TOON BOOM HARMONY 12.1
- Premium Edition -Fundamentals Guide (Server)

Legal Notices
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Fax: +1 514 278 2666
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Disclaimer
The content of this guide is covered by a specific limited warranty and exclusions and limit of liability under theapplicable License Agreement as supplemented by the special terms and conditions for Adobe®Flash® File
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Publication Date
2015-08-07
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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)Contents
Toon Boom Harmony 12.1- Premium Edition -Fundamentals Guide (Server)

1

Contents

3

Chapter 2: Toon Boom Harmony - About this Help System

7

Help Structure

7

Tutorials and Other Help Tools

8

System Requirements

9

Harmony Server

9

Harmony

9

Chapter 3: About Toon Boom Harmony

11

Top Features

11

Toon Boom Pipeline

11

Render Resolution

11

Modules

11

Chapter 4: Animation Workflow

17

Pre-production

17

Production

21

Post-production

21

About the Animation Types23

Traditional Animation

23

Paperless Animation

24

Cut-out Animation

25

Production Steps

27

Traditional Animation Workflow

27

Paperless Animation Workflow

30

Cut-out Animation Workflow

32

Chapter 5: Animation Principles

35

Chapter 6: Concepts

41

Bitmap and Vector Graphics

41

Bitmap Image Types

41

Vector Image Types

42

Advantages and Disadvantages of Bitmap and Vector Images

42

Line and Colour Layers

42Colour Palettes

43

Exposure Sheet, Timeline and Timing

44

3

Contents

Broadcast Standards

45

Exposure Sheet

45

Timeline

46

Xsheet and Timeline Usage

46

Pegs

47

Multiplane48

Network48

Frame Rate and Format

49

Scenes50

Chapter 7: Project Organization and File Structure
Database Structure

53
53

Environments and Their Structure

54

File Structure

55

Harmony Server Database Files

55

usa_db Structure

56

Scene File Structure

56

Root Directory and Content Building Scenes

57

Drawings and Layers

60

Palettes

62

Element Level

62

Scene Level

62

Where to Save the Palette File

63

What happens when you export a palette file?

63

Palette Backup

64

Libraries and Templates

64

Library Structure Tips

65

Personal Libraries

66

Naming Convention

66

Scene Naming Convention

66

Layer Naming Convention

67

Renaming a Series of Nodes

68

Puppet Drawing Naming Convention

68

Chapter 8: Starting Toon Boom Harmony

71

Server and Centralized Database71

What is Harmony Server?

71

4

Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)

Working with Stage Via Harmony Server

71

Starting Stage72

Connecting to the Database73

Global Lock76

Acquiring Rights to a Scene Once it is Loaded
Welcome Screen

77
77

Accessing the Documentation

78

Saving a Scene

78

Setting the Scene Length

87

New Scene Startup Script87

Adding a Drawing Layer

88

Locking Drawings

89

Scene Settings

90

Verifying the Project Integrity

98

Check Files98

Check Colours

98

Basic Commands

99

Preferences

102

Chapter 9: Interface

105

Menus

106

Managing the Views

108Managing the Toolbars

112Managing the Workspace

116

View References

121

Camera View

122

Colour View

127

Coordinates and Control Points View

133

Drawing View

135

Function View

137

Layer Properties Editor

138

Library View

139

Message Log View

141

Model View

141

Node Library View

142

Node Library View Toolbar

143

5

Contents

Node Categories

144

Adding, Removing and Renaming Categories

145

Adding and Removing Nodes

147

Searching for Nodes, Categories and Descriptions

147

Node View

148

Perspective View

150

Script Editor View

151

Side View

153

Timeline View

154

Tool Properties View

162

Top View

162

Xsheet View

163

Toolbar References

170

Top Toolbars

170

View Toolbars

175Interface Navigation

175

Using the Play Menu to Navigate

177

Zoom Tool

177

Glossary

178

Index

189

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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)

Chapter 2: Toon Boom Harmony - About this Help
SystemToon Boom Harmony is an animation and digital content creation tool that offers you a wide array of features andoptions. Harmony is packaged in several different modules and allows you to create animation using thetechnique of your choice—see About Toon Boom Harmony on page 11.
This help system is built to guide you through the different workflows possible and explains which tool andmodule to use in a production context.
Help Structure

7

Tutorials and Other Help Tools

8

System Requirements

9Help Structure

7Chapter 2: Toon Boom Harmony - About this Help System

The fundamental concepts of animation and Harmony are explained in this guide. It covers the essentials of
various animation workflows, basic animation principles, as well as Harmony's interface. Depending on what
you want to do, you can either start with this Fundamentals Guide to get immersed into the world of Harmony
and animation or go right to the Getting Started Guide , which covers the main functions and tasks. Allconceptual and reference topics are omitted to get you up and running in a very short amount of time.
If your work revolves more around system administration or coordination tasks, you will probably want tomove over to the Installation Guide followed by the Control Center Guide to learn how to install and configure
Harmony.
The core of this help system revolves around the main features and techniques you can use in Harmony tocreate animation:l

Traditional AnimationlPaperless Animationl

Cut-out AnimationlGaming Animation

All workflows join in the compositing step of the process. All the information on compositing in Harmony canbe found in the Compositing Guide. Finally, you can watch the rendered animations in the Play module. To
learn how to use the Play module, refer to the Play guide.
If you are focusing on a single part of the workflow such as ink and paint or scanning, you can simply read theFundamentals Guide and one of the corresponding module guides:lPaint Guidel

Scan Guide

Other satellite guides are also available to learn about additional information such as the preferences andkeyboard shortcuts.
lKeyboard Shortcuts Guidel

Preferences Guidel

Scripting Guidel

Utilities Guide

If you are already a Harmony user and want to know more about the new features that were added to thislatest version, refer to:lWhat's New (Release Notes)

Tutorials and Other Help Tools
Aside from the main product documentation, you can find supplementary material to learn more about
Harmony. The Toon Boom website's online resources section offers a variety of videos and samples that canfurther your knowledge of Harmony.
lVideo Tutorials: toonboom.com/resources/video-tutorials/harmony-networklTemplates and Sample Scenes: toonboom.com/resources/templates/harmony-network

8Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)lTips and Tricks: toonboom.com/resources/tips-and-tricks/harmony-networklWhite Papers: toonboom.com/solutions/white-papers

System Requirements
Here are the technical specifications for Harmony 12.1.

Harmony ServerToon Boom Harmony Network is a server-client configuration. The server stores all the assets, and holds the
database. The client machines simply run the software and allow the members of your team to work on Harmony
and access the assets directly from the database.

NOTE: Note that an Internet connection is required to activate the animation software.

Before installing Harmony, refer to the Harmony and Your IT Department white paper to learn about the network
prerequisites for a Toon Boom Harmony installation. This document should be taken as a guide to help you
understand the preliminary steps before performing a typical Harmony installation.
There are multiple ways of installing Harmony, as well as numerous types of hardware that can work with
Harmony. To perform a custom installation which fits the studio’s requirements, a proper analysis of the studio is
required, such as: the type of project, the productivity expected, and the delivery date, etc. If you are not yet
familiar with Harmony, you should get in touch with your sales contact at Toon Boom to organize a needs analysisof your studio and production in order to make the best of Harmony and optimize your production pipeline.
The person who performs the installation should have the knowledge and expertise required for setting up andconfiguring networks, computers, and operating systems. If you do not have an IT department or someone who
knows the network technology thoroughly, contact your sales representative at Toon Boom to organize an
installation with our consulting department.
•

White Paper: Harmony and Your IT Department

Harmony
Here are the specifications to install Harmony on client machines. Note that this does not encompass the networkand server specifications for Harmony Server.
Requirements

Windows

Mac OS X

Operating System

Windows 7 64-bit
Windows 8 64-bit

Processor

Intel Core i7, 3.4 GHz
Intel Core i5, 3 GHzIntel Core 2 DuoMonitorOptimized for 1920 x 1080 or higher
Minimum requirement is 1280 x 800

Memory16 GB

Mac OS X 10.9.5
Mac OS X 10.10.2 or later

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Chapter 2: Toon Boom Harmony - About this Help System

8 GB
4 GB
Fast
Fast
•

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780

Medium•Video Card

Slow•Intel HD Graphics 4000, 5000•

Intel Iris Graphics•

NVIDIA GeForce GT 520, 620,
720

‣ Wacom Intuos Pro‣ Wacom Cintiq
Basic‣ Wacom Intuos
Media Player

AMD FirePro D500•

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M

MediumNVIDIA GeForce GTX 560, 650

Best

Drawing Tablet•

Apple QuickTime Player (free)10•

AMD Radeon HD 6770•

NVIDIA GeForce 750M

Slow•Intel HD Graphics 4000, 5000•

Intel Iris Graphics•

NVIDIA GeForce 320M•

Radeon HD 6630

Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)

Chapter 3: About Toon Boom Harmony
Toon Boom Harmony is the most advanced professional animation software on the market. Bringing together an
impressive 2D drawing toolset with the ability to work in a real 3D space, and import 3D models,Harmony Server combines the animation toolset of Harmony with an impressive database for collaborative
workflow. Share assets, batch vectorize and render, and increase production efficiency.

Top FeatureslAdvanced Drawing Tools: Texture brushes, and thick and thin pencil lineslSmart Colour Palettes: Colour you can adjust on the flylCharacter Rigging: Hierarchy, deform, and effects for creating sophisticated rigslSpecial Effects: An array of effects including highlights and shadows, glows, blurs, and a full particle
effects enginelReal 3D Camera: A camera you can reposition in a full 3D spacel

3D Integration: Allowing you to import 3D models, position and animate them in 3D space

l

l

l

Batch Vectorizing and Rendering: Quickly process images for import and export through a single workstation or a render farm
Database File Sharing: Share libraries, colour palettes, animation, and more across the whole teamProduction Pipeline Integration: Seamlessly integrate content from pre-production via Toon Boom Storyboard Pro

Toon Boom Pipeline
Toon Boom Harmony has been recognized for its excellence by winning many awards, including a Primetime
Emmy® Engineering Award and the prestigious Ub Iwerks Annie Award for the integrated pipeline with Toon
Boom Storyboard Pro.
Harmony works perfectly with Toon Boom Storyboard Pro for all pre-production phases. Therefore, animatics
created in Toon Boom Storyboard Pro can be imported seamlessly in Harmony for animation and scene setup
guidance.

Render Resolution
The render resolution for the various editions of Harmony are:•

Harmony Essentials: 2K (2048x1556)•

Harmony Advanced: 4K (4096x3112)•

Harmony Premium: Unlimited

Modules

Harmony Server is composed of the following modules:
11

Chapter 3: About Toon Boom HarmonylControl Center on page 12lStage on page 13lScan on page 13lPaint on page 14lPlay on page 14l

Web Control Center on page 14

These modules are all accessible from:lWindows: Start > Programs > Harmony 12.1 Premiuml

Mac OS X: Applications > Toon Boom Harmony 12.1 PremiumlLinux: /usr/local/ToonBoomAnimation/harmony_12.1/lnx86_64/bin/
l

Stage

l

Stage -paintlControlcenter

l

Scan

l

Play

l

ServerActivationlClientActivationlLicenseWizard

Control Center

The Control Center module controls the database and organizes the production. The Control Center module
is used to create the environments, jobs and scenes, as well as importing and exporting scene packages. The
technical director or system administrator also uses the Control Center to create the login information forusers to access the database.
Control Center is also available in a web form where users can access scenes via the Internet—seeWeb Control
Center on page 14.
To learn more about Control Center, refer to the following guides:lFundamentals GuidelInstallation Guidel

Control Center Guide

12

Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)Stage

The Stage module is the core of Harmony. It comprises all the major drawing, animation and compositing
features. It is used to work in the scene: design, character breakdown, cut-out animation, traditional animation,
ink and paint, exposure sheet, timeline, effects, compositing, camera moves, colour styling, and so on.

NOTE: You cannot create scenes in Stage with Harmony Server, you require the Control Center module. You create
them directly in Stage with Harmony Stand Alone.

To learn more about Stage, refer to the following guides:lFundamentals Guidel

Getting Started Guidel

Traditional Animation Guidel

Paperless Animation Guidel

Cut-out Animation GuidelGaming GuidelCompositing and Effects Guidel

Play Guidel

Preferences Guidel

Keyboard Shortcuts Guidel

Scripting Guidel

Utilities Guide

Scan

The Scan module is used to scan drawings in batch. It creates a drawing list from the timing and exposure
previously created in the exposure sheet via the Stage module.

NOTE: It is possible to scan the drawings from a TWAIN device directly in the Stage module.

To learn more about the Scan module, refer to the following guides:

13

Chapter 3: About Toon Boom HarmonylFundamentals Guidel

Scan Guide

Paint

Paint module is a component of the Stage module. It contains the drawing, painting and colour styling tools. It
is mainly used in large traditional animation studios to maintain a structure and avoid users having to learn thefull product application. This way, the colour styling or ink and paint team can concentrate on their task
without having to deal with the compositing and timing tools.
To learn more about the Paint module, refer to the following guides:•

Fundamentals Guide•

Paint Guide•

Preferences GuidePlay

The Play module is used to play back the rendered image sequences enabling the user to view the final scenes
and compositing results.
To learn more about the Play module, refer to the following guides:lFundamentals Guidel

Play Guide

Web Control Center

You can access your database via Web Control Center. When you're running a studio, you will most likely havea database set up. This enables all the artists working on your production to share the same scenes andassets.
Web Control Center lets you host this database on the Internet. This way, freelancers can log in from anywherewith an Internet connection. Then they can download a scene from the database, work on it, and upload it
again.

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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)

You no longer to spend time copying files to an FTPor have an admin exporting and importing files from thedatabase. You can do it all directly through Web Control Center.
To learn more about Web Control Center, refer to the following guides:lInstallation Guidel

Control Center Guide

15

Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)

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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)

Chapter 4: Animation Workflow
In this chapter, you will become familiar with the different animation workflows and how they end up merging
together. There is also an overview of how they work with Harmony.
To begin with, let's determine what an animation workflow is. No matter which method you choose to create
your project, it will always be divided in three segments. Then you will have to choose your animation method.

Harmony is designed to handle part of the pre-production and all of the production. Post-production is managed
in an external application. The three workflow segments are each broken down in different steps.

Pre-production
The first segment is the pre-production.

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Chapter 4: Animation Workflow

Pre-production almost always follows these steps:
ScriptEvery project starts with a script or a synopsis. You will also see the term screenplay. A script is the writtenversion of a project done by a screenwriter. You will encounter a script in many different types of projects suchas movies, television series, video games and advertisements. It is the source for all the upcoming steps. A
script usually contains the storyline, location descriptions, actions, dialogue, sound effects, etc. It contains all
the information necessary for the artists to illustrate and animate the movie or series.

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The script is needed in order to transform the project into a storyboard. This same script is used as a dialogue forthe audio recording. Finally, characters, props and locations will be designed from all of the descriptions
contained in the script.
Storyboard
The storyboard, which is created by the storyboard artist from the script, is also common to all types of projects.
A storyboard is a visual representation of all the scenes and actions contained in the script. The dialogue,
backgrounds, action notes, and characters are included.

The storyboard is often created at the same time as the characters, props, location design and audio recording.
The first storyboard is not always exact, as the designs are subject to many changes during the beginning of a
production.
The storyboard is essential to the layout and posing, and the animatic.
This step is not done with Harmony. Traditionally, the storyboard is created on paper. This step can also be
achieved with Toon Boom Storyboard Pro, software developed specifically for this use. Toon Boom Storyboard
Pro projects can be imported into Harmony.
Character, Prop and Location Design
Once the script is completed, the designer can start work. Before any animation, background or colouration can
19Chapter 4: Animation Workflow

be done, the design needs to be addressed. The artist has to decide on the production style, the character'slook, the location's complexity, and so on. Once these designs are done and approved, the model pack is
produced, containing all of the models for all these aspects.

The designs and models will be used by the colour stylist and layout artist, and finally by the animator.
Audio Recording
The audio recording is also called voice recording. The script is needed for dialogue and extra sound effects.
The actors will read the lines from the script and record their dialogue. These voices will be used later on for
the animatic, the animation and the final production compositing.
Animatic
The animatic, also known as leica, comes directly from the storyboard. The animatic is the first movie of a
project and is used to help the animators and compositors. The storyboard is scanned in and mounted withthe sounds and dialogue. There is no animation yet. It is simply the storyboard frames changing over time tohelp evaluate the rhythm and the look of the show. This will help avoid mistakes that would have been foundonly at the end of a show.
This step is unnecessary if you are absolutely sure of your storyboard and timing, but an animatic is always
recommended.
This step is not done with Harmony. Generally, an external software is used to do the storyboard editing tocreate the animatic. This step can be achieved with Toon Boom Storyboard Pro software which was developed
specifically for this purpose.
Character, Prop and Background Colour Styling
Once the black and white designs are done, they are sent to colour styling. The colour stylist chooses thecolours and ambiance for the production and balances the characters, props and effects with the location
palettes. This contributes to an even feeling or an emotional contrast where needed in the show. When thecolours are approved, colour models are produced and backgrounds are painted. Colour models will often be
added to the model pack.
The colour models will be used by the colourists and the coloured background will be sent for compositing.

20Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)

Sound Breakdown
For the dialogue, a sound breakdown can be done. This means that the sound will be broken down in small pieces
and written on the traditional exposure sheet for the animator to use. Each frame will have its own bit of soundinformation which tells the animator what mouth phoneme to place on the character on a particular image.
For digital cut-out and paperless animation, the traditional sound breakdown is not necessary as there aredifferent tools inside Harmony to help the animator achieve the same result.

Production
The production segment can vary greatly depending on the user and the technique. There are three maintechniques or animation types that you will discover on the following pages: traditional, paperless and cut-out.
For more information about production steps, see About the Animation Types on page 23

Post-production
Post-production is the final step in which video and audio editing and calibrations are done. Some effects andcolour grading can also be performed at this stage.

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Chapter 4: Animation Workflow

Final Editing
The final editing comes after the rendering of the production scene. Harmony does not handle the editing, so
the renders are exported to an external application. There, the different scenes are assembled and adjusted. Ifneed be, users can add extra filters and effects, such as transitions between the scenes, during this step.
Once the editing is completed, the audio will be added.
Audio Editing
The audio editing is also done in an external application. It can be done directly in the editing software or in an
audio application and then transferred to the editing software. The dialogue, sound effects and soundtracks
will be adjusted and placed with the project's final editing. The tracks will be matched to the images andvolumes and effects will be added.
Dubbing
Once the final images and sounds are assembled, the project is ready for dubbing. Actors will come in andrecord voices over the movie. This process is called post-synchro. At this point in the process, multiple
languages can be added to the soundtrack.
The project is complete, and is ready to be output to the final master copy.

