TOON BOOM HARMONY 12.1
- Premium Edition -Paperless Animation GuideLegal Notices
Toon Boom Animation Inc.
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Montreal, Quebec, Canada
H2W 2R2
Tel: +1 514 278 8666
Fax: +1 514 278 2666
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Disclaimer
The content of this guide is covered by a specific limited warranty and exclusions and limit of liability under theapplicable License Agreement as supplemented by the special terms and conditions for Adobe®Flash® File
Format (SWF). For details, refer to the License Agreement and to those special terms and conditions.
The content of this guide is the property of Toon Boom Animation Inc. and is copyrighted.
Any reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited.
Trademarks
Harmony is a trademark of Toon Boom Animation Inc.
Publication Date
2015-08-07
Copyright © 2015 Toon Boom Animation Inc. All rights reserved.

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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

Contents
Toon Boom Harmony 12.1- Premium Edition -Paperless Animation Guide

1

Contents

3

Chapter 1: Paperless Animation - An Introduction

11

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

13

Preparation

13

Getting References

14

Using the Workspace

14

Sketching the Model

15

Drawing with the Brush or Pencil Tool

15

Override Tool

16

Relative Size

17

Palettes and Colours

21

Sketching the Character

27

Cleaning and Inking the Model

30

Drawing Tasks

34

Current Drawing on Top

35

Drawing with the Pencil Tool

36

Working with Pencil Presets

39

Pencil Line Texture

44

Drawing with the Brush Tool

49

Drawing with Textured Brushes on Vector Drawing Layer

56

Drawing with Bitmap Brushes on Bitmap Drawing Layers

67

Creating Bitmap Brushes

77

Viewing the Final Lines as You Draw

79

Full Scene Antialiasing

79

Selecting the Current Colour of a Tool

80

Using Independent Colours when Working with Bitmap Layers

83

Selecting Drawing Objects

83

Erasing Parts of a Drawing

87

Reshaping a Drawing Using the Contour Editor Tool

90

Reshaping Pencil Lines with the Pencil Editor Tool

92

Drawing with Shapes

95

Drawing with the Polyline Tool

96

Drawing with Invisible Lines

97

3

Contents

Deforming a Drawing with the Perspective Tool

99

Warping a Drawing with the Envelope Tool

100

Cutting Drawing Parts

102

Smoothing Lines

103

Working With Text

104

Working with Tool Presets

105

The Tool Presets Toolbar

105

More Drawing Tools

108

Arrange108

Convert Brush Strokes to Pencil Lines

109

Pencil Lines to Brush Strokes

110

Strokes to Pencil Lines

110

Optimize

110

Remove Extra Strokes

111

Reduce Drawing Texture Resolution

111

Crop Brush Textures

112

Create Contour Stroke

113

Remove Contour Stroke

113

Grid

114

Group/Ungroup

114

Hand

114

Rotate View

115

Drawing Tool References

115

Pencil Tool Options

116

Vector Brush Tool Options

121

Bitmap Brush Tool Options

125

Select Tool Options

149

Reverse Pencil Thickness

156

Eraser Tool Options

158

Bitmap Eraser Options

162

Contour Editor Options

162

Pencil Editor Options

165

Shape Tool Options

169

Polyline Tool Options

173

Stroke Tool Options

175

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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

Perspective Tool Options

176

Envelope Tool Options

177

Cutter Tool Options

180

Smooth Editor Tool Options

182

Text Tool Options

184

Drawing Pivot Tool

188

Chapter 3: Colour Styling and Colour Models

191

Preparation

191

Colour Model Storage

192

Scene Creation

192

Colour Model Scene Structure

193

Setting Up the Workspace

193

Naming193

Working with Palettes

196

Palette Lists

197

Palette File Storage

200

Element Level

201

Scene Level

201

Palette Backup

201

Creating a Colour Palette

201

Duplicating a Colour Palette

205

Cloning a Colour Palette

206

Importing and Linking Palettes

208

Colours213

Adding a Colour Swatch

214

Editing Gradients and Textures

220

Colour Display Modes

226

Copying and Pasting Colours

227

Mixing Colours

228

Painting the Model

230

Sharing the Colour Model

232

Chapter 4: Timing

239

Preparation

239

Frames241

Creating Drawings

243

5

Contents

Layer and Column Concepts

244

Layer and Column Types

245

Advanced Column Types

248

Adding New Drawing Elements

248

Deleting Layers and Columns

251

Layer and Column Properties

252

Modifying Layers and Columns

255

Duplicating Layers and Columns

258

Cloning Layers and Columns

258

Adding an Annotation Column

259

Linking External Files with Timing Columns

264

Filling Exposure

266

Filling Exposure Mode

267

Typing Exposure

267

Holding Exposure

269

Extending a Single Exposure

270

Extending an Exposure Sequence

271

Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

272

Dragging Cells

273

Increasing and Decreasing Exposure

276

Deleting Exposure

278

Inserting Blank Cells

279

Setting the Exposure

280

Filling a Selection with a Single Exposure

281

Filling a Selection with a Sequence282

Filling a Selection Randomly

284

Filling Empty Cells

285

Creating Cycles

286

Overwriting Exposures and Keyframes

289

Managing Key Exposures

290

Adding Key Exposures

290

Removing Key Exposures

292

Removing Duplicate Key Exposures

292

Pasting Key Exposures Using Different Modes

293

Navigating between Frames and Columns

295

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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

Managing Drawings

296

Renaming a Drawing

296

Deleting a Drawing

298

Duplicating a Drawing

299

Copying and Pasting Drawings

299

Merging Drawings

301

Modifying the Layer and Column Display

304

Expanding and Collapsing Layers and Columns

304

Showing or Hiding Layers

305

Showing and Hiding Columns

307

Modifying the Look of the Column

310

Drawing Identification

311

Key Drawing

312

Breakdown Drawing

313

Xsheet Thumbnails

316

Changing the Colour of a Layer or Column

316

Setting Scene Markers

318

Setting Tempo Markers

321

Printing the Xsheet

322

Modifying Paste Presets

324

Chapter 5: Paperless Animation

327

Preparation

327

Setting Up Your Workspace

328

Setting the Scene Resolution and Length

328

Importing the Layout, Storyboard and Animatic

329

Importing the Animatic

330

Importing the Background Elements

331

Creating the Drawing Elements

331

Importing the Models

332

Importing Model Templates

333

Loading Palettes and Models

334

Creating the Drawings

336

Rough Animation

338

Secondary Animation

342

Bringing Your Animation on Model

346

7

Contents

Animation Clean-up

346

Tools

348

Onion Skin

349

Light Table

350

Rotate View Tool

351

Create Empty Drawing

352

Reposition All Drawings

353

Advanced Tools

357

Flipping and Easy Flipping Toolbars

357

Onion Skin Toolbar

358

Drawing Identification

360

Key Drawing

361

Breakdown Drawing

362

Drawing Desk

365

Shift and Trace

367

Art Layers

374

Creating Strokes

379

Previewing Drawings

380

Chapter 6: Ink and Paint

383

Preparation

384

Dirt Clean Up

388

Removing Art Inside a Selection390

Removing Small Strokes in the Colour Art Layer

391

Art Layers

392

Creating Strokes

397

Painting

398

Painting Using the Paint Tool

400

Advanced Painting Features

401

Repaint Selection

401

Repaint Selection on All Drawings

401

Repaint Outside Selection

402

Repaint Outside Selection on All Drawings

402

Unpaint Selection

403

Unpaint Selection on All Drawings

403

Unpaint Outside Selection

403

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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

Unpaint Outside Selection on All Drawings

404

Selecting a Colour in a Drawing

404

Importing Models

405

Editing Gradients and Textures

410

Closing Gaps

415

Protecting Colours

416

Respecting Protected Colours

417

Highlighting a Selected Colour

417

Inverting a Colour Selection

418

Inking the Lines

418

Repaint Tool

419

Repaint Brush Mode419

Ink Tool

419

Protecting Colours

421

Breaking Triangles

421

Verifying the Zones are Painted

422

Ink and Paint Tool Properties

425

Ink Tool Properties

425

Paint Tool Properties

426

Lasso and Marquee

427

Painting Modes

427

Paint Mode

427

Paint Unpainted Mode

428

Repaint Mode

428

Unpaint Mode

428

Paint and Remove Texture

429

Apply to Multiple Drawings

429

Apply to All Visible Drawings

429

Respect Protected Colour

430

Use Stored Colour Gradient430

Select Newly Painted, Repainted and Unpainted Contours/Lines

430

Close Gap

430

Chapter 7: Morphing

433

Understanding Morphing434

Ideas behind Morphing434

9Contents

Source and Destination Drawings

434

Morphing Rules

435

Creating a Basic Morphing Sequence439

Tool Properties View

441

Adjusting the Velocity and Timing

444

Morphing Tool and Hints

447

Using the Morphing Tool

448

Hints

451

Copying Hint Points from One Drawing to Another

453

Morphing Layers

455

Morphing Two Sequences in a Row

462

Inserting a Morphing Key Drawing

463

Converting Morphing Inbetweens to Drawings

464

Morphing Holes and Transparencies

464

Adjusting the Morphing Quality

467

Tips and Tricks

467

Glossary

468

Index

478

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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

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

Topics in this section:•

Design and Drawing Tools•

Colour Styling and Colour Models on page 191•

Timing on page 239

11Chapter 1: Paperless Animation - An Introduction•

Paperless Animation on page 327•

Ink and Paint on page 383•

Morphing on page 433

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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Another important step in the project creation is the character, prop and location design. This determines thestyle and 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
the colours entirely on paper, while others like to design on paper and scan the drawings to create the colour
model in a software program. The most popular method is to design directly 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 13•

Sketching the Model on page 15•

Cleaning and Inking the Model on page 30

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 34

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 115

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

Getting References on page 14•

Using the Workspace on page 14

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Getting References

Creating models requires two main reference sources, the script and the storyboard. Once you have the scriptin 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.

14Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

Sketching the Model

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

Drawing with the Brush or Pencil Tool

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

•

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

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

15

option.

tool.

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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

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

Override Tool
The Override tool lets you increase productivity by rapidly switching between tools used for short tasks andyour previous tool. Most drawing tool shortcuts are accessed using the Alt key followed by another key, suchas the Eraser tool which is accessed by pressing Alt + E.
If you are drawing with the Brush tool and need to briefly switch to the Eraser before continuing, hold down
the E key while you are erasing. Once you are done, release the E key to return to the previous tool; in thiscase, 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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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

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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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Line UpA line up consists of copying and pasting all your character designs into the same drawing and then scaling
them to the correct proportion in relation to the other characters. This line up is very important and should behanded 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 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 thebreakdown scene, the size relation should be correct.
Field Chart

Harmony includes a field chart in its Drawing and Camera views. This tool is very useful in setting thecharacters' and props' heights.
It is recommended that you keep the character design and breakdown inside the 12 field size. This ensures that
it fits the default camera size and the template thumbnails. If some parts were drawn too big or too far apart,18

Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

you can 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
elements.

View > Grid > Overlay

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.

19Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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

20Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

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

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

Colour: Saves the current colour into the tool preset.

7. Click OK.
For more information on Tool Presets—see Working with Tool Presets

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

21Chapter 2: 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
that you use the default palette for the colour models. A different colour palette should be created for eachcolour 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
The Create Palette window opens.
2. Enter the palette name according to the model.

22

button.

Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless 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. In the Colour view, click the Show Palette List View button to display the palette list.

3. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour view menu, select Palettes > New.

‣

Click the Create Palettebutton.

The Palette Browser: Create Palette dialog box opens.

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

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

‣

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

‣

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

‣

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

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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

6. Select a Palette List option.

‣

The Scene Palette List is mainly used with cut-out animation. A cut-out character will often be divided
in twenty to thirty different drawing elements that use the character's master palette.
The palette list is stored at the scene level instead of the Element directory. This way, all palettes
linked to this list will appear in every drawing element created in the scene. There is no need tomanually load the palette in each element.

‣

The Element Palette List is mainly used with traditional and paperless animation. Unlike cut-out
animation, all columns (drawing elements) contain different characters, props, backgrounds andeffects. The Element Palette List is used because you do not necessarily want all of the palettes forall 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 accessa global palette list, link your palettes to the Scene Palette List.

7. Click OK.
The new palette appears in the palette list.
How to add or modify a solid colour swatch
1. In the Colour view, click the Add Colour

button.

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

24Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

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.

‣

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, thedropper will not have this behaviour.

25

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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.

26Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

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

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

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

Sketching the Character

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

Add a drawing layerlSketch the model

You have the choice to sketch your model as a bitmap or vector drawing. If you like the feel of drawing withbitmap lines, you can set your layer as bitmap. If you like drawing with vectors, you can set your layer as vector. If
you use vector, you will be able to enlarge your drawing and zoom into it without losing quality or resolution. You
can also use the Contour Editor and Select tools to resize and modify lines. If you draw with bitmap, you will not
be able to scale the drawing beyond 100% of its resolution without encountering pixelization issues.
If you would like to separate your lines and colours on separated art layers, see Art Layers on page 392

27

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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

button or press Ctrl + R (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ +The Add Drawing Layer window opens.

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

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

‣

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

A new drawing layer is added to the Timeline view.
How to 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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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

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.

29

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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 andcolours to do so, especially if you are not the one doing the colour styling. If you have already created a palette
for your model, you can add new colours for tracing.
If you want to keep your roughs and sketches, add a new drawing layer and trace in it using the Light Table.
This is the equivalent of adding a sheet of paper and tracing over the rough using the animation disk lighttable. You only need to disable the rough layer to prevent it from appearing in the final scene render.
If you would like to separate your lines and colours on separated art layers, see Art Layers on page 392
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.

30Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

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

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

In the Tools toolbar, select the Select‣In the Camera or Drawing view, select the two strokes to be merged.

‣

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

You can also set the Join option to Mitre.

tool.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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

tool located in the Contour Editor menu.

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

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

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

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

‣

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

‣

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

‣

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

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

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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

Drawing Tasks
Harmony has a wide variety of drawing tools for all kinds of drawing tasks. This section covers how to use
these tools. For the complete details on their options in the Tool Properties view, see Drawing Tool
References on page 115.
In this topic, you will learn about:•

Current Drawing on Top on page 35•

Drawing with the Pencil Tool on page 36•

Drawing with the Brush Tool on page 49•

Drawing with Textured Brushes on Vector Drawing Layer on page 56•

Viewing the Final Lines as You Draw on page 79•

Selecting the Current Colour of a Tool on page 80Selecting the Current Colour of a Tool•

Selecting Drawing Objects on page 83

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Erasing Parts of a Drawing on page 87•

Reshaping a Drawing Using the Contour Editor Tool on page 90•

Reshaping Pencil Lines with the Pencil Editor Tool on page 92•

Drawing with Shapes on page 95•

Drawing with the Polyline Tool on page 96•

Drawing with Invisible Lines on page 97•

Deforming a Drawing with the Perspective Tool on page 99•

Warping a Drawing with the Envelope Tool on page 100•

Cutting Drawing Parts on page 102•

Smoothing Lines on page 103•

Working With Text on page 104•

Working with Tool Presets on page 105•

More Drawing Tools on page 108

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
behind that object.

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

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

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools‣

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

button.

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

Drawing with the Pencil Tool

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

tool or press Alt + /.

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

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

When you get close to an existing pencil line, hold Alt to draw and connect your stroke to theexisting one. Pencil lines are central vector lines and you might think your line is connected, but infact, only the contour is touching the other one. Also, make sure the central vector crosses the otherone.
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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How to modify the pencil settings
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil

tool or press Alt + /.

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

The Pencil Properties window opens.

37Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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

Description

Size and Smoothness tab
Maximum Size

Sets the maximum width of the line.

Minimum Size

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

Smoothness

Lets you modify the central line smoothness of the line. This 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 willsmooth the contour of the line once it has been traced; the higher the value,
the fewer control points will compose your line.

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

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

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

•

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

Texture tab
TextureSee Pencil Line Texture on page 44.

Working with Pencil Presets

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

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

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

39

tool.

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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

tool.

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

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

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

tool.

2. In the Tool Properties view, adjust your pencil settings—see How to modify the pencil settings on page37.
3. In the Tool Properties view, click the New BrushThe New Preset dialog box opens.

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

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

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

button.

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

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

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

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

The style you selected is applied to your selection.

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

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

, select Rename Brush.

The Rename Preset dialog box opens.

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

tool.

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

button.

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

, select Import Brushes.

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

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

43Chapter 2: 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.

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

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independent from pencil templates.
When you import a texture in your pencil styles, it is saved in your scene. If you want to add that texture to a bankthat you will reuse in different scenes, you can add that texture to your preferences.
There is a pencil texture palette created in each scene. In order for this palette to be created, you need to draw apencil stroke using texture. To see it, you need to enable the Advance Palette Lists option. Once enabled, you will
see a palette named pencilstyle_opacity in your palette list.
For advanced usage, you can assign a custom palette as your pencil texture palette. All textures used to draw inyour scene will be added to this custom palette. This gives you the ability to save your custom palette at theEnvironment or Job level if you want to reuse that palette in more than one scene.
How to apply a preset texture to a pencil line
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil

tool.

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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

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

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

button or select New Texture from the Tex-

button or select Delete Texture from the

4. Browse for your bitmap texture file.

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

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

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

7. Click the Texture menu

and select Rename Texture.

The Rename Opacity Texture dialog box opens.

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

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

tool.

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

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

button.

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

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

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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

How to assign a custom palette as the Pencil Texture Palette
1. In the Colour view, create your custom palette and save it at the level of your choice.
2. Select the palette you want to assign as your pencil texture palette.
3. From the Colour view menu, select Palette > Pencil Texture Palette.
How to enable the Advanced Palette Lists preference
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences ( Windows/Linux ) or Stage > Preferences ( Mac OS X ).
2. In the Preferences dialog box, select the Advanced tab.
3. In the Advanced Options section, select the Advanced Palette Lists option.
4. Click OK.

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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
and zoom into it without losing quality or resolution. You can also use the Contour Editor and Select tools toresize and modify 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 mostfrequently.
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 ormultiple 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.

49

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

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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

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

‣

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

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

tool or press Alt + B.

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

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

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

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

tool or press Alt + B.

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

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

tool or press Alt + B.

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

The Brush Properties window opens.

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.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Parameter

Description

Size and Smoothness Tab
Maximum Size

Sets the maximum width of the line.

Minimum Size

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

Smoothness

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

Contour Smoothness

Optimizes the contour line smoothness of the line. This parameter smooths
the contour of the line once it has been traced. The higher the value, thefewer 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

Texture Tab
TextureSee Drawing with Textured Brushes on Vector Drawing Layer on page 56

NOTE: If you are trying to create artwork on a bitmap drawing layer, and therefore with a bitmap brush, see
Drawing with Bitmap Brushes on Bitmap Drawing Layers on page 67

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 Brushin the upper-right corner.

‣

Click the New Brush‣

From the Brushbutton.
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.

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How to update a brush preset
1. Select the brush preset to update and click the arrow button to display the Brush Properties window.

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

button in the upper-right corner.

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

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

Click the Delete Brush‣

From the Brushbutton.

menu , select Delete Brush.

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

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

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4. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush

tool or press Alt + B.

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

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

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

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

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3. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool.

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

option to allow the Select tool to

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

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

tool or press Alt + B.

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

8. From the Brush menu, select Rename Brush.
The Rename Preset dialog box opens.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

9. Type in a name for the new dynamic brush and click OK.
10. In the Camera or Drawing view, start drawing with your dynamic brush to quickly repeat a pattern.
When you use this brush, you will cycle through the drawings.

Drawing with Textured Brushes on Vector Drawing Layer

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In Harmony, you can use the Brush

tool to draw bitmap textured lines.

In the Brush Tool Properties view, you will find a series of default textured "brushes", but you can also create andimport your own custom collection. In Harmony, when using a textured brush on a vector layer, the texture of abrush is referred to as the Paper Texture. In other words, we are attributing the texture not to the tool, but tothe texture of the surface that is revealed when a stroke passes over it. You will understand why when you workwith bitmap brushes on bitmap layers, where it is possible to have both a textured brush tip and a paper texture.
To create your own textured brush, you must prepare your texture file ahead of time, either in Harmony or in athird-party software, such as Adobe Photoshop. Colour is not supported and transparency is not supported in
the traditional sense. Black appears as 100% opaque, white appears as 100% transparent, and all the shades ofgrey in between appear as varying degrees of semitransparenty. A range of file formats are supported—.jpeg,.png, .tif, .psd, .tga to name a few. Alpha channels are disregarded on import. It is recommended that you
maintain the texture resolution between 100 x 100 pixels and 400 x 400 pixels.
You can import your custom paper textures in the extended Brush Properties window. Browsing for a texture filewith a brush selected that is already using a paper texture will replace the file currently in use. It will not, however,replace the texture in lines already drawn. The replaced texture swatch will no longer be the selected texture, but
it will remain in the texture library and not be deleted.
Harmony also allows you to import textures as an .xml file that was exported from another project. In this way,
you do not have to import individual image files one-by-one to have the same texture library and brush presets asothers who you are collaborating with. You can also export brush presets and textures, in order to share yourdefault or customized textures and presets with other project collaborators.
When you use the Eraser tool to erase a portion of a textured line, the vector frame is cut straight and you lose
the feather created while drawing with the Brush tool. In Harmony, a special option in the Eraser Tool Properties
lets you create a soft edge on your textured lines. You can also cut or keep the vector frame as is.
At some point, you may want to modify the look of a textured drawing if you suddenly find that your lines look
too hard or too light. You can adjust those parameters by using the Adjust Line Texture Opacity command.
To draw with textured lines, use the Brush tool and the correct brush in the list. You can also draw with pencil line
texture—see Pencil Line Texture on page 44
How to draw with textured lines
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush

tool or press Alt + B.

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

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

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4. Set the following parameters:
Parameter

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

Hardness

Maximum Opacity

This value corresponds to the transparency of the stroke when the pressureis heavy.
This value corresponds to the transparency of the stroke when the pressure
is light and is a percentage of the Maximum Opacity value.

Minimum Opacity

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

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

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

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

From the Paper Texture menu , select Add.

‣

Click the Add Paper Texture button.

2. In the browser window that appears, navigate to where you saved your texture file.
3. Click Open to import the file into the Paper Texture library.
By default, an imported texture is given the name of the image file.

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How to rename a paper texture
1. In the Paper Texture library, select a texture.
2. From the Paper Texture menu, select Rename.

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

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

In the Paper Texture menu, select Delete.

‣

Click the Delete

button.

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

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

Description

Small Thumbnail

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

Large Thumbnail

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

List View

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

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

5. Click Import.
The imported paper textures will appear in the Paper Texture Library. You can reuse any of theimported paper textures to create other brush style presets.

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How to export paper textures
1. In the Paper Texture menu, select Export.
2. In the Export Tips and Textures window, scroll down the textures list to the paper textures and select ordeselect any textures to create the list that you wish to export. You can export brush tips at the same timetoo.

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

tool, press Alt + E.

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

The Eraser Properties window opens.

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3. Adjust the following:
Parameter

Description

Size and Smoothness Tab
Maximum Size

Sets the maximum width of the line.

Minimum Size

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

Smoothness

Lets you modify the central line smoothness of the line. This 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
the contour of the line once it has been traced. The higher the value, thefewer control points will compose your line.

Tip Shape

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

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

Saturation

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

Maximum Opacity

The transparency of the brush when the pressure is heavy. A smaller value will
leave semi-transparent colour and texture. A larger value will ensure that64Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

everything is properly erased. This option in unavailable if the Keep Vectors
option is disabled.

Minimum Opacity

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

Keep Vectors

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

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

How to adjust the line texture opacity
1. If you are in Camera view, select the Current Drawing on Top option—see Current Drawing on Top on
page 35.
2. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawing that contains the opacity you want to adjust.
3. In the Camera or Drawing view menu, select Drawing > Adjust Line Texture Opacity.
The Adjust Line Texture Opacity dialog box opens.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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

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Drawing with Bitmap Brushes on Bitmap Drawing Layers

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

Brush

•

Cutter•Dropper•

Edit Gradient/Texture•

Ellipse•Eraser

•

Line

•

Paint

•

Paint Unpainted

•

Pivot

•

Rectangle•

Repaint•

Reposition All Drawings•

Select•Text•

Unpaint

Any tool that is unavailable for use will be greyed out.
On a bitmap layer, a temporary vector layer is created when painting with a gradient. Until a modification is madeon your layer with a bitmap drawing tool, you can edit your last painted zone—by either editing the gradient67

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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

Brush

•

Ellipse•Eraser

•

Line

•

Paint

•

Paint Unpainted•

Rectangle•

Repaint•

Unpaint•

Performing a paste with the Select tool selected•

Performing a paste with the Cutter tool selected

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

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

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

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

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NOTE: Your drawing should be scaled up using the Transform

tool when animating, instead of the Select tool, inorder to avoid creating very large bitmap layers. Harmony calculates the scaling of your drawings when you use theTransform tool; your image is mathematically transformed. When you use the Select tool to scale, you are physicallyscaling the drawing.

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

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

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

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

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4. In the Art Layers section, select the art mode for each art layer.
How to adjust the art mode settings in the Preferences dialog box
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences ( Windows/Linux ) or Stage > Preferences ( Mac OS X ).
2. Select the Node View tab.

3. In the Layer Drawing Options section, set the art layers to the desired art mode. Once this option isenabled, all new layers will follow these settings. It will not affect any existing layers.
4. Click OK.
How to convert drawings to match the art mode
1. In the Timeline view, select the layer that contains the drawings you want to convert.
2. From the Timeline view menu, select Layers > Convert Drawings to Match Art Layer Type.
You can also right-click on the selected layer and select Convert Drawings to Match Art Layer Type.
All drawings in the layer are converted to the selected art mode. Note that bitmap strokes are notvectorized when converted to a vector art layer. They are simply inserted in a square vector frame
containing a bitmap texture.
How to change the bitmap layer resolution at the scene level
1. From the top menu, select Scene > Scene Settings.
The Scene Settings dialog box opens.
2. Select the Bitmap Resolution tab.
3. Change the bitmap resolution settings and click OK.
The bitmap resolution settings at the scene level affects newly created bitmap art layers.

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Parameter

Description

Scene Resolution

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

Width

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

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

Resolution Factor

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

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

NOTE: Note that the drawing can be enlarged slightly and retain its original look, but you may lose quality if you
enlarge it too much. Pixels are created and a smoothing pass is applied. You should set your resolution before73Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

drawing. If you need to change the resolution of a drawing to be larger than the one set in the Scene Settings
dialog box, create an empty drawing first and then follow this procedure.

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

Parameter

Description

Scene Resolution

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

Width

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

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

Resolution Factor

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

Resample Bitmap

When this option is selected, the existing bitmap image is modified to matchthe new resolution. If the width and height are increased, more pixels will becreated to enlarge the image. Visually, the existing artwork will look thesame, maybe a little bit smoothed out, but the size will look the same. When
this option is deselected, the artwork is not modified. Only the reference
grid is resized. If the scene resolution is 1920 x 1080 and you reduce thebitmap resolution to 960 x 540, the image will be scaled up to twice the sizeof the scene.

Apply to All Drawings

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

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3. Change the bitmap resolution.
4. Click OK.
How to draw with bitmap brushes
1. In the Timeline view, add a bitmap drawing layer—see How to add a bitmap layer on page 71.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush

tool or press Alt + B.

3. In the Colour view, select a colour.

‣

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

tool or press Alt + B.

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

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

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

Tip tab: Make adjustments to size, brush tip angle, hardness and spacing—see Bitmap Brush Tool
Options on page 125.

‣

Transparency tab: Make adjustments to flow and opacity—see Transparency Tab on page 136.

‣

Dual Tip tab: Select this option to enable the Dual Tip feature. Select a dual brush tip and makeadjustments to its size, brush tip angle, hardness and spacing—see Dual Tip Tab on page 139.

‣

Paper Texture tab: Select this option to enable the Paper Texture feature. Select a paper texture
and make adjustments to its scale, alignment and additivity—see Paper Texture tab on page 143.

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

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

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

Viewing the Final Lines as You Draw

Everything you draw in Harmony is vector-based, unless you purposely elected to draw as bitmap. Although,when you draw in the Drawing or Camera view, notice that your lines may appear jagged. This is caused by thefast real-time display called OpenGL. If you prefer to see smooth lines as you draw, you can enable theantialiasing 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;by default, it is disabled.
There is no need to modify your graphic card settings.

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

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 > 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 the antialiasing. This technique is called supersampling. The higher the number of samples, thebetter the antialiasing quality will be, but the longer it will take to calculate.
4. Restart Harmony.

Selecting the Current Colour of a Tool

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

Brush

•

Paint

•

Pencil, Ellipse, Line, Rectangle, Polyline

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

2. Click on the Brushstorage swatch.

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

storage swatch.

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

storage swatch.

7. In the Colour list, select a colour.

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button to unlink them.

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

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

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

Brush

‣

Paint

‣

Pencil‣Polyline

‣

Line

‣

Ellipse‣Rectangle

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

button to link them.

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

Brush

‣

Paint

‣

Pencil‣Polyline

‣

Line

‣

Ellipse‣Rectangle

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

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

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

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

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

Selecting Drawing Objects

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

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How to select with the Select tool
1. In the Timeline view, select the cell on which you want to select drawing objects.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

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

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

4. To deform or reposition a selection:‣

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

‣

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

‣

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

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

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

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

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

2. Do one of the followings:‣

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

‣

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

option.

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

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

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

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Erasing Parts of a Drawing

The Eraser tool is pressure sensitive, like the Brush tool, giving you more precision when erasing parts of adrawing. 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 tocreate a new preset, while the other is to update the currently selected preset. Use them after you have set all theparameters for the new eraser preset.

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

‣

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

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

tool or press Alt + E.

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

tool .

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

The Eraser Properties window opens.

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

Description

Size and Smoothness Tab
Maximum Size

Sets the maximum width of the line.

