TOON BOOM HARMONY 12.1
- Essentials Edition -Traditional Animation GuideLegal Notices
Toon Boom Animation Inc.
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Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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Fax: +1 514 278 2666
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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
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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 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

Contents
Toon Boom Harmony 12.1- Essentials Edition -Traditional Animation Guide

1

Contents

3

Chapter 1: Traditional Animation - An Introduction

7

Chapter 2: Scanning

9

The Scanning Process

9

Scanning and Importing Drawings

10

Custom Vectorization Parameters

17

Options Tab

18

Help Tab

20

File IO Options

20

Registration Options

21

Filtering Options

21

Options for bitmap that has no registration information

23

RGB Keying Options

23

Colour Vectorization Options

24

Bubble Usage (implemented only for colour vectorization's line art)24

4 Colour Vectorization

24

Creating a Vectorization Style

25

Setting the VectOptions.conf File

27

Chapter 3: Timing

33

Preparation

33

Frames34

Creating Drawings

35

Layer Concepts

36

Layer Types

37

Adding New Drawing Elements

39

Deleting Columns

39

Layer Properties

40

Modifying Layers

41

Duplicating Layers

42

Cloning Layers

42Filling Exposure

42

Typing Exposure

43

Extending a Single Exposure

43

3

Contents

Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

45

Dragging Cells

46

Increasing and Decreasing Exposure

47

Deleting Exposure

48

Inserting Blank Cells

48

Setting the Exposure

49

Filling a Selection with a Single Exposure

49

Filling a Selection with a Sequence

50

Filling Empty Cells

51

Creating Cycles

51

Managing Key Exposures

52

Adding Key Exposures

52

Removing Key Exposures

54

Removing Duplicate Key Exposures

54

Navigating between Frames

55

Managing Drawings

55

Renaming a Drawing

55

Deleting a Drawing

56

Duplicating a Drawing

56

Copying and Pasting Drawings

57

Merging Drawings

59

Modifying the Layer Display

59

Showing or Hiding Layers

59

Changing the Colour of a Layer

60

Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models

63

Preparation

63

Colour Model Storage

64

Scene Creation

64

Colour Model Scene Structure

65

Setting Up the Workspace

65

Working with Palettes

67

Palette Lists

68

Palette File Storage

71

Element Level

72

Scene Level

72

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Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

Palette Backup

72

Creating a Colour Palette

72

Duplicating a Colour Palette

76

Cloning a Colour Palette77

Importing and Linking Palettes

79

Colours84

Adding a Colour Swatch

85

Editing Gradients and Textures

90

Colour Display Modes

91

Copying and Pasting Colours

92

Mixing Colours

93

Painting the Model

95

Chapter 5: Ink and Paint

99

Preparation

100

Painting

103

Painting Using the Paint Tool103

Selecting a Colour in a Drawing

104

Editing Gradients and Textures

105

Inverting a Colour Selection

106

Inking the Lines

106

Repaint Brush Mode

106

Verifying the Zones are Painted

107

Paint Tool Properties

109

Lasso and Marquee

109

Painting Modes

109

Paint Mode

110

Paint Unpainted Mode

110

Unpaint Mode

110

Apply to Multiple Drawings

111

Select Newly Paintedand Unpainted Contours/Lines

111

Close Gap

111

Glossary

112

Index

122

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Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

6

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

Chapter 1: Traditional 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 traditional 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:•

Scanning on page 9•

Timing on page 33•

Colour Styling and Colour Models on page 63•

Ink and Paint on page 99
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Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

8

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

Chapter 2: Scanning

Once your traditional animation sequences are completed and cleaned up, you're ready to scan and import themin Harmony. The scanning process is the point where the traditional production becomes digital. It's the moment
where you use Harmony to control the project.
This chapter is divided as follows:•

The Scanning Process on page 9•

Scanning and Importing Drawings on page 10•

Custom Vectorization Parameters on page 17

The Scanning Process
There are three steps in the scanning process which Harmony handles automatically:•

Vectorization•

Line art and colour art creation•

Optical registration

You can choose the following vectorization styles, which are set at the vectorization step:•

Solid lines•

Texture lines

9Chapter 2: ScanningThis retains the texture from the original drawing and applies it to the vectorized drawing as a bitmap
filling zone.

Harmony can receive images from any TWAIN device, such as scanners or digital cameras. You can load theseimages as bitmaps into your scene or convert them into vector-based images that can be edited using
Harmony.
You must install a TWAIN driver for your device in order to access its contents. Refer to the manufacturer ofyour device to get a TWAIN driver. Once all the animation layers are scanned in, you can set the timing in thedigital exposure sheet.

Scanning and Importing Drawings
Once your scene length is set, you can start scanning drawings and importing them into Harmony in one of thefollowing ways:
A bitmap image is an image composed of pixels that are both size and resolution dependent. In Harmony, you
can scan an image as a bitmap drawing.
You can turn bitmap images into vector drawings, while maintaining the sketchiness of a pencil line or into
vector images with a bitmap fill. Both options can add life to an animation, which straight vectorization withsmoothing does not usually afford.

How to scan images as bitmap drawings
1. From the top menu, select File > Import > From Scanner.

10Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

The Scan Drawings window opens.

2. Select your scanner from the Scanner list.

3. In the Layer section, decide if the scanned or imported image will be placed on a new layer or existinglayer.
‣Create Layer: Scans or imports the image into a new layer. Select one of the following options:Parameter

Description

Create Single Layer Named

Creates a layer you can name.

Create Layer(s) Based on Filenames

Creates a layer based on each unique filename prefix. For example,
the filenames a-1.tga, a-2.tga and b-1.tga will create layers named"a" and "b", where "a" has two drawings and "b" has one. When creating a single layer from these three filenames, all three drawings will
be inserted in the new layers.

11Chapter 2: Scanning‣

Add to Existing Layer: Scans or imports the image into an existing layer. Select a layer from theLayer list. You must scan into the same layer type if you're using an existing layer.

‣

Create Symbol for Acquired Items: Encapsulates the bitmap image in a symbol. To mix bitmap
images with vector drawings on the same layer, the bitmap image must be encapsulated in a symbol
and vice versa. Symbols will also be automatically added to the Symbol folder in the Library view.

4. In the Import Options section, select one of the following:‣

Keep As Bitmap: Retains the imported image as a bitmap. In the Alignment section, decide on thesize and placement of your image within the camera frame. Depending on the Scene Settings (theheight and width in pixels that you chose for your project), an image that you import may get scaled
to the point where all its individual pixels become visible. There are three options available in the
Alignment section:

Parameter

Description
Enlarges or shrinks (but not distorts) the image height to match the fullheight of the scene grid.

Fit

If the image orientation is landscape, this will enlarge or shrink (but notdistort) the image width to match that of the scene grid.

Note that the Fit alignment rule equals the Center Fit rule in the layer

12Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

properties.
This is the opposite of the Fit parameter. If the image orientation is portrait,
its width will be made to match the width of the scene grid. As a result, partof the image’s height will extend beyond the height of the frame. This can be
useful if you want to make your background move up and down, or from left
to right to make it appear as if the camera is panning or to actually perform acamera pan.

Pan

The opposite will apply to a landscape image. Its height will be fit to thescene grid, therefore it is possible that the image will extend beyond thescene grid's boundaries.

Note that the Pan alignment rule equals the Center First Page rule in thelayer properties.