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Master Distribution
All of the data is transferred to the master copy and the user or studio is ready to distribute the project to theclients, festivals, television, cinema, and other venues.

About the Animation Types
Harmony is an animation and digital content creation software. Animation can be divided into three maincategories: traditional, paperless, and cut-out animation.
These techniques can be used independently or together. Harmony is optimized to handle all three animation
types, one of the software's great benefits.
Each animation technique has its own advantages and disadvantages. Combining different techniques allows you
to incorporate the best elements while eliminating the weakness of an individual technique that may not be
exactly what you need.
Before going any further, review each animation type:Traditional Animation

Traditional animation is the original method of animation, as well as the most popular. It is also called cel orclassical animation. It consists of drawing every image of an animation on paper, normally 12 to 30 drawings per
second per character or layer. The number of drawings per second is determined by the format (NTSC or PAL) or
purpose. The human brain is able to process an animation with a minimum of 12 drawings per second. The
number of drawings per second will be between 12 and 30. The standard is 24 or 25 frames per second.

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Chapter 4: Animation Workflow

From the end of the 19th century to the late 1980s, the workflow was entirely done manually. Only with theintroduction of computers to the general public did some of the steps become automated. Now, with all thetechnology available, the colouring and compositing are achieved digitally. However, the drawing part is still
done by hand on paper.

Paperless Animation
Paperless animation is the most recent 2D animation process. It consists of digitally drawing all of the imagesof an animation. It is similar to the traditional animation technique.

This method is entirely digital; it does not involve any materials other than virtual tools. However, the animator
still must draw each frame individually.

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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)

Paperless animation requires the user to be familiar with digital graphic applications and be able to convert thistraditional knowledge to a digital medium. This method of animation allows significant control over the drawings,
a possibility for greater quality and an infinite number of complex poses and rotations for the animatedcharacters and objects. It also eliminates the paper used in traditional animation and gives you the opportunity to
instantly see a line test. Paperless animation allows you to easily cut and paste parts of a drawing, undo actions incase of mistakes, and zoom in and out of drawings.

Cut-out Animation

Cut-out animation consists of breaking down a puppet into pieces that are moved frame by frame to animate thecharacter. It can be divided into two categories: classical and digital. When working in the classical cut-out style,the animator manually moves the parts under a camera and shoots each frame before moving on to the next
pose. When working in the digital style, the parts are moved in a similar way as the classical cut-out style and thenkeyframed in the computer software, which means that it is fixed and recorded digitally. Since the characters and25

Chapter 4: Animation Workflow

objects are composed of many parts, the animator does not need to redraw them on each frame, but can justmove or distort the parts to create the animation.

Harmony allows you to do digital cut-out animation, which has become increasingly popular in recent years.
Cut-out animation requires you to be familiar with digital graphics applications. Cut-out animation is very
useful in cutting down the time it takes to complete a project. There is no need to redraw characters and thecomputer can handle a large part of the in-betweening. It also eliminates the paper used in traditional
animation and allows you to instantly see a line test. The team for a cut-out project is much smaller than that ofa traditional production, allowing the whole production to be kept within the same studio. This also meansthat you have a great deal of control over quality.

26Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)

Production Steps

Now that you know the differences between the traditional, paperless and cut-out animation types, you can moveon to the basic organization of their workflow. The following illustrations show the animation pipelines that
represent the most popular workflows. The tasks can be divided or the order can be rearranged to suit the
specific needs of the studio or user.
After familiarizing yourself with the basic workflow pipelines, you should read about the various examples of theworkflows and how the individual and the studio are organized according to their size.

Traditional Animation Workflow
In a traditional workflow, many steps are done manually. Harmony is used for the digital portion. We will focus
mainly on these steps.

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Chapter 4: Animation Workflow

The following is a list of the steps done using Harmony in a traditional animation workflow. This will help you
understand how the work is divided and give you a base to start building your own traditional pipeline.
Layout and Posing
The layout and posing process links the storyboard artist and the animator. The layout artist uses thestoryboard and prepares an organized folder for the animator. This folder contains a field guide that shows
the proper camera move and the right size of the scene. It also includes the character's main poses from thestoryboard following the official design, and the effects, backgrounds and all the other information necessary
to the animator.
The backgrounds are done directly out of the storyboard and location design. A background is a section or anangle of a location. The background artist refers to the storyboard and draws the background for each scene.
Once the background is completed, it is added to the layout folder.

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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)

In a cut-out or paperless animation process, this step can be done digitally or traditionally. This will depend on
the user's preferences.This step is mainly applied to larger productions. An individual user can move directly fromthe storyboard to the animation.
This step can be done with Harmony, but Toon Boom also has another software developed for this. Toon Boom
Storyboard Pro has optimized tools to create the layout and posing.
Animation
Traditional animation is done on paper. The animator receives the layout folder and uses the references toanimate the scene. The animator will draw each frame of the animation or each pose of the character. If there isdialogue in the scene, the animator will follow the breakdown and animate the mouths and expressions.
Depending on the studio size, the animation can be divided in different ways. Sometimes the animator will do allof the work, from the key poses to the in-betweens and then the clean up. Bigger studios will have the animator
doing only the key poses and then send the scene to the in-between department and finally to the clean up
department.
Once the animation is completed, it is sent to the digital part of the process. This applies only to modern
processes. In the traditional, old-fashioned pipeline, the animation was sent for hand-inking and painting. The
animation was traced with ink on transparent cels and the colours are painted with brushes on the other side of
the cel to fill the zones. Today, using Harmony, you can still use this technique by utilizing the digital Line Art andColour Art feature.
Digital Exposure Sheet
The digital exposure sheet is the first step done in Harmony. This controls the timing of the animation. The
traditional animator creates a paper exposure sheet in order to create the timing. The person in charge of thedigital exposure sheet reads the paper version and recreates it in Harmony. Once the drawings are all in place on
the exposure sheet, the scene is ready for the scan.
Note that a single user will scan the drawings first and then set the timing in the exposure sheet. The digital
exposure sheet is only created first in a larger animation studio using the advanced scan features available inHarmony.
Scanning
Scanning is the second step in Harmony. The cleaned-up drawings are scanned and imported in the software in a
simple step that incorporates all of the drawings in the scene. When all the drawings are scanned, they are readyto be inked and painted (coloured in).
Inking and Painting
At this point in the process, the colour models are ready and the drawings are scanned in and properly exposed.
Using Harmony's optimized tools, the colourist can clean the scanned artwork and start applying colour to thedifferent drawings. When the drawings are cleaned, as well as inked and painted, they are ready for compositing.
Compositing
The compositor imports the coloured background, animatic reference and sound as required. Referring to the
exposure sheet, animatic and animation, the compositor assembles all these elements and creates the camera

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Chapter 4: Animation Workflow

moves and other necessary motions. Finally, the compositor adds any digital effects required by the scene.
These can include tones, highlights and shadows. When the compositing is completed, the final step is therendering.
Export - Render
Once the compositing is completed, the last step is to render the scene as a movie or an image sequence.
Generally, the compositor will be the same person doing the render.

Paperless Animation Workflow

The following is a list of the steps done using Harmony in a paperless animation workflow. This will help you
understand how the work is divided and give you a base to start building your own paperless pipeline.

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Layout and Posing
The layout and posing process links the storyboard artist and the animator. The layout artist uses the storyboard
and prepares an organized folder for the animator. This folder contains a field guide that shows the proper
camera move and the right size of the scene. It also includes the character's main poses from the storyboard
following the official design, and the effects, backgrounds and all the other information necessary to theanimator.
The backgrounds are done directly out of the storyboard and location design. A background is a section or anangle of a location. The background artist refers to the storyboard and draws the background for each scene.
Once the background is completed, it is added to the layout folder.
In a cut-out or paperless animation process, this step can be done digitally or traditionally. This will depend on
the user's preferences.This step is mainly applied to larger productions. An individual user can move directly fromthe storyboard to the animation.
This step can be done with Harmony, but Toon Boom also has another software developed for this. Toon Boom
Storyboard Pro has optimized tools to create the layout and posing.
Animation
Paperless animation is usually one of the first steps done in Harmony. All of the drawings are created digitally,using a pen tablet to optimize work and drawing ability. Other than the digital aspect, the animation principles
are not very different from classical animation. The animator will use the same animation styles and methods aswould be used on paper–only the medium is changed.
When all of the animation is done and the drawing timing is completed through the exposure sheet or theTimeline view, the scene can proceed to the animation clean-up process.
Animation Clean-Up
The animation clean-up consists of transforming the rough paperless animation into cleaned, tied down and inked
drawings. On a new layer, the clean-up artist will trace the animation following the official model pack (document
containing all the official character, location/props design and colours). This step must be done very accurately.
When the clean-up is over, the scene is passed along to the colourist for the ink and paint step.
Inking and Painting
At this point in the process, the colour models are ready and the drawings are properly exposed. Using
Harmony's optimized tools, the colourist can start applying colour to the different drawings. When the drawings
are inked and painted, they are ready for compositing.
Compositing
The compositor imports the coloured background, animatic reference and sound as required. Referring to the
exposure sheet, animatic and animation, the compositor assembles all these elements and creates the camera
moves and other necessary motions. Finally, the compositor adds any digital effects required by the scene. These
can include tones, highlights and shadows. When the compositing is completed, the final step is the rendering.

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Export - Render
Once the compositing is completed, the last step is to render the scene as a movie or an image sequence.
Generally, the compositor will be the same person doing the render.

Cut-out Animation Workflow

The following is a list of the steps done using Harmony in a cut-out animation workflow. This will help you
understand how the work is divided and give you a base to start building your own cut-out pipeline.
Layout and Posing
The layout and posing process links the storyboard artist and the animator. The layout artist uses thestoryboard and prepares an organized folder for the animator. This folder contains a field guide that shows
the proper camera move and the right size of the scene. It also includes the character's main poses from thestoryboard following the official design, and the effects, backgrounds and all the other information necessary
to the animator.

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The backgrounds are done directly out of the storyboard and location design. A background is a section or anangle of a location. The background artist refers to the storyboard and draws the background for each scene.
Once the background is completed, it is added to the layout folder.
In a cut-out or paperless animation process, this step can be done digitally or traditionally. This will depend on
the user's preferences.This step is mainly applied to larger productions. An individual user can move directly fromthe storyboard to the animation.
This step can be done with Harmony, but Toon Boom also has another software developed for this. Toon Boom
Storyboard Pro has optimized tools to create the layout and posing.
Character and Prop breakdown
The breakdown step is really important in the cut-out workflow. The person doing the breakdown has to take thefinal character or prop model and start building the puppet. This means deciding which parts will be separated
and preparing all of the joints and views for the animators.
Once the parts are broken down, the character or prop must be rigged. This means attaching the parts(hierarchy) and assigning the appropriate pivot points. This step must be done with care because these puppets
will be distributed among all the animators later and you do not want to duplicate mistakes throughout the
project.
When the character and prop rigs are ready, the breakdown artist stores them in the library as templates to beshared with the rest of the team.
Library
The library is a central element of a digital cut-out production. It contains all the assets for the animation andscene set up.
The library is a central location where all these templates are stored, organized and made available to theanimators and scene setup team. The library should be structured so that everyone using it can easily find theassets they require. Someone should be assigned to manage the library so that it remains well organized. This
person is often the breakdown artist, but it depends on each studio's structure.
When the library is built, the scene setup person and the animators will start using the assets.
Scene Setup
The scene setup consists of preparing the scenes for the animators and is similar to the traditional layout andposing. Following the storyboard and the animatic, the person working on the scene setup will import the assets
needed for the scene animation, as well as import the animatic reference and often position the camera.
When the scene setup is completed, the scene can be passed on to the animator who can start animating without
having to mount the scene.
Animation
Cut-out animation is a vast subject. There are many techniques employed by different studios and animators.
Basically, the animator moves the parts frame by frame to animate the puppet. The animator may even start theirown pre-compositing, camera moves, and trajectories. This depends on the user's workflow. Once the animationis completed and approved, the scene goes to the final compositing and effects.

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Compositing
The compositor imports the coloured background, animatic reference and sound as required. Referring to the
exposure sheet, animatic and animation, the compositor assembles all these elements and creates the camera
moves and other necessary motions. Finally, the compositor adds any digital effects required by the scene.
These can include tones, highlights and shadows. When the compositing is completed, the final step is therendering.
Export - Render
Once the compositing is completed, the last step is to render the scene as a movie or an image sequence.
Generally, the compositor will be the same person doing the render.

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Chapter 5: Animation Principles
Animation can be used for several different purposes such as movies, advertisements, video games, corporate
presentations, medical concept demonstrations and much more. Not all of these require the same animation
quality level. To illustrate a concept, simple and linear animation is often more than sufficient to convey themessage. For a feature length animation movie, the animation needs to be convincing and carry some weight andelasticity.
You will notice when you watch different movies that the animation style will differ quite a bit from film to film.
Some have a very fluid and smooth flow in their animation while others have a very bouncy, cartoony feel. People
without animation experience may watch a movie and find the animation very bad, unconvincing or too slow. They
might not know why exactly, but they know that something isn't right. Most of the time, it happens because theanimators missed a few of the fundamental animation principles.
If you already are an experienced animator, you can skip this topic and continue along.
Here are the main principles that create the backbone of a good animation. You will no doubt encounter
variations of these principles when reading articles online or reading different books.
Squash and Stretch

Squash and stretch is at the core of the animation principles. It is what gives some elasticity and flexibility to youranimation. When an object hits the ground, the impact drawing will be really squashed. As it bounces off theground, it will stretch in the opposite direction. The stronger the squash and stretch is, the smoother andbouncier the animation will look. Also, hard objects such as a bowling ball require less squashing or stretching sothat the heavy and solid illusion remains. As you squash and stretch an object, it is really important to maintain thevolume of the object. When you squash something down, you need to proportionally stretch it sideways,
otherwise, the object will look like it is getting smaller.
TimingAnimation is all about the timing. The timing comprises many things in animation. It is the duration of an action. It
is the speed and velocity of an action. It is the way actions overlap and secondary objects follow the main action. If
the timing is off, too slow, too long, too fast, or too linear, the animation will not look realistic. It will be stiff, evenboring. The nature of the character, personality or weight of an object will influence the timing of the animation.

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Anticipation

Anticipation is the preparation for an action such as a jump or a punch. For example, a character will squat
down before pushing his body and legs up into a jump. The stronger the anticipation motion, the more
cartoony and fluid the animation will be. The smaller the anticipation, the more stiff the animation will be.
Straight-ahead and Pose-to-pose

These are two different ways to animate an action. The straight-ahead technique means to animate your action
from drawing 1 to the end in sequence order. The pose-to-pose technique is a bit more intricate as it means todraw the key poses first (often the beginning and end drawing of the action and some other key moment
between. Once the key poses are done, the breakdown and inbetween drawings are added to fill the rest of
the animation. Smoke, water and other fluid elements are often animated using the straight-ahead technique.
Actions that require tight timing and structure are often animated with the pose-to-pose technique. Thismethod helps maintain a solid structure and preserve the volume. Sometimes, when using the straight-ahead
technique, it may be difficult to calculate where the action will end up and the final drawing may be out of
proportion and not where it should be.

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Follow-Through

The Follow-Through principle is very important for increasing the quality of your animation. All the secondaryparts of your character such as hair, clothes or a cloak will continue moving after the character stopped moving.
Also if you observe closely, when a character walks, its body moves and down, and its long hair or cloak follow
behind on the same path but with a slight delay. Therefore, your character might be at the lowest point in a
crouching action but his cloak will be all the way up in the air. Also, notice that when the cloak floats behind thecharacter, it will move along an "S" curve. The part of the cloak that is attached to the body will not always curvein the same direction as the tip of the cloak.
Arcs of Rotation

The human body moves from its articulations such as the shoulders, knees, hips and elbows. Therefore, all limbs
move by rotating on their pivot (articulation). When animating an arm going up or down, the hand will not reachits end point on a straight trajectory. It will follow an arc until it reaches its end point.

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Slow-in and Slow-out

Most characters and objects accelerate and decelerate when moving. Most movements are not linear,
therefore to reproduce the slow-in and slow-out effects, we add more drawings closer together at the
beginning of the action and same at the end of the movement. The closer the drawings are, the slower the
animation will be. The farther apart they are, the faster the animation will be.
Secondary Actions

Secondary actions add another layer of realism and quality to an animation. The secondary actions are theother limbs or objects moving along with the main action. They are not the follow-through actions, which are
inanimate objects reacting to the main actions. They are the limbs that move, such as the character's arms
swinging rhythmically back and forth when walking. He could nod in time to music while taking a stroll or blinkor chew gum.

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Exaggeration

The principle of exaggeration is another important way of adding life in animation. Sticking exactly to reality will
make for a very stiff animation. Changing the direction of the main body curve from backward to forward in a
dramatic way, using squash and stretch, snappy timing and good slow-in and slow out help exaggerate themovements and add life to your animation.
Solidity

In animation it is paramount for drawings to have a strong underlying structure. The animator must understandthe anatomy and skeleton of the characters and props to be animated. Without a good structure, the drawings
will deform, bend in the wrong places, and progressively become off model.
The animator should always know what is under the skin of his character.

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Chapter 6: Concepts

Harmony was designed using traditional animation concepts. This lets you use familiar tools and work practices.
Whether you are new to animation or an experienced animator who wants to understand Harmony, the concepts
covered in this section will be interesting and useful.
Bitmap and Vector Graphics

41

Line and Colour Layers

42Colour Palettes

43

Exposure Sheet, Timeline and Timing

44

Pegs

47

Multiplane48

Network48

Frame Rate and Format

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Scenes50

Bitmap and Vector Graphics
There are two types of digital images: bitmap and vector. Discover their main differences so you can make theoptimal choice for your project.