Minimum Size

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

Smoothness

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

Contour Smoothness

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

Tip Shape

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

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

Saturation

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

Maximum Opacity

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

Minimum Opacity

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

Keep Vectors

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

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Reshaping a Drawing Using the Contour Editor Tool

The Contour Editor tool is a powerful tool that allows you to add, remove or modify points on a vector line andcontrol them with Bezier handles. It is used to correct line shapes and modify a single part of a colour zone. If aline is too thin or has a gap in it, you can modify and correct it with the Contour Editor tool. You can also use
this tool to create elaborate shapes.
The Contour Editor displays vector points around a shape and the central vector points in a pencil line. Pullingor 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 andpushing directly on the segment between the points. You can use it to perfect a central shape pencil line, acontour 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.
1. In the Tools toolbar, select a shape tool:.

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

button, click the Auto Fill

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

4. In the Tools toolbar, select the Contour Editor

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tool.

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

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

7. 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.
8. 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.

‣

Move the selected points to a new area.

‣

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

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools‣

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

‣

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

‣

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

Reshaping Pencil Lines with the Pencil Editor Tool

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

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

tool or press Alt + W.

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

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

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

‣

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

‣

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

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

‣

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

Drawing with Shapes

In Harmony, you can use the shape tools to draw circles, lines and squares. You can also easily reshape a squareor circle into a much more complex drawing such as these butterfly wings—see Reshaping a Drawing Using theContour Editor Tool on page 90 and Reshaping Pencil Lines with the Pencil Editor Tool on page 92.
How to draw with a Shape tool
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell on which you want to draw.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select a shape tool:.

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

‣

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

‣

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

‣

Hold down Shift to snap the line every 15 degrees.

‣

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

5. Use the Contour Editor

tool to deform the shape and create your drawing.

Drawing with the Polyline Tool

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The Polyline tool is used to draw shapes with a central vector type of line. To form a shape, you click to add apoint 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 90.

Drawing with Invisible Lines

There are two different ways to draw invisible lines.

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Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Using the Pencil tool, you can draw as strokes only, meaning that the line will be invisible. This can be useful for
drawing tones and highlights directly on the character.
The Stroke tool draws invisible lines only. You cannot add thickness to the line. Unlike the Close Gap tool thatcreates a short, straight line between two points, the stroke line will stay exactly where you draw it. This tool
can be 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 strokecolour. In Harmony, you can display the strokes in washed-out colours so that the invisible lines stand out.
How to draw invisible lines with the Pencil tool
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell on which you want to draw.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil

tool or press Alt + /.

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

or press K.

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

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

tool.

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

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

tool or press Alt + V.
or press K.

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

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

tool.

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

Deforming a Drawing with the Perspective Tool

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

tool from the Contour Editor drop-down menu or press

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

Warping a Drawing with the Envelope Tool

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

tool from the Contour Editor drop-down menu.

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

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

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

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

Cutting Drawing Parts

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

tool or press Alt + T.

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

‣

To delete the selected zone, press Delete.

‣

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

‣

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

Smoothing Lines

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When drawing in a digital application, it is not like drawing on a sheet of paper. Sometimes the lines you draw
may look as if they were drawn with an unsteady hand. When this occurs, you may need to correct the look ofyour lines.
Harmony has a very powerful tool you can use to optimize contours and reduce the number of points on thelines, 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,
the Smooth Editor tool colour is yellow, it was changed to orange for screen grab clarity—see Smooth
Editor Tool Options on page 182 to learn about the various settings available.

Working With Text

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

In the Tools toolbar, select the Text‣

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

‣

Press Alt + 9.

tool.

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

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4. You can use the Tool Properties view to select the font, font size and format of the text you will type—see
Text Tool Options on page 184.
5. Type in the desired text.

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

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

The Tool Presets Toolbar

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

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

‣

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

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

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

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

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

Colour: Saves the current colour into the tool preset.

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

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

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

button.

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

button.

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

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

button.

3. In the Manage Tool Presets dialog box that opens, select the tool preset from the left side of the dialog
box.
4. Make any changes you would like to the preset.
5. Click Update.

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

Arrange on page 108•

Convert Brush Strokes to Pencil Lines on page 109•

Pencil Lines to Brush Strokes on page 110•

Strokes to Pencil Lines on page 110•

Optimize on page 110•

Remove Extra Strokes on page 111•

Reduce Drawing Texture Resolution on page 111•

Crop Brush Textures on page 112•

Create Contour Stroke on page 113•

Remove Contour Stroke on page 113•

Grid on page 114•

Group/Ungroup on page 114•

Hand on page 114•

Rotate View on page 115

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

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Name

ButtonDescription

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

Bring to Front

Bring Forward

Send Backward

Moves the selected art to the front(on top).

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

Moves the selected art one level
lower (behind).

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

Send to Back

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

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

Convert Brush Strokes to Pencil Lines

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

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

‣Right-click on the selection, select Convert > Brush Strokes to Pencil Lines or press ^109

Chapter 2: Design and Drawing Tools

Pencil Lines to Brush Strokes

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

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

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

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

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

‣

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

Optimize110Harmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide

The Optimize command reduces the number of layers, such as overlapping brush strokes, in the selected drawing
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.

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

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

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

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

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

Crop Brush Textures

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

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2. From the top menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Crop Brush Textures.
3. From the Camera or Drawing menu, select Drawing > Optimize > Crop Brush Textures.

Create Contour Stroke

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

option.

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

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

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Grid

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

ButtonDescription

Keyboard Shortcut
View > Grid > Show Grid

Show Grid
Displays the grid.

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

Grid Outline Only

Displays the outline of the grid only.

View > Grid > Grid Outline Only

SquareDisplays a standard square grid.

View > Grid > Square

12 Field Grid

Displays a 12-field size grid.

View > Grid > 12 Field Grid

16 Field Grid

Displays a 16-field size grid.

View > Grid > 16 Field Grid

Underlay

Displays the grid under the drawing
elements.

View > Grid > Underlay

Overlay

Displays the grid over the drawing
elements.

View > Grid > Overlay

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

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

•

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

•

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

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

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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.

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 34.
•

Pencil Tool Options on page 116•

Vector Brush Tool Options on page 121•

Bitmap Brush Tool Options•

Select Tool Options on page 149•

Eraser Tool Options on page 158•

Bitmap Eraser Options

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Contour Editor Options on page 162•

Pencil Editor Options on page 165•

Shape Tool Options on page 169•

Polyline Tool Options on page 173•

Stroke Tool Options on page 175•

Perspective Tool Options on page 176•

Envelope Tool Options on page 177•

Cutter Tool Options on page 180•

Smooth Editor Tool Options on page 182•

Text Tool Options on page 184•

Drawing Pivot Tool on page 188

Pencil Tool Options
When you select the Pencil

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

Previewing the Stroke
The Preview area lets you see a preview of the stroke that will be produced after you customize the different
parameters in the Tool Properties view.

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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.

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

MaximumSize: Defines the width of the stroke.

‣

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

Adjusting the Pencil Line Style

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

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

•

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

•

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

Pencil Presets and Thickness Stencils
Harmony provides a variety of pencil presets and thickness stencils and also lets you create and save your own. It
is a good idea to create and save pencils with precise sizes and parameters when you draw and design for
efficiency and consistency.
A thickness stencil saves the thickness information across the length of the line. When drawing with a thickness
stencil, the pressure sensitivity of the tablet is discarded. A thickness stencil can be used while drawing, orapplied afterwards.
You also have the possibility to apply different textures to your lines by either using the default presets orimporting your own—See Pencil Line Texture on page 44.
You can export the pencil presets that you have created and import those that others have created. This is agood way for you and project collaborators to keep a consistent look for the project—see Working with Pencil
Presets on page 39

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Pencil Line Texture
You can apply a bitmap texture on your pencil line and adjust it as needed—see Pencil Line Texture on page 44
Draw Behind

When drawing on vector layers, the Draw Behindmode lets you paint behind existing art. By default,
strokes appear over your work until you release the tool.
Create Colour Art AutomaticallyAs you draw in the Line Art layer, the Create Colour Art Automaticallycorresponding strokes in the Colour Art layer.

option automatically creates the

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

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

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Auto-Close Gap

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

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

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

Auto Adjust Thickness

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

tool.

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

button.

3. Click the colour swatch.

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

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3. Click the colour swatch.

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

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

tool, its properties and options appear in thePreviewing 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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Maximum Size and Smoothing
This is where you set the maximum size of your drawing tool.
‣

MaximumSize: Defines the width of the stroke.

‣

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

Brush Presets
Brush presets are created by saving the properties of the current brush to a new preset, which you can reuse
for repeated tasks. You can create as many brush presets as you need—see Drawing with the Brush Tool on
page 49.
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 canalso import pencils at the same time.

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

3. Click Export.
4. In the Export Brushes window that appears, browse to the location where you want to save the .xml 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. Dis-

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

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

Stroke View

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

Draw Behind

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

Repaint Brush Mode

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

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

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

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

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

‣

Click the New Brush‣

From the Brushbuttonbutton.
menu, select New Brush Preset.

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

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

button in the upper-right corner.

Draw Behind

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

Repaint Brush Mode

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

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

From the Brush Tip menu, select Add.

‣

Click the Add

button.

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

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

In the Brush Tip menu, select Delete.

‣

Click the Delete

button.

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

5. Click Import.

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

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

Description

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Small Thumbnail

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

Large Thumbnail

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

List View

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

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

Maximum Size: Defines the maximum width of the stroke.

‣

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

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

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

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

‣

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‣

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

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Transparency Tab

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

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

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

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

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

‣

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From the Paper Texture menu , select Add.

‣

Click the Add Paper Texture button.

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

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

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

In the Paper Texture menu, select Delete.

‣

Click the Delete

button.

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

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

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

3. Click on the Export button.
4. In the Export Textures window that appears, browse to a location where you would like to save the .xml
file and give it a name.
5. Click Save.
How to change the Paper Texture thumbnail display
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Parameter

Description

Small Thumbnail

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

Large Thumbnail

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

List View

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

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

‣

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

‣

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

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

Lasso and Marquee
Choose between the Lasso•and Marquee

options to change the selection style of the tool.

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

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

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

•

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

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

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

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

‣

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

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

tool or press Alt + Q.
button.

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

Selecting by Colour

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

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

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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.
Permanent Selection

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

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

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

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or vertically.

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

Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

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

operations rotate the current selection 90‣

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

‣

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

SmoothThe Smooth

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

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

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

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

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

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, select the artwork to transfer to the Colour Art.
3. In the Tool Properties view or the Drawing View toolbar, click the Create Colour Art from Line Art
button or press *.
How to configure the Create Colour Art from Line Art option
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

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

Parameter

Description

Use rendered version of thedrawing

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

Maximum Resolution for
rendered image

The size of the rendered image.

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Threshold for rendered image The value of grey processed to create the rendered vectorized arts.
Fitting error for rendered Bez- This value represents how precise the fitting of the colour art zone in relationiers
to the line art will be.
Source layer

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

Destination layer

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

Clear Destination Art Layer
First

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

Perform Line Art to Colour
Art Operation Immediately

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

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

operation converts the selected centre line pencil strokes into contour strokes brushFrom the top menu, select Drawing > Convert > Pencil Lines to Brush or press &.

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Merge Pencil Lines

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

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

Reverse Pencil Thickness

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

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

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

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

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

1. Minimum Size: Type a value in this field to set the minimum thickness of the selected centreline stroke.
2. Maximum Size: Type a value in this field to set the maximum thickness of the selected centreline stroke.
3. Up/Down arrows: Use the up and down arrows to modify the value contained in the Thickness value field.
Adjusting the Pencil Line Style

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

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

•

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

•

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

Pencil Stencils

Toon Boom Harmony gives you the flexibility to change the style and thickness of your pencil lines even after
they are drawn. You can apply preset pencil stencils or create your own—see Working with Pencil Presets on
page 39.
Adding Texture to a Pencil Line
Pencil lines support texture. Once a pencil line is drawn, you can apply a preset texture or load your own.
Textures are independent from pencil stencils—see Pencil Line Texture on page 44.
Adjusting the Text Selection
When you select text with the Select tool, the tool properties will display the Text tool options on the bottomof the view. You can also press Alt + 9 to display only the Text properties in the Tool Properties view—see
Text Tool Options on page 184.

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

tool, its properties and options appear in

For information on erasing textured lines—see See How to erase textured lines on page 63.
For information on Bitmap Eraser tool options—see See Bitmap Eraser Options on page 162.

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

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

MaximumSize: Defines the width of the stroke.

‣

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

Eraser Presets
It is a good idea to create and save erasers with precise sizes and parameters in order to save time when drawing
and designing. Toon Boom Harmony provides you with a variety of default eraser styles and allows you to createand save your own.
Eraser presets are created by saving the properties of the current eraser as a preset, in order to reuse it again
and again. You can create a new preset from the Eraser Tool Properties view, but it is better to do it from theEraser Properties—see Erasing Parts of a Drawing on page 87.
The Eraser tool uses its own preset list, separated from the Brush tool.

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

, select Import Brushes.

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

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

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3. Click Export.
4. In the Export Brushes window that appears, browse to the location where you want to save the .xml 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.

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

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

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

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

Contour Editor Options
When you select the Contour Editor

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

Lasso and Marquee
Choose between the Lasso•and Marquee

options to change the selection style of the tool.

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

Snap to Contour

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The Snap to Contour

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

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

tool or press Alt + Q.

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

button.

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

Snap and Align

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

tool or press Alt + Q.

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

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

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Show Contour Editor Controls

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

The Smooth

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

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

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

Pencil Editor Options
When you select the Pencil Editor

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

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Lasso and Marquee
Choose between the Lasso•and Marquee

options to change the selection style of the tool.

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

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

‣

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

Adjusting the Pencil Line Style

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

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

•

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

•

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

PresetTo work with Pencil line presets, see Working with Pencil Presets on page 39.
TexturesTo work with Pencil Line Texture, see Pencil Line Texture on page 44
SmoothThe Smooth

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

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

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Pump Pencil Pressure

The Pump Pencil Pressure

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

Deflate Pencil Pressure

The Deflate Pencil Pressure

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

Merge Pencil Lines

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

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Reverse Pencil Thickness

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

Shape Tool Options
When you select a shape tool (Rectangle, Ellipse, Line), its properties and options appear in the Tool Properties
view.
If the Tool Properties looks different than the image below, you maybe on a bitmap drawing layer instead of avector drawing layer. If you want to use a shape tool on a bitmap drawing layer—See Bitmap Brush Tool Options
on page 125.

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

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

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

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

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

•

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

•

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

Pencil Presets and Thickness Stencils
Harmony provides a variety of pencil presets and thickness stencils and also lets you create and save your own.
It is a good idea to create and save pencils with precise sizes and parameters when you draw and design for
efficiency and consistency.
A thickness stencil saves the thickness information across the length of the line. When drawing with a thickness
stencil, the pressure sensitivity of the tablet is discarded. A thickness stencil can be used while drawing, orapplied afterwards.
You also have the possibility to apply different textures to your lines by either using the default presets orimporting your own—See Pencil Line Texture on page 44.
You can export the pencil presets that you have created and import those that others have created. This is agood way for you and project collaborators to keep a consistent look for the project—see Working with Pencil
Presets on page 39

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Draw Behind

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

Automatic Filling

Use the Automatic Filling
option to automatically fill your shape with the selected colour as you draw. By
default, the Shape tool creates the outline of an empty shape that you can later fill using the Paint tool. This
option 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.

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

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

Auto-Close Gap

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

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

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

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

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

Keep Proportion

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

Polyline Tool Options
When you select the Polyline

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

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

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

Pencil Presets and Thickness Stencils
Harmony provides a variety of pencil presets and thickness stencils and also lets you create and save your own.
It is a good idea to create and save pencils with precise sizes and parameters when you draw and design for
efficiency and consistency.
A thickness stencil saves the thickness information across the length of the line. When drawing with a thickness
stencil, the pressure sensitivity of the tablet is discarded. A thickness stencil can be used while drawing, orapplied afterwards.
You also have the possibility to apply different textures to your lines by either using the default presets orimporting your own—See Pencil Line Texture on page 44.
You can export the pencil presets that you have created and import those that others have created. This is agood 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.

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

option automatically creates the

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

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

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

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

Lasso and Marquee
Choose between the Lasso•and Marquee

options to change the selection style of the tool.

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

Snap Options•

The Snap to Contour
option will snap the selected anchor point to any line you position it on—see
Contour Editor Options on page 162.

•

The Snap and Alignoption lets you snap the selected anchor point to any existing line whiledisplaying temporary rulers as a guide that you can also snap your anchor point to—see Contour Editor
Options on page 162.

•

The Snap to Grid

option snaps your selection according to the currently enabled grid.

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

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The Flip Horizontal‣

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or vertically.

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

Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

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

operations rotate the current selection 90‣

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

‣

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

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

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

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Lasso and Marquee
Choose between the Lasso•and Marquee

options to change the selection style of the tool.

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

Snap Options•

The Snap to Contour
option will snap the selected anchor point to any line you position it on—see
Contour Editor Options on page 162.

•

The Snap and Alignoption lets you snap the selected anchor point to any existing line whiledisplaying temporary rulers as a guide that you can also snap your anchor point to—see Contour Editor
Options on page 162.

•

The Snap to Grid

option snaps your selection according to the currently enabled grid.

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

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

The Flip Horizontal‣

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or vertically.

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

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Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

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

operations rotate the current selection 90‣

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

‣

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

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

Cutter Tool Options
When you select the Cutter

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

Lasso and Marquee
Choose between the Lasso•and Marquee

options to change the selection style of the tool.

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

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

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

Use Mouse Gesture Breaker Mode
When using the Lasso
selection type, the Use Mouse Gesture Breaker Mode
option lets you draw aninvisible stroke on a pencil line to cut it in two individual objects. Once a pencil line is cut with this option, you will
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

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

The Flip Horizontal‣

and Flip Verticaloperations flip the current selection horizontally or vertically.

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

Rotate 90 Degrees CW and CCW

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

operations rotate the current selection 90‣

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

‣

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

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

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

Show Control Points
The Show Control Points
option allows you to show or hide the Bezier points around lines. When the Bezier
points are displayed, you can see the result of your smoothing and the number 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 Options
Use the Text tool's properties to select the font type and other formatting options you want to apply to thetext.
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.

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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 pointright or left. Using the Select tool will distort and scale your text itself rather than changing the width andheight 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 canedit.
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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Drawing Pivot Tool
The Drawing Pivot
tool lets you set the pivots on your character. You can set the drawing pivots on
drawings and symbols.

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

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

Snapping

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 3: Colour Styling and Colour Models

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 and organized as colour models for the colourists.
Harmony has a great concept of colour palettes. Each character can have its own set of colours that is 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
to use third party software. Also you will not have to recreate the colour palette again in Harmony. It is possible
to create this step in an external software, but it is a great time saver to do it directly in Harmony.
To create the colour style and colour models, follow these steps:•

Preparation on page 191•

Working with Palettes on page 196•

Colours on page 213•

Painting the Model on page 230•

Sharing the Colour Model on page 232

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 192•

Scene Creation on page 192•

Setting Up the Workspace on page 193•

Naming on page 193

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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 to maintain a structure for your models so they do not end up scattered throughout the project.
There are four main model categories:

If you have a small project, such as a short or an advertising contract, you can always place all 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 tolearn 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
the root directory or in a colour models subdirectory for even better organization.
A useful way to name your colour model scene is to include the project name, then the colour model type suchas characters, props, effects, or locations, and finally colourmodel. For example, a character colour model
scene for the Adventure project would be named adventure_characters_colourmodel. This ensuresthat you always know what scene corresponds to what.

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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 ina character colour model scene, it's a good idea to import some of the key locations to compare and adjust thecolours so they match well.

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

Xsheet•Camera•Drawing•

Colour•Model

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

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

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

‣

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

The Layer Properties window opens.

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2. Type in a new name.

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

‣

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

The Rename Drawing dialog box opens.

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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 palette1.
Master palettes contain a colour swatch for each zone to colour with a precise RGBA colour value.
Using a master colour palette has many benefits, including:•

Each character consistently retains their dedicated colours.

•

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

•

Standardization and colour consistency throughout the production•

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

Toon Boom Harmony uses palettes to hold all the colours needed to paint your elements, allowing complete
control and consistency in your painting process.
A palette2 is created by assigning a set of colours to each character, prop or effect. You will create a newpalette and add a new colour, known as a colour swatch, for each zone of the character, such as the skin, hair,
tongue, shirt, pants, and so on.
In Harmony, palettes are individual files that you can copy, transfer, and store. Palettes have a *.plt file nameextension—see Palette File Storage on page 200.
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
is changed, any zone linked to it will update to the new tint. This is one way that colour palettes can save timeand money in your production.
Another advantage of this system is that you can create complete palettes for different lighting situations. For
instance, in addition to the regular palette for a character, you could have one for that character in the rainusing 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 themood and atmosphere of the scene without tediously repainting each element.

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

Palette Lists on page 197•

Palette File Storage on page 200•

Creating a Colour Palette on page 201•

Duplicating a Colour Palette on page 205•

Cloning a Colour Palette on page 206•

Importing and Linking Palettes on page 208

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

•

Basic Mode

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

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

A palette list is a file containing all of the links to the original palette files. Every drawing layer has 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 elementsthat 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 each element.
The Scene Palette list is the simplest one to use. By default, Toon Boom Harmony is set to use only
Scene Palette lists.

•

Element Palette List

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

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 on page 206.
How to show or hide the Palette list‣

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

The Palette List window opens and displays all your palettes.

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

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

‣

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

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

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

‣

In the Palette list, click the Up

and Down

buttons.

Palette File Storage

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

l

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

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

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

By default, the palette is stored at the scene level. For simple projects and standalone projects, it isrecommended to keep it as is. If you work with a larger studio, it is recommended to verify with them on the filestructure.
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.
When a colour model drawing is created, it is stored in its element folder. By storing the corresponding palettefile with the colour model, the colourist can load them both from the same location. This also creates a moreorganized 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
can find the correct one. Saving the palettes at the scene level makes it very easy to back up the palettes andretrieve their location.
The scene level can also be useful for cut-out animation. Instead of creating a colour model scene that includes allof the characters, props, effects, and location, the colour palette or model will often be directly imported to, or
created in, the character building scene. Just as with a cut-out character building scene, each element uses thesame palette so it would not be efficient to save the palette inside one element. Instead, it is saved at the scenelevel. This prevents a palette overload because all of the models are in different scenes. It also allows each scene
to have its own set of palettes corresponding to its model.
When working on a cut-out animation production, it is highly recommended that you work with the Scene level.

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

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

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

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

‣

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

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

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

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

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

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3. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour view menu, select Palettes > New.

‣

Click the Create Palettebutton.

The Palette Browser: Create Palette dialog box opens.

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

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

‣

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

‣

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

‣

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

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

6. Select a Palette List option.

‣

The Scene Palette List is mainly used with cut-out animation. A cut-out character will often be divided intwenty to thirty different drawing elements that use the character's master palette.

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The palette list is stored at the scene level instead of the Element directory. This way, all palettes
linked to this list will appear in every drawing element created in the scene. There is no need tomanually load the palette in each element.
‣

The Element Palette List is mainly used with traditional and paperless animation. Unlike cut-out
animation, all columns (drawing elements) contain different characters, props, backgrounds andeffects. The Element Palette List is used because you do not necessarily want all of the palettes forall 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 accessa global palette list, link your palettes to the Scene Palette List.

7. Click OK.
The new palette appears in the palette list.
How to rename a palette
1. In the Colour view, select the palette to rename.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Rename.

‣

From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Rename.

3. In the Rename dialog box, give the palette a new name and click OK.

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Remove.

‣

Right-click on the selected palette and select Remove.

‣

Click the Remove Palettebutton located above the Palette list.

If the palette was used in your scene, the zones painted with its colours turn red.

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Duplicating a Colour Palette
A duplicated palette is a simple copy of the original palette. It uses the same names, colour values, but has adifferent ID and is independent from the original palette. This ensures that both palettes are completely
independent.
This option is used when there are similar models and you want to avoid recreating and naming all the colours.
You can change the values and the names afterward without affecting the original palette. You can also 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 on
page 200.

4. In the New Palette Name field, name the palette.

5. In the New Palette Name field, name the palette.

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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 indifferent lighting conditions and require a different colour shading. The night palette is a popular choice whena scene or sequence 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).
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 page200.

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

6. In the Palette list, select the clone palette you created to offset or blend colours—see Mixing Colours on
page 228.
7. From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Tint Panel or right-click and select Tint Panel.
The Blend/Offset Tint panel opens.

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8. Select one or more colours to modify. You can select all your colours by pressing Ctrl + A (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + A (Mac OS X).
9. Offset, blend, or mix the colours using the sliders and increasing the Amount value.

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

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

Importing and Linking Palettes
Before starting colouring work such as ink and paint or even creating new colour models, you may want to load
existing colour palettes to your scene. You can do so by linking colour palettes to your palette lists.
You may encounter a case where only a colour palette is visible when a layer is selected. If you need that palettein a second layer, you can link the palette to the second layer's palette list. A good example would be a scene
where there is a character on one layer and its arm is on another. In order for both layers to access the palette,you must link both Element Palette lists to that palette. If your palette is linked to the Scene Palette list, it will
be accessible by all layers.

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If you created a palette in another project and you want to import it in your current project, you can browse forthe 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 all of
the scene’s data is only accessible from that particular scene. Palettes are also local to the scene; they can beshared between all drawing layers, but not between scenes.
However, you may want to share palettes across a whole project. Harmony offers that possibility. By default, a
palette is an independent file stored in your scene. This file can be copied, moved, or deleted.
To link a palette throughout an entire project, you need to create a central directory where you can copy all the
palettes you created. Every time you link a palette in an element, it is linked to this folder. If you modify the
palette, it will be updated throughout the whole project.
You will notice that when you create or link a palette, a small icon appears on its left. These icons represent the
palette's link status.
Icon

Description
Indicates that the palette is safe.
There won’t be any problems once the scene is exported. For example, the palette file isstored 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 moveyour 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 palettefile is stored into the element folder and is linked to the Scene Palette list. The issue in thiscase is that if you decide to delete the layer containing the palette, it will be lost from yourscene.

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 200.
3. Select the palette list linking level by enabling either Scene Palette List or Element Palette List—see
Palette Lists on page 197.
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 yourproject'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 on page 200.
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 on page 197.
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
Ctrl + S (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + S (Mac OS X).

button or press

3. On your computer or server, create a master directory. Ideally, this should be created in your Root folder
to keep 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.

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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.
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 tolink.
11. In the Palette list section, select how you want to load the palette; at the scene or element level.
12. Click OK.

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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 yourdrawings, you will use different colour swatches, unlike some other painting programs where you modify the main
swatch each time you want to paint with a different colour.

In the Colour view, you choose a different colour swatch for each colour you want to paint in 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 thisswatch throughout the entire project. The colour swatch has a unique ID number that associates it with thepainted 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 on page 214•

Editing Gradients and Textures on page 410•

Colour Display Modes on page 226•

Copying and Pasting Colours on page 227•

Mixing Colours on page 228

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

In Toon Boom Harmony, when you click the Add Colour
button, a new colour swatch is created using thecolour of the currently selected swatch from your palette. However, you can set a default colour to be usedevery time you create a new colour in your colour palette. This is useful for creating different shades of thesame basic colour.
The default colour is also the colour used when you choose to vectorize images you're scanning into yourscene, however you add the Default colour swatch to your palette in a different way, so it's unique. It has aunique ID number that makes it easily recognizable from all the other colours in your colour palettes. Being
able to change this colour allows you to change the basic colour of all scanned drawings. This can be useful on
more than just an aesthetic level as sometimes when you go to NTSC or PAL, pure colours, such as pure black,can create problems.

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

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

5. Adjust the transparency with the Alpha slider or type the value directly in the Alpha field.

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

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

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How to change the default swatch colour for all your colour palettes
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences (Windows/Linux) or Stage > Preferences (Mac OS X).
2. In the Preferences dialog box, select the Drawing tab.
3. In the New Colour Pots section, select the Create New Colour Pots Using the Default Colour option.
You can also click on the colour swatch beside the option to change the default colour.
How to add a new colour swatch using the default colour‣

From the Colour View menu, select Colours > New.

A new swatch is added to your palette using the default colour swatch colour. The new swatch 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.

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

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Add extra colours by clicking between the arrows below the gradient bar. Then click on the Colour
Preview to select a colour.

‣

Pull down the arrows to remove them.

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

NOTE: To learn how to reposition the gradient zones in your drawings, see Editing Gradients and Textures on
page 410.

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

button.

The Browser window opens.
2. Browse for a PSD or TGA bitmap file created with a third party software and click Open.
The texture is added to the colour list.

NOTE:
To learn how to reposition the textured zones in your drawings, see Editing Gradients and Textures on page 410.

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

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How to replace a texture swatch
1. In the Colour view, select the texture swatch that contains the bitmap texture you want to replace.

2. From the Colour View menu, select Colours > Edit Texture or double-click on the swatch.
The Browser window opens.
3. Browse for the new PSD or TGA bitmap file created in a third party software.

4. Click Open to update the colour swatch.

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

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2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour View menu, select Colours > Delete.

‣

Click the Delete Colour‣

Right-click and select Delete.

‣Press Delete.

button.

If the colour swatch is used in a drawing, the Delete Colour dialog box opens.

3. Click OK to delete the colours or click Cancel to abort the operation.
‣

If you delete colour swatches already in use, the zones painted with them turn red so you can easily
identify them.

Editing Gradients and Textures

If you paint a zone with a gradient or texture colour, you can use the Edit Gradient/Texture tool to modify its
position in the zone. You can move, scale, rotate and skew. If you want to match the colour to the animation,

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set the first texture position and copy the Edit Gradient/Texture position. When moving to the next drawing, you
can select the next texture and paste the previous position 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 bothelements independently at the same time.
How to use Edit Gradient/Texture tool
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, click the Edit Texture‣

From the Camera or Drawing View menu, select Drawing Tools > Edit Gradient/Texture.

