View toolbars.

Brush Size
There are a variety of pens and brushes in Harmony and you can also create and save your own. It is a good idea tocreate and save pens with precise sizes and parameters to trace and design your models and break downs—see
Drawing with the Brush Tool on page 43.

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Studying the Model

Now that you have imported or designed your model, the next step is to analyze it. This is to determine what parts
will be broken apart and how they will be divided. Will the hair be separated into one, two or three sections? Will
the hand be separated from the sleeve? To determine what is best for your character, observe the model in the
Camera or Drawing view.
•

Eyelids and Pupils on page 203•

Separating the Mouth Elements and Jaw on page 203•

Keeping Fingers Attached to the Hand on page 203•

Flipping Logos on page 204•

Complete and Overlapping Pieces on page 204

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Eyelids and Pupils

For increased flexibility when animating the eyes, you can split them into three layers: the eyeball, the pupil and theeyelid. The eyelid layer is used for the blink and to cut the pupil when it gets too close to the side of the eyeball. For a
more advanced break down, the two eyes are separated on their own individual three-layer sets.

Separating the Mouth Elements and Jaw

To get a greater level of flexibility, you can separate the jaw from the head. You can also separate the mouth shape,
teeth, tongue and interior one from another.

Keeping Fingers Attached to the Hand

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To avoid needlessly complicating the break down, the fingers are not usually separated from the hand. The fullhand is a single layer with a bank of different hands stored inside. This technique is easy to work with andproduces a less mechanical effect.

Flipping Logos

You can separate logos and letters that appear on a character or a prop. This allows you to flip and reuse acharacter's puppet.

Complete and Overlapping Pieces

For a better result with animated parts, it is important to understand that they must be properly overlapping andcomplete. A common mistake is to trace the part just as it appears on the model.

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Setting the Default Separate Position Preferences
Before you adding layers to your puppets, make sure the Default Separate Position is enabled.
With the Default Separate Position preference selected, when you create new peg layers, their X, Y and Z axes are
independent from each other.
For cut-out animation, you want to have three independent axes so you can control them individually.
When you lock the three positions together, each time you add a keyframe, it is added on all three positions at thesame time.

When you separate the three positions and add a keyframe on one axis, it is not added on the other two. This gives
you more freedom when animating with motion keyframes and nudging parts forward and backward over time.

How to set the Default Separate Position option
1. Do one of the following:‣

Windows/Linux: Select Edit > Preferences.

‣

Mac OS X: Select Stage Essentials > Preferences.

‣

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

2. In the Preferences dialog box, select the General tab.
3. In the Settings section, select the Default Separate Position for Pegs option.
4. Click OK.

Naming Conventions
When working on a production, it is critical to keep work well organized with a naming convention chart before
starting the project. It is crucial that everyone follows the criteria laid out in the naming convention chart. Whendealing with thousands of characters, pieces and puppets, it is easy to get lost.

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Adding a Prefix or Suffix to a Layer
It is highly recommended that you incorporate a naming convention for the layers. This will be very convenient inlater steps. We suggest that you add one or two letters for the character/prop name before the part name and an"R" or "L" for right and left to identify the corresponding character/prop:•

Character Abby's right arm = ab_r_arm.

If you plan to work with different angles for your characters (front, side, three-quarter, back), you can add one or
two letters to identify the angle:•

Character Abby's right arm, front view = ab_r_arm_f.

Breaking Down the Character

There are many techniques you can use to break down a puppet. In this section, you will learn about one of themost common and simplest methods. For your first character breakdown 1, follow these instructions to get an
idea of the way Harmony works. Once you understand Harmony's basic functions and commands, you will beable to create your own techniques to satisfy the needs of your production.
This section is divided as follows:•

Tracing the Model on page 1•

Articulations on page 209

Tracing the Model
The main breakdown technique shown here is to trace your model.
1In cut-out animation, breakdown is the action of breaking a character into pieces to create a puppet witharticulations. To break down a character, the artist cuts parts, such as the hands and arms, from the character's
model and pastes them in separate layers. Next, the joints are fixed and the pivots set. In traditional animation, a
breakdown is an animation pose generally found between two key poses. The key poses are the main poses in an
animation and the breakdowns are secondary poses, ones that help describe the motion and the rotation curve(usually referred to as an arc).
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How to break down a character
1. In the Timeline view, add a new drawing layer for each body part to separate. You can press Ctrl + R (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + R (Mac OS X)—see Naming Conventions on page 205.

2. In the Timeline view, select the layer's first cell in which you want to draw the part.

3. In the Tools toolbar, select a drawing tool.
4. In the Colour view, select a colour swatch. If you haven't created a palette for your character yet, see Colour
Styling on page 109.
5. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw the new part with as with as few points as possible so the pieces areeasy to manipulation, modify or redraw. Using the Polyline
tool would make it easy to do this.

If you are working in the Drawing view, click the Light Table
button in the Drawing View toolbar to display
the other layers as washed out colours. You can also press Shift + L.
6. You can use the Stroke tool in the Tools toolbar to create an invisible hairline if you want to close a shapewithout drawing an actual stroke.
‣

Select View > Show > Show Strokes or press K to display the invisible lines.

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7. In the Tools toolbar, select the Paint

or Paint Unpainted

tool to colour your drawing.

8. In the Colour view, select the corresponding colour.
9. In the Camera or Drawing view, paint your drawing.

10. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool. Select your drawing and flatten the lines by clicking the Flatten
button in the Tool Properties view.
11. Repeat the entire process until the break down is completed.

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Articulations

Once your pieces are traced, you can go ahead and complete the articulations.
Articulations are an important aspect of any cut-out break down because without them, a puppet cannot moveproperly and will not look good.

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If you are using deformations to animate the limbs, your articulations don't need to overlap. The deformer effectwill create the joint for you.

Classical Articulation
Classical articulation is the most popular technique for basic characters. It is quite simple and produces excellent
results, but it's not the most efficient method. In many instances, it causes limitations and extra drawing
corrections. For example, there may be a gap in the articulation if the part is bent too far. Joint design is usually acircle; the overlapping part cannot be sent behind without showing the joint.

Classical articulation is done by erasing a part of the line from the overlay layer, leaving the colour overlapping thebottom layer. You can use this technique for all the articulations on your puppet.
How to create a classical articulation
1. In the Timeline view, select the cell containing the part to modify (piece located behind), such as the upper
arm.

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2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil, Polyline, Ellipse, Cutter, or Contour Editor

tool.

3. In the Colour view, select an outline colour.
4. In the Drawing or Camera view, use your drawing tool to make sure the joint overlaps the other part in a halfcircle shape.

If you are working in the Drawing view, click the Light Table
L.

button in the Drawing toolbar or press Shift +5. From the top menu, select View > Show > Show Strokes or press K to display the invisible lines that may
be present in your drawing.
6. In the Drawing or Camera view, select all the strokes in your drawing.
7. In the Tools Properties view, click the Flatten

button.

8. In the Drawing or Camera view, select all the strokes in your drawing.
9. Repeat the previous steps for the other articulations.
10. In the Timeline view, select the cell of the part that will be on top of the joint.

NOTE: When placing rotation pivots later on, make sure they are positioned at the centre of thearticulation.

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Ordering the Layers

At this point, it is possible that your character's pieces may show up in the wrong order.
There are several ways to fix this. First, you can reorder your layers by dragging them to a higher or lower level in
the Timeline view. The top layer is displayed in front of the others and the bottom one is displayed behind.
Second, you can use the Z-axis nudging (forward and backward) if you have extra views included in the samelayers (front, three-quarter, back, etc.).
This topic is divided as follows:•

Ordering the Timeline Layers on page 212•

Nudging Parts Backwards and Forwards on page 213

Ordering the Timeline Layers
In the Timeline view, the layer positioned at the top will be displayed in front and the ones below will be displayed
behind. If you have multiple views, you should order your layers based on the most common view, which is
generally the three-quarter front.

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How to order the layers‣

In the Timeline view, drag a layer to reorder it and drop it between other layers.

If you drop it on a layer, it will create a parent hierarchy, so make sure to drop it between layers.

Nudging Parts Backwards and Forwards
If you created a hierarchy on your arms, legs or other body parts, it is possible that you will want a part, such as thehand, to appear in front of its parent. Yet, if you move the hand layer above the arm layer, you will break thehierarchy. To reorder a layer rigged in a hierarchy, nudge it backwards or forwards on the z-axis.

NOTE: You will do the same for the layers that are not in the right order on the extra views. Do not place the drawing
on another layer. You want to keep all your drawings of the body parts in the same layers like a box containing all of
the hands or all of the shoes.

Harmony allows you to move your elements in three dimensions:•

Up and down (Y-axis)•

Left and right (X-axis)•

Backwards and forwards (Z-axis)

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In the same way you create multiplane backgrounds (depth), you can perform a micro nudge of the part to bereordered and see it in front of the other elements, even if its layer is actually behind the other ones in the Timeline
view. The forward-backward position can also be animated over time.
Repeat the following instructions for all the views.
How to nudge your parts backward and forward
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transformtool. Make sure to enable the Animate

mode.

2. In the Camera view, select the element you want to reorder. Make sure the focus (red outline) is around the
Camera view before selecting the element.
3. To move the element forward, press Alt + Down Arrow and to move the element backward, press Alt + Up
Arrow.

Riggings
The rigging process is where building a puppet can take several different directions.

214Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

In this section, you will learn how to create a simple rig. Afterwards, you will learn how to add pegs and create ahierarchy. You can also see more advanced tricks in the Appendix on page 238.
•

About Rigging on page 215•

Adding Pegs on page 219•

Rigging the Head on page 220•

Rigging the Body on page 221•

Creating a Hierarchy on page 222•

Ordering the Layers on page 1•

Adding the Master Peg on page 224•

Creating the Keyframes on page 225•

Masking on page 226

About Rigging
There are some basic concepts to know when rigging and layer parenting:•

Simple Rigging on page 215•

Parenting Layers on page 217•

Rigging Using Pegs on page 218

Simple Rigging
Simple rigging is very fast and easy to do. It is built as follows:•

All the body parts are independent•

All the timeline layers are attached to a master peg layer (trajectory layer)

The advantage of using this technique is that you are free to move any part around without being influenced by aparent layer.

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However, since the parts are not parented to each other, the parts will move from point A to point B along a
straight trajectory. The hand will not follow the arm's rotation. You will have to set more keyframes for the hand tomove along a curved path.

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Parenting Layers

When you want one part to follow another part, such as the forearm following the arm, you can attach the layers one
to the other. For example, you can attach the forearm layer to the arm layer without having to encapsulate theforearm into the arm layer. They will still be parented, but you can access the forearm directly without having to enter
the arm layer.

The advantage of parenting layers is that the child layers will follow the parent smoothly without having to selectthem or create a series of keyframes.

The disadvantage of parenting layers is that you are not able to move the parent independently of its children, since
the child layers receive all the transformation information from their parent.

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Parenting layers, such as the arms and legs, and allowing the torso and hips to be independent from them is often
a good solution.

NOTE:
To attach one layer to another, you must drag the desired layer onto the other one in the Timeline view.
Harmony offers powerful techniques to create hierarchies between your layers without having to encapsulate
layers into each other. These techniques are a great improvement over the less efficient and time consuming
method of creating parenting between your layers by inserting symbols into other symbols. Therefore, rigging withsymbols inside symbols is NOT recommended.

Rigging Using Pegs
Peg layer are useful when you are doing more advanced puppet rigging. Peg layers are trajectory layers that do
not contain drawings. They are motion paths that you can use to control your entire puppet or advanced
hierarchies.
Parenting a drawing layer to a peg layer allows you to divide your motions on two separate levels. You can scale abody part up the chain of pegs directly on the drawing layer. This way, you do not affect any child layers that could
be attached to that part.
Then, you can perform your translation and rotation on the peg layer so all the parts attached to that peg layer
follow the same trajectory.

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Adding Pegs
It is recommended to add parent pegs to your drawing layers which are path layers that let you add keyframes tomodify the positions of pieces over time. It is not mandatory, but it is helpful to have your drawings and keyframes
separated.
How to parent drawing layers to pegs
1. In the Timeline view, select all the layers.

2. In the Timeline Layer toolbar, click the Add Parent Pegs219

button to add a parent peg to all selected layers.

Chapter 7: Character Building

Rigging the HeadYou will start by attaching the facial features to the head.
The advantage of parenting the head and the facial features to the same peg is that you can easily animate eachfacial feature, and they will all follow the head motion.
You can also use additional pegs to control smaller groups of pieces such as the facial features or all the left eye
pieces. You can parent as many pegs as you want to obtain a maximum of control on your rig.

How to parent the facial features to the head
1. In the Timeline view, deselect any selected layers.
2. Select the head peg layer.
3. In the Timeline View Layer toolbar, click the Add Parent Peg
button to add a new peg layer to yourtimeline. You can rename the peg to keep your work organized.

A new peg is added and parented to the head peg layer.

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1. Select all the remaining head and facial feature layers and drag them ONTO the peg layer or BETWEEN thehead peg layer and the new head peg to parent them.

Rigging the Body
When the character's head is ready, you can move on to rigging the body. You can do a simple rigging where all the
body parts are independent of each other, or create parenting between some of the layers. Refer to Creating a
Hierarchy on page 222 to learn how to parent your layers.
Simple rigging consists of leaving the layers in the Timeline view without doing any kind of parenting. Later on, youwill attach those layers to a master peg and organize them in the correct order—see Adding the Master Peg on page
224 and Ordering the Layers on page 212.

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Creating a Hierarchy
Harmony lets you extend your rigging techniques beyond normal boundaries and sets new standards. You cancreate hierarchies without encapsulating pieces inside each other by creating a linked structure between layers.
You should create a hierarchy on the arms and legs, and keep them separated from the body. This gives you moreanimation freedom, and when you need to scale or skew the torso, it will not affect the entire body.

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How to create a hierarchy in the Timeline view
1. Drag the child piece (hand) and drop it ON the parent piece (forearm). Then, you can drag the parent (forearm)piece onto another parent piece (upper arm).

‣

You can unparent layers by holding down Shift and dragging the selected parents away from the childlayer. Drop your selected between other layers.

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Adding the Master Peg

When you animate your character, you will probably need to resize and reposition it to fit your scene. When you
need to scale down or move your character, it is a good idea to hook (attach) the whole puppet to a trajectory.
Attaching your puppet to a peg 1 will allow you to scale it and reposition it without having to do this to the different
parts and pieces. Only one layer will contain the position information, which makes your animation easier tomodify and control.
How to add a master peg
1. In the Timeline view, select the top layer to parent a peg to it. You need to select a layer to be able to add apeg to your scene.
2. In the Timeline view, click on the Add Peg

button.

A new peg is added to the timeline as a parent of the selected layer.
3. Name the new peg Master plus the character's name.
4. In the Timeline view, select all the layers you want to attach to your new peg. Remember that one item isalready parented to that peg.
5. Drag your selection ON to the peg layer to parent all your character's pieces to the peg. If your layers areadded above the already parented layers, move that parented layer back on top of the layer stack.

1In traditional animation, a tool used to ensure accurate registration of action as cel layers move. In digital

animation, in which you are doing a more advanced puppet rigging, you can use peg layers. Peg layers aretrajectory layers that do not contain drawings. They are motion paths that you can use to add path articulations.
For the latter, you can also use an inverse kinematics tool.
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Creating the Keyframes
Once all your drawings are ordered and your master peg is added, you need to insert keyframes on each cell tocreate all of the function curves and block your pose in place.
How to create the keyframes
1. In the Timeline view, collapse the master peg by clicking the Expand

2. In the Timeline view, select the first cell.

3. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Insert > Keyframe.

‣

In the Timeline View toolbar, click the Add Keyframe‣

Press F6.

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button.

arrow.

Chapter 7: Character Building

NOTE: If you use the F6 shortcut when working Flash keyboard shortcuts flavour, this not only creates a keyframe
but also duplicates a drawing.

Masking

When rigging a character, there may be instances when you want to have the ability to move a particular piece togive the illusion of a rotation or move the pupil within the white of an eye without having the extra bit of the drawing
sticking out of the character or eyeball. To do so, you can use masks to cut anything you don't want to be visible.
How to mask an object in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, make sure the keyframe is added on the object that will be masking the piece to cut.

2. Select the layer that will act as the mask.
3. In the Timeline view, right-click on the layer and select Clone Selected Layers: Drawings and Timing.

4. Select the layer to be masked.

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5. In the Layer toolbar, click the Add Layer button and select Effects > Cutter.

6. Click the Expand Parameters

button to display the Cutter properties.

7. Drag the cloned layer ONTO the Matte parameter connection area.
The masking layer name appears in the Matte parameter area and the masking layer is repositionned above
the effect.

The masking layer is no longer visible in the Camera view. You can see that the masking layer is connectedto the Cutter effect by clicking the Show/Hide Additional Links
button to display the Additional Links
section.

8. Your masking effect is most likely inverted and what you want to cut is probably showing. Double-click on the
Mask layer to open the Layer Properties window. In the Layer Properties window, enable the Inverted option.

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9. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool and move the cut object within the masking zone.

Adding Extra Drawings

Your break down is now complete. You can move on to adding the extra drawings your character needs, such as
principal hand positions and mouth shapes. If you ever forget to add extra drawings in your main character's
template, you can easily add them later.

NOTE: Add your extra drawings in the layer corresponding to the part you are drawing. You should see the layers
as containers for the different pieces. Each body part has its own container in which you can add more drawings ofthe same part.

If you want to use the auto lip-sync detection feature to animate your dialog, you should create the following
mouths for your puppet.
The mouth shapes used by Harmony are based on the conventional mouth chart used in the animation industry.

NOTE: The letters used to represent the shapes do NOT correspond to an actual sound.

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NOTE: If you are doing cut-out animation, refer to the Cut-out Animation Guide, Character Building chapter, "Adding
Extra Drawings" topic to learn how to add extra drawings to your character.

Here is an approximation of the sound each mouth shape can produce:•

A: m, b, p, h•

B: s, d, j, i, k, t•

C: e, a•

D: A, E

•

E: o

•

F: u, oo•

G: f, ph•X: Silence, undetermined soundYou can lip-sync the traditional way or let the system automatically create the basic detection.
You can refer to the mouth chart positions as you draw the shape of the character's mouth.
How to add extra drawings
1. In the Timeline view, select the cell where you want to add a new drawing. If you want to duplicate the current
drawing and work from it, you can select Drawing > Duplicate Drawings or press Alt + Shift + D.

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A new drawing is created in the selected cell and automatically extended to the next one. The new drawing
is a duplicate of the one that was selected so it contains a duplicate of the art. You can modify it to create
your new drawing or delete its contents in the Camera or Drawing view and start from scratch.

1. In the Tools toolbar, select a drawing tool for drawing your extra part.
2. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw your new drawing.

2. Using the Selecttool, select your drawing and flatten the lines by clicking the Flatten
Tool Properties view.

button in the

Setting the Pivots

One of the last steps before storing the character in the library is to set the pivots for the different parts.
If you want the puppet's pieces to rotate correctly, you must set the pivot points right in the middle of anarticulation, such as an elbow or a knee.
By default, your master peg pivot is placed at the centre of the Camera view, which generally equates to yourcharacter's hips. A good way to set your peg's pivot is to move it between the character's feet.

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How to set the pivots with the Rotate tool
1. In the Advanced Animation toolbar, select the Rotate

tool.

2. In the Camera or Timeline view, select the layer whose pivot you want to set. In the Camera view, you canalso hold down Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) and click on the piece whose pivot you want to set.
3. In the Camera view, drag the blue pivot to reposition it.

4. Repeat the previous steps for all the pieces, including the eyes, nose and mouth. If you are unsure as whereto place the pivot, put it in the center of the selected piece or group of pieces.

NOTE: If you added other pegs to your rig, you must set their pivot using the same method.

Setting Anchors and Props
An anchor is an attachment point you can use to bind one or several props to a specific location that is predefined by
the anchor.
A prop is a game item that will be attached to an anchor. It could be a stick held within the character’s hand, a helmet
attached to the character’s head...the possibilities are endless. Props are easy to turn on or off, and easily
swappable from within Harmony or Unity.
How to create an anchor
1. Create a new Drawing node and rename it according to the anchor you are creating.
2. Inside the Layer Properties of your drawing node, make sure that pivot option is set to Don’t Use Embedded
Pivot or Apply Embedded Pivot on Drawing Layer. The Apply Embedded Pivot on Parent Peg does nottransition well to Unity and you will lose your pivot information.