Bitmap Image Types

A bitmap image consists of pixels and has a fixed size. A pixel, short for picture element, a single point in agraphic image. It is a small sample of an image, a dot, a square or a very small section made out of smoothfiltering. If you zoom in close enough on a digital image, you will see the pixels. They look like small squares of41

Chapter 6: Concepts

different colours and intensity. Since a bitmap image is composed of pixels and has a single resolution (size), if
it is enlarged too much, it will start losing definition and pixels will start to appear. This is known as pixelation.

Vector Image Types

A vector-based image is composed of points and Bezier curves. The computer reads the points and traces thesegments linking them to reproduce the image shape. There is no fixed size or resolution in a vector image.
You can enlarge the graphic and distort it as much as you want, and the system will simply recalculate thesegments and rebuild the shapes. The segment's shape can be controlled with Bezier handles to curve andsmooth it. Vector images are translated and displayed in pixels once the calculation is done.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Bitmap and Vector Images
Bitmap images allow a more organic style. Since everything has a fixed size and is already made out of pixels,
more effects are possible, such as blur, texturing, shading, a painted look and so on. The bitmap format is
excellent for creating backgrounds and overlay elements. However, because of the precise resolution, in orderto zoom in on or to work in high resolution such as HDTV, the created file must be a large size.
Vector-based graphics can be very useful when creating large illustrations, as these graphics are resolution
independent. The images can be significantly enlarged without losing definition. A vector-based image is
generally a smaller file size than a bitmap, as it is a set of mathematical points. However, if there are many
vectors composing the graphic, the result can be larger than a bitmap file. A vector shape can always be
modified. It also creates very crisp images.

Line and Colour Layers
Before the advent of computers, animation was done manually. There was no process of scanning and painting
digitally. Once the animation was completed and cleaned on paper, the drawings were traced with a brush or aquill onto cels. The cel transparency permitted many layers to be superimposed, composing the sceneelements together.

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The first step in the cel process is to ink the lines on the front side of the cel, either in black or with different
colours. In the late 1950s, this step was changed to photocopying the drawings on the cels, called the Xerox
process. Once the lines are inked, it is time to fill in the colours, usually painted with a brush. Painting on the samelevel as the lines makes it all too easy to accidentally go over the line or not apply the colour densely enough, solight is passed through the drawing. To remedy this, colours are painted on a second level onto the back of thecel. This protects the lines from any colour stains and the colour filling can go under the lines covering the entire
zone.
Working digitally produces a similar process. Once you have scanned drawings into the system, you can colour
the lines without ruining the colour filling, or you can paint complete zones without staining the lines. If there issome transparency (alpha) or texture in the line, the colour filling is allowed to go under the lines to create thecorrect look.

Colour Palettes

In animation, precise colours are used to paint each particular character and prop. In order to maintain absoluteconsistency, a colour palette is created for each character, prop and effect throughout the production. These arereferred to as master palettes.
Before computers, painters used real colour pots (often big glass jars) mixed by a colour palette artist. The
colour palette artists had to make sure to use the exact same amount of paint from each tint every time theywould mix a new batch to make sure the colours would remain consistent throughout the entire movie. Now,
using a computer process, a digital colour palette is created. This allows absolute colour accuracy by always
having the same group of colours associated with each character.
Master palettes contain a colour pot for each zone to colour with a precise RGBA colour value.

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l

Red

l

Blue

l

Green

l

Alpha (contains transparency information)

Painting animation using a master palette is very similar to the paint-by-number concept.
Using a master colour palette has many benefits, including:lEach character consistently retains their dedicated colours.

l

You cannot accidentally use a colour which is not in the master palette.

lStandardization and colour consistency throughout the production.

lMultiple artists can use the same colour palette and produce the same results.

Exposure Sheet, Timeline and Timing

Animation is about movement and in order to have the illusion of movement, you need different drawings toprogressively change over time. For your eyes to perceive a smooth motion and not just a series of drawings
changing, you need several drawings per second. To be more precise, you need a minimum of 12 drawings per
second. If you have less than 12 drawings per second, the motion will be jerky and you will not see a smooth
motion.
It is important to know that the number of drawings per second will be based on the final output: television,
cinema, web, DVD, etc., as those outputs have different frame per second rates. This parameter will influence
the number of drawings per second as well as their exposure.

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The exposure of a drawing is the length of time that it stays on the screen. A second can be divided as follows: 24,
25 or 30 images depending on the format. They are also called frames, so there are 24, 25 or 30 frames per
second.

Broadcast Standards
There are two main broadcast standards used; the one selected will determine the frame rate.
In North America, Japan and other parts of Asia, the NTSC (National Television System Committee) format isused. This format is 30 images (frames) per second.
In most of Europe, PAL (Phase Alternating Line) format is the broadcast standard. This format is 25 frames per
second.
Film format is 24 images per second.
The human brain is able to process an animation as slow as 12 drawings per second. Therefore, the number offrames per second should be between 12 and 30. The general standard is 24 or 25 frames per second, so these 12
drawings are set on double exposure. This means that each drawing stays on the screen for two frames. If adrawing is exposed for 24 frames, it means that it will appear to the eye for one second.
The timing is a drawing's exposure.

Exposure Sheet

The exposure sheet, also known as the Xsheet or dope sheet, is used when an animator is planning a scene. The
animator enters data in the different columns (layers), the name of the drawings and their exposure into the
Xsheet.The Xsheet allows you to see the animation timing in detail.
The Xsheet is composed of columns corresponding to the different layers. Each column is split into rows
representing the frames (images) in the scene. A paper Xsheet usually has 80 rows and ten columns. This enables
the animator to associate a layer with a certain element (character, prop, mouth, etc.) and make a record of theframe at which each drawing appears.
The traditional paper Xsheet was mainly created for the animator to communicate with the cameraman regarding
the scene's timing, the camera moves and element trajectories. It is still used today to express the same
information to the compositors and the person working on the digital Xsheet.

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Timeline
A traditional timeline is a horizontal and chronological representation of key events occurring within aparticular historical period.

In the digital process, the timeline is quite similar. The timeline is read from left to right to help you understandthe scene and its timing. The frames or timecodes are placed at the top and the elements or layers on the left.
There is no drawing name or value information. The timeline displays the timing and elements in a simplified
and systematic manner, making it easy to read globally. The timeline can be considered to be a quick overview
of the whole scene.

Xsheet and Timeline Usage
Xsheets and timelines are used for different tasks. When a scene is done in a traditional animation workflow,
the Xsheet is useful in keeping track of the drawings' ordering, names and timing. The Xsheet is used toreproduce the animator's work in the digital software or the camera. The colourists can then follow the Xsheet
to paint the drawing sequences. Finally, the compositors can read the information that is necessary to theirwork from the Xsheet.
For digital animation, computer generated trajectories, hierarchies and distortions, there is a lot of extra
information involved, including keyframes, velocities, function curves, and more. A keyframe is a computergenerated key position that contains values and coordinates for the element's onscreen positioning;
keyframes can be displayed in the exposure sheet as values. If there are too many keyframes, modifying one
can be difficult due to all of the values present. This is why there are digital timelines. Their simplified version of
the timing is quite useful in these situations. The Timeline view does not display drawing names or keyframe
values, but instead represents them as symbols, making it much easier for the eye to detect the desiredelement for modification. Although the name and value information is not directly displayed, the Xsheet is still
very valuable when retrieving this type of information.

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Pegs

Pegs have been used for a long time in the animation process, mainly for registration purposes. Peg holes at thebottom (or top) of animation paper are used to keep all of the sheets even and at the same registration.
There are three peg holes in regular animation paper. The centre one is circular and the left and right ones arerectangular and situated at 4 inches from the centre one.

To keep the drawings together, traditional animations use a peg bar. This bar has three pins shaped exactly likethe peg holes. Peg bars are normally found at the bottom and top of animation discs.
Before digital compositing, the peg bars were also used to move layers under the camera stand. All layertranslations were calculated based on the distance the pegs were moved frame by frame. They were theequivalent of the digital trajectories. Harmony makes use of these concepts to create animation and camera
moves.

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Multiplane

In the animation context, multiplaning is used to create a scene with many planes placed at different distancesfrom the camera to recreate a perspective illusion. A plane is a layer or an element. In regular flat 2D scenes, all
the elements are at the same distance superposed one on top of another. So, when the camera moves, all theelements are moving at the same speed. In real life, all objects and elements are placed at different distancesfrom our eyes so when we walk or drive past, the closest objects appear to be moving away faster. The
farthest ones, like mountains, are barely moving. In animation, that perspective effect has to be reproduced
manually.
In 1933, the Walt Disney Company invented the multiplane camera. They got the idea from looking at methods
used in the theatre to introduce perspective into a space with limited depth. In the theatre, cut-outs and flatpieces were placed in a variety of layers in front of a backdrop which allowed actors to move through thevarious sets while giving the illusion of depth. Walt Disney's final design for the multiplane camera used thissame concept. The multiplane camera which was set up vertically, much like a photographic enlarger, would
shoot down through as many as five planes attached to vertical posts that allowed four of the planes to moveindependently of one another. The first two planes were used for animation, the next two were forbackgrounds, and the fifth was fixed and used for sky backgrounds. The finished result produced a depth ofperspective which had not previously been seen in animated film.
Multiplane camera effects can be created digitally. There is no longer a need to use the big multiplane camera.
Multiplane shots are normally used to add depth to a scene to reproduce perspective effect more easily. They
can also be used on a smaller scale to make elements pass in front of and behind certain objects like trees orchairs.

Network
A network can be described as an interconnected group or system of elements leading to a central point. It is
widely known as a node system.
A network can be useful in animation because many components enter the process. A visual network can help
represent many things like scenes, effects, composition and textures.

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the Xsheet and timeline enhance the element display, but they may not be the most efficient for some production
aspects. The Xsheet provides traditional animation details, displaying drawing names, values, exposures andtiming. The timeline displays all of the timing, drawing exposures, keyframes and trajectories in a schematic viewto provide a quick overview of the whole scene, enabling you to easily detect different elements. When it is time
for advanced hierarchy, compositing, effects filters, grouping, and cutters, a timeline can get overloaded and may
not have the capacity to represent the reality of things.
For greater efficiency, a network is brought in to visually represent all of the parenting, hierarchy, effects andelement compositing. There is no timing representation or drawing name, but a visual set of links or cables
between the elements that are represented as boxes or nodes. It helps the eye follow very quickly to what ishappening in the scene. Also, because of the linking power available, a network allows more advanced
connections and parenting than a timeline.

Elements can be combined using effect nodes or composite nodes and turned into something new. Elements cancut others or control other ones. In the end, all elements are brought into a composite node to turn all drawings,
layers, parameters and effects into the final animation output.

Frame Rate and Format

When you create an animation, the images you animate must move fluidly to produce the correct effect. If they
don't, you will have a jumpy animation which won't look good. To get a fluid movement between the drawings,

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you need several images per second. You need a minimum of 12 images per second, any slower than that andthe animation becomes jumpy. An image can also be called a frame, therefore the frame rate is the number offrames you play per second in your animation.
The format of your project is the size of your camera frame in pixels. You may not be familiar with the term
pixel, but you have probably seen it when you magnify a digital photograph. A pixel is the smallest element of
an image displayed on a monitor or TV screen. Pixel, which is short for picture element, is a single point in agraphic image. It is a small sample of an image, a dot, a square or a very small section made out of smoothfiltering. If you zoom in close enough on a digital image, you will see the pixels; they look like small squares ofdifferent colours and intensity.
Depending on the type of project you want to create, you will need a different image size. For example, if you
want to put your project on the web, you will probably export your movie as a small size so that it is light toplay back once it is on the web. The larger the images are, the heavier the project is, but also, the better thequality. If you want to export your project for the theatre, you will ned to create your project in a large format
so the image is of a high quality and looks good on the big screen.
Also, some display media such as iPad, TV or theatre have an exact format requirement. For example, one TVformat that has been a standard for decades is the 4:3 size ratio, meaning that the width of your scene has theequivalent of 4 units compared to 3 units for the height.
In recent years, a new TV standard has been defined with the advent of Blu-ray and high-definition
technologies. It is the 16:9 format, which is often referred to as HDTV (High Definition Television). The mostcommon 16:9 format in pixel is 1920 x 1080.
You can find most of the formats in the presets list provided in the Harmony Welcome screen.
To recap, the format is the size of your camera frame in pixels, and it matches the width and height required
for the medium in which you want to show your final movie.

ScenesPlanning is an important step in creating an animation project. This involves listing the scenes that need to beanimated, the characters to design and the different backgrounds to incorporate.
In animation, a scene is the action happening in front of the camera while the camera does not change angle.
As long as the camera does not stop "filming", you are in the same scene. A good example would be two
characters talking. When the camera is facing the first character, this is one scene. When the camera cuts andfilms the second character, you have a second scene. When the camera returns to the first character, you havea third scene, and so on.

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A group of scenes occurring in the same location about the same action or event is called a sequence. When there
is a change of location or subject, it becomes a second sequence.

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Chapter 7: Project Organization and File Structure
When working in production, it is important to keep your work organized. It is important to create a naming
convention chart and establish a file storage structure before starting the project. It is not only extremely
important that everyone follows the criteria laid out in the naming convention chart and the file storage structure,
but also that they understand the organization and where to find the files.
A well thought-out and logical naming convention will help keep your production structured and allow it to runsmoothly by preventing the loss of files due to chaotic organization.
In this chapter, you will learn how to organize and name the different components in your animation project.
Database Structure

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File Structure

55

Root Directory and Content Building Scenes

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Drawings and Layers

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Palettes

62

Libraries and Templates

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Naming Convention

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Database Structure
Harmony Server has a client-server configuration linked through a network. Although the user is working on aclient machine, all of the data is saved on the server.
You can compare the Harmony Server structure to a filing cabinet. Every element is structured and follows astrictly organized hierarchy.
The following production structure hierarchy is used:l

Environment: Production, project, feature film, series—see Environments and Their Structure on page 54lJob: Episode and sequence from each environmentl

Scene: Scene from each joblElement: Layers and columns from each scenelDrawing: Drawings from each element

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If you imagine the environment as a filing cabinet containing all the folders and information, then the following
structure is used:l

The job is a drawer in the filing cabinet containing all the folders related to the drawer’s topic.

l

The scenes are the folders contained in that drawerl

The elements are the papers contained in the folderl

The drawings are the information contained on the paper

A Harmony Server scene can only be saved inside the structure. This maintains structural organization so
nothing is lost. By adhering to this structure, every user working in the database always knows where to findthe scenes to work on.

Environments and Their Structure
Before you create or save any elements in your production, you should decide upon a project name. Thisshould reflect the content or title. Use the name to create the project’s environment, where you will store all of
your production elements.
For example, the environment could be called adventure_movie. An environment can be used for movies,
series, commercials, student work database, etc.
For a series, you can create an environment with the same name as the series, such as smith_family. Then
you can create a job per episode: smep_001, smep_002, and so on. Here is what the letters and numbers
represent:

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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)lsm: The first two letters of the name smithlep: Episodel001: The number of the episode

For commercials, which are rather short, you can create an environment, such as commercials. Then you cancreate one job per commercial: toothpaste, soap, car, and so on. As commercials are short and do not require
splitting into episodes or sequences, you can group them all in the same environment.
For a database of student’s work, you can create an environment and name it with the class or group name, suchas gr402a. Then you can create one job per student: smith_john, robertson_jane. And then store thedifferent student exercises in separate scenes under their job name.

File Structure
A Harmony project is composed of several files. The drawings and colour palettes are not embedded in the
project. They are separate linked files. Therefore, if you want to archive or share a project, you require all the files
contained in the folder structure.
For Harmony Server, the scene files as well as user and configuration files are contained within the databasestructure. If you want to share or archive a project, you will need to use Control Center to export your data fromthe database. If you receive a package from another user or studio, you will also need to use Control Center toimport it in your database. Refer to the Control Center Guide to learn how.

Harmony Server Database FilesAll Harmony Server directories are located by default on Windows in C: or on Mac OS X at the root of the main
drive where the operating system is installed.
/usa/usa/nt/bin/•

Program directory (.exe)/usa/etc/•

Configuration files directory/usa/etc/flexlm/•

License directory•Centralized database containing the structure of all the data that
Harmony uses, except for the drawings and final images•

Link to the databases (file systems)•

User profiles•

All the data is stored here•

All the files including drawings, final frames, and sounds are placedin the different usadata folders•

There can be more than one usadata000 file system created, suchas usadata001, depending on the disks and the computer’sorganization/usa_db/usadata

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Chapter 7: Project Organization and File Structure

usa_db Structure
The usa_db folder contains the configuration files, database and project structure, as well as shortcuts toscene data. If you browse through usa_db to get to a scene, you will navigate directly to the jobs folder. Even
though the root of the project structure is the environment, you will go to jobs. The environment folder
contains only the environment list, global environment libraries and configuration files. This means that fordifferent projects, even though jobs are contained in different environments in Control Center, jobs must haveunique names as they are physically contained in the same jobs folder.
Within the jobs folder, you will find a directory for each individual job. Within each job folder, you will find thefolder for the global job library, job palettes, as well as a shortcut for each scene contained in the job. These
shortcuts go to the scene data location. Depending on the parameters set upon creating the scene in theControl Center, different scenes may be located on different file systemss on different servers, based onstorage space and other structure organization.

Scene File Structure
Here is an example of the file structure contained in a scene. As you work and use more features, different
folders may appear in your structure.

The Harmony scene folder contains the following folders: frames, audio, elements, etc.
FolderContents

annotation

Contains the images and thumbnails created while drawing in an Annotation
column in the Xsheet view.

audio

Contains all imported audio files.

database

This is no longer used for new projects; it remains for projects created witholder versions of the software.

elements

Contains all the drawing files. The drawings are organized by folders named
like the layers they are associated with.

framesContains the final frames after a render if you are using the default settings ofthe Write node in the Node view.

palette-library

Contains scene palettes and scene palette list files.

stage

Contains multiple versions of a scene. This is useful if you are experimenting
with different ways to do a scene. Note that all versions of a scene use thesame drawing and palette files.

timings

This folder is used when a user links external images to a scene and wants tostore a backup copy in case the link breaks.