‣

Press Shift + F3.

tool.

2. Click the gradient or texture colour to modify.

A blue selection frame surrounds the selected gradient or texture.

3. Edit the gradient or texture by adjusting the control handles around the selection frame.

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How to store gradient and texture settings
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, select the gradient or texture zone to store.

3. In the Tool Properties view, click the Store Colour Gradientbutton.

How to use the stored gradient and texture settings
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brushor Paint

tool.

2. In the Tool Properties view, click the Use Stored Colour Gradientbutton.

3. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw and paint.
How to use Pencil Editor tool to edit the texture or gradient on a pencil line
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil Editor‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Drawing Tools > Pencil Editor.

‣

Press Alt + W.

tool.

2. Click on the pencil line to be modified to bring up its contour envelope.

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3. Select one of the contour points around the envelope and move its position to change the size of the tiled
texture or gradient. You can also pull directly on the lines of the contour envelope or play with the Bezier
handles of any given point in order to continue to modify the envelope form.

Expanding the width of the envelope parallel to the pencil line’s central vector will cause the tiled texture
to be stretched. Conversely, reducing the envelope’s width will cause the tiled texture to look squashed.
Reducing the contour’s width perpendicular to the pencil line’s central vector will reduce the number oftiles, while expanding it will increase the number of tiled images.

This editing technique does not just work on texture fills, but can also be applied to pencil lines drawn witha textured “brush”.
How to use Edit Gradient/Texture tool to edit the texture or gradient on a pencil line
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Edit Gradient/Texture‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Drawing Tools > Edit Gradient/Texture.

‣

Press Shift + F3.

tool.

2. Click on the pencil line to be modified to bring up the editor controls.

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3. The editor controls delineate a single tile in the texture. For gradients, this is less applicable. Pull on the
top of the editor controls to stretch the tiled texture throughout the length of the stroke.
As gradients are parallel to the stroke’s central vector, this will stretch the way that the gradient is
distributed in the pencil line’s envelope. The envelope still acts as a boundary for the texture or
gradient.

4. Drag the editor control perpendicular to the stroke. You will feel it glide along the strokes central vector line. This is another way to resize the texture tile. Instead of stretching or shrinking it vertically, thismotion stretches or shrinks it vertically. As gradients are parallel to the pencil line’s central vector,
stretching them vertically gives no visual result.

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How to use Edit Gradient/Texture tool to edit the texture and gradient of a pencil line
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Edit Gradient/Texture‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Drawing Tools > Edit Gradient/Texture.

‣

Press Shift + F3.

tool.

2. Click on the pencil line to be modified to bring up the editor controls.

3. Use the top editor controls edit the gradient.

4. Use the bottom controls edit the “brush” texture.

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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.

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

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

How to copy and paste colours
1. In the Colour view, select one or more colours to copy.

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

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

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

How to clone a colour swatch
1. In the Colour view, select the colour swatch you want to clone.
2. From the Colour View menu, select Colours > Copy or press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C (MacOS 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.
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.

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The Tint Blend/Offset panel opens.

3. Select one or more colours to modify in the colour list. To select all the colours, press Ctrl + A (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + A (Mac OS X).

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

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Parameter

Description

OffsetOffsets the selected colours by the adjustments made using the HSB and
RGB sliders. Use the Amount slider to adjust 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
the selected colours into the same colour as the swatch. Adjusting the HSB
and RGB sliders affect the swatch colour, which in turn affects the selectedcolours 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
just beneath to mix the Base and Tint colours by different amounts. This willaffect the mixed swatch whether it is selected or not. Select either the Tint orBase swatch and use the HSB and RGB sliders to adjust its colour. This willaffect the mixed swatch colour, which in turn affects the selected colours on
the left.

6. Click Apply.

Painting the Model
Now that you've created the colours and the palette, you're ready to paint your model.
The colour model needs to be painted in order to adjust the colours with the other elements in the production.
You can paint your model regardless of the colour RGBA and adjust them later when all the elements are
together.
Once your palette is created and your model is painted, you can import a key background and other charactersusing the Import Drawings option or the Library to compare and adjust the palettes—see Sharing the Colour
Model on page 232 to learn how to import your background file.

For paperless and cut-out animation, it's a good idea to provide a line-up template with the colour model toshow the scale 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 the elementsin the scene. You can store your template in the Library.
How to paint a colour model
1. From the Drawing or Camera View menu, select View > Switch to Colour Art/Switch to Line Art or pressL.
2. Create your master colour palette—see Creating a Colour Palette on page 201
3. Add new colours to the palette—see Adding a Colour Swatch on page 214.
4. Select your Paint Bucket

tool. We recommend the Paint Unpainted

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

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

7. To separate the lines and fill zones on separated art layers, see Art Layers on page 392.
8. Adjust the colours—see Mixing Colours on page 228.

Sharing the Colour Model
When your colour models are prepared and organized in a colour model scene, it's time to share them.
However, since the Harmony scenes are local, the palettes cannot be shared with other scenes. You must
prepare templates from the models and store them in the Library.
The Library is a central repository for all the data which will be reused throughout the production. It can beaccessed from any Harmony scene; if multiple users are connected to the same network, all machines canaccess a central library. These models can be shared among all the users to ensure that everyone has the same
set of colours and references.
A template is a set of elements created from a Harmony scene that can be imported into other scenes. It cancontain drawings, palettes, and any other elements available in Harmony.
A colour model template is very simple to make. When a drawing is stored in the Library, the corresponding
palette is attached to it. This means that whenever the colour model is imported from the Library into thescene, the palette is also imported. To learn more about libraries and templates—see the Harmony Cut-Out
Animation Guide.

NOTE: It is recommended that you add a colour model subfolder to your library.

In the Timeline view, you can create a template by selecting the drawing element's node. This contains all
drawings from the drawing element, palettes, and exposure. A template that was created by selecting thedrawing exposure contains the selected drawings, their exposures, and the palettes.
How to create a template from the Timeline view
1. In the Library, select a folder to store the template. Right-click and select Right to Modify.

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2. From the Timeline view, select the drawings, pegs, effects, keyframes, sounds, exposures, and nodes, anddrag them to the Library's folder. Anything that is available in the Timeline view can be stored as a template.

The Rename window opens.

3. Type in a name for the template and click OK.
There is no need to save the library. Everything is automatically stored and saved as soon as it is pasted in
the library.
How to load a colour model from the Timeline or Xsheet view
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a drawing (*.tvg).

2. Bring the model into the Model view by doing one of the following:‣

In the Timeline view, drag the selected drawing and drop it directly in the Model view.

‣

From the Model View menu, select Use Current Drawing as Model.

NOTE: The Use Current Drawing as Model button is not part of the default Model View toolbar. To add the Use
Current Drawing as Model button to the Model toolbar, right-click in the Model view toolbar and select Customize.
Drag the Use Current Drawing as Modelbutton from the Available Tools column and move it to the right (Toolbar)
column. Click OK.

‣

In the Model View toolbar, click Current Drawing

The model appears in the Model view.

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How to browse for a colour model drawing on your hard drive
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Model View toolbar, click the Import Model‣

From the Model View menu, select Import Model.

‣

Select File > Import > Colour Model.

button.

2. In the Browser window, browse for any *.tvg drawing file on your hard drive.
3. Click Open.
The model appears in the Model view.
How to load the default models
1. In your scene’s folder, create a new folder and name it: models.
2. On your hard drive, copy the *.tvg drawing file you want to use as colour models in your scene.
3. Do one of the following:‣

From the Model View menu, select Load Default Models.

‣In the Model View toolbar, click the Load Default Modelbutton.

NOTE: The Load Default Model button is not part of the default Model View toolbar. To add the Load Default
Model button to the Model toolbar, right-click in the Model view toolbar and select Customize. Drag the Load
Default Modelbutton from the Available Tools column and move it to the right (Toolbar) column. Click OK.

How to load a single drawing from the Library view
1. In the Library view, click the template containing the drawing to import in the Model view.
2. Right-click on the template and select Open As Folder.
3. In the Library view’s left side, select the template’s folder and continuing expanding its subfolders until*.tvg files appear on the right side.

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4. In the Library view’s right side, select the TVG drawing to import and drag it into the Model view.
How to load a template with multiple drawings from the Library view
1. In the Library view, find the template you want to import in the Model view.
2. In the Library view’s right side, drag the template (*.tpl file) and drop it directly in the Model view.
3. Use the Previous Model
and Next Modelbuttons in the Model View toolbar to view all the drawings contained in the template. This can often be the front, profile, and 3/4 views of a character.

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How to load a symbol from the Library view
1. In the Library view’s left side, select the Symbols folder.
2. In the Library view’s right side, select the symbol you want to use as a model, and drag and drop it into
the Model view.

3. Use the Previous Model
and Next Modelbuttons in the Model View toolbar to view all thedrawings contained in the template. This can often be the front, profile, and 3/4 views of a character.
How to clear a colour model‣

In the Model View menu, select Clear Model or press Delete.

How to copy the entire model from the Model view
1. In the Model View toolbar, select the Selecttool.

1. In the Model view, select your model.

2. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy Drawing Object or pressCtrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C(Mac OS X).

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2. In the Timeline view, make sure you have the correct layer and frame selected.
3. Select the Drawing or Camera view, then go to the top menu and select Edit > Paste Drawing Object, or
select the Timeline view and from the top menu, select Edit > Paste cells in the Timeline or pressCtrl + V(Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + V (Mac OS X).
The model appears in the selected view.
How to copy part of the model in the Model view
1. In the Model View toolbar, select the Cutter

tool or press Alt + T.

1. In the Model view, use the Cutter tool to create a selection around the part of your model that you want tocopy.

2. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy Drawing Object or pressCtrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C (MacOS X).
2. In the Timeline view, make sure you have the correct layer and frame selected.
3. Do one of the following:‣

Select the Drawing or Camera view and select Edit > Paste Drawing Object.

‣

Select the Timeline view and select Edit > Paste cells in the Timeline or press Ctrl + V (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + V (Mac OS X).

The model appears in the selected view.

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Chapter 4: Timing

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

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Opening the Scene
The scene is generally created during a previous step, such as scanning (in a traditional animation workflow),
scene 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.
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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.
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.

FramesOnce the references are ready, you need to set the scene length by adding the right number of frames to yourscene. 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 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 highlightdown 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 beapplied to both. You can also see your layers displayed in the Node view as nodes.
To start an exposure sheet, you will use drawing elements. Drawing elements are drawing containers. Any
image file, either bitmap or vector, will use a drawing element.
When you add a drawing element to your scene, a folder is added to the scene directory. This folder is named
the same 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 becontained in this folder, even if they are not exposed in the Timeline or the Xsheet view. There is always adrawing 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, eases, 3D path, Quadmaps and Pegs are for motion purposes during thecompositing step. It's not necessary to create these types to create your exposure sheet.

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

Layer and Column Concepts on page 244•

Layer and Column Types on page 245•

Adding New Drawing Elements on page 248•

Deleting Layers and Columns on page 251•

Layer and Column Properties on page 252•

Modifying Layers and Columns on page 255•

Duplicating Layers and Columns on page 258•

Cloning Layers and Columns on page 258•

Adding an Annotation Column on page 259•

Linking External Files with Timing Columns on page 264

Layer and Column Concepts
A layer is linked to a directory, the location where all its drawings are saved. This directory has the same nameas 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 thesame name are updated simultaneously. You must duplicate or create a new drawing to modify a single
exposure and retain 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 thatwhen you modify, repaint, or correct a drawing named “1,” all drawings named “1” are updated simultaneously.
In order to modify a drawing independently from its other exposures, you must duplicate the drawing.

Layer and Column Types
A column is also known as a layer. There are several types of layers that you can add in the Xsheet 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 asymbol 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 to vectorize 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 abitmap into a symbol, you will be able to mix vector drawings with it on the same layer.

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Camera Layer

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

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

Effect Layer

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

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

A Group layer can be used to organize both the Timeline and Node views. 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, a corresponding node will appear in the Node view. Anylayers that you connect to the Group layer will appear in the Group node connected to an Input and Output
port.

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Peg Layer

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

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

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.

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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 amotion path using 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•

Ease Curve•

Expression•

Annotation

Adding New Drawing Elements
There are different ways to add a drawing layer to your project. By default, when you create a 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 theTimeline view, and a node in the Node view.
How to add a drawing element from the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, click the Add Drawing Layer
R (Mac OS X).

button or press Ctrl + R (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ +The Add Drawing Layer window opens.

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

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

‣

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

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

In the Xsheet menu, select Columns > Add Columns.

‣

Click the Add Columns‣

Press Shift + C.

button.

The Add Column dialog box opens.

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

3. In the Type field, select Drawing.

4. To complete the operation:‣

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

‣

Click Apply to add your new layers and keep the dialog box open to add column.

‣

Click Close to cancel the operation.

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The new drawing element appears in the Timeline, Xsheet and Node views—see Layer and Column
Types on page 245.
How to create a column using the advanced Add Column dialog box
You can use the advanced Add Column dialog box to make more file format and field size options available
when you insert a column.
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences (Windows/Linux) or Stage > Preferences (Mac OS X)
and select the Advanced tab.
2. In the Advanced Options section, select the Advanced Element Mode option to access the advanced
Add Column dialog box.

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

5. In the Name field, type the new column’s name.

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6. In the Type menu, select the Drawing type.
7. In the Element section, select one of the following:‣

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

‣

Reuse Existing Folder: Links your column to an existing folder within the Element folder of your scene.
If you select this option, in the Folder menu, select the folder to which you want to link your new
column.

‣Use Existing Element: Uses drawings from an existing column in the new column. Both columns will be
attached to the same set of drawings, but their timing will remain independent from one another. If you
modify one of the drawings, it will be modified in both columns. This is the same principle as the Clone
column.
In the Name menu, select the column to which you want to link your new column.

8. If you selected the Create New Element option:‣

Deselect the Vector option if you want your layer to contain bitmap images or enable it if you want thelayer to contain vector drawings. Most of the time, the Vector option will be enabled.

‣

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

‣

If you deselected the Vector option and you chose the SCAN type, from the Scan Type menu, selectwhat kind of scanning you want to achieve.

‣

In the Field Chart field, when importing traditional animation, indicate the size of paper on which theanimation or background was drawn. If you are not using perforated animation paper, leave the 12
field default value as is.

9. Do one of the following:‣

Click OK button to create the new column and close the dialog box.

‣

Click Apply to create the new column but keep the dialog box opened to create other new columns.

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

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2. Do one of the following:‣

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

Right-click on the selection and select Delete.

button.

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

2. Do one of the following‣

Right-click on the selection and select Delete Columns.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Delete Columns‣

Press Delete.

button.

The Confirm Delete dialog box opens.

‣

Select the Delete Drawing Files and Element Folder option if you want to delete the drawings andfolders linked to the selected column.

3. To complete the operation:‣

Click OK to delete the selected layers.

‣

Click Cancel to cancel the operation.

The Warning dialog box may open.

4. Do one of the following:‣

Click Yes to delete all the frames from your scene.

‣

Click No to keep the frames in your scene.

‣

Select the Don’t Show This Message Again option if you do not want the dialog box to display
again in the future.

Layer and Column Properties
Each element has its own set of properties that you can modify, including effect and peg layers.

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If you want to modify an element’s properties, you can display the properties of a selected layer in the Timelineview or selected node in the Node view. If you're working with the Xsheet, you can display its properties as well.
You can display a layer's properties as a window or as a view of its own.
The Layer Properties editor allows you to:•Rename the layer•

Enable or disable the layer•

Lock the layer•

Change the track colour•

Activate the onion skin preview•

Adjust the positioning and animation parameters•

Adjust many other advanced parameters

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

Enable or disable the layer

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

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

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

‣

Press Shift + E.

‣

In the Node view, click on a node’s yellow properties button.

The properties display.

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How to display a column's properties in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet view, do one of the following:‣

Double-click on a column header.

‣

Right-click on a column header and select Column Editor.

The properties for the column are displayed.

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2. (Optional) To view additional properties, select Edit > Preferences from the top menu.
3. In the Preferences dialog box, select the Advanced tab, then select the Advanced Element Mode option.

4. In the Xsheet view, double-click on a column header.
Additional properties for the column are displayed.

Modifying Layers and Columns
Once you add layers and columns to your project, you can modify their properties, names, or ordering.
You can change the order of your elements in the Timeline view and Xsheet view. When you change the order ofyour elements in one view, the other one is updated.
The Element Manager window lets you add, delete or modify elements (drawing folders) in your scene. If you havedrawing folders that are not linked to a column in your scene, use the Element Manager to delete them if needed.
How to rename a layer in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, double-click on the name of the layer to rename.
2. In the Name field, rename the layer and press Enter/Return.

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How to rename a layer in the Layer Properties editor
1. In the Timeline view, double-click anywhere on the layer except the layer name to rename.
The Layer Properties editor opens.
2. In the Name field, rename the layer.

3. Click Close.
How to rename a column
1. In the Xsheet view, double-click on a column name. Do not click on the drawing folder name that thecolumn is linked to (this also appears in the column header just below the column name).
The Drawing dialog box opens.

2. In the Name field, rename the column.
3. Click OK.
How to reorder layers in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select the layers to move.
2. Drag the selection to the new location.

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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 displayedin front it. Layers located under it in the Timeline View are displayed behind it.

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

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

Interface Element

ActionElements

Displays a list of the elements in the scene.

Delete Elements

Deletes the selected elements.

Delete Elements and Directories

Deletes the selected layer and its directories(drawing folder).

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Interface Element

ActionAdd/Modify Element

Use this area to add or modify an element.

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

Vector

Select this option if the new element is a vector
drawing or if you want to enable the parameterson the selected element in the Elements list.

Bitmap Format

Lets you select the file format of the bitmap layer.

Scan TypeIf you're planning to scan elements with the Toon
Boom Harmony Scan module, select the scan
type from the list.

Field Chart

If you're importing traditional animation, selectthe size of the paper on which the animation was
drawn.

Add

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

ModifyApplies the parameter changes made to the selected element.

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

1. In the Timeline or Xsheet menu, select Drawings > Duplicate Drawings or press Alt + Shift + D.
The new duplicated layer or column appears.

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

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

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

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

1. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

‣

In the Xsheet menu, select Columns: Clone Selected Columns: Drawings Only.

The new cloned layer or column appears.

Adding an Annotation Column
The annotation columns are useful for marking actions, corrections or other information related to youranimation that you want to draw or write. This way, you can print your Xsheet, take it back to your animationtable and work with the annotations.
Before you can draw in the Annotation column, you must first activate the Enable Drawing option to activate theDrawing mode. Pen tablet pressure sensitivity is not supported in the annotation column.

In the annotation column, you can type in your notes and relevant information, as well as draw sketches and ideasthat will be useful in producing your animation.
Typing in an annotation column is independent from the Drawing mode. You can be in either mode and the typing
will work. To learn about typing values in the Xsheet view, see Typing Exposure on page 267.
You can erase part or all of the annotation column’s text and drawn annotations. Annotations that you type incannot be erased using this method.
You can change the pen size and colour when you draw in the annotation column.
When working with the annotation columns, it is useful to display tick marks on odd-numbered frames.

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To display the tick marks, you must run a short script.
If you scanned your paper exposure sheet’s annotations or if you need to place some pictures or drawings in
the Annotation columns, you can easily import them.
How to add an annotation column
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet menu, select Columns > Add Columns.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Add Columns‣

Press Shift + C.

button.

The Add Column dialog box opens.

2. In the Name field, type in an appropriate name.
3. From the Type list, select Annotation and click OK.
The new column appears.
How to draw in the annotation column
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet menu, select Annotation > Enable Drawing.

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In the Annotation column header, click the icon in the upper-right corner to cycle through the icons until
the Brushicon is displayed.

The Drawing mode is enabled.
2. To draw in an Annotation column, simply use your mouse or pen tablet.

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

In the selected cell, press Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X).

‣

In the selected cell, hold down Ctrl + Shift + click (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Shift + click (Mac OS X).

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

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How to erase part of a drawn annotation using Erasing mode
1. In the annotation column header, click the icon in the upper-right corner to cycle through the icons until
the Eraser
icon is displayed.
2. In the column, click and drag the cursor on top of the drawn annotation to erase parts of it.

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

How to change the pen width
1. In the Xsheet menu, select Annotation > Pen Width and do one of the following:‣

Select a pen width preset.

‣

Select Change Current to display the Pen Width dialog box. In the Pen Width field, type thenumber of pixels for the pen size and click OK.

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

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2. Choose a new colour.
3. Click OK.
How to display tick marks
1. From the top menu, select Windows > Script Editor.
2. From the Script Editor menu, select File > New Script.
3. Type in a name for your script and click OK.
4. In the File list, select the script you created.
5. On the right side of the view, type the following script:
function display_tick_marks(){
preferences.setBool("XSHEET_ANNOTATION_FRAME_MARKER", true);MessageLog.trace( preferences.getBool("XSHEET_ANNOTATION_FRAME_MARKER", false));}
6. Click Verify.
The script is verified.
7. From the Script Editor menu, select Play/Debug > Run.
A dialog box opens with your script selected in the Files column.
8. In the Functions column, select display_tick_marks and click OK.
Tick marks appear on odd frames in the Annotation column. If you do not see tick marks, close and restart
Harmony.

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How to turn off the display of tick marks
1. Follow steps 1 to 5 of How to display tick marks and use the following script:{
preferences.setBool("XSHEET_ANNOTATION_FRAME_MARKER", false);
MessageLog.trace( preferences.getBool("XSHEET_ANNOTATION_FRAME_MARKER", false));}
2. Follow steps 6 to 8.
All tick marks are removed from the Annotation column.
How to import annotation files
1. In the Xsheet view, select the first cell in the Annotation column where you want the imported image tostart.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click on the cell and select Annotation > Import File.

‣

From the Xsheet menu, select Annotation > Import File.

3. Browse for the bitmap image to import.
4. Click Open.
The image appears in the Annotation column.

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

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

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

button.

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

Click OK if you are finished.

‣

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

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

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

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

1. In the Timing Column field, click the Arrow button to create a new timing column, or select the name of thecolumn from the list. If you have an element directory selected in the Name field, the Timing Column will
indicate which files are called from that element directory. Remember that the file displayed at each frame
is based on the element name, cell label, and extension. If the element is toto, the timing column is265

Chapter 4: Timinglabeled 1, 2, and 3, and the extension is TVG, Harmony will display drawings totobody-1.tvg, totobody-2.tvg, and totobody-3.tvg at the selected frames.

In the Xsheet, the <unused> header changes to the name of the node in the Node view.
1. From the Extension list, select the file format of the files you want to display.
1. Click OK.
1. In the Xsheet view, in the Timing column, type the number that corresponds to the suffix of the drawing
file that you want to expose to make it appear in the Camera view.

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 267•

Typing Exposure on page 267•

Holding Exposure on page 269•

Extending a Single Exposure on page 270•

Extending an Exposure Sequence on page 271•

Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings on page 272•

Dragging Cells on page 273•

Increasing and Decreasing Exposure on page 276•

Inserting Blank Cells on page 279•

Setting the Exposure on page 280•

Filling a Selection with a Single Exposure on page 281•

Filling a Selection with a Sequence on page 282•

Filling a Selection Randomly on page 284•

Filling Empty Cells on page 285•

Deleting Exposure on page 278•

Creating Cycles on page 286•

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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
the column.

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

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

‣

Press I.

Typing Exposure
To fill in your exposure, you can type the values directly in the Xsheet view.
If you want to type an exact drawing name or value in the Timeline view, you must use the Parameters section of
the Timeline.

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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 to create.

2. Press Enter/Return to validate the value.

How to type values in the Xsheet view
1. In an Xsheet column, double-click on a cell.

2. Type a value or drawing name in the cell.

3. Press Enter/Return to move to the next cell.

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4. Press Esc to exit the typing mode and return to normal mode.

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

In the Xsheet menu, select Exposure > Hold Exposure > Hold 2 Cells.

‣

In the Xsheet view, right-click and select Exposure > Set Exposure To > Set Exposure to 1, 2,3, or
Set Exposure. The settings you select will be kept from session to session. You do need to set themevery time you use Harmony.

‣

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.

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

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

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

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

How to extend a sequence from the top menu
1. 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.

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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.

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,
the previous exposure does not extend to the new drawing, while in image C, it does.

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

From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences.

‣

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

The Preferences dialog box opens.
2. Select the Exposure Sheet tab.

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

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

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

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2. Drag the cells to the new location.

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

Drop by simply releasing the mouse or pen.

‣

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

‣

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

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

2. In the Xsheet view, position the pointer over the small dotted area
cells.

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3. Drag the selection to any other cell in the same column or in another column.

4. Do one of the following:‣

Drop the selection to overwrite the existing cells.

‣

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

‣

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

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

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

Increasing and Decreasing Exposure
Once a value is entered in the Timeline or Xsheet view, you can increase and decrease its exposure.
Increasing the exposure adds one more exposure to a selected cell; repeating this action adds an extra celleach time. 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 thebeginning of selection.
How to increase exposure
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell.

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2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Increase Exposure‣

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

‣Right-click and select Exposure > Increase Exposure.

‣Press +.

button.

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Decrease Exposure‣

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

‣Right-click and select Exposure > Decrease Exposure.

‣Press -.

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

‣

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

The exposure is reduced by the selected number of cells.

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

Right-click and select Delete.

‣Press Delete.

How to clear the entire exposure of a drawing
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell of a drawing exposed over several cells.

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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.

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

button (you may have to customize the toolbar toInserting Blank Cells
You can place an empty cell between other cells.
How to insert blank cells
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell in which you want to insert a blank cell.

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

Right-click on the selected cell and select Exposure > Insert Blank Cell.

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

‣Press Shift + J.

A blank cell is inserted.

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

2. Right-click and select Clear.

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

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2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

‣

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

buttons (you may have to

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

The new timing is displayed in the Xsheet view.

Filling a Selection with a Single Exposure
You can fill the same value over an entire selection. The selection can be over one cell, a cell range in one column, acell range over many columns, an entire column, or many columns. You can use numbers, words, letters, or any
alphanumeric value.

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Fill Selection
display it).

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

button (you may have to customize the toolbar to

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
or higher increment, as a cycle, and so on. The selection can be over one cell or a cell range in one column or
more or an entire column or many entire columns.

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Sequence Fill
display it).

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

button (you may have to customize the toolbar to

The Sequence Fill dialog box opens.

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

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Filling a Selection Randomly
You can fill in random values over a selection. You can give a maximum and a minimum value and createa range for Harmony to choose the random values from. The selection can be over one cell or a cellrange 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.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Select Animation > Cell > Fill Cells Randomly.

‣

In the Xsheet view, click the Fill Cells Randomly
to display it).

The Fill Cells Randomly dialog box opens.

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

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Fill Empty Cells.

‣

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

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Fill Empty Cells

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Each drawing in the selection is exposed in the range of empty cells that follow it.

Creating Cycles
Once you have entered a series of drawings and exposures, you can create cycles out of them in several ways.
You can loop your drawings using the following commands:•

Create Cycle•

Paste Cycle•

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

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

2. Right-click on the selection and select Create Cycle or in the Timeline toolbar, click the Create Cycle
button (you may have to customize the toolbar to display it).
The Create Cycle dialog box opens.

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3. Enter the number of cycles you want, including the current selection.
How to paste a cycle
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell range to loop.

1. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy Cell from Timeline or Xsheet or press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + C (Mac OS X).
2. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell where you want your cycles to start.

3. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Paste Cycle.

‣

Right-click and select Paste Cycle.

‣

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

The Paste Cycle dialog box opens.

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4. Do one of the following:‣

In the Number of Cycles field, enter the number of cycles you want to paste.

‣

Increase or decrease the number of cycles you want to paste.

5. In the Cycle Type menu, select the type of cycle you want to paste.

‣

Normal (forward): Pastes cycles as for all cycles, starting with the first cell of your selection andending with the last.

‣

Reverse: Pastes cycles in the reverse order of the original selection, starting with the last cell of yourselection and ending with the first one.

‣

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

‣

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

6. Click OK.

NOTE: You can perform the same operation using the Paste Special dialog box. To open the Paste
Special dialog box, select Edit > Paste Special or press Ctrl + B (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + B (Mac OSX).

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

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2. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy Cell from Timeline or Xsheet or press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + C (Mac OS X).
3. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell where you want your cycles to start.

4. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Paste Reverse.

‣

Right-click and select Paste Reverse.

‣

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

Overwriting Exposures and Keyframes
If the area on which you are dropping a selection contains exposures and/or keyframes, they are overwritten by
the content you are selected by dragging. You can set this mode in two places: the Timeline toolbar and thePreferences dialog box.
How to override exposure and keyframes
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, drag to select the drawings you want to move.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Toggle Override Exposure and Keyframe During Drag and Dropbutton (you may have to customize the toolbar to display it).

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From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences or press Ctrl + U (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + U (Mac OS
X). Select the Timeline tab, then select the Override Exposure and Keyframe During Drag andDrop option.

3. Drop your selection at the desired location.

Managing Key Exposures
Before working with key exposures, it's important to understand how keyframes, exposure and key exposure
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 offrames. 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 on a specific frame. If a drawing is exposed before a key exposure and you swap out thatdrawing for another one, then the original drawing is retained. This preserves the key drawing. Notethat Harmony automatically sets 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 propertyof an exposure that forces it to be exposed on a certain frame regardless of whether the previous exposure is
the same drawing or not.

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

Example: Swapping a drawing with no key exposure

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

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

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

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

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Key Exposure‣

In the Timeline menu, select Exposure > Add Key Exposure.

‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Add Key Exposure.

A new key exposure is added.

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Chapter 4: Timing Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

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 thedrawing is split in two and both parts contain the same drawing.