Project Resolution

Scales the image in proportion to the scene's resolution. The system looks at
the resolution of the bitmap image, for example 4000 x 2000, then comparesit to the scene's resolution, for example 1920 x 1080, and adjusts the scale
factor in proportion. So, in this example, the bitmap would appear at 208%
(4000/1920). If you import a bitmap that is 960 x 540, it will be displayed at
50% (960/1920) of the size of the project resolution.

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Chapter 2: Scanning

Note that the Project Resolution alignment rule is equal to the As Is rule in
the layer properties.
‣

Import As Bitmap Drawing: Imports a bitmap drawing into a vector layer where you can edit theimage using the drawing tools. In the Alignment section, select one of the following:

Parameter

Description
Enlarges or shrinks (but not distort) to your image height to match the fullheight of the scene frame (alignment grid).

Vertical Fit

Enlarges or shrinks (but not distort) to your image height to match the full
width of the scene frame (alignment grid).

Horizontal Fit

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Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

Actual Size

Scales the image in proportion to the scene's resolution. The system looks at
the resolution of the bitmap image, for example 4000 x 2000, then comparesit to the scene's resolution, for example 1920 x 1080, and adjusts the scale
factor in proportion. So, in this example, the bitmap would appear at 208%
(4000/1920). If you import a bitmap that is 960 x 540, it will be displayed at
50% (960/1920) of the size of the project resolution.

5. In the Drawing Options section, set the following options if desired:‣

Drawing Name: Name of the drawing to import.

‣

Hold Value: Type the number of frames that the drawing will be exposed.

‣

Scan and Advance: Lets you scan one drawing after another every time you click Scan.

‣

Flip Drawing: Mirrors the drawings horizontally and scans it this way.

6. Adjust the Scale control and sliders in the Preview Image window until you are satisfied with the view.

7. Click Scan to scan your drawing.
8. If you are scanning panoramic drawings, in the Page Panning section, move the slider to the next letter tocapture your next frame.

9. If you have more than one drawing, set the next drawing in place and click Scan again. Repeat until you
have finished scanning all your drawings.
How to import and vectorize bitmap drawings
1. From the top menu, select File > Acquire from TWAIN or press Ctrl + Shift + S (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ +Shift + S (Mac OS X).
The Acquire from scanner window opens.

15

Chapter 2: Scanning

2. Select your scanner from the Scanner list.

3. Click Preview to get a test scan of your drawing.
4. In the Layer section, select one of the following:‣

Create Layer: Imports an image into a new layer. Type a name for the layer in the Name field.

‣

Add to Existing Layer: Imports the image into an existing layer. Select a layer from the Layer list.

5. In the Vectorization section, select the Vectorize Image option and then set the following:‣

Colour: Creates a vector rectange with the bitmap as a texture inside.

‣

Black and White: Vectorizes drawings as a solid black line; creates a 100% vector-based drawing.
Set the Threshold and Smooth parameters.
Threshold: Determines which black, white or grey pixels become a black line. 0% means all the lightpixels will be kept as black vector line. A value of 100% means only the very dark pixels become ablack line.
Smooth: Determines the smoothness of lines. The higher the value, the less angular and bumpt theresulting lines will be.
Auto Apply: Automatically applies the colour or black and white settings to the scanned images.

16Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

6. Adjust the Scale control and the sliders in the Preview Image window until you're satisfied with the view.

7. Click Scan to import your drawing.
8. If you have more than one drawing, set the next drawing in place and click Scan again. Repeat until you
have finished scanning all your drawings.

Custom Vectorization Parameters
You can create your own vectorization settings with Harmony. The vectorization parameters you create can besaved, shared and also inserted into the VectOptions.conf file used by the Scan and Control Center modules
when scanning or vectorizing a series of drawings.
You can use an interface to select and test the different options, as well as type in some advanced settings.
The Vectorization Parameters dialog box lets you vectorize pencil drawings, along with any red, blue or green
pencil marks you may have used to indicate highlights and shadows. The drawing will be vectorized into pure red,
blue, green and black (RGB values), while creating colour art zones wherever lines connect. After painting in yourtones and highlights, change your pure RGB colours to transparent (0 Alpha) in the Colour Picker window and
watch the indicator colour zone lines disappear.
How to open the Vectorization Parameters dialog box
1. From the top menu, select File > Import > From Scanner.
You can also open it from any other import option that allows you to customize the vectorization parameters (i.e. from the scanner).
2. In the Scan Drawings window, do the following:‣

In the Layer section, decide on the layer options.

‣

In the Import Options section, select the Convert to Toon Boom Vector Drawing option‣

Click Preview.

3. In the Vectorization section, click the Vectorization Parameters
The Vectorization Parameters dialog box opens.

17

button.

Chapter 2: Scanning•

Options Tab on page 18•

Help Tab on page 20

Options Tab
The Options tab contains the main vectorization settings. More settings are available in the Help tab.

Parameter

Description

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Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

The input filters are applied to the bitmap image before it is vectorized.
One Pass: One threshold value is applied to both the Line and Colour Art.
For drawings with distinct vector-style lines of mattes, you only need one
pass.
Two Passes: Applies a different threshold value to each layer. For greyscaledrawings, you may want to perform the vectorization process twice to apply
different threshold values to the Line and Colour Art layers.
Input

Threshold: Determines which values in the scanned image are consideredpart of the Line or Colour Art layer and what will be eliminated from thevectorized drawing; 0% is white and 100% is black. The threshold is between
these two values.
Expand Bitmap: Lets you enter a value to scale the bitmap to detect small
variations in the line. Use this option if you scanned a greyscale image andwant to preserve small variations in the texture to apply to the line art.
Jag Filter: Lets you enter a value to scale back the bitmap to remove someof the line’s roughness. This is useless when you have a drawing that appears
quite rough; the Jag filter will eliminate excess strokes in the final drawing.
The output filters are applied during the vectorization process.
No Colour Art: Does not generate filling zones in the Colour Art layer.

OutputNo Texture: Does not generate texture in the Line Art layer in the final
images. Select this option to create solid lines in the final line art.
Generate Matte in Underlay Layer: Creates an opaque zone behind yourdrawing’s lines to avoid seeing through the layers.
Colour as Texture: Converts colour values into a texture layer.
The optical registration options are used to automatically align drawings
based on the position of the peg holes on the animation paper. The peg
holes must appear in the scanned drawings for the optical registration to
work.
DPI: Lets you enter the dots-per-inch value of your image. You must enter
the same value as the DPI used to scan the image.

Optical Registration

Peg Side: Lets you select the position of the peg holes on your drawings.
Identify whether they are on the top, bottom, left or right.
Strictness: Determines how exact the location of the peg holes must be forthe software to recognize them. There are two values to choose from:•

Strict: The peg holes must be in a tightly defined area to berecognized.

•

Loose: The peg holes can be recognized somewhere in a larger area.
This is the recommended setting.

Field Chart: Lets you indicate the size of the animation paper, 12 or 16.

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Chapter 2: Scanning

The Post Processing filters are applied to the final vector images.
Remove Holes: Removes holes of a specified value that might make painting
difficult.
Post Processing

Remove Dirt: Removes stray marks and dirt of a specified value. Try a value
around 500.
Remove Hair Size: Removes small strokes that have no line art.
Remove Hair: Number of Passes: The number of times the drawing will beanalyzed to identify hair marks.
Close Gaps: Closes gaps in the Colour Art so you can paint it.

