Toon Boom
Harmony 17
Control Center User Guide

TOON BOOM ANIMATION INC.

+1 514 278 8666

4200 Saint-Laurent, Suite 1020
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
H2W 2R2

contact@toonboom.com
toonboom.com

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Legal Notices
Toon Boom Animation Inc.
4200 Saint-Laurent, Suite 1020
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
H2W 2R2
Tel: +1 514 278 8666
Fax: +1 514 278 2666
toonboom.com

Disclaimer
The content of this document is the property of Toon Boom Animation Inc. and is copyrighted. Any
reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited.
The content of this document is covered by a specific limited warranty and exclusions and limit of liability under

the applicable License Agreement as supplemented by the special terms and conditions for Adobe®Flash ® File
Format (SWF). For details, refer to the License Agreement and to those special terms and conditions.

Trademarks
Toon Boom® is a registered trademark. Harmony™ and the Toon Boom logo are trademarks of Toon Boom
Animation Inc. All other trademarks of the property of their respective owners.

Publication Date
10-27-2020
Copyright © 2020 Toon Boom Animation Inc., a Corus Entertainment Inc. company. All rights reserved.

1

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Table of Contents

2

About Control Center

4

Chapter 1: Starting Control Center

6

Chapter 2: User Interface

8

Chapter 3: Users

10

Viewing User Lists in Control Center

11

Adding Users in Control Center

12

Deleting Users in Control Center

14

Editing User Information in Control Center

15

About the usabatch User Account17

User Types and Restrictions

18

Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

22

About Environments in Control Center

25

Creating Environments in Control Center

26

Deleting Environments in Control Center

28

About Jobs in Control Center

29

Creating Jobs in Control Center

30

Changing Job Stages in Control Center

32

Changing Job Priorities in Control Center

34

Deleting Jobs in Control Center

35

About Scenes

36

Creating Scenes in Control Center

37

Deleting Scenes in Control Center

40

Moving Scenes in Control Center

41

Renaming Scenes in Control Center

43

Changing Scene Priorities in Control Center

44

Changing Scene Stages in Control Center

45

Reordering Scenes in Control Center46

Clearing Scenes in Control Center

48
2

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Copying Scenes

49

About Elements and Drawings in Control Center

51

Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes

52

Exporting Scenes from Control Center

53

Importing Scenes to Control Center

58

About Asset Remapping for Exported and Imported Scenes

63

Configuring Palette, Texture and Image Remapping

65

Remapping Palettes, Textures and Images for an Exported Scene

78

Remapping Palettes, Textures and Images when Importing a Scene

79

Remapping Palettes, Textures and Images in a Scene on Demand

81

Checking the Path of Palettes, Textures and Linked Drawings After Remapping

83

About Locked and Checked Out Scenes

86

Chapter 6: Troubleshooting

88

Chapter 7: Commands

90

3About Control Center

About Control Center
Using Harmony Server has the advantage that it centralizes your entire production on your server andorganizes it into structured database. The key piece of Harmony Server is the Control Center module. From
Control Center, you can manage your production database, users, visualize your rendering queue and more.
This chapter explains the general administrative tasks which must be performed to successfully run the
Harmony solution.

4Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

5

Chapter 1: Starting Control Center

Chapter 1: Starting Control Center
To manage a production, you will need the Control Center module. Control Center is used to create newenvironments, jobs, scenes and users, as well as to import and export scene packages. Control Center directly
manages your server database.
You can start Control Center from the server or any client machine.

Before accessing the main Control Center interface, the Database Login dialog box opens, requesting a username. By default, there is a user name created called usabatch. Type this user name to log in the first time.
Once logged into Harmony, you can create your own set of users.
IMPORTANTIMPORTANT: Do not delete the usabatch user name as it is used by Toon Boom Harmony Server
for batch processing.

How to open Control Center
1. Depending on your operating system, do one of the following:llWindows: Open the Start menu and, in the list of programs, select Harmony 17 [Edition] >Control Center.
macOS: Do the following:a. In Finder, proceed to Applications >double-click Harmony [Edition].

6

Toon Boom Harmony 17 [Edition] andHarmony 17 Control Center Guide

The Harmony splash screen appears, followed by the Harmony Server log-in dialog.
b. Do one of the following:l

In the bottom-left corner of the log-in dialog, click on theControl Centerbutton.
ll

In the top menu, select Harmony [Edition] > Tools > Control Center.

GNU/Linux: In the GNOME top menu, select Applications > Harmony 17 [Edition] >Control Center.

The Database Login dialog box opens.

2. In the User Name field, type usabatch. This is the default Harmony user.
The Control Center application opens.

7

Chapter 2: User Interface

Chapter 2: User Interface

The Control Center interface is divided into six areas:
Parameter

Description

Top menu

Contains the commands available in Control Center. You can also find thecommands in the contextual menus available in each area by right-clicking.

Environments

Displays one of your projects, such as a feature film, a TV series or a group of TV
spots.

Jobs

Shows the sequences or episodes in your project (Environment). Select a projectfrom the Environments list to see your jobs.

ScenesShows the scenes in an episode or sequence (Job). Select a job from the Jobs list
to see your scenes.

Elements

Shows the layers or columns in a scene. Select a scene from the Scenes list to see
your elements.

Drawings

Shows the drawings in your layer or column (Element). Select an element from the
Elements list to see your drawings.

8

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

You can collapse and expand the Elements and Drawings sections of the user interface. As the elements anddrawings are not created in Control Center, these sections are used less often. To simplify the interface, you canclick on the Collapse/Expand

button to show or hide the Elements and Drawings sections.

Here is a typical example of the database structure:

9

Chapter 3: Users

Chapter 3: Users
In order to run any Harmony Server application, a project collaborator must log in to the database using ausername that has been created by a server administrator beforehand.
In a studio productions with several project collaborators, each person is typically assigned different tasks, suchas ink and paint or compositing. Users should be created for each project collaborator, and these users should
be assigned the appropriate user type to make sure they have the proper permissions. For example, an user of
the Ink and Paint type can only load a scene in the Paint application, meaning they are not able to makechanges to a scene that exceeds their mandate.
By default, a database has two users, usabatch and BATCH. Those users should not be used by project
collaborators. They are created when creating a new Harmony Server database to handle batch processing
tasks.
Viewing User Lists in Control Center

11

Adding Users in Control Center

12

Deleting Users in Control Center

14

Editing User Information in Control Center

15

About the usabatch User Account17

User Types and Restrictions

18

10

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Viewing User Lists in Control Center
The User List dialog box lists all the users and their details, including: username, first and last names, and user
type. The buttons at the bottom of the dialog box let you add, delete or modify the list of users.

How to view the user list
1. From the top menu, select Admin > Users.
The User List dialog box opens and displays your login name and a list of the other users in thesystem.

11

Chapter 3: Users

Adding Users in Control Center
All Harmony users must have their name on the user list to log in to any application. The system uses the login
to track activities; it is not a security lockout.
Each user also has a user "type" assigned to it which allows access to only some of the Harmony modules.

How to add a user to Harmony
1. To view the list of Harmony users, select Admin > Users.
The User List dialog box opens.

2. Click Add.
The Add User dialog box opens.

3. In the User Name field, type the person's user name.
4. Type the person's first name and last name in the corresponding First Name and Last Name fields.
You can enter a space if you want leave the field blank.

12Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

5. In the Type menu, select the user type. This defines the type of work the user typically performs. It
will allow or block the person from accessing certain Harmony applications and perform operations
in Control Center—see User Types and Restrictions on page 18.

6. Click OK.
The name appears in alphabetical order in the user list.

13

Chapter 3: Users

Deleting Users in Control CenterAs your studio network grows and evolves, you may need to delete old or obsolete user profiles from yoursystem. After you delete a user profile, the person who used that profile will no longer be able to accessHarmony. You cannot delete yourself from the user list. If you accidentally delete a name, you must follow theprocedure for adding a user to put the user back into the system.

How to delete a user
1. To view the list of users, select Admin > Users.
The User List dialog box opens.

2. In the user list, select the name you want to delete.
3. Click Delete.
The Confirm dialog box opens.

4. Confirm if you want to delete the user from Harmony.
l

Click OK to delete the selected user.

lClick Cancel to abort the delete command.

14

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Editing User Information in Control Center
You can edit the user profiles at any time to update the user information.
NOTE
NOTE: To change your own user profile, login as usabatch (the default user).

How to modify user information
1. To view the list of users, select Admin > Users.
The User List dialog box displays.

2. Select the profile to modify.
3. Click Modify.
The Modify User dialog box appears.

4. Type or select the new information in any or all of the following:lUser Name: The user's login namelFirst Name: The user's given name15

Chapter 3: Usersl

Last Name: The user's family namel

Type: The type of user. This also affects the user's privileges—see User Types andRestrictions on page 18.

5. Click OK.

16

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

About the usabatch User Account
The usabatch user account is the go-to account used by Harmony for batch processing and backgroundservices. It can exist on two levels:l

As a Harmony Server account on your database. This user account processes all batch processing tasks
such as rendering scenes and vectorizing drawings. If this user does not exist, the batch processing
service will not be able to perform these tasks.

l

As a user account on your machine's operating system. This user account is created during theconfiguration of your machine to connect to the Harmony database and run background services.
Without this user, background services will not be able to launch, be them the batch processing service
or services such as the database server or the WebCC server.
NOTE
The creation of the usabatch user account on the operating system is not required if you arerunning background services using Service Launcher, which launches on user log-in under
the logged-in user's account. For more information, refer to the Service Launcher chapter of
the Installation Guide.

On the Harmony database, usabatch is automatically created when creating the database's base file system. If
this user is deleted, you can create it again. Make sure its username is usabatch and that its user type is one
with all privileges, such as R & D, Coordinator, Supervisor, Executive or TD—see Adding Users in Control
Center on page 12
On Windows, the user usabatch is automatically created when you install a service using the Configuration
Wizard. On macOS and GNU/Linux, the creation of the user usabatch is part of the procedure for installing a
background service in the Installation Guide.