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

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

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Remove Key Exposure‣

In the Timeline menu, select Exposure > Remove Key Exposure.

‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Remove Key Exposure.

button.

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 the rest of the drawing. The first drawing of the selection will be used for the range.

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

How to remove duplicate key exposures
1. In the Timeline view, select the layer that contains duplicate key exposures.

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2. In the Timeline toolbar, click the Remove Duplicate Key Exposure
the toolbar to display it).

button (you may have to customize

Pasting Key Exposures Using Different Modes
As you animate, you will find that you reuse key exposures. There are different options to paste your selecteddrawings when they contain key exposures:•

Enforce Key Exposure: If there are key exposures that exist on copied drawings, they are preserved when
pasting. No key exposures are added. This is the default behavior when pasting.

•Fill Gap with Previous Drawing: Fills selected area in the Xsheet or Timeline view with the previous
drawing.

•

Fill to Next Key Exposure: Fills selected area till the next key exposure.

How to paste using different modes
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawings you want to copy and press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + C (Mac OS X).
2. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell where you want your pasted selection to start.
3. Do one of the following:‣

Press Ctrl + B (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + B (Mac OS X).
The Paste Special dialog box opens.

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From the Timeline menu, select Edit > Modify Paste Presets > Exposure.
The Edit Exposure Paste Preset dialog box opens.

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4. Select the Enforce Key Exposure or Fill to Next Key Exposure option. In the Paste Special dialog box,
these options are on the Basic tab.
5. Click OK.
6. Press Ctrl + V (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + V (Mac OS X) to paste your selection.

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

Frames•Columns

How to navigate through drawings, 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.

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

Managing Drawings
Drawings that are created in Toon Boom Harmony are not stored in their cells. They are actual files stored in
the project’s folder. If you want to rename a drawing or delete a drawing from your project, you need to edit
the file and not the cells.
This section is divided as follows:•

Renaming a Drawing on page 296•

Deleting a Drawing on page 298•

Duplicating a Drawing on page 299•

Copying and Pasting Drawings on page 299•

Merging Drawings on page 301

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

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2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Drawings > Rename Drawing.

‣

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

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

button (you may have to customize the toolbar

The Rename Drawing dialog box opens.

3. In the New Name field, type in the new drawing name.
How to rename a drawing sequence with a prefix
You can rename a drawing sequence with a prefix, which can be quite useful for cut-out puppet breakdown anddeformation animation.
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a drawing sequence. Note that you can only select a drawing range in
one column or layer at a time.
2. Right-click and select Drawings > Rename Drawing with Prefix.
The Rename Drawing with Prefix dialog box opens.

3. In the Prefix to Add field, type the prefix to add before the drawing name.
How to rename drawings by their frame position
You can rename a series of drawings relative to their frame position. This is useful in hand-drawn animation.
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawing sequence to rename.

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2. From the top menu, select Drawing > Rename by Frame.

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

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

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

Right-click and select Drawings > Delete Selected Drawings.

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Duplicate Drawings.

‣

Right-click and select Drawings > Duplicate Drawings.

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Duplicate Drawing‣

Press Alt + Shift + D.

button.

Copying and Pasting Drawings
When you copy and paste a selection in the Timeline or Xsheet view, you are not copying and pasting the actual
drawings, you are pasting the exposure. Exposure is a property; it is the length of time that a drawing is visible
over a series of frames. In Harmony, exposure is independent of keyframes. That is, keyframes are not linked to
drawings. Keyframes can be moved independently from the drawing exposure.
If you want to copy and paste selected drawings into a different layer or paste the selection in the same layer toduplicate the drawings, you must use the Paste Special feature.
There are four different ways to paste your selected drawings with the Paste Special dialog box:
Never create drawing files: When adding exposures to a drawing layer, drawing files will not becreated.
Only create drawing files when they do not exist: When adding exposures to a drawing layer,
new drawings will be created only when drawings with the same name do not already exist in thedestination.

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Replace existing drawings. Create drawing files when they do not exist: Replace drawings
with the 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, suchas 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 newname for the drawing.
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 themost recent Paste Special operation, without opening the Paste Special dialog box.
How to paste drawings with the Paste Special command
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawings to copy and press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ +C (Mac OS X).

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

3. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Paste Special.

‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Paste Special.

‣

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

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

The Paste Special dialog box opens.

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4. Select the Basic tab.
5. In the Drawings section, select the Always Create Drawings or Only Create Drawings When They Do
Not Exist option.
How to paste new drawings with the previous Paste Special settings
1. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

Right-click and select Paste Special Again‣

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

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

Merging Drawings
There are two methods of merging drawings.

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You can merge selected drawings in adjacent elements. The columns and layers will be left intact, andeach new merged drawing will reside in the frames of the left-most column or lower layer.

•

You can merge elements. All drawings will be merged. Unused columns and layers will be deleted, but
the original drawing files are still accessible.

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

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3. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

In the Xsheet view, the right-most column will contain the merged drawings and the remaining columns will be left
blank at the corresponding frames. In the Timeline view, the bottom timeline layer will contain the merged
drawings from all layers and the other layers will be left blank at the corresponding frames. Drawings are notdeleted and are still accessible.
How to merge drawings in entire layers or columns
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline view, select the layers you want to merge.

‣

In the Xsheet view, Shift-click the headers of the columns you want to merge.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Edit > Merge.
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In the Xsheet menu, select Columns > Merge Selected Columns.

‣

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

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

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

Expanding and Collapsing Layers and Columns on page 304•

Showing or Hiding Layers on page 305•

Showing and Hiding Columns on page 307•

Modifying the Look of the Column on page 310•

Xsheet Thumbnails on page 316•

Changing the Colour of a Layer or Column on page 316•

Setting Scene Markers on page 318•

Setting Tempo Markers on page 321

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
some layers are parented to other ones, you can collapse the parent layer to hide its children.
How to collapse or expand selected layers in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select the layer(s) to collapse or expand.
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Right-click on the selection and select Collapse/Expand > Collapse/Expand.

‣

Click the Expand Children Arrow‣

Click the Collapse/Expand‣

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

button on the parent layer.

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

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

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

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

‣

Press 0 and 9.

or Expand All

buttons (you may have to

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

button to display the Functions list.

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

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

‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Collapse Selection
to customize the toolbar to display it).

or Expand Selection

buttons (you may have

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

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

‣

Press 0 and 9.

‣

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

or Expand All

buttons (you may have to customize

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

If you have anything selected, it is not affected.

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

•

When multiple layers are selected and you enable/disable the Solo mode on layers that are not part ofthe selection, 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 orsound layers 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 Mode‣

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/Disable
to display it).

button.

button to show or hide that layer.

button (you may have to customize the toolbar

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 Modelayers.

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button of the layer you want to solo and hide all otherHarmony 12.1 Premium - Paperless Animation Guide‣

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

button (you may have to customize the toolbar

In the Timeline view, you can hide or show certain types of layers such as Group and Effect.
How to show and hide layer types in the Timeline view
1. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

The Show Manager dialog box opens.

2. Select the types of layers you want to display and deselect the ones you want to turn off.
3. Click Set As Default to make these new settings the default ones that will be used each time to start theapplication. Click Restore Default to restore the settings used when installing the application.
In the Xsheet view, you have the choice of hiding or showing certain types of columns such as Annotation
and Functions.

Showing and Hiding Columns
The Xsheet view has a Column List section that displays all the columns contained in the exposure sheet. It can beused to hide individual columns.
If you need to see a column after it has been hidden, you can display it directly from the Xsheet view without using
the Column List section.
You can also hide a column type, such as Drawing or Sound. When you do this, its corresponding layer is disabledin the Timeline view.
How to show or hide columns in the Xsheet view
1. In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Show Column List

button.

2. On the right side of the Functions section, click the Expand button to display the Column List section.
3. Do one of the following:‣

In the Column List section, select the columns to display and deselect the columns to hide.

‣In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Hide Selected Column
toolbar to display it).

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

The Show Hidden Columns dialog box opens.

2. In the Show column, select the hidden columns you want to display in the Xsheet view.
‣

Click Check to select all the selected columns.

‣

Click Uncheck to deselect all selected columns.

How to show all columns‣

In the Xsheet menu, select View > Unhide All Columns.

How to show and hide column types
1. In the Xsheet view, select View > Column Types Manager.
The Column Types dialog box opens.

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2. Select the types of columns you want to display and disable the ones you want to hide.
3. Click Set As Default if you want to make these new settings the default ones that will be used each time tostart the application.
4. Click Restore Default if you want to restore the settings used when installing the application.
How to show or hide Xsheet columns using the Column List
1. In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Show Column List

button.

2. On the right side of the Functions section, click the Expand button to display the Column List section.
3. In the Column List section, select the columns to display and deselect the columns to hide.

How to show or hide an Xsheet column type using the Column List
1. In the Column List section, click the button corresponding to the column type you want to show or hide.

Column Type

ActionShow/Hide All Columns
Show/Hide Drawing Columns
Show/Hide Function Columns
Show/Hide 3D Path Columns

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Show/Hide 3D Rotation Columns
Show/Hide Sound Columns
Show/Hide Annotation Columns

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

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

Empty cells•

Row units•

Held exposure•

Column width

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

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

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How to modify the look of a held exposure
1. In the Xsheet menu, select View > Held Exposures > Line or Value.

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

3. In the Column Width field, enter the desired width in pixels.
4. Do one of the following:‣

Click OK to validate and close the dialog box.

‣

Click Apply to validate the operation and keep the dialog box opened to adjust the next column’s
width.

‣

Click Set As Default to create all the new columns to this width.

‣

Click Close to cancel the operation.

5. To restore all columns to the default value, in the Xsheet menu, select View > All Columns to Default
Width.

Drawing Identification
In the Xsheet view, you can identify drawings as Key, Breakdown or In-between. This helps to keep the Xsheet wellorganized while animating.
When working with several animators, directors or even other studios, the necessity for retakes will often arise.
Harmony gives you the possibility to mark new drawings as either Retake Key, Retake Breakdown, or Retake Inbetweens.
If your production requires you to mark drawings with a custom marker, you also have the option to create yourown.
Make custom marks for the Xsheet by creating your own icons, then cutting, pasting and changing a bit of code.
Not only is it possible to have your custom mark appear in the Xsheet and Mark Drawing toolbars, but also in theOnion Skin and Flip toolbars.

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

Key Drawing
A key drawing is a visually significant pose in a movement, often an extreme position. For example, if acharacter that is sitting down falls on his back, the key poses would be the character sitting and the characteron his back. Of course, it may vary from one animation to another.

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Breakdown Drawing
A breakdown drawing is a pose somewhere between two key poses that better shows the movement. Most
animation moves are arcs, such as an arm waving, somebody bending, or a leg walking. All of these movements
are rotations. The breakdown pose is used to describe this curve better.
The breakdown drawing is then used to indicate secondary poses, also called the follow-through. These actions
can be a big stomach jiggle as somebody jumps, a cloak floating behind somebody that is running, or arms
moving after the main body action. These moves will generally have a different timing than the primary action.
They will mainly start later and finish later. So, the breakdown drawings are used to complete the key drawings.
Note that a breakdown drawing is not always placed exactly in the middle of two keys. It will often be closer toone or the other depending on the timing and the action. Also, you can have more than one breakdown pose
between two keys.

How to mark a drawing as Key, Breakdown or In-between
1. From the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > Mark Drawing.
The Mark Drawing toolbar displays.

2. In the Xsheet view, select the cell you want to identify. This option is not available in the Timeline view.
3. In the Mark Drawing toolbar, click one of these buttons: Mark as Key Drawing, Mark as Breakdown
Drawing
or Mark as In-between Drawing. In the Xsheet menu, you can also select Drawing > Mark
Drawing As > Key Drawing, Breakdown Drawing, In-between Drawing, Retake Key, Retake BD andRetake IB.
‣

If you selected Mark as Key Drawing, a‣

If you selected Mark as Breakdown Drawing, a‣

If you selected Mark as In-Between Drawing, there is no icon displayed in the cell since it is used toremove a Key or Breakdown marker.

icon appears in the cell.

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How to create custom markers
1. With a bitmap editing software, create the following icons in PNG format:‣

Mark Drawing Toolbar icon (24 x 24 pixel)‣

Onion Skin Toolbar icon (24 x 24 pixel)‣

Flip Toolbar icon (24 x 24 pixel)‣

Xsheet Column icon (16 x 16 pixel)

2. Close Harmony.
3. When your icons are ready, open the Toon Boom Harmony drawingTypes.d folder.
••

Windows:•

Toon Boom Harmony Premium: C:\Users\[user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom Harmony\full-1200pref\drawingTypes.d•Toon Boom Harmony Advanced: C:\Users\[user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom
StageAdvanced\full-1200-pref\drawingTypes.d

Mac OS X:

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On Mac OS X, the Library folder is a hidden folder. To display the display the folder, told
down the Alt key.

••

Toon Boom Harmony Premium: /Users/[user_name]/Library/Preferences/Toon
Boom Animation/Toon Boom Harmony/full-1200-pref/drawingTypes.d•Toon Boom Harmony Advanced: /Users/[user_name]/Library/Preferences/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom Stage Advanced/full1200-pref/drawingTypes.d

Linux:•/home/user_name/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom Harmony/full-1200pref/drawingTypes.d•/home/user_name/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom StageAdvanced/full1200-pref/drawingTypes.d

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

Windows: Start > Programs > Harmony 12.1 Premium•

Mac OS X: Applications > Toon Boom Harmony 12.1Premium > resources >drawingTypes.d•

Linux: /usr/local/ToonBoomAnimation/harmony_12/lnx86_
64/bin/Stage/resources/drawingTypes.d

4. Paste your icons in the drawingTypes.d directory.
5. In the same directory, open the drawingTypes.xml file in a text editor.
6. For each custom icon you want to create, add the following line. Make sure to place it before this closing
tag: </DrawingTypes>.
‣<DrawingType text="NewButtonName" pixmapFile="XsheetIcon.png"
commandIcon="MarkDrawingIcon.png" flipIcon="FlipIcon.png" onionIcon="OnionIcon.png" />7. In that line, replace the following information with your new icon information:‣

NewButtonName: Write the name of your new marker. This name will appear in the button tooltip.

‣

XsheetIcon.png: Write the name of the icon that you created to appear in the Xsheet column. Include
the file extension.

‣

MarkDrawingIcon.png: Write the name of the icon that you created to appear in the Mark Drawing
toolbar. Include the file extension.

‣

FlipIcon.png: Write the name of the icon that you created to appear in the Flip toolbar. Include the fileextension.

‣

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

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

Xsheet Thumbnails
When there are a large number of columns in the exposure sheet, it's not easy to quickly identify a particularcolumn. Displaying the column thumbnails makes this easier. This option displays a small thumbnail picture of
the current frame below the column header.
How to display the thumbnails
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet toolbar, click the Show Thumbnails‣

In the Xsheet menu, select View > Show Thumbnails.

button.

The thumbnails appear.

Changing the Colour of a Layer or Column
To easily identify elements in the Timeline or Xsheet view, you can change the colour of layers and columns. The
colours you choose will be reflected in the Node view.
How to change the layer’s colour in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, click the Change Track Colour

button of the layer you want to modify.

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

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

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

button (you may have to customize the toolbar

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

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

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

Setting Scene Markers
Scene markers are visual indicators displayed at the top of the Timeline view in the frame counter area. You canuse it to denote anything relevant to your work. You can indicate the frames you want to clean up, a change inaction, an impact, or where you intend to apply an effect. You can also add a note to a scene marker, which isdisplayed when you hover over the scene marker.
There are two ways to add a scene marker. You can mark the current frame or make a frame range selection
and mark the whole section.
How to mark the current frame
1. In the Timeline view, make sure the red playhead is set on the frame you want to mark. Even if you rightclick on a different frame, the scene marker will be created on the current frame on which the playhead is
positioned.
2. Right-click in the frame counter area and select Scene Markers > Mark Current Frame.

The Timeline Scene Marker dialog box opens. The Colour box displays a black colour swatch, or thecolour of the last scene marker you created.

3. Click the Colour swatch to open the Mark Colour dialog box and select a colour for the scene marker.
Click OK.

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4. In the Note field, enter text to display as the tooltip and click OK.

In the Timeline view, the scene marker is displayed at the current frame.
5. Hover over the scene marker to display its tooltip.

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

The Timeline Scene Marker dialog box opens. The Colour box displays a black colour swatch, or the colourof the last scene marker you created.

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2. Click the Colour swatch to open the Mark Colour dialog box and select a colour for the scene marker.
Click OK.

3. In the Note field, enter text to display as the tooltip and click OK.
In the Timeline view, the scene marker is displayed over the selected frame counters.
4. Hover over the scene marker to display its tooltip.

How to edit a scene marker

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

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

2. Right-click the selection and select Scene Markers > Edit Scene Marker.
The Timeline Scene Marker dialog box opens.

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3. Make your changes.
4. Click OK.
How to delete a scene marker
1. In the Timeline view frame counter, at least one frame counter in the scene marker you want to delete.

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

Setting Tempo Markers
Tempo markers are used to synchronize your animation with a musical score. This lets you reproduce the FPB(Frames Per Beat) and use the tempo signature as tempo markers. The Xsheet view allows you to pace youranimation according to the tempo or beat of the soundtrack music or to any rhythmic sound, such as the ticking
of a clock or water leaking from a spout.

How to set the tempo markers
1. In the Xsheet menu, select View > Set Tempo Marker.
The Tempo Marker dialog box opens.

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2. Reproduce the tempo and beat value of your music or sound for the Xsheet view marker display.
‣

Starting Frame: Enter the number of the frame where you want the tempo markers to begin.

‣

Frames/Beat: Set the frames per beat value. This will determine the frequency (in frames) in which abeat marker will appear. Keep in mind that, by default, 24 frames represent 1 second.

‣

Beat/Bar: Set the tempo of your music or sound. This will determine the frequency (in beats) in whicha tempo marker will appear in the Xsheet view.

3. Click OK.

Printing the Xsheet
Once you have marked all the information, corrections, and timing you want in the Xsheet view, you can print
your exposure sheet. Printing the Xsheet allows you to take it with you to your animation table or give a copy
to the animator. You can also use it to create your Xsheet skeleton directly in Harmony.
How to print your exposure sheet
1. Select File > Print > Xsheet.
The Print dialog box opens.

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2. To set up your print:‣

Windows: In the Select Printer section, select your printer and adjust the rest of the printing settings.

‣

Linux: In the Print Destination section, select your printer and adjust the rest of the printing settings.

‣

Mac OS X: In the Printer section, select your printer and adjust the rest of the settings by clicking on
the Parameters
button. You can also click PDF and select an option from the menu if you want tosave a PDF version of your exposure sheet.

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NOTE: Refer to your printer user guide to learn more about its options.

3. Do one of the following:‣

Windows and Mac OS X: Click Print.

‣

Linux: Click OK.

Modifying Paste Presets
When pasting key frames and exposures, you can modify the existing presets to your liking. There are threepresets you can modify: the default presets for both key frames and exposures, key frames only and exposures
only.
How to modify paste presets
1. From the Timeline view menu, select Edit > Modify Paste Presets and one of the following options:‣

All to edit the default paste preset settings.

‣

Key Frame to edit the preset settings for pasting key frames.

‣

Exposure to edit the preset settings for pasting exposures.

The Edit Paste Presets dialog box opens.

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2. Refer to the following table and edit the presets as desired.
Edit Paste Preset Dialog Box Parameters
Parameter

Description

Drawings
Never create drawing files: Never create drawing files: When adding
exposures to a drawing layer, drawing files will not be created.
Only create drawing files when they do not exist: When adding exposures to
Add/Remove Exposure a drawing layer, new drawings will be created only when drawings with thesame name do not already exist in the destination.
Always create drawing files: When adding exposures to a drawing layer, newdrawings will always be created. If drawing files with the same name alreadyexist, Harmony will create a new name for the drawing.
Enforce Key Exposure

If there are key exposures that exist on copied drawings, they are preserved
when pasting. No key exposures are added. This is the default behavior when
pasting.

Fill Gap with Previous
Drawing

Fills selected area in the Xsheet or Timeline view with the previous drawing.

Fill to Next Key
Exposure

Fills selected area till the next key exposure.

Keyframes
Motion: Copies the properties of the selected motion keyframe to the newframe.
Add/Remove
Keyframes

Velocity: Copies the properties of the selected velocity keyframe to the newframe.
Rotation: Copies the properties of the selected rotation keyframe to the newframe.

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Scale: Copies the properties of the selected scale keyframe to the new frame.
Skew: Copies the properties of the selected skew keyframe to the new frame.
Force Keyframes at Function's Beginning and End: Adds a keyframe to thebeginning and end of the pasted function, reproducing the source function.

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Chapter 5: Paperless Animation

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

Preparation on page 327•

Rough Animation on page 338•

Secondary Animation on page 342•

Bringing Your Animation on Model on page 346•

Animation Clean-up on page 346•

Tools on page 348•

Advanced Tools on page 357

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

Setting Up Your Workspace on page 328•

Setting the Scene Resolution and Length on page 328•

Importing the Layout, Storyboard and Animatic on page 329•

Importing the Background Elements on page 331327

Chapter 5: Paperless Animation•

Creating the Drawing Elements on page 331•

Importing the Models on page 332

Setting Up Your Workspace
To sketch the animation directly in Harmony, you will mostly frequently need the Camera or Drawing view, theXsheet or Timeline view, and the Tool Properties and Colour views.
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.
For more information on setting up your workspace, refer to Chapter 2: Interface in the Fundmentals Guide.

Setting the Scene Resolution and Length
If the scene resolution was not already set by the digital layout artist or by a Toon Boom Storyboard Pro
import, it is the next step to be accomplished. The layout artist, scene planner or animator will often take careof this task prior to the animation when working with paperless and cut-out animation.
How to set the resolution and frame rate
1. From the top menu, select Scene > Scene Settings.
The Scene Settings dialog box opens.
2. In the Resolution tab, Choose a resolution from the list or enter a new one.

3. Set your frame rate.

4. Click OK.

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NOTE: It is important to set the resolution before you begin to set positioning and camera moves, as it may affect theratio and composition.

Once you have set the resolution and frame rate, you must set the scene length by adding the right number offrames to the scene. You can set the scene length from the top menu. If you do not yet know the number offrames that will be needed, simply add some frames so you can draw different poses. However, if you only needto draw a background and one pose, you do not need to add more frames.
You don't need to do this step if you are importing your animatic in the QuickTime movie file format. The
QuickTime import feature takes care of the scene length at the same time as the movie import.
How to set the scene length
1. From the top menu, select Scene > Scene Length.
The Set Scene Length dialog box opens.

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

3. Click OK.

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

Importing the Animatic
If you have an animatic available, you can import it. The animatic will give you the right timing to expose youranimation poses.
There are three ways to import an animatic in a scene.
How to import a QuickTime animatic
Toon Boom lets you import QuickTime movie files in the scene, cut them as image sequences and import thesound as an independent soundtrack.
1. From the top menu, select File > Import > Movie.
The Select QuickTime Movie window opens.
2. Browse to your animatic.
3. Click Open.
4. The Import Movie window displays the conversion progress.

When the conversion is complete, the Import Images dialog box opens—see the Import chapter in the
Compositing and Effects guide to learn more.
1. Click OK.
How to import an image sequence animatic
You can also import an animatic composed of a sequence of bitmap images that were created in a third-party
software by using the Import Images feature.
Use the same technique to import layouts and poses that were created on paper and scanned in third-party
software.
1. From the top menu, select Import > Images.
2. The Import Images dialog box opens—see the Import chapter in the Compositing and Effects guide tolearn more.
3. Click OK.

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

Importing the Background Elements

Once the layout or animatic is set, you can import the background elements.
There are two types of background elements you can import: bitmap and vector-based.
Bitmap backgroundYou can import external bitmap background elements to your scene using the Import Images dialog box. Be sure
to deselect the Convert to Toon Boom Vector Drawing option to retain your elements as bitmaps and preserve
your colours.
To import a bitmap background, follow the procedure to import an image sequence animatic—see Importing theAnimatic on page 330. For in-depth information on importing bitmap images, refer to Chapter 7: How to Import
Bitmap Images in the Getting Started Guide.

Creating the Drawing Elements
Before beginning to draw in the Camera or Drawing view, you must add a drawing element to the Xsheet orTimeline view. You will also need to select the appropriate cell in your drawing element.
How to add a drawing element from the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, click the Add Drawing Layer

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

Chapter 5: Paperless Animation(Mac OS X).
The Add Drawing Layer window opens.

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

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

‣

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

A new drawing layer is added to the Timeline view.

Importing the Models
In order to animate your characters and props, you must load the colour models and their corresponding
palettes—see Working with Palettes on page 196.
Harmony makes good use of palettes. Each character can have his or her own colour palette with its own set ofcolours that can be reused in all the scenes. Each zone (for example, the shirt, eyes, shoes, and hair) can haveits own colour swatch stored in the colour palette. Once the zone is painted with its corresponding colour, thezone and the colour are linked throughout the entire scene.
There is no need to repaint each zone individually. If you modify the colour after the painting process, all thecorresponding zones in all drawings and all layers are changed simultaneously.

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Prior to the paperless animation process, the colour stylist creates the palettes and models and stores them intemplates or colour model scenes—see Colour Styling and Colour Models on page 191.

Importing Model Templates
Once the model templates are created, you are ready to import them into the scene. From the Library, import theappropriate templates to make the models and their palettes available in the scene.
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Load the palettes in the proper drawing element and•Load the drawing models to the Model view.

NOTE: There is no need to obtain the right to modify the Library in order to import a template.

How to import a model template
1. Open the Template Library.
2. In the Template Library, select the colour model storage folder.

3. Select the colour models you need and drag them to the Camera view.
‣To create new layers and nodes, drop the selection on the left side of the Timeline view.

‣

To insert the information into pre-existing layers, drop the selection on the right side of the Timeline
view. In order for the template to combine with existing layers, the structure needs to be consistent.
If you cannot merge the layers together, create new layers on the left side of the Timeline view.

When you import a template into a scene, there is no link between the Library and the scene. Instead, a copy ofall elements is created, such as drawings, effects, and trajectories. You can modify anything copied in yourscene.

Loading Palettes and Models
By importing the model templates in the scene, you have created a new drawing element. This also saves themaster palettes in your scene. These palettes are local to the scene.
The first step is to load your model in the Model view. You will then have to load the palette in your animation
column.
How to load the current drawing in the Model view
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the model's cell.
2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Model view menu, select Use Current Drawing as Model.

‣

Right-click on the Model view and select Use Current Drawing as Model.

The model appears in the Model view.

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Once your model is loaded, you can import palettes in the animation column/layer.
If you are animating a character or prop, it is always a good idea to use its proper palette for drawing, especially
if you need to use different colours to clean the drawing outlines. This will save the colourist from having to load
the palette and repaint with the correct colours.
How to add a palette to your element
1. In the Timeline view or Xsheet view, select the cell in the drawing element that you plan to animate.
2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour view menu, select Palettes > Link.

‣

Click the Link Palettebutton.

The Palette Browser window opens.

3. Select the level in which the palette file is stored (usually Element or Scene).

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4. Select the palette from the list.

5. Click OK.

Creating the Drawings

Once your drawing elements have been created and your palettes are loaded, you are ready to create
drawings for your animation. But before creating the drawings, you should familiarize yourself with thefollowing operations.
There are two different ways to create drawings. You can create drawings automatically by letting Harmony
do it for you or by typing names (Typing mode) in the Xsheet cells.
How to automatically create a drawing
1. From the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the appropriate cell and start drawing in the Camera or Drawing view.
Harmony creates the drawing and names it using the next available number. If there is no existingdrawing, then it will be named "1", then "2" and so on—see the Preferences guide to learn more about
the Use Current Frame As Drawing Name option.

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How to create a drawing using the Typing mode
1. To insert a drawing name in a column cell, double-click on the cell and type the name using alphanumericvalues: 0-9, a-z, underscore (_) and dash (-). By default, if you press the Enter/Return key, the cursor
will move on to the next cell. If you press the Esc key, it will quit the typing mode and return to normal
mode—see Typing Exposure to learn more about the Typing mode.
Drawing Concept
When you add a drawing element to your scene, a folder is automatically added to the scene directory. This
folder is named the same as the drawing element. Its purpose is to store all the drawings related to this drawing
element. For example, when working with cut-out animation, a character can have many hands available. All ofthese hand drawings will be contained in this folder even if they are not exposed in the Timeline or Xsheet view. In
other words, there is always a drawing container associated with a drawing element (layer, column).
All the drawings that were scanned in or created directly in Harmony will be saved in this directory. This meansthat when a value or drawing name is entered in the column, the Harmony will search the directory for thecorresponding drawing to display. If it is unable to find it, a new drawing will be created. The column cells are notstorage places, but simply links to the corresponding directory. If you remove a drawing from the column
exposure, it will not be deleted; it is simply not displayed. You can always access it again.
When you create a drawing cycle, all repeated drawings are linked to the same original files. So when you modify,
repaint or correct drawing 1, the entire cycle will be updated; every time drawing 1 appears, it is accessed from asingle file.

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Renaming a Drawing
When you want to rename a drawing, use the Rename Drawing command. Do not double-click on the frame
and write a new name, as this will create a new drawing and hide your actual drawing. Note that your drawing
will not be deleted; it is still contained inside the element folder. Simply re-enter the name and it will reappear.

NOTE: To learn how to rename a sequence of cells by prefix or by frame position, see Renaming a Drawing.

Rough Animation

The first step to complete a traditional paperless animation is the rough construction, which is the skeleton ofyour animation. You would usually start with the main action. For example, to animate a walk cycle, you will
start with the torso motion and the legs. Head, arms and clothes will be added later during the secondary
animation.
For a satisfactory animation, complete the main action before adding all the details. If you start animating all
the details right away, you will lose a lot of time if you have to make corrections. Your animation will often look
too rigid.
How to animate
1. Press Ctrl + U (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + U (Mac OS X) to open the Preferences dialog box.
2. Select the Exposure Sheet tab.