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3. Once this is done, you can use any of the animation tools to reposition the pivot point of your node, suchas the Rotate tool in the Advanced Animation toolbar. You should be able to see the pivot coordinates fromthe Layer Properties of your Drawing node. If the pivot is not repositioned, its default place will be at thecentre of your Harmony scene (0,0).
4. Once this is set up, select the Drawing node and click the Toggle Anchor

button in the Game toolbar.

The Drawing node is highlighted in red in the Timeline and Node views. Your anchor can now be used toattach a prop.
How to create a prop
1. Create a new Drawing node or take an existing prop on which you want to attach an anchor.
2. Position the Drawing Pivot of the prop node using a tool on the Advanced Animation toolbar, such as the
Rotate tool. The position of the prop’s pivot will align with that of the anchor. Make sure it is positioned
accordingly.
3. With the prop Drawing Node selected, click the Toggle Prop

button in the Game toolbar.

The prop Drawing node is highlighted in green in the Timeline and Node views.
4. Do one of the following:‣

Connect the anchor and prop to the parent peg.

‣

Connect the prop under the anchor to create a parent/child hierarchy.

Toon Boom Harmony 12.2.1- Essentials Edition -Gaming Animation Guide (Server)

1

Contents

3

Chapter 1: Introduction

7

Chapter 2: About Gaming in Harmony

9

Chapter 3: Guidelines and Resources

13

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Chapter 4: Design and Drawing Tools

19

Preparation

19

Sketching the Model

20

Relative Size

22

Sketching the Character32

Cleaning and Inking the Model

35

Drawing Tasks

36

Drawing Tool References

72

Chapter 5: Colour Styling

109

Preparation

109

Working with Palettes

114

Colours

135

Painting the Model

147

Chapter 6: Timing

151

Preparation

151

Setting the Scene Length

153

Creating Drawings

155

Filling Exposure

164

Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

170

Managing Key Exposures

183

Navigating between Frames and Columns

185Managing Drawings

187

Merging Drawings

191

Chapter 7: Character Building

197

About the Model

198

Relative Sizes

199

Studying the Model

202

Setting the Default Separate Position Preferences

205

Naming Conventions

205

Breaking Down the Character

206

Ordering the Layers

212

Rigging214

Adding Extra Drawings

228

Setting the Pivots

230

Setting Anchors and Props

231

Storing the Character in the Library

236

Appendix

238

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Chapter 8: Gaming Deformation

247

About Game Bone Deformations

247

Creating a Basic Deformation Rig

248

Setting Up the Resting Position

250

Displaying the Deformation Controls

255

Assembling Pieces

256

Animating Deformations

258

Deformation Toolbar

262

Deformation Nodes

263

Chapter 9: Library

267

Understanding the Library Concept267

Library View

270

Organizing the Library272

Templates

276

Symbols

278

Importing Symbols and Templates

286

Importing Files Through the Library

290

Using Paste Special

290

Chapter 10: Cut-out Animation

293

Getting the Character

294

Keyframes and Drawing Blocks

297

Creating a Simple Cut-out Animation

299

Selecting Layers to Animate or Position

302

Navigating the Hierarchy

304

Animating Using the Transform Tool

306

Animating in Stop-motion

308

Animating Using Computer-generated Interpolation

309

Marking the Timeline

315

Flipping Through Poses

316

Using the Onion Skin in Cut-out Animation

317

Flipping Parts

319

Using Action Templates

320

Swapping Drawings

321

Animating Lip-Sync

327

Adding a New Drawing

331

Ordering Layers Over Time

335

Resetting a Transformation

336

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Creating Cycles

337

Adding Pegs

339

Offsetting a Portion of an Animation

341

Chapter 11: Export Harmony Animations to Unity

343

Harmony Game Previewer

347

Placing a Target in an Imported Animation

354

Export to Sprite Sheets

357

Export to Easel JS

359

Chapter 12: Troubleshooting

363

Glossary

367

Index

377

Metadata Editor View

The Metadata Editor view lets you access the information of the props and anchors to be exported to Unity.

NOTE: Because the Unity game engine does not support Unicode characters, it is recommended to avoid using it inscenes intended for games.

How to access the Metadata Editor view
1. In the top-right corner of a view, click the Add View

button and select Metadata Editor.

Parameter

Description

Scene MetadataThis is a list of optional parameters you can create in a scene project to be235Chapter 7: Character Building

exported to Unity. It will not have any incentive towards your scene assets, but
can help developers know what to do with the assets contained in your Harmony
scene.
Once in Unity, scene Metadata will appear in Inspector view > Metadata whenthe Asset is selected in the Hierarchy view.
Name: Name of the Scene entry. (e.g. game.Armor001)
Value: This can be anything that describes the state of an object. You could, forexample, have three different stages of armour: new, damaged and destroyed.
Displays only the props and anchors held inside your selection. If nothing isselected, no information will display. Name and value appear in this box as well.
Name will show you the associated .tvg name and value will be set as either On
or Off, depending on whether you want the connection to be set as active or not.
Node Metadata

Once in Unity, scene Metadata will appear in the Hierarchy view.
Name: Name of the selected anchor or prop. (e.g. game.isAnchor). Notice that it
differs from the drawing layer name on the top-left corner of the Node Metadata
section.
Value: Can be set to be active (On) or inactive (Off).

NOTE: For any anchor or prop information created within the Metadata Editor, the naming convention must always
use the prefix "game.". The term "game." is recognized automatically by Unity as a metadata information. For
example: game.Armor001.

Storing the Character in the Library
For maximum efficiency and reuse of your character in different scenes, you must store a template in the Libraryview. You can create different kinds of templates, such as templates that include all the layers, a template for abody, key pose or even some containing only the head.
When you create a template from the Timeline view's right side, you must first import your master template inorder for everything to work properly when you reimport it into a scene. Once the master template is imported, you
can import the key pose (action) template's content into the right side of the Timeline view.
How to create a template from the Timeline view
1. In the Library view, right-click on the desired library folder and select Right To Modify.
2. In the Timeline view, collapse the master peg layer.

3. If your scene has a series of blank cells, they will also be included in the template if you drag the layer tothe Library view. Reduce the scene length to have no empty cells before creating your template.

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4. In the Timeline view, select your master peg and drag it to the Library view.

The Rename dialog box opens.

5. In the Name field, name the new template.
6. Click OK.
How to create a key pose (action template)
1. In the Library view, right-click on the desired library folder and select Right To Modify.
2. In the Timeline view, collapse the master peg layer.

3. Select the cell containing the desired view and drag it into the desired library folder.

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The Rename dialog box opens.

4. In the Name field, type in a name for the template.
5. Click OK.

Appendix

The many options and animation techniques available for building a puppet make it impossible to determine only
one method to break down a character. Here are some advanced tips on breaking down puppets. As you become
more familiar with the software, you will find more ways to improve the construction of your puppet.
This section is divided as follows:•

Converting the Layers into Symbols on page 238•

Patch Articulation on page 241•

Adding New Drawings to an Existing Template

Converting the Layers into Symbols

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NOTE: Converting your layers into symbols is optional. When animating, you will need to enter the symbol to create a
new drawing. If you want to use morphing when animating, keep your layers as drawings. Do NOT use symbols.

Once the breakdown is completed, you can create symbols out of each drawing. The symbol will encapsulate eachdrawing of the layer. Later on, even if you only expose the first frame, such as the front head, you will still haveaccess to all of the head drawings you placed in the symbol. This will also allow you to add more drawings, as yourcharacters' master templates will evolve throughout the production of your movie or series.
All your layers should be stored in the library as symbols. Before building your puppet, remove all the current layers
in your scene. All of your work is saved in the library.
If you are not sure that you put everything in your library, you can always perform a Save As on your scene and workon a new version.
How to create a symbol
1. Create a symbol by doing one of the following:‣

From the Timeline view, drag the layer to the Symbols library folder.

‣

In the Timeline view, select the layer to convert to a symbol. From the top menu, select Edit > Create
Symbol or press F8. You can also click on the Create Symbol
button available in the Edit toolbar.

The Create Symbol dialog box opens.

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2. In the Enter Symbol's Name field, type the new symbol's name. It is recommended that you keep your original layer's name.
3. Click OK.
4. Repeat this process for each layer in the Timeline view.

NOTE: Make sure all your layers are stored in the symbol library.

How to save your scene as a new version‣ From the top menu, select File > Save As. You can also click the Save As
toolbar.
How to clean the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select all of your layers.

2. In the Timeline's Layer toolbar, click the Delete Layers
3. In the Confirm Delete dialog box, click OK.

240

button.

button available in the File

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Your timeline is now ready to receive the body part symbols for the rigging process.

Patch Articulation

The Harmony advanced rigging can use an articulation fixing technique called Patch Articulation. This technique is acolour fill patch that is drawn on a third layer and is used to cover the joint lines. It is a simple, yet powerful method.

With this technique, you avoid having to create a correction layer at the end of the animation to fill the gaps in the
joints. You do not need to worry about the articulations at all. Once a patch is set, the articulation is fixed for theentire length of the animation.
To make this technique even more efficient, Harmony lets you draw the patch inside the same drawing, but on a
separate contained layer. The Line Art and Colour Art layers are not only useful in traditional ink and paint, but also inadvanced cut-out breakdown. You can draw the patch in the Colour Art layer and extract it in the Node view. The

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advantage of doing it this way is that when animating and using the drawing substitution, the patch drawing willchange at the same time as the main drawing.
How to create a patch articulation
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool or press Shift + T.

2. If you plan to create your patch on an independent layer, do the following. If not, go the next step.
‣In the Timeline view, add a new drawing layer by clicking the Add Drawing Layer
Ctrl + R (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + R (Mac OS X).

button or press

3. In the Camera view, select the part for which you want to create a patch. For example, if you are fixing theelbow articulation, select the arm or forearm drawing to edit it.

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

5. If you drew your lines with pencil lines, it is recommended to convert them to brush lines (fill shapes):242

Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide‣

In the Camera view, select the pencil lines.

‣

In the Tools Properties view, click the Convert Brush Strokes to Pencil Lines‣

In the Camera view, select the piece's outline and fill.

‣

In the Tool Properties view, click the Flatten
contour stroke.

button.

button to remove the excess colour fill located under the

6. In the Camera view, select the fill zone of the part's drawing.

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7. In the Camera view, right-click and select Copy.
8. Select the cell in which you want to create the patch.

9. In the Camera view, right-click and select Paste.
10. In the Tools toolbar, select the Cutter

tool.

11. In the Camera view, make a selection around the pasted zone to cut everything out but a small overlappingzone to cover the articulation.

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1. Repeat the process for each articulation which requires fixing.

Adding New Drawings to an Existing Template
How to add new drawings to an existing drawing template
1. In the Library view, right-click on the library folder containing the template to modify and select Right To
Modify.
2. In the Library view's right side, right-click on the extra drawings template to modify and select Edit Template.
A new instance of Harmony opens.
3. In the Tools toolbar, select a drawing tool.
4. In the Colour view, select a colour.
5. In the template's timeline, select the blank cell where you want to draw your new piece.
6. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw the new pieces.

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7. From the top menu, select File > Save or press Ctrl + S (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + S (Mac OS X).
8. From the top menu, select File > Quit (Windows/Linux) or Stage Essentials > Quit Toon Boom Stage(Mac OS X).

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Chapter 8: Gaming Deformation

Harmony provides you with the deformation technology for producing light, high-quality animations for your 2D
games. You can use Harmony's Game Bone deformer to rig your characters and export your animations in
spreadsheets to game engines like Unity.
Harmony provides even more advanced deformation features, but they are not supported by game engines. This
chapters will only cover the features supported by the gaming export. For additional information on the Harmony
deformation features, refer to the Cut-out Animation Guide.
This chapter is divided as follows:•

About Game Bone Deformations on page 247•

Creating a Basic Deformation Rig on page 248•

Setting Up the Resting Position on page 250•

Displaying the Deformation Controls on page 255•

Assembling Pieces on page 256•

Animating Deformations on page 258•

Deformation Toolbar on page 262•

Deformation Nodes on page 263

About Game Bone Deformations
Deformations let you animate bitmap or vector-based graphics, including gradients and textures. Deformations act
as a skeleton with limbs and articulations you can bend, reshape, and curve. You can deform a character made outof one, or many, drawing or image layers and make it move as if it were a cut-out puppet. A deformation skeleton iscomposed of deformation nodes, which are the various pieces (here represented as layers or nodes) required to
articulate or deform your drawings, such as a series of bones or game bones.

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The Game Bone deformation is very similar to the Bone deformation and allows you to create a skeleton structurein which the parent bone moves the child bone. The difference is that the Game Bone deformation is optimized toexport to game engines, mainly Unity.
The Game Bone deformation is mostly used when animating the extremities of a character, such as the arms orlegs, adding fluidity and a natural feel to the animation. The Game Bone deformation can be manipulated to rotate
a limb at an articulation joint and to shorten or elongate the extremities of a limb. It's also quite useful for bending
the torso.
The main difference between the Bone and Game Bone deformations is that the Game Bone deformation doesn't
have the Bias parameter. The rendered result is also different for the articulation folds. They are slightly rounded.

Creating a Basic Deformation Rig
Using the Rigging tool, you can quickly create a basic deformation rig.
As you create your chains, the controls will be showing. However, whenever you close your project, thedeformation controls display is turned off. When you reopen the project, you can display all controls or only someof them—see Displaying the Deformation Controls on page 255.
How to select an element on which to add deformation
1. From the Deformation toolbar, click the Rigging

tool.

2. In the Camera or Timeline view, select the element on which you want to add a deformation. When selecting a drawing node, the deformation components will be automatically added on top of the drawing node.
When selecting a peg node, the deformation components will be added below the peg.

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NOTE: Never place a deformation node above a peg node. Having a peg below a deformation node (Bone, Game
Bone, etc.) will cause unexpected result. The animation on the peg will move the image out of the defined
deformation zone. The same applies to animations created on the drawing layer itself. A drawing layer has anembedded peg.

3. In the Camera view, create your rig. See the following procedures to learn how to add a specific deformation
type.
How to add a Bone or Game Bone deformation chain
1. Once your element and the Rigging tool selected, in the Tool Properties view, enable the Bonethe Game Bone mode depending on your purpose—see Main Types of Deformations.

mode or

2. Place the cursor at the root of your drawing or group of drawings, click once and release. For example, on theshoulder.

3. Click again at the location where you want your first bone to finish and your second bone to start. An articulation control point will automatically be inserted between each bone you create. Note that the articulation
parameters are part of the Bone and Game Bone nodes since Harmony 12.

4. Repeat this until you are finished creating the Bone chain.

5. If you need to insert a bone between existing ones, hold down the Alt key. When the Insert Bone cursor is displayed, click on the existing bone segment at the location where you want to add an additional bone.

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Note that you can click on any Bone articulation point to start a new bone chain from thatpoint. Once the articulation point is selected (white), click on the location where you want to
add a bone and a new bone chain will be created, parented to the previous one.

When you have several chains controlling the same drawing or group of drawings, a Deformation Composite node is automatically be created and appears in the Timeline view. In the
Additional Links section of the Timeline view, you can see which nodes are connected to the
Deformation Composite.

6. With the deformation nodes still selected, in the Deformation toolbar, click the Reset Current Keyframe
button. This will set the current resting position as the current frame one.

Setting Up the Resting Position
Once you have a deformation chain created, you can optimize its positioning to fit the element it will deform.

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A deformation rig has a resting position and an animated position. The resting position is the original pose thecharacter is in when not animated with keyframes. You can always revert your animated character to its resting
position to recover the initial scale, angle, and shape. You can revert the entire character or only certain deformation
chains, such as the arm or leg. Just make sure your resting position is fully set before deploying the character inproduction.
How to set up Bone and Game Bone deformation chains
1. In the Timeline view, select the deformation nodes you want to set.
2. In the Deformation toolbar, click the Show Selected Deformers and Hide All Others
button to display the
deformer controls in the Camera view. This also hides all the deformer controls that were displayed.
3. In the Deformation toolbar, click the Rigging

tool.

The chain turns from green to red. A green chain indicates the puppet is in animation mode. A red chain
indicates the puppet is in a resting position. Make sure your chain is red.

4. In the Camera view, set up the deformation chain.
‣

Rotate the first bone to change the angle of the chain.

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Use the root control to reposition (offset) the entire chain.

‣

Use the control points to reposition the articulations. This will elongate, shorten or change the directionof the bone and offset the subsequent children.

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Use the articulation's control (square) to change the size of the articulation. For quality purposes, it isrecommended to have an articulation which fits the diameter of the part it controls.

5. Repeat until all the articulations and bones of the chain are correctly aligned to the element to which it islinked. You can also set additional parameters in the Layer Properties window.
6. With the deformation nodes still selected, in the Deformation toolbar, click the Reset Current Keyframe
button. This will set the current resting position as the current frame one.
7. Use the Transformtool. For optimal results, make sure the size of the articulation is approximately thesame size as the drawing.
8. If you need to insert a bone between existing ones, hold down the Alt key. When the Insert Bone cursor is displayed, click on the existing bone segment at the location where you want to add an additional bone.

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Displaying the Deformation Controls
Before you can manipulate the deformer outside of the Rigging mode, you must display the deformation controls.
If you just created the deformation rig, the controls will still be showing. However, when you close your project, thedeformers are turned off. When reopening a project, you must display the controls so you can you see the ones youneed while animating.
How to display the selected deformation controls
1. In the Camera, Timeline view, select the drawing layer or deformation nodes you want to display.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Camera toolbar, click the Show Control

button.

‣From the top menu, select View > Show > Control.

‣

Press Shift + F11.

How to display the selected deformation controls and hide all the others
1. In the Camera, Timeline view, select the drawing layer or deformation nodes you want to display.
2. In the Deformation toolbar, click the Show Selected Deformers and Hide All Others

button.

The selected deformation controls appear in the Camera view and all the others are hidden.
How to display all the deformer controls at the same time
1. In the Timeline view, select Edit > Select All from the top menu to select all the nodes or press Ctrl + A (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + A (Mac OS X).
2. In the Camera toolbar, click the Show Control

button or press Shift + F11.

All deformation controls in scene are displayed.
How to hide the deformer controls
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Camera toolbar, click the Hide All Controls‣

From the top menu, select View > Hide All Controls.

‣

Press Shift + C.

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Assembling Pieces

Assembling Pieces
After you have created all the deformation chains for your character, you will need to assemble these separate
body parts into a puppet. Your pieces should be properly overlapping and not set apart.

To avoid problems such as having the head stretched by the neck deformers or a hand modified by the bodydeformers, you can use the Kinematic Output node to assemble your pieces without propagating thedeformations down the hierarchy chains.
The Kinematic Output node lets you hook a separate element that you want to be linked to the deformation chain
but not be part of the deformation, such as a hand to an arm or an arm to the body. These elements will follow the
movement of the chain just like a regular cut-out character hierarchy piece without being influenced by the
deformation of the arm. If you don't use the Kinematic Output, the piece's pivot will not follow the deformation.
When building a cut-out puppet with deformations, each part controlled by a deformation chain will automaticallyrotate from the chain root point, which acts like a pivot. Because it is unlikely that every piece of your character
will be rigged with a deformation chain, you must set pivot points for the pieces that are not using deformations—
see Setting the Pivots on page 230.

Assembling Guidelines
When assembling a puppet with deformers, there are some guidelines to keep in mind:l

You cannot parent deformers directly because deformers are not designed to be used on other deformers.
To assemble deformers, you must insert a Kinematic Output node.

256Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation GuidelYour peg must be placed above the deformer.

How to assemble a puppet using the Kinematic Output node in the Timeline view
1. Select the element to attach to the Kinematic Output node, such as the hand or head peg.

2. From the top menu, select Insert > Kinematic Output.
The node appears in the Timeline view as a parent of your selection.

3. In the Timeline view, drag and drop the Kinematic Output layer ONTO the deformation layer you want yourlimb or piece to follow. For example, onto the neck deformer if you want your head to follow it without being
deformed or onto the arm deformer if you want your hand to follow.

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Assembling Pieces

If your pieces are no longer ordered properly, use the Z-nudging feature to reorder them—see
Nudging Parts Backwards and Forwards on page 213.
It's good practice to rename the Kinematic Output layer to reflect which deformer it isassigned to as the Timeline view can become very large and layers can be positioned far
apart. Select the Kinematic Output node and in the Layer Properties window, rename thenode. You can also double-click on the layer's name.

