Toon Boom
Harmony22 Premium

Preferences 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 22 Premium Preferences 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 w hole or in part is strictly prohibited.
The content of this document is covered by a specific limited w arranty and exclusions and limit of liability
under the applicable License Agreement as supplemented by the special terms and conditions for
Adobe® Flash® File Format (SW F). 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 Boom
Animation Inc. All other trademarks of the property of their respective ow ners.

Publication Date
09-23-2022
Copyright © 2022 Toon Boom Animation Inc., a Corus Entertainment Inc. company. All rights reserved.

1

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Table of Contents

2

About Harmony Preferences

3

Accessing the Preferences Dialog

4

Switching Between Preference Sets

5

Exporting Preferences

8

Importing Preferences

9

Resetting Preferences10

Preferences File Location

11

Preferences Dialog Reference

12

General Preferences

13

Camera Preferences

22

Node View Preferences

25

Exposure Sheet Preferences

28

Draw ing Preferences

31

Timeline Preferences36

Template Preferences

38

Sound Preferences

39

OpenGL Preferences

40

Render Preferences

44

Advanced Preferences

46

Deformation Preferences

51

Particle Preferences

522Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

About Harmony Preferences
The Preferences dialog box allow s you to adjust preferences to suit your w orkflow and your production's
needs.

3

Accessing the Preferences Dialog

Accessing the Preferences Dialog
You can access the Preferences dialog from the Edit menu on W indow s and GNU/Linux, or from the Harmony
Premium menu on macOS.

How to open the Preferences dialog box
1. Do one of the follow ing:ll

W indows or GNU/Linux:l

In the top menu, select Edit > Preferences.

l

Press Ctrl + U.

macOS:l

In the top menu, select Harmony Premium > Preferences.

l

Press ⌘ + U.

4

Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

Switching Between Preference Sets
Harmony comes preloaded w ith five different preference presets (referred to as preference sets), each tailored
for a different kind of task. By default, the Basic preference set is used. You can choose w hich preference set touse in Preferences dialog.
A large part of the default settings in the different preference sets are the same. The follow ing table describes
w hich option is different depending in each preference set, and how :Preference Set
Tab /Location

Preference
Basic

Compositing

CutoutAnimation

Paperless
Animation

Rigging

Focus on
Mouse Enter

Off

On

On

On

On

Default pass
Through
Composite

Off

Off

On

Off

On

Off

Off

On

Off

On

Stop- Motion
Keyframes

Off

Off

On

Off

On

ReduceIndentation

Off

On

On

Off

On

Drawing
Substitution:
Create Key
Exposure

On

Off

Off

Off

On

SupportOverlay andUnderlay
Arts

Off

On

On

Off

On

Advanced

Off

On

Off

Off

On

GeneralDefault
Separate
Position for
Pegs

Timeline

Advanced5

Sw itching Betw een Preference Sets

Preference Set
Tab /Location

Preference
Basic

Compositing

CutoutAnimation

Paperless
Animation

Rigging

Advanced
Palette List

Off

On

On

On

On

Advanced
Element
Mode

Off

On

Off

Off

Off

Element
Node
AnimateUsing
Animation
Tools

On

On

Off

On

Off

Auto Close
Gap

On

On

On

On

Off

Display

Pencil Tool
Properties

NOTES
l

W hen you customize a preference manually, it is not saved to the current preference set. It issaved as an override for all preference sets.

l

Sw itching betw een preference sets only affects preferences that you have not manuallycustomized yourself. This means, for example, that if you manually enable the Focus on MouseEnter preference, this preference w ill no longer be affected w hen you sw itch to a different
preference set.

l

To make all your preferences affected by the preference set you select again, you must reset
your preferences—see Resetting Preferences on page 10.

6

Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

How to switch between preference presets
1. Do one of the follow ing to open the Preferences dialog:ll

W indows or GNU/Linux:l

In the top menu, select Edit > Preferences.

l

Press Ctrl + U.

macOS:l

In the top menu, select Harmony Premium > Preferences.

l

Press ⌘ + U.

2. In the top-left corner of the Preferences dialog, open the Preference Set drop-dow n and select thepreset you w ant to use.

Preferences w ill be updated according to the table above, except for those that you manually set.
3. Click on OK.

7

Exporting Preferences

Exporting Preferences
You can export your current preferences to an XML file. You can reimport this file later to restore yourpreferences, or share it w ith project collaborators so that you all use the same preferences.

NOTE
W hen you export your preferences, only the preferences for the currently selected preference set
are exported.

How to export your preferences configuration
1. Do one of the follow ing to open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog:ll

W indows or GNU/Linux:l

In the top menu, select Edit > Preferences.

l

Press Ctrl + U.

macOS:l

In the top menu, select Harmony Premium > Preferences.

l

Press ⌘ + U.

2. Near the top of the dialog, right of the Preference Set: drop-dow n, click on the Save... button.
A save dialog appears.
3. Brow se to the location w here you w ant to save your preference file.
4. Type in the desired name for your preference file.
5. Click on Save.
Your current preference settings have been exported as an XML file, in the selected location w ith
the file name you gave it.

8Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

Importing Preferences
You can import a preference file exported from Harmony.

NOTES
l

To export preferences into a file, see Exporting Preferences on page 8.

l

W hen you import a preference file, it w ill override all your preferences for the currently
selected preference set.

How to import a keyboard shortcut configuration file
1. Do one of the follow ing to open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog:ll

W indows or GNU/Linux:l

In the top menu, select Edit > Preferences.

l

Press Ctrl + U.

macOS:l

In the top menu, select Harmony Premium > Preferences.

l

Press ⌘ + U.

2. At the right of the Preference Set: drop-dow n, click on the Load... button.
An open dialog appears.
3. Brow se to the directory w here your preference file is located.
4. Select the preference file you w ant to import.
5. Click on Open.
The settings in the selected preference file are loaded into the Preferences dialog, overw riting yourcurrent preferences.

9Resetting Preferences

Resetting Preferences
You can reset the preferences in Harmony to their default settings.

IMPORTANTThis w ill permanently undo all the changes you made to your Harmony preferences.

How to reset your keyboard shortcuts configuration
1. Do one of the follow ing to open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog:l

W indows or GNU/Linux: In the top menu, select Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.

lmacOS: In the top menu, select Harmony Premium > Keyboard Shortcuts.

2. In the bottom-left corner of the Preferences dialog, click on Restore All Defaults.
A confirmation prompt appears.
3. If you are sure you w ant to restore the default preferences for Harmony, click on Yes.
All the preferences in the Preferences dialog are now set to their default setting.

10Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

Preferences File Location
T-HFND-002-002
After the first time you have launched Harmony, your preferences, along w ith numerous other options andsw itches in the user interface, are stored in a hidden directory on your computer. If you are using Harmony
Server, they are stored in a directory for your user on the database server.
Depending on your operating system, and w hether or not you are using Harmony Stand Alone or Harmony
Server, you can find your preference files in the follow ing location:l

W indows: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom Harmony
Premium\full-2000-pref

NOTE
On W indow s, the AppData folder is hidden. To display it in Explorer, in the top menu, open
the View pane and check the Hidden Items checkbox.

lmacOS: /Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom Harmony
Premium/full-2000-pref

NOTE
On macOS, the Library folder is hidden. To display it in Finder, hold dow n the Alt key.

l

GNU/Linux: /home/[username]/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom Harmony Premium/full-2000-pref/

W hen using Harmony Server, preferences are stored in your Harmony Server account's user space on the
database server, in the follow ing path:l/USA_DB/users/[user_name]/Harmony Premium/full-2000-pref

11Preferences Dialog Reference

Preferences Dialog Reference
The follow ing section contains a an article for each tab in the Preferences dialog. Each article contains a list of
all the preferences in its tab, as w ell as a description of the preference. Refer to this section if you w ant toknow more about w hat a specific preference does or if you w ant to get familiarized w ith all of the preferencesin Harmony.
General Preferences

13

Camera Preferences

22

Node View Preferences

25

Exposure Sheet Preferences

28

Draw ing Preferences

31

Timeline Preferences36

Template Preferences

38

Sound Preferences

39

OpenGL Preferences

40

Render Preferences

44

Advanced Preferences

46

Deformation Preferences

51

Particle Preferences

52

12

Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

General Preferences

To customize your interface, you w ill use some of the preferences located in the General tab as w ell as the
Camera tab.
Parameter

Description

In Harmony Server, you can decide w hich kinds of assets are saved w hen
you use the Save command. This can be useful if you need specific users to
only be able to make changes to certain aspects of the scene they'rew orking on, or if you w ant to prevent yourself from accidentally making
undesired changes to important assets. Unchecking any of the follow ing
options w ill prevent you from saving their corresponding type of assets:
Save

lSave Scene: Save changes to the list of layers, the node system,
elements, animation, timing, layout, effects, scene properties, etc.

l

Save Palette Lists: Save changes to the list of palettes associated tothe scene or to individual elements.

l

Save Palettes: Save changes to the colours and textures containedin palettes.

13Preferences Dialog ReferencelSave Drawings: Save changes to existing draw ings as w ell as
new ly created draw ings.

TIP
If you w ant to save changes made to a type of asset that for w hichsaving w as disabled, you can do so by selecting File > Advanced
Save from the top menu. In the Advanced Save dialog, assets forw hich saving is disabled w ill be unchecked, so you must manuallycheck the assets you w ant to save.

IMPORTANTW hen you close a scene, Harmony w ill not ask for confirmation todiscard changes made to assets for w hich saving is disabled.

Open in Read Only mode if plugin syntax errors are detected: Opens
scenes that contain plugin node errors in read-only mode to prevent you
from losing plugin information on subsequent saves.
Auto- Save:lInterval (minutes): This is the frequency at w hich the auto-savetakes place.

l

Inactivity Interval (seconds): W hen Auto- save is about to takeplace, it verifies if you are drawing or doing anything in theapplication. If so, Auto- save waits this number of seconds before
attempting another save.

l

Ask Before Saving: Before performing an auto-save, the system w ill
prompt you w ith a message to confirm if you w ant to save or not.
You can choose to turn off this option.

lEnabled: This enables the Auto-save feature. If you do not w ant thesystem to automatically save your w ork, deselect this option. The
auto-save is off by default.

Automatically Save W orkspace: Changes to your w orkspace, such as howview s and toolbars are laid out, are automatically saved, making sure yourw orkspace remains the same after you close and re-launch Harmony or if
you sw itch betw een different w orkspaces. If this option is disabled, youmust manually save changes to your w orkspace by selecting W indows >W orkspace > Save W orkspace from the top menu.

Colour Management

Default to Element Palette Lists: W hen this option is enabled the new ,cloned, duplicated, imported and linked palettes w ill be stored in the
Element Palette list instead of the Scene Palette List.
Interactive Colour Recovery: If a colour palette required to display a

14Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

draw ing is not found because it w as moved or deleted from its location, you
w ill be asked if you w ish to recover the missing colours into a new
temporary palette. If this option is disabled, the colour recovery w ill happen
automatically w ithout your confirmation.

Colour Recovery: By default, if a colour palette required to display adraw ing is missing because it has been moved or deleted, Harmony
recovers the missing colours into a new temporary palette. If this option isdisabled, Harmony w ill skip this step and display the zones painted w ith
missing colours w ith the Replacement Colour, w hich is solid red by default.
Replacement Colour: If certain colours are no longer available, Harmony
w ill display the replacement colour in the zones painted w ith missing
colours.

You can select the colours for a lot of coloured elements in the userinterface of Harmony.

NOTE
Some changes to colour preferences may not appear until Harmony isrestarted or until the affected view is closed and reopened.

Colours

Current View Border:Sets the colour of the frame around the w orkspaceview you are currently using, also know n as focus. By default, the colour isred. Click on the red colour sw atch to select a new colour in the Colour
Picker w indow .
Current View Border in Template Edit: Sets the colour of the frame aroundthe w orkspace view you are currently using w hen editing a template fromyour library view . By default, the colour is green. Click on the green colour
sw atch to select a new colour in the Colour Picker w indow .
Edit Colours: The Edit Colours button opens the Colours dialog, w hichallow s you to set the colour for dozens of visual elements in the userinterface.

15

Preferences Dialog Reference

3D ModelsDefault Scale Factor: The default scale factor to apply to a 3D model w hen
it is imported into your scene. You can enter a decimal value betw een 0 and
1 to make new ly imported 3D models appear smaller than their originalsize, or a decimal value greater than 1 to make 3D models appear bigger
than their original size.

Support Gestures: Enables manipulating view s such as the Camera andDraw ing view s using the follow ing gestures:l

To pan the view , drag your tw o fingers in any direction, keeping both
fingers at the same distance from each other.

l

To zoom in, drag your tw o fingers aw ay from each other.

l

To zoom out, drag your tw o fingers closer to each other.

l

To rotate, drag your tw o fingers in a curve so that they revolve in the

Options

16

Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

same direction.

Invert Scroll Direction: W hen panning a view by dragging it w ith yourfingers in one direction, this makes the view pan in the opposite direction.
Touch Sensitivity: Control touch sensitivity. On macOS, higher numbers
give a slow er response to pans. On W indow s, higher numbers favour
scale/rotates over pans.
Auto Apply: W hen enabled, values entered or options selected in node
editors are automatically applied to elements in your scene. The Apply andOK buttons are hidden in the Layer Properties w hen this feature is enabled.
Snap Keyframe: If tw o keyframes have the same value, they w ill both
update to the same new position w hen the first of the tw o keyframes is
modified. The previous keyframe has to be a Stop-Motion keyframe.
Auto- Get Rights to Modify Drawings: W hen using Harmony Server, thisoption w ill automatically grant you the right to modify a draw ing as soon as
you attempt to make a change to it. If disabled, you must manually obtain
the rights to each draw ing you w ant to make changes to.
Auto- Get Rights to Modify Palettes: W hen using Harmony Server, thisoptions automatically grants you the right to modify the colour and texture
sw atches in a palette as soon as you attempt to make such changes. If
disabled, you must manually obtain the rights to modify a palette before
attempting to make changes to it.
Auto- Get Rights to Modify Palette List: W hen using Harmony Server, thisoption automatically allow s you to make changes to the palette list. If
disabled, you must manually obtain the right to the palette list before
adding, removing or reordering palettes.
Editors Always on Top: Displays Function Editor and Layer Properties
dialogs over other dialogs.
Close Previous Editors: W hen opening a new Layer Properties or Function

17

Preferences Dialog Reference

Editor dialog, automatically close other such dialogs.
Focus on Mouse Enter: In Harmony, some keyboard shortcuts, menus or
toolbar buttons are intended for specific view s in your w orkspace. To use
keyboard shortcuts or other functionalities on a specific view , this view mustbe focused on. For example, the Centre on Selection shortcut w ill find theselected element in the Timeline, Camera or Node view , depending on
w hich one is focused on. Harmony draw s a red rectangle around thecurrently focused on view .
By default, to set the focus on a view , you must click on its tab or on
anything inside the view itself. The Focus on Mouse Enter preference w ill
make Harmony automatically focus on the view the mouse cursor is over,making it sw itch the focus on a view and use keyboard shortcuts on it.