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3. Select the Use Current Frame as Drawing Name option. When this preference is enabled, drawings will
be named like the frame they are created on (frame number).
4. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush

tool or press Alt + B.

5. In the Colour view, select a colour for the brush. It is a good idea to choose a light colour for your roughanimation. This will help you in the task that follows, the clean up process.

6. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell where the first drawing will appear.
7. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw the first key drawing.

8. With your first cell still selected, do one of the following to mark your drawing as a key drawing. This will
help you stay organized.
‣

In the Mark Drawing toolbar, click the Mark Selected Drawings as Key‣

In the Xsheet view, select Drawings > Mark Drawing As > Key Drawing.

‣

In the Timeline view, select Drawings > Mark Drawing As > Key Drawing.

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9. In the Tools toolbar, click the Onion Skinbutton. The Onion Skin feature displays your previous andnext drawings as visual references to help you draw your new pose.
10. In the Timeline view, click and drag the blue onion skin markers to extend the number of previous andnext visible drawings.
11. In the Camera View or Drawing View toolbar, press either the Onion Skin Reduce One Next/Previous
Drawing or Onion Skin Add One Next/Previous Drawing to reduce or increase the number of previous
and next visible drawings. The red icons
are for the previous drawings and the green icons
are for the next drawings.

12. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell where your next key drawing will appear.
13. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw your second key drawing.

14. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, identify the drawing as a key drawing.

15. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a cell between the two key drawings.

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16. From the Timeline toolbar, click Create Empty Drawing
Shift + R.
‣

to create an empty drawing or press Alt +In the Xsheet view, right-click and select Drawings > Create Empty Drawing or press Alt + Shift + R.

NOTE: Instead of creating an empty drawing, you can simply start drawing.

17. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw your new pose.

18. If necessary, in the Xsheet or Timeline view, identify the new drawing as a key, breakdown or in-between
drawing using the Mark Drawing toolbar.

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19. Use the Flip and Easy Flipping toolbars to review your animation—see Flipping and Easy Flipping Toolbars on page 357.
20. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a new cell and repeat the previous steps for each new drawing.
21. In the Timeline view, use the Enable/Disable All
don't want to see during playback.

and Solobuttons to turn off any layers you

22. To loop playback, move the red playhead to the desired start frame and click the Start button on theTimeline toolbar. Move the playhead to the last frame of the playback and click the Stop button.

23. in the Playback toolbar, click the Loopbutton to start the playback.

24. In the Playback toolbar, click the Playbutton to start the animation.

Secondary Animation

Once your rough animation is correct, you can start adding extra details, such as arms, clothes or hair.
You can add the extra details on the same layer with the same colour or you can also create a new colour sothat you can always see your original sketch.

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NOTE: If you want to keep your rough animation as it is to avoid any mistakes, you can add an extra drawing element
and use the Light Table feature to draw over the first drawing element. This technique can also be used if you want toreuse your rough animation for other characters. For example, if you have a rough walk-cycle, you can reuse it foranother character and add its personal features in a new layer. This way, you only need to animate the secondary
animation instead of the whole body again.

How to create secondary animation on the same layer
1. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the cell in which you want to add new details.
2. In the Colour view, create a new colour (give it the same name and add the prefix _2 or _sec, for example)
or select the same rough colour as before.
3. In the Drawing Tools toolbar, select your drawing tool.
4. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw the secondary animation.

5. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the next cell in which you want to draw.

‣

Press F and G to navigate between your drawings.

6. Do one of the following:‣

Select View > Onion Skin > Show Onion Skin.

‣In the Timeline view menu, select Onion Skin > Show Onion Skin.

‣

Press Alt + O.

7. Extend the onion skin.
8. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw the secondary animation.

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9. Use the Flip and Easy Flipping toolbars to review your animation—see Flipping and Easy Flipping Toolbars on page 357.

10. You can also use the Playback toolbar to play the animation in real time.
How to create your secondary animation on an extra layer
1. Add a new drawing layer and name it secondary_animation.
2. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the rough layer's timing.
3. Copy the timing and in the top menu, select Edit > Paste Special or Ctrl + B (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + B(Mac OS X).
4. Choose Never create drawing files from the options to paste the timing but not the drawing files.

5. If you are working in the Drawing view, in the Drawing View toolbar, enable the Light Table.
6. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the cell where you want to add the new details.

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7. In the Colour view, create a new colour (give it the same name and add the prefix _2 or _sec, for example)
or select the same rough colour as before.
8. In the Tools toolbar, select your drawing tool.
9. In the Drawing or Camera view, draw the secondary animation on top of your rough drawing.

10. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet View, select the next cell in which you want to draw.

‣

In the Camera, Drawing or Xsheet view, press F and G to navigate between your drawings.

11. Do one of the following:‣

In the top, Drawing View or Camera View menu, select View > Onion Skin > Show Onion Skin.

‣In the Timeline view menu, select Onion Skin > Show Onion Skin.

‣

Press Alt + O.

12. Extend the onion skin.
13. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw the next secondary animation.

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14. Use the Flip and Easy Flipping toolbars to review your animation—see Flipping and Easy Flipping Toolbars on page 357.

15. You can also use the Playback toolbar to play the animation in real time.

Bringing Your Animation on ModelIf your primary and secondary animation were done as a rough drawing, it is now time to put your drawing on
model. This means that you have to review your animation and ensure that every single detail is on model andthere is no volume distortion. You can do this directly on the original sketch layer or on a new layer.
If your primary and secondary animation was done quite on model, you can proceed directly to the animation
clean-up. If not, proceed the same way as you did for the secondary animation task to bring your animation onmodel.

Animation Clean-up

When your rough animation is ready, it is time to clean it up and ink it. The clean-up is also called tracing. It
consists of tracing solid and clean lines over the rough animation to get closed zones. This is the final paperlessanimation step before the ink and paint step.

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You will need to add a new drawing layer to create your cleaned up drawing. This is the equivalent of adding asheet of paper and tracing the rough using the animation disk.
This method allows you to keep the roughs and the cleans intact. You only need to disable the rough layer toprevent it from appearing in the scene.
If you plan on tracing your animation in the Drawing view, enable the light table to display all the layers in yourproject.
How to trace your animation in a new layer
1. In the Layer toolbar, click the Add Drawing Layer
2. In the Timeline view, click the Locking the layer in the Camera view.

button.

button of the layer containing your rough animation to avoid select-

3. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, in the new layer, select the cell corresponding to the first key drawing ofyour rough animation.
4. In the Tools toolbar, select the drawing tool of your choice. The Pencil

tool is recommended.

5. In the Colour view, select a colour for tracing your animation. A dark bold colour, such as black, would
ensure that it contrasts well with the light colour of your rough animation.
6. In the Camera or Drawing view, start tracing the first key drawing.

7. If you have some other layers in the way, you can disable them temporarily from the Timeline view so that
only the rough animation and clean-up layer are displayed in the Camera view.
8. In the Tools toolbar, click the Onion Skinbutton and pull on the blue onion skin handles in the Timelineview to extend the number of frames you can see.

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9. In the Camera View or Drawing View toolbar, press either the Onion Skin Reduce One Next/Previous
Drawing or Onion Skin Add One Next/Previous Drawing to reduce or increase the number of previous
and next visible drawings. The red icons
are for the previous drawings and the green icons
are for the next drawings.
10. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the next cell corresponding to a rough drawing.
11. In the Drawing or Camera view, trace your next drawing.

12. Repeat the previous steps for each drawing.

Tools
To understand paperless animation, you must first discover the tools available. There are, of course, drawing
tools, but also practical features such as setting a drawing as a key, breakdown or in-between.
When you create hand-drawn animation digitally, there are certain tools you require in order to work
efficiently, as you would with an animation table, paper and pencils.
The onion skin and light table are used to preview previous and next drawings, cells, elements and frames.
When designing or animating, it is very useful to see your previous drawings. Just as if you were building a cutout puppet, you want to view other drawing elements to know where to draw the new element.
This topic is divided as follows:•

Onion Skin on page 349•

Light Table on page 350•

Rotate View Tool on page 351•

Create Empty Drawing on page 352•

Reposition All Drawings on page 353

For more advanced tools, see:•Advanced Tools on page 357

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Onion Skin

The Onion Skin tool lets you preview the previous and next drawings. By default, the previous drawings appear ina shade of red and the next drawings are displayed with a shade of green. You can change these colours in the
Preferences dialog box.
How to enable onion skinning
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select View > Onion Skin > Show Onion Skin.

‣In the Timeline view, click the Onion Skinbutton on a layer.

‣

In the Tools toolbar, click the Onion Skinbutton.

‣Press Alt + O.

Blue arrows appear on both sides of the play head.
2. Drag the blue arrows to add more frames to the onion skin display.

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Light Table

The light table is used to preview the previous and subsequent active layers in washed-out colours. It is usefulfor seeing the other layers when designing, animating or cleaning up your animation.
Only the currently selected drawing is displayed by default in the Drawing view. When enabling the light table,
the other layers appear as a washed-out display and are used as a reference. You can not select or manipulatethem.
In the Camera view, when the light table is activated, all layers but the currently selected one are shown
washed-out. The display returns to the normal mode when an animation tool is selected.
How to enable the light table
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select View > Light Table.

‣

In the Drawing View toolbar, click the Light Table‣In the bottom Camera View toolbar, click the Light Table‣

Press Shift + L.

button.
button.

2. The drawings for the other layers are displayed as washed-out colours in the Camera and Drawing
views.

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3. In the Timeline view, you can disable the layers you want to hide from the light table.

Rotate View Tool
Use the Rotate View tool (animation disk) to rotate your Camera or Drawing view while you draw for increased
flexibility. The rotary tables in each view are independent; if you rotate the Drawing view 25 degrees, if you switch
to the Camera view, you can use the rotary table in that view and rotate it to a different angle without affecting
the settings in the other view.
How to use the rotary table
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Camera or Drawing view, hold down Ctrl + Alt (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Alt (Mac OS X)‣

In the Tools toolbar, click the Rotate View

button.

The rotary table appears.

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2. Rotate the view to the desired angle.

3. Release the keyboard shortcut or switch to a new drawing tool.
4. Press Shift + X to reset the rotation.

Create Empty Drawing
The Create Empty Drawing command automatically creates a drawing in the selected cell, replacing any
drawing that may already be exposed in that cell and the following ones until it meets another drawing, key
exposure or a blank cell.
How to create an empty drawing
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell in which you want to create an empty drawing.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Drawing > Create Empty Drawing.

‣

In the Xsheet View menu, select Drawings > Create Empty Drawing.

‣

In the Xsheet View toolbar, click the Create Empty Drawing

button.

‣In the Timeline View toolbar, click the Create Empty Drawing

button.

‣Press Alt + Shift + R.

The new drawing is created in the Xsheet and Timeline view.

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Reposition All Drawings

The Reposition All Drawings
drawing included in a layer.

option is used to reposition, scale, rotate or skew all drawing strokes on every

How to reposition all drawings
1. From the Tools toolbar, select the Reposition All Drawings
stroke in your drawing in the Drawing and Camera view.
2. Do any of the following:‣

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

‣

To rotate, rotate the selection box handle.

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

‣

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

3. When you release your cursor, every drawing in the drawing layer you repositioned, scaled, rotated or
skewed will follow the same transformation.
4. You can also adjust the position by modifying the settings and using the operation buttons in the Tool
Properties view.

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Reposition All Drawings Properties

Parameter

Description

Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical

The Flip Horizontal
and Flip Verticalselection horizontally or vertically.
‣

operations flip the current

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

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Rotate 90 Degrees CW and
CCW
The Rotate 90 Degrees CW
and Rotate 90 Degrees CCW
operations
rotate the current selection 90 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise.
‣

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).

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

Width and Height
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.
Use the Offset X and Offset Y operation fields to enter specific values andprecisely reposition the selected shape.

Offset X and Offset Y
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.
The Angle operation lets you to enter specific values and accurately rotate theselected shape.
Angle
1. Angle: Type a degree value in this field to rotate your selection.

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2. Up/Down arrows: Use the up and down arrows to modify the value in
the Angle value field.

Advanced Tools
Harmony has many useful features such as the Flipping toolbar, enhanced onion skin, extra drawing layers, andautomated matte generation.
This section is divided as follows:•

Flipping and Easy Flipping Toolbars on page 357•

Onion Skin Toolbar on page 358•

Drawing Identification on page 360•

Drawing Desk on page 365•

Shift and Trace on page 367•

Art Layers on page 392•

Previewing Drawings on page 380

Flipping and Easy Flipping Toolbars
Toon Boom Harmony allows you to rapidly flip through drawings in the Drawing view just as you do with paper
drawings. You can flip through the key, breakdown or in-between drawings individually, or view a combination.
How to flip through drawings
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > Easy Flipping.

‣Select Windows > Toolbars > Flip.

2. In the Easy Flipping toolbar, click the Previousof your animation.

or Next

button to see the previous or next drawing

3. To display drawings in the first frame after you reach the last frame of your animation, select the Loop
option.

4. Move the slider to the right to flip forward and to the left to flip backward through your drawings.

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The further you move the slider to the left or right, the faster the drawings will flip.

5. If you marked some of your drawings, you can flip through the markers and avoid seeing all the inbetweens. Enable the Flip Key, Breakdown or In-between buttons in the Flip toolbar to see only one
type or a combination—see Tools

Onion Skin Toolbar

In the Drawing view, you can set up your onion skin to display marked drawings only, in the same way that you
flip through your drawings marked as key, breakdown or in-between drawings—see Tools
How to display marked drawings in the onion skin
1. From the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > Onion Skin.

2. In the Tools toolbar, click the Show Onion Skinbutton.

3. In the Timeline view, pull on the blue arrows to extend the number of drawings displayed in the onion
skin preview.

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4. In the Camera View or Drawing View toolbar, press either the Onion Skin Reduce One Next/Previous Drawing or Onion Skin Add One Next/Previous Drawing to reduce or increase the number of previous and next
visible drawings. The red icons
are for the previous drawings and the green icons
are forthe next drawings.
5. In the Onion Skin toolbar, enable the markers you want to see in your Onion Skin preview.

How to enable the onion skin in other layers
You might need to refer to previous and next drawings in other layers than the current one. In the Drawing view,use the Enable Onion Skin in Other Elements feature to see the previous and next drawings of the layers visible inLight Table mode.
1. In the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > Onion Skin.

2. In the Tools toolbar, click the Onion Skinbutton.

3. In the Drawing view, click the Light Table

button.

4. In the Timeline view, pull on the blue arrows to extend the number of drawings displayed in the onion skinpreview.

5. In the Camera View or Drawing View toolbar, press either the Onion Skin Reduce One Next/Previous Drawing or Onion Skin Add One Next/Previous Drawing to reduce or increase the number of previous and next
visible drawings. The red icons
are for the previous drawings and the green icons
are forthe next drawings.

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6. In the Onion Skin toolbar, enable the Enable Onion Skin in Other Elements

option.

‣The current layer is displayed by default in shades of green and red.

‣Drawings in timeline layers above the current layer are displayed by default in shades of blue.

‣

Drawings in timeline layers below the current layer are displayed by default in shades of yellow.

NOTE: You can change default onion skin display colours in the Preferences dialog box.

Drawing Identification
In the Xsheet view, you can identify drawings as Key, Breakdown or In-between. This helps to keep the Xsheet
well organized while animating.
When working with several animators, directors or even other studios, the necessity for retakes will often
arise. Harmony gives you the possibility to mark new drawings as either Retake Key, Retake Breakdown, or
Retake In-betweens.
If your production requires you to mark drawings with a custom marker, you also have the option to create
your own.
Make custom marks for the Xsheet by creating your own icons, then cutting, pasting and changing a bit ofcode. Not only is it possible to have your custom mark appear in the Xsheet and Mark Drawing toolbars, butalso in the Onion Skin and Flip toolbars.

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

Key Drawing
A key drawing is a visually significant pose in a movement, often an extreme position. For example, if a character
that is sitting down falls on his back, the key poses would be the character sitting and the character on his back.
Of course, it may vary from one animation to another.

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Breakdown Drawing
A breakdown drawing is a pose somewhere between two key poses that better shows the movement. Most
animation moves are arcs, such as an arm waving, somebody bending, or a leg walking. All of these
movements are rotations. The breakdown pose is used to describe this curve better.
The breakdown drawing is then used to indicate secondary poses, also called the follow-through. These
actions can be a big stomach jiggle as somebody jumps, a cloak floating behind somebody that is running, orarms moving after the main body action. These moves will generally have a different timing than the primary
action. They will mainly start later and finish later. So, the breakdown drawings are used to complete the key
drawings.
Note that a breakdown drawing is not always placed exactly in the middle of two keys. It will often be closer toone or the other depending on the timing and the action. Also, you can have more than one breakdown pose
between two keys.

How to mark a drawing as Key, Breakdown or In-between
1. From the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > Mark Drawing.
The Mark Drawing toolbar displays.

2. In the Xsheet view, select the cell you want to identify. This option is not available in the Timeline view.
3. In the Mark Drawing toolbar, click one of these buttons: Mark as Key Drawing, Mark as Breakdown
Drawing
or Mark as In-between Drawing. In the Xsheet menu, you can also select Drawing >Mark Drawing As > Key Drawing, Breakdown Drawing, In-between Drawing, Retake Key, Retake
BD and Retake IB.
‣

If you selected Mark as Key Drawing, a‣

If you selected Mark as Breakdown Drawing, a‣

If you selected Mark as In-Between Drawing, there is no icon displayed in the cell since it is used toremove a Key or Breakdown marker.

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How to create custom markers
1. With a bitmap editing software, create the following icons in PNG format:‣

Mark Drawing Toolbar icon (24 x 24 pixel)‣

Onion Skin Toolbar icon (24 x 24 pixel)‣

Flip Toolbar icon (24 x 24 pixel)‣

Xsheet Column icon (16 x 16 pixel)

2. Close Harmony.
3. When your icons are ready, open the Toon Boom Harmony drawingTypes.d folder.
••

Windows:•

Toon Boom Harmony Premium: C:\Users\[user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom Harmony\full-1200pref\drawingTypes.d•Toon Boom Harmony Advanced: C:\Users\[user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom StageAdvanced\full1200-pref\drawingTypes.d

Mac OS X:

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On Mac OS X, the Library folder is a hidden folder. To display the display the folder, told
down the Alt key.

••

Toon Boom Harmony Premium: /Users/[user_name]/Library/Preferences/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom Harmony/full1200-pref/drawingTypes.d•Toon Boom Harmony Advanced: /Users/[user_name]/Library/Preferences/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom Stage
Advanced/full-1200-pref/drawingTypes.d

Linux:•/home/user_name/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom Harmony/full-1200pref/drawingTypes.d•/home/user_name/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom StageAdvanced/full1200-pref/drawingTypes.d

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

Windows: Start > Programs > Harmony 12.1 Premium•

Mac OS X: Applications > Toon Boom Harmony 12.1Premium > resources >drawingTypes.d•

Linux: /usr/local/ToonBoomAnimation/harmony_12/lnx86_
64/bin/Stage/resources/drawingTypes.d

4. Paste your icons in the drawingTypes.d directory.
5. In the same directory, open the drawingTypes.xml file in a text editor.
6. For each custom icon you want to create, add the following line. Make sure to place it before this closing tag: </DrawingTypes>.
‣<DrawingType text="NewButtonName" pixmapFile="XsheetIcon.png"
commandIcon="MarkDrawingIcon.png" flipIcon="FlipIcon.png" onionIcon="OnionIcon.png" />7. In that line, replace the following information with your new icon information:‣

NewButtonName: Write the name of your new marker. This name will appear in the button tooltip.

‣

XsheetIcon.png: Write the name of the icon that you created to appear in the Xsheet column. Include
the file extension.

‣

MarkDrawingIcon.png: Write the name of the icon that you created to appear in the Mark Drawing
toolbar. Include the file extension.

‣

FlipIcon.png: Write the name of the icon that you created to appear in the Flip toolbar. Include thefile extension.

‣

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

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

Drawing Desk
You can work on a portion of an animation sequence or many drawings from different layers. To do this, selectthe segment needed in one or more layers in the Xsheet or Timeline view and then use the drawing desk to allow
you to work only on these drawings.
The Drawing Desk is only available in the Drawing view.
How to send several drawings to the drawing desk
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select a consecutive cell range from one or several layers.

‣

In the Xsheet view, hold down Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) and click on any cell to add it to
the selection, even if it is not consecutive.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline or Xsheet view menu, select Drawings > Send Drawings to Desk.

‣In the Xsheet view, right-click and select Send Drawings to Desk.

‣In the Xsheet view, hold down the Alt key and click on the selection.

The drawing desk opens on the side of the Drawing view.

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NOTE: The drawing desk is by default on the left side of the Drawing view. You can change its positioning in the
Preferences dialog box.

3. If the drawing desk side panel is hidden, click the Arrow button, located on the right side of the view.

How to add more drawings to the drawing desk
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawings to be added.
2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline or Xsheet view menu, select Drawings > Add Drawings to Desk‣

Alt + click the selection.

How to clear drawings and send new ones to the drawing desk
1. Select a new drawing in the Timeline or Xsheet view.
2. In the Timeline or Xsheet view menu, select Drawings > Send Drawings to Desk.
The previous drawing desk selection is removed and replaced with the current selection.

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How to change the size of drawing desk thumbnails‣

Right-click the drawing desk and select No Thumbnail, Small Thumbnail, Medium Thumbnail or
Large Thumbnail.

How to change the position of a thumbnail in the drawing desk‣In the drawing desk, select the thumbnail.

‣

Click the Move Drawing Up
and Moving Drawing Down
new position in the drawing desk.

buttons as needed, to move it to the

How to clear selected or all drawings from the drawing desk
1. In the drawing desk, select one or more drawings to remove.
2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click the drawing desk and select Remove Selected Drawings or Remove All Drawings.

‣

In the Drawing view, press Esc to remove all drawings.

Shift and Trace
When hand drawing animation, it is very important to stay on model as it is easy to lose the proportions orfeatures of a character. The Shift and Trace feature lets you temporarily move a drawing so you can trace it on a
new drawing. This is similar to animators working on an animation light table and using an entire character or cutout pieces of a character and moving it underneath the new drawing to trace it.
Your drawings will not be modified. It will only be moved, rotated or scaled in the Shift and Trace mode. When
you turn off this mode, the repositioned drawing returns to its normal state.
How to enable the Shift and Trace mode
1. Go to the Drawing view.
2. In the Tools toolbar, click the Show Onion Skinbutton—see Onion Skin.

3. Send the selected drawings to the drawing desk—see Drawing Desk on page 365.

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4. In the Drawing Desk toolbar, click the Shift and Trace Enablebutton.

Registration marks appear at the bottom of your drawings.

How to shift
Using the shift and trace manipulator, you can move the registration marks to reposition selected drawings
while you work.
1. In the Drawing Desk toolbar, click the Shift and Trace Manipulator

button.

At the bottom of the Drawing view, a window displays a zoomed in view of the manipulator. You canmove the dividing line between the manipulator and the Drawing view to resize the area.

2. In the Drawing view, transform the drawing as needed, positioning it between your two key poses.
‣

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

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To rotate from the centre peg, click the flat peg hole and rotate.

‣

To scale, pull or push on the triangle control.

‣

To show the pivot point, hold Alt. The pivot point is in the middle of your current drawing view. To
rotate from the pivot point, hold Alt and rotate.

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To scale from the pivot point, hold Shift and move your cursor.

‣

Click and drag the pivot point to move it to a new position. Once the pivot point is moved, you canhold Alt and move your drawing to show it again.

3. To select another drawing and reposition it, hold down Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X).

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4. If necessary, click the Shift and Trace Resetbutton to reset the position of the modified drawing.

How to trace
1. In the drawing desk, select the drawing into which you want to trace.

2. Select the check box next to the drawing you want to allow to be temporarily transformed. By default, alldrawings are enabled for Shift and Trace operations.

3. Select the drawing you want to move.

4. If you want to trace more than one drawing at the same time, you can link them together. In the drawing
desk, select several drawings and click the Link Drawings
button to lock their position together—see
How to link your shift and trace drawings.
5. In the Tools toolbar, select a drawing tool.
6. In the Drawing view, trace your drawing.

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How to link your shift and trace drawings
When using the Shift and Trace feature, you can link different drawings from the drawing desk, so they move
together when dragging or scaling. These drawings can be from different columns in the Xsheet view.
1. In the drawing desk, display the drawings you want to use for the Shift and Trace operation.
2. Hold down Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) and select the drawings you want to link together.
3. In the Drawing Desk toolbar, click the Link Drawings

button to enable linking.

Coloured boxes appear beside drawing thumbnails to identify different linked drawing groups.
A link icon appears beside the currently selected drawing and all drawings linked to it.

4. Shift your linked drawings.

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5. To unlink your drawings, select one of the linked drawings and click the Link Drawing
disable it.

button again to

6. You can shift your drawings independently.

7. To unlink your drawings, select one of the linked drawings and click the Link Drawing
disable it.

button again to

How to enable and disable individual onion skin drawings
You may end up with a lot of drawings in your onion skin display while working with the Shift and Trace feature.
You can disable individual drawings from the onion skin display without deactivating them.
1. In the Tools toolbar, click the Onion Skinbutton.

2. In the drawing desk, click on the drawing’s Onion Skin
the icon turns black.

button to enable or disable it.When enabled,

Customizing Shift and Trace Shortcuts
If you use the Shift and Trace feature frequently, you can assign custom shortcuts for Shift and Trace operations in
the Preferences dialog box—see the Preferences guide.

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Art Layers

Art layers give you the possibility to divide the artwork in your drawing on different layers. For example, you
can separate the outline and colour fill on two art layers, similar to 1950s traditional cell animation. These art
layers are contained within a single drawing as opposed to the layers in the Timeline view or Xsheet columns
where individual drawings with individual timing are stacked one on top of the other—see Creating Strokes on
page 379.
Toon Boom Harmony drawings include four art layers.
•

Overlay on page 375•

Line Art on page 376•

Colour Art on page 376•

Underlay on page 377

You can access the art layers through the Art Layer toolbar. By default, only the Line Art and Colour Art are
displayed. You need to enable the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option in the Preferences dialog box.

Each layer can be used for separate hand-drawn animation tasks, letting you organize your work and facilitatecreation and revision.

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Overlay

The Overlay layer can serve multiple purposes:•

Highlights and tones•

Annotations and corrections•

Sketching
You can also draw in the Overlay layer as it's a regular layer.

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Line Art

In hand-drawn animation, the Line Art layer is mainly used to trace and clean up animation. The outline is drawn
in the Line Art layer and colour is painted in the Colour Art layer.
Colour Art

In hand-drawn animation, you use the Colour Art layer to paint your animation. The outline is drawn in the LineArt layer and colour is painted in the Colour Art layer. Strokes (invisible lines) are generated from Line Art tocontain the painted area.

When you are doing rough animation, you may want to send a clip for feedback or approval before carrying onwith your work. If you have several characters in your project that are overlapping, it may be difficult tounderstand what is going on as you can see through the characters. Toon Boom Harmony can generate amatte automatically in the Underlay, or even in the Colour Art layer, and fill all the zones inside your charactersto make them opaque. This process is fast and easy, and allows you to send easy-to-understand movies.

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Underlay

The Underlay layer can serve multiple purposes. It is frequently used by animators to sketch rough animation or
generate a matte colour when doing line testing.
How to enable the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences ( Windows/Linux ) or Stage > Preferences ( Mac OS X ).
2. In the Preferences dialog box, select the Advanced tab.
3. In the Advanced Options section, select the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option.
4. Click OK.
How to switch between drawing layers
1. In the Art Layer toolbar, click the Line Art
or Colour Art
can edit the select layer without affecting the other one.

buttons. When switching art layers, you

2. Click the Preview All Enabled Art Layers
button to display both layers together. Even when the Preview mode is enabled, you will only be able to edit the select art layer. The other ones are only displayed asa reference. By default, the Preview mode is always enabled in the Camera view. You will only be able tosee the select art layer by itself if you enable the Current Drawing on Top
option located in the Camera
bottom toolbar.

NOTE:
To edit both Line Art and Colour Art at the same time, you must enable the Apply to Line Art and Colour Art
button in the Tool Properties of the tools supporting the operation.

How to switch between the drawing layers in Advanced Art mode
1. In the Art Layer toolbar, click the Overlay Art, Line Art, Colour Art
or Underlay Art
buttons
to display the appropriate layer—see How to enable the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option on
page 377. When switching art layers, you can edit the selected layer without affecting the other one.

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2. Click the Preview All Enabled Art Layers
button to display all the layers together. The other ones are
only displayed as a reference. By default, the Preview mode is always enabled in the Camera view. You
can view only the selected art layer if you select the Current Drawing on Top
option in the Camera
bottom toolbar.
How to generate a matte
1. Do one of the following:‣

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

tool.

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, select the drawing you want to create a matte for.

NOTE: You can also apply the operation to all the drawings in the layer at the same time.

3. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Generate Auto-Matte.

‣

In the Camera or Drawing menu, select Drawing > Generate Auto-Matte.

The Auto-Matte dialog box opens.

4. If you want to create a matte for all the drawings included in your layer, select the Apply to Multiple
Drawings option.
5. Depending on how precise or rough your line is, increase or decrease the radius value. The lower thevalue, the closer to your lines’ contours the matte will be shaped. The higher the value, the looser thematte will be shaped.

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6. In the Source Art menu, select the layer from which you want the matte created: Line Art, Colour Art,
Underlay or Overlay.
7. In the Destination Art menu, select the layer on which you want the matte to be created: Line Art, Colour
Art, Underlay or Overlay.
8. If you already have artwork on the destination layer and you want the content to be deleted before thematte is added into it, select the Clear Destination Art First option.
9. If you want the contour of your lines to be copied as invisible lines in your matte drawing (in case you everneed to keep them for later), select the Copy Stroke in Destination option.
10. Click OK.