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Root Directory and Content Building Scenes
A production is not only composed of the series or movie’s scenes, there are also animatics, backgrounds,
character builds, colour models, references, storyboards, and so on. These elements must be stored somewhere.
Most of these elements can be stored in the Harmony Server database.
There are two main elements that is recommended to store in the production’s environment:lColour modelslCharacter builds

Generally, a studio will create a special Job for the models. In the Environment, you will find Jobs for theepisodes: ep001, ep002, ep003, and so on.
You will also find a special Job model where you will find three colour model scenes:lCharacters

l

Props

l

Effects

Each of these scenes contain the colour models related to them. For example, the character scene will have one
layer per character containing all of the colour model drawings belonging to it. If a movie has 50 characters, thecharacter colour model scenes will contain 50 layers, each with a different character. If the character has fivedifferent models such as raincoat, regular clothes or pyjamas, the character’s layer will have five drawings.
In the same model job, you will find the cut-out character builds scene. Unlike the colour model scenes, the build
scenes only contain one character. As a character build is composed of many layers and functions, it is notrecommended that you build more than one character per scene. So, if a movie has 50 cut-out characters, the Jobmodel will contain 50 character builds scenes.
Even if you have a structure integrated in Harmony, it is recommended that a root directory be created for yourexternal elements such as audio clips, bitmap backgrounds, references, and so on. This directory should be
stored on the server or be regularily backed up if you are a single user working on a standalone machine.
The Root directory contains subdirectories which hold such elements as animatics, backgrounds and audio files.
You must create these subdirectories and name them accordingly. For example, store the backgrounds used inyour production in a subdirectory called backgrounds or adventure_backgrounds.
Keeping an organized work structure will give you greater control and ease. You can further improve theorganization by grouping similar elements into categories.

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Here is a list of typical subdirectories:
Animatic
Animatic project and movie files can be stored and organized in this folder.
Backgrounds
Backgrounds can be stored by sequence or episode in the same way that animation scenes are. Create asubdirectory named Backgrounds and then place a sequence or episode subdirectory inside it. Categorize
each background by episode or sequence.
Designs
Create a Designs subdirectory and split the designs into three categories:l

Characters

l

Props

l

Effects

Categories for locations and backgrounds can also be added if you are creating the designs using Harmony.
Final Editing
Final Editing projects and renders can be stored and organized in this folder.
Library
The items contained in the library require a high level of organizational structure. The more structured thelibrary, the faster you will be able to retrieve the items. Categorize the elements using subdirectories, which
can be further subdivided. Categories could include:lCharacters

l

Props

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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)lEffects

l

Audio

l

ModelsThe Library folder should always be stored on the server, even if it is not included in the root directory. A library is
generally shared between all the users working on the production as they will link this library to their Template
Library and reuse its contents.
ModelsCreate a Models subdirectory and divide it into three categories:l

Characters

l

Props

l

Effects

You may also need to add categories for the backgrounds and model pack. Note that you only need to create aModels subdirectory if you are not designing the models in Harmony.
References
Create a References subdirectory and then categorize according to type:llImages: These may be any subject from which you can gain ideas and inspiration to help develop your project, For example, if you are producing an 18th-century adventure series, you may have images of period
costumes, buildings, and sailing ships.
Pictures: You can also use photographs of items which may help you produce an accurate account of thetime period in which your production is set.

RenderCreate a Render subdirectory and categorize the exported image sequences or clips by scene. For example, you
would have a subdirectory named Render and categories named Scene_001, Scene_002 and so on.
It is also possible to do the following:lCreate a subdirectory called Render and store your scene’s render in a subdirectory named sequence.

lCreate a subdirectory called Render and store your scene’s render in a subdirectory named episode.

Storyboard
Toon Boom Storyboard Pro projects or storyboard scans can be stored and organized in this folder.
Textures
You can create a bitmap texture bank for pen styles and colour palettes and store all of the files in this folder.

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Chapter 7: Project Organization and File Structure

Drawings and Layers
A very important concept to understand in Harmony are drawings, drawing elements, and layers. Layers arealso referred to as columns in traditional animation, but in Harmony, there is a difference between a column
and a layer. A drawing element is a directory containing multiple drawings and is linked to a column in the
Xsheet view and the column is linked to a layer in the Timeline view. The layer and column are generally named
the same way as the drawing element (folder). A layer may also be an effect layer, a peg (motion) layer, etc. It is
not always a drawing layer. A drawing element is the directory containing the drawings that the corresponding
layer is linking to. Many layers can be linked to the same drawing element (folder) so that the same drawings
are reused. A layer will also be represented as a node (node) in the Node view.
In traditional and paperless animation, a drawing element or layer can be a character, for example, level B. In
cut-out animation, a drawing element can be the hand layer.

When you add a column or layer to your scene, a node and a folder (element folder) are also added. By default,
the element folder and layer (node) are named the same way as the column. As explained above, the element
folder's purpose is to contain all the drawings related to this column. For example, in cut-out animation, acharacter can have many mouths available. All these mouth drawings will be contained in this folder, even if
they are not currently exposed in the scene. In other words, there is always a drawing container hooked to alayer or column, unless that layer is linked to another drawing element (clone).
You can find the drawing element folders in your scene's subdirectory called elements.

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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)

You can add drawing layers from the Timeline view, Xsheet view and the top menu .
In order to understand what happens when you duplicate a drawing, extend an exposure, create cycles or delete
a drawing, it is important to know how a layer works.
Each layer is linked to a column and that column is linked to a directory in which all of its drawings are saved. This
directory has the same name as the layer and column. When a value or drawing name is typed in a layer’s cell,
Harmony looks in the layer’s directory for the corresponding drawing to display. If there is no corresponding
drawing, a new one is created.
New vector drawings are created as *.tvg (Toon Boom Vector Graphic) files.
The layer’s cells are not used for storage, but are linked to the drawings contained in the layer’s directory. If you
remove a drawing from the layer exposure, it is not deleted; it is simply not displayed.

When you create a drawing cycle, all of the repeated drawings are linked to the same original files. This meansthat when you modify, repaint or correct a drawing named “1”, all drawings named “1” are updated
simultaneously. In order to modify a drawing independently from its other exposures, you must duplicate thedrawing.

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Palettes

In Harmony, palettes are individual *.plt files that can be copied, transferred and stored. When a palette is
created from Harmony, it needs to be stored somewhere. By default, the palette file is stored in the scene
directory in a palette-library folder unless you specify a different location. There are four locations where you
can find palette-library folders:lElement: The Palette Library folder is stored directly in the drawing Element folder.

l

Scene: The Palette Library folder is stored directly in the Scene folder.

lJob: The Palette Library folder is stored in a Job folder contained in the Scene folder.

lEnvironment: The Palette Library folder is stored in an Environment folder contained in the Scene
folder.

By default, the palette is stored at the scene level. For simple projects and standalone projects, it isrecommended to keep it as is. If you work with a larger studio, it is recommended to verify with them on thefile structure.
This existing structure is compatible with Harmony Server. Harmony’s database has a leveled structure
starting from the Environment down to the Element. Its client-server configuration allows all data, such as
palettes and scenes, to be shared between a series of client machines.

Element Level
Working with Harmony Stand Alone, the Element level is very useful when there are a lot of different palettes.
When a colour model drawing is created, it is stored in its element folder. By storing the corresponding palettefile with the colour model, the colourist can load them both from the same location. This also creates a moreorganized structure.

Scene Level
Working with Harmony Stand Alone, a palette file can also be saved at the scene level, so that all of thepalettes from the scene are stored together. The palette naming must be structured so the colourist or

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character builders can find the correct one. Saving the palettes at the scene level makes it very easy to back up the
palettes and retrieve their location.
The scene level can also be useful for cut-out animation. Instead of creating a colour model scene that includes allof the characters, props, effects, and location, the colour palette or model will often be directly imported to, or
created in, the character building scene. Just as with a cut-out character building scene, each element uses thesame palette so it would not be efficient to save the palette inside one element. Instead, it is saved at the scenelevel. This prevents a palette overload because all of the models are in different scenes. It also allows each scene
to have its own set of palettes corresponding to its model.
When working on a cut-out animation production, it is highly recommended that you work with the Scene level.

Where to Save the Palette File
The palette storage location depends on the type of production and the backup plan being used. Some studios
like to store their palettes at the Element level and others at the Environment level as this will not create aproblem so long as the scene is in the Harmony structure. In fact, as long as the Harmony structure is maintained
it can be stored at any level. However, difficulties may occur when the scene is backed up or transferred toanother studio or database and removed from the structure.

What happens when you export a palette file?
It is important to understand what is happening to a palette file when the scene is exported.
Because of the Harmony client-server configuration, all of the data can be shared through all of the scenes in the
database. This also includes the palette files, even if they are stored at the Element, Scene, Job, Drawing orEnvironment level. The palette files can be accessed from any scene of any project.
When you export scenes from Harmony to either archive or send them to other users or studios, the palettes
stored in external scenes, jobs or environment will NOT be exported.
An exported scene will carry palettes stored in its own Element’s Palette Library, scene’s palette library, the Job
and the Environment where it is stored. Any other palette from other Environments, Jobs, Elements or Scenes(even from the same job) will NOT follow. Instead a recovery palette will be created when the scene is reopened
in another Harmony system. A recovery palette is a local palette created by the system when palettes and colours
are missing. This palette is no longer shared with the rest of the project.
For example, in the following chart, if you export Scene 2 from Job 1, the package will carry the palettes from
Scene 2, Job 1 and Environment. It WILL NOT carry the palettes from Element 3 in Scene 1, Scene 1 and Job 2. If
Scene 2 was linked to any of these, the system will create a recovery palette the next time Scene 2 is opened inanother Harmony system.

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Chapter 7: Project Organization and File Structure

The best place to store your palette is:•Environment level for a movie or series•

Job level for a publicity or small project•

Scene level for a student exercise

To store your palette with their colour models, you can use the Element level, however, it will require morestructure when exporting the scenes. The scene will have to be exported along with its colour model scene.
The other studio you are working with must recreate an identical structure to yours, then import the received
scenes into the same location as you have them in order to maintain the links.

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

Libraries and Templates
Harmony allows you to use a library to store and reuse elements such as animation cycles, network effects andfilters, trajectories, cut-out puppets, etc. We call these elements assets or templates. These libraries can be64Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)placed and used on different levels.
Harmony provides some library folders, to which you can add your own libraries. Harmony’s library can beaccessed from any scene opened on the machine.
To store your assets somewhere other than the default location, you can create your own folder on your hard
drive. If you are connected to a network, you can create a folder on the server to be shared with other network
users.
We recommend that you name your library with a relevant project name, such as adventure_library.
The library folders and their templates are completely external to Harmony and can be archived and moved
independently from the production. They can also be sent to other Harmony users.
It is always a good idea to be descriptive when naming your templates (assets). Although not mandatory, it ishighly recommended to use alphanumeric characters:la to z, 0 to 9 and underscore ( _ )This will avoid technical issues when working on different platforms such as Mac OS X or Linux.

Library Structure Tips

The following recommendations may be useful as you structure your work. The main library can be divided into
categories to match different template types:lCharacterl

Background

l

Audio

l

Prop

l

Effect

The character section is often altered the most. It is recommended that you divide this folder between:lMain CharacterslEpisode Characters

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Chapter 7: Project Organization and File Structure

Within the Main Characters folder, you can create a folder for each individual character. Episode characters are
generally less numerous and can be stored in folders corresponding to their episode. Each character’s folder
can be further divided into subfolders, such as:
l

Model

l

AnimationlKeyposeslReuse Parts

The Animation section can be organized by actions, such as:l

Run CyclelWalk Cycle

l

Jumps

l

MiscellaneousSome users may divide their animation folder by angle or view:
l

Front

l

Three-quarter

l

Side

l

Three-quarter back

l

Back

Personal Libraries
During the animation process, an animator will often reuse certain templates. Some animators have their own
personal libraries to store their favourite templates. If a template has been updated in the master library, theLibrary manager should send a note to the animators and the scene setup team to ensure that they update
their personal libraries.

Naming Convention
When working on large or even small projects, it is best practice to create a naming convention for everyone tofollow. This will help keep the work organized and consistent.

Scene Naming Convention
For improved consistency and ease of use, incorporate naming conventions for your scenes and other project
elements.
ll

We recommend that you name your scene using alphanumeric characters: a to z, 0 to 9 and underscore (_ ).
Avoid capital letters or spaces in the file names.

66Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)l

Try to provide the maximum amount of information for future identification, which helps ensure that you
do not mix up elements and lose information.

For example, you could name a scene adventure_sc001, adventure_scene_01, adventure_character_models or adventure_seq01_sc002.
If your scene is contained within a Job in the Harmony Server centralized database (accessible via Control Center),you can name your scene as follows: sc001, sc_001, 001, seq001_sc001, etc.
If you are working with the Harmony Server centralized database, you can give an indication of the environment(project) and job in the scene name like:lEnvironment = Lippylandl

Job = li_02

The jobs usually are not just named 01, 02, 03, etc., because they all reside in the same folder ( USA_DB/jobs/ andUSADATA000/ ), therefore some prefixes such as “li_” must be added.
In this case the scenes would be named:l

LIP_li_02_sc001l

LIP_li_02_sc002l

LIP_li_02_sc003l

LIP_li_02_sc004

Layer Naming Convention
When you create drawing layers, it is recommended to name them instead of keeping the default name. This way,
your work will be organized and it will be easier for another person to work with your data later on.
It is always a good idea to be descriptive when naming a layer. Although not mandatory, it is highly recommended
to use alphanumeric characters:la to z, 0 to 9 and underscore ( _ )This will avoid technical issues when working on different platforms such as Mac OS X or Linux.
It is highly recommended that you incorporate a naming convention for the layers when building cut-out puppets.
This will be very useful later on.

We suggest that you:67

Chapter 7: Project Organization and File Structurel

Add one or two letters for the character/prop name before the part name and an “r” for right or an “l”
for left to identify the corresponding character/prop:ll

If you plan to work with different angles for your characters (front, side, three-quarter, back), you can
add one or two letters to identify the angle:llCharacter Abby’s right arm = ab_r_arm

Character Abby’s right arm, front view = ab_r_arm_f

Instead of using the “r” and “l” markers for the different right and left body pieces, you can use “1” toindicate if a limb is closer to or farther away from the character. For example instead of r_arm and l_arm, you could have arm and arm1. The reasoning is that when the character is flipped, it is less confusing to have “1’ as an indicator for a close limb instead of right or left:l

Character Abby’s closer arm = ab_armlCharacter Abby’s farthest arm = ab_arm_1

Renaming a Series of Nodes
When you use a blank rigging template, all of the nodes’ names are generic. You will need to add naming
information, such as the character’s name and the angle.
Harmony provides you with a script called Add Prefix or Suffix that allows you to add a prefix or a suffix to aseries of selected nodes at the same time.
How to add a prefix to a series of nodes
1. In the Network or Timeline view, select all of the nodes or press Ctrl + A (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + A(Mac OS X).
2. In the Scripting toolbar, click the Add Prefix or Suffix script button.
The Add Prefix or Suffix dialog box opens.
3. Select the Prefix or Suffix option, depending on what you want to add to the element’s name.
4. Type the prefix or suffix information to be added to the node name.

Puppet Drawing Naming Convention
We recommend that you use a naming convention for your drawings. If you combine all of the angles of acharacter in the same breakdown scene, it is a good idea to identify each angle used.
Before drawing the parts in the drawing elements (layers), we recommend that you create a drawing name that
represents the angle used. This will be quite useful during animation and drawing substitution. For example,
use “f” for front, “s” for side, “q” for three-quarter so that the drawing name looks like this:lf1, f2, f3, s1, s2, etc.

In the facial feature drawings’ name, you can also add “h” for happy, “s” for sad or any other letter
symbolizing an expression to help regroup the same theme of drawings. For example:

68Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)llHappy Mouths:lf_h_a,lf_h_b,lf_h_c,lf_h_d,lf_h_e,

lf_h_f,lf_h_g,lf_h_x

Sad Mouths:lf_s_a,lf_s_b,lf_s_c,lf_s_d,lf_s_e,lf_s_f,lf_s_g,

l

f_s_x

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70Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)

Chapter 8: Starting Toon Boom Harmony
Once Harmony is installed, you are ready to start the application and animate! In this chapter, you will learn about
starting the application, setting the resolution and opening the scenes.

Server and Centralized Database

The Harmony solution is a revolutionary team-based infrastructure for animation production and 2D games. Its
array of features increases productivity and encourages creativity. Developed in conjunction with leading studios
worldwide, Harmony is specifically designed for long-term episodic and feature length projects, providing a true
animation pipeline. Several animators can work simultaneously on the same project while the asset libraryprovides users with easy access to up-to-date media assets. Harmony is truly scalable; more than 100 staging
clients can share animation just as easily as a few can.
Note that Harmony can be used in Database mode via the server connection (Harmony Server) or as a standalone
application.

What is Harmony Server?
Harmony Server is the link between the client machines and the server. It lets you work on the different projects
stored in the central Harmony database.
At the heart of the Harmony solution is the server, which centralizes all the production assets in a repository.
Loaded with production proven tools to manage administration tasks, the server is completely flexible and will fit
in your existing infrastructure, whether you are on Windows, Linux or Mac OS X. To learn more, refer to theControl Center Guide.

Working with Stage Via Harmony Server
When you start Stage, you can opt to either work offline in the application as a standalone software, or connect
to the database to work on projects via Harmony Server.
When working with Harmony Server, the scenes and their data are stored directly on the server. No data is saved
or stored on the client machine. The client machines access the database and load the scenes and drawings
directly from the server. Each time the user saves his scene, the data is updated directly on the server. There are
no upload or download operations (check-in, check-out) done between the server and the clients.

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NOTE: If you have a standalone license, you will not have access to the database. You will automatically start theapplication in standalone mode.

Starting StageYou can run Harmony on Linux, Mac OS X or Windows operating systems.
How to start Harmony Stage
1. Do one of the following:lWindows: Start > Programs > Harmony 12.1 Premium > Stage Premiuml

Mac OS X: Applications > Toon Boom Harmony 12.1 Premium > Stage PremiumlLinux: /usr/local/ToonBoomAnimation/harmony_12/lnx86_64/bin/StageNOTE: If you have a standalone license, Toon Boom Harmony will open directly with the Welcome screen.

2. In the User Name field, enter your username. It is generally provided by the supervisor, system administrator or team lead.
3. Select the Connect to Database or Work Offline option.
llConnect to Database: (Your database must first be set up.) Lets you work on Harmony connected to the database so you can access scenes stored in the central database of the Toon
Boom Server; certain options become available in the different menus. However, you will not beable to create new scenes directly from Stage and the available scenes will be the ones that werepreviously created using the Control Center.
Work Offline: Enabled by default when you start Harmony for the first time. Using this mode lets
you create new scenes and work locally on your machine on independent projects as you wouldwith any local software. However, the following limitations apply:ll

Options exclusive to Harmony Server will not be available in the different menus.
You will not have access to any projects stored in the central database of the Toon
Boom Server.