NOTE
Some items in the top menu also have functionalities that are specificto the focused on view , but moving the mouse cursor to the top menu
might leave the w rong view focused on. To circumvent this problem, it
might be necessary to become familiar w ith keyboard shortcuts,
contextual (right-click) menus and the view menus available via themenubutton at the top-left corner of some view s.

Shortcut Zooms on Mouse: W hen enabled, shortcut zooming w ill centre on
the cursor location.
Auto Render:Controls w hether the Camera view 's Auto Render option isenabled or disabled w hen launching Harmony. W hen Auto Render isdisabled, if any change is made to the scene w hile the Camera view is in
Render Preview mode, it w ill sw itch to OpenGL Preview mode. W hen
enabled, it w ill merely refresh the render preview .
Cycle Exposure: Make navigation in the Xsheet View w rap-around from thelast frame or the last column to the first.
Display Cardinal Coordinates: W hen enabled, coordinates displayed in theapplication are expressed using cardinal points. For example, 1N2E means
1 field to the north and 2 fields to the east. W hen disabled, coordinates are
expressed in scalar notation. For example, 1N2E w ould be expressed as+1,-2.
Flat Tool Toolbar (Requires Relaunch): W hen enabled, the Tools toolbar
w ill display each tool in its ow n button, instead of grouping certain tools
together in pop-up menus. Harmony must be relaunched to apply a change
to this preference.

18

Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

IMPORTANT
Because not all tools can be displayed simultaneously in a single
column, some tools w ill be hidden from the Tools toolbar by default.
You can customize w hich tools appear in the Tools toolbar by rightclicking on it and selecting Customize.

Use Dark StyleSheet (Requires Relaunch): Application loads a dark skinfor the User Interface.

Language (Requires Relaunch): The language in w hich to display the userinterface.
Language

By default, this is set to Autodetect, w hich means that Harmony w ill launchin the language of your operating system, if it is one of the supported
languages, and w ill otherw ise launch in English.

Default Separate Position for Pegs: New pegs are created w ith separate
position functions.
Default Separate Scale for Pegs: New pegs are created w ith separate
scale functions.
Default Separate Position for Elements: New elements are created w ith
separate position functions.
Default Separate Scale for Elements: New elements are created w ith
separate scale functions.
Stop- Motion Keyframes: New keyframes are created as stop-motion
keyframes.
Default Bezier: New functions curves are created as Bezier Curves.
Settings

Default Bezier Velocity: New velocity curves are created as Bezier Curves.
Default Pass Through Composite: New composite nodes are created in
w ith their Mode parameter set to Pass Through mode instead of As Bitmap.
Field Chart:l

X: Default value for the number of units in the X axis (east-w est) of
the field chart used for new scenes. This value should be half thetotal number of units in the X axis of the field chart. This value w ill
appear by default in the Alignment dialog box.

l

Y: Default value for the number of units in the Y axis (north-south) of
the field chart used for new scenes. This value should be half thetotal number of units in the Y axis of the field chart. This value w ill
appear by default in the Alignment dialog box.

19

Preferences Dialog Referencel

Z: Default value for the number of units in the Z axis (front-back) of
the field chart used for new scenes. This value w ill appear by default
in the Alignment dialog box.

Levels of Undo: Determines the number of actions retained by the Undo
list. By default, 50 actions are stored in the list. You can alter the number if
you w ant to.

Support Gestures: Enables manipulating view s such as the Camera andDraw ing view s using the follow ing gestures:l

To pan the view , drag your tw o fingers in any direction, keeping both
fingers at the same distance from each other.

l

To zoom in, drag your tw o fingers aw ay from each other.

l

To zoom out, drag your tw o fingers closer to each other.

Touch Interface

20Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guidel

To rotate, drag your tw o fingers in a curve so that they revolve in thesame direction.

Invert Scroll Direction: W hen panning a view by dragging it w ith yourfingers in one direction, this makes the view pan in the opposite direction.
Touch Sensitivity: Control touch sensitivity. On macOS, higher numbers
give a slow er response to pans. On W indow s, higher numbers favour
scale/rotates over pans.

This setting is only available in Harmony Stand Alone. It is made to allow
Harmony to connect to a W ebCC server. W hen w orking on a scene
exported from W ebCC, you can dow nload changes made to the scene fromthe database and upload changes you made to the database from Harmony.
URL: The full URL to the W ebCC server, including the protocol and port
number, as you w ould type it in a w eb brow ser:
protocol://hostname:portnumber
W eb Control Center

For example, to access a server named w ebcc.mystudio through https via
port 8843, you w ould enter:
https://webccserver.mystudio:8843

NOTE
If the URL starts w ith the name of the server rather than the protocol,
http is presumed.

21

Preferences Dialog Reference

Camera Preferences

Parameter

Description

Initial Animation Mode: Determines w hich animation mode is enabled w hen thescene is opened.
Show Locked Drawings As Outlines: In the Camera view , locked elements are
displayed as outlines only.
Bounding Box Selection Style: In the Camera view , selected elements are nothighlighted in colour but displayed w ith the bounding box only.
Nudging Factor: The nudging increment value.
Tools

Set Keyframe on All Functions with the Transform Tool: W hen this option is
selected, the Transform tool w ill create a keyframe for all functions of theselected pegs, including the functions that normally w ould not be affected by thetransformation.
Set Keyframe at Frame One with First Application of the Transform Tool:
W hen this option is selected, w herever you set a keyframe on a layer, a keyframe
is added on your frame 1. If this options is deselected, a keyframe is only added tothe current frame. If later on, you add a keyframe on your frame 1, it may modify
the first keyframe you added.

22

Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

Paste/Drag&Drop Adds Keyframes at Beginning and End: Select this option tocopy and paste a set of frames that includes an interpolated sequence betw een
tw o keyframes, but only extracts a partial section. Under normal circumstances,
cutting and pasting a function w ithout either the start or end keyframe w ould
render the function null. This option caps the partial function w ith a new keyframe
w hen you perform the paste.
Use Rotation Lever with Transformation Tools: Lets you see the rotation leverw hen using the transformation tools. W hen this option is deselected, hovering
your cursor over the corner of an element’s bounding box is sufficient to rotate it.

Camera View Default Zoom: The default zoom value for the Camera view .
Zoom Settings
Top/Side View Default Zoom: The default zoom value for the Top/Side view s.

Thumbnail Size: The thumbnail size, in pixels, that appears in the Top and Side
view s.
The size, in pixels, of the smaller bitmap version of your image. W hen you importa bitmap image into a scene, a smaller version of it is created in order toaccelerate the compositing and playback processes.
Settings

Override Small Bitmap Files: Enable this option if you w ant the system togenerate new versions of the existing smaller bitmap files, every time you modify
the Small Bitmap Resolution value. W hen the option is disabled, the existingsmaller bitmap versions w ill not be regenerated and w ill keep the same
resolution as w hen they w ere created.
TV Safety: The ratio value for the TV Safety frame in proportion to the regularcamera frame.

Horizontal Divisions: This allow s you to set the value for horizontal divisions in
Proportion Grid.
Proportion Grid
Vertical Divisions: This allow s you to set the value for vertical divisions in
Proportion Grid.

Enable in Camera: Dulls background bitmaps in the Camera view . This allow s
you to see other elements clearly, such as the ones that have not yet been
painted.
W ash Background

Enable in Camera Drawing Mode: Dulls background bitmaps in Camera vieww hile using the draw ing tools. This allow s you to see other elements clearly, suchas the ones that have not yet been painted.
W ash Background Percentage: The W ash Percentage value.