Creating Strokes
A drawing is composed of Line and Colour filling layers. Lines and colours can be separated or kept together,
depending on which animation process you use. The following diagram presents Line Art and Colour Art
recommendations based on the selected animation workflow.

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When a traditional drawing is scanned, strokes are automatically created in the Colour Art from the Line Art
when drawings are vectorized unless you specified otherwise.
When working with Cut-out animation, we recommend that you do all of the work in the Line Art.
Once the drawing sequence is completed for paperless drawings, you can proceed with creating Colour Art
strokes if you plan to paint the animation in the Colour Art. Use the Create Colour Art from Line Art option tocreate strokes from your lines.
You can create strokes in the Colour Art during the following stages:•

After the full drawing is completed in Line Art•

While drawing in Line Art

You may have some traditional drawings that need to be fixed; for example, needing extra lines to patch gaps.
Use the Auto-Create Colour Art from Brush option to create the strokes at the same time as the lines are
drawn. This creates strokes from the lines and brush strokes created in the Line Art while you draw and isuseful for fixing drawings. However, if you are drawing a new sketch, it is better to create the strokes
afterward using the Create Colour Art from Line Art option.
How to create Colour Art zones out of the Line Art content
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

2. In the Tool Properties view, click the Permanent Selection
on all drawings in the layer.

button if you want to apply the operation

3. In the Camera or Drawing view, select the artwork to transfer to the Colour Art. Create a selection
around the entire animation sequence if you want to apply the operation to all your drawings.
1. In the Drawing View toolbar, click the Create Colour Art from Line Art

button or press *.

How to create strokes with the Create Colour Art Automatically option
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush tool.
2. In the Tool Properties view, enable the Create Colour Art Automatically

option.

3. Draw the required lines.
4. Once you're done, deselect the Create Colour Art Automatically

option.

You are now ready to paint your model.

Previewing Drawings
It is a good idea to preview your drawings to check your animation ink and paint, verify that there are no colour
mistakes, or to play your animation in real time. You can do this by scrolling through your drawings or pressing
F and G. You can also use the Preview option in the Xsheet view.

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How to preview drawings from the Xsheet view
1. Save your scene.
2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select File > Save.

‣

Click the Save‣

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

button.

3. In the Xsheet view, select the range of drawings or the whole column to preview.
4. In the Xsheet view menu, select View > Preview Selected Drawings.
Toon Boom Play opens.
5. In the Play window, press the Playbutton to play back your drawings.

6. Select the Preroll option to see blank frames at the beginning and end of the animation sequence while
looping the playback.

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Chapter 6: Ink and Paint

When traditional animation is traced, cleaned up, scanned in and properly exposed, it's time for the ink and paintprocess. This consists of cleaning all dirt and hair (for example, dust that was in the scanner, dots that do notbelong in the drawing, extra floating artwork around the drawing that must be removed), painting the lines andfilling the colours in the empty zones on an entire animation sequence.
For paperless animation, the drawings are cleaned up directly in Harmony, so there is generally no dirt to clean,
only painting and inking.
For cut-out animation, once the character builder paints the pieces, there is no more ink and paint process
because the same parts are always reused and moved around. The ink and paint process applies only to
traditional and paperless animation workflows.
Harmony is optimized to ink and paint drawings efficiently. Since most of the drawings are vector-based, thecolour zones are completely filled and there are no scattered spots left blank. Also, there are some actions thatcan be applied on an entire animation sequence at once, like dirt removal, some colour filling, line repainting, andso on.
Harmony uses palettes to hold all the colours you need to paint your elements. A palette is created by assigning a
set of colours to each character, prop or effect. The colour styling artist will create a new palette and add a newcolour for each zone of the character, such as the skin, hair, tongue, shirt, pants, and so on. Each colour is known
as a colour swatch—see Working with Palettes on page 196.

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.

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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 rainusing 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 themood and atmosphere of the scene without tediously repainting each element.
The ink and paint process is divided into the following steps:
Preparation

384

Dirt Clean Up

388

Art Layers

392

Painting

398

Painting Using the Paint Tool

400

Importing Models

405

Protecting Colours

416

Inking the Lines

418

Verifying the Zones are Painted

422

Ink and Paint Tool Properties

425

Preparation
The optimal workspace for creating colour models and inking/painting in traditional animation includes thefollowing views:•

Xsheet•Camera•Drawing•

Colour•Model

As there is no default workspace for these tasks, you will need to create a custom workspace for yourself—see
the Fundamentals Guide.

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You may have a character or element palette that has colours that are very similar to the Drawing and Camera
view's background colour. For example, a white eyeball colour on a white background which makes it difficult toknow if the zone was painted. You can change the background colour of the Camera or Drawing view in the
Preferences dialog box.

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How to change a view's background colour
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences.

‣

Mac OS X: Select Stage > Preferences.

‣

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

The Preferences dialog box opens.
2. Select the General tab.
3. In the Colours section, click Edit Colours.
The Colours dialog box opens.

4. Select the Camera or Drawing tab.
5. Change the background colour of:‣

Camera View: Click the Clear colour swatch.

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Drawing View: Click the Background colour swatch.

The Select Colour dialog box opens.
6. Select a colour by clicking a colour swatch, clicking a colour in the colour gradient, or entering a HSV/RGB
Value.

7. Click OK in the three opened dialog boxes to apply your changes.

NOTE:
When you need to paint drawings with similar colours throughout the palette, you can create a clone of that paletteand change all the colours to very bright tints to facilitate the paint process—see Cloning a Colour Palette on page387

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206.

Dirt Clean Up
When paper drawings are passed through a scanner, there can be some hair and dirt scattered across them.
These lines and dots need to be cleaned. Harmony provides different tools to help get rid of them quickly.

The Remove Dirt tool selects small dots and hairs on the drawing. Raising the Remove Dirt level will selectbigger dots. When selecting larger dots, be careful not to lose small details like pupils and nostrils. Once you
have chosen the level, you can apply it to the current drawing or the entire animation sequence. This is a quick
way to get rid of most dirt and dust.
During this process, the dirt that will be removed is highlighted in red.

The Remove Art Outside Selection option lets you remove any art existing outside a selection. It is
recommended that you clean your Colour Art level as well. If you have a stroke accumulation in your Colour Art,
it can result in large output files, especially if you work in high-definition resolutions.

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If there are some marks that cannot be removed with the automated tools, you can erase them with the Eraser
tool or select them with the Select tool and then delete them. It's always safer to select and delete them than toerase them, so you do not overlook anything.

How to use the Remove Dirt tool
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Clean Up > Remove Dirt.

‣

From the Camera or Drawing View menu, select Drawing > Clean Up > Remove Dirt.

‣

Press Shift + D.

2. Increase the Remove Dirt value by moving the slider to the right.
3. Select the Apply to All Drawings option if you want to apply the operation to all drawings in the layer.
How to clean dirt with Remove Art Outside Selection
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool.

2. In the Tool Properties view, click the Permanent Selection

button.

3. Draw a selection around the animation making sure to include the entire animation sequence.

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4. In the Camera or Drawing View menu, select Drawings > Clean Up and one of the following options:‣Remove Art Outside Selection to delete artwork outside your selection on a single drawing.

‣

Remove Art Outside Selection on All Drawings to delete artwork outside your selection on all thedrawings.
The art outside the selection is removed.

Removing Art Inside a Selection

You can delete any art inside a selection with the Remove Art Inside Selection option. We recommend that you
clean your Colour Art level as well. If you have a stroke accumulation in your Colour Art, it can result in large
output files, especially if you work in high definition resolutions.
You can simultaneously apply this operation to all your drawings in the layer by using the Remove Art Inside
Selection on All Drawings command.
How to clean dirt with Remove Art Inside Selection
1. In the Tools toolbar, click the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

2. To apply the action to your entire animation, click the Permanent Selection
erties view.

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3. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw a selection around the animation. Make sure the area is large enoughto include all the zones to be cleaned up on all drawings.
4. From the top menu, select Drawing > Clean Up > Remove Art Inside Selection to delete artwork inside
your selection on one single drawing. You can also press Delete.
5. To apply the action on all your drawings in the layer, select Drawing > Clean Up > Remove Art Inside
Selection on All Drawings to delete artwork inside your selection on all the drawings.

Removing Small Strokes in the Colour Art Layer

The Remove Hair command lets you remove any small strokes created in the Colour Art layer from very thick lines
or filled zones. Increasing the Remove Hair level value will select larger strokes for removal from the drawing.
How to use the Remove Hair tool
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the drawing containing the drawing to clean.
2. From the top menu, select View > Show > Show Strokes to display the invisible lines or press K.
3. In the top menu, select Drawing > Clean Up > Remove Hair.
The Remove Hair dialog box opens.

4. Move the slider to the right to increase the number and length of hairs to be selected.
5. Select the Apply to All Drawings option if you want to apply the operation to all the drawings in the layer.
6. Click OK.
How to access the Eraser tool‣

From the Tools toolbar, click the Eraser‣

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

‣

From the Camera or Drawing View menu, select Drawing > Drawing Tools > Eraser.

‣

Press Alt + E.

button.

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How to access the Select tool‣

From the Tools toolbar, click the Select‣From the top menu, select Drawing > Drawing Tools > Select.

‣

From the Camera or Drawing View menu, select Drawing > Drawing Tools > Select.

‣Press Alt + S.

button.

Art Layers

Art layers give you the possibility to divide the artwork in your drawing on different layers. For example, you
can separate the outline and colour fill on two art layers, similar to 1950s traditional cell animation. These art
layers are contained within a single drawing as opposed to the layers in the Timeline view or Xsheet columns
where individual drawings with individual timing are stacked one on top of the other—see Creating Strokes on
page 397.
Toon Boom Harmony drawings include four art layers.
•

Overlay on page 393•

Line Art on page 394•

Colour Art on page 394•

Underlay on page 395

You can access the art layers through the Art Layer toolbar. By default, only the Line Art and Colour Art are
displayed. You need to enable the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option in the Preferences dialog box.

Each layer can be used for separate hand-drawn animation tasks, letting you organize your work and facilitatecreation and revision.

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Overlay

The Overlay layer can serve multiple purposes:•

Highlights and tones•

Annotations and corrections•

Sketching
You can also draw in the Overlay layer as it's a regular layer.

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Line Art

In hand-drawn animation, the Line Art layer is mainly used to trace and clean up animation. The outline is drawn
in the Line Art layer and colour is painted in the Colour Art layer.
Colour Art

In hand-drawn animation, you use the Colour Art layer to paint your animation. The outline is drawn in the LineArt layer and colour is painted in the Colour Art layer. Strokes (invisible lines) are generated from Line Art tocontain the painted area.

When you are doing rough animation, you may want to send a clip for feedback or approval before carrying onwith your work. If you have several characters in your project that are overlapping, it may be difficult tounderstand what is going on as you can see through the characters. Toon Boom Harmony can generate amatte automatically in the Underlay, or even in the Colour Art layer, and fill all the zones inside your charactersto make them opaque. This process is fast and easy, and allows you to send easy-to-understand movies.

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Underlay

The Underlay layer can serve multiple purposes. It is frequently used by animators to sketch rough animation or
generate a matte colour when doing line testing.
How to enable the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences ( Windows/Linux ) or Stage > Preferences ( Mac OS X ).
2. In the Preferences dialog box, select the Advanced tab.
3. In the Advanced Options section, select the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option.
4. Click OK.
How to switch between drawing layers
1. In the Art Layer toolbar, click the Line Art
or Colour Art
can edit the select layer without affecting the other one.

buttons. When switching art layers, you

2. Click the Preview All Enabled Art Layers
button to display both layers together. Even when the Preview mode is enabled, you will only be able to edit the select art layer. The other ones are only displayed asa reference. By default, the Preview mode is always enabled in the Camera view. You will only be able tosee the select art layer by itself if you enable the Current Drawing on Top
option located in the Camera
bottom toolbar.

NOTE:
To edit both Line Art and Colour Art at the same time, you must enable the Apply to Line Art and Colour Art
button in the Tool Properties of the tools supporting the operation.

How to switch between the drawing layers in Advanced Art mode
1. In the Art Layer toolbar, click the Overlay Art, Line Art, Colour Art
or Underlay Art
buttons
to display the appropriate layer—see How to enable the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option on
page 395. When switching art layers, you can edit the selected layer without affecting the other one.

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2. Click the Preview All Enabled Art Layers
button to display all the layers together. The other ones are
only displayed as a reference. By default, the Preview mode is always enabled in the Camera view. You
can view only the selected art layer if you select the Current Drawing on Top
option in the Camera
bottom toolbar.
How to generate a matte
1. Do one of the following:‣

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

tool.

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, select the drawing you want to create a matte for.

NOTE: You can also apply the operation to all the drawings in the layer at the same time.

3. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Generate Auto-Matte.

‣

In the Camera or Drawing menu, select Drawing > Generate Auto-Matte.

The Auto-Matte dialog box opens.

4. If you want to create a matte for all the drawings included in your layer, select the Apply to Multiple
Drawings option.
5. Depending on how precise or rough your line is, increase or decrease the radius value. The lower thevalue, the closer to your lines’ contours the matte will be shaped. The higher the value, the looser thematte will be shaped.

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6. In the Source Art menu, select the layer from which you want the matte created: Line Art, Colour Art,
Underlay or Overlay.
7. In the Destination Art menu, select the layer on which you want the matte to be created: Line Art, Colour
Art, Underlay or Overlay.
8. If you already have artwork on the destination layer and you want the content to be deleted before thematte is added into it, select the Clear Destination Art First option.
9. If you want the contour of your lines to be copied as invisible lines in your matte drawing (in case you everneed to keep them for later), select the Copy Stroke in Destination option.
10. Click OK.

Creating Strokes
A drawing is composed of Line and Colour filling layers. Lines and colours can be separated or kept together,
depending on which animation process you use. The following diagram presents Line Art and Colour Art
recommendations based on the selected animation workflow.

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When a traditional drawing is scanned, strokes are automatically created in the Colour Art from the Line Art
when drawings are vectorized unless you specified otherwise.
When working with Cut-out animation, we recommend that you do all of the work in the Line Art.
Once the drawing sequence is completed for paperless drawings, you can proceed with creating Colour Art
strokes if you plan to paint the animation in the Colour Art. Use the Create Colour Art from Line Art option tocreate strokes from your lines.
You can create strokes in the Colour Art during the following stages:•

After the full drawing is completed in Line Art•

While drawing in Line Art

You may have some traditional drawings that need to be fixed; for example, needing extra lines to patch gaps.
Use the Auto-Create Colour Art from Brush option to create the strokes at the same time as the lines are
drawn. This creates strokes from the lines and brush strokes created in the Line Art while you draw and isuseful for fixing drawings. However, if you are drawing a new sketch, it is better to create the strokes
afterward using the Create Colour Art from Line Art option.
How to create Colour Art zones out of the Line Art content
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

2. In the Tool Properties view, click the Permanent Selection
on all drawings in the layer.

button if you want to apply the operation

3. In the Camera or Drawing view, select the artwork to transfer to the Colour Art. Create a selection
around the entire animation sequence if you want to apply the operation to all your drawings.
1. In the Drawing View toolbar, click the Create Colour Art from Line Art

button or press *.

How to create strokes with the Create Colour Art Automatically option
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush tool.
2. In the Tool Properties view, enable the Create Colour Art Automatically

option.

3. Draw the required lines.
4. Once you're done, deselect the Create Colour Art Automatically

option.

You are now ready to paint your model.

Painting
You can choose to paint your animation in the Line Art or Colour Art level. You can paint in Line Art, but fortraditional and paperless animation, you should fill your colour zones in Colour Art. You can access the art
layers through the Art Layer toolbar—see Art Layers on page 392.
There are many advantages to separating the lines and colour zones, but the main one concerns the painting
process. To paint very quickly, it's useful to not have to worry about painting over the lines. If the lines are
separated, you can fill the zones very quickly and you will never accidentally paint the lines. Conversely, if you
are inking the lines, you will not repaint the colour zones either.

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If you have transparent lines, bitmap lines, or textured lines with transparency, it's better to have your colour
zones bleeding under your lines to avoid seeing the backgrounds and other elements through the lines.

NOTE: To avoid painting in Line Art by mistake, turn off the Preview mode and paint in the Drawing view instead of
the Camera view. Press P to turn the mode on or off.

This section is divided as follows:•

Painting Using the Paint Tool on page 400•

Advanced Painting Features on page 401•

Selecting a Colour in a Drawing on page 404•

Importing Models on page 405•

Editing Gradients and Textures on page 410•

Closing Gaps on page 415•

Protecting Colours on page 416•

Highlighting a Selected Colour on page 417•

Inverting a Colour Selection on page 418399

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Painting Using the Paint Tool

The main tool you will use to paint your drawings with is the Paint tool. The Paint tool can be used in several
different modes, which can be customized in the Tool Properties view.
The Paint tool paints closed zones, including brush strokes and pencil lines. If there are gaps in the lines
defining a zone, you must close them using the Brush, Pencil, or Close Gap tools or the Automatic Close Gap
option.
How to paint with the Paint tool
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the cell on which you want to paint.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, click the Paint‣

Press Alt + I.

tool.

3. In the Colour view, select a colour.

4. In the Drawing or Camera view, start painting. Click on a zone or pencil line to paint it, or trace a lasso
or marquee selection to paint several zones or pencil lines at the same time.

NOTE: The last colour you select while using the Paint tool will be used the next time you select the Paint tool if
you're using the unlocked painting tools in the Colour view.

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Advanced Painting Features
The following advanced painting features are available in Toon Boom Harmony:•

Repaint Selection on page 401•

Repaint Selection on All Drawings on page 401•

Repaint Outside Selection on page 402•

Repaint Outside Selection on All Drawings on page 402•

Unpaint Selection on page 403•

Unpaint Selection on All Drawings on page 403•

Unpaint Outside Selection on page 403•

Unpaint Outside Selection on All Drawings on page 404

Repaint Selection
The Repaint Selection command is used to repaint any art inside a selection. You must first draw a selection using
the Select tool in order for this command to be available.

Repaint Selection on All Drawings
The Repaint Selection On All Drawings command is used to repaint any art inside a selection on all the drawings
contained within the same layer. You must enable the Permanent Selection
option in the Select tool Tool
Properties view and then select an area of your drawing using the Select tool in order for this command to beavailable. The Permanent Selection option lets you maintain the same selection throughout the drawings of asame layer.

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Repaint Outside Selection
The Repaint Outside Selection command is used to repaint any art outside a selection. If no selection has beendrawn using the Select tool, the entire drawing will be repainted.

Repaint Outside Selection on All Drawings
The Repaint Outside Selection On All Drawings command is used to repaint any art outside a selection on all
the drawings contained within the same layer. You must enable the Permanent Selection
option in the
Select tool Tool Properties view and then select an area of your drawing using the Select tool in order for thiscommand to be available. The Permanent Selection option lets you maintain the same selection throughout thedrawings of a same layer.

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Unpaint Selection
The Unpaint Selection command is used to unpaint any art existing inside a selection. You must first draw aselection using the Select tool in order for this command to be available.

Unpaint Selection on All Drawings
The Unpaint Selection on All Drawings command is used to unpaint all art contained inside a selection on all thedrawings within the same layer.
You must enable the Permanent Selection
option in the Select tool Tool Properties view and then select anarea of your drawing using the Select tool in order for this command to be available. The Permanent Selection
option lets you maintain the same selection throughout the drawings of a same layer.

Unpaint Outside Selection
The Unpaint Outside Selection command is used to unpaint any art existing outside a selection. If no selection
have been drawn using the Select tool, the entire drawing will be unpainted.

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Unpaint Outside Selection on All Drawings
The Unpaint Outside Selection on All Drawings command is used to unpaint all art outside a selection on all thedrawings within the same layer. You must enable the Permanent Selection
option in the Select tool Tool
Properties view and then select an area of your drawing using the Select tool in order for this command to beavailable. The Permanent Selection option lets you maintain the same selection throughout the drawings of asame layer.

How to access the advanced painting tools‣

From the top menu, Camera or Drawing view menu, select Drawing > Paint and one of thefollowing:
Repaint Selection
Repaint Selection on All Drawings
Repaint Outside Selection
Repaint Outside Selection on All Drawings
Unpaint Selection
Unpaint Selection on All Drawings
Unpaint Outside Selection
Unpaint Outside Selection on All Drawings

Selecting a Colour in a Drawing

While working in the Camera or Drawing view, you can use the Dropper tool to pick a colour from yourdrawing without going to the Colour view.

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

In the Tools toolbar, select the Dropper‣

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

‣

Press Alt + D.

tool.

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, click on the desired colour.
‣

If you're using another drawing tool such as the Paint tool, you can temporarily hold down the D key
and click in your drawing before releasing the key to pick your colour. When you release the key, youwill return to your previous tool. You may also want to select the zones painted with the colour
currently selected in the Colour view. This can be useful for removing rough lines from a clean drawing.

How to select the zones painted with the current colour
1. In the Colour view, select the colour from which you want to select the corresponding zones.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Select Drawing > Select Strokes With Current Colour.

‣

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

Importing Models

Once you have a fully painted drawing, you can use it as a colour model and load it in the Model view. That
drawing can be used and loaded in any of your Harmony scenes.
Once a drawing is loaded in the Model view, you can use the Dropper
to select a colour from the model anduse it to paint in your Camera or Drawing view without having to pick the colour from the colour palette.
You can do more than just copy colours from a colour model. Harmony gives you the ability to copy parts of thecharacter directly from its colour model and paste these elements into the Drawing or Camera views.

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How to load a colour model from the Timeline or Xsheet view
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a drawing (*.tvg).

2. Bring the model into the Model view by doing one of the following:‣

In the Timeline view, drag the selected drawing and drop it directly in the Model view.

‣

From the Model View menu, select Use Current Drawing as Model.

NOTE: The Use Current Drawing as Model button is not part of the default Model View toolbar. To add the Use
Current Drawing as Model button to the Model toolbar, right-click in the Model view toolbar and select Customize.
Drag the Use Current Drawing as Modelbutton from the Available Tools column and move it to the right(Toolbar) column. Click OK.

‣

In the Model View toolbar, click Current Drawing

button.

The model appears in the Model view.
How to browse for a colour model drawing on your hard drive
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Model View toolbar, click the Import Model‣

From the Model View menu, select Import Model.

‣

Select File > Import > Colour Model.

button.

2. In the Browser window, browse for any *.tvg drawing file on your hard drive.
3. Click Open.
The model appears in the Model view.
How to load the default models
1. In your scene’s folder, create a new folder and name it: models.
2. On your hard drive, copy the *.tvg drawing file you want to use as colour models in your scene.
3. Do one of the following:‣

From the Model View menu, select Load Default Models.

‣In the Model View toolbar, click the Load Default Model

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NOTE: The Load Default Model button is not part of the default Model View toolbar. To add the Load Default Modelbutton to the Model toolbar, right-click in the Model view toolbar and select Customize. Drag the Load Default Modelbutton from the Available Tools column and move it to the right (Toolbar) column. Click OK.

How to load a single drawing from the Library view
1. In the Library view, click the template containing the drawing to import in the Model view.
2. Right-click on the template and select Open As Folder.
3. In the Library view’s left side, select the template’s folder and continuing expanding its subfolders until*.tvg files appear on the right side.

4. In the Library view’s right side, select the TVG drawing to import and drag it into the Model view.
How to load a template with multiple drawings from the Library view
1. In the Library view, find the template you want to import in the Model view.
2. In the Library view’s right side, drag the template (*.tpl file) and drop it directly in the Model view.
3. Use the Previous Model
and Next Modelbuttons in the Model View toolbar to view all the drawings contained in the template. This can often be the front, profile, and 3/4 views of a character.

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How to load a symbol from the Library view
1. In the Library view’s left side, select the Symbols folder.
2. In the Library view’s right side, select the symbol you want to use as a model, and drag and drop it into
the Model view.

3. Use the Previous Model
and Next Modelbuttons in the Model View toolbar to view all thedrawings contained in the template. This can often be the front, profile, and 3/4 views of a character.
How to clear a colour model‣

In the Model View menu, select Clear Model or press Delete.

How to copy the entire model from the Model view
1. In the Model View toolbar, select the Select
1. In the Model view, select your model.

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2. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy Drawing Object or pressCtrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C (MacOS X).
2. In the Timeline view, make sure you have the correct layer and frame selected.
3. Select the Drawing or Camera view, then go to the top menu and select Edit > Paste Drawing Object, or
select the Timeline view and from the top menu, select Edit > Paste cells in the Timeline or pressCtrl + V(Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + V (Mac OS X).
The model appears in the selected view.
How to copy part of the model in the Model view
1. In the Model View toolbar, select the Cutter

tool or press Alt + T.

1. In the Model view, use the Cutter tool to create a selection around the part of your model that you want tocopy.

2. From the top menu, select Edit > Copy Drawing Object or pressCtrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C (MacOS X).
2. In the Timeline view, make sure you have the correct layer and frame selected.
3. Do one of the following:‣

Select the Drawing or Camera view and select Edit > Paste Drawing Object.

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Select the Timeline view and select Edit > Paste cells in the Timeline or press Ctrl + V(Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + V (Mac OS X).

The model appears in the selected view.

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 can select 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‣

From the Camera or Drawing View menu, select Drawing Tools > Edit Gradient/Texture.

‣

Press Shift + F3.

2. Click the gradient or texture colour to modify.

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A blue selection frame surrounds the selected gradient or texture.

3. Edit the gradient or texture by adjusting the control handles around the selection frame.
How to store gradient and texture settings
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Selecttool or press Alt + S.

2. In the Camera or Drawing view, select the gradient or texture zone to store.

3. In the Tool Properties view, click the Store Colour Gradient411

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How to use the stored gradient and texture settings
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brushor Paint

tool.

2. In the Tool Properties view, click the Use Stored Colour Gradientbutton.

3. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw and paint.
How to use Pencil Editor tool to edit the texture or gradient on a pencil line
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil Editor‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Drawing Tools > Pencil Editor.

‣

Press Alt + W.

tool.

2. Click on the pencil line to be modified to bring up its contour envelope.

3. Select one of the contour points around the envelope and move its position to change the size of thetiled texture or gradient. You can also pull directly on the lines of the contour envelope or play with theBezier handles of any given point in order to continue to modify the envelope form.

Expanding the width of the envelope parallel to the pencil line’s central vector will cause the tiled
texture to be stretched. Conversely, reducing the envelope’s width will cause the tiled texture to looksquashed.
Reducing the contour’s width perpendicular to the pencil line’s central vector will reduce the number oftiles, while expanding it will increase the number of tiled images.

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This editing technique does not just work on texture fills, but can also be applied to pencil lines drawn witha textured “brush”.
How to use Edit Gradient/Texture tool to edit the texture or gradient on a pencil line
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Edit Gradient/Texture‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Drawing Tools > Edit Gradient/Texture.

‣

Press Shift + F3.

tool.

2. Click on the pencil line to be modified to bring up the editor controls.

3. The editor controls delineate a single tile in the texture. For gradients, this is less applicable. Pull on the
top of the editor controls to stretch the tiled texture throughout the length of the stroke.
As gradients are parallel to the stroke’s central vector, this will stretch the way that the gradient is
distributed in the pencil line’s envelope. The envelope still acts as a boundary for the texture or gradient.

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4. Drag the editor control perpendicular to the stroke. You will feel it glide along the strokes central vector line. This is another way to resize the texture tile. Instead of stretching or shrinking it vertically, thismotion stretches or shrinks it vertically. As gradients are parallel to the pencil line’s central vector,
stretching them vertically gives no visual result.

How to use Edit Gradient/Texture tool to edit the texture and gradient of a pencil line
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Edit Gradient/Texture‣

From the top menu, select Drawing > Drawing Tools > Edit Gradient/Texture.

‣

Press Shift + F3.

tool.

2. Click on the pencil line to be modified to bring up the editor controls.

3. Use the top editor controls edit the gradient.

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4. Use the bottom controls edit the “brush” texture.

Closing Gaps

When painting, you may notice that some drawing areas are not closed. To close the zone, you can draw themissing line with the Brush or Pencil tool, or close the gap with an invisible line using the Close Gap tool.
The Close Gap tool lets you close small gaps in a drawing by creating small, invisible strokes between the two
closest points to close the colour zone. You do not need to trace directly over the gap. You can draw it a few
millimeters away. The two closest points automatically close the gap.

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How to close gaps
1. From the top menu, select View > Show > Show Strokes or press K to see a preview of the result.
2. If you want the strokes you draw to be flattened in your drawing instead of being on top, click the AutoFlatten
button in the Tool Properties view.
3. From the top menu, select Drawing > Clean Up > Close Gaps or press Shift + F10 (Windows/Linuxonly).
The Close Gaps dialog box opens.
4. Adjust the slider to set the size of the gap you want to be closed.

5. To close all gaps in the drawings of the selected layer, select the Apply to all drawings option and clickOK.
6. In the Tools toolbar, select the Close Gaps

tool.

7. In the Camera or Drawing view, trace a line near the gap to be closed. Your strokes will be invisible
The gap automatically closes.

Protecting Colours

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When you are finished inking one colour, you can lock it so if you ever paint over it accidentally, the work alreadydone will not be affected. You can also use the Protect Colour feature to block the filling colours if you painted allof the animation in Line Art and you plan to repaint the lines.
How to protect colours
1. In the Colour view, select the colour to be protected.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Protect Colour.

‣

From the Colour view menu, select Colours > Protect Colour.

A red bar appears beside the colour to indicate that it is locked.

Respecting Protected Colours
When painting, the Respect Protected Colour
option is enabled by default. In the Colour view, you can protect
In the Colour view, you can protect a colour swatch to avoid repainting or unpainting the zones linked to thatswatch. If you using the Paint tool and this option is deselected, you will repaint or unpaint the protected colours
on your drawings until you enable the option again.
How to enable the Respect Protected Colours option
Do one of the following:‣

In the Paint tool properties, click the Respect Protected Colour‣

From the top menu, select Drawing> Colour Protection > Respect Colour Protection.