Miscellaneous

Smooth Passes for Line Art Before Breaking Triangles: The number oftimes the smoothing operation runs before creating the triangles that breaklines in the drawing. If unnecessary triangles are appearing in the drawing,
increase this value.
Smooth Passes for Line Art: The number of times the smoothing operationis performed after the triangles have been created. This further smooths theline art.
Show Strokes: Shows the strokes in the Vectorized Image panel.

Preview
Stroke Thickness: Shows the size of the strokes.

Help Tab
The Help tab contains the most advanced vectorization settings which you type in the Advanced Option fields
at the bottom of the Vectorization Parameters dialog box.

File IO Options-file <filename (including extension)> [ options ]-infile <filename (including extension)>; same as -file-outfile <filename>; alternate output file-informat <format>; the input format. Used if reading from stdin

20

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide-debug; turn on debug mode
-noforce; don't force output if image is inconsistent-version; print version information and quit
-output_version <version>; output files of this version. Valid versions can be: 0 or 604-force_unamed_palette_for_texture; will generate a texture in TVG's internal palette

Registration Options-register <dpi side strictness>; perform optical registration.
•

Side can be one of left, right, top, bottom or l, r, t, b.

•

Strictness can be either loose, strict or l, s.

-register_center_peg_holes; will use only round holes in 16 fields page-rcph; short form of register_center_peg_holes-registration_looseness_factor <factor>; registration looseness factor (default 2.000000)-rlf; short form of registration_looseness_factor-rdebug; output registration debug messages-pegpitch <inch (default 8.000000)>; distance between peg bars
-threshr < (default 0.500000)>; threshold for optical registration; range 0.0 to 1.0-rmargin <inch (default 1)>; region size where to look for peg bars
-peg_distance_from_center <inch (default 5.25)>; peg distance from centre of the image-pdfc; short form of -peg_distance_from_center-out_peg_position <side (default same)>; wanted position of the peg on the drawing.
•

Can be one of right, left, top, bottom (or r, l, t, b) or same.

•

A rotation will be performed if it is different from the side passed to -register.

-output_peg_matrix; output the peg transformation matrix on standard output.
-scanner_calibrate; < (default 1.0000 1.0000) > x and y scale factors to be applied to scanner image.

Filtering Options-pixel <pixel_shape (default '4x3')>; Valid values: 4x3-gap <worldUnits (default 10)>; close gaps up to this big-pencil; generate line art only
-keep_dirt; don't filter out dirt
-thresh <threshold (default 0.2)>; range 0.0 to 1.0-rmv_hairs <worldUnits (default 1)> <passes (default 1)>•

remove hairs of size smaller than "size" in "passes" passes

21

Chapter 2: Scanning-rmv_holes <area (default 7)>; remove holes smaller than "area"-rmv_dirt <area (default 1)>; remove dirt smaller than "area"•

try values between 100 and 500 for rmv_holes and rmv_dirt. The area is in world units squared-rmv_triangles <worldUnits (default 30.000000)>; remove triangles at "pixels"•

distance from each other. Use -no_break to remove all triangles-no_texture; don't generate textured strokes-color_as_texture; will vectorize the alpha channel and put the RGB colour in a textured colour-noclosegap; disable all gap closing algorithms-no_break; disable the breaking of line art-jag_filter <pixels (default 0>; expand the pixels in the vectorization bitmap-expand_bitmap <pixels (default 0>; expand the pixels in the vectorization bitmap-fit_errorc <error (default 1.000000>; fitting error for the colour art-fit_errorl <error (default 1.000000>; fitting error for the line art-smoothl <passes (default 1>; number of smooth passes for line art-smoothc <passes (default 1>; number of smooth passes for colour art-first_smooth <passes (default 0>; number of smooth passes for line art before breaking triangles-first_smoothl <passes (default 0>; number of smooth passes for line art before breaking triangles-first_smoothc <passes (default 0>; number of smooth passes for line art in colour art pass (needs -2pass)-2pass; specify two sets of parameters; one for line art "l", one for colour art "c"(-thresh, -rmv_holes and -rmv_dirt will be overridden by -threshl, threshc, -rmv_holesl,-rmv_holesc, -rmv_dirtl and -rmv_dirtc)-threshl <threshold for line art (default 0.5)>; range 0.0 to 1.0-threshc <threshold for color art (default 0.5)>; range 0.0 to 1.0-jag_filterl <pixels (default 0>; expand the pixels in the vectorization bitmap for line art-jag_filterc <pixels (default 0>; expand the pixels in the vectorization bitmap for colour art-expand_bitmapl <pixels (default 0>; expand the pixels in the vectorization bitmap for line art-expand_bitmapc <pixels (default 0>; expand the pixels in the vectorization bitmap for colour art-rmv_holesl <area (default 7)>; remove line art holes smaller than "area"-rmv_holesc <area (default 7)>; remove colour art holes smaller than "area"-rmv_dirtl <area (default 1)>; remove line art dirt smaller than "area"-rmv_dirtc <area (default 1)>; remove colour art dirt smaller than "area"
try values between 100 and 500 for rmv_holesl, rmv_holesc, rmv_dirtl and rmv_dirtc. The values are inworld units squared-margins <inch (default 0.25)>; remove margin around bitmap

22Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide-top_margin <inch (default 0.25)>; remove margin at top of bitmap-bottom_margin <inch (default 0.25)>; remove margin at bottom of bitmap-left_margin <inch (default 0.25)>; remove margin at left of bitmap-right_margin <inch (default 0.25)>; remove margin at right of bitmap-remove_peg_bars; remove the peg bar holes-field_size <fields (default 12 or use value in scan file)>; set the drawing to this field size
-fs; short hand for -field_size-peg_bar_size <inch (default 1)>; the size of the peg bar region-noframe; do not put a frame around the colour art-frame_fields <default -1.000000>; put a frame of the specified dimension around the colour art-downscale_input <default 1>; downscale the raw input by this integer factor-downscale_texture <default 1>; downscale the output texture by this integer factor-buildmatte; generate a matte on underlay for line test
-buildmatte_colourart; generate a matte on colour art for line test
Note: -buildmatte and -buildmatte_colourart are mutually exclusive-copystrokes; copy original strokes when building matte.