Animating Deformations
The controls to animate deformations work the same as those for setting up the chains. You simply need tocreate keyframes and position the control points.
How to animate Bone and Game Bone deformations
1. In the Timeline view, go the frame on which you want to create the first animation pose.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transformtool.

3. If you want to create animation keyframes, enable the Animate

mode in the Tools toolbar.

4. Do one of the following:l

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add KeyframelRight-click and select Add Keyframe.

lPress F6.

button.

A keyframe is added on the current frame.
5. In the Timeline view, select the deformation nodes you want to animate—see Displaying the Deformation
Controls on page 255.

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6. In the Deformation toolbar, click the Show Selected Deformers and Hide All Others
deformer of the selected piece.

button to display the

7. In the Camera view, do the following:l

Rotate the first bone to rotate the limb.

lRotate the subsequent bones to bend the limb.

l

Use the root control to reposition (offset) the entire chain.

l

Use the control points to reposition the articulations. This will elongate, shorten, or change thedirection of the bone and offset the subsequent children.

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Use the articulation's control (square) to change the size of the articulation. For quality purposes, it is recommended to have an articulation which fits the diameter of the part it controls.

8. In the Timeline view, go the frame on which you want to set the next key pose. You will need to expend theexposure to see your drawings further down the Timeline view.
9. Add a keyframe on the current frame by doing one of the following:l

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add KeyframelRight-click and select Add Keyframe.

lPress F6.

button.

10. Repeat the previous steps to animate your character.
You can also manipulate the deformer by typing values directly in the Layer Properties of the deformation
effect nodes.

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Deformation Toolbar

Deformation Toolbar
The Deformation toolbar contains the various tools and options used to create a deformation rig. This toolbar isdisplayed in the default interface.
By default, the Deformation toolbar only contains the essential options. If you right-click on the toolbar and selectCustomize, you can add additional buttons.

Icon

Tool Name

Description
The Rigging tool is used to create a Bone deformation
chain. You also use it to set up the resting position.

Rigging Tool
To learn more about the Rigging tool's properties, see
Rigging Tool Properties on page 1.
The Show Selected Manipulators and Hide All Others
button hides all manipulators displayed in the Camera view.
Show Selected ManipOnly the manipulators of the selected deformation node areulators and Hide All Othdisplayed—see Displaying the Deformation Controls on
ers
page 255 to learn how to make the manipulators visible in
the Camera view.
The Reset Current Keyframe copies the resting position,
the original setup of your skeleton before undergoing any
deformation, to your current frame. Once you have createda deformation chain, you can use the Rigging tool to adjust
Reset Current Keyframe
the position and appearance of the rig to fit the element.
When the skeleton is in place, you can use the Reset
Current Keyframe button to reset the current frame position
to the resting position.
The Enable Deformations button allows you to display yourdrawings in their original state or with deformations while
creating additional drawings. Depending on the artwork youneed to create, you might need to refer to the other images
either deformed or in their original position.

Enable Deformations

Note that this will not affect the exported images. It's only adisplay mode. You can see the result in OpenGL and
Render modes in the Camera view, but the exported images
will always be deformed.
Remove All Keyframes

The Remove All Keyframes option removes all keyframeson the selected deformation chain.

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The Show All Controls button lets you visualize the resting
position in red (Setup mode) and the active position(Animation) in green at the same time—see Displaying theDeformation Controls on page 255 to learn how to make themanipulators visible in the Camera view.
Show All Controls

Deformation Nodes
The deformation rigs are composed of several different types of nodes. Additional ones such as the Kinematic
Output can be used to enhanced the results. Not all deformation nodes are compatible with the Game export. Only
the compatible nodes are listed here.
This section is divided as follows:•

Adding Deformation Nodes on page 263•

Deformation Nodes on page 263

Adding Deformation Nodes
How to add a deformation node
1. In the top menu, select Insert > desired deformation node .

Deformation Nodes
From the Insert menu, you can insert the following nodes.
Game BoneThe Bone node is one of the main node used to build a deformation rig. Each Bone node consists of a bone and anarticulation. Chaining Bone nodes will create a skeleton chain for your character. The Rigging tool can be used tocreate and connect those nodes automatically.

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Parameter

Deformation Toolbar

Descriptions

Resting Parameters Rest Offset(x) AxisThis is the bone X-axis (horizontal) coordinates for the resting position.

(y) AxisThis is the bone Y-axis (vertical) coordinates for the resting position.

Rest RadiusThis is the articulation's radius value (articulation size) for the resting position.

Rest Orientation

This is the bone's orientation angle for the resting position.

Rest Length

This is the bone's length for the resting position.

Deform Parameters Offset
2D PathWhen this option is enabled, the X and Y axis parameters are controlled by thesame 2D path function.

Separate

When this option is enabled, the X and Y axis parameters are individual fromeach other.

Path

When using a 2D Path, this field displays the name of the function curve.

(x) AxisThis is the bone X-axis (horizontal) coordinates for the animation position. Thisparameter can be linked to a function curve to be animated over time.

(y) AxisThis is the bone Y-axis (vertical) coordinates for the animation position. Thisparameter can be linked to a function curve to be animated over time.

RadiusThis is the articulation's radius value (articulation size) for the animation position. This parameter can be linked to a function curve to be animated overtime.

Orientation

This is the bone's orientation angle for the animation position. This parametercan be linked to a function curve to be animated over time.

LengthThis is the bone's length for the animation position. This parameter can belinked to a function curve to be animated over time.

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Kinematic Output
The Kinematic Output node lets you hook a separate element that you want to be linked to the deformation chain but
not be part of the deformation, such as a hand to an arm or an arm to the body. These elements will follow the
movement of the chain just like a regular cut-out character hierarchy piece without being influenced by the
deformation of the arm. If you don't use the Kinematic Output, the piece's pivot will not follow the deformation.
Connect a Kinematic Output node below the deformation node you want your drawing to follow.

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Chapter 9: Library

Using templates and symbols , you can share and reuse any elements you create in Harmony. The Harmony librarylets you store several different elements such as puppets, backgrounds, animations and key poses. In fact,
anything you create in Harmony can be stored in the library.
This chapter contains the following topics:•

Understanding the Library Concept on page 267•

Library View on page 270•

Organizing the Library on page 272•

Templates on page 276•

Symbols on page 278•

Importing Symbols and Templates on page 286•

Importing Files Through the Library on page 290•

Using Paste Special on page 290

Understanding the Library Concept
The Library view is where you can store and reuse your artwork and animation in other scenes or build props andpuppets.
•

What is a Library? on page 268•

Understanding the Library Concept on page 267•

What is a Symbol? on page 268•

Libraries in Harmony Server on page 269

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What is a Library?
The library is a storage centre for all production assets; the elements stored in the library are called templates.
Although it is mainly used for cut-out animation, the library is also useful for paperless and traditional animation
processes. The library can contain any asset used in a Toon Boom Harmony production.
Using the library is as simple as dragging the content into the library to store your artwork and then dragging it to
the Timeline or Camera view when you want to reuse it.
You can organize your library using several different subfolders and store them on your hard drive or network.

What is a Template?

A template is an individual copy of the artwork stored in the library which you can reuse in different scenes. Oncea template is stored in the library, you can access it from any project.
Dragging a template into your scene copies the content in your Timeline and does not link it to the original. You
can modify this individual copy at any time.

What is a Symbol?

A symbol is a container used to build your props, puppets and looping clips. You can use symbols to containartwork and animation and manipulate them as a single object. You can also use symbols as a placeholder inwhich you place a series of different drawings for each body part of your puppets or when you have a repeating
cycle. However, symbols are not necessary for creating characters.
To create a symbol, drag your artwork to the Symbol library. When you drag a symbol from the Symbol library into
your scene, it will be linked to the original symbol. If you drag a symbol into your scene several times in theTimeline view, they will all be linked to the original symbol. If you modify one, they will all be modified.

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A symbol is local to the project and cannot be accessed directly from other scenes. To reuse a symbol's content inanother scene, you must create a template out of it.
When a symbol is exposed in the Timeline view, the symbol's cells are represented as a movie strip.

Libraries in Harmony Server
When working on the database, the structure of the library differs from when working on Harmony Server.

Harmony provides three default library folders:•

Symbols: The only library folder containing symbols for your project. You can organize the symbols libraryfolder using subfolders, but you cannot create a second library for your symbols. This library is local to yourproject.

•

Environment: A folder located inside the Environment folder. Every asset stored in this folder is accessible
from any job and scene contained within this environment.

•

Job: A folder located inside the Job folder. Every asset stored in this folder is accessible from any scene
contained within this job.

NOTE: You can create a folder called "library" in the usa_db folder on the server to create a global library. Once theHarmonyapplication is restarted, a "Global" library folder will automatically appear in every user's library. Every asset
stored in this folder is accessible from any scene, job and environment.

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Library View

You use the Library view to create and manage your symbols and templates, display the folders and manage andall of the content.
Library View Menu
The Library menu lets you access commands specific to the Library view, such as opening a Library or getting therights to modify a library folder.
Preview Window

The Preview window lets you preview the content of a symbol or template, and swap between drawings andsymbol cells in the Timeline view. This window is also used as the Drawing Substitution window.
How to preview a template or symbol's content
1. In the Library view's right side, click or double-click on the symbol or template to preview.
2. In the Preview window, click the Playbutton or drag the slider to scrub through the frames.

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Library Search Tool
When working on a movie or series, you will probably end up with many templates and symbols in your library. Using
the Search tool, you can quickly find the templates and symbols in your folders.
How to use the Library Search tool
1. From the left side of the Library view, select the library in which you want to search.

2. In the Search field, type the name or partial name of the symbol or template you are looking for.

3. Click the left

and right

arrows to see the previous and next results. The Search engine will look forresults within the library master folder and its subfolders. It will not look in other libraries.

Library List

The Library list lets you navigate through the different libraries and subfolders. You can also open, close and create
new libraries from here.
The Library folders have these default libraries:•

Symbols: The only library folder containing symbols for your project. You can organize the symbols libraryfolder using subfolders, but you cannot create a second library for your symbols. This library is local to yourproject.

•

Harmony Library: This folder contains templates and is stored on your hard drive. You can organize theHarmony library folder using subfolders. This folder does not contain symbols.

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Templates and Symbols Lists
The symbols and templates contained in the selected Library list can be displayed on the right side of the Libraryview as thumbnails, in a list or as details.
How to access the templates and symbols list display options‣ In the Library view's right side, right-click and select View > List, Thumbnails or Details.
‣ In the Library View toolbar, you can click the following buttons:
Thumbnails
List
Details

Organizing the Library
As you will probably create a large number of symbols and templates, you will soon realize they need to beorganized. You can create different libraries and subfolders to easily access your assets. For example, you cancreate a different library for each project and divide it into several categories, such as:•Characters

•

Props

•

Backgrounds

Although you can only have one symbol library folder, you can organize it by creating subfolders.
There are two ways to create library folders.
•

Directly through your operating system•

Using Harmony's interface

Folders can be opened in Harmony when you require it. You can open any folder on your hard drive or network as
a library. Opening a library means linking the folder to your Library view. You only need to open the library once.
The library folder is available every time you open the application until you decide to close the library and unlink it.

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You may not always require all the library folders in the Library List. If so, you can close the ones you do not need.
Closing a folder does not delete it; it only unlinks it from the Library view. If you want to reopen it, locate it on yourhard drive or network and open it in the Library view.
Symbol and template libraries need to be organized. You can create different subfolders on your hard drive or in the
Harmony Library view, so you can easily access assets. By default, any new library you link to your Library view islocked to prevent accidental deletion or modification of symbols and templates. You must obtain the right to modify it
before being able to add a new folder to it.
You can delete a folder from the library if its contents are no longer needed.

NOTE: Warning: All templates and symbols in the folder will be deleted from your hard drive. Once deleted, the datacannot be retrieved.

Once you add a folder, you can rename it. This also renames the folder on your hard drive.
If you update the content of your libraries through your operating system, you will need to refresh your library folders
in the Library view.
When you display thumbnails in the Library view, the system generates a series of small images (thumbnails) foryou. You can generate template thumbnails yourself, if they do not display or if the process has been stopped.
You can also delete thumbnails if you want to send a template to another user or studio and keep your packages
small.
How to create a library folder through your operating system
1. On your computer, create a new folder with a relevant name in the location where you want the library to be
stored.
How to create a library folder in Harmony
1. In the Library View menu, select Folders > Open Library.
The Browser window opens.
2. Browse for the location where you want to store your new library folder.
3. Click the New Folder button.
A new folder appears.
4. Name the new library folder with a relevant name and click OK.
The new library appears in the Library List section.

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How to open a library
1. In the Library View menu, select Folders > Open Library.
The Browser window opens.
2. Browse to the location of the library folder.
3. Select the folder and click OK.
The new library appears in the Library Folders section.

How to close a library
1. On the right side of the Library view, select the library folder to close.
2. In the Library View menu, select Folders > Close Library.
The library closes.
How to create a folder
1. On the left side of the Library view, select the library folder to which you want to add a subfolder.
2. In the Library View menu, select Edit > Right to Modify.
3. In the Library View menu, select Folders > New Folder.
The new folder appears in the Library. Click on the library containing the new folder and click the plus [+]sign to expand it.

How to delete a folder
1. In the Library view's left side, select the folder to delete.
2. In the Library View menu, select Edit > Right to Modify or right-click on the selected library and selectRight to Modify.
3. In the Library View menu, select Folders > Delete Folder or press Delete.

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How to rename a folder
1. In the Library view's left side, select the folder to rename.
2. In the Library View menu, select Edit > Right to Modify or right-click on the selected library and select Rightto Modify.
3. In the Library View menu, select Folders > Rename Folder.
4. Rename the selected folder.

5. Press Enter/Return to validate the operation.
How to refresh a library
1. In the Library view's left side, select the folder to refresh.
2. In the Library View menu, select Folders > Refresh or press F5.
The library displays the new content.
How to generate thumbnails
1. In the Library view's right side, select the template in which you want to generate thumbnails.

2. In the Library View menu, select View > Generate Thumbnails.
The progress bar appears.
How to delete thumbnails
1. In the Library View menu, select Edit > Delete Thumbnails.
All the thumbnails contained in the library are removed.

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Templates

When you want to reuse artwork and animation from your project in other scenes, you must create a templatefrom it. A template can be seen as a portable scene or package that you can drag inside your project. You can
open a template and edit it just like any other project. If you want modify your templates, you can edit them using
the Edit Template command.
You can create a template using the Timeline view.
To delete templates from your library, use the Library view. Harmony lets you undo the action if necessary.
How to create a template from the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select some cells or layers.
2. In the Library view, select a folder to store the template.
3. If a library folder is locked, right-click and select Right to Modify.
4. Drag the selection to the Stage Essentials Library folder or any other library folder.

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5. In the Rename dialog box, give the new template a name.
To rename a template once it is created, right-click on the symbol and select Rename.
6. Click OK.
How to delete a template
1. In the Library view, select the folder containing the template to delete.

NOTE: If the library folder is locked, right-click on the folder and select Right to Modify.

2. Right-click on the selection and select Delete or press Delete.
How to edit a template
1. In the Library view, select the folder containing the template to edit.

NOTE: If the library folder is locked, right-click on the folder and select Right to Modify.

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2. Right-click on the selection and select Edit Template.
A new Harmony application opens.
3. Edit the template.
4. From the top menu, select File > Save.
5. In the top menu, select File > Quit (Windows/Linux) or Stage Essentials > Quit (Mac OS X).

Symbols

A symbol combines animation, artwork or layers into a single object that you can control in one layer. You canalso create symbols out of each body part in your cut-out puppets.
You do not need to create symbols in order to create drawings or characters in Toon Boom Harmony.
When you delete a symbol, it will be deleted from your hard drive. You can use the Undo function to retrieve thedata. The symbol cannot be retrieved once you close the application.
When you import a symbol from the library to the Timeline view it is linked to the original symbol in the library. If
you import a symbol into your scene several times in the Timeline view, they will all be linked to the original
symbol. If you modify one, they will all be modified.
If you want to edit a symbol without modifying the other instances, you must duplicate the symbol first. If othersymbols are nested inside the new symbol, they are not duplicated. If you modify them, the original and otherinstances will also be modified.
You can either edit a symbol from the Timeline view or from the Library view.
When you edit a symbol, the drawings contained in it are not placed at the centre of the stage, but are located in
the position where they were created. The pivot is translated at the centre of the symbol.

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When you enter a symbol to edit it, you are entering another scene with an independent timeline. You can nest many
symbols one inside the other. To help you follow the hierarchy of your nested symbol, take note of the Editing stackat the top of the Camera view which displays the path to your symbol's location. You can click on the symbol's
name to move up the chain.
You can share a symbol and use its contents (the drawings) in another scene. To do this, you must first convert yoursymbol into a template. This conversion breaks the drawing's link with both the original scene and symbol. It thenbecomes a separate entity that you can import into other projects.
How to create a symbol from a drawing selection
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selector Cuttertool.

2. In the Camera view, select the drawing elements to create a symbol.

3. From the top menu, select Edit > Create Symbol or press F8.
‣

Clicking the Create Symbol

button in the Edit toolbar will create a symbol from the entire layer.

The Create Symbol from Drawing Selection dialog box opens.

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4. In the Symbol Name field, type the name of the symbol.
‣

You can also select an existing layer from the Symbol Name drop-down menu. It will add your symbolon the layer's current cell. If there is already an exposure on that cell, the symbol will be added to a newlayer.

5. You can choose to place the current selected artwork in the drawing or remove it:‣

To remove currently selected artwork from the drawing and place it in the new symbol, select the Cut
Artwork From Source Drawing option.

‣

To keep currently selected artwork in both the drawing and in the new symbol, deselect the Cut
Artwork From Source Drawing option.

6. Click OK.
The new symbol appears in the Library view's symbol folder and in the Timeline view as a new layer.

How to create a symbol from the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select the layer or cells from which your want to create a symbol.
2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Create Symbol.

‣

In the Edit toolbar, click the Create Symbol‣

Press F8.

‣

Drag your selection to the Symbol folder in the Library view.

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The Create Symbol dialog box opens

3. In the Enter Symbol's Name field, type the new symbol's name.
To rename a symbol once it is created, right-click on the symbol and select Rename.
4. Click OK.
The new symbol appears in the Library view's Symbol folder. The current selection is not replaced by the new
symbol. The new symbol only appears in the library. You must drag it into your scene to use it.
How to create an empty symbol
1. In the Library view, select the Symbol folder.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Library view's right side, right-click and select New Symbol.

‣

From the top menu, select Insert > Create Empty Symbol in Library.

The new empty symbol appears in the Library view.

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The symbol is ready for you to edit (add content to). To go back to the root timeline, click the Top
button in the Camera view.
To rename a symbol once it is created, right-click on the symbol and select Rename.
How to delete a symbol
1. In the Library view, select the symbol to delete.
2. Right-click and select Delete or press Delete.
‣

If the symbol is currently in use in the scene, a warning message displays. Click OK to delete thesymbol from the library and scene.

How to edit a symbol from the Timeline view
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline view, double-click on the symbol's cell to edit the symbol.

‣

In the Camera view, double-click on the symbol or press Ctrl + E (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + E (Mac OS
X)).

‣

Click the Edit Selected Symbol

button in the Camera View toolbar's extra buttons.

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You are now inside the symbol and you are able to edit it.

2. Do one of the following:
To return to the project's timeline, click the Top
E (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Shift + E (Mac OS X).
‣

button in the Camera view's top-left corner, press Ctrl + Shift +In the Timeline view's right side, right-click and select Symbols > Leave Current Symbol.

How to edit a symbol from the Library view
1. In the Library view, select the symbol to edit.
2. Right-click and select Edit > Edit Symbol or double-click on the symbol.
You are now inside the symbol and you are able to edit it.

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To return to the project's timeline, click the Top
button in the Camera view's top-left corner, press Ctrl + Shift+ E (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Shift + E (Mac OS X).
How to duplicate a symbol
1. In the Timeline view, go to the frame where you want to duplicate the symbol.
2. Select the symbol's cell.

3. From the top menu, select Edit > Duplicate Selected Symbol.
In the Library view, the symbol is duplicated and in the Timeline view, the current cell and its held exposure
is replaced with the new symbol. You can now modify the symbol's content.