‣

Press Shift + S.

button.

Highlighting a Selected Colour
If there are unnamed colours in your palette and you want to know if a particular colour was used on the current
model or drawing, you can select a colour and it will be used to highlights the parts that use that colour. The restof the colours are dimmed, so you can easily identify the highlighted colour. You can then rename it accordingly.

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How to highlight a selected colour
1. In the Colour view, select the colour to highlight.
2. From the Camera or Drawing menu, select View > Show > Highlight Selected Colour.

Inverting a Colour Selection
When you need to select all colour swatches but one, or select only a few swatches here and there, it might befaster to select the only colour you do not need in order to select and invert the selection.
How to invert a colour swatch selection in the Colour view
1. In the Colour view, select the colour swatch you DO NOT want to have in your final selection.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Camera or Drawing View menu, select Edit > Invert Selection‣

Press Ctrl + Shift + I.

Inking the Lines
Unless you're repainting all the lines in the entire animation sequence, do not use the Apply Tool to All
Drawings option. Since the line positions change a lot over time, you risk painting lines that should not be
painted.
These are the main tools and techniques used to ink lines:•

Repaint Tool on page 419

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Repaint Brush Mode on page 419•

Inking the Lines on page 418•

Protecting Colours on page 421•

Breaking Triangles on page 421

Repaint Tool
The main tool used to ink the lines is the Repaint tool. As the colour filling is probably done in the Colour Art, youwill not have to worry about not touching it. The Repaint tool will not paint empty zones either.
During the vectorization process on traditional scanned drawings, triangles are added on the lines' intersections
to break the artwork in segments. This way, when you paint a line, it will not repaint the whole drawing, only therelevant segment.

How to access the Repaint Tool
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Repainttool located in the Paint tool drop-down menu.

Repaint Brush Mode
The Repaint Brush mode is used to paint a section by manually painting over the lines. This is useful when thevectorization triangles are not placed as you would like or you simply need to repaint a section of a segment. It isalso useful for paperless animation, where there are no triangles. So, the Repaint Brush is used to paint a certain
area. It acts like the Brush tool, but will only show on painted areas that are already painted.
Unlike the Brush tool, the Repaint Brush mode flattens automatically. The brush strokes are not added one on
top of each other.
How to enable the Repaint Brush mode
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Brushtool.

2. In the Tool Properties view, enable the Repaint Brushmode.

Ink Tool
Although pencil lines can be painted in much the same way as closed zones, you can use the Paint, Repaint,
Repaint Brush, and Ink tools to make painting segmented lines easier. Normally when you have a drawing, such as
the one below, and you use the Paint tool to paint one of the lines, the entire line is painted.

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However, if you select the Inktool instead and click on the same pencil line, only the segment that you
clicked on between two intersections will be painted.

The newly inked segment will always be moved to the front of all other pencil strokes, even if it was behind allother pencil strokes before it was inked.

That is, unless you hold down Alt while clicking a segment. Then the opposite happens. The inked segment will
be sent to the back, even if it was in front of all other segments to begin with.

Painting and inking can be used in combination depending on what you need to paint. If you need to ink acharacter’s outline in black, it might be easier to use the Paint tool. If you need to paint the outline of acharacter’s neck with a tan colour and its shirt outline blue and both the neck and shirt belong to the same
continuous outline, then the Ink tool might prove more useful.

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How to access the Ink tool
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Inktool located in the Paint tool drop-down menu.

Protecting Colours

When you are finished inking one colour, you can lock it so if you ever paint over it accidentally, the work alreadydone will not be affected. You can also use the Protect Colour feature to block the filling colours if you painted allof the animation in Line Art and you plan to repaint the lines.
How to protect colours
1. In the Colour view, select the colour to be protected.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Protect Colour.

‣

From the Colour view menu, select Colours > Protect Colour.

A red bar appears beside the colour to indicate that it is locked.

Breaking Triangles
The Brush tool is often the most intuitive and rapid tool for creating rough sketches and clean lines. A single
colour, such as black, is often used when tracing a clean version of a rough sketch. However, when it comes time
to soft trace the lines in different colours, the flattened or unflattened clean brush strokes can suddenly become
time consuming to ink.
Toon Boom Harmony lets you create triangular breaks at natural line intersections. These intersections are theprobable locations where colour line breaks may occur, such as where a sleeve meets a hand.

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How to create breaking triangles on a drawing
1. In the Drawing or Camera view, use the Selecttool to select part or all of the drawing to be broken.

2. From the top menu, select Drawing > Create Breaking Triangles. If your brush strokes are notflattened, they will be flattened automatically before the breaking occurs.

3. Use the Repaint tool

to paint the outline of different colour zones with different colours.

Verifying the Zones are Painted
When the ink and paint process is completed, it's always a good idea to verify that every zone was painted
properly.
The first step to check your ink and paint is to go through all your drawings and verify that there are no colour
mistakes. You can use the F and G keyboard shortcuts or the Preview option available in the Xsheet.

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The backlight produces a silhouette effect by changing the drawing’s coloured areas into a single dark, solid
colour. Use this to verify the completeness of the ink and paint process. Any unpainted zones can be seen as thelight shows through the unpainted areas of the silhouetted drawing.
How to preview drawings from the Xsheet
1. First, save your scene.
2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select File> Save.

‣

Click the Save‣

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

button.

3. In the Xsheet view, select the range of drawings or the whole column to preview.

4. In the Xsheet View menu, select View > Preview Selected Drawings or press Alt + P.
The Play window opens.

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5. Play your drawings.

6. Select the Preroll option to see blank frames at the beginning and end of the animation sequence while
looping the playback.

How to use the backlight

NOTE: This feature is only available in the Drawing view.

1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select View > Backlight.

‣

Press Alt + Shift + B.

2. Verify the drawings in the Colour Art to make sure that all the areas are painted. From the Camera or
Drawing View menu , select View > Switch to Colour Art or press L.
1. In the Art Layer toolbar, click the Preview All Art Layers
button to see the colour zones with lines toensure that you did not forget any spots between the colour filling and lines.

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Ink and Paint Tool Properties
The Ink and Paint tool properties contain many options that will help you along with your task.
•

Ink Tool Properties on page 425•

Paint Tool Properties on page 426

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

Icon

Tool Name

Tool
The Lasso and Marquee options let you choose thetype of selection the current tool will perform. The
default selection mode is Marquee.

Lasso and Marquee•

Lasso lets you draw a custom selection box
around zones.

•

Marquee makes a rectangle selection box.

NOTE: NOTE: Hold down the Alt key to switch totoggle between the selection modes.

Show Inkable Lines

Highlights all pencil lines (no brush strokes) on theselected layer. Pencil line segments that are alreadyinked with the selected swatch colour from the colour palette are also not highlighted.

Be Smart on Connecting Lines

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intersecting pencil lines, the path that you create
will be highlighted. When you click on your mouseor stylus the highlighted segments are inked. With
this option disabled, all the intersecting segmentsthat your cursor comes near will be highlighted andbecome part of the selection, even if they were notsituated in the direction of the chosen path.

NOTE: NOTE: This option only works if the Ink tool
is in Hover mode.

Select ModeUse this mode instead of the Hover Mode. In the
Hover Mode, any potentially inkable pencil line will
have its central vector line highlighted as the Inktool’s cursor hovers over it. Use Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) to toggle between
the two modes.

Mitre

As you hover over two perpendicular or nearly perpendicular segments, a highlighted path with acorner is created. Clicking on these highlighted segments inks both segments and makes them appear
as a single stroke with a corner or bend. Options
include: As Is, Round, Miter, and Bevel.

Tip StyleLets you customize the edge of the Ink tool.
Options include: Round, Flat, and Bevel.

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

Icon

Tool Name
Lasso and Marquee on page 427

Painting Modes on page 427
Paint and Remove Texture on page 429
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Apply to All Visible Drawings on page 429
Respect Protected Colour on page 430
Use Stored Colour Gradient on page 430
Select Newly Painted, Repainted and Unpainted Contours/Lineson page 430
Close Gap on page 430

Lasso and Marquee
The Lasso and Marquee options let you choose the type of selection the current tool will perform. The default
selection mode is Marquee.
•

Lasso

•

Marqueelets you draw a custom selection box around zones.
makes a rectangle selection box.

NOTE:
Hold down the Alt key to switch to toggle between the selection modes.

Painting Modes
The Paint tool has four different modes available:

You can also find these tools directly in the Tools toolbar and in the Drawing Tools menu.

Paint Mode

The Paintmode paints everything it touches, including empty and filled zones—see Painting Using the Paint
Tool on page 400.

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Paint Unpainted Mode

The Paint Unpainted

mode paints only empty zones. Any line or filled zone will remain unchanged.

Repaint Mode

The Repaintremain intact.

mode paints everything it touches except empty zones. Any zone that is not painted will

Unpaint Mode

The Unpaintmode unpaints everything it touches, including empty and filled zones.

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Paint and Remove Texture

The Paint and Remove Texture
option is used when you vectorized images as greyscale texture style. An
image vectorized as texture is a mix of bitmap filling encapsulated in a vector-based frame. Painting a textured
zones with the Paint tool will change the tint of the textured lines. Painting the textured zones using the Paint andRemove Texture option transforms the bitmap filling into a 100% vector based zone and fills it with a solid colour.

Apply to Multiple Drawings

The Apply to Multiple Drawings
option is used for fast painting in hand-drawn animation. When you want topaint several drawings in a same layer at once, such as a walk cycle, you can enable this option and make aselection in the Camera or Drawing view. All the closed zones located within your Paint tool selection are painted
with the selected colour swatch.
You do not need to enable the Onion Skin preview to use this option. The option will stay enabled only for the
next action. If you want to use it again, you must click on the Apply to Multiple Drawings button again, or press
Alt + A.

Apply to All Visible Drawings
The Apply to All Visible Drawings
option is used to paint several drawings on separated layers on the current
frames. If you have a character broken in several layers, you can enable this option to paint all your layers at once.
The operation is only applied on the current frame. This option will stay enabled only for the next action. If you
want to use it again, you must click on the Apply to All Visible Drawings button again.

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NOTE: This option is only available in the Camera view and does not affect symbols.

Respect Protected Colour
The Respect Protected Colour
option is enabled by default. In your Colour view, you can protect somecolour swatches to avoid repainting or unpainting the zones linked to that swatch.
If you disable this option the Paint tool will not follow the protect colour rule and will repaint or unpaint theprotected colours on your drawings until you enable the option again—see Protecting Colours on page 416.

Use Stored Colour Gradient

When you paint a zone with a gradient or textured colour swatch, the gradient or texture’s position is set
relative to the size of the zone you are painting. If you want the Paint tool to use a particular size and position,
you must first store your desired position and size using the Selecttool and then enable the Use Stored
Colour Gradientoption in the Paint tool properties—see Editing Gradients and Textures on page 410.

Select Newly Painted, Repainted and Unpainted Contours/Lines

In the Paint tool properties, this option
keeps a selection highlighted around the latest painted zone afterusing the Paint, Repaint, Unpaint, or Paint Unpainted tool.

Close Gap
The Close Gap option has four modes available:

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When painting, you may notice that some drawing areas are not closed. To close the zone, you can draw themissing line with the Brush or Pencil tool, or close the gap with an invisible line using the Close Gap tool.
The Close Gap tool lets you close small gaps in a drawing by creating small, invisible strokes between the two
closest points to close the colour zone. You do not need to trace directly over the gap. You can draw it a few
millimeters away. The two closest points automatically close the gap.
For more information, see Closing Gaps on page 415.

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Chapter 7: Morphing

Hand-drawn animation requires you to spend a lot of time tracing in-between drawings. Harmony speeds up theprocess using its helpful morphing feature. This powerful and useful feature creates computer-generated
drawings and places them between vector drawings to save time and increase productivity. Animation createdwith the morphing feature can be reused in different projects. You can easily modify the timing and velocity (easein and ease out).
One of the main uses of the morphing feature is effects animation. For example, animating smoke or water can betime-consuming because these types of effects are usually slow moving requiring a large number of closely placed
inbetweens.
This chapter is divided as follows:•

Understanding Morphing on page 434•

Source and Destination Drawings on page 434•

Morphing Rules on page 435•

Creating a Basic Morphing Sequence on page 439•

Tool Properties View on page 441•

Adjusting the Velocity and Timing on page 444•

Morphing Tool and Hints on page 447•

Morphing Layers on page 455•

Morphing Two Sequences in a Row on page 462•

Inserting a Morphing Key Drawing on page 463•

Converting Morphing Inbetweens to Drawings on page 464•

Morphing Holes and Transparencies on page 464•

Adjusting the Morphing Quality on page 467•

Tips and Tricks on page 467

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Understanding Morphing
The morphing feature is used to animate similar and simple shapes such as hair or smoke. It helps you bysaving time when you are working on tedious inbetweening and tracing tasks This, in turn, provides you withmore time to spend on complex animation tasks such as walk cycles or acrobatic sequences.

Ideas behind Morphing
To learn how to morph drawings, it is better to start with basic shapes such as circles and rectangles. Onceyou are more familiar with the tool, you can increase your knowledge and expertise. In a very short time you
will be producing some remarkable effects.
It is helpful to know the pros and cons of morphing before you start. Understanding what you can do andwhich drawing lines may be more useful or problematic will enable you to design your key drawings so theymorph efficiently.

NOTE: The more complex the shape is, the longer it takes to morph. If it takes more time to morph a drawing thanto hand-draw it, then it is better to animate it instead of morphing. However, if you spot an occasion when you canmorph your drawings, do it! It allows you to fix your timing and velocity in no time without having to create any
extra drawings!

Source and Destination Drawings

The morphing feature matches similar shapes in a source and a destination drawing. Harmony evaluates thesource's shape properties and matches them to the most similar ones in the destination drawing.
Morphing works between similar shapes, which are drawings that have the same palette, colours and numberof shapes. You can even change any shape into another one, as long as the source and destination keep thesame colours, number of lines and number of shapes.

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Morphing Rules
Harmony follows a set of rules as it evaluates the shapes. Familiarize yourself with these basic morphing rules
before you start morphing.

NOTE: Note that a morphing sequence can only be done on vector drawings. You cannot morph bitmap layers orToon Boom bitmap drawings.

Closest Similar ShapeA colour, line shape or zone will morph with the closest similar one in the destination drawing. This means it willmorph with the zone nearest to it, as long as that zone uses the same palette's colour swatch (colour ID) and has
the same vector properties (Central or Contour).

In the example above, the red heart shape (1) will morph with the closest shape using the same colour swatch. It
will morph with the red diamond shape (1) in the next drawing. The red diamond shape (2) in the source drawing
will morph with the red heart shape (2) located in the same area in the destination drawing. The black spadeshape (3) in the source drawing will morph with the black club shape (3) located in the same area in thedestination drawing. Finally, the black club shape (4) in the source drawing will morph into the black spade shape(4) located above in the destination drawing.
Pencil Line to Pencil LineIf you trace a shape using a pencil line such as the Ellipse, Rectangle, Polyline, Lineor Pencil
tool, you have to morph it with another pencil line. Make sure that both drawings are pencil shapes (central
vector).

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A pencil line will never morph with a brush stroke.

Pencil lines with thickness are supported in morphing sequences. The thickness will morph according to thethickest and thinnest areas in the source and destination drawings.

Pencil lines with textures are not supported in a morphing sequence. During the morphing, the texture will
disappear and show without pencil line opacity texture.

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If you have pencil lines in your source drawing, the same number of pencil lines must be present in the destination
drawings. A pencil line will appear if it is not found in the destination drawing. It will pop out on the first or last
frame depending on which one it is drawn.
When two pencil lines cross one another, they are considered to be two lines and not four lines anymore (as it wasin version 7.8 and below of the application). In this case, you must have two pencil lines in your destination
drawing for your morphing to work correctly.

Fill Shape to Fill Shape
If you have a brush stroke or a colour fill ( contour vectors), make sure that you morph it with another brushstroke or fill zone. It is important to undersand that strokes drawn with the Brush tool are the same thing aszones painted with the Paint tool. Vector points are located along the contour. They are simply not the same size.
Contour vectors will not morph with pencil lines (central vectors). A brush stroke can morph into a colour fill zone
and vice versa as they are the exact same thing.

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Colour Swatch to Same Colour Swatch
Harmony does not morph between colours. If you want to perform a colour transition, you have to create theeffect during the compositing step of your production. A colour palette is composed of colour swatches. Eachcolour swatch has its own unique identification number, even if two swatches are the same colour value, they
are identified independently. A colour zone or shape will morph with another one painted with the same colour
swatch.

Vanishing and Appearing
If a colour zone does not find a match in the first or the second drawing, it will progressively appear or
disappear.

Colour Art to Colour Art and Line Art to Line Art
In Harmony, there is an advanced concept for painting your drawings called Line Art and Colour Art. Basically,an extra layer is added in your drawings so that you can fill the colour zones on a separate layer. The regularlayer on which you are drawing is called Line Art and the extra layer under the Line Art is the Colour Art.
•A shape drawn in Colour Art can only be morphed with another shape existing in the Colour Art.

•A shape drawn in Line Art can only be morphed with another shape existing in the Line Art.

•A shape created in Colour Art can never morph with a shape created in Line Art.

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Creating a Basic Morphing Sequence

When it comes to morphing, you will need to practice and become at ease with it. Once you are familiar with thebasic rules, you can start creating morphing sequences. To begin, start with simple elements. When you are
confident with the morphing process, you can start to use complex and advanced morphing techniques, such ashead rotations or full characters.
You may want to delete an entire morphing sequence in order to redo a sequence from scratch.
How to create a basic morph
1. In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Drawing Layerbutton to add a new layer to your project.

2. Rename the new layer ( for example, Morphing).
3. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the first cell in the layer.

4. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Rectangle‣

Press Alt + 7.

tool.

5. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw a rectangle.
6. Do one or both of the following:‣

Hold down the Shift key to draw a square.

‣

Hold down the Alt key to draw the rectangle from its centre.

7. Paint your rectangle using the Paint tool.

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8. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the cell on which you want your morphing sequence to end.

9. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Ellipse‣

Press Alt + =.

tool.

10. Draw and paint the ellipse using the same outline colour as the rectangle.

11. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select the first frame and all the frames up to and including the last
frame, which is the rectangle drawing.

12. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Morphing > Create Morphing.

‣

In the Xsheet or Timeline view, right-click and select Morphing > Create Morphing‣

Press Alt + M.

Arrows appear between the two key drawings to show that computer generated inbetweens have beencreated.

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NOTE: Use the Playback toolbar to play the morphing sequence. To flip through the inbetweens, toggle between
comma ( , ) and period ( . ). Press F4 to toggle between the two key drawings.

How to delete an entire morphing sequence
1. In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select a cell in the morphing sequence.
2. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Animation > Morphing > Delete Morphing.

‣

In the Xsheet or Timeline view, select Morphing > Delete Morphing.

‣

Right-click on your sequence and select Morphing > Delete Morphing.

The entire sequence between the two keyframes is removed.

Tool Properties View

As you create and adjust your morphing sequences, you will often use the Tool Properties view. Using this view
allows you to do things such as toggle between your key drawings, adjust the easing or select a hint type.
How to access the content of the Tool Properties view
1. Do one of the following:‣ In the Tools toolbar, select the Morphingtool.

‣ Press F3.

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Hint TypeThe Hint Type drop-down menu allows you to select the correct hint to remedy any problem areas in yourdrawing—see Contour Hint on page 451 and Morphing Tool and Hints on page 447.
You can have more than one hint type in your drawings. You can mix all of the hint types in your morphing
sequence.
Hide Hints

The Hide Hints
button temporarily hides the hint points from the key drawings. Use this option when you
have a series of hint points hiding some lines you would like to see.
Show Morphing in PlaceThe Show Morphing In Place
option is used with morphing layers. Enabling this option prevents thecurrently selected morphing layer from being shown on top of the others and maintains the correct layerordering—see Morphing Layers on page 455.
Suggest Hints
The Suggest Hints
option is used to automatically set hint points on key drawings as a help tool. If you're
not sure where to set hints, you can use this option. It will set the main hints which you can then fine tune.
Switch Between Drawings
The Switch Between Drawings
button is used to toggle between the two key drawings in your morphing
sequence. This option is useful while setting hints. You can use the default keyboard shortcut F4 to toggle
between your drawings.
Flatten
The Flatten

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option is used when you have to morph a sequence with a semi-transparent or transparent colour in it—see
Morphing Holes and Transparencies on page 464.
Quality

The Quality setting is used to make the lines of the morphed drawings smoother. Adjust this parameter when you
are doing an extreme close up of your animation—see Adjusting the Morphing Quality on page 467.
Morphing Layers

The Morphing Layers option is used when working with morphing layers. You can add, remove and manage yourdifferent morphing layers in this space—see Morphing Layers on page 455
Easing

The Easing option is used to adjust the starting and ending velocity of your morphing sequence so that the
motion is smooth and not mechanical.
You can adjust the Ease In and Ease Out value by dragging your cursor up and down or typing a new value. The
values go from -1.0 to 1.0—see Adjusting the Velocity and Timing on page 444
Convert Hints

The Convert Hints
option is used to switch the type of the selected hint points. This option is useful when you
position hints and then realize they are not the right type. You can select them and convert them to the correct
type instead of deleting them and setting new ones.
Use the Morphing tool to select the hints and then convert them by going to the Tool Properties view andselecting the new hint type from the Convert Hints drop-down menu.

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The Time field is used to set the timing on Appearing Point and Vanishing Point hints. These hints are used to
set the trajectory of appearing and vanishing objects, With the Time field, select your Appearing Point or
Vanishing Point hint and type the frame number on which the object will start its appearing or vanishing
animation.

Adjusting the Velocity and Timing

Once you have set up a morphing sequence, you can control its timing and velocity. When you look at youranimation you will notice that the morphing motion is constant. To produce a less mechanical motion, you willprobably want to create some ease in or ease out.
If you did not place your source and destination drawings on the correct frames you may need to extend or
shrink the sequence length.
If you have several morphing sequences on a single layer, you may find it easier to adjust their velocities on one
function curve rather than several separate ones. Having all of your velocity parameters in one place is more
efficient and easier to modify.
Adjusting the velocity in the Layer Properties editor also allows you to reverse a section of the morphing
sequence. The sequence will always start with the source drawing and end at the destination. You can play themorphing sequence backwards or forwards during the animation.
You can have two levels of easing:•In the Tool Properties View, you can adjust the velocity of each sequence in your layer independently•

In the Layer Properties editor, you can adjust the morphing velocity function to control the entire layer's
easingHow to extend or shrink a morphing sequence length
1. In the Timeline view, select the source or destination drawing.

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2. Click on your selection and drag the drawing to its new frame.

How to adjust the velocity in the Tool Properties view
1. In the Timeline view, click on a frame in the morphing sequence you want to adjust.
2. In the Tool Properties view, increase and decrease the Ease In and Ease Out value to adjust the sequence's
velocity.

How to adjust the velocity in the Layer Properties editor
1. In the Timeline view, double-click on the drawing layer to open the Layer Properties editor.
2. In the Layer Properties editor, go to the Advanced tab and click on the Function
function curve.

3. In the Layer Properties editor, click the Function

button to create abutton again to open the velocity curve.

4. Add a keyframe at the first frame of the morphing (source) and one at the end (destination) by clicking on
the Add/Remove Keyframe
button.

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5. Move the destination keyframe upward.

NOTE: It is important that the last keyframe remains above the first one.

6. Make sure that the first keyframe is not a stop-motion keyframe. To do this, disable the Stop-motion
Keyframebutton. To use the Toggle Stop-Motion Segment feature, press S.
7. Click on the keyframes and pull the Bezier handles to create ease in and ease out. If you make the curve
go downward instead of upward, the animation will play backward until the curve starts to go upwardagain.

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NOTE: If you have more than one morphing sequence in the same layer, you need to add a keyframe on the velocity
curve for each source and destination drawing.

8. If you want your morphing to play back on a double frame exposure rather than single frame, you can use
the Hold Value editor and set the velocity to change every second frame, instead of every frame.
9. In the Morphing Function editor, click on the Hold Value Editor
the value for two frames.

button and set the parameters to hold

Morphing Tool and Hints

Harmony's Morphing
tool controls your morphing sequence, this works by placing different types of hints to
help the system morph the animation the way that you want it.

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Hints are points that are placed in both the source and destination drawings. They associate zones and lines
between the two drawings. Hints are used to fix problem zones, such as a line that is not following the colour
fill zone.

Corners and points are more challenging, in general. Animation curves are complex and may be unable tomatch corners. It will generally associate a corner with its nearest neighbour; this is not always correct and it is
why we use hint points to determine what goes with what.

Using the Morphing Tool
Hints are identification points existing in both the source and destination drawings to create associations
between the two of them.
To correct morphing distortions, Harmony has different types of hints available for controlling different typesof problems:•Contour Hint on page 451•

Zone Hint on page 451•

Pencil Hint on page 452•

Vanishing Point Hint on page 452•

Appearing Point Hint on page 453

Each type of hint has a different purpose and they can all be used in the same drawing. Use the Morphing tool
to add hints to your morphing sequences.
A hint will automatically appear in both the source and destination drawings when it is added. A hint cannot
exist in a single drawing. If you delete a hint from one drawing, it will be also deleted from the other.
The key to placing your hints is to put them where the biggest problem is. Fix the largest distortions first, thismay also fix the smaller ones at the same time.

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Do not add too many hints, this is a common mistake when morphing, it takes some practice to learn how tocorrectly use and place hints.
How to Add and Remove Hints
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the source or destination drawing of your morphing sequence.
2. In the Tools toolbar, select the Morphing

tool or press F3.

Use your other morphing key drawing, shown in the Drawing view's bottom right corner, as a reference.

3. In the Tool Properties view, select the type of hint you want to use.

‣

Select Contour Hint to correct a brush line or colour zone's contour (Contour vector).
Contour Hint points will behave similar to Pencil Hint points when used on a pencil line. Note that you
obtain better results using the Pencil Hint point on pencil line rather than Contour Hint points.

‣

Select Pencil Hint to correct a pencil line (Central vector).

‣

Select Zone Hint to correct a colour zone morphing match.

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Select Vanishing Point Hint to correct a vanishing shape's trajectory.

‣

Select Appearing Point Hint to correct an appearing shape's trajectory.

4. In the Camera or Drawing view, click on the drawing near the problematic area.

5. Select the hint's point and move it to its correct position.

6. Select one or many hints and press Delete to remove extra or unused hints.
‣

To delete all of the hint points at once, press Shift + Delete.

7. In the Playback toolbar, press the Playbutton to see the result.

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Hints

Hint points in the source drawing are green and red in the destination drawing.
Contour Hint
The Contour Hint
point is used on the colour fill zone and brush lines; in other words, on Contour vectors. It
allows you to control the line thickness and contour position. Also, if a contour is not animated correctly, you can
use hints to correct the animation. For example, if a flag is not waving properly.
When adding a Contour Hint point, make sure to place it far enough away from the contour so you can see it snap
to the contour.
Contour Hint points are yellow.

NOTE: Do not place the Contour Hint directly on the line as it may look like it has snapped to the contour, when infact, it has not and the morphing will remain unchanged.

NOTE: To correct a brush stroke, place a hint on both sides of the line to indicate its thickness variations over time.

Zone Hint
The Zone Hint
point is used on a colour zone to control the proximity rule. The Zone Hint is placed in thecentre of the colour zone. Sometimes a colour zone is not associated with the corresponding one by default. For
example, in a splash animation there are many water droplets that are the same colour. Harmony automaticallymorphs the droplet to the nearest one. This is not always the one you may have predicted. A Zone Hint will force
a colour zone to morph with another one.
Zone Hint points are cyan in colour.

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Pencil Hint
A Pencil Hint
point is used to control a pencil line, also known as central vector. It can be used on drawings
that were done using the Pencil, Polyline, Ellipse, Line and Rectangle tools. Like the Contour Hint, the Pencil
Hint snaps to the central vector. Make sure to place it far enough away from the line so you will see it snap
when you move it.
Pencil Hint points are magenta in colour.

Vanishing Point Hint
A Vanishing Point Hint
is used to control the trajectory of a vanishing shape. A shape will vanish from thesource drawing when there is no corresponding shape in the destination drawing. If you do not place a
Vanishing Point Hint to control the point of disappearance, the shape will vanish into its centre.
Vanishing Point Hint points are green in colour.

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Appearing Point Hint
An Appearing Point Hint
is used to control the trajectory of an appearing shape. A shape will appear in thedestination drawing when there is no corresponding shape in the source drawing. If you do not place an
Appearing Point Hint to control the point of appearance, the shape will appear from its centre and expand
outwards.
Appearing Point Hint points are violet in colour.

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If you have two morphing sequences that use the same drawing and you would like to copy it and its hint
points, you can do so in the Drawing view.
How to copy a drawing and its hints
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, click the Select‣Press Alt + S.

tool.

2. In the Drawing view, select the drawing to reuse in your second morphing sequence.
3. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Edit > Copy.

‣

Press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C (Mac OS X).

4. In the Timeline view, select the cell where the new drawing will be.

5. In the Drawing view, paste your selection.
6. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Edit > Paste .

‣Press Ctrl + V (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + V (Mac OS X).

7. In the Timeline view, select the cell where the second drawing will be.

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8. In the Drawing or Camera view, draw your second drawing.

9. Do one of the following:‣

In the Timeline view, create the morphing sequence for the new drawings.

‣

Press Alt + M.

10. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Morphing‣

Press F3.

tool.