4. Click OK.
In Offline mode, the Welcome Screen opens—see Welcome Screen on page 77.
In Database mode, the Database Selector opens—see Connecting to the Database on page 73.

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Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)lLinux: /usr/local/ToonBoomAnimation/harmony_12/lnx86_64/bin/Stage

Toon Boom Harmony opens.

NOTE: If you have a standalone license, Toon Boom Harmony will open directly with the Welcome screen.

5. In the User Name field, enter your username. It is generally provided by the supervisor, system administrator or team lead.
6. Select the Connect to Database or Work Offline option.
llConnect to Database: (Your database must first be set up.) Lets you work on Harmony connectedto the database so you can access scenes stored in the central database of the Toon Boom Server;
certain options become available in the different menus. However, you will not be able to create
new scenes directly from Stage and the available scenes will be the ones that were previously created using the Control Center.
Work Offline: Enabled by default when you start Harmony for the first time. Using this mode lets
you create new scenes and work locally on your machine on independent projects as you would withany local software. However, the following limitations apply:ll

Options exclusive to Harmony Server will not be available in the different
menus.
You will not have access to any projects stored in the central database of theToon Boom Server.

7. Click OK.
In Offline mode, the Welcome Screen opens—see Welcome Screen on page 77.
In Database mode, the Database Selector opens—see Connecting to the Database on page 73.

Connecting to the Database

Before you can work in Stage via Harmony Server, you must be connected to the Harmony Database. When you
connect to the database, you cannot create new scenes directly from Stage. The available scenes will be the ones
that were previously created using the Control Center.

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How to connect to the Harmony database
1. Start Stage—see Starting Stage on page 72.
2. In the Toon Boom Stage window, select the Connect to Database option.

3. In the User Name field, type in your Harmony username which is provided by your project lead or systemadministrator.

4. Click OK.
The Database Selector dialog box opens, displaying the environments available in Harmony database.

5. In the Environments column, select the scene's environment (project, movie).

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6. In the Jobs column, select the scene's job (episode, sequence).
7. In the Scenes column, select the scene.
8. Get the permissions needed for this session by selecting one of the following options:

A Harmony project can be locked at various levels. Its timing, drawings, version and palettes can be locked.
Locking means that you have the rights to modify a scene or its assets. Other users cannot modify locked items. If
someone tries to open a locked scene, it will be displayed as read-only.
Here are the different lock possibilities:
Lock

Description

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

Drawing Lock

Only one user can edit and save a locked drawing.

Palette Lock

Only one user can edit and save a locked palette.

Palette-list Lock

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

Library Folder lock

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

1. Choose the version you want to open from the Version menu—see How to save the current version of ascene in Harmony Server.

‣

The Saved By and Saved Date fields display the user who last saved the selected scene and the date of
the last save.

2. Click Open.

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Global Lock
Harmony Server has a lock system, referred to as Global Lock, for the different scenes and scene assets. As all
the data on the server can be accessed directly and modified from any client machine by default, the scenes arelocked. Users must obtain the rights to modify scenes in order to save their work on the server.
Only one user at a time can modify a scene. Once a scene is opened on a client machine, other users can only
open the scene in read-only mode; they will not be able to save any modifications.
If you work in standalone mode, you automatically have the rights to modify all drawings and palettes.
The Global Lock has three levels:
A Harmony project can be locked at various levels. Its timing, drawings, version and palettes can be locked.
Locking means that you have the rights to modify a scene or its assets. Other users cannot modify locked
items. If someone tries to open a locked scene, it will be displayed as read-only.
Here are the different lock possibilities:
Lock

Description

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

Drawing Lock

Only one user can edit and save a locked drawing.

Palette Lock

Only one user can edit and save a locked palette.

Palette-list Lock

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

Library Folder lock

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

These three levels of locking are available from the Database Selector when the user logs into Harmony. From
there you can select a scene and obtain the rights to modify it by selecting the desired lock option.

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

Acquiring Rights to a Scene Once it is Loaded
If you opened a scene in read-only mode, but realize that you need to modify it, you can easily acquire thenecessary rights without closing and reloading the scene.
Note that it is not possible to acquire the rights to modify the scene assets once the scene is loaded. This process
is done during the initial loading of the scene. To learn more about enabling the rights to modify while creating
environments, jobs and scenes, refer to the Control Center module.
How to set the scene's rights after the scene is loaded‣ In the top menu, select File > Rights to Modify Scene or Rights to Modify Scene Version.

Welcome Screen
When you start Toon Boom Harmony, the Welcome Screen appears. If a scene is already open, you can display
the Welcome screen by selecting Help > Show Welcome Screen.

NOTE: Note that Harmony Server does not display a Welcome Screen. It displays the Database Selector window.

The Welcome Screen allows you to:
1. Create scenes

77Chapter 8: Starting Toon Boom Harmony

2. Choose the scene resolution
3. Add or delete a custom scene resolution
4. Open recent scenes from a list
5. Open scenes by browsing
6. Open the online support page
7. Open Harmony video tutorials
8. Open Harmony directly without opening the Welcome screen first.
To display the Welcome screen later on, go to the top menu and select Help > Show Welcome Screen.

Accessing the Documentation
How to access the Harmony documentation
1. In the Support section, click on the Get Help

button.

Your default web browser opens to the Toon Boom Support page.
2. From the Support page, under the Learn Toon Boom Software section, click on the Documentation button.
The Toon Boom Help page opens.
3. From the Toon Boom Help page, click on the Harmony Icon.
The Harmony 12.1 Help page opens.
All the Harmony guides can also be opened directly in the software. From the top menu, select Help >Online Help or press F1.

Saving a Scene
It is important to regularly save your scene. As you make changes to a scene, an asterisk (*) appears in the title
bar beside the scene name to indicate that the scene contains unsaved changes.
It is quite frequent, when working on a scene, to try out different timings, effects, camera motions or
parameters to see which one will work best. Harmony allows you to save a new version of your scene. It isreally important to note that the drawings and palettes are the same between ALL the scene versions. You can
modify the timing, effects, parameters and camera motion, but if you modify the drawings, they will bechanged everywhere.
You can also automatically save your work. Refer to the Preferences guide to learn more about this function.
When you use Harmony Server and work in a scene on the database, there are many choices and options
available when you save your work.
l

Save the scene as the current version.

lSave different versions representing different stages of the production of your scene.

78Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)lSave different versions representing different scene setups.

lChoose specific assets that you want to save, such as drawings or palettes.

When you open the scene from the database and select the version you want to edit, you can save the changes
you made in the current version or create a new version. The simplest way to save your work is to update thecurrent version.
You can delete any unnecessary versions using the Version Manager.
When working with multiple versions, you may want to merge some of the changes from one version intoanother. You may have created a version with some suggestions that you submitted to the director while
continuing to work on the official version. If the director has approved some of the changes, you can go ahead
and import them into the official version.
You might want to save some specific aspects of your scene or save a new version. The Advance Save featureallows you to do this. Once you have chosen the components to save, you will conclude the procedure byfollowing the instructions in the section. All the specific components that are selected throughout the different
tabs of the Advanced Save dialog box will be saved.
How to save a scene‣

From the top menu, select File > Save.

‣

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

Auto-Save
How to open the Preferences dialog box
1. Do one of the following:‣

Windows/Linux: From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences.

‣

Mac OS X: Select Stage > Preferences.

‣

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

1. Select the General tab.
2. In the Save section, select the Auto-save option.
•

Interval (minutes): This is the frequency at which the auto-save takes place.

•

Inactivity Interval (seconds): When Auto-save is about to take place, it verifies if you are drawing or doing
anything in the application. If so, Auto-save waits this number of seconds before attempting another save.

•

Ask Before Saving: Before performing an auto-save, you are prompted with a message to confirm if you
want to save or not. You can choose to turn off this option.

•

Enabled: This enables the Auto-save feature. If you do not want the system to automatically save yourwork, deselect this option. The auto-save is off by default.

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How to save the current version of a scene in Harmony Server
1. Make sure that you have the necessary rights to save the current scene version. If you do not, you canacquire the rights by selecting File > Rights to Modify Scene Version or Rights to Modify Scene.
2. From the top menu, select File > Save or press Ctrl + S (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + S (Mac OS X).
When saving the scene for the first time, the Save dialog box opens, prompting you to name theversion.

3. Edit the information in the current version:‣

In the This Version field, enter a relevant name for the current version.

‣

In the Description field, enter a short description of the current version.

4. Click Save.
How to delete versions
1. Make sure you have the necessary rights. If you do not, select File > Rights to Modify Scene.
2. From the top menu, select File > Manage Versions.

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The Versions dialog box opens.

3. In the Existing Versions list, select the scene version you want to delete. When a version is selected, information about it appears in the Description list.
4. Click Delete.
The Confirm Delete Versions dialog box opens, warning you that the operation cannot be undone.

5. Click one of the following:‣

Yes: ONLY if you are absolutely certain that the version can be deleted.

‣

No: To cancel the operation and keep the version.

About the Advanced Save dialog box
1. Make sure that you have the necessary rights to save the current scene version. If you do not, you canacquire the rights by selecting File > Rights to Modify Scene Version or Rights to Modify Scene.
2. From the top menu, select File > Advanced Save.
The Advanced Save dialog box opens.

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File
In the File tab of the Save dialog box, you can do the following:•

Save the scene as a new version•

Overwrite an existing version•

Set a new current version.

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Parameter

Description‣ Enable this option if you want to save the modifications made to thecurrent scene.
Save‣ Deselect the Save option if you only want to save specific components ofyour scene listed in the Drawings, Palettes or Palette Lists tabs. This will
disable all option in the File tab.

This Version (number)

Saves the current version of the scene. You can rename the current version by
typing a new name into the field.

New Version (number)

Saves the current scene as a new version. You can name this new version by typing a name into the field.

Overwrite Existing Version

Lets you select an existing version of your scene from the list to overwrite it.

Description

Use this field to add or edit an existing description for the scene version you
want to save.

Mark as Current

Lets you set this scene version as the current one. This version will be automatically selected as the default current version when the scene is selected in
the Database Selector dialog box

Drawings
The Drawings tab lists the modified drawings.

Parameter

Description

Drawing list

Lets you select the modified drawings to save, and deselect the ones you do
not want to save.

83Chapter 8: Starting Toon Boom Harmony

Select All

Selects all modified drawings in list.

Deselect All

Deselects all modified drawings in the list.

Palettes
The Palette tab lists the modified colour palettes.

Parameter

Description

Colour Palette list

Lets you select the colour palette to save, and deselect the ones you do notwant to save.

Show Recovered

Displays the recovered palettes in the list of modified palettes.

Select All

Selects all modified colour palettes in the palette list.

Deselect All

Deselects all modified colour palettes in the palette list.

Palette Lists
The Palette Lists tab lists all the modified colour palette lists.

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Parameter

Description

Palette Lists

Lets you select the modified palette list to save, and deselect the ones you do
not want to save.

Show Recovered

Displays the recovered palettes in the list of modified palettes.

Select All

Selects all modified palette lists in the list.

Deselect All

Deselects all modified palette lists in the list.

How to save with advanced settings
1. After selecting the components to save, click Save.
All the specific components that were selected throughout the different tabs of the Advanced Save dialog
box are saved.
How to merge scene versions
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Open Merge Editor.
The Choose Scene Versions for Merge window opens.

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2. In the Select Version to Merge Changes From list, select the scene version from which you want tomerge the changes from in your current open version.

‣

In the Use Another Version for Reference section, you can select a different scene version to merge
the changes into, rather than your current version.

3. Click Load.
The Merge Editor opens.

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4. From the right column, select the layers you want to merge the changes from into the reference version.
5. In the Select Element Range section, set the Start Frame and End Frame fields to indicate from what frame
to what frame you want to take the changes from.
6. Click Merge Selected to complete the operation.

Setting the Scene Length
Once you have opened your scene, you can set its length.
How to set the scene length
1. From the top menu, select Scene > Scene Length.
The Set Scene Length dialog box opens.

2. In the Number of Frames field, enter the number of frames needed.

New Scene Startup Script
When you create a new scene, the TB_sceneCreated script automatically sets the scene length to 60 frames
and adds one of each of the following nodes: drawing element, composite, display and write.
You can find the script in the Script Editor window.

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You can customize this script to fit your current project needs. This way, you can set the default scene length to
any number of frames you want, or even decide which types of elements and nodes you want to be in yourscene when you create it.
Refer to the Toon Boom Harmony Scripting Guide to learn more about using, creating and customizing scripts.

Adding a Drawing Layer
Now that your scene is set up, you can start adding drawing layers.
How to add a drawing layer from the Timeline view
1. In the Timeline view, click the Add Drawing Layer
R (Mac OS X).

button or press Ctrl + R (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ +The Add Drawing Layer window opens.

2. In the Name field, name your new layer.
3. Set the Line Art and Colour Art options to Vector to get a vector layer or to Bitmap to have a bitmap
layer.
4. Do one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

A new drawing layer is added to the Timeline view.

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Locking Drawings

The drawings are stored on the server database providing access to them from every client machine. They arelocked to avoid different users from modifying the same drawings simultaneously. Only one person at a time canget the rights to modify them. The drawing rights are independent from the scene rights because in a production
rush, two users may need to work on the same scene to finish painting the drawings faster. One user will get therights for one set of drawings, and the second user the rights to another set of drawings. This prevents workfrom being duplicated.
When enabled, the Edit Drawings mode gives you the right to modify drawings, as well as create new drawings
by drawing directly on an empty cell. This mode is enabled by default when you open a scene version with therights enabled.

NOTE: If you open the scene with full rights from the Welcome screen or Control Center, the Edit Drawing mode is
not available.

When you disable the Edit Drawing Mode, you can use the Get Rights to Modify Drawings option on a selectionof specific drawings. This is useful when, for example, many users are working on the same scene during the ink
and paint process and they want to split the drawings to paint between them.
Also, once you got the rights to modify drawings, you can release these rights if necessary.
If your system crashes and the drawings remain locked, you can force the release of the rights. You must use thisoption carefully as data loss may occur if the scene is currently open and being edited by another person. Verify
that no one else is using the scene prior to forcing the release of the drawing rights.
Since the drawings are stored on the server, you might at times need to refresh the drawings that are displayed inyour scene.
How to enable the Edit Drawing Mode
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Edit Drawing Mode.
How to get the rights on a selection of drawings
1. Make sure that the Edit Drawing Mode is disabled.
2. In the Xsheet view, select the drawings you want to edit.

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3. From the top menu, select Edit > Get Rights to Modify Drawings or press Alt + L.
How to release the rights on a selection of drawings
1. In the Xsheet view, select the drawings you want to release.
2. From the top menu, select Edit > Release Rights to Modify Drawings or press Alt + Shift + L.
How to force the release of the rights of locked drawings
1. In the Xsheet view, select the drawings you want to release.
2. From the top menu, select Edit > Force Release Rights to Modify Drawings.
A Warning dialog box opens.

3. Do one of the following:‣

Click Yes to force the release.

‣

Click No to cancel the force release.

How to read changed drawings‣ From the top menu, select File > Read Changed Drawings.

Scene Settings
When you created your new scene, you set up the resolution and the alignment. However, if you want tochange these initial settings later, you can do it using the Scene Settings dialog box. The different Scene
Settings options are separated into four tabs.

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How to open the Scene Settings dialog box
1. From the top menu, select Scene > Scene Settings.
The Scene Settings dialog box opens.
Resolution Tab

Parameter

Description

Resolution Presets

You can select your project’s resolution (camera frame size) from this preset

91Chapter 8: Starting Toon Boom Harmonylist.

‣ HDTV: High definition television delivers a higher quality image thanstandard television (4:3) does, because it has a greater number of linesof resolution. To take advantage of the superior quality your output
device must be compatible with HDTV technology to make thisresolution setting useful.

‣ HDTV_Vertical: The "vertical resolution" of HDTV_Vertical refers to
how the images will be aligned in relation to the actual scene frame(default 4:3 grid). Note that the camera resolution and the scene frame
are not the same. When working with 12 or 16 field drawing grids, thegrid is a different aspect ratio from the camera frame. When you fit
vertically, you fit the images with the top and bottom of the scene grid.

‣ film-1.33: Use this resolution setting for the academy film format that
conforms to the standard 4:3 aspect ratio.

‣ film-1.66: Use this resolution setting for the widescreen film format that
conforms to the 16:9 aspect ratio.

‣ film-1.66_Vertical: This is essentially the same as film-1.66. Refers to
how the drawing is fit into the scene frame. When working with 12 or 16
field drawing grids, the grid is a different aspect ratio from the camera
frame. When you fit vertically, you fit the images with the top andbottom of the scene frame.

‣ NTSC: This is the standard analogue television broadcasting systemused in North America and conforms to the North American standards
on how rectangular pixels are displayed for computer and televisionscreens.

‣ PAL: This resolution works best with the European format for televisionand computer screens, as the rectangular pixels are displayed at adifferent orientation.

‣ Low: This format is ideal for videos destined for the web, where size andfast download of a video file might take precedence over quality.

‣ Cloud Preview: This is the resolution used by Web Control Center tocreate its preview.
Selected Resolution Preset

Displays the selected resolution preset.
Click the Save Resolution button after you define your new resolution to save it
as a preset.

Save Resolution Setting

If you are working in Harmony Server, you will be prompter a dialog box asking
you to name the new resolution as well as the level at which you want to savethe resolution,conf file.

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Displays the pixel dimensions for your project resolution.
Pixel Dimensions

If you decide to type in the pixel dimensions, or use the up and down arrows tochange the pixel increments, you will have to save your custom selection inorder to save it as a new preset. It will then appear in the resolution selection
list. It doesn't modify the current resolution preset.

Aspect Ratio

Displays the ratio between the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the camera
framing. Each resolution setting has a preset aspect ratio that cannot bechanged.