How to convert a symbol into a template
1. From the Library view, select the symbol to convert into a template and drag it to the Camera or Timeline
view. If you drop your symbol into the Camera view instead of the Timeline view, it will not be placed in thecentre of your camera frame, but rather wherever your cursor drops it within the camera frame.

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2. In the Timeline view, select the symbol's cells or layer and drag it to the Stage Library folder or to any other library folder. Make sure you have the right to modify the library folder.

3. In the Rename dialog box, rename the new template.

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4. Click OK.

Importing Symbols and Templates
There are several ways you can import symbols and templates in your scene.
Sometimes a character rig is not a straightforward matter. Rigs, which are usually saved as templates, cancontain symbols such as a leg that was made with a patch. However, a symbol does not work in the same way
as an action template. In the Timeline view, you can add an action template into another template of the samestructure. When working on a layer on the right side of the Timeline view and you place a symbol into a symbol ofthe same structure, instead of being added to the previous symbol, the new symbol becomes a copy.
For greater control over how the action template behaves when brought into the Timeline view, you can use the
Paste Special feature—see Using Paste Special on page 290.
Since a template is like a scene, you can open the template's folder and select elements inside it such as
drawings.
Instead of importing the entire contents of a template, you may only want to import a few drawings or a palette. In
this case, use the Open As Folder command to import the items you want.
If you want to import a palette, simply drag the palette file into the Palette list section of the Colour view.
You can use the Expand Symbol command to extract a symbol's contents and place it on the root timeline. The
symbol will not be removed from the Timeline view. Its contents will be copied and inserted into the root timeline.
The symbol's layers will be parented to it in case you created motions and transformations on the drawing layerthat contains the symbol. Breaking the hierarchy could result in the loss of any scaling and animation you may
have created.
You can also expand a symbol within a group to avoid crowding the timeline with a series of layers. When you
expand the symbols, the layers will be contained in a group node that you can expand to see the content.
How to import a template into the Timeline or Camera view
1. In the Library view, select the template you want to import.
2. Drag the selected template to the Camera view or to the left side of the Timeline view.

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3. You can also drag a template to the right side of the Timeline view and into existing layers if the layer structure is the same as the existing one.

How to import a symbol in the Timeline view
1. In the Library view, select the symbol you want to import.
2. Drag the selected symbol to one of the following:‣

The Timeline view's left side to import it into the centre of the camera frame.

‣

The Camera view to place it at the location where you release your cursor.

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NOTE: This may be useful if you saved a character's body parts as separate symbols. If you dropped them into theTimeline view, then they would all appear in the centre, haphazardly one on top of the other. It would be more
efficient to arrange them into their correct places as you bring them into the scene.

How to import a template with symbols
1. From the right side of the Library view, select the action template that contains symbols.
2. Hold down Alt (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) as you drag it from the Library view to the right side of
the Timeline view and drop it next to a template with the exact same rig.
The Paste Special window opens.

3. Select the Advanced tab.
4. Select one of the following options from the Symbols menu:‣

Copy symbols if they do not exist: This is the default setting for this operation and will prevent
symbols in an action template from being copied.

‣

Duplicate symbols: Makes copies of the symbols in your template.

How to open a template as a folder
1. In the Library view, select the folder that contains the template to open. If the library folder is locked, rightclick on the folder and select Right to Modify.
2. Right-click on the selection and select Open As Folder.
3. In the library list section, click on the template's folder to display its content.

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4. Drag the content to the Timeline or Colour view.
How to expand a symbol
1. In the Timeline view, select the symbol to expand.

2. From the top menu, select Edit > Expand Symbol or press Shift + F8.

How to expand a symbol in a group
1. In the Timeline or Node view, select the symbol cell or symbol node you want to expand.

2. From the top menu, select Edit > Expand Selected Symbol in a Group.
3. In the Timeline view, click the plus sign (+) to see the group content. In the Node view, click the Expand
Arrow to enter the group.

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Importing Files Through the Library
Harmony lets you import sound files and images directly through the library. Simply open the folder containing
your files in the Library view and drag them directly from there.
How to open a file through the Library
1. In the Library View menu, select Folders > Open Library.
2. Browse for the folder containing the files you want to import.
3. Click Open.
4. From the Library's template list, drag the file you want to import in the Timeline or Camera view.

Using Paste Special
When you import a template in the Timeline view, all layers are created as well as drawings and keyframes. You
can choose to import only the keyframes without the drawings or import only the drawings that are not already inyour layers. You can adjust the behaviour using the Paste Special dialog box.When you import a symbol in yourscene, its full length is exposed by default. If you import a symbol in the Timeline view’s left side, all the frames
will be exposed. However, if you import it into an existing layer, you can use the Paste Special dialog box toadjust the import behaviour to fit your requirements.Once you set the parameters, Harmony will reuse them eachtime you import a symbol in the Timeline view’s right side until you set new parameters.
How to open the Paste Special dialog box
1. In the Library view, select the symbol or template to import.
2. Press Ctrl + B (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + B (Mac OS X) and drag the selection to the Timeline view.

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NOTE: Drop the selection in the Timeline view before releasing the keyboard shortcut key.

The Paste Special dialog box opens.
3. Set the parameters and click OK.

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Chapter 10: Cut-out Animation

Harmony provides some great tools for animating puppets. You can create simple animation using the Transform
tool, as well as create advanced animation using both forward and inverse kinematics. Harmony has advanced
onion skinning and image swapping features to help you animate efficiently and quickly. For animation freedom, youhave the ability to mix several different techniques of animation, such as simple rigging, hierarchy and symbol
animation.
•

Getting the Character on page 294•

Keyframes and Drawing Blocks on page 297•

Creating a Simple Cut-out Animation on page 299•

Selecting Layers to Animate or Position on page 302•

Navigating the Hierarchy on page 304•

Animating Using the Transform Tool on page 306•

Animating in Stop-motion on page 308•

Animating Using Computer-generated Interpolation on page 309•

Marking the Timeline on page 315•

Flipping Through Poses on page 316•

Using the Onion Skin in Cut-out Animation on page 317•

Flipping Parts on page 319•

Using Action Templates on page 320•

Swapping Drawings on page 321•

Animating Lip-Sync on page 327•

Adding a New Drawing on page 331•

Ordering Layers Over Time on page 335•

Resetting a Transformation on page 336•

Creating Cycles on page 337•

Adding Pegs on page 339

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Offsetting a Portion of an Animation on page 341

Getting the Character
The first step in animating your character is to import a master template from the library.
In Harmony, you can create your character template from the Node view.

NOTE: If the template you are importing was created in the Node view, make sure to import it first and drop it into
the Node view or the left side of the Timeline view. Otherwise, some network connections may be broken.

How to import a character from the library
1. Create a new Harmony project.
2. In the Library view, select a character master template to animate.

3. Drag the selected template to the Camera or Timeline view’s left side. You can also import a template directly in the Node view.

4. In the Timeline view, drag the red scene length bracket to extend or shorten the scene length.

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How to import a network template
1. In the Library view, select the template or symbol you want to import.
2. Drag the selected template to the Network or Camera view or the left side of the Timeline view.

3. If necessary, in the Node view, connect your template to the Composite node. To do this, click its out-port
and drag the connection to the Composite node until an in-port appears.

NOTE: If the template you are importing was created in the Node view, make sure to drop it in the Node view or on
the left side of the Timeline view. Otherwise, some network connections may be broken. If you are importing a295

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template containing the exact same connections as a template you imported previously, you can drop it on theTimeline view's right side over the existing layer. This will combine both templates and keep the existing layers.

How to import a network template (master template)
1. Create a new Harmony project.
2. In the Library view, select the character's master template you want to animate.

3. Drag the selected template in the Node view.

4. In the Node view, connect the template's group node to the Composite node by clicking its out-port anddragging the connection to the Composite node until an in-port appears.

5. In the Timeline view, extend or shorten the scene length by dragging the scene length bracket.

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Extending the Exposure
Once you have chosen a pose, all that's left to do is extend the exposure of the character to the end of the scene.
How to extend the exposure of the character
1. In the Timeline view, collapse the character.

2. In the Timeline view’s right side, select the last cell of the character.

3. Right-click and select Extend Exposure or press F5. You can also copy the first pose and paste it in the lastcell.
The drawing exposure is extended to the end. You will not see any changes in the Timeline view when themaster peg is collapsed.

Keyframes and Drawing Blocks
When you extend the exposure of a drawing, it is represented by a grey block in the Timeline view. When you
expose a second drawing, a second grey block is displayed.
You can consider these blocks as drawing blocks.

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To animate the position of a block over time, you don't need to create a second block, just add a position
keyframe. The position keyframes are coordinates indicating the position of your drawing on a particular frame.
These appear as black squares in the Timeline view.
In the example below, notice that the keyframes are positioned on frames independently from the beginning andend of each drawing block.

You can keyframe three different positions for a drawing in the same drawing block and create a motion path
between them.

Creating Keyframes and Drawings in the Timeline View
You can see how the Timeline view behaves differently depending on whether you create a new drawing, a new
keyframe, or both at the same time.
How to create a drawing in the Timeline view
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Create Empty Drawing.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Create Empty Drawing‣

Press Alt + Shift + R.

A new drawing block is inserted.

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How to create a keyframe in the Timeline view
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Insert > Keyframe‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Keyframe‣

Press F6.

button.

A keyframe is created in the layer.

How to create a drawing and a keyframe simultaneously in the Timeline view
1. From the top menu, select Insert > Keyframe and Duplicate Drawing.
A drawing block is created which contains copies of the selected drawing and a keyframe.

Creating a Simple Cut-out Animation

Here is how you can create a simple cut-out animation. Follow these steps so you can try the animation tools you'll
be learning in the next topics.

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How to create a simple cut-out animation
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool or press Shift + T.

2. In the Tools toolbar, enable the Animate
matically.

mode so everything you move will be keyframed auto-

3. From the top menu, select Animation > Stop-Motion Keyframe so the interpolation is not created automatically between keyframes.
4. In the Timeline view, collapse your character.

5. In the Timeline view, go to the frame where you want to set the first pose.

6. To ensure that nothing moves on the new pose, in the Timeline view, select the frame corresponding to thepose, right-click and select Add Keyframe or press F6.
7. In the Camera view, select the parts to animate.

8. Use the Transform
tool to rotate, skew, scale or translate the selection to its new position. To rotate
the piece, place your cursor slightly outside of a corner until you see the rotation cursor.

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A new keyframe appears in the Timeline view if you did not create one previously. Always create yourkeyframe first.
9. In the Tools toolbar, enable the Onion Skinfeature.

10. In the Timeline view, go to the frame where you want to set the second keyframe. You will need to expend theexposure to see your drawings further down the Timeline view.

11. To ensure that nothing moves on the new pose, in the Timeline view, select the frame corresponding to thepose, right-click and select Add Keyframe or press F6.
12. In the Camera view, animate your character.

13. Repeat this process for all the poses.

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Selecting Layers to Animate or Position

When you're animating characters, it's important to understand how the Animate mode allows you to create
keyframes on the current frame or reposition the entire layer.

Animate Mode
The Animate
button, in the Tools toolbar, turns keyframing on or off. With this mode enabled, as soon as you
move an element in the Camera view, a keyframe is positioned on the current frame in the Timeline view toindicate the new position.

When you turn off the Animate mode, and you select and move an element, the entire animation in the layer will
be offset.

This means that when you are animating a character, you must enable the Animate mode. If you are scaling down
your puppet to fit the scene composition and want to resize the entire animation, you must disable the Animate
mode.

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How to turn the Animate mode on or off
1. In the Tools toolbar, click the Animate

button or select Animation > Animate.

Selecting Drawing Layers Using the Transform Tool
To manipulate the drawing layers in order to animate them, you must use the Transform
used to modify the drawing strokes and not the actual drawing layer.

tool. The Select tool is

When selecting the drawing layers with the Transform tool, make sure the Peg Selection Mode option is turned off in
the Transform Tool Properties view. Otherwise, if it's left on, it will limit the selection in the Camera view to pegs
only.
How to select using the Transform tool
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, click the Transform

tool.

‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Tools > Transform.

‣

Press Shift + T.

2. In the Transform Tool Properties view, make sure the Peg Selection

mode is deselected.

3. In the Camera view, select the element to animate.

Selecting an Element in the Camera View Using the Transform Tool
When you select an element in the Camera view using the Transform tool, make sure the Peg Selection
mode isdisabled in the Transform Tool Properties view. The element selected is the actual drawing layer corresponding to
the selected element. If you have a layer parented to a peg, you must use the keyboard shortcuts to go up thehierarchy chain, select it in the Timeline view, or enable the Peg Selection
mode option in the Transform Tool
Properties view. This will limit the selection in the Camera view to pegs only.

If the layer has child layers, they will also be highlighted. Depending on whether you're using pegs or only drawing
layers in your rig, the selection can be magenta, yellow or both.

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Selecting a Layer in the Timeline View
When you select a layer in the Timeline view, the corresponding element is highlighted in the Camera view. If theselected layer has child layers, they are also highlighted.

Selecting in the Network View
As with the Timeline view, when you select a node in the Node view, the corresponding element will behighlighted in the Camera view. If the selected node has child layers, they will also be highlighted.

Navigating the Hierarchy
If there is a layer hierarchy in the puppet you built, use the keyboard shortcuts to travel up and down the parentchild chain. You can also navigate between the children of the same parent.
How to select the parent or child layer
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool.

2. In the Transform Tool Properties view, make sure the Peg Selection
3. In the Camera or Timeline view, select a layer attached to a hierarchy.

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4. From the top menu, select Animation > Select Parent or press B to select the parent layer. Select Animation > Select Child or press Shift + B to select the child layer.

How to select the children layers
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool.

2. In the Camera or Timeline view, select a layer attached to a parent layer with several children or not parented
at all.

3. From the top menu, select:‣Animation > Select Previous Sibling or press / to select the previous child layer.

‣

Animation Select Next Sibling or press ? to select the next child layer.

‣

Animation > Select Children to select all child layers at the same time.

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Animating Using the Transform Tool
The Transform tool is the main tool to use when working with a cut-out character. The Transform tool has many
useful functions:

Using the individual Rotate, Translate, Scale and Skew tools is not recommended, as they move each piece fromtheir own pivot point. They are compositing tools. The Transform tool creates a global selection, so when many
parts are selected, you can move them as one unit. The Transform tool is highly recommended for cut-out
animation.
When animating with the Transform tool, make sure to select the right selection mode. In this example, makesure that the Peg Selection
Mode is disabled in the Tool Properties view or it will limit the selection in the
Camera view to pegs only.

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If there are hierarchy connections in the cut-out character, the Transform tool will also be used as the Forward
Kinematics equivalent.
The Transform tool can be used on any kind of rigging.
When many parts are selected with the Transform tool, the first selected part's pivot will be used as the global
selection's pivot. This pivot can be moved temporarily for the animation. When you offset the pivot, the permanentpivot is displayed as a ghost.

NOTE: The interpolation of the animation poses is always calculated from each individual part's permanent pivot. If
there's a parent peg on a limb, make sure to select it instead of making a selection of each part to avoid setting
individual keyframes.

How to use the Transform tool
1. In the Tools toolbar, click the Transform

tool or press Shift + T.

2. In the Transform Tool Properties view, make sure the Peg Selection

mode is deselected.

3. In the Timeline view, go to the frame on which you want to set the first position.
4. In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Keyframe
button or press F6. It is recommended to add a keyframe
before moving the character. Moving a character's part without setting a keyframe will create keyframes only
on certain parameters of the animation. You could run into issues later on when setting poses between existing ones. Creating a keyframe on all layers and parameters will ensure your pose is set and will not be modified by other poses later on.
5. In the Camera view, select the element to animate and move it.

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6. In the Timeline view, go to the frame where you want to set the next position.

7. In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Keyframe

button or press F6.

8. In the Camera view, animate the character.

Animating in Stop-motion
To start animating your character, start by doing your key poses. In fact, most of your time will be spent doing key
poses. It is better to work with stop-motion keyframes so Harmony does not automatically create the interpolation
between your keyframes.
When using stop-motion keyframes, also known as step keyframes, the segment between two keyframes isconstant. There is no animation generated by the computer between the poses. The drawing remains in position
until the next keyframe, then moves to its new position.

Creating a Stop-motion Keyframe
You can create a stop-motion keyframe in several different ways. You can have Harmony create it automatically,transform a motion keyframe into a stop-motion keyframe, or even switch your preferences to get Harmony toalways create stop-motion keyframes by default.

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How to automatically create stop-motion keyframes
1. In the top menu, make sure the Animation > Stop-motion Keyframe option is selected.
2. In the Timeline view, select the cell on which you want to add a keyframe.

3. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Insert Keyframe.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Keyframe‣

Press F6.

button.

In the Camera view, if the Animate mode is enabled, as soon as you move the selected element, a keyframe
is automatically created on the current frame.

How to convert a motion keyframe into a stop-motion keyframe
1. In the Timeline view, select the motion keyframes to convert into stop-motion keyframes or press S.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Set Stop-Motion Keyframes.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Stop-Motion Keyframe‣

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

button.

Animating Using Computer-generated Interpolation
After you have created the key poses, you can animate the in-between poses yourself or let Harmony do it using
motion keyframes. When you use motion keyframes, the drawings gradually move to the next position instead ofstaying on the spot until the next keyframe.

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Creating a Motion Keyframe
You can create a motion keyframe in several different ways. You can have Harmony create it automatically,transform a stop-motion keyframe into a motion keyframe and even switch your preferences to have Harmony
always create motion keyframes by default.
How to automatically create motion keyframes
1. In the top menu, make sure the Animation > Stop-Motion Keyframe option is disabled.
2. In the Timeline view, select the cell on which you want to add a keyframe.

3. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click on the selection and select Insert Keyframe.

‣

Click the Add Keyframe‣

Press F6.

button in the Timeline toolbar.

In the Camera view, if the Animate mode is enabled, as soon as you move the selected element, a
keyframe will be automatically created on the current frame.

How to convert a stop-motion keyframe into a motion keyframe
1. In the Timeline view, select the stop-motion keyframes to convert into motion keyframes.

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2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click on the selection and select Set Motion Keyframe.

‣

Click the Motion Keyframe‣

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

button in the Timeline View toolbar.

Adjusting the EaseTo add ease in and ease out on motion paths, you can display the function curve and modify the Bezier or Ease
curve. To apply an ease to multiple functions and keyframes, use the Set Ease for Multiple Parameters feature andset the amount desired.
The velocity, or ease, is used on motion keyframes. The velocity must be adjusted directly on the function curve in
the Function view or Function editor. When a keyframe is selected, easing values appear in the right handle and left
handle fields, as well as the Bezier handle or Ease wheel controls on each selected keyframe. You can pull on themto adjust the ease in and ease out, or type values in the fields.
If there are several functions whose velocity you want to adjust at the same time, such as the hand, forearm and armof a cut-out character, you can apply the same velocity parameters to all the selected keyframes in one frame.
How to adjust the velocity in the Function view
1. In the Timeline view, click the Expand Function

button to display all the layer’s functions.

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2. Double-click on a function.

The Function Editor opens.

NOTE: The Function editor will not display if the function does not already exist. Add a keyframe to create thefunction.

3. Select a keyframe and pull on its Bezier handles or Ease wheel to adjust the velocity. Refer to the Compositing and Effects Guide to learn how to create Ease curves instead of Bezier curves.

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How to set ease on multiple parameters
1. In the Timeline view, select a keyframe from one or more layers.

NOTE: Only the first keyframe selected on each layer is considered when using the Set Ease for Multiple Parameter
function. If many keyframes are selected on the same layer, the ease values will be applied only to the first one andthe rest will be ignored.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline view, right-click and select Set Ease For Multiple Parameters.

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, you can click the Set Ease For Multiple Parameters
button. If the button is notin the toolbar, you can add it through the Toolbar Manager. Right-click on the toolbar and selectCustomize.

The Set Ease For Multiple Parameters dialog box opens.

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3. In the graph, pull on the Bezier handle to adjust the velocity for all the selected functions.

4. To apply these easing parameters to a certain type of function only, such as Rotation or Scale, in the Filters section, deselect the function types you do not want to affect.
‣

Motion: Applies the easing parameters to the selected Position X, Position Y, Position Z and 3D Pathfunctions‣Rotation: Applies the easing parameters to the selected Angle functions.