Colour Space

Display Colour Space: The colour space in w hich to display the OpenGL preview
in the Camera view .

23

Preferences Dialog Reference

In OpenGL View mode, colours in original bitmap images are converted from thecolour space selected in their layer properties to the colour space selected in thispreference, w ithout getting converted to the project colour space first, andcolours in bitmap and vector draw ing layers are not converted at all.
In Render View mode, this preference is not used. How ever, this option is also thedefault colour space selected in the drop-dow n at the bottom of the Camera vieww hen adding a Camera view to the w orkspace or w hen resetting or sw itching
your w orkspace, and the colour space in this drop-dow n is the one used in RenderView mode.

Show Control Points On Selected Layers: By default, w hen you select anelement w ith the Transform tool, the motion path related to the object isdisplayed.

Control Points

Control Point Tension: The default Tension value for new keyframes and control
points.
Control Point Continuity: The default Continuity value for new keyframes andcontrol points.
Control Point Bias: The default Continuity value for new keyframes and control
points.

Enable For Out of Date Previews: W hen you disable the automatic renderpreview , you must click the Update Preview button in the Rendering toolbar orPreview W ash

the Camera view bottom toolbar in order to recalculate and update the preview .
W hen this option is enabled, if the current render preview is out of date andrequires you to press the Update Preview button, the Camera view w ill display
the current preview as w ashed out colours.
W ash Background Percentage: This is the value, in percentage, by w hich theoutdated preview w ill be w ashed out.

Inverse Kinematics

Min/Max Angle Constraint W eight: This value acts similar to the Stiffness
setting in the Inverse Kinematics Properties panel. This option only affects theminimum and maximum angle values set using the Min/Max Angle Mode. The
higher the value, the stronger your need to move the body part to approach theminimum and maximum values set. Although the maximum value goes up to 1.0,
in a production setting, the most practical value to use w ould be closer to 0.1.

24

Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

Node View Preferences

Parameter

Description

Show Navigator: Show s or hides the display of the Navigator in the Node vieww hen starting Toon Boom Harmony Premium.
Navigator
Navigator Starting Corner: Indicates w hich corner is the default Navigator
position.

W idth Multiple: Sets the w idth of the magnifier in tenths of the Node view w idth.
Values range from 0.1–10.

MagnifierAspect Ratio: Sets the w idth to height ratio of the magnifier. Values range from
0.1–10.
Opacity: Sets the transparency of the magnifier. Values range from 0–100. A
value of 100 makes the magnifier completely transparent. A value of 0 makes themagnifier completely opaque.

Options

Default Thumbnail Background Colour: The default background colour w hen
displaying the thumbnail of a node in the Node view .
Middle Mouse Button Pans the View: Lets you use the middle mouse button to25

Preferences Dialog Reference

pan the Node view .
Double Click on a Node Opens the Editor: Lets you open a node's property
editor by double-clicking.
Two Colour Cables for Pass Through Connections: W hen enabled, cables
coming from a Composite node w ith its Mode property set to Pass Through w ill
display w ider and in tw o shades of blue to distinguish them from other image
cables. These cables carry several layers of image information, w hereas image
cables usually carry a single layer of image information.
Default Thumbnail Resolution: The default horizontal and vertical resolution of a
thumbnail, in pixels, w hen displaying the thumbnail of a node in the Node view .
Cable Type: Displays node connections as Line (straight) or Bezier (curves).
Port Output Ordering: Orders the Output Port Right to Left or Left to Right.
Port Input Ordering: Orders the Input Port Right to Left or Left to Right.

Antialiasing Quality: Smoothness setting applied to colour art. The higher thesetting, the more antialiasing is applied. Higher quality images require more time
to render and more system memory. Choose a low er quality if you are rendering apencil test.

Layer Draw ing Options•

Low: No antialiasing•

Medium Low: Some antialiasing•

Medium: Medium antialiasing•

High: Extensive antialiasing

Antialiasing Exponent: Controls the amount of area around the Line and Colour
Art edges used in the antialiasing process. A higher value uses less area,
resulting in sharper edges, w hile a low er value uses more area, resulting in softeredges. If the Antialiasing Quality value is set to Low (no antialiasing), this value isignored.
Read Colour: Controls the production of colour information from bitmap images.
If this node reads 3 or 4-channel bitmaps, this selection determines w hether thecolour should be read or ignored. If this node reads 1-channel bitmaps, thisselection determines w hether the channel should be read as colour. W hen thisoption is selected w ith 1-channel images, the result w ill be a greyscale image.
Read Transparency: Controls the production of alpha information from bitmap
images. If this node reads a 1 or 3-channel image, this option w ill create a mattefrom the colour values in the image. If the node reads a 4-channel image and thisoption is not selected, the alpha information in the image w ill be ignored.
Alignment Rule: The Alignment position for the element node. The new element
node w ill be created follow ing this default rule of alignment.
Transparency Type:26

Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide•

Premultiplied with Black: The colour values of semi-transparent pixels in
the image have been encoded so that the more transparent they are, thecloser to black they are. W hen an image that is premultiplied w ith black is
loaded in a softw are that does not support transparency, it appears
blended w ith a black background. Select this to make Harmony reverse
this premultiplication so that the image blends properly w ith other visualelements in your scene.

•

Straight: The colour of semi-transparent pixels in the image is encoded
independently from their transparency. W hen an image that is notpremultiplied is loaded in a softw are that does not support transparency,
semi-transparent pixels simply appear fully opaque, making its edges
appear pixelated.

•

Premultiplied with W hite: The colour values of semi-transparent pixels
in the image have been encoded so that the more transparent they are, thecloser to w hite they are. W hen an image that is premultiplied w ith w hite
is loaded in a softw are that does not support transparency, it appears
blended w ith a w hite background. Select this to make Harmony reverse
this premultiplication so that the image blends properly w ith other visualelements in your scene.

•

Clamp Colour to Alpha: This is the same as Premultiplied with Black,
except that it also prevents the colour values for a given pixel frombeing higher than that pixel's alpha value. This option is only useful if
you are working with images that are supposed to be premultipliedwith black, but where the colour values of pixels have been increased
without their alpha values being adjusted accordingly.

Art Layer Options: Allow s you to select the default art type (Vector or Bitmap)
for each type of art layer (Line Art and Colour Art), w hen creating a new draw ing
layer.

NOTE
If you have the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts preference of theAdvanced tab enabled, you can also select the default art type for those art
layers (Overlay Art and Underlay Art)

27

Preferences Dialog Reference

Exposure Sheet Preferences

Parameter

Description

These preferences are used to display or hide certain layer types in the Xsheet
view .
Show Drawing Columns: Displays the Draw ing layers in the Xsheet view .
Show Sound Columns: Displays the Sound columns in the Xsheet view .
Show Annotation Columns: Displays the Annotation columns in the Xsheet view .
Show 3D Path Columns: Displays the 3D Path columns in the Xsheet view .
Filtering
Show Function Columns: Displays the Function columns layers in the Xsheet
view .
Show Selection: Sets the Show Selection option On or Off by default in the
Xsheet view .
Centre on Current Frame: Turns auto-centering on or off w hen playing back ascene. Auto-centering is used during sound breakdow n w ith the ShuttleXpress
device.

Default Add Columns: The default position w here the new column w ill be
added.
Options
Default Column W idth: The default w idth value for the new column being
created.

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Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

Use Current Frame as Drawing Name: Automatically names the draw ing
corresponding to the frame position. This avoids numbering conflicts w hile
animating.

