Toon BoomHarmony21
Play Application
User Guide

TOON BOOM ANIMATION INC.

+1 514 278 8666

4200 St.Laurent Blvd, Suite 1020
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
H2W 2R2

contact@toonboom.com
toonboom.com

Harmony 21 Play User 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 forAdobe®Flash ® File Format (SWF). For details, refer to the License Agreement and to those special terms andconditions.

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

Publication Date07-03-2021
Copyright © 2021 Toon Boom Animation Inc., a Corus Entertainment Inc. company. All rights reserved.

1

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Table of Contents

2

About the Play Application

4

Chapter 1: Launching the Play Application

6

Chapter 2: User Interface

8Top Menu

9

Playback Toolbar

13

Chapter 3: Loading Image Sequences

16

Loading Image Sequences from Folders

17

Loading Image Sequences from Databases

192Harmony 21 Play User Guide

3

About the Play Application

About the Play Application
The Play module is designed specifically for playing back and viewing animated projects once they have been
rendered out into image sequences.

This module opens directly from your program menu to load your final render. It's also used when playing backa scene with effects in Harmony.

4Harmony 21 Play User Guide

5

Chapter 1: Launching the Play Application

Chapter 1: Launching the Play Application
To use Toon Boom Play, you must start the program.

How to launch the Play application
1. Depending on your operating system, do one of the following:llWindows: Open the Start menu and, in the list of programs, select Harmony 21 [Edition] >Play.
macOS: Do the following:a. In Finder, proceed to Applications >Toon Boom Harmony 21 [Edition] anddouble-click Harmony [Edition].
The main Harmony application launches.
b. In the top menu, select Harmony [Edition] > Tools > Play.
l

GNU/Linux: In the GNOME top menu, select Applications > Harmony 21 [Edition] >
Play.

6

Harmony 21 Play User Guide

7

Chapter 2: User Interface

Chapter 2: User Interface
The Play Module interface is composed of two main components.

Top Menu

9Playback Toolbar

138

Harmony 21 Play User Guide

Top Menu
In the top menu are all the necessary commands for loading and previewing image sequences.

File Menu
CommandLoad From Folder

Load From Database

ActionAccess Methods

Opens the Find Directory
window where you can selectone or more images to load inthe player.
If you are connected to theDatabase, this command
opens the Database Selector
window where you can selectan image sequence to load inthe player.

File > Load from Folder

File > Load from Database

Opens the Load Playback
dialog box and indicates
which frames are loaded. You
Reload Frames

Unload Frames

Quit Playcan select the frames you
want to reload. Use theReload command to load
frames that are currently open
in the player and that weremodified since they wereloaded.
Opens the Unload Playback
dialog box and indicates
which frames are loaded. You
can select the frames you
want to unload.

File > Reload FramesFile > Unload Frames

macOS: macOS Play > QuitPlay.

Exits the application.

Windows/Linux: File > Quit.

9

Chapter 2: User Interface

View Menu
CommandZoom In

ActionAccess Methods

Zooms in on the loaded images
to view them closer. In thelower-right corner of theinterface, you can see therelative zoom level comparedto the image’s original

View > Zoom In
Press Ctrl + =.

resolution.

Zoom Out

Zooms out of the loaded
images to view them smaller.
In the lower-right corner of theinterface, you can see therelative zoom level comparedto the image’s originalresolution.

Image

Displays the images in normal
mode with all their colours.

View > Image

Matte

Displays the image’s matte(alpha channel). Alltransparent zones aredisplayed in black and all fully
opaque zones are displayed inwhite. Zones that aresemitransparent are displayedin grey.

View > Matte

Loaded Files Properties

Opens the Loaded Files
Properties dialog box. Displays
the format, path and resolutioninformation of each loaded
image.

View > Loaded Files
Properties

CommandAction

Access Methods

Play Scene Forward

Plays the animation from thePlay > Play Scene Forward

View > Zoom Out
Press Ctrl + =.

Play Menu

10Harmony 21 Play User Guide

CommandAction

Access Methods

current frame to the lastframe.

Play Forward

buttonPlay Scene Backward

Plays the animation from thecurrent frame to the firstframe.

Stop

Stops playback.

Loop

Repeats the scene when it
reaches the last frame during
playback.

Play > Loop

Play > Start Frame

Start Frame

Controls the starting frame ofthe playback range. Opens theSet Start Frame dialog box.

Play > Stop Frame

Stop Frame

Controls the end frame of theplayback range. Opens the Set
Stop Frame dialog box.

Go to Frame

Sets your current frame to any
frame you input in the Go to
Frame dialog box.

Play > Go to Frame

Playback Speed

Changes the frame rate of theplayback. Opens the Set
Speed dialog box.

Play > Playback Speed

First Frame

Sets the current frame to thefirst frame of the loaded image
sequence.

Previous Frame

Sets the current frame to its
previous frame.