Frame per second

Sets the frame rate for your project. The higher the frame rate, for example 30
fps, the faster the animation will pla. The lower the frame rate, for example 12
fps, the slower your animation will play. Avoid going under 12 frames per
second as your animation will have a choppy playback. The human eye requires
a minimum of 12 frames per second to perceive a fluid animation.
Use these options to define the FOV (field of view) of the camera (angle of thecamera cone) and how the drawing elements (and drawing grid) align to thescene grid. The drawing grid is always scaled proportionally to a 4:3 ratio(unless you change the scene alignment), therefore changing the Field of View
setting may not show a visible difference if your project resolution is also 4:3,
such as NTSC.

‣ Horizontal Fit: The camera resolution is set to fit the left and right edgesof the scene grid.

Field of View

‣ Vertical Fit: The camera resolution is set to fit the top and bottom edgesof the scene grid.

93Chapter 8: Starting Toon Boom Harmony‣ Custom Fov: After selecting this option, use the now-active field to theright to enter in a value, in degrees, of the angle that you want thecamera cone to be. Increasing this value will make the camera cone wider(the angle is more obtuse), widening the FOV and making the grid and allelements appear farther away. Decreasing the default value will create
the opposite effect.
The Projection settings allows you to modify the type of camera your scene isusing. You can either use a perspective camera (regular camera) ororthographic camera (no perspective).

‣ Perspective: The Perspective option is the default and most common
option. Objects placed closer to the camera will be displayed bigger andobjects placed further away will be displayed smaller.

‣ Orthographic: The Orthographic option is specific to the gaming

Projection

pipeline. It changes the camera from Perspective to Orthographic,
meaning that there is no more perspective in the Camera view. Objects,
when moved in depth will not change size. There is more information
available about this option in the Gaming user guide. In order to create
scenes with the Orthographic camera by default, you need to create a
new custom scene resolution.

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Alignment Tab

Parameter

Description
The Alignment presets give you two preset options:‣ 4:3 12 Fields: Defines the units of your project to have a 4:3 ratio andAlignment

sets up 12 of these units to run both vertically and horizontally in four
cardinal quarters (NW, NE, SW, SE). This Alignment preset is visible in
the FOV and drawing grids.

‣ Square 12 Fields: Defines the units of your project to have a 1:1 orsquare ratio and sets up 12 units to run both vertically and horizontally infour cardinal quarters (NW, NE, SW, SE). This Alignment preset is NOT
visible in the FOV and drawing grids.

Units Aspect Ratio

In the Units Aspect Ratio fields, enter the aspect ratio of the grid you will use.
The aspect ratio describes the shape of the grid unit. A square grid unit would
have the ratio 1:1, whereas a grid unit of aspect ratio 4:3 is a unit with one side
1.33 times as big as the other side.

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If the aspect ratio you want to use is 1:1, enter 1 in the Left/Right field (X-axis)
and 1 in the Up/Down field (Y-axis). The default Aspect Ratio is set to 4:3 as it is
the one used by traditional animators, who are accustomed to working with thegrid system described above.
In the Number of Units fields, enter the number of horizontal, vertical and depth
units for your scene’s grid.

Number of Units

Animators who prefer to work traditionally will understand the default settingof 24 units horizontal by 24 units vertical as it, once again, corresponds to thegrid above. Twelve is a common setting for the field depth.
Those who prefer to work in pixels should enter the pixel dimensions (3) of theirproject. This way if you want to move something over 600 pixels you just needto type in 600 units.
In the Coordinates at Centre, you can enter a new coordinate for the centre ofyour scene.

Coordinates at Centre

Save

By default, the (0,0) centre is set in the middle of the grid as shown in the grid
above. If you want to change the centre of your grid, for example to the upper
left corner, you would enter (-12, 12), -12 units across and 12 units up. That is ofcourse unless you changed the number of units to match the pixel dimensions ofyour scene. Then you would enter negative half the width and positive half theheight.
Saves your current Alignment settings and be able to select them later from the
list.

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NOTE: If you change your scene‘s alignment from 4:3 12 Fields to Square 12 Fields part way though your project, you
may find that the animation grid becomes offset. To correct this, choose the following setting from the Layer
Properties panel‘s Advanced tab: Alignment > Alignment Rule > Centre First Page.

Bitmap Resolution Tab
The bitmap resolution settings at the scene level affects newly created bitmap art layers.

Parameter

Description

Scene Resolution

This is the scene resolution preset name and size in pixels.

Width

This is the width of the resolution for the bitmap that will be created. This is not
the actual size of the bitmap. TVG drawings (Toon Boom drawing native
format) have an infinite size. Bitmap TVGs are composed of small tiles. Therefore it does not mean that because you have artwork at the four corners of yourcamera frame or even quite far outside of your drawing that your bitmap image
will be very large and heavy. By default, it is set to the same width as the scene
resolution.

HeightThis is the height of the resolution for the bitmap that will be created. By
default, it is set to the same height as the scene resolution.

Resolution Factor

This is the size of the bitmap resolution in relation to the scene resolution. If you
increase the percentage, the width and height fields will increase accordingly. If
you plan to animate the camera and zoom into your background, you will needto set a higher resolution so that the smaller area in which you will zoom will be
100% of the scene resolution.

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Advanced Tab

The Advanced tab contains an option for Toon Boom Digital Pro release 7.3 and Harmony release 7.3.
Since version 7.8, the method in which Z-Ordering is calculated has been optimized. Enable this option if you
want to use the version 7.3 system.
Toon Boom Digital Pro and Toon Boom Harmony 7.3 allowed smaller values on the Z-axis such as 0.0001.
Since version 7.8, the Z-ordering calculation is now optimized and allows only larger values such as 0.001.

Verifying the Project Integrity
The Check Files command verifies the integrity of the drawing and palette files in your project.
How to open the Check Files dialog box‣ From the top menu, select Scene > Check Files.

Check Files
Use the Check Files dialog box to verify that the data is consistent, correct, and accessible.

•

Click Check Colours to open the Check Colours dialog box.

Check Colours
The Check Colours dialog box checks the palette integrity and displays the colour recovery data.

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Basic Commands
This table lists the most common commands used in Harmony.
Command

ActionAccess Methods

Displays the Open Scene dialog
box. Browse your file system fora scene file.
Open

The Open command is notdisabled when a scene is
opened. You can open a newscene from the current one andthe previous scene will beclosed.

File > Open
Press Ctrl + O (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + O (Mac OS X).

Close

Closes the currently opened
scene, but does not close theHarmony application.

Save

Saves all changes made to theopened scene, drawings,
palettes, and palette lists.

Removed Unused Files

This command removes theunused palettes from the scene
list.

Save As New Version

Saves the current scene as
another version. The Save Version dialog box prompts you togive a name for this new verFile > Save As New Version
sion. This will create a new.xstage file in your current project directory.

Quit

Closes the application.

File > Close
File > Save
Press Ctrl + S (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + S (Mac OS X).
File > Remove Unused Files

Windows/Linux: File > Quit
Mac OS X: Stage> Quit

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Command

ActionAccess Methods

Show Scan Information

Displays a status bar showing
the scanning information at thebottom of the Drawing and
Camera view.

Drawing View Menu > View >Show > Show Scan
Information

Cut

Removes selected objects. You
can then paste the object or its
properties to another object.

Copy

Copies selected objects andproperties.

Paste

Places an object you cut or
copied into the location you
select in the Camera, Drawing
and Timeline views.

DeleteRemoves selected objects.

Select All

Selects all drawing objects inthe current drawing window in Edit > Select All
the Drawing, Timeline andPress Ctrl + A (Windows/Linux)
Camera views. This helps you
manage multiple objects as one or ⌘ + A (Mac OS X).
when moving them.

Deselect All

Deselects all selected objects in Edit > Deselect All
the Drawing and Camera views. Esc

Undo

Removes the last change madeto your project. Harmony
supports multiple undo, so you
can undo changes you made in
the order you made them.

Redo

Redoes an operation you haveundone. This command is active Edit > Redo
only after you use the Undo
Press Ctrl + Shift + Z.
command.

Select Child Skipping Effects

Lets you select the first element Animation > Select Childparented to the selected peg
Skipping Effects
element in the Timeline view
skipping effects in the hierarchy. Press Shift + B.

Select Children

Lets you select all elements
parented to the selected peg
element in the Timeline view.

Edit > Cut
Press Ctrl + X (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + X (Mac OS X).
Edit > Copy

100

Press Ctrl + C (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + C (Mac OS X).
Edit > Paste
Press Ctrl + V (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + V (Mac OS X).
Edit > Delete
DeleteEdit > Undo
Press Ctrl + Z (Windows/Linux)or ⌘ + Z (Mac OS X).

Animation > Select Children

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Command

ActionSelect Child

Lets you select the first element Animation > Select Childparented to the selected peg
Press Shift + B.
element in the Timeline view..

Select Parent Skipping Effects

Lets you select the parent of the Animation > Select Parent
selected element in the Timeline Skipping Effects
view skipping effects in thePress B.
hierarchy.

Select Parent

Lets you select the parent of the Animation > Select Parent
selected element in the Timeline
Press B.
view.

Select Previous Sibling

Lets you select the previous
element (above current
element) in the Timeline view.

Select Next Sibling

Auto Render Write

Access Methods

Animation > Select Previous
Sibling
Press /.

Lets you select the next element Animation > Select Next
Sibling(below current element) in theTimeline view.
Press ?.
Use the Auto Render Writecommand to render a frameeach time the current frame ischanged.

Scene > Render >Auto Render
Write

You must have a Write node inyour network to use thiscommand.

Debug Mode

Enables the Debug mode forgathering and displaying
precise information about eachrendering frame, such as thenodes encountered and action
taken.

Help

Launches the Toon Boom
Harmony Online Help system,complete with instructions on
Help > Help
how to use the system. Thisrequires an internet connection.

Toon Boom Harmony on theWeb

Launches the Toon Boom
Harmony website, whichfeatures a Support andCommunity > Forum section.

About

Use the About command toaccess general information
about the software.

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Help > Debug Mode

Help > Toon Boom Harmonyon the Web

Windows/Linux: Help > About
Mac OS X: Stage > About

Chapter 8: Starting Toon Boom Harmony

Command

Customer Experience Improvement Program

ActionAccess Methods

Harmony includes an optionalcustomer experience feature
whereby usage information iscollected and sent to Toon
Boom. The data does not contain any personally identifiable
information and cannot be used
to identify you. The data willconsist of a basic hardware
description, a project summary
and usage information. This
information will only be used for Help > Customer Experience
software improvement purImprovement Program
poses, as well as sharing theinformation with third parties
for the same reason.
The customer experiencefeature is enabled by default
but is voluntary. If you prefer
not to participate, you can opt
out when you first launch thesoftware, by using a global
preference, or by a commandline argument.

Preferences
An important feature of Toon Boom Harmony is the Preferences dialog box. From here you can customize yourinterface, tool behaviour and shortcuts. Throughout this guide, you are often required to go to thePreferences dialog box to set parameters and options.
To learn about the different preferences available, refer to the Preferences Guide.
How to open the Preferences dialog box
1. Do one of the following:‣

Windows/Linux: From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences.

‣

Mac OS X: Select Stage > Preferences.

‣

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

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Chapter 9: Interface
Knowing how to manage the Toon Boom Harmony interface helps you to work efficiently and organize yourworkspace conveniently. There are a series of views and toolbars you can use as you perform different
operations. Usually, each person has a specific way of working in the interface and prefer particular views andtoolbars. In this chapter, you will learn about the main elements of the interface and how to manage them.

The Harmony interface is set to a dark theme by default. You have the option of switching to a light theme.
How to change the interface theme
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences (Windows/Linux) or Stage > Preferences (Mac OS X) .
The Preferences dialog box opens.
2. Select the General tab.
3. In the Options section, deselect the Use Dark StyleSheet option to use the light theme.
4. Restart Harmony.

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This chapter is divided as follows:

Menus
Harmony contains three types of menus from which you can access many commands and options:
Top Menu
The top menu contains most of the commands. Depending on the view you're working in and the element,
some commands are available and others are not. The top menu is always located at the very top of theinterface.

The top menu contains the following categories:
•

File

•

Edit

•

View

•

Play

•

Insert

•

Scene

•

Drawing•

Animation•

Windows

•

Help

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On Mac OS X, there is also a Stage category that contains the following commands:•

Preferences

•

About

•

Quit

View Menu
A view menu contains commands specifically related to that view.
To access a view menu, click the Menu

button in the top-left corner of a view.

A view menu is available in the following views:•

Camera•Colour•Drawing•Function•

Library

•

Model

•

Node Library

•

Node

•

Perspective•

Script Editor

•

Side

•

Timeline

•

Top

•

XsheetQuick Access Menu
A quick access menu lets you open a list of the commands you will use most often.
To access this menu, right-click anywhere in a view.
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Managing the Views
The Harmony interface is composed of different views, each one designed for a specific purpose. You can
modify the location of the views by adding a new view as a tab or as a window. You can also swap the locationof a view.
When a view is active, a red rectangle appears around the view. Keyboard shortcuts and top menu options areassociated with the active view. If a menu option is greyed out, it means it does not apply to the layer, drawing
or other type of selection or the option does not apply to the active view.

Workspace modifications are automatically saved when you exit the application unless you deselected theAutomatically Save Workspace option in the Preferences dialog box.

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How to add a view
1. Do one of the following:‣

Select the view you want to add from Windows > desired view.

‣

In the top-right corner of a view, click the Add View
button and select a view from the list. You can
open several instances of the same view except for the Timeline, Tool Properties, Colour, and Drawing
views.

By default, the view appears as a tab.

How to dock a window
1. Drag a window by its tab and do one of the following:‣

Drop the window onto other existing tabs to add it to the others.

‣

Drop the window above, below or beside an existing view. When you get close to the edge of a view, ablack rectangle with a blue background appears, indicating where the view will be inserted.

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How to close a view
1. Click the Close View‣

button.

If there are several tabs in the same view, press Shift and click the Close View
tabs at the same time.

button to close all

How to swap views
1. Select the view's tab and drag it onto one of the view’s separators, top area or onto another view’s tab.
2. When a blue rectangle outline appears showing an available location for the view, release the tab todrop the view into position. One of three things will happen:110Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)•

The view becomes a tabbed view.

•

The view becomes a floating window.

•

The view becomes a new docked view.

How to resize a view
1. Place the pointer on the edge of the view to resize.
2. When you see the Resizing

icon, drag the side of the view to the desired size.

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How to temporarily hide a view
1. On the edge of the window you want to hide, click the Collapse/Expand button.
The view is compressed and only the Collapse/Expand button is visible.
2. Click the Collapse/Expand button again to redisplay the view.

Managing the Toolbars
Harmony contains toolbars which, by default, are located at the top of the interface. Some of the views also
have their own toolbars which you can move around. You can reposition the toolbars to suit your work style orhide unused ones.
You can display or hide toolbars using the menus. The Toolbar menu only contains the View toolbars of theviews that are displayed in the workspace. As you show or hide views in your workspace, the Toolbar menu
updates.
The top toolbars can also be displayed directly in a view. Only one instance of each toolbar can be displayed. If
a toolbar is already displayed in the top area and you decide to display it in a view, the selected toolbar will
move from the top area to the view.
The View toolbars can be customized to contain your favourite tools and options. Using the Toolbar Manager
window, you can organize different toolbars to suit your working style.
If you prefer to have all your tools visible in the Tools toolbar, the Flat Tool Toolbar option allows you to
expand the toolbar so there are no nested toolsets in the toolbar. When you set this option, you will need toclose Harmony and restart it for the new interface to be displayed. A default set of tools will appear in the
toolbar. However, you can customize which tool icons appear in the toolbar to fit your work pattern.

If the default toolbar does not contain the tools you require, you can customize the toolbar.
Once you are displaying the flat toolbars, you can customize the tools which appear in the toolbar. This meansthat you can change the default set of tools and replace the tools you use less frequently with ones use more
often. This customizing is done through the Toolbar Manager.
How to show and hide a toolbar
1. From the top menu, select Windows > Toolbars > the desired toolbar.

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You can right-click anywhere in the toolbar area to access Harmony toolbars. View toolbars, however,are not available by right-clicking the toolbar area. You can access the toolbar of any open and active
view by right-clicking in the view's top area or the Windows menu.

How to resize a toolbar
1. Hide a portion of a toolbar by dragging another open toolbar over its tail-end.
2. Click on the arrows appearing at the end of the collapsed toolbar to expand it.

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How to move a toolbar
1. Select the toolbar you want to move by clicking its anchor point and dragging it into a view toolbar areaor another position in the top or side interface toolbar area.

2. When a highlighted zone appears showing an available location for the toolbar, release the mouse button and drop the toolbar into position.

How to customize a view toolbar
1. In the chosen view, right-click on any button in the toolbar where you want to add or subtract a new button. You can also reorder the buttons. Make sure the button you right-click on is active.
2. From the menu, select Customize.

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The Toolbar Manager window opens.
3. To add a new icon to your toolbar, select the tool or command from the Available Tools list and click the
Right Arrowbutton to switch it to the Toolbar list.

4. To remove an icon from your toolbar, select the tool or command in the Toolbar list and click the Left
Arrow
button to switch to the Available Tools list.

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5. To reorder the icons in your toolbar, select the command to be moved from the Toolbar list and click
the Upor Down
buttons to move it to the correct location.

6. Click OK when you are finished.
How to use enable the Flat Tool Toolbar preference
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences (Windows/Linux) or Stage > Preferences (Mac OS X).
2. In the Preferences dialog box, select the General tab.
3. Select the Flat Tool Toolbar option.
4. Click OK.
5. Save your work and close Harmony.
6. Restart Harmony.
The Tools toolbar no longer contains nested tools.

Managing the Workspace
The Harmony interface is composed of several views. You can customize your workspace to suit your working
style, save it as a new workspace, and load it from the Workspace toolbar.
The first time you open Harmony, the default workspace is loaded. Other workspaces are available such as theHand-Drawn Animation and Compositing workspaces. These display different views and toolbars. You canaccess these workspaces, and any others you create, from the Windows menu and the Workspace toolbar.

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By default, when you modify the look of a workspace, it is automatically saved. If you prefer to keep yourworkspaces as they are and only save the modifications when you really want to, you must disable theAutomatically Save Workspace option.
The Workspace Manager allows you to modify, create, delete, rename and reorder you workspaces. You cansave your workspace as a new version to avoid over-writing the current one. If you do not want to modify thecurrent workspace, use the Workspace Manager to create another one and then modify that one.
You can also restore modified workspaces to their original default layout if you do not like the current
modifications or inadvertently closed some windows.
How to load a workspace
1. Do one of the following:‣

From the top menu, select Windows > Workspace > Workspace.