For example, using the default preferences, you start w ith the first draw ing onframe 1, this draw ing is called 1. You then draw the extreme position draw ing onframe 10, this draw ing is called 2. Next, the in-betw een pose is draw n on frame
5, this draw ing is called 3 and so on.
Draw ing Creation

At the end, you have a sequence like this: 1-9-4-6-3-8-5-7-10-2.

Instead, using the Use Current Frame as Draw ing Name option, each draw ing is
automatically named by its frame number and the sequence looks like: 1-2-3-45-6-7-8-9-10.
Extend Exposure of Previous Drawing: W hen draw ing on a blank frame, a new
draw ing is created and the timing is extended from the previous exposeddraw ing.

You can set the minimum and maximum zoom levels to view the Xsheet,depending on the number of columns and row s in the project. Once you set alevel, close and reopen the Xsheet so the new values take effect.
Zoom Levels

Minimum Zoom Level: Lets you set the low est level of zoom. Choose a value
betw een 1 and 6.
Maximum Zoom Level: Lets you set the highest level of zoom. Choose a value
betw een 14 and 20.

29

Preferences Dialog Reference

NOTE
You can set a keyboard shortcut to view the entire Xsheet.

Show Grid: W hen selected, the grid is displayed by default w hen opening the
Function Editor.
Use Constant Z By Default: W hen selected, the Constant Z option w ill beenabled by default in the Function Editor.
Function Editors

Constant Z means that even w hen creating Motion keyframes, the Z function w ill
use Stop-Motion keyframes and w ill not be interpolated, this can be very usefulfor cut-out animation. The Constant Z feature only w orks w ith 3Dpaths.
You can also enable the Constant Z option directly in the Function Editor or
Function view for specific functions.

Gestural Drag

Default Setting for Gestural Drag: This is the default value enabling gestural
dragging of cells in the Xsheet view.

From Left to Right: W hen clicking the Apply/Next button in the Xsheet view
Column Properties, the next column to be displayed in the Column Properties w ill
be the one on the right.
Apply/Next
From Right to Left: W hen clicking the Apply/Next button in the Xsheet view
Column Properties, the next column to be displayed in the Column Properties w ill
be the one on the left.

New Element

Bitmap Format: By default, w hen you create a new empty bitmap column, it w ill
use the file format indicated in the field as the new column format. The default
value is SCAN, w hich means that it is set for scanned-in draw ings.

Scan Type: By default, the Scan Type is set to 2 w hich equals vector import. Thismeans that the imported bitmap images w ill be placed into a Draw ing layer. Scan
type 1 is bitmap import.

30

Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

Drawing Preferences

Parameter

Description

Light Table: Opacity (0,0- 1,0):The maximum opacity value for the light tabledisplay (0 = transparent).
Light Table: W ash (0,0- 1,0): The w ashed-out value for the light table display (0= transparent).
Light Table: Enable Shade: W hen enabled, the draw ings appearing on the Light
Table are displayed in w ashed out colours in the Draw ing view . W hen this option
is disabled, the draw ings appearing in the Light Table are displayed using normal
colours. This option is for the Draw ing view only.
Light Table

Light Table: Shade in Camera View: W hen enabled, the draw ings appearing onother layers are displayed in w ashed-out colours in the Camera view . W hen thisoption is disabled, the draw ings appearing on other layers are displayed using
normal colours. This option is for the Camera view only.
Enable Onion Skin for Other Elements: In the Draw ing View , w hen the Light
Table is enabled, making other layers visible alongside the current layer, this w ill
make the Onion Skin for other visible layers appear alongside the Onion Skin forthe current layer. Draw ings for elements above the current layer w ill appear inblue, and draw ings for elements below w ill appear in yellow .

31

Preferences Dialog Reference

NOTE
The draw ings from other elements that get displayed in the Onion Skin are
the draw ings that are exposed at the same time as the draw ings displayedin the current layer's Onion Skin.

Onion Skin Render Style:•

Original Colours: Draw ings displayed in the Onion Skin are renderedusing their real colours.

•

Coloured:Draw ings displayed in the Onion Skin are displayed in solid red
if they are before the current frame, or in solid green if they are after thecurrent frame.

•

Coloured Outlines: Draw ings displayed in the Onion Skin are displayed in
red outlines if they are before the current frame and in green outlines ifthey are after the current frame.

Onion Skin: Maximum W ash Value (0,0- 1,0): The maximum w ashed-out value
for onion skinned draw ings.
Onion Skin: Minimum W ash Value (0,0- 1,0): The minimum w ashed-out value
for onion skinned draw ings.
Onion Skin: Maximum Opacity (0,0- 1,0): The maximum opacity value for onion
skinned draw ings. (0 = transparent).
Onion Skin: Minimum Opacity (0,0- 1,0): The minimum opacity value for onion
skinned draw ings. (0 = transparent).

Grid On By Default: W hen opening the Draw ing view , the grid displays
automatically.
Brush Size Cursor: W hen this option is enabled, the brush tool displays the brushsize as a circle around the cursor.
Synchronize Eraser and Brush: W hen enabled, changing any of the Brush tool's
properties simultaneously changes the corresponding property for the Eraser tool
to the same setting, and vice versa. Likew ise, selecting a preset for one tool w ill
apply this preset's properties for the other tool.
Options

Auto Gap Closing in Pixel Units: Disabling this option w ill cause your gap to bezoom dependent. Zoom dependent means that the more you zoom in, the smaller
the gap you can close w ith the Close Gap tools. By enabling this option, youchoose to make the gap display available in pixel units, w hich is not zoom
dependent.
Default Multiwheel Colour Picker: Displays the Multiw heel Colour Picker
w indow instead of the regular Colour Picker.
Auto Save Pencil Styles: W hen this option is enabled, new pens and pen styles
are automatically saved.

32

Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

Sticky Eye Dropper: Keeps the Colour Picker’s Dropper tool active until it isreleased by clicking on the Dropper icon again.
Desk Location: Defines the location of the Desk panel in the Draw ing view .
Morphing Quality: Sets the default quality value for the morphing sequences. If
you change this value, it w ill not affect the morphing sequence w hich w as createdpreviously. After a morphing sequence has been created using this default quality
value, its quality can be changed manually by using the Morphing Tool Properties.
Auto Gap Closing on Startup: The values for automatic gap closing w hile
painting draw ings are: 0 = Disabled, 1=Small, 2=Medium, 3=Big.
Pencil Lines Opacity (%): Lets you set the default tranparency of your pencil
lines.
Create New Colour Pots Using Default Colour: Set the default colour for
creating a new colour sw atch. Enable the option so that this default colour is usedeach time you add a new colour in your palettes. This option is useful for w hen
you create new colour pots so that a more recognizable colour is created and notjust a duplicate of the currently selected colour. Choosing a colour that is the
opposite of your intended colour palette is recommended, such as grey if yourpalette w ill be filled w ith bright, primary colours.

Enable Paper Zoom: Enabling this option allow s you to set the 100% Zoom level
onscreen, in order to physically match the measurements of your paper draw ing.

Zoom

Number of Pixels per Inch: Enter the PPI for your monitor. To obtain the PPI of
your screen, divide the height or w idth of your monitor's resolution setting by thecorresponding physical height or w idth of your monitor screen (resolution height
divided by physical height, or resolution w idth divided by physical w idth) in
inches.
Quick Close Up Zoom Factor: Sets the zoom level for the Quick Close up Zoom
keyboard shortcut.
Maximum Zoom Factor: Sets the maximum zoom level for the paper zoom.

Default Texture Pixel
Density for Vector Draw ings

Pixel Density: Determines the amount of pixels to store in textured brush strokes
for each pixel that displays w hen the draw ing is not zoomed in or scaled up. For
example, at 100%, zooming in or scaling up textured brush strokes w ill makethem lose texture quality. If set to 200%, textured brush strokes can be zoomed inor scaled up until they're tw ice their original size w ithout losing picture quality.