17

Chapter 3: Users

User Types and Restrictions
Here are the different user types available and their restrictions/permissions:
R&D
Coordinator
Supervisor
TD
Executive

Animator

XsheetArchive

Scan

Ink &
Paint

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Create job✓✓

Change job priority

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Change job status✓

Delete job✓

Create scene

✓

✓

✓

Delete scene✓

Unlock scenes locked byanother user✓

Unlock scene version locked
by another user✓

Unlock scene locked byoneself✓✓✓

Unlock scene version locked
by oneself

✓

✓

✓

FeatureCreate environment✓

Change asset lock on
environment✓

Delete environment✓

View vectorize queue
View render queueMove scene

1

Rename scene

1

1

✓

✓
✓

18

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

R&D
Coordinator
Supervisor
TD
Executive

FeatureAnimator

XsheetArchive

Scan

Ink &
Paint

✓

✓

✓

✓

Clear scene✓

Change scene priority✓

Change scene status✓

Reorder scenes✓

Copy scenes✓✓

Send to Vectorize

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Send to Unvectorize

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Send to Rendering

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Manage users✓

Change approval policy

✓
✓

✓

✓

✓

Change vectorize style
Change asset lock1

1

Database lock manager

✓
✓

1

✓

Export scenes

✓

✓

✓

Import scenes

✓

✓

✓

View error log

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

View elements

1

View drawings

1

Open in Harmony
1

Open in Paint

19✓

Chapter 3: Users

Feature1

Open in Scan
1

R&D
Coordinator
Supervisor
TD
Executive

Animator

XsheetArchive

Scan

Ink &
Paint

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

This feature is not available in WebCC.

20

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

21

Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes
Every project you create with the Harmony solution starts with an environment; it is the highest level in Control
Center. You can build a complete environment by adding jobs, scenes, elements and drawings.
Control Center divides your animation project into the following hierarchy, which organizes the sections of youranimated projects:• Environment: This is the name of your animation project.
Example: adventure_movie• Jobs: These are the major sections of an environment, such as sequences or episodes.
Example: adv_seq_001, adv_seq_002
IMPORTANTAll jobs are stored in the same location in the Harmony database. Be sure to prefix all job names
appropriately, so you can identify the project it belongs to. Each job must have a different name.
You cannot give two jobs the same name.
• Scene: These are the different shots in a job.
Scenes are contained in their respective job folder in the Harmony database. Prefix all scenes names
appropriately, so you can identify which environment and job they belong to.
Example: sc_001, sc_002• Elements: These are the different layers and columns in your scenes.

22Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

If you have not created an exposure sheet yet, the Frames column in the Scenes list displays 0 and noelements appear in the Elements or Drawings list.
For example, scene 002 of show_episode_6 could have the following elements:• A background called bg.
• A character called tony.
• A highlight effect called hl.
You would then find these elements under job 002 and the show_episode_6 scene. The Elements list
would display the element names, types of elements in a scene, the type of scans, and the size of the
field chart.
• Drawings: These are actual drawings of the elements (layers) in your scene.
For example, the tony element in 002 of show_episode_6 could consist of 35 drawings. To find thesedrawings, you would look under Drawings to see the keyframes, state, and stage of each drawing.
As your projects come and go, you will probably want to start cleaning up your database, as well as yourserver's hard disk, by removing old and obsolete environments and their associated animation data.
IMPORTANT
After you delete a scene, job, or environment, the associated data is permanently removed fromyour storage disks. Make sure you really want to erase these items before you delete them as there
is no way to retrieve the data after it has been erased.
You might want to export old environments and archive them somewhere else before you delete them fromyour system.
WARNING
If you are working in a mixed Windows/macOS/GNU/Linux environment or share files with otherstudios that do, you should use lowercase letters to name the various items in your animation
projects and not include any spaces in component name. For example, write the_show instead of
The Show. This recommendation is due to the fact that GNU/Linux is case-sensitive while
Windows is not.
About Environments in Control Center

25

Creating Environments in Control Center

26

Deleting Environments in Control Center

28

About Jobs in Control Center

29

Creating Jobs in Control Center

30

Changing Job Stages in Control Center

32

Changing Job Priorities in Control Center

34

23

Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

Deleting Jobs in Control Center

35

About Scenes

36

Creating Scenes in Control Center

37

Deleting Scenes in Control Center

40

Moving Scenes in Control Center

41

Renaming Scenes in Control Center

43

Changing Scene Priorities in Control Center

44

Changing Scene Stages in Control Center

45

Reordering Scenes in Control Center46

Clearing Scenes in Control Center48

Copying Scenes

49

About Elements and Drawings in Control Center

51

24

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

About Environments in Control Center
Harmony uses environments to manage and organize related projects. Using environments allows you toorganize your production projects by their nature or type.
If your projects center around episodic and commercial types of work, you can create two environments. For
example, one environment called commercials and the other called the_show. Then you can insert the jobs
that relate to each type of project. When you want to work on a commercial project, open the commercials
environment and select the commercial job you need. Similarly, if you want to work on an episodic project, open
the environment called the_show.
EnvironmentJobdentistcommercials

sc_002soda

sc_001

cerealsc_001

sho_001

the_showsc_001

sho_002

dentistsc_001
sc_002
sc_001
sc_001
sc_002Creating Environments in Control Center

26

Deleting Environments in Control Center

28

25

Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

Creating Environments in Control Center
Create environments in order to manage and organize you studio's projects.

How to create an environment in Control Center
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Environment > Create.

‣

Right-click in the Environments section and select Create.

In mixed platform Environments (Windows/macOS and Windows/GNU/Linux) it is best to nameeverything in lowercase so data can be interpreted the same way on each operating system. The
same is true if working between studios using Windows, macOS, and GNU/Linux.
The Create Environment dialog box appears.

2. In the Environment Name field, type the new project's name.
NOTE
The environment name must be composed of alphanumeric and can include underscores (_),
but no spaces or other special characters, and it is case-sensitive. By default, an
envuironment's name cannot exceed 23 characters. If Unicode is enabled, an environment's
name cannot exceed 120 characters.

3. If you want the user to automatically get the rights to modify all the scene assets (drawing, scene
setup, palette lists, etc.), select the Get Rights to Modify All Scene Assets option.

4. Click OK.

26

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

The new environment appears in alphabetical order in the Environments list.
After you create an environment, you must add it to the Batch Processing queue so it can vectorize
and render the drawings and scenes automatically. You only have to add the environment to the
Batch Processing queue once.

27

Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

Deleting Environments in Control Center
When you are ready to remove old environments, you can delete them from the database. However, in order toprevent accidental loss of data, you can only delete an empty environment (an environment that contains nojobs, images, or palette information).

How to delete an environment
1. In the environment section, select the environment to delete from the Environments list.
2. Do one of the following:l

From the top menu, select Environment > Delete.

lRight-click in the Environments section and select Delete.

WARNINGThe Delete command is only available for an empty environment. You must delete the scenes
and jobs before you can successfully delete the environment.
The Confirm dialog box appears.

3. Click Yes to delete the selected Environment.
The environment no longer appears in the Environments list.

28

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

About Jobs in Control Center
Within each environment is a list of jobs. These jobs contain all the segments for your animated sequence. If you
are creating a weekly television series called The Show, you could name your job show_ep_06 (the_show
would be the name of your environment).
If each episode was composed of 100 animated shots, each job would contain 100 scenes.
If you want to remove a job and its data from the Harmony database and archive it, you can export the job fromControl Center.
IMPORTANTYou cannot archive a job by deleting the job. If you want to archive a job, you should export it to a
new location where it can be stored permanently.
Creating Jobs in Control Center

30

Changing Job Stages in Control Center

32

Changing Job Priorities in Control Center

34

Deleting Jobs in Control Center

35

29

Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

Creating Jobs in Control Center
Every job must be created under an environment. Each job must have a unique name. Two jobs cannot havethe same name, even if they appear in two different environments, because all the jobs are in the same folder
on the server.

How to create a job
1. In the Environments section, select the project in which you want to create a job.
2. Do one of the following:l

From the top menu, select Job > Create.

lRight-click in the Jobs section and select Create.

The Create Job dialog box appears.

3. In the Name field, type the name of the job you want to create.
NOTE
The job name must be composed of alphanumeric and can include underscores (_), but nospaces or other special characters, and it is case-sensitive. By default, a job's name cannot
exceed 23 characters. If Unicode is enabled, a job's name cannot exceed 120 characters.
4. In the TD menu, select a technical director (TD). You must select a technical director to create thejob.
A TD is usually the person who oversees the animation project and makes sure the work is done
properly. Select the person who most closely resembles this definition. If you do not have a particularuser for the task, you can simply assign usabatch.
When you create your Harmony users, you can label a user as a technical director (TD).
5. In the ATD menu, select an assistant technical director (ATD). You must select an assistant technicaldirector to create the job. If you do not have an ATD, select the same person for the TD and ATD
jobs.

30

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

In some studios, the responsibilities of the technical director can be shared by more than one
person. This second person is the ATD.
The technical director and assistant technical director you select appear in the Scenes list for eachscene of the job.
6. In the Approval menu, select how Harmony will mark the various stages the scenes will pass in yourproduction schedule.
lAutomatic: When you work on your scenes, Harmony automatically approves theirstatus at each stagel

Manual: When you work on the scenes, the technical director or the assistanttechnical director must approve their status at each stage using the Change Stage
command (available in the Scene menu).

7. Drag the slider to adjust the priority. 0 = the highest priority for processing through the Vectorize or
Render queue and 10 = a priority of 10 is the least important. Items with higher priorities pass infront of other projects with lower priorities in the Vectorize and Render queues even if there isalready a queue processing.
If you do not know what priority to assign to your project, you can leave it at 5. You can always
change it later.
8. Click OK.
Control Center adds your new job to the selected environment and it appears in alphabetical orderin the Jobs list.

31

Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

Changing Job Stages in Control CenterAs you continue working on your animation project, you may want to update the status of the jobs in yourenvironment. This status can display one of three things:l

The stage the job has reachedlWhen the job will be vectorizedlWhen the job will be rendered

As you complete your animation project, you can update a job's status to reflect where it is in the overall production
process. You can classify jobs as being "In Production" or "Completed".
ll

In Production: The job is still a work in progress. The other nodes can still access this job.
Completed: The job is finished. The Harmony database still has all the job's components (scenes,
elements, drawings), but the job neither appears nor is accessible from the Harmony applications.
In most cases, you would mark a job as "Completed" after it has been finalized (inked, painted, rendered)and transferred to a medium, such as Blu-ray, or sent to post-production.
You can change a job's status from "Completed" to "In Production" at any time to continue working on it.

Changing the job's stage from In Production to Completed only hides the job in the Control Center window; all the
associated files with the job are still on your system.

How to change a job's stage and view the list of completed jobs
1. In the Environments section, select an environment.
2. Do one of the following:l

From the top menu, select Job > Change Stage.

l

Right-click in the Jobs section and select Change Stage.