‣

Scale: Applies the easing parameters to the selected Scale functions.

‣

Skew: Applies the easing parameters to the selected Skew functions.

‣

Morphing: Applies the easing parameters to the selected Morphing Velocity functions. Note that it isapplied to the Morphing Velocity function in the Layer Properties window, not to the basic Morphingease in the Tool Properties view.

‣

Other: Applies the easing parameters to all the other selected functions, such as all functions created
to animate effect parameters.

5. You can also adjust the easing by typing values in the Time Ratio and Value Ratio fields. The values arecalculated in percentage.
‣

In the Left Time Ratio and Right Time Ratio fields, type the percentage value corresponding to thelength of time you want the easing to last. The value must be between 0% and 100%.

‣In the Left Value Ratio and Right Value Ratio fields, type the percentage value of how strong you want
the easing out. The value must be between 0% and 100%.

‣

If your Time Ratio and Value Ratio values are equal, you will have a linear motion.

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6. Click one of the following buttons:‣

Apply: Applies the easing parameters to the selected keyframes.

‣

Apply/Previous: Applies the easing parameters to the selected keyframes and then selects the previous
keyframe in the timeline.

‣

Apply/Next: Applies the easing parameters to the selected keyframes and then selects the next
keyframe in the timeline.

‣

Close: Closes the dialog box. If you did not apply the modifications, they will be cancelled.

Marking the Timeline
As you animate, the Timeline view will contain many layers and keyframes. You might want to identify them using
coloured layers and scene markers.
Scene markers are visual indicators displayed at the top of the Timeline view in the frame counter area. You can use
it to denote anything relevant to your work. You can indicate the frames you want to clean up, a change in action, an
impact, or where you intend to apply an effect. You can also add a note to a scene marker, which is displayed when
you hover over the scene marker.
There are two ways to add a scene marker. You can mark the current frame or make a frame range selection andmark the whole section.
How to modify a layer's colour
1. Click the Change Track Colour

button of a layer.

The Select Colour dialog box opens.

2. Select a colour for the layer. You can modify the colour for any type of layer, such as group, peg, drawing andeffects.

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Flipping Through Poses

When animating, it is useful to flip through poses to see the flow of your animation without going through eachframe in the Timeline view. Harmony lets you flip between the selected element’s keyframes.
How to flip through poses
1. In the Camera or Timeline view, select a layer that contains the poses you want to view.

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2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Go to Previous Keyframe or Go to Next Keyframe‣

Press semicolon (;) and single quote (').

Using the Onion Skin in Cut-out Animation

When animating cut-out characters, it is useful to see the previous and next frames on the animation. However, it
can sometimes be confusing to see the onion skin for every part of the character. You will often only want to see theonion skin on a single part or a few parts, such as the arm that is currently being animated. Harmony offers thatpossibility.
While animating in the Camera view, there is a series of different onion skin options. You can enable these options in
the menu or manually in the Timeline view using the layer's Show Onion Skinbutton. Unless you change theonion skin options when you display the onion skin, only the selected layers will be displayed in the onion skinpreview.
How to use the onion skin
1. In the Tools toolbar, click the Onion Skinbutton or press Alt + O.

2. In the Tools toolbar, click the Transform

tool or press Shift + T.

3. In the Camera view, select one or more elements.
4. From the top menu, select View > Onion Skin > Add to Onion Skin, Remove From Onion Skin, Remove
Unselected from Onion Skin, Add All to Onion Skin or Remove All from Onion Skin.

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Add to Onion Skin

The Add to Onion Skin command is used to add a series of selected elements to the onion skin preview. The
keyboard shortcut is Shift + S.
Remove from Onion Skin

The Remove From Onion Skin command is used to remove a series of selected elements from the onion skinpreview.
Remove Unselected from Onion Skin

The Remove Unselected from Onion Skin command is used to remove all elements except the ones selectedfrom the onion skin preview.

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Add All to Onion Skin

The Add All to Onion Skin command is used to add all of the scene's elements to the onion skin preview. The
keyboard shortcut is Alt + Shift + O.
Remove All from Onion Skin

The Remove All Onion Skin command is used to remove all of the scene's elements from the onion skin preview.
The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + Shift + O (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Shift + O (Mac OS X).

Flipping Parts

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If you want to flip a part, a limb or a whole puppet, use the Transform tool and the Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical
options. If the Scaling parameter is not set to Separate Scale, the flip is not applied to the selection.
How to flip a selection
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool or press Shift + T.

2. In the Tool Properties view, make sure the Peg Selection Modeis disabled.

3. In the Camera view, select the parts to be flipped.

4. In the Tool Properties view, click the Flip Horizontal
ively.

or Flip Vertical

option or press 4 or 5 respect-

Using Action Templates

Reusing animation and assets is an important aspect of cut-out animation. This is why Harmony includes alibrary for storing all the reusable information.
When you created the character rig, you most likely created a master template along with some action templates320Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

To save time, you can take an action that you've already animated, such as a walk-cycle or jump, and reuse it. You
can store the initial animation's keyframes in the Library view, then drag it into a master template of a new scene.
You can import a master template into the Timeline view and start animating with it. You can import an action
template into the right side of the Timeline view. An action template is composed of drawings (like a blink) or
keyframes (like a walk cycle) that you can reuse in an animation sequence.
To insert an action template into a master template, the layer ordering has to be exactly the same. If it's
inconsistent, the templates cannot be combined.

You can create a single keyframe action template of the different views (front, three-quarter or side view). Then
import and insert them into the animation to turn the character. The same pattern can be created for a head, arm, full
upper body, etc.
If you created templates for different body parts, you can reuse them in your scene by dragging them to your layers.
You can also open a template as a folder and select a particular drawing from it and drag it onto a drawing layer.

Swapping Drawings

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Cut-out animation is not only about moving parts around. It's also about swapping drawings to give the animationa more traditional animation look. You can add as many new drawings as you want in your scene and use them inyour current animation. You can also add new drawings to the library and use them in other scenes. But before
starting to swap drawings, it's important to understand how keyframes, exposure and key exposure work in
Harmony:•

Keyframe: A keyframe is a point in time where a change to the properties of the object or characteroccurs. In Harmony, keyframes consist of the coordinates that determine how an entire layer and its
contents are moved. Keyframes include these parameters: XYZ position, skew, scale, angle and pivot.

•

Exposure: Exposure is a property; it is the length of time that a drawing is visible over a series of frames.
In Harmony, exposure is independent of keyframes. That is, keyframes are not linked to drawings.
Keyframes can be moved independently from the drawing exposure.

•

Key Exposure: A key exposure in Harmony is a type of exposure that forces a drawing to remain exposedon a specific frame. If a drawing is exposed before a key exposure and you swap out that drawing foranother one, then the original drawing is retained. This preserves the key drawing. Note that Harmony
automatically sets a key exposure when you perform a drawing swap.

When you want to swap drawings, you can do so in the Timeline or Library view. In the Timeline view, theParameters area is where you can select a drawing to swap. In the Library view, the Drawing Substitution windowlets you see the drawings before selecting one for swapping. In this view, you are actually selecting drawings inyour scene layers, not drawings in the Library.

NOTE: Keep in mind that when you swap a drawing, its entire exposure is replaced up to the next drawing
exposure.

When selecting a certain frame range to be swapped, the behaviour of the Timeline and Library views is different.
If you are using the Parameters area of the Timeline view to select a drawing to replace a selected frame range,
the new drawing will replace the frame range and continue until the next key exposure. In the following example,
drawing 2 (DR2) is replaced by a new drawing, starting at the beginning of the selected frame range and ending at
the next key exposure.

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If you use the Drawing Substitution window in the Library view to select a drawing, the drawing is split in two and theexposure before and after the frame range remain the same. In the following example, drawing 2 (DR 2) is split in two
and the selected frame range is filled with a new drawing.

How to swap a drawing in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view’s right side, select the cell containing the drawing or symbol cell to swap.

2. In the Drawing Substitution field, position the pointer over the value and drag left or right to change the cell or
drawing exposed for another one. You can also type in the drawing name or symbol’s cell number if you knowit.

How to swap images in the Library view
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool.

2. In the Transform Tool Properties view, make sure the Peg Selection
3. In the Camera view, use the Transformbutton is deselected.

tool to select a part of the drawing to swap.

NOTE: You can swap the frames in symbols or the drawings in a layer. However, you cannot swap one symbol for
another.

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4. In the Timeline view, select the cell range in which you want to swap the drawing.

5. In the Library view, go to the Drawing Substitution window.

6. Scroll through the symbol's frames or drawings by doing one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Substitute Drawing Previous or Substitute Drawing Next.

‣

Drag the slider left or right.

‣

Press +.

The drawing or symbol’s cell on the current frame is replaced.

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Adding Key Exposures
If there is a particular drawing you want to keep on a specific frame, you can set it as a key exposure. This prevents
it from be overwritten by a drawing swap on a preceding frame. A key exposure is simply a property of an exposurethat forces it to be exposed on a certain frame regardless of whether the previous exposure is the same drawing ornot.

NOTE: Keep in mind that if you modify the artwork in a drawing, all instances of that drawing will be automatically
updated even if set as a key exposure. This keeps your existing animation key poses intact. It is frequently used on amouth or eyes layer.

Example: Swapping a drawing with no key exposure
In the following example, drawing 3 (DR 3) is selected on the timeline and it contains no key exposure.

When it is swapped for drawing 4 (DR 4), the entire duration of drawing 3 substituted for drawing 4.

Example: Swapping a drawing with a key exposure
Here's what happens when swapping a drawing with a key exposure. In the following example, the playhead is
positioned in the middle of drawing 5 (DR 5) to set the position for the new key exposure. When the new key
exposure is added, drawing 5 is split in two; both halves contain drawing 5. Now if you swap the first drawing 5 fordrawing 1, the second drawing 5 retains its exposure.

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How to add a key exposure
1. In the Timeline view, select the drawing cell to set as the key exposure.
2. Do one of the following:In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Key Exposure‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Key Exposure‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Add Key Exposure.

button.

button.

A new key exposure is added.
If you added a key exposure at the beginning of the drawing, the entire exposure is filled with that samedrawing. If you added a key exposure anywhere other than the beginning of the drawing, then the drawing
is split in two and both parts contain the same drawing.

Removing Key Exposures
When you no know longer need a key exposure, you can remove it. When you do this, the existing key exposure
is replaced by the preceding exposure. In the following example, a key exposure is set to drawing 1 (DR 1). Whenthe key exposure is removed, the exposure is replaced by the preceding exposure, drawing 4 (DR 4).

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How to remove a key exposure
1. In the Timeline view, select a key exposure to remove.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Remove Key Exposure

button.

‣Right-click and select Exposure > Remove Key Exposure.

The key exposure is removed and replaced by the preceding exposure.
How to remove a key exposure
1. In the Timeline view, select a key exposure to remove.
2. In the Timeline toolbar, click the Remove Key Exposure

button.

The key exposure is removed and replaced by the preceding exposure.

Animating Lip-Sync

Adding a lip-sync to a project can really enhance its quality and storytelling. However, it can be difficult to shape acharacter's mouth to match the sound at a precise frame.

To solve this problem, Harmony provides a lip-sync feature which analyzes the contents of a sound element andgenerates a mouth chart (see below) based on the eight animation phonemes (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and X for silence).
The mouth shapes used by Harmony are based on the conventional mouth chart used in the animation industry.

NOTE: The letters used to represent the shapes do NOT correspond to an actual sound.

NOTE: If you are doing cut-out animation, refer to the Cut-out Animation Guide, Character Building chapter, "Adding
Extra Drawings" topic to learn how to add extra drawings to your character.

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Here is an approximation of the sound each mouth shape can produce:•

A: m, b, p, h•

B: s, d, j, i, k, t•

C: e, a•

D: A, E

•

E: o

•

F: u, oo•

G: f, ph•X: Silence, undetermined soundYou can lip-sync the traditional way or let the system automatically create the basic detection.
You can refer to the mouth chart positions as you draw the shape of the character's mouth.
How to generate a sound detection for lip-sync using the Layer Properties view
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the sound layer.
The options for that layer will appear in the Layer Properties view.
2. In the Layer Properties, click Detect.

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A progress bar appears while Harmony analyzes the selected sound clips and assigns a lip-sync letter toeach sound cell.
3. Click the Map button to open the Lip-Sync Mapping dialog box.

4. From the Destination Layer menu, select the layer that contains the mouth positions for the character's voice
track.

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5. If the selected layer contains symbols, you can map the lip-sync using drawings located directly on thelayer or use the symbol's frames. In the Symbol Layer field select Don't Use Any Symbol if you want to
use the drawings or select the desired symbol from the drop-down menu.
6. In the Mapping section, type the drawing name or Symbol frames in the field to the right of the phoneme it
represents. If your drawings are already named with the phoneme letters, you do not have to do anything.
7. Click OK.
8. Press the Playbutton in the Playback toolbar to see and hear the results in the Camera view. To playback your scene with sound, enable the Soundbutton in the Playback toolbar.
Harmony allows for the manual swapping of mouth position drawings to match a voice track. For this process,both sound scrubbing (listening to a sound wave broken up frame-by-frame) and drawing substitutions are used.
How to animate lip-sync using the Timeline view
1. In the Playback toolbar, enable the Sound Scrubbing

button.

2. In the Timeline view, drag the red playhead along the sound layer waveform.
3. When you reach a frame where a mouth position should go, for example, an open mouth with rounded lips
for an "oh" sound, click on that frame on your mouth shapes layer.
4. In the Parameters section, staying on your mouth shapes layer, place your cursor on top of the drawing
name (often a letter) until it changes to the swapping
pointer.
5. Pull the cursor to see the list of mouth shape names and choose the one you want. The current drawing
automatically changes to the new selection.

How to animate lip-sync using the Library view
1. In the Playback toolbar, click the Sound Scrubbing

button.

2. In the Timeline view, drag the red playhead along the waveform of your sound layer.
3. When you reach a frame where a mouth position should go, for example, an open mouth with rounded lips
for an "oh" sound, click on that frame on your mouth shapes layer.
4. In the Drawing Substitution window of the Library view, drag the slider to choose a mouth shape. The current drawing is swapped for the one in the preview window.

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Adding a New Drawing
If you need to add a new drawing to a scene, you can do so by duplicating the existing drawing on the current frame.
If you're using symbols, you can also add a new drawing inside the body part’s symbol.

Duplicating a Drawing
If your character doesn't use symbols, you must duplicate the drawing on the cell on which you need to a new
drawing. You could also create a new blank drawing, but duplicating the existing drawing allows you to keep thepivot you previously set (if you're using drawing pivots) and you can also reuse a portion of the existing artwork.
When you create a new drawing, you get a blank cell with a pivot set at the centre of the Camera view.
How to duplicate a drawing
1. In the Timeline or Camera view, select the drawing to duplicate.

2. From the top menu, select Drawing > Duplicate Drawing or press Alt + Shift + D.
The new drawing appears in the currently selected cell.

3. In the Camera view, draw the new piece.

Repositioning Drawings
When creating additional drawings for a cut-out puppet, you should generally try to create them in the same location
as the original drawings (resting position) so you can scale and rotate the same pivot.

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Although, when adding drawings that are specific to an animation, it may be easier to draw it in relation to thecharacter's position and scene's composition. If you draw a series of drawings that are not in the same location,
you can use the Reposition Drawing
tool to reposition the drawing strokes while simultaneously creating
keyframes in the Timeline view to compensate for the repositioning. In the Camera view, the drawings will retain
the location and position in which you drew them while in the Drawing view, all your drawings will be aligned.

How to reposition and align drawings
1. In the Advanced Animation toolbar, select the Reposition Drawingtool.

2. In the Camera view, Ctrl + click (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + click (Mac OS X) to select the drawing to reposition. You can also select the drawing layer or the parented peg in the Timeline view.
The Reposition Drawing controls appear in the Camera view. They are positioned on top of each other.
The source controls are represented by black lines. The destination controls are represented by dottedblue lines.
3. On your first drawing (reference drawing), position the black source controls to indicate the position atwhich all other drawings will be aligned.

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4. In the Timeline view, move to the next drawing.
5. In the Camera view, move the blue destination controls to match the reference position you set on the original
drawing. You can use the long handle to rotate the position. If you rotate the control multiple times, the drawing will rotate multiple times.

6. Select the blue checkbox once the position is correct.
7. Repeat the previous two steps for all drawings in your animation.

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8. Once all the drawings are completed, in the Drawing view, verify that the drawing strokes are correctlyaligned.

9. If necessary, delete the last keyframe if the last drawing moves back to the reference drawing's position.

10. If the animation does not require interpolation, in the Timeline view, select the newly created keyframes. In
the Timeline toolbar, click the Set Stop-Motion Keyframe
button to remove any computer-generated
interpolation.

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Ordering Layers Over TimeThe layer ordering system in Harmony saves time and simplifies your work. There is no need to create a new layer or
copy and paste artwork into other layers to change the order. The Z-axis (forward/backward) allows you to create amultiplane and move elements closer or farther from the camera. This allows you to move the puppet’s pieces infront of or behind other ones without physically changing the layer position.

Harmony provides you with a shortcut to move the piece with a micro nudge on the Z-axis. A keyframe is created
where different Z values can be entered. This allows the piece to move forward and backwards in space without
requiring you to change the drawing’s original position or break the layer hierarchy. This also means that the layerordering is maintained throughout the scene. You can combine animation assets so Harmony can interpolate them.
How to nudge elements on the Z-axis
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform
2. In the Tools toolbar, click the Animate

tool or press Shift + T.
button.

3. In the Camera view, select the part to be repositioned and hold down the Alt key.
4. Using the Up or Down arrow keys, nudge the part until it moves to the desired position.

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Resetting a Transformation
If you made too many transformations and it's not going where you want it to go, or simply because you want toreset a pose you're reusing from another animation, you can reset your character's position. Once the layers are
positioned in the Camera view, you can easily return them to their original position. There are three different ways
to reset a transformation.
Using the Reset command, you can reset the value of the selected element to the initial value of the active tool.
For example, if the Rotate
tool is active, the transformation angle will be reset to 0 and if the Transform
tool is active, all the transformation values will be reset.
The Reset All option resets all transformations on the current frame in a selected layer. Your keyframe willremain, but all the values will return to the default position. All transformations are reset regardless of the tool
you're using.
The Reset All Except Z option resets all transformations on the current frame except the Z position. This is usefulwhen doing cut-out animation. Cut-out puppets often have a particular Z ordering for the different views of acharacter. You might want to reset the transformation, but not necessarily the Z position.
In the Timeline view, you can also use the Clear All Values command to reset all transformation values on theselected layers. Right-click on the selected layers and select Layers > Clear All Values.

NOTE: When using the Transform tool to select elements in the Camera view, always make sure the Peg
Selection Mode option in the Tool Properties view is disabled or it will limit the selection to peg only.

How to reset the transformation on the current frame
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool or any Advanced Animation

tool.

2. In the Timeline view or directly in the Camera view, select the drawing layer(s) to reset.
3. From the top menu, select Animation > Reset or press Shift + R.
The selected layer(s) return to their original position.

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How to reset all transformations on the current frame
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool or any Advanced Animation

tool.

2. In the Timeline view or directly in the Camera view, select the drawing layer(s) to reset.
3. From the top menu, select Animation > Reset All or press Shift + R.
The selected layer(s) return to their original position.
How to reset all transformations except the Z position on the current frame
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool or any Advanced Animation

tool.

2. In the Timeline view or directly in the Camera view, select the drawing layer(s) to reset.
3. From the top menu, select Animation > Reset All Except Z.
The selected layer(s) return to their original position, except for the Z values.

Creating Cycles
You can create cycles from a portion of your animation or completely reverse the flow of your animation.
How to create an animation cycle
1. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the cell range and keyframes to loop.

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

4. From the top menu, select one of the following:‣

Edit > Paste Cycle or press Ctrl + / (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + / (Mac OS X).

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The Paste Special dialog box opens.

‣

Edit > Paste Special or press Ctrl + B (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + B (Mac OS X).
The Paste Special dialog box opens.

5. In the Number of Cycles field, enter the number of cycles to paste.
6. In the Cycle Type menu, select a type of cycle to paste.

‣

Normal (forward): Pastes the selection as is, starting with the first cell and ending with the last.

‣

Reverse: Pastes the selection reversed, beginning with the last cell and ending with the first.