33

Preferences Dialog Reference

NOTE
This setting is applied to your scene's draw ing resolution settings w hen
creating a new scene, w hich is then applied to every new vector draw ing
created in your scene. Therefore, to apply changes to these settings to an
existing scene, they must also be changed in the Draw ing Resolution tab of
the Scene Settings dialog. To apply changes to these settings to existingdraw ings, they must be changed using the Change Vector Draw ing Brush
Resolution dialog available from the Draw ing top menu.

Canvas W idth: The default w idth of the canvas w hen creating draw ings in abitmap draw ing layer. The percentage is relative to the w idth of the scene. Its
default value, 200%, makes the w idth of the canvas tw ice the w idth of the stage.
Canvas Height: The default height of the canvas w hen creating draw ings in abitmap draw ing layer. The percentage is relative to the height of the scene. Its
default value, 200%, makes the height of the canvas tw ice the height of thestage.

Default Canvas for Bitmap
LayersPixel Density: Determines the amount of pixels to store for each pixel that
displays on the screen w hen the draw ing is not zoomed in or scaled up. For
example, at 100%, zooming in or scaling up a bitmap draw ing w ill make it lose
picture quality. If set to 200%, bitmap draw ings can be zoomed in or scaled up
until they're tw ice their original size w ithout losing picture quality.

NOTE
These settings are applied to your scene's draw ing resolution settings w hen
creating a new scene, w hich are then applied to every new bitmap draw ing
created in your scene. Therefore, to apply changes to these settings to an
existing scene, they must also be changed in the Draw ing Resolution tab of
the Scene Settings dialog. To apply changes to these settings to existingdraw ings, they must be changed using the Change Bitmap Draw ing
Resolution dialog available from the Draw ing top menu.

Pixel Density Proportional to Camera: By default, the pixel density of new draw ings is set to the scene's default
pixel density. W ith this option enabled, the pixel density of new draw ings is set to the scene's default pixel density
multiplied by the camera's zoom factor.
For example, if this option is enabled and you create a new draw ing w hile the camera is zoomed in at 6 fields (200%)
and your scene's default pixel density is set to 150%, the new draw ing w ill have a pixel density of 150% x 200% =
300%.

34

Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

NOTE
The factor by w hich the pixel density is multiplied is rounded to the nearest pow er of 2, ie: 25%, 50%, 100%,200%, 400%, etc. The rounding is done on an exponential curve. This means that, for example, if the scene's
default scale factor is set to 100% and the scene is currently zoomed it at 9 fields (150%), a new draw ing w ill havea 100% pixel density, as the multiplier w ill be rounded dow n from 150% to 100%. Hence, even if you enable thisoption, you must set your scene's default pixel density to at least 200% to prevent pixelated draw ings.

35

Preferences Dialog Reference

Timeline Preferences

Parameter

Description

Show Groups: Displays the Group layers in the Timeline.
Show Effects: Displays the Effect layers in the Timeline.
Show Sound: Displays the Sound layers in the Timeline.
Show Sound W aveforms: Displays the imported sounds w aveform in theTimeline.

NOTE
You can alw ays toggle the visibility of the w aveform in the Timeline view byadding the Show Sound W aveform button from the Toolbar Manager. Thisbutton w ill w ork w hether you have the Show Sound W aveform option
enabled or disabled in the Preferences panel.

Defaults
Show End of Scene Marker: Displays the red bracket that delineates the end ofyour scene in the Timeline view . If you know that many different hands w ill be
w orking on your scene, you may w ant to deselect this option so the scene lengthis not increased or decreased by accident.

Reduce Indentation: W hen this option is enabled, the horizontal indentation forparented nodes in the Timeline is reduced to optimize the amount of space takenin the Timeline. W hen you have a cut-out character and there is a long cascade ofparented nodes, you can enable this option so the Timeline (left side) does not

36Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

have expand too w ide to see all your nodes.
Always Display Unconnected Nodes: Enable this preference if you prefer to seeelements in the Timeline that have not yet been connected to a particular Display,even w hen in Normal View mode. This preference is not on by default.

Add Keyframes at Beginning and End: Copies and pastes a set of frames that
includes an interpolated sequence betw een tw o keyframes, but only extracts apartial section. Under normal circumstances, cutting and pasting a function
w ithout either the start or end keyframe w ould render the function null. This
option caps the partial function w ith a new keyframe w hen you perform the paste.

Paste/Drag & Drop

Overwrite exposures and keyframes during drag and drop:W hen enabled,
dragging and dropping draw ings and keyframes in the Timeline view w ill
overw rite the draw ings and keyframes betw een the selection and the destination,
as if the selection "w iped" everything on the w ay to the destination.

NOTE
W hether this option is enabled or not, dragging and dropping a selection ofdraw ings w ill alw ays overw rite the draw ings at the destination w ith thedraw ings in the selection. This option only changes w hat happens w ith thedraw ings betw een the selection and the destination.

Draw ing Substitution

Create Key Exposure: W hen enabled, changing the draw ing at the current frame
using the Draw ing Substitution panel of the Library view w ill alw ays create a key
exposure at the current frame, even if the draw ing is the same as the draw ing in
the previous frame. If disabled, a key exposure is only created if the draw ing at
the current frame is different from the draw ing in the previous frame. If thedraw ing at the current frame is the same as the draw ing in the previous frame,
the exposure of the draw ing in the previous frame is extended over the current
frame.

37

Preferences Dialog Reference

Template Preferences

Parameter

Description

Always Create New Drawings: By default, w hen you import timeline templates
in the right section of the Timeline view , to stack them, the system w ill analyze
and create only the non-existing draw ings and only expose the existing ones.
W hen enabled, this option automatically creates new draw ings for every one ofthem that is exposed.
Palettes:
Paste/Drag & Drop

Editing Template•

Ask User: W hen dropping a template into a scene, the system w ill ask if
you w ant to link the palette to the original or create a local copy in thescene.

•Use Original Palette: The system w ill automatically link draw ing
elements to the original palette file. If the original palette is notencountered a local copy w ill be created.

•

Use Copy of Palettes: The system w ill automatically create a local copyof the palette in the scene.

Generate Thumbnails Automatically: Automatically create thumbnails for thetemplate w hen you w ant to see the thumbnails in the Library or w hen saving atemplate modification.

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Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

Sound Preferences

Parameter

Description

Analog Sound Scrubbing: Sw itches from digital to analog sound scrubbing.

Settings

Analog Jog Speed: Lets you control the sensitivity of the jog slider or dial. Choose
a value betw een 1 and 20. The higher the jog speed value, the slow er you canscrub to have the sound play at an average pace.
Analog Jog Dampening: Lets you choose a value betw een 1 and 100 for the
Analog Jog Dampening. The higher the value, the less precise Harmony is at
responding to the jog's changes in speed. How ever, the more smooth the playback is using the jog slider or dial.

39

Preferences Dialog Reference

OpenGL Preferences

Parameter

Description

Conservative Texture Management: Turns on and off conservative memory
management for bitmap texture files. Performance w ill improve w hen this isenabled. If disabled, you w ill have a better on-screen rendering of bitmap files atthe expense of slow er performance.
Smooth Textures: Smooths out the pixels of bitmap images w hen zooming in;this improves bitmap image quality.