Options for bitmap that has no registration information-pixel_margins <inch (default 0)>; remove margin around bitmap-top_pixel_margin <inch (default 0)>; remove margin at top of bitmap-bottom_pixel_margin <inch (default 0)>; remove margin at bottom of bitmap-left_pixel_margin <inch (default 0)>; remove margin at left of bitmap-right_pixel_margin <inch (default 0)>; remove margin at right of bitmap-dpi <(default -1)>; dpi information of input bitmap

RGB Keying Options-rgb; generate separate zones for red, green and blue lines-rgb_alpha <value (default 255)>; generate red, green and blue colour with alpha of this value-no_red; ignore red colour in vectorization-no_green; ignore green colour in vectorization-no_blue; ignore blue colour in vectorization-flatten; flatten the drawing after generating colours-rmv_rgb_dirt <threshold area default 0.0>; remove red, green and blue regions smaller than area
-expand_bitmap_rgb <pixels (default 0>; expand the pixels in the vectorization bitmap for rgb

23

Chapter 2: Scanning-threshrgb <value> <threshold for rgb vectorization default 0.200000>;-threshsv <saturation threshold default 0.500000> <value threshold default 0.500000>; thresholds onsaturation and value to consider a pixel to be grey

Colour Vectorization Options-color_vectorize; perform a colour vectorization-file2 <colour art filename>; specify the colour art bitmap-penstyle <center alpha (0.0-20.0)> <edge alpha (0.0-20.0)> <gamma (0-10)><centre pressure effect (0.0-1.0)> <edge pressure effect (0.0-1.0)><texture bitmap downscaling (0.2-20)> <texture bitmap file (valid filenameor "" if no file)>; generate brush texture for the line art-pressure_variation <strategy (0, 1 or 2)> <min pressure (0.0-1.0)> <max pressure (0.0-1.0)> <max variation(0.0-1.0)>; specify a pressure strategy for the centre line.
-blur_radius <pixels (default 0)>; blur the penstyle texture generated-color_contour_smooth_passes <times (default 3)>; perform number of smooth passes on contour before
computing texture-ccsp <times (default 3)>; short for -color_contour_smooth_passes-color_rmv_holesl <world units (default 0.000000)>; remove holes of this size when computing texture-color_fill_holesl <world units (default 0.000000)>; fill holes of this size for colour line art

Bubble Usage (implemented only for colour vectorization's line art)-create_bubbles; add bubbles into the LineArt. Implemented for colour vectorization only
-bubble_gap <value (default 3)>; max number of colour art points between 2 bubbles-bubble_length <value (default 10)>; max number of circles in a bubble-min_radius <value (default 1.5000)>; min radius of a circle in a bubble relative to the line thickness (must be>= 1.0)-max_radius <value (default 3.5000)>; max radius of a circle in a bubble relative to the line thickness (must be>= 1.0)-uniform_gap; the space between bubbles is constant

4 Colour Vectorization-4colours [key:value] ... [key:value] ; The key value list can be empty. The list of keys is:
rgbdiff:value ; between [0.0-1.0] or [0-255]
dark:value ; between [0.0-1.0] or [0-255]
grey:value ; between [0.0-1.0] or [0-255]
white:value ; between [0.0-1.0] or [0-255]
dirt:value ; dirt area. 200 is a good value
rt:value ; between [0.0-1.0] or [0-255]

24

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

gt:value ; between [0.0-1.0] or [0-255]
bt:value ; between [0.0-1.0] or [0-255]

NOTE:
There must be no space between the colon and the key/value. For example: -4colours rgbdiff:20 dark:20 grey:120
white:250 dirt:200 rt:240 gt:240 bt:240

Creating a Vectorization Style
With Harmony, you can create custom vectorization parameters that can be saved, reused, shared, or used to set
the Scan module vectorization style list.
You can vectorize drawings using one of the following methods:•

Black and White: All the lines become vector based and 100% black. The white areas become completelytransparent.

•

Greyscale: All the lines preserve their initial textured look in grey shades as a bitmap image contained
inside a vector frame. The white areas become completely transparent.

•

Four Colours: With the advanced parameters, you can isolate the red, green, blue, and black lines andturn them into 100% vector lines, preserving their original colours—see Custom Vectorization Parameterson page 17.

How to create or modify the vectorization parameters
1. Set the different options available in the Vectorization Parameters dialog box.

25

Chapter 2: Scanning

2. Click the Vectorize button to update the Vectorized Image preview.
The vectorized image is just a preview. The actual vectorization happens when you click OK in the
Import Images dialog box. There are many options to try in the Vectorization Parameters dialog box.
These are applied during the vectorization process.
3. To set advanced parameters, read the information on the Help tab, then type in the Advanced Options
field at the bottom of the dialog box.
4. To save your vectorization parameters to reuse them later, share them, or use them to set the Scan
module vectorization style list, click Save.
5. In the Browser window, name and save the file.

6. To save the current settings as your default settings, click Save As Default. To restore the default settings, click Restore Defaults.
7. To load a vectorization style, click Load and locate the existing *.vof file.
8. Click OK.

26

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

Setting the VectOptions.conf FileToon Boom Harmony Server uses a file called VectOptions.conf to get the vectorization style when batch
vectorizing a series of drawings. A series of default styles is available in this file, but you will certainly want tocreate your own to fit your production style.
How to set the VectOptions.conf file on Windows or Mac OS X
1. Open the vectOptions.conf file:‣

Windows: Select Programs / All Programs > Harmony 12.1 > Tools > Configuration Editor.

‣

Mac OS X: Select Applications > Harmony 12.1 > Tools > Configuration Editor.

The Configuration Editor window opens.

2. In the bottom section of the window, select the VectOptions.conf tab.
3. Scroll down the VectOptions.conf file to see all the different options available for creating your custom vectorization style. These options are the same as in the Vectorization Parameters dialog box. It is recommended that you create your vectorization style using Harmony and the Vectorization Parameters window
and copy the result parameters in this file—see Creating a Vectorization Style on page 25
4. Scroll down toward the bottom of the file to see the default styles. You can modify them or add new ones
to the list using the parameters you got using the Vectorization Parameters window. Notice that some of
the lines have a “#” sign at the beginning to indicate that the line is a comment and will not appear in thestyle list. The lines that have no sign at the beginning appear in the style list.

27

Chapter 2: Scanning

5. To create a new style, type the following below the existing styles:
style_name:
This should be followed by the name of your new style. For example: style_name: Black Lines.
6. Under the style name line, type the following:
options:
7. Copy and paste the information in your *.vof style when saving your settings in the Vectorization Parameters window.
‣

To open the *.vof file, use any plain text editor application.

8. In the Configuration Editor’s top menu, select File > Save.
9. If you have Toon Boom Harmony Scan on your computer, you can start the application and verify thatthe new style appears in the Vectorization Style list under Edit > Vectorization Style.

28

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

NOTE:
If you are using the batch processing method available with Toon Boom Harmony Server to scan and vectorize
drawings, the selected style must be available on all the machines included in the batch processing list.
Refer to the Control Center Guide Guide to learn more about setting up and using batch processing.

How to set the VectOptions.conf file on Linux using the vi text editor
1. Open a Terminal window:
Menu: Applications > System Tools > Terminal
2. Open the etc folder inside the installation directory:$ cd /usr/local/ToonBoomAnimation/harmony_12.1/etc
3. Change your user to "root":$ su‣

If your user is part of the sudoers list, enter the following command and go to step 5.
$ sudo vi VectOptions.conf

4. Enter the root password.
5. Open the VectOptions.conf file:$ vi VectOptions.conf
6. To start editing, press I to enter Insert mode.
7. When you're finished editing the file, press Esc to exit Insert mode.
8. To save the changes made to the file, type the following and press Enter/Return:$ :w!
9. To exit the vi editor and return to the Terminal, type the following and press Enter/Return:
$ :q

29

Chapter 2: Scanning

10. If you have Toon Boom Harmony Scan module on your computer, start the application and verify thatthe new style appears in the Vectorization Style list under Edit > Vectorization Style.

NOTE:
If you are using the batch processing method available with Toon Boom Harmony Server to scan and vectorize
drawings, the selected style must be available on all the machines included in the batch processing list.
Refer to the Control Center Guide Guide to learn more about setting up and using batch processing.