‣

Forward -> Reverse: Pastes the selection as a yo-yo, starting with the first cell, going to the last celland ending with the first cell.

‣

Reverse -> Forward: Pastes the selection as a reversed yo-yo, starting with the last cell, going to thefirst one and ending with the last cell.

7. Click OK.

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How to create a reverse animation cycle
1. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the cell range and keyframes to paste inverted.

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

4. From the top menu, select Edit > Paste Reverse or press Ctrl + . (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + . (Mac OS X).

Adding Pegs
Now that you have your puppet on stage, you probably need to resize and reposition it to fit the scene. When you
need to scale down or move a character, it's a good idea to hook (attach) the whole puppet to a trajectory.
In Harmony, there is a type of layer you can add to your timeline, allowing you to create a motion path or reposition
drawings. This trajectory layer is called a peg. Any drawing or layer you hook to a peg will follow the defined motion
path, rotation, scaling and skewing information.
Attaching your puppet to a peg allows you to scale and reposition it without having to do the same on all the different
parts and pieces. Only one layer will contain the position information, making your animation easier to modify andcontrol.
Next, position your character on the stage by moving it and scaling it to the correct size. You will not scale eachlayer individually. You can do it on the top symbol or top peg layer.

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How to add a repositioning peg
1. In the Timeline view, select the top layer on which you want to parent a peg.

NOTE: You must select a layer to be able to add a peg to your scene. Unless you use the Display All mode fromthe Display toolbar, an error message will display if you try to add a peg without any selection.

2. In the Timeline view, click the Add Peg

button.

A new peg is added to the timeline as a parent of the selected layer.

3. Double-click on the name of new peg layer and rename it: Master_Peg.

4. In the Timeline view, select all the layers you want to attach to the new peg. Remember that one item isalready parented to that peg.

5. Drag the selection and drop it on the peg layer to parent all the character's pieces to the peg. If your layers
are added above the already-parented layers, move that parented layer back on top of the layer stack.

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How to reposition a character
1. In the Timeline view, select the top peg layer (master peg).
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform

tool and disable the Animate

mode.

3. In the Camera view, position the character.

Offsetting a Portion of an Animation
If there is a section of the animation that you want to reposition, such as the head's height or the puppet's position,
you can do so using the function curve.
How to reposition a portion of an animation
1. In the Timeline view, click the Expand Function
button of the body part layer to reposition. If you want toreposition the entire body, expand the master peg's parameters.

2. Double-click on the layer's parameter controlling the keyframes you want to reposition.

The Function Editor opens.

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3. In the Function editor, select the keyframes you want to reposition by tracing a selection box.

4. Click the Show Current Framethem.

button to view the transformation results in the Camera view as you do

5. Drag the keyframe selection up or down to reposition the sequence.

6. Close the Function editor.

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Chapter 11: Export Harmony Animations to Unity

At this point, if you have a custom game engine, you can take the exported data and proceed with your usual
process. Or you can modify the export script to fit your convention.
If you’re going into Unity, here are some things you need to do:•

Exporting the Animation on page 343•

Opening the Sample Unity Project on page 1•

Working in Unity on page 1

Exporting the Animation
If you were using Harmony 12.1 or earlier, it is strongly suggested that you clear your scripts before exporting
animation for the first time. This will ensure there's no conflict with previous versions of the scripts and you have themost up-to-date script.
How to clear your scripts
1. Close Harmony if it is open.
2. Browse to the script folder location:•

Windows:••

Toon Boom Harmony Advanced: C:\Users\[user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom Stage
EssentialsEssentials\1200-scripts

Mac OS X:
On Mac OS X, the Library folder is a hidden folder. To display the display the folder, told down
the Alt key.
•

Toon Boom Harmony Advanced: /Users/[user_name]/Library/Preferences/Toon
Boom Animation/Toon Boom Stage Essentials/1200-scripts

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3. Delete the 1200-scripts folder.
4. Restart Harmony and test the export.

Setting Anchors and Props
Before exporting your scene, you must set the anchors and props.
An anchor is an attachment point you can use to bind one or several props to a specific location that is predefinedby the anchor.
A prop is a game item that will be attached to an anchor. It could be a stick held within the character’s hand, ahelmet attached to the character’s head...the possibilities are endless. Props are easy to turn on or off, and easily
swappable from within Harmony or Unity.
For more information, see Setting Anchors and Props on page 231.

Before Exporting a Scene•

Before making the export, be sure to set your Display as <Display> and not <Display All>•

Be certain to save your scene. Harmony makes the export based on the tvg files, any unsaved updates
you have added will not be exported.

•

Set your Harmony scene to be a square resolution (ex. 1024 x 1024). Select Scene > Scene Settings.

How display the Game toolbar
1. From the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > Game.
The Game toolbar appears above the Camera view, to the left.

2. Run the script by clicking the Export to Sprite Sheets
The Export to Sprite Sheets window opens.

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3. Set the Save Path to the correct folder in your Unity project if you want it to update automatically. If not, you
can save anywhere, then transfer the animation into your Unity project, or any other game engine you want touse.
4. Set your sprite sheet preferences:
Parameter

Description

Max Width, Max HeightThis is a value, in pixels, for the maximum width and height the exported sprite
sheet should be. By default, both values are set to 2048 pixels.

Expand Sprite Sheet

Uses the minimum size necessary up until it reaches the maximum resolution.

Fixed Resolution

Creates a texture of the specified size (Max Width and Max Height) even if it does
not fill it up completely.
POT: Exports to sprite sheets with sizes that are a power of 2. For example: 1024
x 1024. This is optimized for many graphics cards, but consumes more memory.

Resolution Type
NPOT: Some game engines are optimized specifically to render to non powers of
two, so that it will avoid those numbers. Example: 1000 x 1000.

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Reuse Frames
Threshold
Size of the render of the individual sprite, when it exports each drawing out.
The exporter will export to multiple resolutions based on the settings.

Sprite Resolutions

Saves different animations of the same character into the same Save Name. For
example, if there's an idle, run, and jump animation, these should all share thesame Save Name. You can think of it as the overall collection of animations.
Inside are the different saved scene versions whose drawings you can reuse forall the animations in that character set. Each scene version will be displayed as
an item in the list.
When you export an animation, only the drawings used in that scene areexported. All the drawings are exported individually first and then atlased together
into a sprite sheet.
If you save multiple animations to the same Save Name (i.e. SpaceDuck: run,idle), then it will re-atlas the sprite sheet to include all the drawings from all theanimations in that folder, creating a new animation file, but reusing the same
skeleton.

Precalculate Curves

Makes linear values for interpolation. This increases the amount of memory used
but frees up the calculation so it is not done on the fly.

5. Click Export.

NOTE:
Programmers may be interested to note that the XML data exported by Harmony can be converted afterwards to amore optimized binary data structure. The binary converter is not yet available for Harmony, but it can be compiled
manually in the game engine package. The C++ code that handles the data structure can be reused and parsed inyour own code if you want to integrate with other game engines.

Additional Note•

The Transparency parameter attached to the element node is exported along with the animation. You can
set the transparency through the Layer Properties window (Advanced tab).

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Harmony Game Previewer

If you are not a developer and would like to see if your animations and rigs will work once imported in Unity, you can
use the Harmony Previewer application. You can visualize your characters in the Unity game engine with noprogramming required.
How to use the previewer on Windows
1. Download the Harmony Game Previewer for Windows:‣

https://docs.toonboom.com/go/download/GamePreviewer-12-2-windows

2. Extract the following to your hard drive:‣

GamePreviewer-[version].exe‣

GamePreviewer-[version]_Data folder

3. Copy your export from Harmony to this folder:‣

GamePreviewer-[version]_Data\StreamingAssets\HarmonyResources\

4. Start the Game Previewer application.
5. Select the export you want to preview.
How to use the previewer on Mac OS X
1. Download the Harmony Game Previewer for Mac OS X:‣

https://docs.toonboom.com/go/download/GamePreviewer-12-2-mac

2. Extract the GamePreviewer-[version].app.
3. Right-click on the GamePreviewer-[version].app and select Show Package Contents.
4. Copy your export from Harmony to this folder: Contents/Data/StreamingAssets/HarmonyResources/

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5. Start the Game Previewer application.
6. Choose the export you want to preview

Opening the Sample Unity ProjectToon Boom includes a sample Unity project that contains all the scripts necessary to import the data exported
from Harmony. Inside this project is an Assets folder which contains the following folders:•

Plugins•

Scenes (demo scenes and a previewer)•

Scripts (all Harmony scripts)•

StreamingAssets (this is where all the Harmony scene files should be exported to)

By configuring the Harmony script, you can automatically export animations into the StreamingAssets folder.
This way, Unity will dynamically load the most up-to-date assets as soon as they appear in the folder. You canalso manually place exported Harmony data into this location.

Working in Unity
The Harmony Gaming Animation Guide is a basic guide on how to import Harmony projects and configure them,
design and animate characters, and includes some tips. It is not meant as a guide on how to program games.

The Unity Interface
Here are the main components of the Unity interface and their equivalents in Harmony:
Unity

Harmony

Description

Scene view

Perspective view

This is where you set the scene, selecting and positioning
environments, the player, the camera, enemies, and allother GameObjects.

Game view

Camera view

The rendered view from the camera(s) in your game. It isrepresentative of the final, published game.

Inspector

Layer Properties

Displays detailed information about the selected GameObject, including all attached Components and their properties.

Hierarchy

Layers in Timeline view

Displays the hierarchy of elements in the scene, and lets
you set up parent-child relationships for different gameobjects.

Project Browser---

Lets you access and manage a project's assets.

The main camera displays the scene and is located in the Hierarchy. To show a Harmony object, you must add a
special component. With the main camera selected, in the Inspector, select Add Component > Scripts >Harmony Camera.

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Importing Harmony Files Directly into Unity
How to import Harmony files directly into Unity
1. Create a Unity 2D project.
2. The SDK Harmony project needs to be imported to your project in order for the assets to be brought in. Do
one of the following:‣

Go to the Unity Asset Store (assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/31211) and save the Harmony
Game SDK file on your computer. Then import it in your project from the following: Top Menu >Asset > Import Package > Custom Package.

‣

Search for the Harmony Game SDK in the Unity Asset Store, then download and import the
package. You can access the Asset Store from the following: Top Menu > Window > AssetStore.

NOTE: For each new Unity project, you must repeat step 2 as it contains the necessary files and folders tomake the Harmony import process work.

3. Add the exported game object to the scene by going to Top Menu > GameObject > Harmony >‣Harmony Object: Lets you browse for the exported Harmony project folder. If you’ve already saved thisto your StreamingAssets folder, you can browse to it through there. Then it adds the Harmony scene toyour Unity file, and sets up the rendering, audio, and animation scripts you need to get going.

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Harmony Texture Object: Lets you browse for the exported Harmony project folder similarly toHarmony Object, but creates a Unity plane to render your animation on it.

Importing your Hamony files from an empty GameObject
GameObjects are the fundamental objects in Unity that represent characters, props and scenery. Basicallyeverything you create in Unity will be a GameObject. There are two main types of GameObject you can use toimport Harmony data:•

Create Empty: This creates a regular GameObject in which you can load the exported Harmony data. All
the individual body parts on the sprite sheet come in as separate elements, but are treated as one whole
object with a dynamically created bounding box. If you put a transparency on this object, you would see
the overlapping transparencies of all the individual objects. This creates a higher-quality render and shouldbe the default if you’re not animating the transparency of an object. With this option, direct rendering will
read the depth information in the scene but not write it. Note that with this option, the rendering cannot be
customized.

•

Create Other > Plane: Renders the entire character to a plane. This renders your character to texture
data. If you animate the transparency of the plane, then the transparency of the rendered output isanimated; you won't see the transparencies of the overlapping elements. However, you will have one
static bounding box the size of the plane that you render to.
Use this option when you want to animate the transparency of a character in a scene. Also, you can write
your own custom shaders. Simply set the Render Target to eRenderTarget. You can see an example ofthis in the sample project DemoRenderTarget.

To understand fully the process, here's are two examples using an empty GameObject and a plane GameObject
with the SpaceCat demo file. Everything you do will be based on the GameObject you create to load yourHarmony data.
How to use an empty GameObject
1. Select GameObject > Create Empty.
2. Rename the empty GameObject so it's clear in the Hierarchy. Since we're using the SpaceCat demo file,rename the GameObject to SpaceCat by doing one of the following:‣

Double-click on the name and rename it in the Hierarchy.

‣

Select the GameObject and rename it in the Inspector.

3. At this point, it’s an empty object. Accessing Harmony data is done through scripts.
‣

Select the SpaceCat GameObject.

‣

In the Inspector, go to Add Component > Scripts > Harmony Renderer.

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A new section appears in the Inspector called Harmony Renderer (Script).

This will let you load an animation file. You must put the path of the asset relative to the HarmonyResources
folder. Before this, you must export from Harmony directly to this folder, or manually copy and paste the datahere.
4. You exported a scene called SpaceCat. In the Project Folder, place HarmonyResources/SpaceCat under
the Transform information at the top, under Scale. Set the values to 0.01 for X, Y, and Z because the default
Harmony project is for an HD screen.
5. You won’t see anything until you define a few parameters:‣

Set the Clip Name Size to 1. A second field will appear, Element 0.

‣

Enter the clip name for the animation you want to load.

6. Double-check on the right Clip Name to put in Element 0; you can check the output you exported from Harmony.
7. Double-check the stage.xml file, which was exported to the folder you specified when exporting from Harmony. Our default export path is to StreamingAssets, so it will automatically load in the game engine.
8. Look in the Project tab, under Assets > StreamingAssets > HarmonyResources > [ExportName].
You’ll find the data that was exported. In this case, we’re looking for SpaceCat. Select the file marked stage
to load the data you want to double-check.

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The text data appears in the Inspector.

The name to use for loading the object is the stage name. In this case, SpaceDuck_SpaceCatIdle.
9. If your GameObject has animation in it, and you want it to load the animation data from the Harmony
export, add one more component by doing the following:‣

Select the GameObject.

‣

In the Inspector, select Add Component and select Scripts > Harmony Animation.

10. To loop the animation, you must set a GameObject to define it:‣

Select GameObject > Create Empty and rename it: LoopAll.

‣

Click the LoopAll GameObject to display its properties in the Inspector.

‣

Click Add Component > Scripts > Loop All.

When you play the animation, it will loop as it plays back. The Loop All command simply iterates on all
GameObjects on runtime and asks them to loop, which is useful when testing the animation. When
programming the actual game, you should write additional scripts to control the different elements
separately.
How to use a plane GameObject
1. Select GameObject > Create Other > Plane.
2. Select Add Component > Scripts > Harmony Renderer.
3. Set Size to 1 and Element to 0 on the clip name as per previous instructions.
4. Set Render Target to eRender Texture.
5. Render Texture Viewport:‣

X: To reposition the animation correctly; it should be -½ the width of your Harmony project.

‣

Y: To reposition the animation correctly; it should be -½ the height of your Harmony project.

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H: Height of your Harmony project.

6. Use the custom Shader created by Toon Boom to have a transparent background with premultiplied alphachannel. This is what produces nice, antialiased drawings in your output.
7. With the Plane selected in the Inspector, go to Mesh Renderer > Materials. Under Element 0, selectUnlitTransparentPremultiplied.
8. If you're starting with the Toon Boom demo project, this renderer should already be loaded in your list.

You can also write your own custom shaders and use them here.
9. You must also add the animation component. Select the Plane. In the inspector, click Add Component >Scripts > Harmony Animation.

Attaching Props to Anchors in Unity

Once your Harmony GameObject is imported, you should be able to see your character both in the Scene and the
Hierarchy views. From here you can attach one or several props to an anchor.
How to attach the prop to an anchor
1. Open up your character in the Hierarchy view to have access to both the props and the anchors.
2. Click on the prop you wish to attach, and drag it onto the appropriate anchor.

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3. Repeat these steps for each prop and anchor in your project.
4. In the Inspector view, under Frame, you can select which frame you wish to show. If you only had one
drawing in your prop, then you will not have multiple options.
5. If part of your character is cut off by the plane of the character, now that the props are showing, you willneed to regenerate the mesh. To do so, select your GameObject. After this is done, go to Inspector View
> Render > Generate Mesh.

Placing a Target in an Imported Animation
It’s possible that after importing the Harmony animation into the Unity scene, you may want to assign a target tosome piece of the animation. For example, in the Space Duck scene, the character has a gun. Perhaps you want
to attach some other action, such as shooting spheres and cubes out of the end of the gun.
You can see some examples of this in the provided Unity project. The first example in the demo scene is called
DemoLocator which shows a simple cylinder attaching to the end of the gun.
The second example called DemoCallback shows the gun shooting spheres and cubes.
When you set up your character in Harmony, you can access any drawing layer in Unity later and use its pivot
point to attach things. For this reason, you should set the pivot points on your drawing layers with the Rotate tool.
You can also create an empty drawing layer. Use Create Empty Drawing to create a blank drawing, ensuring that
this drawing layer will be exported. Then you can use the Rotate tool to set the pivot point on this drawing layer. In
the Space Duck example, an empty drawing layer called hook_gun was created on which you can attach thelocator.
When you access the imported Harmony character in Unity, you can access the data with a script.
How to set a target to a part of a character
1. Select Game Object > Create Empty to add a new GameObject to extract the target's position, rotation,and scale.
2. Drag and drop the new object so that it's a child of the character.
It becomes indented.
1. Rename the GameObject to: Hook Gun.

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2. In the Inspector of the target object, select Add Component > Scripts > Harmony Locator.
3. Enter the name of the drawing layer to which you want to attach.

4. To find the exact name for the Locator Name, look at the skeleton.xml file in the Streaming Assets folder.
You can find it in Streaming Assets > Harmony Resources > Name of Harmony File > skeleton.

All the drawing and peg layers are listed. In this example, look for space_duck_hook_gun. Having drawing
layers with distinctive names makes them easy to recognize when you need to retrieve them.
You can copy the name of the layer into the Locator Name to see the Transform information updating
dynamically as you run the simulation.
5. Now you can attach anything as a child of this Locator Object. For testing purposes, you could attach a cylinder for example. In a real example, you’d want something to shoot out of the end of the gun, so you can see
the Callback example to verify how that works.

Bounding Boxes and Collisions
Extracting the bounding box information is useful when you want to make something collide with your character.
When you put a 2D character into a 3D scene, you may want to use Physics to make the 2D character collide withthe 3D plane. To use the following scripts, you will need Unity 4.3 or higher.
In the Demo scene, open the DemoPhysics example to see collisions and bounding boxes. In this example, there’s
a 3D plane and some 2D characters. The 2D characters have a collision defined with their bounding box, and they'realso reacting to the physics of the scene to fall with gravity.
Colliders were improved to provide several different types of colliders for use in Unity. You can select polygon
colliders and box colliders for a more accurate bounding box.
How to enable a collision based on the bounding box of the character
1. Select your imported character.
3. In the inspector, select Add Component > Physics 2D > Box Collider 2D.
4. To enable the Physics on the character, go to Add Component > Physics 2D > Rigid Body 2D.

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NOTE: You can also use 3D physics on the imported files.

You can now adjust the variables and see the results.

Working with Audio
When you create scene files in Harmony with audio, the audio is exported into the project folder. However it’s
important to understand how the game is built to determine the best way to handle audio.
When a game is built from Unity, it creates its own database for holding the assets. Within the export, theStreaming Assets folder is preserved intact. This is what enables the Toon Boom plugin to access those assets
on the fly, and render them in the camera to create the final animation you see on the screen.
However when it comes to audio, the game first looks for the audio in the Unity database. So this is the mostefficient place to store the audio for the real game.

If audio can't be found in the Unity database, then the game looks in the Streaming Assets folder to find the audio.
When it does, it copies the audio on-the-fly back into the Unity database. Since this action is quite costly, don’t

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leave the audio in the Streaming Assets folder for the final game. It’s fine to leave it there while you’re testing, but notfor the final game.
The audio should be copied back into the Unity database, either manually or by automating this process with ascript.