Settings

Alternate Gradient and Cutter: This is an alternative w ay to disable w rite in the
OpenGL Backbuffer, required for some video cards (i.e. GeForce FX5200). Do notenable this option unless you are experiencing problems w ith gradients andcutters in OpenGL.
Support Desktop Effects: Enable this option for better compatibility w ith
W indow s 7, W indow s Vista and Mac OS X desktop effects. This w ill prevent
graphic compositing problems from happening w hen the full-scene anti-aliasing
option is enabled.
Enable Mipmapping on Bitmap Layers: Generate anti-aliased mipmap textures.

40Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

Disable this option for increased performance w hen w orking on Bitmap layers
w ith non-standard graphic cards.
Maximum Texture Size: The size that the bitmap file w ill be reduced to w hen
using the Conservative Texture Management.
Texture Memory: The amount of temporary memory used to store bitmap texture
files.
Vector Drawing Maximum Texture Size: This is the size that the .tvg file w ill be
reduced to for better performance w hen in OpenGL render mode.

The follow ing options allow you to configure the w ay draw ings are preview ed inHarmony.
Enable (Requires Relaunch) : By default, draw ings displayed in Harmony, suchas in the Camera or Draw ing view , have no antialiasing and display hard pixels at
the edge of strokes and lines. If this preference is enabled, antialiasing w ill bedone through the graphic card to enhance the quality of draw ings and make apreview that resemble the final render more closely. This may impact application
performance negatively.
Number of samples: The amount of times the OpenGL preview is scaled up
before processing it for antialiasing. The higher this value is, the better theantialiasing quality w ill be but the heavier it w ill be on the machine's resources.
Full Scene Antialiasing

NOTES
l

It may be necessary to restart the application to see the effects after
changing either of these settings.

lThese settings may be overriden by the 3D antialiasing settings of thedriver for your graphics card. If changing these settings and restarting
the application seems to have no effect, make sure your graphics card
supports antialiasing, that antialiasing is enabled and that it isconfigured to let applications control their antialiasing.

lThese settings only affect the w ay draw ings are preview ed in OpenGL.
They have no effect on the final rendered image, or on the w ay theimage looks w hen setting the Camera view in Render Preview mode.

Enable Playback Caching: Enable the caching of OpenGL preview s for quick
playback.
Playback Images
Playback Cache Size (in Mb): The maximum size of the cache used to store
cached playback images.

Enable Textures in Pencil Lines: Controls w hether textures applied on pencil
lines are rendered for the OpenGL preview .
Draw ings
Enable Variable Line Thickness: Controls w hether lines w ith a variable w idth are
rendered w ith their variable w idth or w ith a constant w idth in the OpenGL

41

Preferences Dialog Reference

preview .

Enable Tone and Highlight: Controls w hether Tone and Highlight effects are
rendered in the OpenGL preview .
Enable Cutter: Controls w hether Cutter effects are processed for the OpenGL
preview .

Effects

Enable Composite Passthrough for All Effects: W hen this option is enabled,
effects that display in the OpenGL preview are ordered based on the logic thatw ill be used for the final rendered image, w hich may fix some issues w ith the
OpenGL preview w hen using complex node systems comprised of effects andmattes. How ever, enabling this option may impact performance if the scene has
effects that use a matte, such as the Cutter or Tone effect.
Enable Colour Override: Controls w hether Colour-Override effects are renderedin the OpenGL preview .
Enable Glue Node: Controls w hether Glue effects are rendered in the OpenGL
preview .

Enable Rendering Caching of Composite Nodes: Controls w hether nonpassthrough Composite nodes cache their composited image w hen Harmony
generates an OpenGL preview . This is useful w hen the image generated by acomposite is used several times in a scene, for example because a composite's
output port is connected to several other nodes. If this preference is disabled, thecomposite w ill regenerate the preview for its node system for each of its outgoingconnections. W hen enabled, the composite w ill generate the preview for its node
system once, cache it, and output the cached image to its other outgoingconnections.

Rendering Caching

Composite Cache Capacity (MB): The maximum amount of cache available tostore images cached by Composite nodes. This cache is stored in the graphic
card's video memory. If your machine has a lot of video memory, increasing thissetting could enhance the performance of Harmony w hen w orking w ith heavy
scenes.
Enable Rendering Caching of CacheLock Nodes: Controls w hether OpenGL
Cache Lock nodes are used to generate the OpenGL preview . Disabling thispreference has the same effect as disabling all OpenGL Cache Lock nodes in thescene.
CacheLock Cache Capacity (MB): The maximum amount of cache available tostore preview images cached by OpenGL Cache Lock nodes. This cache is stored
in the graphic card's video memory. If your machine has a lot of video memory,increasing this setting could enhance the performance of Harmony w hen w orking
w ith heavy scenes.
OpenGL Node Cache Size in Memory: The amount of RAM, in megabytes, that
Harmony is allow ed to use to cache the OpenGL preview image of cached nodes.
W hen Harmony uses up all the RAM in this preference, it starts caching the42Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

OpenGL preview of cached nodes on the disk instead, w hich can significantly
impact its performance.
OpenGL Node Cache Size on Disk: The amount of disk space, in megabytes, that
Harmony is allow ed to use to cache the OpenGL preview image of cached nodes
w hen it used up all the RAM reserved for this purpose.

NOTE
If there is no more memory and no more disk space left to store the preview
image of cached nodes, Harmony w ill not be able to cache every frame inthe scene, w hich means it may have to regenerate the preview image ofcached nodes w hen you scrub through the scene.

43Preferences Dialog Reference

Render Preferences

Parameter

Description

Enable Blur: Renders blur effects derived from the Blur-Directional, Blur-Radial,and Blur-Variable in the Render View w indow .
Preview Options

Enable Line Texture: Renders line texture in the Render view .
Enable Focus: Renders focus effects from the Focus-Apply and Focus-Set nodes.

Cache Size (Percentage of System RAM): The percentage of RAM on yourmachine to reserve for the Render View cache.
Disk Cache: If enabled, Harmony w ill also use your machine's storage space tostore Render View image cache, increasing its total capacity.

Render View Image Cache

Cache Path and Capacity on Disk (in MB): You can use this field to specify one orseveral storage location for the Render View disk cache. If you do, you mustspecify the path and the desired storage limit of each location, in this format:
Directory path;Capacity (in megabytes)
If you w ant to specify several storage spaces, you must specify the path andcapacity of each storage space, in this format:
Directory path 1;Capacity (in megabytes) of directory
1;Directory path 2;Capacity (in megabytes) of directory244Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

NOTES
l

This field is only accessible if the Disk Cache option is checked, asHarmony w ill not store a Render View cache on the disk otherw ise.

l

If this field is left empty, Harmony's temporary directory w ill be usedinstead, and w ill not have a storage limit.

l

The specified directory or directories must already exist.

l

You can use RAM disks as storage locations.

This lets you specify the level of parallel processing done during the final image
calculation (soft-rendering). Allow ing parallel processing speeds up the softrender process.
Multi ThreadingGPU

Number of Rendering Threads: Lets you specify the number of parallel
processes during the soft-render process. A value of 1 disables the multithreading process because it specifies that only one rendering thread w ill be usedduring the process. The maximum number of threads is 64. The recommended
starting value is 2 threads per CPU core, meaning that if you are using a 2 QuadCore CPU, the preferences should initially be set to 16 threads.

Enable Graphic Card Acceleration: Optimizes the rendering blurs by using the
GPU's acceleration capabilities. This option is on by default. Not all cards support
this acceleration.