The Change Stage of Jobs window appears.

3. Select the jobs whose stage you want to change.
l

If you want to change a job from In Production to Completed, select the jobs in the In
Production list.

32

Harmony 17 Control Center Guidel

If you want to change a job from Completed to In Production, select the jobs in the
Completed list.

4. Click one of the Change buttons to change the job's status.
l

Click the Change to Completed

button to change a job that is in production.

lClick the Change to In Production

button to change a job that is completed.

5. Click OK.

33

Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

Changing Job Priorities in Control Center
Before you send a job's scenes to be vectorized or rendered, you can change the job's priority level in theprocessing queue. Increasing a job's priority lets the system process it before other jobs in the processing
queue.
Use the Choose New Priority dialog box to change a job's rendering and vectorization queue priority. The
priority is set using a sliding scale where 0 is the highest priority and 10 is the lowest.
For example, if job B is before job A in the queue, you can change the priority, so job A is processed first.
Changing a job's priority does not affect vectorizing or rendering jobs that are already sent in the queue. It will
only affect jobs that are sent after making the change. If you want to change a job's priority after it has been
sent to the queue, use the Change Priority button in the Queue window.

How to change a job's priority
1. In the Environments section, select the environment containing the job you want to change thepriority for.
2. In the Jobs section, select the job whose priority you want to change.
3. Do one of the following:l

From the top menu, select Job > Change Priority.

lRight-click in the Jobs section and select Change Priority.

The Choose New Priority dialog box appears.

4. Drag the slider to adjust the priority. 0 = the highest priority for processing through the Vectorize or
Render queue and 10 = a priority of 10 is the least important. Items with higher priorities pass infront of other projects with lower priorities in the Vectorize and Render queues even if there isalready a queue processing.
5. Click OK. When you send this job to be vectorized or rendered, it will have this new priority in theprocessing queue.

34

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Deleting Jobs in Control Center
You should only delete jobs that you no longer need or that have already been exported to an archive (using
the Export command available in the Admin menu).
When you delete a job, the following components are permanently removed:l

SceneslElementslDrawingsl

Database information associated with the selected joblPalettes stored under the selected job

Before you delete a job:l

Make sure no one else is currently using the job. Failure to do this may result in file corruption and loss of
your work.

lWait until everyone is offline. This ensures no one can open the data files while you delete them.
NOTE
You cannot delete a job if it still contains scenes.

How to delete a job
1. In the Environments section, select the environment containing the job you want to delete.
2. In the Jobs section, select the job you want to delete.
3. Do one of the following:l

From the top menu, select Job > Delete.

lRight-click in the Jobs section and select Delete.

The Confirm dialog box appears.

4. Click OK.

35

Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

About Scenes
After you create a scene, you can view the corresponding elements and drawings in the Control Centerwindow. When you select the environment and the job, the corresponding scenes for the selected job appears
in the Scenes list in the Control Center window.
For each scene in your job, you must create a unique exposure sheet to lay out the drawings, camera effects,
audio tracks, and other special effects for that scene.
Creating Scenes in Control Center

37

Deleting Scenes in Control Center

40

Moving Scenes in Control Center

41

Renaming Scenes in Control Center

43

Changing Scene Priorities in Control Center

44

Changing Scene Stages in Control Center

45

Reordering Scenes in Control Center46

Clearing Scenes in Control Center48

Copying Scenes

4936Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Creating Scenes in Control Center
When creating your scene, you must select the path where you want to store the scene data and where youwant the new scene to appear in the Scenes list. You can create a single scene or create multiple scenes all atonce.
You do not have to enter the word "scene" when entering scene names. The system automatically adds
scene- in front of the name. For example, when you type"3" in the Scene Name field, the scene nameautomatically displays as "scene-3" throughout the file system. The scene name will have "scene-" as a prefix,
but that will only be visible when looking at the scene on the file system. The scene will appear without thisprefix in all the Harmony applications.

How to create a scene
1. In the Environments section, select the environment containing the job you want to add scenes in.
2. In the Jobs section, select the job you want to add scenes in.
3. Do one of the following:l

In the Scene section, select Scene> Create.

lRight-click in the Scenes section and select Create.

The Create Scene dialog box appears.

4. Click in the Scene Name(s) field and enter the name for the first scene you want to create.
5. Press the Enter/Return keyboard shortcut to move onto the next scene.
6. Enter the name of the next scene you want to create.

37Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

NOTE
By default, when creating a new scene or renaming a scene, the scene's name cannot exceed
23 characters. If Unicode is enabled, the scene's name can not exceed 119 characters.
When creating scenes in Control Center, you should enter the scene names exactly as they
appear on the actual animation. This ensures that the information in your environment is
consistent with the actual animation.
The job and scene names are alphanumeric and can include underscores (_), but no spaces, orother special characters. The environment name is case-sensitive.
7. Repeat the previous steps until you have named all the scenes you want to create.

8. In the File System list, click the path where you want to store the files.
If you do not see the desired path in the list, specify a different path in the Other File System field.
If you are unsure which disk drive to select, consult your technical director or system administrator.
The information in the File System list displays:l

Available drives on which you can store new sceneslSpace that is currently available (in megabytes)l

The percentage of space the drives are currently using

NOTE
Although you can add as many scenes as you wish, you can only select one path at a time.
Therefore, Control Center stores all scenes you create in one session at the same place (samepath).

38

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

9. Select where you want to place the scene in the Scenes list from the Add Scenes menu. These are
the options:‣

At Bottom: Places the new scenes at the bottom of the list‣

At Top: Places the new scenes at the top of the list‣

Before Selected: Places the new scenes before the selected scene‣

After Selected: Places the new scenes after the selected scene‣

Name Sort: Arranges the new scenes alphabetically.
NOTE
To use the After Selected and Before Selected options, you must select another scene from the
Scene list in the Control Center window.

10. Click OK.
The new scene is created and displayed in the Scenes list. If you do not want to create the scene,
click Cancel.

39

Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

Deleting Scenes in Control Center
When you delete a scene, you not only remove the scene from the Control Center window, but you also
permanently remove all the information associated with the scene including:lExposure sheet (and all associated versions)lElementslDrawingsl

Database informationl

Any palettes stored in that scene's palette library

Before you delete a scene:l

Make sure that you really want to remove all this information from the systeml

Are you going to use the scene in the future?

l

Do you need to archive the scene for future use?

l

Make sure no one else is currently using the scene.

lfailure to do this may result in file corruption and loss of your work.

lWait until everyone is offline. This ensures no one can open the scene while you delete it.

How to delete a scene
1. In the Scenes list, select the scene name you want to delete.
2. Select Scene > Delete or right-click anywhere in the Scenes list and select Delete.
The Confirm dialog box appears.

3. Click Yes to delete the scene and all its related information.
The scene name and all its associated files are deleted.

40

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Moving Scenes in Control Center
When you create a scene, it and its associated files are stored on one drive. If you find you are running out of
space, you can move a scene to another drive. However, you can consolidate all the scenes for a particular job ina single directory allowing you to find related information quickly. You may also want to file your scenes in
specific directories, creating a customized directory system. The Move command lets you move scene data fromone file system to another.
Before you move a scene's data:l

Make sure no one else is currently using the scene's data. Failure to do this may result in file corruption
and loss of your work.

lWait until everyone is offline. This ensures no one can open the data files while you move them.

How to move a scene from one directory to another directory
1. In the Scenes section, select the scenes you want to move.
2. Do one of the following:l

From the top menu, select Scene > Move.

lRight-click anywhere in the Scenes list and select Move.

The Move Scene dialog box appears.

3. In the Select Scene(s) to Move field, select the scenes you want to move from their current directory.
4. Click Calculate to know how much hard disk space your selection requires.
5. In the Move Scenes To list, select the directory where you want to move the scene. If it does notappear in the list, enter the directory path in the Other field.
The Control Center node automatically checks the amount of free space for each directory andcompares it to the size of the scene you want to move.

41

Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

If there is not enough disk space on a particular drive/mount point to store the scene, the directory
displays a not "enough space message". Choose another disk from the list.
6. Click OK.

42

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Renaming Scenes in Control CenterAs you work on your scenes, their nature and contents may change and the name you gave the scene when
you began the project may no longer reflect its contents. In this case, you can rename the scene to moreaccurately reflect its contents.
Before you rename a scene:l

Make sure no one else is currently using the scene.
Failure to do this may result in file corruption and loss of your work.

lWait until everyone is offline. This ensures no one can open the scene while you rename it.

How to rename a scene
1. In the Scenes section, select the scene to rename.
2. Do one of the following:l

From the top menu, select Scene > Rename.

l

Right-click anywhere in the Scenes list and select Rename.

The Rename Scene dialog box appears.

3. In the Enter New Scene Name field, type the new name for the scene and click OK. Try to keep
scene names brief. It is recommended that you use no more than 23 characters.
NOTE
Use lower case letters if these scenes may be used with a Windows workstation.

NOTE
By default, when creating a new scene or renaming a scene, the scene's name cannot exceed
23 characters. If Unicode is enabled, the scene's name can not exceed 119 characters.

43

Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

Changing Scene Priorities in Control Center
You can change the scene's priority level in the processing queue. Increasing a scene's priority lets the systemprocess it before other scenes in the processing queue.
Use the Choose New Priority dialog box to change a scene's rendering and vectorization queue priority. The
priority is set using a sliding scale where 0 is the highest priority and 10 is the lowest. If a scene has alreadybeen sent to the queue changing the priority at this point will not affect its priority in the queue. Changes will
only be applied next time it is sent to the queue. To change a scene's priority after it's been sent to the queue,
use the Change Priority button in the Queue window.
For example, If scene B comes before scene A in the queue, you can change the scene's priority so that scene A
will be processed first.

How to change a scene's priority
1. Select the environment, the job and the scene you want to prioritize.
2. Do one of the following:l

From the top menu, select Scene > Change Priority.

lRight-click anywhere in the Scenes list and select Change Priority.

The Choose New Priority dialog box appears.

3. Drag the slider to adjust the priority. 0 = the highest priority for processing through the Vectorize or
Render queue and 10 = a priority of 10 is the least important. Items with higher priorities pass infront of other projects with lower priorities in the Vectorize and Render queues even if there isalready a queue processing.
4. Click OK.
The new scene priority appears in the Scenes list in the Priority column.

44Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Changing Scene Stages in Control Center
The Change Status command allows you to change the approval stage name of a selected scene that is in
Manual approval mode. You can also create customized approval stages that reflect the approval process inyour production environment.
A scene's status is a method of tracking its progress in your production; the scene's current status does not stop
you from advancing the scene to other stages.
Changing a scene's status and making manual approvals allows you to assign and change a scene's approvalstages to keep track of its current status. For example, if you have a scene whose drawings are being scanned,
you will mark it as the Scan stage. After you begin adding colour to these line drawings, you can change thescene's stage to Paint. If the selected scene has an automatic approval policy, the Change Stage command will
be inactive in the Scene menu. To change a scene's status, you must ensure that the approval policy is set to
Manual.

How to change a scene's status
1. In the Scenes section, select a scene.
2. Do one of the following:l

From the top menu, select Scene > Change Status.

lRight-click anywhere in the Scenes list and select Change Status.

The Change Status dialog box appears.

The current status of the selected scene appears in the From Stage field.
3. Select the status you want to apply to the current scene from the To Stage menu.
4. Click OK.

45

Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

Reordering Scenes in Control Center
You can change the sequence of scenes in your job, which affects the order in which the scenes appear in the
job throughout the system. You can place a scene anywhere in the Scenes list or you can sort themalphanumerically.

How to reorder scenes
1. Select the job whose scenes you want to re-sequence from the Jobs panel.
2. Do one of the following:l

From the top menu, select Scene > Reorder.

l

Right-click anywhere in the Scenes list and select Reorder.

The Reorder Scenes dialog box appears.

3. Do one of the following:l

In the column header, click on Name, File System, Frames, Priority, TD, ATD or Create Date
to automatically sort all the listed scenes in order of va the selected column. For example, toreorder scenes by name, click on Name. To reorder scenes by creation date/time, click on
Create Date.
TIP
You can click on a column header twice to sort the scenes in reverse order.

l

Click and drag on a scene to move it, then drop it where you want the scene to be listed. The

46

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

scene will be moved after the scene over which it was dropped.

4. Once the scenes are ordered, click OK.

47

Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

Clearing Scenes in Control CenterIf you must restart a scene from scratch, you can completely erase a scene's exposure sheet. When you clear ascene, you delete all exposure sheet database information and reset the scene as if it were completely new. You
are only deleting the files from the database; Control Center does not actually delete any image files (drawings,
scan, final frames). If you have questions concerning the contents of a scene, you should contact the technicaldirector responsible for the scene in question.
If you must clear a scene from Control Center, make sure no one else is currently using the scene's data. If you
clear a scene that someone else is working on at that moment, you run the risk of corrupting the files and losingwork.
If you must clear a scene, you should wait until everyone is offline to ensure that no one can open the data files
while you clear them from Control Center.

How to clear a scene
1. Select the environment, job or scene you want to clear.
2. Do one of the following:l

From the top menu, select Scene > Clear.

l

Right-click anywhere in the Scenes list and select Clear.

A confirmation dialog box appears.

3. Click OK.
The Scene list refreshes itself and displays blank elements and drawings lists, showing that theControl Center node has deleted the exposure sheet for the scene you cleared.

48

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Copying Scenes
The copy command lets you copy a scene's content over to another existing scene. You can choose to copy all ofa scene's data, or only its exposure sheet.
IMPORTANTThis will overwrite the target scene with the content of the source scene.

How to copy an exposure sheet to another scene
1. Select the environment and the job from the Control Center window.
2. Do one of the following:l

From the top menu, select Scene > Copy.

l

Right-click anywhere in the Scenes list and select Copy.

The Copy Scene dialog box appears.

3. In the From section, select the scene to copy by selecting its environment, its job and then thesource scene.
4. In the To section, select the scene to overwrite with the selected scene by selecting its environment,its job and then the target scene.
5. If you want to copy all of the source scene's content over the target scene, check the Copy All Data
Files option. If you only want to copy the source scene's Xsheet over to the target scene, uncheckthis otpion.
6. Click OK.
7. If the scene you are copying to already has an exposure sheet, a confirmation dialog box appears toverify that you want to overwrite the target scene's data. If you are only copying the source scene's

49Chapter 4: Environments, Jobs and Scenes

Xsheet, this will only overwrite the target scene's Xsheet. If you are copying all of the source scene's
data file, this will overwrite all of the target scene's data files.
l

Click Yes if you want to copy over the existing scene.

lClick No to cancel or to select a different target scene.

The data in the source scene is copied over to the target scene. You can open the target
scene in Harmony to verify that it contains the source scene's data.

50

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

About Elements and Drawings in Control Center
The Control Center user interface can display the elements in the selected scene. If you select an element in the
Elements list, it can also display the drawings in this element. However, if you want to add, remove, rename oredit elements and drawings, you must open the scene in Harmony.

To view the selected scene's elements, click on the Expand/Collapse

button right of the Elements panel atthe bottom of the Control Center user interface.
To view the selected element's drawings, click on the Expand/Collapse
at the bottom of the Control Center user interface.

51

button right of the Drawings panel

Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes

Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes
You can export your scene to work offline from a location where the Harmony server is not located. An example
would be from the studio to your home. When you return to the studio, you can then import your scene toreintegrate it back into the Harmony environment.
If your scene has shared images, textures (used colour-overrides) and palettes stored at the environment or job
level on the Harmony server, these links will be broken when you export your file. You can create presets topoint to where these linked files are located. For example, you can store your images, textures and palettes
somewhere on your home computer and create a preset to point to where these files are located. Then when
you get back to the studio, you can select another preset that points to where the files are located on the
Harmony server.

52

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Exporting Scenes from Control Center
You can use Control Center's export utility to migrate scenes from the database. You can either export them tooffline, which makes it possible to open and work on the scene in Harmony without being connected to the
database. You can also export them as database scene packages for backup, archival or to transport them toanother database.
If you export a database scene package, it will include, among the exported files, two additional files:l

README.txt: Contains export statistics, such as creation date and user ID.

lIEContents.dat: Specifies export parameters. This file allows Control Center to import the scenes
back to a database.

How to export data
1. Launch Control Center.
2. From the top menu, select Admin > Export.
The Export Scene(s) dialog box appears.

3. Enter the path where you want to export the files. You can also use the Browse button to select thepath and create a folder. The destination must be an existing empty folder or a new folder that willbe created during the export process.
4. Click Add to select the scenes that you want to export from the Harmony database. You can select a
job to select all the scenes in the job. The scenes you select will appear in the list.

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Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes

5. Select one or more scenes and click Remove to remove scenes from the export list.
6. If you want to export your scenes as offline scenes that you can open in Harmony Stand Alone,check the Export to Offline option. If this option is not enabled, your scenes will be exported in a
database package that can only be imported into a database.
7. In the Data Options tab, select what you want to export:
Parameter

Description

Audio

Exports the Audio directory.
Selected by default, this option exports the elements inthe scene.

Database

If you select this option and deselect the Elements option,
you can access the elements from the Element Manager in
the Control Center, but their drawing and bitmap files will
not be included. The list of available versions in the scene
is also exported. It is not possible to open a scene if thisis not selected for export.

Final Frames

Exports the directory that contains the final, renderedframes.

Other Directories

Exports all other directories and files in the scene's data
structure.

Elements

Selected by default, this option exports the contents(drawing and bitmap files) of the Element directories.

Timing Drawings

Selected by default, this option exports the contents of
the Timing directories.

Annotation

Lets you export the different drawings created while
drawing in the Annotation columns and imported images.

Stage (xsheet & network)

Selected by default, this option exports the Harmony[Edition] directory, which contains the Harmony [Edition]
files for each scene you export. These files are necessary
if you want to reuse the exposure sheet (timing) and the54Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

node structure from the original scene.
If this option is selected, you can select the Get Outside
Drawings option to copy drawings into the scene folderthat is referred to by the Timing columns and their
Element (Drawing) nodes.
Exports the palette-library directories. Decide if you want
to export the palette-library from the environment, job orscene level. When you select a level, the palette-library in
Palettes

lower-level directories will also be exported.
Check Backup if you want to export the palette-list filewhich is necessary for the scene to know which palettes
to use. In most cases, you should select this option as
well as the Scene option.

MacrosExports the macros (customized effect and nodeconnections) that were created and stored in theenvironment, jobs or scenes to be exported. This isnecessary if you have legacy scenes with macros.

Libraries

Exports templates created at the selected levels.

8. In the Advanced Options tab:lWindows: Due to constraints in the operating system, you do not have any choices on the
Advanced Options tab. In GNU/Linux, you can make the following selections.

l(macOS and GNU/Linux): Select how you want to package the exported scene. The choices
you make here are related to the size of the export package as well as the speed of theexport process.

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Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes

Select one of the following options in the Exporting Files section:
Parameter

Description
Speeds up the export process by making hard
links to the original files on the file system. Hard
links keep disk space usage to a minimum andensure a quick export process.

As hard links if possible, otherwise copy

If it is not possible to create hard links (because
the links cross file systems, for example), theentire contents will be copied to the destination
directory, which will be a slower process that willtake up more space on your file system.
Ensures a quicker export process. However, if
symbolic links are used and the original file isdeleted, the symbolic link will be broken.

As hard links when possible, otherwise
symbolic links

Exports the scene using symbolic links to theoriginal scene files (when importing, imports thescene using symbolic links to the export
directory). While this process will reduce the size

As symbolic linksof the export directory, if the original file isdeleted, the symbolic link will be broken.
Copies all scene data to the export location. This
produces the largest export package andtherefore takes the longest to complete. However,
it is the simplest method.

Copy

In the Valid Links Options section, select one of the following options:Parameter

Description

Keep them

Maintains symbolic links.

Resolve them

Removes symbolic links, replacing them with theactual files. When you use this option, the export

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Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

package will contain real files, rather thansymbolic links.
Does not include valid symbolic links in theexport package.

Ignore themIn the Broken Links Options section, select of the following options:Parameter

Description

Keep them

Keeps symbolic links to missing files. When the
missing files are placed in the path searched by
the symbolic link, broken links will be valid again.

Ignore them

Does not include broken symbolic links in theexport package.

9. Click Calculate to get a preview of the size of your export package.
10. Click Export.
The selected files and components are exported. Use the Message Log tab to view messages
generated during the export process.

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Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes

Importing Scenes to Control Center
You can use the import utility to integrate scenes into a Harmony environment.
If the imported files are compressed, you must decompress them to a temporary directory before you can importthem into Harmony. If you don't know how to decompress these files, see your system administrator.

How to import files into Control Center
1. Launch Control Center.
2. Select Admin > Import.
The Import Scene(s) dialog box appears.

58Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

3. In the Package Directory section, click on the browse button at the end of the field to search for a
Harmony scene to import.

Any supported Harmony file can be imported, including IEContents.dat files. The
IEContents.dat file includes database and scene file information. IEContents.dat files are
created when you DO NOT check the Export to Offline option in the Export Scene(s) dialog box inControl Center.
4. In the Destination section, click the browse button to open the File System Selector window. Selectthe environment, job and file system for where you want to place the imported scene.

5. In the Scene(s) to Import section, select the scenes you would like to import. If no scenes are
selected, all the scenes will be imported.

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Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes

6. In the Data Options tab, customize your import options:Parameter

Description

Audio

Exports the Audio directory.
Selected by default, this option exports the elements inthe scene.
If you select this option and deselect the Elements option,

Database

you can access the elements from the Element Manager in
the Control Center, but their drawing and bitmap files will
not be included. The list of available versions in the scene
is also exported. It is not possible to open a scene if thisis not selected for export.

Final Frames

Exports the directory that contains the final, renderedframes.

Other Directories

Exports all other directories and files in the scene's data
structure.

Elements

Selected by default, this option exports the contents(drawing and bitmap files) of the Element directories.

Timing Drawings

Selected by default, this option exports the contents of
the Timing directories.

Annotation

Lets you export the different drawings created while
drawing in the Annotation columns and imported images.

Stage (xsheet & network)

Selected by default, this option exports the Harmony[Edition] directory, which contains the Harmony [Edition]
files for each scene you export. These files are necessary
if you want to reuse the exposure sheet (timing) and thenode structure from the original scene.
If this option is selected, you can select the Get Outside
Drawings option to copy drawings into the scene folderthat is referred to by the Timing columns and their
Element (Drawing) nodes.

60Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Palettes

Exports the palette-library directories. Decide if you want
to export the palette-library from the environment, job orscene level. When you select a level, the palette-library inlower-level directories will also be exported.
Check Backup if you want to export the palette-list filewhich is necessary for the scene to know which palettes
to use. In most cases, you should select this option as
well as the Scene option.

MacrosExports the macros (customized effect and nodeconnections) that were created and stored in theenvironment, jobs or scenes to be exported. This isnecessary if you have legacy scenes with macros.

Libraries

Exports templates created at the selected levels.

7. Check the Remap Paths for Linked Palettes and Images option if your scene contains palettes,
images or textures linked to a an offline location. Then from the drop-down list, select the presetthat points to the location on the server where copies of these same files are located—see About
Asset Remapping for Exported and Imported Scenes on page 63.
8. Check the Check In option (beside the Import button), if your scene was checked out during export.
If your scene was not checked out, this option remains disabled.
9. Click Import.
If the scene already exists, the Scene Exists dialog box appears.

Decide if you want to import or skip importing your first selected scene. The Import All Scenes
option will import all selected scenes.
10. Use the Message Log tab to view messages generated during the import process.
If the name of the scene you are importing in Control Center is too long, you will be prompted withan error message stating that it will be truncated. A scene's name cannot exceed 23 characters.

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Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes

If you are importing scenes that were exported from the Harmony Network, or worked on in
Harmony Stand Alone, the system will try to retrieve the version name.

62Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

About Asset Remapping for Exported and Imported Scenes
If your pipeline often involves exporting scenes from a database to offline so that you can work on them in
Harmony Stand Alone, you might encounter the following issues:lExporting each scene you work on with its job and environment palettes uses up a lot of storage spaceand bandwidth.

l

Scenes that use externally sourced palettes, textures or drawings cannot have access to these assets ifthey get exported from the database and opened on a different machine.

With asset remapping, it is possible to systematically remap the path to assets used by your scenes whenexporting and importing them. Remapping allows you to tell Harmony that, when a scene uses palettes,
textures or linked images from a specific location, to look for them in a different location instead.
Hence, provided that you organize your workflow so as to have job assets, environment assets and externallysourced assets stored in a specific space on your workstation, you do not need to export these assets with yourscenes. You can simply keep them on your workstation and, after exporting a scene from the database, instruct
Harmony to source assets from these locations on your computer rather than from their original location on
their database.

Likewise, if you re-import an exported scene into the database, you can use remapping to make the scene
source those assets from their database location again, instead of the location you remapped them to when you
exported the scene. Since remapping assets is permanent, it is required to revert the effect of remapping when
you import a scene that was remapped back into the database.
Remapping is done in two steps:lConfiguring the remapping rules. To do this, you will have to create remapping rules in an .xml
document. Rules specify where to remap assets based on their type and, optionally, their original
location.

63

Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting SceneslApplying the remapping rules. When you open an exported scene in Harmony Stand Alone, if you haveremapping rules configured, you will be prompted to apply one of your remapping rule sets to the scene
before you start working on it. When importing a scene back into the database, you can apply aremapping rule to it as it is being imported.

Remapping can be done on the following types of assets:l

Palettes: Palettes used by the scene, whether in your scene's palette list, an element's palette list or in a
Colour-Override effect.

lTextures: Textures used by the scene that are external to the scene because they were added using a
Colour-Override effect.
NOTE
Textures in palettes are packaged with their palettes, so remapping a palette will also remap
its textures. Remapping textures is only necessary when they are used by a Colour-Override
effect.

l

Linked drawings: Drawing layers that use drawings that are not stored in an element in your scene, butfrom an external location instead.
NOTESlRemapping tells Harmony where to look for assets, but does not actually copy/move the assets.
When you export a scene from a database with the intention of remapping its linked assets, youmust make sure to copy the assets from the database onto your machine, and store them where
you intend to remap them. Hence, using this feature requires organizing your workflow aroundit.

lWhen you export a scene to offline and include the palettes from its own job and its own
environment in the export, the palettes from the scene's job and environment are exported in
sub-directories of the exported scene and are automatically remapped in the exported scene.
Likewise, when importing an offline scene that includes job and environment palettes, they areautomatically remapped to their original location. Hence, remapping palettes is not necessary if
you source palettes from a scene's own job or environment, but it can allow you to keep yourpalettes single-sourced when working on offline scenes.

64Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Configuring Palette, Texture and Image Remapping
In order to be able to automatically remap palettes, textures and images after exporting or importing scenes,
you must create remapping presets.
A remapping preset determines the path in which to look for palettes, textures and linked drawings in thescene. These presets can be made to remap the path for all palettes, textures or linked drawings in the scene,or to only remap paths that match certain patterns.
You can configure several presets. You will be prompted to apply one (or none) of the configured remapping
presets when opening a scene in Harmony Stand Alone and when importing a scene in Control Center.
To support a workflow where you export scenes from a database, work on them offline then reimport them into
the database, you should at least have one preset to remap the assets to a path on your computer after you
exported a scene, and one to remap them back to their original path in the database after you reimport them.

How to create remapping presets
1. Obtain a copy of the palettes, linked textures and linked drawings used by your scenes and store
them in a specific, safe location on your machine. Make note of the location in which you stored eachtype of asset.
2. In a text editor with administrator privileges, open the relink.xml file located in Harmony's etc
subdirectory:l

On Windows:
a. Open the Start menu and, in the Programs list, go to Windows Accessories.
b. Right-click on Notepad and select More > Run as administrator.
c. In the top menu, select File > Open
d. Browse to and open the following file:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom Harmony 17[Edition]\etc\relink.xmll

On macOS: In a terminal, type in the following command:$ sudo vi /Applications/Toon Boom Harmony 17 [Edition]/Harmony[Edition].app/Contents/tba/etc/relink.xmll

On GNU/Linux: In a terminal, type in the following command:$ sudo gedit /usr/local/ToonBoomAnimation/harmony[Edition]_
17/etc/relink.xml

3. The default relink.xml file will look as follows, with instructions in a commented out tag, followed

65

Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes

by two sample remapping rules (bolded), also in commented out tags:<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!-- Do not remove this line --><relinks> <!-- Do not remove this line --><!-- Configuration file for the definition of path remapping presets foroffline scenes.
This file is a configuration file for the script : TB_RelinkPaths.js. The
script will look for thisfile in either the <application>/etc folder. If you are running in
database mode, you may also put
a copy of this file in the environment folder (ie. /USA_
DB/environments/<the_environment_name>/relink.xml) and its
settings will override the one in <application>/etc/relink.xml.
The presets let you remap the paths when opening an offline scene thatcame from another setup, for example a
database or another offline site. They can also be used when re-importing
an offline scene into an existing
database and you want to remap to existing paths.
In each preset there are paths for palettes, textures and images. They
identify where files outside of
the scene will be located.
Palettes can come from palette list files in the scene or the different
elements, or from Colour-Override
nodes.
Textures are those referenced in the Individual Colour Overrides of theColour-Override node.
Images are those referenced in the Drawing Name field of timing columns.
The <relink name="..."> and </relink> tokens must exist to initialize
the preset selection list which appears in
the remapping dialog.
"path" elements as written in the example below are expected by the TB_
RelinkPaths.js script which is provided in
the distribution package.
All text in "description" elements will be displayed at the bottom of theremapping dialog when the corresponding
preset is selected.