How to set the VectOptions.conf file on Linux using the gedit text editor
1. Open a Terminal window:
Menu: Applications > System Tools > Terminal
2. Open the etc folder inside the installation directory:$ cd /usr/local/ToonBoomAnimation/harmony_12.1/etc
3. Change your user to "root":$ su‣

If your user is part of the sudoers list, enter the following command and go to step 5.
$ sudo gedit VectOptions.conf

4. Enter the root password.
5. Open the VectorOptions.conf file:$ gedit VectOptions.conf
6. Edit the parameters of the VectOptions.conf file as you would do in most text editor applications.
7. Select File > Save.
8. Select File > Quit.
9. If you have Toon Boom Harmony Scan module on your computer, start the application and verify thatthe new style appears in the Vectorization Style list under Edit > Vectorization Style.

30

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

NOTE:
If you are using the batch processing method available with Toon Boom Harmony Server to scan and vectorize
drawings, the selected style must be available on all the machines included in the batch processing list.
Refer to the Control Center Guide Guide to learn more about setting up and using batch processing.

31Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

32

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

Chapter 3: 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 Timeline view is also used to visualize timing, and represents elements and groups of elements as layers.
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.
The basic digital exposure sheet process is divided into the following steps:

Preparation
The digital exposure task is quite simple. There are very few things to prepare in order to get ready.
Opening the Scene
The scene is generally created during a previous step, such as scanning (in a traditional animation workflow),
scene set up, digital layout, or production organization.
Using the Workspace
If you're doing paperless animation, use the Camera or Drawing view if you want to sketch at the same time.
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.

33

Chapter 3: Timing

Preparing References

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

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 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.

34Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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.
1. 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.

‣

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

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.
3. Click OK.

Creating Drawings
Before filling any value or setting any timing or exposure, you need to add different drawing elements.
Each drawing element is represented as a horizontal element layer in the Timeline view.

35

Chapter 3: Timing

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 view. There is always a drawing container
connected to a drawing element (column).

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

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

Layer Concepts on page 36•

Layer Types on page 37•

Adding New Drawing Elements on page 39•

Deleting Columns on page 39•

Layer Properties on page 40•

Modifying Layers on page 41•

Duplicating Layers on page 42•

Cloning Layers on page 42

Layer 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.
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 thedrawing.

36

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

Layer Types
There are several types of layers that you can add in the Timeline view. Each layer is indicated by an icon to help
you differentiate them.
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.
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.

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.

37

Chapter 3: Timing

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.
Group Layer

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

A Peg layer is a trajectory or motion path layer that does not contain drawings. It can be attached to any
drawing layer, cut-out puppet, or other peg layers; they will all follow the trajectory you set in the Peg layer.
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.
Sound Layer

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

38Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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 corresponding Drawing layer in the Timeline view.
You can add an element for each drawing and it will appear as a layer in the Timeline view.
How to add a drawing element from the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, click the Add Drawing Layer(Mac OS X).

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

The Add Drawing Layer window opens.

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

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

‣

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

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

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

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

39Chapter 3: Timing

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.

Layer Properties
Each element has its own set of properties that you can modify, including effect and peg layers.
If you want to modify an element’s properties, you can display the properties of a selected layer in the Timeline
view. 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

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

Enable or disable the layer

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

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

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

‣

Press Shift + E.

The properties display.

40Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

Modifying Layers
Once you add layers to your project, you can modify their properties, names, or ordering.
You can change the order of your elements in the Timeline view.
How to rename a layer in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, double-click on the name of the layer to rename.
2. In the Name field, rename the layer and press Enter/Return.

How to rename a layer in the Layer Properties editor
1. In the Timeline view, double-click anywhere on the layer except the layer name to rename.
The Layer Properties editor opens.
2. In the Name field, rename the layer.

41

Chapter 3: Timing

3. Click Close.
How to reorder layers in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, select the layers to move.
2. Drag the selection to the new location.
3. Do one of the following:‣

Drop the selection on an existing layer to make it a child of another element layer.

‣

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

Duplicating Layers
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 view, click the layer you want to duplicate.

1. In the Timeline menu, select Drawings > Duplicate Drawings or press Alt + Shift + D.
The new duplicated layer appears.

Cloning Layers
Cloning a layerprovides you with a copy of the selected element that uses the same drawings as the original.
How to clone an element
1. In the Timeline view, select the layer you want to clone.

1. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

The new cloned layer appears.

Filling Exposure
Harmony provides different tools to fill in exposures and values, create cycles, and set increments.
This section is divided as follows:42Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide•

Typing Exposure on page 43•

Extending a Single Exposure on page 43•

Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings on page 45•

Dragging Cells on page 46•

Increasing and Decreasing Exposure on page 47•

Inserting Blank Cells on page 48•

Setting the Exposure on page 49•

Filling a Selection with a Single Exposure on page 49•

Filling a Selection with a Sequence on page 50•

Filling Empty Cells on page 51•

Deleting Exposure on page 48•

Creating Cycles on page 51•

Managing Key Exposures on page 52

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

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

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

2. Press Enter/Return to validate the value.

Extending a Single Exposure
Extending the exposure lets you select a cell that contains a value and pull it down to the desired frame.

43

Chapter 3: Timing

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.

44Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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

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

From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences.

‣

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

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

45

Chapter 3: Timing Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

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

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

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

2. Drag the cells to the new location.

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

Drop by simply releasing the mouse or pen.

‣

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

‣

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

46Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Increase Exposure.

‣Press +.

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Decrease Exposure.

‣Press -.

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

47

Chapter 3: Timing Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

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.

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 Timelineview, 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 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 view, select a cell of a drawing exposed over several cells.
2. Do one of the following:‣

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

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

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

2. Do one of the following:48

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide‣

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 toolbar, click the Insert Blank Cell
display it).

‣Press Shift + J.

button (you may have to customize the toolbar to

A blank cell is inserted.

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 view, select the cell range on which you want to set the exposure.

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).

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.

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

49

Chapter 3: Timing Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

The Fill Selection dialog box opens.

3. In the Value field, type the desired value.
4. To insert a key exposure in the frame following the last cell in the selection, select the Add Key Exposure After option. Otherwise, leave it deselected.
5. Click OK.

Filling a Selection with a Sequence
You can create a numbered sequence over a selection. The sequence can be forward, backward, single, double
or higher increment, as a cycle, and so on. The selection can be over one cell or a cell range.
How to fill a selection with a sequence
1. In the Timeline 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)).

The Sequence Fill dialog box opens.

50

button (you may have to customize the toolbar toHarmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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

Filling 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 view, select a cell range.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Fill Empty Cells.

‣

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

‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Fill Empty Cells

button.

Each drawing in the selection is exposed in the range of empty cells that follow it.

Creating Cycles
Once you have entered a series of drawings and exposures, you can create cycles out of them in several ways.
You can loop your drawings using the following command:•

Create Cycle

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Chapter 3: Timing Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

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 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.

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

Managing Key Exposures
Before working with key exposures, it's important to understand how keyframes, exposure and key exposure
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.

52

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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

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

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

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

53

button.

Chapter 3: Timing Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings‣

In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Key Exposure‣

Right-click and select Exposure > Add Key Exposure.

button.

A new key exposure is added.
If you added a key exposure at the beginning of the drawing, the entire exposure is filled with that samedrawing. If you added a key exposure anywhere other than the beginning of the drawing, then 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‣

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.