Play > Previous Frame

Next Frame

Sets the current frame to its

Play > Next Frame

Play > Play Scene Backward
Play Backward

buttonPlay > Stop
Stop11Loopbutton

buttonIn the Playback toolbar, enter
values in the Start field.

In the Playback toolbar, enter
values in the Stop field.

Play >First FrameFirstbutton

Chapter 2: User Interface

Command

ActionAccess Methods

following frame.
Sets the current frame to thelast frame of the image
sequence.

Play > Last Frame

CommandAction

Access Methods

Online Help

Opens Toon Boom Online
Help where you can finduseful indexed andsearchable information on theoperation of the Toon BoomPlay module.

Last Frame

Lastbutton

Play Module Help Menu

About

Help > Online Help
Press F1.

Opens the About window
which displays information

Windows/Linux: Help > About

related to the application
version.

located in the macOS Playmenu.

12macOS: This command isHarmony 21 Play User GuidePlayback Toolbar
Using the Playback toolbar (located at the bottom of the player interface), you can play your animation, loop
playback, navigate through frames and change the playback speed.

Interface ElementNameAction

Frame slider

Scrolls forwards or throughthe playback frames.

FirstSets the current frame to thefirst frame of the loaded
image sequence.

Play Backward

Plays the animation fromthe current frame to the firstframe.

Stop

Stops playback.

Play Forward

Plays the animation fromthe current frame to the lastframe.

Last

Plays your sound frame-byframe. This command is
only available when theapplication is launchedfrom Harmony.

Loop

Repeats the scene when it
reaches the last frame
during playback.

Sound

Includes the soundtrack
during playback. This
command is only available
when the application islaunched from Harmony.

13Chapter 2: User Interface

Interface ElementNameAction

Sound Scrubbing

Plays your sound frame-byframe. This command isonly available when theapplication is launchedfrom Harmony.
Enter a new value to control

Start Framethe starting frame of theplayback range.

Stop Frame

Enter a new value to control
the end frame of theplayback range.

FPS

Enter a new value (in frames
per second) in this field tochange the playback speed.
Select the Preroll option
and enter the number ofPreroll

blank frames. These frames
will be added at the start ofthe playback.
Displays the ratio of theplayback size you are
currently viewing in Toon
Boom Play compared to theimage’s actual size.

Scale

14

Harmony 21 Play User Guide

15

Chapter 3: Loading Image Sequences

Chapter 3: Loading Image Sequences
To play a scene in Play, you must load the sequence of rendered frames for that scene in the Play application.
Loading Image Sequences from Folders

17

Loading Image Sequences from Databases

19

16

Harmony 21 Play User Guide

Loading Image Sequences from Folders
You can import an image sequence from a folder stored locally.

How to load an image sequence from a folder
1. From the top menu, select File > Load from Folder.
The Find Directory dialog box opens.
2. Select the folder that contains the image sequence to load.
3. Click OK.
The Load Playback dialog box opens.

4. Click one of the following:‣

Select All: To select all the files in the list.

‣

Select Loaded: To reload images that are already loaded in the player.

‣

Select Changed: To reload only the images that were modified since they were loaded.

‣Select Unloaded: To load all the images in the list that are not currently loaded in the player.

‣Select an option from the Filter Current Selection menu to select a series of frames from theones selected. For example, to load one of six frames instead of the entire sequence, select Keep
1 Frame Out of 6 from the drop-down menu.

17Chapter 3: Loading Image Sequences

5. In the Load At menu, select the image resolution. To load images faster, or to fit them on yourscreen, load the images at a lower resolution.

6. Click Load to load the selected images.
7. Once the images are loaded, click the Playbutton to play back your image sequence.

18

Harmony 21 Play User Guide

Loading Image Sequences from Databases
You can import an image sequence stored on the Harmony database.

How to load an image sequence from the database
1. From the top menu, select File > Load from Database. Note that Harmony Essentials cannot
connect to a database. This option is only for Harmony Advanced and Harmony Premium.
The Database selector dialog box opens.
2. Select the environment, job, scene and element in which your frames are located.
3. Select one or more frames to load.
4. Click Open.
The Load Playback dialog box opens.
5. Click one of the following:‣Select All: To select all the files in the list.

‣Select Loaded: To reload images that are already loaded in the player.

‣Select Changed: To reload only the images that were modified since they were loaded.

‣

Select Unloaded: To load all the images in the list that are not currently loaded in the player.

‣

Select an option from the Filter Current Selection menu to select a series of frames from theones selected. For example, to load one of six frames instead of the entire sequence, select Keep
1 Frame Out of 6 from the drop-down menu.

6. In the Load At menu, select the image resolution. To load images faster, or to fit them on yourscreen, load the images at a lower resolution.

19

Chapter 3: Loading Image Sequences

7. Click Load to load the selected images.
8. Once the images are loaded, click the Playbutton to play back your image sequence.

20