KEYWORDS in XML "relink" elements.
- type- either "palette", "textures", "images" identify the types of object.
- value- the remapped folder.
- root- define a root where the remapping will stop.
Subfolders from this folder will be kept. the 'root' can either bea full absolute path or just a string in the66Harmony 17 Control Center Guidepath.
- allowRemapExisting- if 'true', will allow remapping path for files
even if they exists. The default is to ignore
remapping for files that exists.
- allowRemapInScene- if 'true', will allow remapping path for files
that are within the scene hierarchy.
This variable must be set to 'true' if you
want to remap job and environmanet palettes for an offline scene.
- filter- allow specifying a filter for a regularexpression that must true for the remapping operation to be executed attemptedon thedata. The filter must lead to an absolutepath.
(ie. %JOB_FOLDER%\/.* ).
Filter is interpreted as a JavaScript Regular
Expression. Please refer to JavaScript RegExp documentation.
KEYWORDS in PATHS
This version introduces new keywords that can be inserted in paths
variables : 'root', 'value' and 'filter'.
At runtime, these variables will be replaced by the actual real value ofthe moment, given the scene,job and environment opened by theend user. There is a set of variable that returns an aboslute folder anda second set that just return the last name.
%SCENE_FOLDER% ==> keyword for the current scene folder.
%JOB_FOLDER% ==> keyword for the current job folder of the scene - foroffline scene, this in same as %SCENE_FOLDER%/jobs/Digital%ENV_FOLDER% ==> Identify the current environment folder of the scene for offline scene, this in same as %SCENE_FOLDER%/environments/Digital%SCENE% ==> the current scene name.
%JOB% ==> Identify the current job folder of the scene - for offline
scene, this is always 'Digital'%ENV% ==> Identify the current environment folder of the scene - foroffline scene, this is always 'Digital'

Operations are now executed in cascade by the script. So, it is possible
to have mutliple remapping entries for a given type, such as 'palette'. Each
entry will be executed in order, without memory of what has been changedby the previous entry. (the same file can be remapped multiple times).
--><!-Example for a preset named "group1".
In this example the description elements are used to add the contents of the
3 "path" elements to the remapping
dialog.
<relink name="group1">

67

Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes<description value="Preset for group1" /><description value="" /><description value="Palettes: /path/to/group1/palettes" /><description value="Textures: /path/to/group1/textures" /><description value="Images:/path/to/group1/images" /><path type="palette" value="/path/to/group1/palettes" /><path type="texture" value="/path/to/group1/textures" /><path type="image" value="/path/to/group1/images" /></relink>--><!-Another example that remaps the palettes stored in the job and in theenvironment to different folders.
The files in the job folder
are filtered in by a regular expression (filter), and the one in theenvironment are filtered using a 'root' keyword which is the absolute pathof the environment.
This works for both database and offline scenes.
<relink name="Remap palettes"><description value=" Remap the palettes given a set of cascading rules." /><path type="palette" filter="%JOB_FOLDER%\/.*"
value="/Users/usabatch/PPP/job-%JOB%" allowRemapExisting="true"
allowRemapInScene="true" /><path type="palette" root="%ENV_FOLDER%/palette-library"value="/Users/usabatch/PPP/env-%ENV%" /></relink>--></relinks><!-- Do not remove this line -->NOTE
These samples are inside comment blocks, i.e., <!-- comment -->, so they are nottaken in account. Just as soon as you create one relink rule outside of a comment block,but within the <relinks> block,Harmony will take this rule in account and will prompt
you to choose if you want to remap assets in a scene whenever you open a scene inHarmony Stand Alone.
4. Copy and paste the first sample (bolded) and paste it just below the comments, but before the</relinks> closing tab.
<!-Example for a preset named "group1".
In this example the description elements are used to add the contents of the
3 "path" elements to the remapping
dialog.

68

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide<relink name="group1"><description value="Preset for group1" /><description value="" /><description value="Palettes: /path/to/group1/palettes" /><description value="Textures: /path/to/group1/textures" /><description value="Images:/path/to/group1/images" /><path type="palette" value="/path/to/group1/palettes" /><path type="texture" value="/path/to/group1/textures" /><path type="image" value="/path/to/group1/images" /></relink>--><!-Another example that remaps the palettes stored in the job and in theenvironment to different folders.
The files in the job folder
are filtered in by a regular expression (filter), and the one in theenvironment are filtered using a 'root' keyword which is the absolute pathof the environment.
This works for both database and offline scenes.
<relink name="Remap palettes"><description value=" Remap the palettes given a set of cascading rules." /><path type="palette" filter="%JOB_FOLDER%\/.*"
value="/Users/usabatch/PPP/job-%JOB%" allowRemapExisting="true"
allowRemapInScene="true" /><path type="palette" root="%ENV_FOLDER%/palette-library"value="/Users/usabatch/PPP/env-%ENV%" /></relink>--><relink
name="group1"><description
value="Preset for group1"/><description
value=""/><description
value="Palettes: /path/to/group1/palettes"/><description
value="Textures: /path/to/group1/textures"/><description
value="Images:/path/to/group1/images"/><path
type="palette"
value="/path/to/group1/palettes"<path
type="texture"value="/path/to/group1/textures"<path
type="image"value="/path/to/group1/images"/></relink></relinks>/>/><!-- Do not remove this line -->5. Change using the name attribute of the <relink> tag, change the name of the relink rule fromgroup1 to something relevant. For example, if you're creating the rule to apply when you open ascene that was just exported from the database, you could name it "Remap exported scenes(Offline)"69

Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes<relink name="Remap exported scenes (Offline)"><description value="Preset for group1" /><description value="" /><description value="Palettes: /path/to/group1/palettes" /><description value="Textures: /path/to/group1/textures" /><description value="Images:/path/to/group1/images" /><path type="palette" value="/path/to/group1/palettes" /><path type="texture" value="/path/to/group1/textures" /><path type="image" value="/path/to/group1/images" /></relink>

6. Using the <description> tags, change the description of the rule to something relevant.
In the sample, the description states the path where the rule remaps each kind of asset. Hence, if
you're making a rule to remap assets from a database location to your local copy of the assets, andyou stored your copy in the directory /Users/username/Documents/MyScenePackage in subfolders named Palettes, Textures and Drawings, you could set the description to this:<relink name="Remap exported scenes (Offline)"><description value="Remap the assets in an exported scenes to your local
asset package." /><description value="" /><description value="Palettes:/Users/username/Documents/MyScenePackage/Palettes" /><description value="Textures:/Users/username/Documents/MyScenePackage/Textures" /><description value="Images:/Users/username/Documents/MyScenePackage/Drawings" /><path type="palette" value="/path/to/group1/palettes" /><path type="texture" value="/path/to/group1/textures" /><path type="image" value="/path/to/group1/images" /></relink>

Specifying the locations in which the rule remaps the asset in the description is not necessary, but it
can be very useful. A rule's description appears in the remapping prompt when a scene is opened,
so it will remind the project contributor where they are supposed to copy the scene's assets eachtime they open the scene.

70Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Each description tag makes a line in the description field in the remapping prompt. A rule can haveone, several or even no description tag. Therefore, adding a description to a rule is entirely optional.
7. In the <path> tags, change the value of the value attribute to the full path where your copy of theassets are going to be located. if you're making a rule to remap assets from a database location to
your local copy of the assets, and you store your copy in the directory/Users/username/Documents/MyScenePackage in sub-folders named Palettes, Textures
and Drawings, you could set the rules like so:<relink name="Remap exported scenes (Offline)"><description value="Remap the assets in an exported scenes to your local
asset package." /><description value="" /><description value="Palettes:/Users/username/Documents/MyScenePackage/Palettes" /><description value="Textures:/Users/username/Documents/MyScenePackage/Textures" /><description value="Images:/Users/username/Documents/MyScenePackage/Drawings" /><path
type="palette"
value="/Users/username/Documents/MyScenePackage/Palettes"<path
type="texture"value="/Users/username/Documents/MyScenePackage/Textures"<path
type="image"value="/Users/username/Documents/MyScenePackage/Drawings"</relink>

/>
/>
/>

When writing remapping rules, you must take in account the following technicalities for paths:l

The paths should use UNIX-style forward slashes (/) as separators.

l

The path should not end with a slash.

71

Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenesl

The path should typically begin with a forward slash. However, if you are on Windows andare making a rule to remap assets to a local directory, you can specify the drive letter followed
by a colon before the first forward slash, like so:
C:/Users/username/Documents/MyScenePackage/Palettes
This is optional. If you start the path with a forward-slash, instead, Harmony will presume theasset is located on the drive on which it is installed. For example, if Harmony installed on
drive C:, the following path will translate to the same location:/Users/username/Documents/MyScenePackage/Palettes
If you are working in a multi-platform environment, it is recommended to avoid specifying
drive letters if possible, for portability.

l

If you are working on a rule to remap assets to a database location, do not specify a drive
letter, even on Windows. If you open a scene with paths containing a drive letter on a nonWindows client, the client might not be able to locate the file. For example, to remap palettes
to a palette library for a specific environment, the path should be written like so:/USA_DB/environments/<environment name>/palette-libraryl

The path should not specify a file name. The remapping will be applied to the directory pathof each asset, but not to their file names.

The path specified in a remap rule can be a literal path, but can also make use of the following
variables:
Variable

Description%SCENE_FOLDER%

The full path to the scene folder.
The full path to the job folder.
In database mode, this points to /USA_DB/jobs/<job name>.

%JOB_FOLDER%

For an exported offline scene, this points to ./jobs/Digital from inside
the scene folder, as this is where a job's palettes and templates are stored
when exporting a scene offline with its job assets.
The full path to the environment folder.

%ENV_FOLDER%

In database mode, this points to /USA_DB/environments/<environment
name>.
For an exported offline scene, this points to ./environments/Digital72Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Variable

Description

from inside the scene folder, as this is where an environment's palettes andtemplates are exported when exporting a scene offline with its environment
assets.

%SCENE%The name of the scene.
The name of the job folder of the scene.

%JOB%

When working on an offline (exported) scene, the value of this variable isalways Digital.
The name of the environment folder of the scene.

%ENVIRONMENT%

When working on an offline (exported) scene, the value of this variable isalways Digital.

8. As needed, add options to each <path> by adding its name followed by an equal sign and its value
between quotes (ie: option="value"), separated by spaces, within the opening and closing
brackets of the path tag, like so:<path type="palette" value="/path/to/group1/palettes" option="value"otherOption="value" />Here are the attributes available for the <path> tag:
Attribute

Value

Description

The type of asset to remap with this rule. By default, thepath to all assets of the specified type will be remapped tothe path specified in the value attribute.
type

palette,textureor imagell

73

palette: Remaps the path to palettes used in thescene, whether in the scene's palette list, anelement's palette list or a Colour-Override effect.
texture: Remaps the path to texture files inColour-Override effects.

Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes

Attribute

Value

Description

NOTE
Since textures in palettes are packaged
with their palette, they do not need to be
remapped.

limage: Remaps the path to drawings in linked
drawing layers, also known as timing layers.

value

A
directorypath.

The path to the directory to remap assets to.

The path to the root of the assets to apply this rule to. Thishas two effects:ll

The path of an asset will only be remapped to thespecified path if its original path begins with thepath specified in root.
If an asset is in a sub-directory of the root directory,
it will be remapped to the same sub-directory of thetarget directory, preserving the folder structure inside
the root directory.

root

Adirectorypath.