‣

Select a workspace from the Workspace toolbar.

How to open the Workspace Manager

1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Workspace toolbar, click the‣

From the top menu, select Windows > Workspace > Workspace Manager.

button.

How to create a new workspace
1. Open the Workspace Manager.

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2. In the Available Workspaces list, select an existing workspace.

3. At the bottom of the Available Workspaces list, click the Add

button to add a workspace.

4. Select the new workspace that was created. Click Rename and give it a new name.

5. Select the new workspace and click the Right Arrow

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6. Click OK.
How to rename a workspace
1. Open the Workspace Manager.
2. Choose the workspace to be renamed from the list.
3. Double-click on the workspace to be renamed or click the Rename button. This allows you to edit thename.

4. Type in the new name of the workspace.
5. Press the Enter/Return key to validate the name.
6. Click OK.
How to disable the Automatically Save Workspace preference
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences (Windows/Linux) or Stage > Preferences (Mac OS X) to
open the Preferences dialog box.
2. Select the General tab.

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3. In the Options section, deselect the Automatically Save Workspace option.
4. Click OK.
The Save Workspacebutton appears in the Workspace toolbar.

How to save a workspace manually
1. Do one of the following:‣

In the Workspace toolbar, click the Save Workspace‣

You can also select Windows > Workspace > Save Workspace.

button.

How to save your workspace as a new version
1. From the top menu, select Windows > Workspace > Save Workspace As.
The Save Workspace As dialog box opens.
2. Type in a workspace name and click OK.
How to delete a workspace
1. Open the Workspace Manager.
2. In the Workspace Manager, select the workspace to be deleted and click the Left Arrowmove it to the Available Workspaces list.

3. Select the workspace from the Available Workspaces list, then click the Delete
workspace.
4. Click OK.
How to show a workspace
1. Open the Workspace Manager.

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2. In the Available Workspaces list, select the workspace to be displayed and click the Right Arrow
ton to move it to the Workspace toolbar.

but-

3. Click OK.
How to hide a workspace
1. Open the Workspace Manager.
2. In the Workspace Manager, select the workspace to be hidden and click the Left Arrowmove it to the Available Workspaces list.

button to

3. Click OK.
How to reorder workspaces
1. Open the Workspace Manager.
2. In the Workspace toolbar, select the workspace to be reordered and on the Up
to move it up or down.

or Down

buttons

3. Click OK.
How to restore the default workspaces‣ From the top menu select Windows > Restore Default Workspace.

View References
Harmony contains a series of views that are each focused on a specific set of tasks. Here are the views available:•

Camera view•

Colour view•

Coordinates and Control Points view•

Drawing view•

Function view•

Layer Properties view•

Library view
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Message Log view•

Model view•

Node Library view•

Node view•

Perspective view•

Script Editor views•

Side view•

Timeline view•

Tool Properties view•

Top view•

Xsheet view

Camera View
The Camera view is the centre of operations in Harmony. In this view, you will draw, paint, animate, create
animation paths and see your results. You can also move through your symbol’s hierarchy.
The Camera view has a top and bottom toolbar that you can use to navigate in the view, change the display
mode, or go back up your symbols hierarchy.

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Light Table

When you have a drawing layer or drawing selected, the Light Table button
button allows you to fade thecolours of the other layers so you can see the current artwork better as you edit with a drawing tool. Note thatthe light table does not work when using a layer editing tool, such as the Transform
tool.
Current Drawing on Top

When this button is enabled, the drawing that you are currently editing with a drawing tool is temporarily
displayed in front of all the other elements. The actual scene is not modified.
Camera Mask

The Camera Mask
button shows or hides a black mask around the scene’s frame to avoid seeing theunnecessary artwork. This option is handy when you're animating and setting up the scene. It allows you to see
your scene’s composition better.
You can also access this from the top menu by selecting View > Show > Camera Mask.

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Safe Area

The Safe Area
button shows or hides the TV safety zone and the centre of the camera frame. The safe area
adapts to the scene resolution, as well as the safety zone and frame’s centre.
You can also access this feature from the top menu by selecting View > Show > Safe Area.
BBox Selection Style

When you select an object in the Camera view with the Transform tool, a bounding box always appears aroundthe object and the artwork is tinted in fuchsia, red or yellow. Enabling this option will only keep the boundingbox and remove the colour tint.
Outline Locked Drawings

Drawings that are locked in the Timeline view (cannot be selected in the Camera view) are displayed as
wireframes.
Reset View
The Reset View

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button resets any panning, zooming or rotation done in the Camera view and returns the display to the initial
settings. You can also press Shift + M.
Zoom Menu
The Zoom menu lets you enlarge or reduce the Camera or Drawing view display.
To make the camera frame size always match the size of your view, select the Fit to View option. Click the dropdown arrow and select a zoom level or press 1 and 2.

OpenGL View Mode

The OpenGL View Modebutton switches the Camera view to fast display, letting you see your animation playin real time. The OpenGL display requires less memory. The final look of your effects is not shown in the OpenGL
View Mode. You must switch to the Render View Mode to see your effects.

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Render View Mode

The Render View Modebutton swithes the Camera view to a fully rendered display showing the final imageof the current frame. If a modification is done to your current frame or if you move to a different frame, click theUpdate Preview button to update the display if your preview does not update automatically.The Render View
Mode display lets you see the final look of your frames including effects and antialiasing. You cannot play backyour scene in Render View Mode. To see your scene fully rendered and to play it back, you must press theRender and Playbutton in the Playback toolbar.

Matte View Mode

The Matte View Modebutton switches the Camera view to a matte display showing the alpha channel ofthe elements in your scene. The transparency level ranges from 0 to 100 percent. Zero percent is completelytransparent and represented by black and 100 percent is completely opaque and represented by white.
Everything in between these extremes has a transparency level somewhere between 1 and 99 percent and isrepresented in various shades of grey.
‣

To access the Matte View mode, click on the Render View
from the drop-down menu.

button and select Matte View

Drawing NameThe Drawing Name field displays the name of the selected drawing, as well as the layer containing it. If the cell
does not contain any drawing, an Empty Cell text is shown in the field.

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Tool Name
The Tool Name field displays the name of the selected tool. If you temporarily override a drawing tool using akeyboard shortcut, the tool’s name will be highlighted in red. You can temporarily override a tool by holding its
keyboard shortcut without the [Alt] key. For example, the Select tool shortcut is Alt + S. If you hold down the S
key, you will switch to the Select tool. When you release the key, you will return to the tool you were using.
Frame Number
The Frame Number field displays the number of the current frame.
Selected Colour
The colour swatch displays the currently selected colour in the Colour view.
Camera Toolbar
The Camera View toolbar contains all the tools and options you can use in the Camera view to draw, animate or
set up the scene. The toolbar can be displayed or hidden by right-clicking on it and selecting or deselecting the
Camera View toolbar.
View Menu
The View menu contains all the tools and options that you can use in the Camera view to draw, animate or set up
the scene.
Editing Stack Menu
The Editing Stack menu displays the names of the symbols and their hierarchy when you are editing a symbol. You
can click on the different names to go back up to the different parent symbols or the top/current project.

Colour View
The Colour view is where you create colours and palettes and import existing palettes into your project. The
Colour view is also necessary for drawing, painting and creating colour styling.

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The Colour view has two display modes:•

List mode•

Swatch mode

How to switch between the display modes
1. From the Colour menu, select Colours > Swatch Mode and do one of the following:‣

Select the option to display the swatches.

‣

Deselect the option to display the colour list.

When you are painting on bitmap layers, the Colour view will look like the following. It contains a subsetof the tools available when working with vector layers.

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Add Colour
The Add Colour

button lets you add a new colour swatch to the bottom of your colour list.

Remove Colour
The Remove Colour
button lets you delete the currently selected colour swatches. If the colour swatch is usedin your project, the Delete Colour dialog box will appear asking you to confirm the operation.

‣ Click OK to confirm the operation or Cancel to cancel it.
Zones painted with colour swatches which have been deleted will turn red, easily identifying them so you can
repaint them with another colour swatch.

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Add Texture

The Add Texture
button lets you add a bitmap colour swatch to your palette. You can load photos andtextures and paint your drawings with it. The bitmap image must be a .tga or .psd file format.
Set Current Brush Colour
The Set Current Brush Colour
button let you set the currently selected colour swatch as the colour used by
the Brush
tool. If you select a new colour in the Colour view while using the Brush tool, the Set Current
Brush Colour swatch will be updated.
Set Current Pencil Colour
The Set Current Pencil Colour
button lets you set the currently selected colour swatch as the colour usedby the Pencil, Polyline, Ellipse, Rectangle
and Line
tools. If you select a new colour in the
Colour view while using any of these tools, the Set Current Pencil Colour swatch will be updated.
Set Current Paint Colour
The Set Current Paint Colour
button lets you set the currently selected colour swatch as the colour used by
the Brush
tool. If you select a new colour in the Colour view while using the Paint tool, the Set Current Paint
Colour swatch will be updated.

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Link/Unlink Three Colours

The Link/Unlink Three Colours
button lets you link the Set Current Brush Colour, Set Current Pencil
Colour and Set Current Paint Colour swatches to the currently selected colour swatches in the Colour view.
Show/Hide Palette List View

The Show/Hide Palette List View button lets you display the Palette List view in the Colour view. This option is forthe advanced user who wants to create colour palettes for their props and characters.
Colour Swatch Name

Each colour swatch available in the Colour view can have its own name, making it easy to identify which colour isused to paint what part of your character or background.
Two colours can have the same name.

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Colour Swatch

A colour swatch is a specific colour used to paint a certain zone of a character or background. Colour palettes
are composed of colour swatches. They can also be called colour pots. When you paint a zone with a colour
swatch, the zone is linked to the swatch. So if you update the swatch’s tint, the zone will be updated along with
it. This allows you to modify your animation colours even after it is completely painted.
Colour Menu
The Colour menu lets you access commands related to the Colour view such as creating new palettes, adding
new colour swatches, and displaying the Tint panel.
Add Palette
The Add Palettebutton lets you add a new palette to the bottom of your palette list.

Remove Palette
The Remove Palettebutton lets you delete the currently selected palette. If the colour swatch is used inyour project, zones painted with colour swatches which have been deleted will turn red, easily identifying themso you can repaint them with another colour swatch.

Link Palette
The Link Palettebutton lets you access other palettes created in the project and link them to your scene.

Order Palette List
The Up and Down arrows let you reorder the selected palette. When using clone palettes (colour styles), thehighest palette is the list will override its clone located lower in the list.

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Edit Palette Mode
In Server mode, the Edit Palette Modebutton lets you get the rights to modify the palette. The palette files
can be locked to avoid accidentally modifying the palette.

Coordinates and Control Points View
Each time a keyframe or a control point is selected in the Camera, Timeline or Xsheet view, its parameters appear
in the Coordinates and Control Points view. You can also see the same information in the Coordinate and Control
Point toolbars.
You can edit keyframes and control point parameters, such as the position, continuity, bias, tension and lock-intime using the Coordinates and Control Point view.

Parameter

Description

Name

The name of the function curve to which the select point is linked.
The coordinates in X, Y and Z of the selected point.
Separate: Modifies modify the X, Y and Z coordinates independently. When
this option is deselected, all three parameters are linked. If one is deleted, allothers will also be deleted.

Position

Cumulative Z: When a layer is parented to other layers that are moved forward
or backward on the Z-axis, the currently selected layer's Z position value may
not be accurate since its parent will also have an offset on the Z-axis. The Cumulative Z value is a compilation of all the Z-axis offsets to give the real Z-axis offset value related to the (0,0) centre.

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Scale

The width and height scale values of the selected point.
Separate Scale: Modifies the width and height values independently. When thisoption is selected, the width and height are locked to the same value, forcing
the scale to be on a 1:1 ratio. If the option is deselected, you have the ability tosquash and stretch your layer at will.

RotationAngle: The rotation angle value from the permanent pivot of the element.

Skew

This is the skewing value.
Frame: The frame at which the select point is set.
Locked in Time: This option indicates if the point is locked to a specific frame(keyframe) or only locked to a specific position and the curve can flow through it
freely as other points are being added, moved, or adjusted (control point).

Control Point and Keyframe

Stop-Motion Keyframe: When this option is selected, the keyframe is set as astop-motion point. This means that there is no automatic interpolation createdbetween the selected point and the next one. The layer will maintain its position
until the animation reaches the frame of the next point and will then jump to thenew position. Deselect this option to generate interpolation and get the layer
to progressively move to the next position.

•

Continuity controls the smoothness of a transition between the segments joined by a point.

•

Tension controls how sharply the path bends as it passes through a control point or keyframe.

•

Bias controls the slope of the path so it flows towards one side of the motion point or the other.

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Drawing View
In Harmony, you can draw in the Drawing or Camera view. Although the two views are similar, when it comes todrawing, there are some differences.
Only the selected drawing is displayed by default in the Drawing view. You can use features, such as the lighttable to display the current drawing of all the enabled layers of your scene in washed-out colours, or the Onion
Skin to display the previous and next drawings of the currently selected drawing layer.

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Drawing Area
This is the main space in the Drawing view. It is where you draw and where the drawings are displayed.
Zoom Menu
The Zoom menu lets you enlarge or reduce the Camera or Drawing view display.
To make the camera frame size always match the size of your view, select the Fit to View option. Click thedrop-down arrow and select a zoom level or press 1 and 2.

Drawing NameThe Drawing Name field displays the name of the selected drawing, as well as the layer containing it. If the cell
does not contain any drawing, an Empty Cell text is shown in the field.
Tool Name
The Tool Name field displays the name of the selected tool. If you temporarily override a drawing tool using akeyboard shortcut, the tool’s name will be highlighted in red. You can temporarily override a tool by holding
its keyboard shortcut without the [Alt] key. For example, the Select tool shortcut is Alt + S. If you hold down
the S key, you will switch to the Select tool. When you release the key, you will return to the tool you wereusing.
Frame NumberThis field displays the current frame of the animation you are working on.
Cursor Coordinates
This indicates the position of the your pointer in the drawing area.
Colour Picker
The Colour Picker allows you to select a colour for drawing.

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Function View
The Function view lets you edit function curves and parameters. It is a visual graph for adding, removing, andediting keyframes, as well as adjusting the velocity. The Function view allows you to display multiple functions in
the background as a reference.

How to display functions in the Function view
1. Open the Function view.
The Function view is blank until you select the layer containing the functions you want to display.
2. To display a function in the Function view, click on the layer containing the functions to adjust in theTimeline view.
3. To select the functions you want to edit, select them in the Function list.

Parameter

Description

Function List
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When selecting a layer in the Timeline view, all the corresponding functions are
displayed. Select all the functions you want to see and edit; hide the ones you
don't.

Display Toolbar

The Display toolbar allows you to modify how the editing area is displayed. You
can hide the grid, disable the synchronization with the current frame, reset thezoom level and normalize the function display by stacking them one over theother to compare them regardless of their value range.

Current Frame

Displays the current scene frame.

Selected Keyframe Value

Displays the value of the selected keyframe.

Display Advanced Parameter
Values

Displays the Projection, Bias, Tension and Continuity parameters to adjust the
curve around the selected keyframe.

Keyframe, Velocity and Interpolation Options

This toolbar lets you add and delete keyframes, adjust the velocity curve, adjust
the segments to motion or stop-motion keyframes and set the velocity to create steps instead of a constant progression.

Function Types

This toolbar lets you click on the different function types to enable or disable all
the listed functions of that type.

Value Scale

Displays the value range for the displayed editing area. It can be referenced toknow the value of a keyframe.

Selected Keyframe

The selected keyframe is displayed in red. When selected, the keyframe values
are displayed in the corresponding fields.

Bezier Handles

The Bezier handles let you adjust the ease in and ease out of each keyframe. The
more the handle is pulled out horizontally, the slower the animation will be. The
more the handle is pulled out vertically, the faster the animation will be.

Function Curve

The thin line going from keyframe to keyframe is the actual curve. The section ofa curve located between two keyframes is called a segment.

Frame Scale

The Frame Scale displays the frame range for the displayed editing area. It canbe referenced to know the current frame of a keyframe.

Layer Properties Editor
Each layer has its own set of properties that can be modified, including effect and peg layers. Display the Layer
Properties editor if you want to modify some of the layer’s properties such as the name or the antialiasing
quality. You can display the editor by double-clicking a layer in the Timeline view or a node in the Node view.

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Library View
The Library view is used to store elements such as animation, drawings, backgrounds and puppets to reuse indifferent projects. You can also use the Library view to create and store symbols.
To reuse an element from another project, you must create a template from your drawings. A template is a mini
scene that you import in other projects. A template has no link to the original scene. When you create a template,the full content of your selection is copied in the template.
You also have the possibility to create symbols. These can be used as drawing containers when you are creating
puppets so you can store different mouth shapes or hands to use while animating. Note that drawing layers
already have this capability without being a symbol. You can also use symbols when you are building props, suchas a skateboard that has a wheel you want to reuse for the four skateboard wheels.

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Library Menu
The Library menu lets you access commands related to the Library view, importing .swf movies and Illustrator
files, add a new folder, and refresh the library’s content.
Preview Window
The Preview window lets you see the content of the currently selected template or symbol in the
Template/Symbol list.
Preview Playback
The Preview Playback button lets you play back the content of the selected template or symbol if it contains
more than one frame. Press the Playbutton to play back the preview.
Library Folder List
The Library Folder List displays all the folders linked to the Library view. There are two default folders:•

Symbols: This folder is the only folder containing symbols. You can organize it by adding subfolders
inside.

•Stage Library: This is a default folder found on the hard drive in your user documents. This folder cancontain templates, but no symbols.

You can link new library folders to the Library view and organize them with subfolders.

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Template/Symbol List
The Template/Symbol list displays the templates or symbols contained in the selected library folder. You candisplay the templates by right-clicking the symbols’ thumbnails and selecting View > Thumbnails.

Message Log View
The Message log view displays information gathered during a render task, such as which frames and at what timethey were each rendered. The view also contains a list of the colour recovery operations.

Model View
Once you have a fully painted drawing, you can use it as a colour model and load it in the Model view. Thisdrawing can be used and loaded in any of your Harmony scenes.
Once a drawing is loaded in the Model view, you can use the Dropper
tool to select a colour from the modeland use it to paint in the Camera or Drawing view without having to pick the colour from the colour palette.