11. In the Drawing or Camera view, position your hint points.

Morphing Layers
Morphing layers simplify the morphing animation. Complex shapes are often too difficult to control and may notwork properly, by dividing the drawings into morphing layers, the task becomes much easier.
The major points used in controlling a morphing sequence are the intersections. If there are many lines
intersecting within a drawing, the system will require more control—see Hints on page 451
An important aspect of morphing is to identify possible problem zones in order to fix them and avoid potentiallyfrustrating situations.

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Identifying Problem Zones
Simple details that look easy to morph can sometimes be more challenging than they may initially appear tobe. For example, you may find that the nose becomes an issue when performing a head rotation. As explained
earlier, the drawings need to be similar in their number of shapes. Generally, on a head rotation, the source
nose is in the centre of the face, but on the destination, the nose line is part of the face outline. This means thaton the source drawing, the nose and the face outline are two separate shapes, whereas they are combined into
one shape on the destination drawing.
Morphing a full face as demonstrated on the figure below will cause the source nose to slowly vanish as thedestination nose grows from the character's cheek.

Any shape that is contained inside another one and has to morph out of that shape will be problematic for thesame reasons as the nose is. At some point during the morphing sequence, the shape contained inside the face
will merge with the face outline, and then become a separate shape again.

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Morphing Layer Properties
It is because of these reasons, explained in the section, Identifying Problem Zones on page 456, that morphing
layers exist. Morphing layers are all contained in the same drawing layer. It is like having a mini Timeline within aTimeline layer, or a mini Xsheet within an Xsheet column.
Each morphing layer can have its own duration and velocity. Also, because you only have a single element tohandle in your Timeline or Xsheet view, it will be treated as one element for the Compositing process, making thecompositor's work easier.
You can separate all of your elements into different drawing elements and have many layers, but you would haveto create a large number of morphing sequences and make sure that you modify all of their timings properly.

NOTE: Both solutions are correct, but morphing layers makes it easier to handle and does not change the scene
structure by adding more elements, which can be very important for Cut-out animation puppets. For example, if you
morph a front head to a three-quarter head where the ear needs to be separate, you do not want to add a new ear
layer at the same time and have to worry about connecting it inside the puppet's construction. Instead, simply create
an ear morphing layer within the head layer.

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How to create a morph with morphing Layers
When you click on a morphing layer drawing, it automatically appears on top of the others. If you want it tostay in place, for example the wing behind the body, enable the Show Morphing in Place
option in theMorphing Tool Properties view.

NOTE: Use a naming convention for each morphing layer such as ear_1, ear_2 or head_1, head_2. You can also use
the numbers 1 to 9 for the first layer, 10 to 19 for the second one, 20 to 29 for the third one and so one. This

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technique is useful if you plan to do more than one morphing sequence in the same column. For example, front headto three-quarter head to side head. The three-quarter drawings will be used in both morphing sequences.

How to create a morph with morphing layers
1. In the Timeline view, add a new drawing element and name it properly.
2. In the first cell, draw the main source shape such as the head shape or body shape. Do not add details likeeyes.

3. In the Timeline view, select the destination cell.
4. Enable and extend the Onion Skin.

5. In the destination cell, draw the second drawing.

6. In the Timeline view, select the in-between cells.
7. Do one of the following:459

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Right-click and select Morphing > Create Morphing.

‣Press Alt + M.

8. In the Tools toolbar, select the Morphingtool.

9. In the Morphing Tools Properties view, click on the Add Layerbutton to add a new morphing layer.

10. Double-click on the new layer's name and name it appropriately.
11. Press Enter/Return.

12. Use the Up‣

and Down

arrow buttons to move the new layer above or below the Main layer.

If placed above the Main layer, it will be displayed in front. If it is placed below, it will be displayed
behind.

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13. To create new drawings, double-click on the blank area under the From section to create the source drawing and the To section for the destination drawing and type a different value than the ones used for themain layer.
14. Press Enter/Return.
You do not need to type any value for the Main layer as it uses the one from the Xsheet column.

15. Click on the new source drawing to start drawing the new part. (Make sure that you are working on theproper drawing by verifying the name in the Camera or Drawing view's bottom left corner.)

16. In the Camera or Drawing view, draw the source drawing.

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17. Once the source drawing is done, use the Morphing Tool Properties view and click on the destination
drawing's name and draw it in the Camera or Drawing view.
18. Repeat steps 9 to 15 for each layer needed. You can add as many layers as you want.
19. Enable or disable the layers that you want to display or hide while drawing.

20. If you want to change the layer duration, click on the layer and change the start and stop numbers.

The length indicator changes according to the new values.

Morphing Two Sequences in a Row
If you are morphing two sequences in a row, you will have to create a different set of hint points for eachsequence.

Morphing two sequences in a row requires three drawings: 1, 2 and 3. Using these three drawings you create
two morphing sequences; one sequence between drawings 1 and 2, and a second sequence between drawings
2 and 3.

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NOTE: Each morphing sequence has its own set of parameters and hints. This means that Drawing 2 will have a set ofhints for the first sequence and another set for the second sequence. The two sets of hints will not show at the sametime. Each set of hints that appears always corresponds to the morphing sequence you are working on.

Inserting a Morphing Key Drawing

Once you have a morphing sequence, you can add a morphing key drawing.
A morphing key drawing allows you to insert extra details into a morphing sequence. For example, during amorphing sequence you may need to insert a detail such as teeth or a mouth; this is easy to do when you use amorphing key drawing. Instead of creating an entirely new drawing, convert a computer generated in-between toa morphing key drawing and add your extra details to it and the next key drawing.
A morphing key drawing converts a computer-generated morphing frame into a real drawing that you can edit. It
splits the morphing sequence into two sequences, retaining any previous modifications.
How to insert a morphing key drawing
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select the morphing frame you want to transform into a morphing keyframe.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Animation > Morphing > Insert Morphing Key Drawing.

‣

Right-click and select Morphing > Insert Morphing Key Drawing.

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The new morphing key drawing appears.

3. In the Drawing or Camera view, draw your new details on the morphing key drawing.
4. In the Playback toolbar, press the Playbutton to see the result.

Converting Morphing Inbetweens to Drawings
Harmony lets you convert your morphing inbetweens to real drawings you can edit. This is useful whenmanually editing a morphing sequence or if you prefer to have animation timing in double frame (on twos)
instead of single frame (on ones).
How to convert morphing inbetweens to drawings
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, select a morphed drawing in the morphing sequence you want to convert
to real drawings.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the top menu, select Animation > Morphing > Convert Morphing to Drawings.

‣

Right-click and select Morphing > Convert Morphing to Drawings.

The Converting Morph dialog box opens.

3. Type the drawing basename you want to give to your new drawings. In this case, you could typecircle.
4. Click OK.

Morphing Holes and Transparencies
To be able to morph shapes with holes or transparent colours, it is important to understand the process ofanalyzing and morphing a shape. Harmony begins the process by reading the exterior outline of the entire
shape. So if you are morphing a doughnut, it will first read the entire circular shape and ignore the central hole.

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Once the general morphing shape is analyzed, the system will carry on analyzing the interior details such as colour
zones and holes.

As you can see, because the hole was placed on top after the main shape was morphed, the centre is filled with an
opaque brown colour. In order to avoid opaque holes, you have to paint the zone with a transparent colour sothat you can control it and flatten the transparency to cut a hole through the main shape.
The same thing happens when you have holes painted with semi-transparent colours. To see through yourshapes, you have to follow the same process as morphing shapes with holes.
How to morph a shape with a hole
1. In your Colour view, select an unused colour swatch and set its alpha (transparency) to 0.

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2. Paint both holes on the source and destination drawings.

3. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, click on a cell in your morphing sequence.

4. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Morphing‣

Press F3.

5. In the Tool Properties view, enable the Flatten

A hole appears in the shape.

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Adjusting the Morphing Quality
Increasing the morphing quality settings improves the line shape between vector points. It also creates a larger
file, so only increase quality when you are zooming in closely. You can adjust the quality in the Tool Properties
view and in the Preferences panel.

When morphing in Toon Boom Harmony, there is a preference you can set to help you set the default quality ofmorphing sequences. Refer to the following parameter in the Preferences Guide for complete descriptions.
•

Drawing tab: Settings, Morphing Quality

How to set a morphing sequence's quality level
1. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, click on a cell in your morphing sequence.

2. Do one of the following:‣

In the Tools toolbar, select the Morphing‣

Press F3.

tool.

3. In the Tool Properties view, adjust the Quality level.

Tips and Tricks
This section provides a list of easy tips and tricks to help you morph your drawings more efficiently.
Using the Brush Tool as a Beginner
When learning about morphing, it is recommended that you use the Brush tool. You can use the Pencil line forsimple closed shapes.
Using the Contour Hint on Pencil Lines
If you are using pencil lines, use Contour hints instead of Pencil hints. Use Pencil hint if you want the Pencil line to467

Chapter 7: Morphingswitch direction.
Flattening Drawings
Flatten your drawing before starting a morphing sequence.
Cleaning-up your Drawings
If you leave a dot, even the smallest one, it is possible that your morphing will create odd shapes. If the sourceline is closer to the dot than the destination line, the source line will morph into the dot and the destination line
will disappear.
Using the Same Colour Swatch
Use the same colour swatch between two drawings. You cannot morph between two different colour swatcheseven if they have the same RGB values. This can be turned to your advantage for complex morphing.
Morphing Similar Shapes
Similar shapes should have the same number of colour zones. This only applies to the number of zones andlines and not the number of points on a curve.
Avoiding Crossing Zones During Morphing
If a zone inside a larger zone on the source drawing ends up outside on the destination drawing, the morphingwill fail.
A line cannot cross another line during a morphing sequence.
For example, if you are morphing a face so it turns from the front to the side, the nose is located in the middleof the face on the source drawing. However if after morphing, the nose ends up outside or merged with theface profile line on the destination drawing, this will give undesirable results. You can avoid this by usingmorphing layers and splitting the nose on a separate layer.

Glossaryalpha channel

An image channel that carries transparency information. An image alreadyhas three channels: red, green and blue (RGB). The alpha channel is the
fourth channel (RGBA). The matte, or the transparency information, isstored in this fourth channel. An image without an alpha channel is always
opaque.

animatic

A movie with sound that is developed from the storyboard. The storyboard
panel is exposed for the duration of the scene and at times, the characters
are placed on a trajectory to indicate motion. The camera moves are also
animated. The animatic is used to determine the rhythm of a project andprovides a good overview of the project before beginning production.

animation

A simulation of movement created by displaying a series of pictures orframes.

anime

An animation style known for its sinister and dark feel; popular in Japan.

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arc

Action rarely occurs in a straight-forward manner; rather it typically unfolds
in what storytellers refer to as an arc. The purpose of a story arc is to movea character or situation from one state or scenario to the next.

aspect ratio

The relationship between the width and height dimensions for any scene,
frame or film format. Television ratio is 4:3 and widescreen ratio is 16:9.

auto-feed

An automated method of feeding drawings into a scanner in which multiple
drawings are stacked into a sheet feeder. When 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.
An imaginary line around which an object rotates.

axis

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).

background

The part of a scene that is farthest to the rear. The background is theartwork, 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 to define a curve.

bitmapAn image composed of pixels with a single resolution (size). If it is enlarged
too much, it will lose definition and pixels will begin to appear. This is
known as pixelation.

breakdown

In cut-out animation, breakdown is the action of breaking a character into
pieces to create a puppet with articulations. 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 thepivots set.
In traditional animation, a breakdown is an animation pose generally foundbetween two key poses. The key poses are the main poses in an animationand the breakdowns are secondary poses, ones that help describe themotion 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 the road.

captionA text field containing dialogue, effects, sound, or slugging information in astoryboard.

cel

In traditional animation, a cel (also known as celluloid) is a transparent
sheet on which the animation is inked and painted before being sent to thecamera. The picture's outline is drawn on the front of the cel and thencoloured along the back.
In Harmony, a cel is an individual space in an Xsheet column from which you
can expose a drawing or a function's coordinate.

character design

Each character in an animated film is drawn from multiple angles in poster469

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animators.

clean up

After rough drawings have been tested and approved, all the noise in theimage (excess lines, notes, etc) is removed to create final drawings which
can be inked, painted and shot. The cleanup process refers to either tracing
a clean line over a rough drawing to achieve the final version, or removing
dirt and extra lines left by the scanning process.

CMYK

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black. Refers to the process used by printers todefine colour on the printed page.

colour card

A colour card is a solid colour card that is the same size as the camera. The
colour card can be used to fill 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 tocreate the final result prior to rendering. For example, the compositing
artist will import all the animation sequences, background, overlays andunderlays 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 notransition effects inserted to pass from one scene to the next. The firstscene ends and the second one starts immediately.

cut-out animation

The action of animating characters made of several pieces by moving themaround frame by frame. Cut-out animation can either be computer
generated or done traditionally using paper.

cycle

A group of images that together make up an action, such as walking. A
cycle is an action repeated as a loop over a period of time. It can be a seriesof 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 thesequence and timing of images, dialogue, sound effects, sound tracks andcamera moves. Also known as an exposure sheet or Xsheet.

dopingTo assign a particular drawing to a range of frames.

DPI

Dots per inch is the standard measure of resolution for computerized
printers. It is sometimes applied to screens, in which case it should moreaccurately be referred to as pixels per inch. Either way, the dot is thesmallest discrete element making up the image.

ease/velocity

In animation, the ease, also known as velocity, is the acceleration anddeceleration of a motion. It can be a motion created by a function curve, or

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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 ishappening. 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 thehouse, the ground, a part of the street and the buildings around the central
point of action. This helps the viewer understand the story location andscene 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 of cels.

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 particularamount of frames they need to appear.
The exposure sheet is used by animators, directors and other members of acrew 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 from complete opacity to complete
transparency.

fast-inDramatic acceleration at the start of the action.

fast-out

Dramatic acceleration at the end of the action.

field

In animation, a field is a measurement unit used to calculate motion,
registration and camera positioning. A standard animation scene will vary
between 6 to 12 fields.

field chart

A guide containing all the field units that animation and layout artists use todetermine a scene size or camera motion.

film-1.33

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 drawingsof an animation sequence very quickly in order to see the animation in
motion. Flipping can also be the action of creating a mirror transformationof 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 willcause the cloak to follow the motion, although it will not move at the same

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forward kinematics

Forward kinematics is a feature used to animate principally 3D charactersand cut-out puppets with hierarchy. It is used to animate a puppet from oneof parent parts, such as a shoulder, and make the rest of the arm move with
it as a single piece.

frame

A single photographic image in a movie. In traditional animation, the North
American standard generally contains 24 frames per second, while inEurope the standard is 25 frames per second.
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 beplayed back at 12, 24, 25, 30 or 60 frames per second or any other number.

frame rate

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-scan monitors as hertz (Hz).

functions

A computer-generated motion, trajectory or path on which elements, othertrajectories and effects parameters can be attached. The function can becontrolled by adding keyframes and control points on the function curve.

gamut

The range of colours that a particular device can represent.

HDTV

High Definition Television delivers a higher quality image than standard
television does because it has a greater number of lines of resolution. To
take advantage of the superior quality and make full use of your resolution
setting, the output device must be compatible 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 andcolouring the lines on the final animation drawings, while following a colour
model.

interpolation

The computer-generated motion created between two keyframes. You
have the choice to create interpolation, or not, between your keyframes.

jump cut

A jerky cut between two scenes. Typically, a jump cut is not visuallypleasing. It is generally caused by one scene ending, and a second one
starting, with a similar image. The lack of difference causes the eye to see alittle jump between the two scenes.

key pose

Important positions in the action defining the starting and ending points ofany smooth transition. Keys, or key poses, are the main drawings in an
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waving, the keys will be of the arm at one extremity of the wave motion andthe other extremity. By flipping those drawings, the animator can see theskeleton 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 ofany action. A keyframe is a computer-generated position at a specificmoment (frame) on a given trajectory.

layersIn animation, a layer is an individual column, level or character. A scene's
layers are superimposed 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 thecharacter by following the design in the model pack, so the animator canstart working.
The layout artist draws the background, creates the camera and field guidematching the scene and camera motion. Lastly, the animator draws on
model the main action poses.

layout and posing

The action of putting on model. That is, at the right scale, the storyboard
for the animator to start working.

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 areworking on a particular layer.

line of action

The direction that the action will follow. Also known as path of action.

lip-sync

The character's mouth synchronization with the dialogue sound track.
Frame by frame, the mouth will be adjusted to fit the sound to give theillusion of the character is speaking.

low resolution

A format that is ideal for videos destined for the web, where size and fast
download of a 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 usedthroughout the entire production to maintain consistency in the look and toensure that the same colours are used throughout the production. Also
known as palette.

model/colour model

The definitive character, prop or location design each artist must follow fora production. A colour model is the official colour design that must be used
to paint the animation.

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.
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multiplane

The effect of passing through multiple levels of drawings to create a senseof depth in a shot. A multiplane is a scene in which the layers are placed at
different distances from the camera so that when the camera moves, adepth illusion occurs. With a multiplane, all the perspective and scale iscalculated automatically.

NTSC

The standard analogue television broadcasting system used in North
America. NTSC conforms to North American standards on how rectangularpixels are displayed for computer 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 aselection 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 andcomputer screens, as the rectangular pixels are displayed at a different
orientation.

palette/master palette

A palette or master palette is a group of colours attributed to a characteror a prop. The palette is used throughout the entire project to maintain aconsistency 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 and value. A palette style can be used to create the night version
of a palette. It may also be called a clone palette.

pan

To move the camera across the scene in any direction.

panel

In a storyboard, a panel is a frame in a shot. A shot can be composed of one
or several panels.

The paperless animation process is the action of animating digitally. The
paperless animation/tradigital main paperless animation process is to draw, frame by frame, theanimation directly in the software.
passing position

When drawing a walk sequence for a character, the passing position is thepoint at which one leg passes the other.

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 ofaction as cel layers move. In digital animation, in which you are doing amore advanced puppet rigging, you can use peg layers. Peg layers aretrajectory layers that do not contain drawings. They are motion paths thatyou can use to add path articulations. For the latter, you can also use theInverse 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.

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Pixel, short for picture element, is a single point in a graphic image. It is asmall sample of an image, a dot, a square, or a very small section made outof smooth filtering. If you zoom in close enough on a digital image, you will
see the pixels, which look like small squares of different colours andintensity.

pose-to-pose animation

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, theanimator fills the gaps with the in-between drawings to achieve a smoothanimation.

rendering

The final step when animating by computer. During rendering, thecomputer takes each pixel that appears on screen and processes all of thecomponents, as well as adding motion blur before it produces a final
image. The process of calculating the final images after the compositing
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 ofthese 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 for greater comfort while drawing.

rotoscoping

An animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film
movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films. The act of sketchingover live-action footage to create an animated sequence.

roughs

The skeleton sketch of an animation or design. Roughs mainly consist of
sketch lines and shapes, though they 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 that the 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 to another scene by a simple cut or transition.

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 a script.

sequence

A series of scenes or shots forming a distinct part of the story or movie,
usually connected by unity of location or time.

shot

A scene in a movie or show. A sequence is composed of several shots. A
shot changes to another 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.

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Chapter 7: Morphingslugging

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 ascene are laid out.

straight-ahead

A technique in which an entire sequence is drawn from the first position to
the last, in order. There is very little planning in this methodology. Where
the character ends up and how it gets there can be a surprise for both theaudience and the animator. While this approach is spontaneous andcreative, it can create inaccurate results.

strokes

Invisible vector lines forming the drawing zones. They can be adjusted with
Bézier handles.

tablet/pen

A device used in conjunction with, or instead of, a mouse to move a mousepointer (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, an animation, or anything else used in the
animation.

thumbnails

A very small image used as a reference or indicator.

timecode

The timing information printed on a movie clip to indicate the scene, hour,
minute and second 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, each drawing is traced and painted for the final animation. In
today's digital world, this may be done in a variety ways other than the
traditional celluloid or acetate methods.

track breakdown

The break down of an animated film's soundtrack into individual sounds to
produce the precise frame-by-frame position of each sound.

traditional animation

A type of animation process whereby all the animation sequences are
drawn by hand on paper before scanning or inking them on cels.

trajectory

A computer-generated path or trajectory that elements can follow. The
trajectory can be controlled by control points, keyframes 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 themain animation.

aspect ratio

The aspect ratio describes the shape of the grid unit. A square grid unit
would have a 1:1 ratio , whereas a grid unit of aspect ratio 4:3 is a unit with
one side 1.33 times as big as the other side.

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vector

A vector-based image is composed of points and Bézier curves. The
computer reads the points and traces the segments, linking them toreproduce the image shape. There is no fixed size or resolution in a vector
image. The graphic can be enlarged and distorted as much as desired andthe system will simply recalculate the segments and rebuild the shapes.
Vector images are translated and displayed in pixels once the calculation isdone.

velocity

In animation, the velocity, also known as ease, is the acceleration or
deceleration of a motion. This can be achieved by a function curve, or via aseries 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.
The Xsheet or exposure sheet, is a sheet with several vertical columns andhorizontal frames used to indicate a scene's timing.

Xsheet (exposure sheet)

Each column represents a scene's layer. In each column, the drawing
numbers are indicated and spread over the specific number of frames inwhich they appear.
The exposure sheet is used by animators, directors and other members of
the crew to track the sequence and timing of images, dialogue, soundeffects, sound tracks and camera moves. Also known as dope sheet.

zone

An area which can be painted with colour.

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Indexalpha channel 468
animatic 468
animation 468
anime 468
Annotation column 259
erasing annotations 262
pen colour 262
pen width 262
annotations
changing pen colour 262
changing pen width 262
erasing 262
arc 469
aspect ratio 469, 476
auto-feed 469
axis 469
background 469
backing up
palettes 201
Bezier 469
bitmap images 469
Bitmap layer 245
bitmap resolution
height 73-74
resolution factor 73-74
width 73-74
breakdown 469
brush size 20
Brush tooldrawing 15
presets 20, 106
size 20
brushes
exporting 43, 123, 160

importing 42, 122, 160

columns

Camera layer 246

advanced types 248

camera shake 469

changing colour 316

caption 469

cloning 258

cel 469

collapsing 304

celluloid

deleting 251

See cel. 469

duplicating 258

character design 469

expanding 304

drawing with brush 15

modifying 255

drawing with pencil 15

modifying look 310

getting references 14

navigating 295

preparation 13

properties 252

sketching model 15

renaming 256

chart

reordering 257

field 18

Timing 264

clean up 470

types 245

cleaning

Xsheet 244

model 30

compositing 470

cloning

copyinglayers and columns 258

drawings 299

CMYK 470cross dissolve 470

Colour-Card

cut 470

layer 246

cut-out animation 470

colour card 470

cycle 470

colour model 470, 473

cyclescolour palettesback up 201
location 200

exposure, creating 286
deleting
drawings 298

colour swatch

design tools 13

adding 24

Override 16

colour wheel 470
colours 21

designingbrush size 20

adding colour swatch 24
Column Properties editor
displaying in Xsheet 254

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characters 27
drawing with brush 15
drawing with pencil 15

Chapter 7: Morphing •field chart 18

presets, pencil 40

Element Manager dialog box

getting references 14

relative size 17

line up 18

stencils 39

establishing shot 471

preparation 13

tasks 34

exportingrelative size 17

thickness stencil, applying 41

brushes 43, 123, 160

sketching model 15

thickness stencil, creating 41

erasers 43, 123, 160

tool presets 20, 106

thickness stencil, deleting 42

pencils 43, 123, 160

parameters 257

dialogue 470

thickness stencil, renaming 42

exposure 471

dope sheet 470

thickness stencil, selecting 40

creating cycles 286

doping 470

tool presets 20, 106

decreasing 276

DPI 470

drawing elements

deleting 278

drawing

adding 248

extending 270

applying thickness stencil 41

creating 243

extending sequence 271

brush size 20

duplicating 258

Fill Exposure mode 267

Brush tool 15

Drawing layer 245

filling 266

brushes, exporting 43, 123, 160

drawing tools 13

filling empty cells 285

brushes, importing 42, 122, 160

drawings

filling selection 282

characters 27

copying/pasting 299

filling selection randomly 284

cleaning model 30

deleting 298

colour swatch, adding 24

duplicating 299

filling sequence with single
exposure 281

colours 21

identifying 313, 362

creating thickness stencil 41

managing 296

current drawing on top 35

marking 313, 362

deletiing thickness stencil 42

merging 301

exporting brushes 43, 123, 160

navigating 295

field chart 18

renaming 296

importing brushes 42, 122, 160

repositioning 19

inking model 30line up 18

drawings 299
ease 470

Override tool 16

ease-in 471

palettes 21

ease-out 471

pencil presets, creating 40

editors

pencil presets, selecting 39
Pencil tool 15, 36

increasing 276
inserting blank cells 279
moving cells 273
setting 280
typing in values 267
exposure sheet 471, 477
printing 322

duplicating

model 28

holding 269

extendingexposure 270
exposure sequence 271
fade-in 471
fade-out 471

Column Properties 254
Effect layer 246

field 471
field chart 18, 471
Fill Exposure mode 267

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Layer Properties editor

film-1.66 471

displaying 253

flipping 471

renaming layers 256

follow-through 471

layers 244, 473

lip-sync 473
auto detection 469
lip-sync detection
manual 473

forward kinematics 472

bitmap 245

low resolution 473

frame 472

camera 246

manual lip-sync detection 473

frame rate 472

changing colour 316

markers

frames 241

cloning 258

adding before/after selection 241

collapsing 304

navigating 295

Colour-Card 246

tempo, setting 321
markers, scene
setting 318

functions 472

deleting 251

marking

gamut 472

drawing 245

Gestural Drag mode 276

duplicating 258

master palette 473-474

Group layer 246

effect 246

merging

HDTV 472

expanding 304

hidingGroup 246

drawings 313, 362

drawings 301
model 473

columns 307

hiding 305

cleaning 30

layers 305

modifying 255

inking 30

Hold 472

Peg 247

rough 30

holding exposure 269

properties 252

sketching 15, 28

HSV 472

Quadmap 247

model sheet See character designimportingrenaming 255-256

morphingbrushes 42, 122, 160

reordering 256

deleting 441

erasers 42, 122, 160

showing 305

motion keyframe 473

pencils 42, 122, 160

Sound 247

mouth

in-between 472

types 245

chart 473

ink and paint 472

layout 473

multiplane 474

inkinglayout and posing 473

navigating

model 30

library 473

columns 295

interpolation 472

light table 473

drawings 295

jump cut 472

line of action 473

frames 295

key pose 472

line up 18

NTSC 474

keyboard shortcuts 473

linking

nudge 474

keyframes 473

external files 264

onion skinning 474
overlay 474

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presets

script 475

PAL 474

creating 20, 106

scrubbing 476

palettes 21, 474

pencil 39

sequences 475

backup 201

pencil, creating 40

shot 475

creating, Advanced Palette Listmode) 23, 202

pencil, selecting 39

showing

creating, Basic Palette List mode) 22,
202
location 200
style 474
panel 474
panning 474
paperless animation 474
passing position 474
Paste Special
pasting with 300
pasting
drawings 299-300
path of action 474
Peg layer 247
pegs 474
pen 476
pencil line
texture 44
pencil presets 39
creating 40
renaming 42
selecting 39
Pencil tooldrawing 15, 36
settings, modify 37
phoneme 474
pivot 474
pixel 474
pixelation See bitmap image
pose-to-pose 475

printingcolumns 307

exposure sheet 322
Quadmap layer 247

layers 305
size

relative size 17

brush 20

renaming

relative 17

drawings 296

sketchingrendering 475

characters 27

repositioning

model 15, 28

drawings 19

slow-in 475

resolution 475

slow-out 475

factor, bitmap 73-74

slugging 476

height, bitmap 73-74

soundscene 73-74
width, bitmap 73-74

scrubbing 476
Sound layer 247

RGB 475

stencils, thickness

rigging 475

applying 41

rotary table 475

deleting 42

rotoscoping 475

pencil 41

roughrenaming 42

models 30
roughs 475

selecting 40
thickness 39

safe area 475

stop-motion keyframe 476

scene markers

storyboard 476

setting 318

straight-ahead 476

scene resolution 73-74

strokes 476

scenes 475

tablet 476

adding frames before/after
selection 241
extending 241
removing frames 243
setting length 241

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templates 476
tempo markers
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texturespencil line 44
thickness stencil 39
applying 41
deleting 42
pencil, creating 41
pencil, selecting 40
renaming 42
thumbnails 476
tick marks, Xsheet
turning off 264
timecode 476
timeline 476
Timeline viewcloning layers and columns 258
expanding and collapsinglayers/columns 304
modifying layers and columns 255

filling sequence with single
exposure 281
frames 241

adding frames before/after
selection 241

holding exposure 269

advanced column types 248

increasing exposure 276

Annotation column, adding 259

inserting blank cells 279

cloning layers and columns 258

linking external files 264

collapsing/expanding 3D path orrotation columns 305

moving cells 273
preparing 239
references 240
removing frames 243
scene length 241
setting exposure 280
setting scene markers 318
setting tempo markers 321
Timing column 264
typing in exposure values 267
Timing column 264

renaming layers 255-256

linking external files 264

reordering layers 256

using 265

timingadding frames before/after
selection 241
Annotation column, adding 259
creating cycles 286
decreasing exposure 276
deleting exposure 278
erasing annotation 262
extending exposure 270
extending exposure sequence 271
extending scenes 241
Fill Exposure mode 267
filling empty cells 285
filling exposure 266

Xsheet view 255, 477

columns 244
displaying thumbnails 316
erasing annotations 262
expanding and collapsinglayers/columns 304
layers 244
modifying layers and columns 255
printing exposure sheet 322
removing frames 243
renaming columns 256
reordering columns 257
showing/hiding columns 307
Timing column 264

tool presetszone 477

creating 20, 106
tools
Override 16
trace and paint 476
track breakdown 476
tradigital 474
traditional animation 476
trajectory 476transition 476
underlay 476
vector 477
velocity 470, 477
walk cycle 477

filling selection randomly 284
filling selection with sequence 282

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