The root attribute can use the same variables available forthe valueattribute.
For example, if you want to remap everything inside theenvironment directory to a location on your hard drive, butwant to preserve the folder structure of the environment
directory, you would set root to this value:root="%ENV_FOLDER%"
With this parameter, let's say a palette is located in thepalette-library sub-directory of your environment, and yourremapping rules remaps palettes to/Users/username/Documents/MyEnvironment, thepalette will actually be remapped to/Users/username/Documents/MyEnvironment/palette-library, which allows you to store the environment

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Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Attribute

Value

Description

palettes in your local directory all the while preserving its
original folder structure..
If no root is specified, assets that get remapped by this rule
will always be remapped to the exact path specified invalue and not to any of its subfolders.

allowRemapExistingtrue orfalse

By default, assets are not remapped to the specified location
if they can be found in their original location. Set this
attribute to true to remap the paths to assets even if theassets can be found in their original location.
If not specified, this option is disabled.

allowRemapInScene

true orfalse

By default, only assets sourced from outside of the scene's
directory get remapped. Set this attribute to true to subject
all assets in the scene to the remapping rule, even if they're
inside the scene directory.
If not specified, this option is disabled.
A regex filter to check against the original path of the asset.
If the full, original directory path for the asset matches thefilter, it will be remapped. Otherwise, it will be sourced fromits original path.
This is useful if you only want the current rule to remap
assets that are sourced from specific locations to its target
location.

filter

A regular
expression

The filter attribute can use the same variables available
for the value attribute.
For example, the following filter will make it so the rule isonly applied to asset that are inside the job's directory or in
one of its subdirectories:
filter="%JOB_FOLDER%\/.*"%JOB_FOLDER% points to the job's directory, \/ matches aforward slash and .* matches against any string ofcharacter after the forward slash.
The filter must match against the whole path. Therefore, if

75

Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes

Attribute

Value

Description

you only want your filter to match against a part of the path,
you must surround it with .* wildcards, like so:
filter=".*keyword.*"Since forward slashes / are special characters in regularexpressions, they must be escaped with a backslash \ whenused as folder separators in a filter, like so :\/.

NOTE
The filters are interpreted using the JavaScript
implementation of regular expressions. For more
information, refer to the JavaScript RegExp

Reference at the following address:
https://www.w3schools.com/jsref/jsref_
obj_regexp.asp

9. If necessary, you can add several <path> tags for the same type of asset, each with a different filteror root, so as to determine different paths to remap palettes, textures and drawings to dependingon their original location.
For example, after exporting a scene from the database, you would typically want to remap its
environment palettes to a different location than where you would remap its job palettes.
Otherwise, they will end up in the same directory on your computer, and it will be impossible todetermine which one to remap back to the environment directory or to the job directory whenimporting the scene back to the database. Hence, you need to set one path for the job palettes andone for the environment palettes. Here is an example of how to do this:<path type="palette" root="%ENV_FOLDER%/palette-library"
path="/Users/username/Documents/MyEnvironment/palette-library" /><path type="palette" root="%JOB_FOLDER%/palette-library"
path="/Users/username/Documents/MyJob/palette-library" />When remapping a scene, each <path> tag in the relink rules is executed one after the other, from
top to bottom. If two or more <path> tags are meant to remap the same assets, then the asset will
be remapped multiple times.
10. Remapping makes permanent changes to the paths of assets in your scene. Hence, you will most
likely have to create at least one other remapping rule that does the reverse of the rule you justcreated. For example, if you export a scene and remap its assets to a location on your machine, youwill have to remap its assets to their original location on the database when you import it back to

76

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

the database, or else the assets will be missing when opening the imported scene from thedatabase. Repeat the previous steps until you have all the filters required for the needs of yourworkflow.

77

Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes

Remapping Palettes, Textures and Images for an Exported Scene
If you configured remapping presets, you will be prompted to remap assets whenever you open an offline
scene, giving you the opportunity to remap assets after having exported a scene.

How to use remapping presets after exporting a scene
1. Export your scene from the database as an offline scene—see Exporting Scenes from Control Centeron page 53.
2. Launch Harmony.
3. In the log-in screen, select Work Offline and click on the OK button.
4. In the Welcome screen, click on the Open button.
An Open dialog appears.
5. Browse to the directory where you exported your scene, then to the sub-folder inside it, which isnamed after the scene's job, then to the sub-folder inside it, named after the scene.
6. Select the .xstage file in the scene, then click on Open.
NOTE
If there are several .xstage files, select the one with the name of the scene version you
want to open in the name. Each .xstage file is named after the name of the scene,
followed by the scene version and the .xstage extension, like so:sceneName.versionName.xstage.
The Choose the Remapping Group dialog appears.

7. In the Select Group drop-down, select the remapping presets group that you want to apply to thescene.
8. Click on Select.
The scene will open in Harmony. All of the rules in the selected remapping rules are already applied
to the corresponding assets.

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Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Remapping Palettes, Textures and Images when Importing a Scene
If you configured remapping presets, you can apply one to a scene when importing it Control Center.

Delete this text and replace it with your own content.
1. Launch Control Center.
2. In the top menu, select Admin > Import.
3. Right of the Package Directory field, click on the Browse

button.

An Open dialog appears.
4. Browse to and select the .xstage file for the scene you want to import.
5. Click on Open.
6. Right of the Destination field, click on the Browse

button.

A File System Selector dialog appears.
7. Select the Environments, Jobs and File System lists, select the environment, the job and the filesystem to which you want to import the scene.
8. Click on OK.
9. In the Data Options section, select the types of data you want to import with the scene into the
database—see Importing Scenes to Control Center on page 58.
10. Check the Remap Paths for Linked Palettes and Images option.

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Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes

11. In the drop-down right of the Check the Remap Paths for Linked Palettes and Images checkbox,
select the remapping rules group that you want to apply to the scene.

12. Click on Import.
The selected group of remapping rules is applied to the scene after it is imported. You can open thescene in Harmony to verify that all the assets are mapped to the right paths.

80Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Remapping Palettes, Textures and Images in a Scene on Demand
Harmony will only prompt you to remap assets in a scene when opening the scene in Harmony Stand Alone orwhen importing it in Control Center. You can however use this feature at any time, for example if you need toremap assets while working on a scene because you forgot to do it when prompted to, or if you have a scene
with broken links and have made a remapping rule that can fix it.
The remapping dialog is a script package with Harmony. Hence, you can invoke it by adding a button for it in
the Scripting toolbar.

How to remap scene assets on the currently open scene
1. Add the Scripting toolbar to your workspace by doing one of the following:l

In the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > Scripting.

l

Right-click on any existing toolbar and select Scripting.

2. In the Scripting toolbar, click on the Manage Script

button.

The Script Manager dialog appears.
3. In the Files list, select TB_RelinkPaths.js.
4. In the Functions list, select TB_RelinkPathsInteractive.
5. Click on the Add script to toolbar

button.

6. Click on the OK button.
7. A button

for the Remap dialog is added to the Scripting toolbar.

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Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes

8. Click on the Remap dialog

button.

The Choose the Remapping Group dialog appears.

9. In the Select Group drop-down, select the remapping rules group that you want to apply to yourscene.
10. Click on Select.
The paths to the assets in your scene are remapped according to the selected rule set.

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Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Checking the Path of Palettes, Textures and Linked Drawings After
RemappingIf you are having issues remapping or if you want to make sure that it work as expected, there are ways toverify the path from which palettes, linked textures and linked drawings are sourced from within Harmony.

How to check the path of a palette
1. Select any layer in the scene. If you want to check the path of a palette in an element's palette list,
select that specific layer.
2. In the Colour view, move the mouse cursor over the palette for which you want to check the pathand wait for a second.
The path to the palette will display in a tool tip.

How to check the path of palettes and textures in a Colour-Override effect.
1. Do one of the following:l

In the Node View, locate the Colour-Override node and click on its

Layer Properties icon.

l

In the Timeline view, right-click on the Colour-Override layer and select Layer Properties.

2. In the Whole Palette Overrides list, move the mouse cursor over the palette for which you want tocheck the path and wait for a second.
The path to the palette will display in a tool tip.

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Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes

3. In the Individual Colour Overrides list, you can see the path to each linked texture in the Texture
Filename column.

How to check the path of linked drawings
1. Do one of the following:l

In the Node View, locate the drawing node and click on itsl

In the Timeline view, right-click on the drawing layer and select Layer Properties.

2. Open the Drawing tab.
3. In the Timing Columns section, check the path in the Name field.

84

Layer Properties icon.

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

85

Chapter 5: Importing and Exporting Scenes

About Locked and Checked Out Scenes
When working with Harmony Server, all scenes and their data are stored directly on the database; no data is
saved or stored on the client machine. The client machines access the database and load the scenes anddrawings directly from the server. Each time the user saves a scene, the data is updated directly on the server.
There are no upload or download operations done between the server and the clients. However, whenworking with the WebCC, users must download and upload scenes to the Harmony database.
Harmony has a lock system, referred to as global lock, for the different scenes and scene assets. Since all dataon the server can be accessed directly and modified from any client machine, by default, scenes are locked andusers must get the rights to modify them in order to save their work onto the server. Only one user at a time
can modify a scene. Once a scene is opened on a client machine, other users can open the scene in read-onlymode if they need to consult it, but they will not be able to save any modifications.
In the WebCC, when a scene is downloaded locally by a user, global locking does not apply as it will be
modified in Harmony Stand Alone. To ensure that scenes are not simultaneously modified and causing conflicts,
scenes downloaded through the WebCC can be checked out by a user. When scenes are checked out, they canbe opened in read-only mode in Harmony Server.
Global lock has several levels:
A Harmony project can be locked at various levels. Its timing, drawings, version and palettes can be locked.
Locking means that you have the rights to modify a scene or its assets. Other users cannot modify locked items.
If someone tries to open a locked scene, it will be displayed as read-only.
Here are the different lock possibilities:
Lock

Description

Scene or Version LockControls the Xsheet timing, layers, nodes but not the drawing, palettes, palettelists or templates.

Drawing Lock

Only one user can edit and save a locked drawing.

Palette Lock

Only one user can edit and save a locked palette.

Palette-list Lock

Only one user can edit and save a locked palette-list.

Library Folder lock

Only one user can edit and save into that folder in the Library.

There are several different ways to obtain the rights to modify the scenes. It can be done when the user loads ascene from Harmony, inside the application once the scene is loaded, or when an environment, job or scene iscreated using the Control Center module.

86Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

87

Chapter 6: Troubleshooting

Chapter 6: Troubleshooting
If you have any problems exporting in Harmony, review the instructions to make sure you have followed themcompletely. If you continue to have problems, consult the following list to troubleshoot common import andexport problems.

Problem: Import or Export Not Successful
If the transfer is not successful, an error dialog box appears to describe the problem. The most common
reason for a failed transfer is due to your current network permissions. See your system administrator forhelp.
If the transfer fails in the middle of the process, the files that were imported or exported may be corrupt orincomplete.
l

For a failed import, use Control Center to delete the scene.

l

For a failed export, manually delete the incomplete export folder.