54

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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

button (you may have to customize

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

FramesHow to navigate through drawings and frames
1. In the Timeline view, select a cell.

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

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

‣

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

‣

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

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

Renaming a Drawing on page 55•

Deleting a Drawing on page 56•

Duplicating a Drawing on page 56•

Copying and Pasting Drawings on page 57•

Merging Drawings on page 59

Renaming a Drawing
To rename a drawing, you need to select the drawing cell and use the Rename Drawing command.

55

Chapter 3: Timing Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

How to rename a drawing
1. In the Timeline view, select the drawing to rename.

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Drawings > Rename Drawing.

‣

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

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

button (you may have to customize the

The Rename Drawing dialog box opens.

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

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

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

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

Right-click and select Drawings > Delete Selected Drawings.

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

56

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

How to duplicate a drawing
1. In the Timeline 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.

‣

Press Alt + Shift + D.

Copying and Pasting Drawings
When you copy and paste a selection in the Timeline 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 seriesof 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.
Replace existing drawings. Create drawing files when they do not exist: Replace drawings withthe same names to update a scene with new modified drawings and preserve the animation.
Tip: If you don't want to lose the existing animation when pasting a template, such as
when placing new drawings after the animation, then delete the template's animation.
It will still have updated the drawings but not override the existing animation.
Always create drawing files: When adding exposures to a drawing layer, new drawings will always
be created. If drawing files with the same name already exist, Harmony will create a new name forthe 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 the mostrecent Paste Special operation, without opening the Paste Special dialog box.
How to paste drawings with the Paste Special command
1. In the Timeline view, select the drawings to copy and press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C (Mac OS
X).

57

Chapter 3: Timing Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings

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

3. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Paste Special.

‣

From the top menu, select Edit > Paste Special.

‣

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

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

button (you may need to customize the toolbar to

The Paste Special dialog box opens.

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

58

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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 toolbar, click the Paste Special Again
to display it).

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

button (you may have to customize the toolbar

Merging Drawings
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 drawings in entire layers or columns
1. In the Timeline view, select the layers you want to merge.

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

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

Showing or Hiding Layers on page 59•

Changing the Colour of a Layer on page 60

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.

•

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

59Chapter 3: Timing Extending the Exposure of Previous Drawings•

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

How to enable the selected layer and disable all others
1. Do one of the following:‣

Hold down Alt and click the Solo Modelayers.

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

button of the layer you want to solo and hide all otherbutton (you may have to customize theChanging the Colour of a Layer
To easily identify elements in the Timeline view, you can change the colour of layers.

60

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

How to change the layer’s colour in the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, click the Change Track Colour

button of the layer you want to modify.

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

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

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).

61

button (you may have to customize the toolbar

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

62

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

Chapter 4: 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.

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

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

Preparation on page 63•

Working with Palettes on page 67•

Colours on page 84•

Painting the Model on page 95

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 64

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Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models•

Scene Creation on page 64•

Setting Up the Workspace on page 65•

Preparation on page 63

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 model64

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

scene for the Adventure project would be named adventure_characters_colourmodel. This ensures thatyou always know what scene corresponds to what.

Colour Model Scene Structure
To store your colour models in a scene, you should create one drawing layer for each character, prop, effect, or
location. You should name these according to the model.
You can also load other colour references in the scene to balance your overall colours. For example, if you work 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•

Colour65

Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models

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.

3. Type in a new name and click OK.

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Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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 new paletteand add a new colour, known as a colour swatch, for each zone of the character, such as the skin, hair, tongue,
shirt, pants, and so on.
In Harmony, palettes are individual files that you can copy, transfer, and store. Palettes have a *.plt file nameextension—see Palette File Storage on page 71.
When a zone on the character is painted with the colour contained in a colour swatch, a link is automaticallycreated between that colour swatch and the zone. This means that if the tint of the colour in the colour swatch ischanged, any zone linked to it will update to the new tint. This is one way that colour palettes can save time andmoney in your production.
Another advantage of this system is that you can create complete palettes for different lighting situations. For
instance, in addition to the regular palette for a character, you could have one for that character in the rain using
colours that are duller and less vibrant than the dry daytime colours, or yet another for using in a night scene.
Using palettes linked to your character in this way allows you to instantly change its colouring to suit the moodand atmosphere of the scene without tediously repainting each element.

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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Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models

This section is divided as follows:•

Palette Lists on page 68•

Palette File Storage on page 71•

Creating a Colour Palette on page 72•

Duplicating a Colour Palette on page 76•

Cloning a Colour Palette on page 77•

Importing and Linking Palettes on page 79

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

•

Basic Mode

68Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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

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

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

Scene Palette List
The Scene Palette list is mainly used with cut-out animation, but is also very useful for paperless andtraditional animations. A cut-out character will often be divided into 20 to 30 different drawing 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 tothis list will appear in every drawing element created in the scene. There is no need to manually load thepalette in each element.
The Scene Palette list is the simplest one to use. By default, Toon Boom Harmony is set to use only Scene
Palette lists.

•

Element Palette List

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Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models

In Toon Boom Harmony, you can switch to Advanced Palette List mode and choose to save your paletteat an element’s level. The Element Palette list is mainly used with traditional and paperless animation.
Unlike cut-out animation, all columns (drawing elements) contain different characters, props,
backgrounds, and effects. The Element Palette list is used when you do not necessarily want all of thepalettes for all of your elements linked in every column.
The palette list is stored in the drawing element’s directory instead of directly in the Scene level. This
ensures that the links to the palettes appear only in the appropriate element. If you prefer to access 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 77.
How to show or hide the Palette list‣

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

The Palette List window opens and displays all your palettes.

70

button to expand or collapse theHarmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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

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

‣

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

1. Select the Advanced tab.
2. In the 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 canfind palette-library folders:71Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour ModelslElement: 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 thefile structure.
This existing structure is compatible with Harmony Server. Harmony’s database has a leveled structure
starting from the Environment down to the Element. Its client-server configuration allows all data, such as
palettes and scenes, to be shared between a series of 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 thepalettes 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 and retrieve their location.
The scene level can also be useful for cut-out animation. Instead of creating a colour model scene that includes
all of the characters, props, effects, and location, the colour palette or model will often be directly imported
to, or created in, the character building scene. Just as with a cut-out character building scene, each element
uses the same palette so it would not be efficient to save the palette inside one element. Instead, it is saved at
the scene level. This prevents a palette overload because all of the models are in different scenes. It also allows
each scene to have its own set of palettes corresponding to its model.
When working on a cut-out animation production, it is highly recommended that you work with the Scene level.

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

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

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Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

By default, Toon Boom Harmony is set to the Basic mode. For simple productions, it is recommended to use the
Basic mode. This setting stores the palettes automatically for you and saves them at the Scene level. When you
use the Advanced Palette Lists mode, you can decide at which level you want to store your palettes: Environment,
Job, Scene, or Element.
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 Essentials > Preferences(Mac OS X).

‣

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

1. Select the Advanced tab.
2. In the 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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Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models

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 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.

74Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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 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 for allof your elements linked in every column.
The palette list is stored in the drawing element's directory instead of directly in the Scene level. This
ensures that the links to the palettes appear only in the appropriate element. If you prefer to access a
global palette list, link your palettes to the Scene Palette List.

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

Right-click and select Rename.