Export to Sprite Sheets
The Export to Sprite Sheets window export to multiple resolutions, generating multiple .xml files and one or multiple
sprites sheets depending how many sprite resolutions you defined.
This saves different animations of the same character into the same name. For example, if there's an idle, run, andjump animation, these should all share the same Save Name. You can think of it as the overall collection ofanimations. Inside are the different saved scene versions whose drawings you can reuse for all the animations inthat character set. Each scene version will be displayed as an item in the list.
When you export an animation, only the drawings used in that scene are exported. All the drawings are exported
individually first and then atlased together into a sprite sheet.
If you saved multiple animations to the same Save Name (i.e. SpaceDuck: run, idle), then it will reatlas the sprite
sheet to include all the drawings from all the animations in that folder, creating a new animation file, but reusing thesame skeleton.

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How to access the Export to Sprite Sheets window
1. From the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > Game.
The Game toolbar appears above the Camera view, to the left.

2. Click the Export to Sprite Sheets
Parameter

button.

Description

Select Directory
Save Path

The folder path where you want to save your export.

Save Name

The folder name in which you will save your export. This will also be the nameof your asset in Unity. Your scene file name will be used as the clip name.

Existing Clips in Folder
Overwrite Project

The folder name in which you will save your export. This will also be the nameof your asset in Unity. Your scene file name will be used as the clip name.

Clear Texture Folder

Removes any information from the texture folder within the Harmony file. This
has no incidence towards the Unity export but contributes to a lighter Harmony
file.

Project Settings

Unit Scale

Lets you change the scale when exporting to Unity to accommodate the size ofthe export without it affecting the Harmony scene. This helps you resize
assets properly for Unity without having to resize them in Harmony. The basic
scale is one Animation Field for one Unity unit.

Sprite Sheet Preferences
Max Width

This is a value, in pixels, for the maximum width and height the exported sprite
sheet should be. By default, both values are set to 2048 pixels.

Max Height

Makes linear values for interpolation. This increases the amount of memory
used but frees up the calculation so it is not done on the fly.

Expand Sprite Sheet

Uses the minimum size necessary up until it reaches the maximum resolution.

Fixed Sprite Sheet

Creates a texture of the specified size (Max Width and Max Height) even if it
does not fill it up completely by all the drawings in your scene.

Resolution Type

POT: Exports to sprite sheets with sizes that are a power of 2. For example:
1024 x 1024. This is optimized for many graphics cards, but consumes morememory.
NPOT: Some game engines are optimized specifically to render to non powersof two, so that it will avoid those numbers. Example: 1000 x 1000.

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Reuse FramesThis option works in tandem with the Threshold option. The export willcompare the drawings in your project to reuse a maximum of similar drawings
and reduce the amount of information found in the sprite sheet, making it
lighter. The export will omit the creation of new drawings if the difference isless than the threshold percentage.

ThresholdCalculates the differences between multiple drawings. A 2% threshold will
prevent the creation of a new drawing if the drawing is too similar to an existingdrawing. For instance, with a 2% threshold, and my drawing is 100 pixels big,
only 2 of those pixels need to be different from my other drawing in order tocreate a new one. The higher the threshold, the fewer similar drawings you willhave.

Sprite Resolutions

Size of the render of the individual sprite, when it exports each drawing out.

Precalculate Curves

Makes linear values for interpolation. This increases the amount of memory
used but frees up the calculation so it is not done on the fly.

Export to Easel JS
The Export to Easel JS window lets you a flattened image sequence of your animation. Even if you have a fully
rigged puppet or a single drawing layer with your animation sequence, the outcome will still be a flattened output ofeach frame, grouped together in your sprite sheet. This allows for more flexibility and freedom of work as you haveaccess to any tools or effect modules you want to use. However, this can result in heavier files depending on thelength, complexity and export size of your animation.

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How to access the Export to Easel JS window
1. From the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > Game.
The Game toolbar appears above the Camera view, to the left.

2. Click the Export to Easel JS
Parameter

button.

Description

Select Directory
Save Path

The folder path where you want to save your export.

Save Name

The folder name in which you will save your export. This will also be the nameof your asset in Unity. Your scene file name will be used as the clip name.

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Existing Clips in Folder

Displays the clips in the folder.

Scene Options

Display

Here, you must select the Display of your character. This is the one that will be
used to render out all of the information attached to that Display node. If the
Unconnected_Display option is selected, all of the visual information in yourscene will be rendered out.

Sprite Sheet Preferences
Max Width
Max HeightThis is a value, in pixels, for the maximum width and height the exported sprite
sheet should be. By default, both values are set to 2048 pixels.

Expand Sprite Sheet

Uses the minimum size necessary up until it reaches the maximum resolution.

Fixed Sprite Sheet

Creates a texture of the specified size (Max Width and Max Height) even if it
does not fill it up completely by all the drawings in your scene.

Resolution Type

POT: Exports to sprite sheets with sizes that are a power of 2. For example:
1024 x 1024. This is optimized for many graphics cards, but consumes morememory.
NPOT: Some game engines are optimized specifically to render to non powersof two, so that it will avoid those numbers. Example: 1000 x 1000.

Reuse FramesThis option works in tandem with the Threshold option. The export willcompare the drawings in your project to reuse a maximum of similar drawings
and reduce the amount of information found in the sprite sheet, making it
lighter. The export will omit the creation of new drawings if the difference isless than the threshold percentage.

ThresholdCalculates the differences between multiple drawings. A 2% threshold will
prevent the creation of a new drawing if the drawing is too similar to an existingdrawing. For instance, with a 2% threshold, and my drawing is 100 pixels big,
only 2 of those pixels need to be different from my other drawing in order tocreate a new one. The higher the threshold, the fewer similar drawings you willhave.

Sprite Resolutions

Size of the render of the individual sprite, when it exports each drawing out.

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Chapter 12: Troubleshooting
Unity Questions
Q. My Harmony asset does not appear in the Unity Editor.
A. There are several possible reasons for this. Check the following:‣

Has the HarmonyRenderer plugin been copied to the Assets/Plugins directory? The plugin is named
HarmonyRenderer.bundle on Mac OS X and HarmonyRenderer.dll on Windows.

‣

Is the clip name valid ? Make sure the clip name exists in the stage.xml file.

‣

Are the binary files up to date? If you updated the Toon Boom Game Engine SDK to a newer version,
make sure to regenerate the binary files if you use them so they’re compatible with the SDK.

Q. My Harmony asset does not appear in iOS or Android when exported from Unity.
A. There are several possible reasons for this. Check the following:‣

Make sure the Harmony assets are copied in the StreamingAssets directory. Since theHarmonyRenderer plugin cannot use Unity’s asset database, the Harmony assets were packaged asplain files so they are accessible to the plugin.

‣

Is the plugin for iOS the same version as the one used for the editor? The plugin for iOS is in the
Assets/Plugins/iOS directory.

‣

Is the clip name spelled correctly? Windows and Mac OS X aren’t usually case sensitive file systems, but
iOS and Android are. This implies that an asset that is visible on the editor will not appear on the mobile
platform because it cannot be found.

‣

Make sure the size of your sprite sheets does not exceed the hardware limit of the device you're working
on. Otherwise, the texture might not appear at all.

‣Is the path to the project folder an absolute path? If it is, it might not work on the mobile device as thatpath will not exist on the platform. Make sure to use relative paths to the StreamingAssets directory.

Q. My Harmony asset does not composite properly with other 2D sprites in Unity. The 2D sprites always appear
behind the Harmony assets even if I change the order index in the GameObjects.
A. The 2D sprites from Unity and the Harmony assets cannot currently composite together. There are, however,
several solutions for working around this problem:
Use 2D textures instead of 2D sprites. The 2D textures, when attached to a geometry in Unity, will composite likethe other 3D elements in the scene and you can change the compositing order by incrementing or decrementing theZ value of the transform.
Use multiple cameras to render your scene in parts. Here’s how:Harmony Camera
1. Create a new camera.
2. Make sure you set the Harmony GameObjects to a specific layer (top-right of the game object inspector).
3. In the camera, set the culling mask to this layer (and the other layers you want rendered in the background).
4. Add the HarmonyCamera component to this camera so the Harmony GameObjects render properly.
Sprite Camera

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1. Create a new camera.
2. Make sure to set the 2D sprite objects to a specific layer.
3. In the camera, set the culling mask to this layer (and the other layers you want rendered in front of the 2D
sprites).
4. Make sure to set the clear flags to Depth Only or Don't Clear.
5. Set the depth to be higher than the Harmony camera.
6. Afterwards, if you move the camera, make sure to move both cameras simultaneously if you want to keep
Game Ojects in sync.
Q. How can you specify the frame rate of the animation? My animation does not play at the same frame rate inHarmony and in the Game Previewer in the Unity Editor.
A. The Game Previewer previews the animation at a default of 24 frames per second. In your game, using theHarmonyAnimation component, you can schedule animations at the speed you want.
ExampleHarmonyAnimation animation = GetComponent<HarmonyAnimation>();if (animation != null){animation.PlayAnimation( frameRate, clipName );}Q. I cannot see my character in the Scene view in Unity. Is there any way to preview the Harmony asset?
A. Since the rendering of Harmony assets is implemented in a plugin, it does not update any Renderer component
in the GameObject, and so cannot be shown directly in the Scene view.
However, you should still be able to preview your assets in the Game view (even when not playing). To help findand position assets, we also added bounding box shapes rendered in the editor and the Game view.
Q. How is memory management handled in Unity for Harmony assets?
A. Most of the memory extensive algorithms are executed in the C++ plugin. The data structure is maintained
alive as long as a GameObject refers to it. This means you can instantiate as many clones of a character without
reloading the data. Upon destruction, the GameObject will issue a clean-up call to the plugin and delete its
associated rendering object. The sprite sheet and animation data are kept alive as long as a single GameObject
uses them and a cleanup call is issued once they are destroyed.
Q. The Harmony assets memory does not appear in the Unity profiler. Can we profile the assets memory?
A. The Unity profiler does not pick up Harmony assets in its traces. Since the Harmony GameObject refers to a
C++ plugin for its asset management and rendering, its memory cannot be recorded in the profiler. Profilers suchas the one provided with XCode or Visual Studio should allow you to track your application’s memory including
the Harmony assets and should also provide a more accurate result.

General Questions
Q. How can you specify the resolution used for the drawings in the sprite sheet?

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A. The drawing resolution is not fixed in Harmony. Since you're exporting the scene to multiple sprite sheets in
multiple resolutions, every drawing will have a different resolution in the end. You can use the Drawing view to see
the resolution of a drawing compared to the rest of the scene. By enabling the light table in the Drawing view, you will
see all of the scene’s drawings untransformed in the same proportion as they will appear in the sprite sheet. Morespecifically, the resolution used in the sprite sheet for a drawing is the size it appears untransformed in the Camera
view, scaled to the sprite sheet resolution ("Sprite Resolutions" in the Export Sprite Sheet dialog box).
Once you know that, you can easily adjust the size of a single drawing. Use the Select tool to scale down a drawing
and use the Transform tool to scale it back up so it does not change visually in the Camera view. This should allow
you to alter the size of drawings in the sprite sheet.
Q. The assets take time to load on mobile devices. Is there any way to speed up the process?
A. Harmony exports an interchange XML format that is intended to be compatible with multiple game engines.
However, reading data from the XML files is slow and this is mostly intended to test the assets in your project. At
some point, they should be converted to a binary compact data structure that can be read into memory a lot fasterthan the XML.
You can use the Xml2Bin tool provided with the game engine SDK to convert your XML files to binary. This tool is in
the Utils/Xml2Bin folder and a precompiled version for Mac OS X is available in the Utils/macosx folder.
Q. There are problems with the character I exported in the game engine. Pieces are not exported or are not showing
in the proper order. What can I do ?
A. To integrate with the game engine SDK, all animations in Harmony must follow certain guidelines. Here are someof the key points for building a character that is compatible with the rendering in the game engine SDK:‣

Build your rig in the Timeline view. The game engine SDK data structure is similar to what is displayed in
the Timeline view and an advanced node system might not always export properly.

‣

Because every top level node in your scene will render separately in the game engine SDK, they may notintersect. A top level node is also isolated in its separate sprite sheet to allow the artist better memory
segmentation of the character. If you created a character with top level nodes and this was not theintended result, create a top level group or peg to group them all together.

‣Use micro-Z ordering if necessary. With no Z ordering, a child layer will appear behind its parent (as it
does in Harmony). To change the ordering, add some Z offset to the child layer.

‣

The export script does not handle plain bitmap images. Toon Boom vector drawings and Toon Boom
bitmap drawings are supported though.

‣The export script does not handle symbols.

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Glossary
3D stereoscopic

The ability to create stereo images which, when animated and viewed through 3D active
shutter glasses or using glasses with one red and one blue lens, will appear as a threedimensional movie.

alpha channel

An image channel that carries transparency information. An image already has threechannels: red, green and blue (RGB). The alpha channel is the fourth channel (A). The
matte, or the transparency information, is stored in this fourth channel. An image without analpha channel is always opaque.

animatic

A movie with sound that is developed from the storyboard. The storyboard panel is exposed
for the duration of the scene and at times, the characters are placed on a trajectory toindicate motion. The camera moves are also animated. The animatic is used to determine
the rhythm of a project and provides a good overview of the project before beginning
production.

animation

A simulation of movement created by displaying a series of pictures or frames.

anime

An animation style known for its sinister and dark feel; popular in Japan.

arc

Action rarely occurs in a straight-forward manner; rather it typically unfolds in whatstorytellers refer to as an arc. The purpose of a story arc is to move a character or situationfrom one state or scenario to the next.

aspect ratio

The relationship between the width and height dimensions for any scene, frame or film
format. Television ratio is 4:3 and widescreen ratio is 16:9.

auto-feed

An automated method of feeding drawings into a scanner in which multiple drawings arestacked into a sheet feeder. When the scanner is activated, the drawings are scanned
consecutively, without further user intervention.

automatic lip-sync
detection

Automatically mapping drawings in an element to the mouth chart generated for a sound.
This can save time when lip-syncing a voice track.

axis

An imaginary line around which an object rotates.
For 2D graphics, there are two axes: X (horizontal and Y (vertical).
For 3D graphics, there are three axes: X (horizontal, Y (vertical) and Z (depth).
In animations that constantly rotate, the axis element specifies what axis the object rotatesaround. A negative number causes an animation to rotate counter clockwise whereas apositive number causes an animation to rotate clockwise.

background

The part of a scene that is farthest to the rear. The background is the artwork, or decor,
against which the animation takes place.

Bézier

A method of defining curved lines invented by French mathematician Pierre Bézier. A Bézier
curve is a mathematical or parametric curve. Bézier curves use at least three points todefine a curve.

bitmapAn image composed of pixels with a single resolution (size). If it is enlarged too much, it willlose definition and individual pixels will begin to appear. This is known as pixelation.
Bitmap image files are defined as a standard rectangular mesh of individual pixels. Eachindividual pixel contains a value that represents a specific colour.

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Glossarybreakdown

In cut-out animation, breakdown is the action of breaking a character into pieces to create apuppet with articulations. To break down a character, the artist cuts parts, such as thehands and arms, from the character's model and pastes them in separate layers. Next, thejoints are fixed and the pivots set.
In traditional animation, a breakdown is an animation pose generally found between two key
poses. The key poses are the main poses in an animation and the breakdowns aresecondary poses, ones that help describe the motion and the rotation curve (usually referred
to as an arc).

camera shake

Camera shake occurs in a scene when the camera moves slightly and quickly in several
directions. This gives the impression of an impact, vibration or, for example, bumps on theroad.

captionA text field containing dialogue, effects, sound or slugging information in a storyboard.

cel

In traditional animation, a cel (also known as celluloid) is a transparent sheet on which theanimation is inked and painted before being sent to the camera. The picture's outline isdrawn on the front of the cel and then coloured along the back.

character design

Each character in an animated film is drawn from multiple angles in poster-style format,
called a model sheet, which serves as a reference for the animators.

chromatic
aberration

In optics, chromatic aberration (CA), achromatism or chromatic distortion, is a type of
distortion in which there is a failure of a lens to focus all colours to the same convergencepoint.

clean up

After rough drawings have been tested and approved, all the noise in the image (excess
lines, notes, etc.) is removed to create final drawings which can be inked, painted and shot.
The clean up process refers to either tracing a clean line over a rough drawing to achieve thefinal version or removing dirt and extra lines left by the scanning process.

CMYK

Acronym for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black. These colours are the standard model used in aprocess called offset printing.

colour card

A colour card is a card containing one solid colour that is the same size as the camera. The
colour card fills the background with a solid colour when there is no background image
included.

colour model

The official colour design that must be used to paint the animation. A model is the definitive
character, prop or location design that each artist must follow for the production.

colour wheel

A display of the colour spectrum in the form of a circle.

compositing

Compositing is the action of incorporating all of a scene's elements to create the final result
prior to rendering. For example, the compositing artist will import all the animation
sequences, background, overlays and underlays in the scene and position them correctly.
The artist will then set the camera frame and animate it, if needed. Finally, the animator will
create all the computer-generated effects for the project.

cross dissolve

An effect used to fade two scenes, one into the other.

cut

A direct transition between two scenes. When a cut is used, there are no transition effects
inserted to pass from one scene to the next. The first scene ends and the second one starts
immediately.

cut-out animation

The process known as cut-out animation is the action of animating characters made out ofseveral pieces by moving them around frame by frame. Cut-out animation can either be

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computer generated or done traditionally using paper.
cycle

A group of images that together make up an action, such as walking. A cycle is an action
repeated as a loop over a period of time. It can be a series of animated drawings or
keyframes.

dialogue

The text spoken by a character in a movie or animation.

dope sheet

Used by animators, directors and other members of a crew to track the sequence and timingof images, dialogue, sound effects, sound tracks and camera moves. Also known as an
exposure sheet.

dopingTo assign a particular drawing to a range of frames.

double bounce
walk

In the key frames and passing positions in a double bounce walk, the body is lower than areference line drawn in the upright position. During the in-betweens, the body is above thisline giving the appearance of a bounce.

DPI

Dots per inch is the standard measure of resolution for computerized printers. It issometimes applied to screens, in which case it should more accurately be referred to as
pixels per inch. Either way, the dot is the smallest discrete element making up the image.

ease

In animation, the ease, also known as velocity, is the acceleration and deceleration of amotion. It can be a motion created by a function curve, or a series of animated drawings.
Other common terms for ease-in and ease-out are slow-in and slow-out.

ease-in

Gradual acceleration in the action. Also known as slow-in.

ease-out

Gradual deceleration in the action. Also known as slow-out.

establishing shot

A scene in which the viewer can see the whole area in which a sequence is happening. For
example, if a child is playing on the ground in front of his house, the establishing shot would
be a scene where the viewer can see the house, the ground, a part of the street and thebuildings around the central point of action. This helps the viewer understand the story
location and scene orientation.

exposure

In animation, an exposure is the number of cels on which a drawing appears in the scene.
For a drawing to appear longer, the exposure must be extended over a greater number ofcels.

exposure sheet

A sheet with several vertical columns and horizontal frames used to indicate a scene's
timing. Each column represents a scene layer. The drawing numbers in each column are
indicated and repeated over the particular amount of frames they need to appear.
The exposure sheet is used by animators, directors and other members of a crew to track
the sequence and timing of images, dialogue, sound effects, sound tracks and camera
moves. Also known as a dope sheet.

fade in/fade out

Fade in or fade out is a transition effect used to open or close a sequence. A fade in occurs
when the first scene appears progressively, from complete transparency to its complete
opacity. A fade out occurs when the last scene progressively disappears, going fromcomplete opacity to complete transparency.

fast-inDramatic acceleration at the start of the action.

fast-out

Dramatic acceleration at the end of the action.

field

A measurement unit used to calculate motion, registration and camera positioning. A
standard animation scene will vary between 6 to 12 fields.

