Toon BoomHarmony 20
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 20 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 for Adobe®Flash ® FileFormat (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 BoomAnimation Inc. All other trademarks of the property of their respective owners.

Publication Date03-11-2021
Copyright © 2021 Toon Boom Animation Inc., a Corus Entertainment Inc. company. All rights reserved.

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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

9Playback Toolbar

13

Chapter 3: Loading Image Sequences

16

Loading Image Sequences from Folders

17

Loading Image Sequences from Databases

192Harmony 20 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 back ascene with effects in Harmony.

4Harmony 20 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 20 [Edition] >Play.
macOS: Do the following:a. In Finder, proceed to Applications >Toon Boom Harmony 20 [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 20 [Edition] >6Play.

Harmony 20 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

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Harmony 20 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 in
the player.
If you are connected to theDatabase, this command
opens the Database Selector
window where you can selectan image sequence to load in
the player.

File > Load from Folder

File > Load from Database

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

can 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.

Unload FramesOpens the Unload Playback
dialog box and indicates
which frames are loaded. Youcan select the frames you
want to unload.

Quit Play

Exits the application.

File > Reload FramesFile > Unload Frames

macOS: macOS Play > Quit Play.
Windows/Linux: File > Quit.

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Chapter 2: User Interface

View Menu
CommandAction

Access Methods

Zoom In

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

Image

Displays the images in normal
mode with all their colours.

View > Zoom In
Press Ctrl + =.

View > Zoom Out
Press Ctrl + =.

View > Image

Displays the image’s matte(alpha channel). All transparent
Mattezones are displayed in blackand all fully opaque zones aredisplayed in white. Zones thatare semitransparent aredisplayed in grey.

View > Matte

Opens the Loaded Files
Properties dialog box. Displays
the format, path and resolution
information of each loadedimage.

View > Loaded Files Properties

CommandAction

Access Methods

Play Scene Forward

Plays the animation from thecurrent frame to the last frame.

Play > Play Scene Forward

Loaded Files Properties

Play Menu

10Play Forward

buttonHarmony 20 Play User Guide

CommandAction

Access Methods

Play Scene Backward

Plays the animation from thecurrent frame to the firstframe.

Play > Play Scene Backward

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 toFrame 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
following frame.

Play > Next Frame

Last Frame

Sets the current frame to thePlay > Last Frame

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

CommandAction

Access Methods

last frame of the image
sequence.

LastCommand

ActionAccess Methods

Online Help

Opens Toon Boom Online
Help where you can finduseful indexed and searchable
information on the operationof the Toon Boom Playmodule.

About

Opens the About window
which displays information
related to the application
version.

buttonPlay Module Help Menu

12Help > Online Help
Press F1.

Windows/Linux: Help > About
macOS: This command islocated in the macOS Play menu.

Harmony 20 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 launched fromHarmony.

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 launched fromHarmony.
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 andenter the number of blank

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

Scale

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Harmony 20 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

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Harmony 20 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 the ones
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 your screen,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.

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Harmony 20 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 the ones
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 your screen,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