‣

From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Rename.

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

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Remove.

‣

Right-click on the selected palette and select Remove.

‣

Click the Remove Palettebutton located above the Palette list.

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

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Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models

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 71.

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

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

76Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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 when ascene or sequence changes from day to night. It can be difficult and time-consuming to repaint everything andcreating two independent palettes can be quite complex. As an alternative, Toon Boom Harmony provides clone
palettes.
The clone palette is a copy of the master palette. The colours in each palette have the same properties. The
colours have the same identification number pointing to the same colour zones, but they can have different names
and RGBA values. Depending on the palette (night or day) you're currently using, the painted drawing will
update. So there's no need to repaint the animation. All you have to do is create or import a clone palette(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.

77Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models

3. If you're in Advanced Palette List mode, select the palette storage level—see Palette File Storage on
page 71.

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 93.
7. From the Colour View menu, select Palettes > Tint Panel or right-click and select Tint Panel.
The Blend/Offset Tint panel opens.

78Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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 palette ina 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 mustlink both Element Palette lists to that palette. If your palette is linked to the Scene Palette list, it will be accessibleby all layers.

79Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models

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
is copied in the project’s directory. It is not linked to the original file.
With Toon Boom Harmony as a stand-alone application, every scene is local to the machine. This means that allof the scene’s data is only accessible from that particular scene. Palettes are also local to the scene; they canbe shared 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 tothe palette-libraries planned for the palette storage. The warning in this case is that if you
move your Master Palette directory to another location, you may loose the palette in yourscene.
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.

80Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

2. Select the level where the palette file is stored—see Palette File Storage on page 71.
3. Select the palette list linking level by enabling either Scene Palette List or Element Palette List—see
Palette Lists on page 68.
The palette appears in the Colour view.
How to import a palette into your project
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour menu, select Palettes > Import.

‣

Right-click and select Import.

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

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Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models

4. If you're in Advanced Palette mode, select the level where the palette file is stored—see Palette File Storage on page 71.
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 68.
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 Rootfolder 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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Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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 to link.
11. In the Palette list section, select how you want to load the palette; at the scene or element level.
12. Click OK.
The linked palette appears in the Colour view.

83Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models

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,
you must remove the original palette from the element’s palette list. You will then load the duplicated palette into
the palette 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 themain 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.

84Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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

Adding a Colour Swatch on page 85•

Editing Gradients and Textures on page 105•

Colour Display Modes on page 91•

Copying and Pasting Colours on page 92•

Mixing Colours on page 93

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

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

button.

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

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Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models

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

In the colour wheel, select a colour.

‣

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

‣

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.

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.

86Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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

‣

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

‣

Pull down the arrows to remove them.

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

NOTE: To learn how to reposition the gradient zones in your drawings, see Editing Gradients and Textures on page105.

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.

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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 105.

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.

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.

88Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

4. Click Open to update the colour swatch.

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

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Colour View menu, select Colours > Delete.

‣

Click the Delete Colour‣

Right-click and select Delete.

‣Press Delete.

button.

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

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

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

89Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models

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‣

Press Shift + F3.

2. Click the gradient or texture colour to modify.

90

tool.

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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.

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.

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Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models‣

Deselect Colours > Swatch Mode to display the colour list.

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

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

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).

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Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

3. In the Palette list, select the palette in which you want to paste the colours.

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

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

How to clone a colour swatch
1. In the Colour view, select the colour swatch you want to clone.
2. From the Colour View menu, select Colours > Copy or press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + C (Mac OS
X).
3. In the Colour view, select the colour palette you want to paste the clone into or create a new palette.
4. From the Colour View menu, select Colours > Paste as Clone.
The cloned colour swatch appears in the palette.
How to copy a colour ID
1. In the Colour view, select the colour swatch you want toget the ID from.
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.

93Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models‣

Right-click and select Tint Panel.

The Tint Blend/Offset panel opens.

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

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

94Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

Parameter

Description

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

Blend

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

Mixer

Select a Base and Tint colour to form a third colour swatch. Use the slider justbeneath to mix the Base and Tint colours by different amounts. This will affectthe mixed swatch whether it is selected or not. Select either the Tint or Baseswatch and use the HSB and RGB sliders to adjust its colour. This will affect themixed swatch colour, which in turn affects the selected colours on the left.

6. Click Apply.

Painting the Model
Now that you've created the colours and the palette, you're ready to paint your model.
The colour model needs to be painted in order to adjust the colours with the other elements in the production.
You can paint your model regardless of the colour RGBA and adjust them later when all the elements are
together.

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

95Chapter 4: Colour Styling and Colour Models

Once your colour model is completed, create a line-up template by pasting one of the production's main
characters, or even just a hand, beside the colour model to show the relative size. This allows the animator,
layout artist, or scene setup artist to retain the correct scaling throughout the entire project when setting theelements in the scene. You can store your template in the Library.
How to paint a colour model
1. Create your master colour palette—see Creating a Colour Palette on page 72
2. Add new colours to the palette—see Adding a Colour Swatch on page 85.
3. Select your Paint Bucket

tool. We recommend the Paint Unpaintedtool.

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

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

96Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

6. Adjust the colours—see Mixing Colours on page 93.

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Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

Chapter 5: 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 67.

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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Chapter 5: Ink and Paint

Another advantage of this system is that you can create complete palettes for different lighting situations. For
instance, in addition to the regular palette for a character, you could have one for 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

100

Painting

103

Painting Using the Paint Tool

103

Inking the Lines

106

Verifying the Zones are Painted

107

Glossary

112

Index

122

Preparation
The optimal workspace for creating colour models and inking/painting in traditional animation includes thefollowing views:•

Camera•Drawing•

ColourAs there is no default workspace for these tasks, you will need to create a custom workspace for yourself—see
the Fundamentals Guide.
You may have a character or element palette that has colours that are very similar to the Drawing and Camera
view's background colour. For example, a white eyeball colour on a white background which makes it difficult
to know if the zone was painted. You can change the background colour of the Camera or Drawing view in the
Preferences dialog box.

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Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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 Essentials > 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 Background colour swatch.

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Chapter 5: Ink and Paint‣

Drawing View: Click the Background Colour 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.

102Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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 page
77.

Painting
This section is divided as follows:•

Painting Using the Paint Tool on page 103•

Selecting a Colour in a Drawing on page 104•

Editing Gradients and Textures on page 105•

Inverting a Colour Selection on page 106

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 azone, 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.

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3. In the Colour view, select a colour.

4. In the Camera view, start painting. Click on a zone or pencil line to paint it, or trace a lasso or marqueeselection 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.

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.
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.

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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).

Editing Gradients and Textures

If you paint a zone with a gradient or texture colour, you can use the Edit Gradient/Texture tool to modify its
position in the zone. You can move, scale, rotate and skew. If you want to match the colour to the animation, set
the first texture position and copy the Edit Gradient/Texture position. When moving to the next drawing, you canselect the next texture and paste the previous position to continue the modifications.
If you are painting a hand-drawn animation or if your want the Brush tool and Paint tool to use your gradient’s
position, angle and scale settings instead of the default ones, you can store your own settings and reuse themafterward.
This way of editing a texture using the Edit Gradient/Texture tool also works with pencil lines drawn with
textured “brushes”. If you then paint your textured pencil line with a gradient, you can do so and then edit 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‣

Press Shift + F3.

tool.

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.