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field chart

A guide containing all the field units that animation and layout artists use to determine ascene size or camera motion.

film-1.33

A resolution that is ideal for the widescreen film format that conforms to the standard 4:3
pixel aspect ratio.

film-1.66

A resolution that is ideal for the widescreen film format that conforms to the 16:9 pixel
aspect ratio. (The pixels are wider than they are high).

flipping

In traditional animation, flipping is the action of going through the drawings of an animation
sequence very quickly in order to see the animation in motion. Flipping can also be theaction of creating a mirror transformation of an object.

follow-throughThe secondary motion caused by the main action. For example, a character wearing a cloak
is running. The main action is the body running. This will cause the cloak to follow the
motion, although it will not move at the same time, but react a few frames later and follow
the main motion curve.

forward kinematics Forward kinematics is a feature used to animate principally 3D characters and cut-out
puppets with hierarchy. It is used to animate a puppet from one of parent parts, such as ashoulder, and make the rest of the arm move with it as a single piece.
frame

An animation frame is a single photographic image in a movie. In traditional animation, theNorth American standard generally contains 24 frames per second, while in Europe thestandard is 25 frames per second.

frame rate

The frame rate is the speed at which the frames are played. They are generally calculated
by frame per second. For example, a scene could be played back at 12, 24, 25, 30 or 60
frames per second or any other number.
This is the measurement of the frequency (rate) at which an imaging device produces
unique consecutive images, called frames. The term applies equally to computer graphics,
video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems.
Frame rate is most often expressed in frames per second (fps) and in progressive-scanmonitors as hertz (Hz).

function

A computer-generated motion, trajectory or path on which elements, other trajectories andeffects parameters can be attached. The function can be controlled by adding keyframes
and control points on the function curve.

gamut

The range of colours that a particular device can represent.

HDTV

Acronym for High Definition Television which delivers a higher quality image than standard
television because it has a greater number of lines of resolution. To take advantage of thesuperior quality and make full use of your resolution setting, the output device must becompatible with HDTV technology.

hold

A frame in the animation in which the character maintains its position without moving. A
hold can be created between any two keyframes.

HSV

Hue, Saturation, Value. A method of defining colours in terms of hue (tint), saturation(shade) and value (tone or luminance).

in-between

The drawings that exist between the key poses. These are drawn to create fluid transitions
between poses.

ink and paint

The ink and paint process is the action of painting the empty zones and colouring the lines

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interpolation

The computer-generated motion created between two keyframes. You have the choice tocreate interpolation, or not, between your keyframes.

inverse kinematics(IK)

A feature used mainly to animate 3D characters and cut-out puppets with hierarchy. Inverse
kinematics will animate a puppet from one of the extremities, such as a hand, and make therest of the body follow naturally.

jump cut

A jerky cut between two scenes. Typically, a jump cut is not visually pleasing. It is generally
caused by one scene ending, and a second one starting, with a similar image. The lack ofdifference causes the eye to see a little jump between the two scenes.

key pose

Important positions in the action defining the starting and ending points of any smoothtransition. Keys, or key poses, are the main drawings in an animation sequence describing
the motion. For example, if an arm is waving, the keys will be of the arm at one extremity of
the wave motion and the other extremity. By flipping those drawings, the animator can see
the skeleton of the motion without having all the drawings.

keyboard
shortcuts

One or more keyboard keys which, when used, cause an operation to be performed.

keyframe

Important positions in the action defining the starting and ending points of any action. A
keyframe is a computer-generated position at a specific moment (frame) on a given
trajectory.

layer

In animation, a layer is an individual column, level or character. A scene's layers aresuperimposed to form the final image.

layout

The communication step between the storyboard and the animation. It is the action of
putting the storyboard on model. That is, drawing the character by following the design in themodel pack, so the animator can start working.
The layout artist draws the background, creates the camera and field guide matching thescene and camera motion. Lastly, the animator draws on model the main action poses.

layout and posing

The action of putting on model (at the right scale) the storyboard for the animator to startworking.

layout artist

The artist who draws the background, and creates the camera and field guide to match thescene and camera motion. They will draw on model the main action poses.

layout planning

Drawing of the main features of the scene used as reference when planning the animationand executing the initial stages of it.

layout process

The communication step between the storyboard and the animation.

library

A storage area containing templates and assets that can be reused in any project or scene.

light table

A device that allows you to see other layers in transparency while you are working on aparticular layer.

line of action

The direction that the action will follow. Also known as path of action.

lip-sync

The process of synchronizing a character's mouth to sounds in the dialogue soundtrack.
The mouth is adjusted frame-by-frame to match the sound of the dialogue and provide theillusion that the character is speaking. Lip-sync can be used for any sound sequence, notonly speech, you could for instance have a bird chirping or a wolf howling at the moon.

low resolution

A format that is ideal for videos destined for the web, where size and fast download of a371

Glossary

video file take precedence over quality. A low-resolution image is one that lacks fine detail.
manual lip-sync
detection

The manual swapping of mouth position drawings to match a voice track. For this process,both sound scrubbing (listening to a sound wave broken up frame-by-frame) and drawing
substitutions are used.

master palette

A group of colours attributed to a character or prop. The palette is used throughout the entire
production to maintain consistency in the look and to ensure that the same colours are usedthroughout the production. Also known as palette.

model/colour
model

The definitive character, prop or location design each artist must follow for a production. A
colour model is the official colour design that must be used to paint the animation.

morphing

A feature for creating computer-generated drawings between a source drawing and a
destination drawing. Animation created with the morphing feature can be reused in different
projects.

motion keyframe

A keyframe with computer-generated interpolation.

mouth chart

A chart based on the eight animation phonemes (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and X, which is used
to represent silence) used for lip-sync.

multiplane

The effect of passing through multiple levels of drawings to create a sense of depth in a
shot. A multiplane is a scene in which the layers are placed at different distances from thecamera so that when the camera moves, a depth illusion occurs. With a multiplane, all theperspective and scale is calculated automatically.

NTSC

The standard analogue television broadcasting system used in North America. NTSC
conforms to North American standards on how rectangular pixels are displayed forcomputer and television screens.

nudge

A small push (left, right, up, down, forward or backward) done with the keyboard arrow keys
on a selected element. Nudging is used to move a selection very slightly and precisely.

onion skin

A feature that lets you see the previous and next drawings of a sequence.

overlay

A part of the scene environment, such as a chair or a bush, that is placed in front of the main
animation.

PAL

A resolution that works best with the European format for television and computer screens,as the rectangular pixels are displayed at a different orientation.

palette/master
paletteA palette or master palette is a group of colours attributed to a character or a prop. The
palette is used throughout the entire project to maintain a consistency in the look and avoid
the colour changing during the animation. Also referred to as a master palette.

palette style

A palette style is a second version of an existing palette with a slight change in the tint andvalue. A palette style can be used to create the night version of a palette. It may also becalled a clone palette.

pan

To move the camera across the scene in any direction.

panel

In a storyboard, a panel is a frame in a shot. A shot can be composed of one or several
panels.

paperless
The paperless animation process is the action of animating digitally. The main paperlessanimation/tradigital animation process is to draw, frame by frame, the animation directly in the software.
passing position

When drawing a walk sequence for a character, the passing position is the point at which
one leg passes the other.

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path of action

Direction that the action will follow. Also known as line of action.

peg

In traditional animation, a tool used to ensure accurate registration of action as cel layers
move. In digital animation, in which you are doing a more advanced puppet rigging, you can
use peg layers. Peg layers are trajectory layers that do not contain drawings. They are
motion paths that you can use to add path articulations. For the latter, you can also use an
inverse kinematics tool.

phonemeA unit of sound in a language.

pivot

The point around which a peg or drawing rotates.

pixel

The smallest element of an image displayed on a monitor or TV screen.
Pixel, short for picture element, is a single point in a graphic image. It is a small sample of
an image, a dot, a square, or a very small section made out of smooth filtering. If you zoom
in close enough on a digital image, you will see the pixels, which look like small squares ofdifferent colours and intensity.

pose-to-poseanimation

The pose-to-pose animation process is the action of creating all the main action poses,
called key poses, and then placing the secondary poses between the keys. The secondary
poses are called breakdown. Finally, the animator fills the gaps with the in-between
drawings to achieve a smooth animation.

rendering

The final step when animating by computer. During rendering, the computer takes eachpixel that appears on screen and processes all of the components, as well as adding motion
blur before it produces a final image. The process of calculating the final images after thecompositing process.

resolution

The size of a scene, generally calculated in pixels. For example, the NTSC resolution is 720
x 480. The resolution should match the final output: HDTV, film-1.33, film-1.66, NTSC,
PAL, low.

RGB

Red, Green, Blue. A method of defining colour by specifying amounts of these three colour
components.

rigging

The process of attaching the various parts of a cut-out puppet.

rotary table

Equivalent to the animation disk/table, a device that allows you to rotate the workspace forgreater comfort while drawing.

rotoscoping

An animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame byframe, for use in animated films. The act of sketching over live-action footage to create an
animated sequence.

roughsRough is a common name in an animation movie for a drawing that is used as a reference
but which does not form part of the final image. A layout is a rough.
The skeleton sketch of an animation or design. Roughs mainly consist of sketch lines andshapes, but can also contain design details.

safe area

The zone at the center of a scene's frame that is safe from being cropped by the TV frame.
As a TV frame cuts a margin off the original frame size, maintaining a safe area ensures thatthe scene's main action will remain clearly visible once the film is screened on television.

scene

A shot in a movie or show. A sequence is composed of several scenes. A scene changes toanother scene by a simple cut or transition.

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scriptThe original text containing all the movie or show information. In animation, the script
contains all of the location descriptions, dialogue, time and more. A project starts with ascript.

sequence

A series of scenes or shots forming a distinct part of the story or movie, usually connectedby unity of location or time.

shot

A scene in a movie or show. A sequence is composed of several shots. A shot changes toanother shot by a simple cut or transition.

slow-in

The gradual acceleration in the action. Also known as ease-in.

slow-out

The gradual deceleration in the action. Also known as ease-out.

slugging

To indicate the start and stop times of dialogue and relevant actions.

sound scrubbing

A process that lets you hear sound in real time while you move the playhead forward or
backward. This is very useful for finely-tuning a lip-sync.

stop-motion
keyframe

A keyframe with no computer-generated interpolation.

storyboard

A visual plan of all the scenes and shots in an animation. The storyboard indicates what will
happen, when it will happen and how the objects in a scene are laid out.

straight-ahead
animation

A technique in which an entire sequence is drawn from the first position to the last, in order.
There is very little planning in this methodology. Where the character ends up and how itgets there can be a surprise for both the audience and the animator. While this approach isspontaneous and creative, it can create inaccurate results.

strokes

Invisible vector lines forming the drawing zones. They can be adjusted with Bézier handles.

symbol

A symbol combines animation, artwork or layers into a single object that you can control in
one layer. You can also create symbols out of each body part in your cut-out puppets.
You can place whatever you want in a symbol. You can use symbols to animate a puppet or
create reusable animations such as blinking.

tablet/pen

A device used in conjunction with, or instead of, a mouse to move a mouse pointer(sometimes referred to as the cursor) around the computer screen.

template

An asset stored in the library that can be reused in any project. A template can be a drawing,a series of keyframes, a sound file, a panel, a cut-out character, an effect, a trajectory, ananimation, or anything else used in the animation.

thumbnailA very small image used as a reference or indicator.

timecode

The timing information printed on a movie clip to indicate the scene, hour, minute andsecond that is currently displayed on the screen.

timeline

A horizontal representation of a scene's elements, timing and keyframes.

trace and paint

After the rough animations have gone through cleanup and a final line or pencil test, eachdrawing is traced and painted for the final animation. In today's digital world, this may bedone in a variety ways other than the traditional celluloid or acetate methods.

track breakdown

The break down of an animated film's soundtrack into individual sounds to produce theprecise frame-by-frame position of each sound.

traditional

A type of animation process whereby all the animation sequences are drawn by hand on

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paper before scanning or inking them on cels.
trajectory

A computer-generated path or trajectory that elements can follow. The trajectory can becontrolled by control points, keyframes and velocity.

transition

An effect placed between two scenes as they pass from one to the other. Common
transition effects are cross-dissolve and wipe.

underlay

In animation, an underlay is a specific part of the decor placed behind the main animation.

vector

A vector-based image is composed of points and Bézier curves. The computer reads thepoints and traces the segments, linking them to reproduce the image shape. There is no
fixed size or resolution in a vector image. The graphic can be enlarged and distorted asmuch as desired and the system will simply recalculate the segments and rebuild theshapes. Vector images are translated and displayed in pixels once the calculation is done.

velocity

In animation, the velocity, also known as ease, is the acceleration or deceleration of amotion. This can be achieved by a function curve, or via a series of animated drawings.
Other common terms for ease-in and ease-out are slow-in and slow-out.

walk cycle

A series of drawings "on the spot" that describe the walk for a character. The illusion of
movement is created by the use of background pans. To avoid making innumerable
drawings, animators routinely make a walk cycle for a character.

zone

An area which can be painted with colour.

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376

Index •Indexalpha channel 367
animatic 367
animatingmultiple sequences, gaming 16
animation 367
tips, gaming 16

celluloid

duplicating 163

See cel. 368

expanding 191

character building

modifying 162

breaking down 207
character design 368

navigating 185
properties 161

drawing with brush 21

reordering 163

drawing with pencil 21

types 157

getting references 20

Xsheet 156

anime 367

preparation 19

compositing 368

arc 367

sketching model 20

copying

aspect ratio 367
auto-feed 367

chart

drawings 189

field 23cross dissolve 368

axis 367

clean up 368

cut 368

background 367

cleaning

cut-out animation 368

backing up
palettes 121
Bezier 367

model 35
cloningselecting layers 304

layers and columns 164

bitmap images 367

CMYK 368

Bitmap layer 157

Colour-Card

Bone deformer

creating 300

gaming guidelines 15
cycle 369

layer 158

cyclesbasic rig 248

colour card 368

Bone rig 249

colour model 368, 372

Bone rig

Cuttercolour palettes

exposure, creating 182
deformation
basic rig 248

creating 249

back up 121

Bone rig 249

breakdown 368

location 118

chain, setting up bone andarticulation 251

character 207
brush size 25
Brush tool

storage location 120

gaming guidelines 15

colour swatch
adding 29

drawing 21

colour wheel 368

size 25

colours 25

brushes
exporting 41, 77, 87
importing 41, 76, 86

deleting
drawings 188
design tools 19

adding colour swatch 29

Override 21
designingcolumns
advanced types 159

Camera layer 157

changing colour 194

camera shake 368

cloning 164

caption 368

collapsing 191

cel 368

deleting 160

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brush size 25
characters 32
drawing with brush 21
drawing with pencil 21
field chart 23

Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

getting references 20

drawing elements

filling empty cells 181

line up 23

adding 159

filling selection 179

preparation 19

creating 155

filling selection randomly 180

relative size 22

duplicating 163

filling sequence with single
exposure 179

sketching model 20

Drawing layer 157

dialogue 369

drawing tools 19

dope sheet 369

drawings

increasing 173

doping 369

copying/pasting 189

DPI 369

deleting 188

drawing

duplicating 188

brush size 25

managing 187

Brush tool 21

merging 191

brushes, exporting 41, 77, 87

navigating 185

brushes, importing 41, 76, 86

renaming 187

characters 32

repositioning 24

cleaning model 35
colour swatch, adding 29
colours 25
current drawing on top 37

inserting blank cells 176
moving cells 171
setting 177
typing in values 166
exposure sheet 369
extendingexposure 167
exposure sequence 168
fade-in 369

duplicatingdrawings 188

fade-out 369
field chart 23, 370

ease 369
setting on multiple parameters 313

Fill Exposure mode 165
film-1.33 370

deletiing thickness stencil 40

ease-in 369

exporting brushes 41, 77, 87

ease-out 369

field chart 23

Effect layer 158

importing brushes 41, 76, 86

establishing shot 369

inking model 35

exportingfilm-1.66 370
flipping 370
follow-through 370
forward kinematics 370

line up 23

brushes 41, 77, 87

model 33

erasers 41, 77, 87

Override tool 21

frame-by-frame, gaming 11

palettes 25

palettes 120

pencil presets, creating 40

pencils 41, 77, 87

pencil presets, selecting 39

holding 167

exposure 369

Pencil tool 21, 38

creating cycles 182

presets, pencil 40

decreasing 173

relative size 22

deleting 175

tasks 36extending 167

thickness stencil, deleting 40

extending sequence 168

thickness stencil, renaming 40

Fill Exposure mode 165

frame 370
frame rate 370
frames 153
adding before/after selection 153
navigating 185
functions 370
gaming 9
animating multiple sequences 16
animation tips 16
Cutter guidelines 15
deformation guidelines 15
frame-by-frame export 11
guidelines 13

filling 164

378

Index •Harmony 9

drawing 157

raw game data export 10

duplicating 163

resources 13

effect 158

rigging guidelines 14

expanding 191

cleaning 35

gamut 370

Group 158

inking 35

Group layer 158

hiding 192

rough 35

HDTV 370

modifying 162

sketching 20, 33

hiding

Peg 158

model sheet See character design

properties 161

motion keyframe 372

Hold 370

Quadmap 158

mouth

holding exposure 167

renaming 162

chart 372

HSV 370

reordering 163

multiplane 372

importingselecting parent or child layer 304

navigating

layers 192

merging
drawings 191
model 372

brushes 41, 76, 86

showing 192

columns 185

erasers 41, 76, 86

Sound 159

drawings 185

pencils 41, 76, 86

types 157

frames 185

templates 286

layout 371

NTSC 372

in-between 370

layout and posing 371

nudge 372

ink and paint 370

library 371

onion skinning 372

inkingLibrary view

overlay 372

model 35

importing templates 286

Overrride tool 21

interpolation 371

light table 371

PAL 372

jump cut 371

line of action 371

palettes 25, 372

key pose 371

line up 23

backup 121

keyboard shortcuts 371

lip-sync 371

creating, Advanced Palette Listmode) 27, 123

keyframes 371

auto detection 367

Layer Properties editor

lip-sync detection

displaying 161

manual 372

renaming layers 162

locking

creating, Basic Palette Listmode) 26, 122
exporting 120
location 118

layers 156, 371

palettes 29

bitmap 157

low resolution 371

storage location 120

camera 157

manual lip-sync detection 372

style 372

changing colour 194

master palette 372

unlocking 29

cloning 164
collapsing 191
Colour-Card 158

exporting 120
master peg

locking 29

panel 372
panning 372

adding 224

deleting 160

paperless animation 372
passing position 372

379

Harmony 12.2 Essentials - Gaming Animation Guide

Paste Special
pasting with 189
pasting
drawings 189
path of action 373
Peg layer 158
pegs 373
adding master 224
pen 374
pencil presets 39

chain, setting up bone andarticulation 251
gaming guidelines 14
rotary table 373
rotoscoping 373
roughstraight-ahead 374
strokes 374
tablet 374
templates 374
creating 276
importing 286

models 35
roughs 373

thickness stencil
deleting 40

safe area 373
scenes 373

renaming 40
thumbnails 374

creating 40

adding frames before/after
selection 153

timecode 374

renaming 40

extending 153

timeline 374

selecting 39

removing frames 155

Timeline view

Pencil tooldrawing 21, 38

setting length 153

expanding and collapsinglayers/columns 191

script 374

phoneme 373

scrubbing 374

pivot 373

sequences 374

pixel 373

shot 374

pixelation See bitmap image

showingpose-to-pose 373
presetscloning layers and columns 164

modifying layers and columns 162
renaming layers 162
reordering layers 163
timinglayers 192
size

adding frames before/after
selection 153

pencil 39

brush 25

creating cycles 182

pencil, creating 40

relative 22

decreasing exposure 173

pencil, selecting 39

sketchingdeleting exposure 175

Quadmap layer 158

characters 32

extending exposure 167

relative size 22

model 20, 33

extending exposure sequence 168

renaming

slow-in 374

extending scenes 153

slow-out 374

Fill Exposure mode 165

rendering 373

slugging 374

filling empty cells 181

repositioning

sound

filling exposure 164

drawings 187

drawings 24

scrubbing 374

resolution 373

Sound layer 159

filling selection with sequence 179

RGB 373

stencils, thickness

rigging 373

deleting 40

filling sequence with single
exposure 179

adding master peg 224

renaming 40

basic deformation rig 248

stop-motion keyframe 374

Bone rig 249

storyboard 374

380

filling selection randomly 180

frames 153
holding exposure 167
increasing exposure 173

Index •inserting blank cells 176

zone 375

moving cells 171
preparing 151
references 152
removing frames 155
scene length 153
setting exposure 177
typing in exposure values 166
tips
gaming animation 16
tools
Override 21
trace and paint 374
track breakdown 374
tradigital 372
traditional animation 374
trajectory 375transition 375
underlay 375
unlockingpalettes 29
vector 375
velocity 369, 375
walk cycle 375
Xsheet view 162
adding frames before/after
selection 153
advanced column types 159
cloning layers and columns 164
collapsing/expanding 3D path orrotation columns 192
columns 156
expanding and collapsinglayers/columns 191
layers 156
modifying layers and columns 162
removing frames 155
reordering columns 163381

382