If you click the Message Log tab, you can see more detailed descriptions, including error messages.

88Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

89

Chapter 7: Commands

Chapter 7: Commands
Command

ActionAccess Methods

About Toon
Boom Harmony

macOS: Displays product, version, licensing
and copyright information.

Quit

macOS: Closes the Control Center windowand ends the current session.

⌘ + Q.

File Commands
The File menu commands let you access the Log file and exit the application on Windows/Linux.
Command

ActionAccess Methods

Exit

Windows/Linux: Closes the Control Centerwindow and ends the current session.

Ctrl + Q

View Log

Lets you view errors and warning messages
related to your actions during the current
Control Center session.

Environment Commands
The Environment menu commands let you manage the environments and queues.
Command

ActionAccess Methods

CreateOpens a Create Environment dialog box,
where you can enter a name for a newenvironment.

Right-click on the Environments list andselect Create.

Lets you delete an environment from thedatabase. You cannot delete an environment
unless it is empty; delete all of theenvironment's scenes and jobs before
activating this command.

Right-click on the Environments list andselect Delete.

Enables or disables the automatic Global
Lock on the scenes under the selected

Right-click on the selected environment in
the Environments list and select Change

DeleteChange Asset
Lock

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Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Vectorize Queue

Render Queue

Environment.

Asset Lock.

Opens the Vectorize Queue dialog box
where you can display the progress andprioritize the drawings that the system isconverting to the TVG vector file format.

Right-click on the Environments list andselect Vectorize Queue.

Opens the Render Queue dialog box where
you can monitor and prioritize the progressof the drawings that the system isrendering.

Right-click on the Environments list andselect Render Queue.

Job Commands
The Job menu commands let you manage the jobs and their state.
Command

ActionAccess Methods

Opens the Create Job dialog box where you
can add a new job to the selectedenvironment.
CreateDeleteYour job must have a name that is unique tothe animation database (for example, you
cannot have two jobs with the same nameeven if they exist in different environments;
they are all in the same database).
Removes a job from the selectedenvironment. When a job is deleted, its
scenes, elements, drawings, palette library,and database information are permanently
removed. If you want to archive a job, you
should only delete the job after you haveused the command to create the archive.

Right-click on the Environments list andselect Create.

Right-click on the Jobs list and select Delete.

Before you activate this command, verify
that the selected jobs are not currently inuse.

Change Stage

Opens the Change Stage of Jobs dialog box
where you can record the current stage ofthe environment's jobs in the production
process. You can change the job from In
Production to Completed, or from91

Right-click on the Jobs list and selectChange Stage.

Chapter 7: Commands

Completed back to In Production if you
need to perform further work.

Change Priority

Opens the Choose New Priority dialog box
where you can set the priority of therendering and vectorizing tasks for one ormore jobs. The priority is set using a sliding
scale where 0 is the highest priority and 10
is the lowest.

Right-click on the Jobs list and selectChange Priority.

Scene Commands
The Scene menu commands let you manage the scenes.
Command

ActionAccess Methods

Opens the Create Scene dialog box where
you can add one or more scenes to theselected job. You can also choose to:CreateCopy•

Add a scene from another filesystem and add it to your job.

•

Choose the position the scene willtake within the job.

Opens the Copy Scene dialog box where
you can copy a scene's exposure sheet intoanother scene. You can select a source anddestination scene in which to copy the
Xsheet data.

Right-click on the Scenes list and selectCreate.

Right-click on the Scenes list and selectCopy.

Removes a scene from the database. Before
you activate this command, make sure allusers are logged out of Toon Boom
Harmony and that no files are currently inuse.
DeleteWhen a scene is deleted, its exposure sheet,elements, drawings, palette library anddatabase information are permanently
removed. If you want to archive a scene, you
should only delete the scene after you haveused the command to create the archive.
Before you activate this command, verify

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Right-click on the Scenes list and selectDelete.

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

that the selected scenes are not currently in
use.

Move

Opens the Move Scene dialog box where
you can move one or more scenes and theirassociated files to a file location of yourchoice. The Move Scene command allows
you to select one or more scenes andcalculate the amount of space you will needat the new location to accommodate the
moved scene.

Right-click on the Scenes list and selectMove.

Before you activate this command, makesure all users are logged out of Toon Boom
Harmony and that no files are currently inuse.

RenameOpens the Rename Scene dialog box where
you can enter a new name for the selectedscene. Before you activate this command,
verify that no users are using the scene, allusers are logged out of Toon Boom
Harmony and that no files are currently inuse.

Right-click on the Scenes list and selectRename.

Unlocks a scene was locked in Harmony.
Generally, a scene unlocks when it is closed
by a user. However, if a computer crashes
while a scene is locked and in use, a scene
may remained locked even if it is not open.
Force Unlock

An unlock confirmation message appears
detailing the consequences of using thisoption.

Right-click on the Scenes list and selectForce Unlock.

If you activated this command for more than
one scene, you will be prompted for
confirmation to unlock each scene
separately.

Force Unlock
VersionUnlocks a version of a scene that has been
locked by Harmony. Generally, a scene
unlocks when it is closed by a user,
however if a computer crashes while ascene is locked and in use, a scene may
remained locked even if it is not open.
An unlock confirmation message appears

93

Right-click on the Scenes list and selectForce Unlock Version.

Chapter 7: Commands

detailing the consequences of using thisoption.
If you activated this command for more than
one scene, you will be prompted for
confirmation to unlock each scene
separately.
Checks in a scene that was checked out, but
not checked back in.
Force Checkin

Use this command only in extreme cases.
Otherwise, two versions of the same scene
will be in use, which will cause conflicts.

CheckinChecks in a scene that you checked out.

Checkout

Checks out a scene. If a scene is alreadychecked out, it is available as read-only andyou cannot make any changes to it.
Opens the Choose New Priority dialog box
where you can set the priority of therendering and vectorizing tasks for one or

Change Priority

more scenes. The priority is set using asliding scale where 0 is the highest priority
and 10 is the lowest.
Activating this command affects all
subsequent scenes you create. You canchange the priority of a scene already sent
to the batch processing queue by using theChange Priority button in the queue.

Change Stage

Opens the Change Scene Stage dialog box
where you can record the current stage ofprogress in a scene in an environment or a
production.
This command is inactive if the scene's
approval policy has been set to Manual in
the Change Approval Policy dialog box.

Reorder

Opens the Reorder Scenes dialog box where
you can change the sequence of the scenes
in a job.

94

Right-click on the Scenes list and selectChange Priority.

Right-click on the Scenes list and selectChange Stage.

Right-click on the Scenes list and selectReorder.

Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Deletes a scene's exposure sheet. Only
exposure sheet files are deleted from thedatabase, not image files.

Clear

A delete confirmation message appears,
detailing the consequences of using thisoption and requests that you contact yourTechnical Director if you are unclear about
this procedure.

Right-click on the Scenes list and selectClear.

Before you activate this command, makesure that all users are logged out of Toon
Boom Harmony and that no files are
currently in use.

Send to
Vectorize

Converts the Send to Vectorize command toconvert the selected drawings to the TVG
vector file format.

Right-click on the Scenes list and selectSend to Vectorize.

Send toUnvectorize

Opens the Send Scenes to Unvectorize
dialog box where you can convert a scene's
vector drawings into bitmap drawings.

Right-click on the Scenes list and selectSend to Unvectorize.

Send toRendering

Opens the Composite dialog box where you
can add one or more scenes to therendering queue.

Right-click on the Scenes list and selectSend to Rendering.

Element Commands
The Element menu commands let you vectorize and unvectorize the elements.
Command

ActionAccess Methods

Send toUnvectorize

Opens the Send Elements to Unvectorize
dialog box and converts an element's vector
drawings into bitmap drawings.

Right-click on the Elements list and selectSend to Unvectorize.

Send to
Vectorize

Converts the drawings for the selected
elements to the TVG vector file format.

Right-click on the Elements list and selectSend to Vectorize.

Drawing Commands
The Drawing menu commands let you vectorize and unvectorize the drawings.

95

Chapter 7: Commands

Command

ActionAccess Methods

Send toUnvectorize

Opens the Send Drawings to Unvectorize
dialog box and converts selected vector
drawings into bitmap drawings.

Right-click on the Drawings list and selectSend to Unvectorize.

Send to
Vectorize

Vectorizes the selected drawings.

Right-click on the Drawings list and selectSend to Vectorize.

Admin Commands
The Admin menu commands let you import and export scenes, and manage the users and approval policy.
Command

ActionAccess Methods

Users

Opens the User List dialog box where you
can display all valid Toon Boom Harmony
users in the network. You can add, delete,or modify users in this list.
Opens the Change Approval Policy dialog

ChangeApproval Policy

Vectorize Style

Exportbox where you can select a manual or
automatic approval of the production status
at each stage of each scene.
Opens the Vectorization Styles dialog
where you can select the vectorization style
you want to apply to drawings before
sending them to the vectorization queue.
Opens the Export Scenes dialog box where
you can transfer copied data from thedatabase to a different directory.
You can also export scenes to Stage (offline
version) by selecting Export Offline.

ImportOpens the Import Scenes dialog box where
you can transfer copied data from anotherdirectory into the database.

Lock When
Opening Scene

No Lock, Scene Lock, Version Lock, Asset
Lock options

96Harmony 17 Control Center Guide

Command

ActionAccess Methods

Database Lock
Manager

Allow Unicode
Names

Lets you use up to 120 ASCII characters fornames of environments, jobs and scenes.
This means you can use characters forlanguages, such as Japanese, Chinese,
French, Spanish, and others, characters fornames in your database setup.

Help Commands
The Help menu commands let you access the Help files and Control Center About information when using
Windows/Linux.
Command

ActionAccess Methods

Help

Lets you view the Control Center integrated
help system.

F1

Customer
Improvement
Experience
Program

The Customer Experience Improvement
Program allows Toon Boom to collect usage
information. The data does not contain any
personally identifiable information andcannot be used to identify you. The data willconsist of a basic hardware description, aproject summary and usage information. The
information is used only for software
improvement purposes, as well as forsharing with third parties for the same
reason.
This program is enabled by default but isvoluntary. If you prefer not to participate, you
can opt out when you first launch thesoftware, by using a global preference, or by
a command line argument.

About

Windows/Linux: Displays product, version,
licensing and copyright information.

97