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:

Inking the Lines
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

106

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guideis also 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.

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.
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.

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4. In the Xsheet View menu, select View > Preview Selected Drawings or press Alt + P.
The Play window opens.

5. Play your drawings.

108Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

6. Select the Preroll option to see blank frames at the beginning and end of the animation sequence while
looping the playback.

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 109

Painting Modes on page 109
Apply to Multiple Drawings on page 111
Select Newly Paintedand Unpainted Contours/Lines on page 111
Close Gap on page 111

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:

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You can also find these tools directly in the Tools toolbar and in the Drawing Tools menu.

Paint Mode

The Paintmode paints everything it touches, including empty and filled zones—see Painting Using the
Paint Tool on page 103.

Paint Unpainted Mode

The Paint Unpainted

mode paints only empty zones. Any line or filled zone will remain unchanged.

Unpaint Mode

The Unpaintmode unpaints everything it touches, including empty and filled zones.

110Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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.

Select Newly Paintedand Unpainted Contours/Lines

In the Paint tool properties, this option
keeps a selection highlighted around the latest painted zone afterusing the Paint, 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.

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.

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,112Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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 posterstyle format, called a model sheet, which serves as a reference for the
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
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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, ora series of animated drawings. Other common terms for ease-in and easeout are slow-in and slow-out.

ease-in

Gradual acceleration in the action. Also known as slow-in.

ease-out

Gradual deceleration in the action. Also known as slow-out.

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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 sametime, but react a few frames later and follow the main motion curve.

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.

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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
animation sequence describing the motion. For example, if an arm iswaving, 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.

116Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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.

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.

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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.
The smallest element of an image displayed on a monitor or TV screen.

pixel

Pixel, short for picture element, is a single point in a graphic image. It is 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.

118Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

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.

slugging

To indicate the start and stop times of dialogue and relevant actions.

sound scrubbing

A process that lets you hear sound in real time while you move the playhead
forward or backward. This is very useful for finely-tuning a lip-sync.

stop-motion keyframe

A keyframe with no computer-generated interpolation.

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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.

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 is120

Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

done.

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.

121Harmony 12.1 Essentials - Traditional Animation Guide

Indexalpha channel 112
animatic 112
animation 112
anime 112
arc 112
aspect ratio 112, 120
auto-feed 113
axis 113
background 113
backing up
palettes 72
Bezier 113
bitmap images 113
Bitmap layer 37
breakdown 113
Camera layer 37
camera shake 113
caption 113
cel 113celluloid
See cel. 113
character design 113
clean up 113
cloninglayers and columns 42
CMYK 114
Colour-Cardlayer 38
colour card 114
colour model 114, 117
colour palettesback up 72
location 71
colour wheel 114

columnsmanaging 55

changing colour 60

merging 59

cloning 42

navigating 55

deleting 39

renaming 55

duplicating 42

scanning 10

modifying 41
navigating 55

duplicatingdrawings 56

properties 40

ease 114

types 37

ease-in 114

Xsheet 36

ease-out 114

compositing 114

Effect layer 37

copyingestablishing shot 115

drawings 57

exposure 115

cross dissolve 114

creating cycles 51

cut 114decreasing 47

cut-out animation 114

deleting 48

cycle 114

extending 43

cyclesfilling 42

exposure, creating 51
deleting

filling empty cells 51
filling selection 50

drawings 56
dialogue 114
dope sheet 114

filling sequence with single
exposure 49
increasing 47
inserting blank cells 48

doping 114

moving cells 46

DPI 114drawing elements
adding 39
creating 35
duplicating 42
Drawing layer 37

setting 49
typing in values 43
exposure sheet 115, 121
extendingexposure 43
fade-in 115

drawings
copying/pasting 57
deleting 56
duplicating 56
importing 10

fade-out 115
field 115
field chart 115
film-1.33 115
film-1.66 115

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Chapter 5: Ink and Paint •flipping 115

deleting 39

follow-through 115

drawing 37

columns 55

forward kinematics 115

duplicating 42

drawings 55

frame 116

effect 37

frames 55

frame rate 116

Group 38NTSC 118

frames 34

hiding 59

nudge 118

adding before/after selection 35

modifying 41

onion skinning 118

navigating 55

Peg 38overlay 118

functions 116

properties 40

PAL 118

gamut 116

Quadmap 38

palettes 118

Group layer 38

renaming 41

backup 72

HDTV 116

reordering 42

hidingshowing 59

creating, Advanced Palette Listmode) 73

layers 59

creating, Basic Palette List mode) 73

Sound 38

location 71

Hold 116

types 37

HSV 116layout 117

importinglayout and posing 117

style 118

library 117

drawings 10

light table 117

in-between 116

line of action 117

ink and paint 116

lip-sync 117
auto detection 113
lip-sync detection

key pose 116

manual 117

keyboard shortcuts 116

low resolution 117

keyframes 117

manual lip-sync detection 117

Layer Properties editor

master palette 117-118

renaming layers 41
layers 36, 117

drawings 59

pasting with 57
pasting
drawings 57
path of action 118
Peg layer 38
pegs 118

phoneme 118
pivot 118

model 117
model sheet See character design

camera 37

motion keyframe 117changing colour 60

mouthColour-Card 38

passing position 118

pen 120

merging

bitmap 37

cloning 42

paperless animation 118

Paste Special

jump cut 116

displaying 40

panel 118
panning 118

bitmap drawings 15

interpolation 116

navigating

pixel 118
pixelation See bitmap image
pose-to-pose 119
Quadmap layer 38

chart 117
multiplane 117

renaming
drawings 55

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rendering 119

thumbnails 120

trajectory 120

resolution 119

timecode 120

transition 120

RGB 119

timeline 120

underlay 120

rigging 119

Timeline view

VectOptions.conf file 27

rotary table 119

cloning layers and columns 42

Mac 27

rotoscoping 119

modifying layers and columns 41

Windows 27

roughs 119

renaming layers 41

vector 120

safe area 119

reordering layers 42

vectorization

scanning 9
drawings 10
images as bitmap drawings 10
process 9
VectOptions.conf file 27
scenes 119
adding frames before/after
selection 35

timingcreating a style 25

adding frames before/after
selection 35
creating cycles 51
decreasing exposure 47
deleting exposure 48
extending exposure 43
extending scenes 34

extending 34

filling empty cells 51

setting length 34

filling exposure 42

script 119

filling selection with sequence 50

scrubbing 119

filling sequence with single
exposure 49

sequences 119
shot 119showinglayers 59
slow-in 119
slow-out 119
slugging 119
soundscrubbing 119
Sound layer 38
stop-motion keyframe 119
storyboard 120
straight-ahead 120
strokes 120
tablet 120
templates 120

parameters, creating 25
parameters, custom 17
parameters, modifying 25
Vectorization Parameters dialog box
Help tab 20
opening 17
Options tab 18
vectorizing
bitmap drawings 15
velocity 114, 121
walk cycle 121
Xsheet view 41, 121frames 34
increasing exposure 47
inserting blank cells 48
moving cells 46
preparing 33
references 34
scene length 34
setting exposure 49
typing in exposure values 43
trace and paint 120
track breakdown 120
tradigital 118
traditional animation 120
introduction 7
scanning 9124

adding frames before/after
selection 35
cloning layers and columns 42
columns 36
layers 36
modifying layers and columns 41
zone 121