45

Preferences Dialog Reference

Advanced Preferences46Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

Parameter

Description

Support Overlay and Underlay Arts: W hen enabled, options to manipulate
overlay and underlay arts are available.
Advanced Display: Enable or disable the Advanced Display mode.
Advanced Palette Lists: Lets you sw itch your palette list to Advanced Palette
Lists mode for creating and storing palettes in the Scene or Element Palette List.
Restore Current Selected Drawing on Undo: If a draw ing other than the current
one is being affected by an Undo command, the affected draw ing is displayed.
Advanced Element Mode: Displays more options in the Add Column dialog box
and the Column Properties dialog box.
Auto- rename Elements: Controls w hether to rename the element w henever thecorresponding node name in the Node view or layer name in the Timeline view ischanged.
Support CMYK in PDF/Illustrator Import: Lets you import .pdf and .ai files thatw ere created or exported in CMYK mode. The colours of the resulting imported
image may still not look 100% faithful to its CMYK original due to the RGB
conversion. It is recommended that you convert these files to RGB images before
importing them into Toon Boom Harmony Premium. Disabling this option w illcause all the colours of the imported image to be displayed as red to indicate thatthe file w as not converted to RBG before import.
Advanced Options

PDF/Illustrator Import as Separate Layers: Imports the different
groups/elements of the .pdf or .ai file as separate layers. For Illustrator files, theimport w ill use the top level group as separate layer names. Deselect this option
to import pdf or .ai files as a single layer.
Element Node "Animate Using Animation Tools" Default Value: If you knowthat you prefer to w ork in the style of version 7.3 or earlier, or if you intend to
substitute many draw ings throughout your animation, you might w ish to deselectthis option. This w ay, you w on't have to do it every time (through the Layer
Properties) for each new draw ing layer that you create.
Compress Saved Keyframes: Compresses keyframe values w hen there are nochanges betw een adjacent keyframes. The resulting project is not compatible
w ith versions of Harmony prior to version 11.
Enable Logging of IO Operations: W hen enabled, Harmony w ill create a log ofevery file operation it performs in a log file in the logs subfolder of the scenefolder.
Enable Camera View Performance Report: Displays debugging information in
the Camera view so that you may see the performance of the application as w ellas the rig being rendered.
Enable Middle Button Pans View: W hen enabled, clicking and dragging theDraw ing or Camera view w ith the middle mouse button w ill pan it.

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Preferences Dialog Reference

Follow Node View Parenting for Node Navigation: W hen using the keyboard
shortcuts, Select Parent Skipping Effects (B) and Select Child Skipping Effects(Shift + B) to navigate the hierarchy of a scene, the hierarchy as it appears in theTimeline view is used by default. W hen enabled, the hierarchy as it appears in the
Node view is used instead.
Use a Donut- Style pivot in the Transform Tool: Creates donut-style holes in thecentre of pegs that allow you to select the anchor points directly behind the pivot
point w ithout moving the peg first.
Allow Temporary- Pivot dragging in the camera view: Disables the interactive
manipulation of the Transform Tool pivot.
Event processing interval while running scripts: W hen a Harmony script is
executed, this setting determines at w hich interval, in milliseconds, Harmony
should pause the script to see if the user attempted to do something, and torespond accordingly.
For example, if the setting is set to 1000, and the user starts running a heavy
script that takes several seconds to execute, Harmony w ill pause the execution of
the script every second to check if the user pressed any key or clicked on anything,
and w ill respond accordingly, making Harmony responsive despite running aheavy script. This also allow s the script debugger to detect if the script has an
infinite loop and to interrupt it if needed.
The default value of this setting, w hich is -1, disables the processing of any event
w hile a script is running until the script is fully executed. This means that if a
script takes several seconds to execute, Harmony w ill "hang" until the execution
is over. This can cause Harmony to freeze if the script has an infinite loop.
How ever, this has for an advantage that it prevents user action from making any
changes or actions that could interfere w ith the script before it is done running.

NOTE
Disabling event processing during scripts can be critical w hen using Master
Controllers, as they are often scripted to manipulate elements in the scene
in response to user input that refreshes several times per second. If the user
input refreshes too quickly for Harmony to fully execute the Master
Controller script for every user input, this may cause the execution of thescript to be paused recursively.

Default Colour Editor: The type of colour editor to use in the Layer Properties ofeffects that have colour parameters. This setting is applied to new effects added
to a scene, but not to existing effects. Harmony supports the follow ing types ofcolour editors:lSeparate Channels: Displays a simple input field and a function button foreach of the Red, Green, Blue and Alpha channels, w ith a preview of theresulting colour below .

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Harmony 22 Premium Preferences GuidelColour W heel: Displays compact "click and drag" style input fields for theAlpha, Hue, Saturation, Value, Red, Green and Blue channels. The theinput fields can be clicked and dragged left and right to decrease or
increase their values, or double-clicked to type their value in. Each channel
also has a toggle button allow ing you to select one of the channels, and to
the right is a visual colour picker w hich allow s you to visually pick thevalue of that selected channel. To the bottom-left is a control to navigate
the existing keyframes of the colour functions, as w ell as add or remove
keyframes at the current frame.

lCompact: Displays a single slider control for the Alpha channel of thecolour along w ith a function button for the alpha channel. To the right are
buttons to navigate existing keyframes in the alpha function as w ell as to
add or remove keyframes on the alpha function at the current frame. To
select the actual colour, you must double-click on the colour preview toopen the colour picker. This editor only allow s you to animate the alphavalue, and hence should not be used if other channels must be animated.

TIP
In any of the colour editors, you can double-click on the colour preview toopen a Colour Picker dialog, giving you access to more convenient visual
controls to select a colour.

Tablet Support

Use Qt W intab Tablet Support (Requires Relaunch): If you are using a tablet
other than W acom, deselect this option (and relaunch) if you are having issues

49Preferences Dialog Reference

w ith offset or pressure sensitivity.

UnicodeAllow Unicode Names: Lets you use up to 120 ASCII characters for names ofenvironments, jobs and scenes. This means you can use characters for languages,
such as Japanese, Chinese, French, Spanish, and others, characters for names inyour database setup.

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Harmony 22 Premium Preferences Guide

Deformation Preferences

Parameter

Description

The Scale controls let you customize the appearance of the Deformation-Scaleand Deformation-Uniform-Scale controls by setting the distance from thedeformer axis.

Scale Controls

Display Scaling Node in Pixel Size: This option is disabled by default. The
distance betw een the controls and the deformer axis is calculated using fields asa value. Select this option to change the value to pixels.
Scaling Pixel Size: The default value is 64 pixels, meaning the distance betw een
the controls and the deformer axis is 64 pixels. You can enter any pixel value.
Scaling Field Size: The default value is 2 fields, meaning the distance between
the controls and the deformer axis is 2 fields. You can enter any field value.

Deformation Convert
Deformed Draw ings

Texture Resolution when Converting Gradient and Textures: Sets the size ofthe bitmap texture used during the conversion of deformed draw ings to
draw ings. The maximum value accepted is 2048 pixels.

Default Pencil Line Deformation Quality: The Pencil Line Deformation Quality
setting applied to new draw ing layers. This setting is set to Low by default
because the increase in quality in higher settings is very rarely visible, except w ith
extreme deformations in ultra high definition renders.
Draw ing Layer

TIP
You can change this setting for individual draw ing layers. In the Layer
Properties of a draw ing layer, look for the Pencil Lines Quality setting in the
Deformation section of the Line Thickness tab.

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Preferences Dialog Reference

Particle Preferences

Parameter

Description

Always Show Particles as Dots: Displays the particles as dots in the OpenGL
preview mode. This makes the playback speed faster for a heavy scene.
OpenGL

Horizontal Resolution of Image Fracture Input: This is the size, in pixels, of theproxy bitmap image rendered in OpenGL w hen using the Image Fracture particle.
A smaller image size increases the playback speed in heavy scenes.

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