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Node Library View
If you need to add new effects and other nodes to the Node view, you will need to get them from the NodeLibrary view.

When you create a new project in Harmony, the default node system that appears in the Node view looks
similar to the one below.

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Node Library View Toolbar
In the Node Library View toolbar, you can change how the nodes are displayed. You can display nodes as icons,
as a textual list or as icons with their names and a description.

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Node Categories
The Node Library view is conveniently divided into several categories:
Category

Description

3D

Nodes related to working with 3D models within Harmony.

CombineNodes for combining images.

Deformation

Nodes needed for building a deformation chain, as well as advanced effects
such as Fold and Auto Muscle. The Deformation category is divided into theBone and Distort categories.

Favorites

Nodes most commonly used. To add nodes to the Favorites category, selectany node from any other section and drag it onto the Favorites category.

FilterEffect nodes, such as blurs. This category is subdivided into the following categories: Adjust, Blur, Colour Correct, Isolate and Stylize.

Generator

Nodes that create an image, such as a gradient or colour.

Group

Nodes for grouping, like Group nodes and Multi-Port-In nodes.

Misc

Various nodes including External, Note, Script and Visibility.

Move

Nodes for changing elements over time, like Peg nodes, as well as certaintransformations.

OutputOutput (Export) nodes such as Crop, Display, Scale-Output and Writenodes.

Particle

Nodes needed to construct complex particle systems. This category includes
a series of examples of particle effects and is subdivided into the following
categories: Basic, Examples and Modifier.

Plugins

Plugin nodes.

Shading

Nodes for light shading.

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How to display all the nodes
1. If a category is selected and you want to see all the nodes available in the library, in the Node Library view,place your cursor in the Node Search field.

The Node Library view displays all the nodes.

Adding, Removing and Renaming Categories
Customizing the categories is a great way to organize the nodes according to how you like to work and thenodes you use most often. You can easily add categories and subcategories, remove categories you don't use,
and rename categories.
How to add a category
1. Do one of the following:‣

To create a new main category, click in the Node Search field.

‣

To create a subcategory, select a category.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Node Library menu, select New Category.

‣

Right-click in the category area and select New Category.

The New Category window displays.

3. In the New Category window, type in the name of a new category and click OK.

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The new category appears in the Category list. Now you can add nodes to your new category—see
Adding and Removing Nodes on page 147.

How to remove categories
1. From the Category list, select a category to remove.
2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Node Library menu, select Remove Category.

‣

Right-click in the category area and select Remove Category.

The Confirm Remove Category window displays.

3. Click Yes.
How to rename categories
1. From the Category list, select a category to rename.
2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Node Library menu, select Rename Category.

‣

Right-click in the category area and select Rename Category.

The Confirm Rename Category window displays.

3. Type in a new name for the category and click OK.

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Adding and Removing Nodes
Once you've created a category, you can add nodes to it for easy access. Later on, you can go back and remove
any nodes you no longer use. You can only add and remove nodes from a category you created.
When you add a node to a new category, it is essentially a copy of the node. The node in its default location
remains there. You cannot delete nodes from their default categories or move them.
How to add nodes
1. Select a node from any category and drag it to a category you created.

A copy of the selected node is added to your new category.
How to remove nodes
1. Select a node from a category you created.

NOTE: Nodes from the default categories cannot be removed.

2. Do one of the following:‣

From the Node Library menu, select Remove Node.

‣

Right-click in the category area and select Remove Node.

‣

Press Delete.

The node is removed from the category.

Searching for Nodes, Categories and Descriptions
Sometimes it's faster to type in the name of a node instead of looking through all the categories. You can also
search for category names or descriptions as well. Once you type in the name of a node, description or category
in the Node Search tool, it is displayed in the library. Sometimes the result of a node search is in one or morecategories for convenience.

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How to search for nodes
1. In the Node Library, place your cursor in the Node Search field.

The Node Library view displays all the nodes.
2. Type in the name of a node, category or description.
Depending on how you are viewing the nodes, the Node Library view displays the node, categories
and/or description you typed in.

3. To return to displaying all the nodes, place your cursor in the Node Search field again and delete thenode name in the Search field.

Node View
In the Node view, you can connect effects and compositing nodes to form a network, also known as a node
system. This view is very useful for rigging puppets, creating advanced effects and having a clear view ofcomplex scenes. The organization and order of the nodes determines the flow of data during the compositing
process and how your animation elements will be composited.

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Symbol Stack
When entering symbols, the Symbol Stack lets you navigate back to the top and see the hierarchy of the symbol inwhich you are working.
Node System
The main area of the Node view is where you can add and organize different nodes to represent a scene.
Navigator
The Navigator view lets you pan the visible area to move quickly through extensive node sets.
Search Toolbar
The Search toolbar lets you find and match a node in the project. The search is not case-sensitive. Once you haveentered characters in the search field, press Enter/Return to validate and find the pattern in the node names. If
successful, the node is selected and centred in the view. If many instances are found, use the Previous and Next
buttons to cycle through each node.

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Group Navigation
When entering a group, the Group Navigation allows you to navigate back to the top and see the hierarchy of
the group in which you are.

Perspective View
The Perspective view is used during scene setup. It allows you to see a multiplane scene’s orientation. The
Perspective view is similar to a 3D display, as it lets you rotate the scene through all possible angles tounderstand the spacing between the elements. You can also position and rotate your layers and the camera
inside the 3D display to achieve some 3D setup and camera moves.

1. The red circle rotates the view on its X axis.

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2. The green circle rotates the view on its Y axis.
3. The blue circle rotates the view on its Z axis.
4. This is a perspective grid reference.
5. The axis reference arrows let you maintain your orientation when navigating in the Perspective view.
6. There are three view option buttons displayed in the lower-left corner of the view.
‣

Show/Hide Camera: Shows or hides camera frame in the Perspective view.

‣

Reset View: Resets the pan, rotation, and zoom of the Perspective view.

‣

Reset Rotation: Resets the rotation of the Perspective view.

7. This field displays the current zoom level in the Perspective view. You can use the Zoom level drop-downmenu to select a specific zoom level from the list. Zoom levels from 2.5% to 6400% are available; you canalso select Fit To View to automatically use a zoom level that lets you see all your scene layers and information in the Perspective view at once.

8. This field displays the currently selected layer and drawing name.
9. This field displays the currently selected tool.
10. This field displays the currently selected frame of your animation.
11. This field displays the currently selected colour in the palette.
How to rotate a scene in the Perspective view
1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Rotate View

tool.

‣

Click in the view, and drag the cursor around to rotate the view.

‣

Press and hold Ctrl + Alt (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Alt (Mac OS X) and click and drag to rotate the view
one axis at a time.

Script Editor View
Qt Script provides access to many of the functions supported in the interface. With Qt Script, you can automate anumber of Harmony functions to speed the completion of various repetitive tasks. The Script Editor view allows

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you to edit existing scripts and create new ones. Refer to the Scripting guide to learn more about scriptingwith Harmony.

Script List
On the left side of the Script Editor view, all existing script files are listed and can be modified in this view. The
script format is JavaScript. Click on a file to display its content in the Script Content window of the view.
Script Content
On the right side of the Script Editor view, the contents of the selected script are displayed and can be edited.
Search Toolbar
The Search toolbar allows you to search a string within the selected script content. You can use the Previous
and Next buttons to navigate through the results.
VerifyThis function verifies the syntax of the currently displayed script and lists any error found.

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Save
Once you are satisfied with the modifications made to the script, click Save Changes to save the modifications.

Side View
The Side view is used mainly for multiplane scenes and to position elements in 3D space. It allows you to see ascene’s stage from the side. This lets the camera cone and spacing between the elements to be seen.

1. A thumbnail of each drawing layer in the scene. The order of the thumbnail images is based on each element’s FB position in the scene space. You can see a representation of the FB position of each layer in thecamera cone.
2. The camera cone represents the camera’s position and field-of-view (FOV).
3. The axis reference arrows let you maintain your orientation when navigating in the Perspective view.
4. There are two view option buttons displayed in the lower-left corner of the view.
‣

Show/Hide Camera: Shows or hides the camera frame in the Perspective view.

‣

Reset View: Resets the pan, rotation and zoom of the Perspective view.

5. This field displays the current zoom level in the Perspective view. You can use the Zoom menu to select azoom level from 2.5% to 6400%. You can also select Fit To View to automatically use a zoom level that lets
you see all of the scene layers and information in the Perspective view at once.

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6. Displays the currently selected layer and drawing name.
7. Displays the currently selected tool.
8. Displays the currently selected frame of your animation.
9. Displays the currently selected colour in the palette.

Timeline View
To set your animation timing, you will mostly work with the Timeline and Xsheet views. It's extremely useful to
become familiar with the Timeline view, how it works, and its interface.
The Timeline view is the main view used when adjusting the timing of drawings, adding keyframes and ordering
layers. The Timeline view displays layers, sounds, keyframe values, scene length, layer names, drawings,
keyframes, timing, and frames.

The Timeline view allows you to read your timing from left to right. It represents the scene’s elements in theirsimplest form. You can also see the layers and their names, as well as the drawing’s exposure. The drawing
name is displayed when you place your pointer over the drawing’s exposure.

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Enable/Disable All
The Enable/Disable All

button lets you show or hide layers.

When you deselect a layer in the Timeline view, the corresponding column is hidden in the Xsheet view. When acolumn is hidden in the Xsheet view, the corresponding layer is disabled in the Timeline view.
To disable a layer, click the layer's Enable/Disable All

button or press D.

To enable a layer, click the layer's Enable/Disable All

button or press A.

Solo
The Solobutton lets you view drawing or sound layers in the Camera view. You can enable this mode on
multiple layers. When the Sole mode button is deselected, everything is visible in the Camera view. When one ormore layers are soloed, only those layers appear in the Camera view.

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Onion Skin

The Onion Skinbutton enables the Onion Skin option on a particular layer. If you want to see the previous
and next frames of a specific layer, go to the Timeline view and click the Onion Skin button for that particularlayer. Blue arrows appear on both sides of the play head. Drag the blue arrows to add more frames to theonion skin display.
To activate the general Onion Skin preview, in the Tools toolbar, click the Onion Skinbutton.

Lock/Unlock Layer
The Lock/Unlock Layerbutton lets you prevent the selection or editing of a layer in the Camera view.
To select some of the layers without selecting others, in the Timeline view, lock the layers you do not want toselect. When a layer is locked, its name is displayed in red.

In the top menu, there is a series of locking options. Select Animation > Lock > select one of the following:•

Lock: Locks the currently selected element.

•

Unlock: Unlocks the currently selected element.

•

Lock All: Locks all the elements in the Camera view.

•

Unlock All: Unlocks all the elements in the Camera view.

•

Lock All Others: Locks all the elements in the Camera view except the currently selected one.

You can display the locked drawings as outlines in the Camera view to quickly find out which drawings arelocked.

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How to display locked drawings as outline
1. In the Camera View bottom toolbar, enabled the Outline Locked Drawings

option.

2. You can also set this option as a permanent preference. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences(Windows/Linux) or Stage > Preferences (Mac OS X).
3. In the Preferences dialog box, select the Camera tab.
4. In the Tools section, select the Show Locked Drawings As Outlines option.
Change Track Colour
The Change Track Colour
button lets you change the colour of the exposed frames; this helps you to quickly
locate a layer in the Timeline view. Click the Change Track Colour
button to open the Select Colour window
and choose a new colour. You can modify the colour for any type of layer, such as group, peg, drawing, andeffects.

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Add Layers
The Add Layers
button lets you add new layers to the Timeline view. When you click the Add Layers
button, a menu appears displaying the layer types available. You can add several different types of layers:•

Camera•Deformation•

Drawing•

Generator

•

Group

•

Transformation•

Effects•

Sound

Delete Layers
The Delete Layers

button lets you delete the currently selected layers in the Timeline view.

Add Drawing Layer
The Add Drawing Layerbutton lets you automatically add a new drawing layer to the Timeline view. By
default, the layer is named Drawing.
Add Peg
The Add Peg
button lets you add a peg layer to the timeline. If several layers are selected, a peg is added
and parented to each layer.

Expand/Collapse
The Expand/Collapse
button is used to display the children layers of a parent layer. Once a layer isparented to another layer, it is indented to the right and the Collapse/Expand Children button appears on theparent layer allowing you to show or hide the child layer.

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Parameters
The Parameters section lets you add, remove or modify a keyframe at the current frame. You can show or hide
the Parameters section by clicking the Show/Hide Parameters
button.

Icon

Tool Name

Tool

Add Keyframe

Adds a keyframe at the current frame.

Delete Keyframe

Removes an existing keyframe at the current
frame.

Hand Cursor

Lets you change the current keyframe or drawing exposure. When you hover the cursor overthe value, the hand cursor appears. Drag left or
right to change the value. Or double-click on
the keyframe value and enter a new value.

Previous KeyframeLets you navigate through existing keyframes.
Next Keyframe
Displays the Function menu where you can link alayer to an existing function or create a new
function—see Function Curves on page 1.

Show Function Menu

Current Drawing and Frame
The highlighted drawing represents the drawing currently displayed. The red play head represents the current
frame displayed and marked in the Playback toolbar. You can move the play head to the left or right to scrub
through frames and update the Camera view.

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Keyframe
A black or red square is displayed in the Timeline view when a keyframe exists. You can select these keyframes
and drag them wherever you want on the timeline. You can also copy, cut, and delete them.

NOTE: To delete a keyframe without deleting the drawing exposure, go to the Timeline view and select the
keyframe to be deleted and then select Animation > Delete Keyframe from the top menu or press F7.

When a parent layer is collapsed and a child layer contains a keyframe, a white square will be displayed.
Split
The Split
button lets you split the Timeline view in two sections, allowing you to see two different portionsof the Timeline view. This way, if your scene length is very long, you can see the beginning and the end at thesame time.

Drawing Exposure
In the Timeline view, when a drawing is exposed, it is represented as a grey block. If the drawing is exposed forseveral frames, the block is extended. When a second drawing is exposed, a new grey block is displayed.

The exposure’s colour can be changed. To pick a new colour, click the Change Track Colour
corresponding layer.

button in the

View Modes
The View Modes
button lets you streamline the process of working with elements in the Timeline view.
There are three different view modes you can choose to work in. With each mode you select, certain elements
may or may not be visible in the Timeline view. Depending on your workflow, this can be useful for quickly
hiding elements when you want to focus on specific ones. To select a view mode, use the drop-down menu in
the bottom-left corner of the Timeline view.

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Show/Hide Additional Links
The Show/Hide Additional Links
button lets you display links associated with a layer. For example, if youconnect a mask to more than one effect such as a Tone and a Highlight, you can see these connections in the
Additional Links section, as well as links to composite nodes.

Zoom
The Zoom tool increases or reduces the width of the frames in the Timeline view. Move the slider right to increase
the width or left to reduce it. You can also press 1 and 2. Reset the zoom by click the Reset Zoom button.

Show/Hide Functions
The Show/Hide Functions
button lets you display the functions embedded in each layer. The functions are thedifferent coordinates and values used to record a layer’s parameters at each frame. This information is stored on
the function curves using keyframes.

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Tool Properties View
The Tool Properties view contains the most common options and operations related to the currently selected
tool. When you select a tool from the Tools toolbar, the Tool Properties view updates.
For example, if you choose the Select tool, the Tool Properties view will display the options and operations
related to it, such as Snap to Contour, Apply to All Drawings, Flip Horizontal, and Flatten.

Top View
The Top view is used mainly for multiplane scenes and to position elements in 3D space. It allows you to see
the scene’s stage from above. This lets the camera cone and the spacing between the elements be seen.

1. A thumbnail of each drawing layer in the scene. The order of the thumbnail images is based on each element’s FB position in the scene space. You can see a representation of the FB position of each layer inthe camera cone.

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2. The camera cone represents the camera’s position and field-of-view (FOV).
3. The axis reference arrows let you maintain your orientation when navigating in the Perspective view.
4. There are two view option buttons displayed in the lower-left corner of the view.
‣

Show/Hide Camera: Shows or hides the camera frame in the Perspective view.

‣

Reset View: Resets the pan, rotation and zoom of the Perspective view.

5. This field displays the current zoom level in the Perspective view. You can use the Zoom menu to select azoom level from 2.5% to 6400%. You can also select Fit To View to automatically use a zoom level that lets
you see all of the scene layers and information in the Perspective view at once.

6. Displays the currently selected layer and drawing name.
7. Displays the currently selected tool.
8. Displays the currently selected frame of your animation.
9. Displays the currently selected colour in the palette.

Xsheet View
The Xsheet view lets you read the timing vertically, displays the drawing layers as columns, and shows thedrawing’s name. You can also see the functions and keyframes of the motion paths in the Xsheet’s function
columns. The value of each keyframe is shown in the Xsheet view; these are displayed as black squares in theTimeline view. The Xsheet view contains more detail than the Timeline view, and is faster and easier to read.

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1. Xsheet Main Section
The Xsheet view has three sections. By default, only the main section is visible. It displays the drawing layers,
also known as drawing columns.

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When using advanced compositing and animation techniques, unconnected functions (motion paths) also appear
in the main section. Unconnected functions mean that some motion paths are not attached to any particular layer.
When you reconnect functions to a layer, they are still visible in the main section.

2. Functions Section
The Functions section is used for more advanced techniques. This section displays the functions (paths) related tothe selected layer in the Timeline view. By default, the Functions section is hidden.

How to display the Functions section
1. In the Xsheet view, click the Expand button located on the right side of the main section. Click on the same
button to collapse it. You can also use the Show Column List

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button in the Xsheet View toolbar. If you select a drawing column in the main section of the Xsheet
view, the function columns will not be displayed. You must select the layer from the Timeline view.

. Column List Section

The Column List section allows you to show and hide columns in the Xsheet view. When you hide a layer in the
Xsheet view, it is also disabled in the Timeline view.
You can use the Column List to hide individual columns or hide an entire column type (drawing or function) fromthe Xsheet view. By default, the Functions section is hidden.
How to display the Column List section
1. In the Xsheet view, click the Expand button on the right side of the main section to show the Functions
section. Click on the same button to collapse it. You can also use the Show Column List
button in
the Xsheet toolbar.
‣

In Harmony, you can also go to the Xsheet view menu and select View > Show Column List.

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2. Click the Expand button on the right side of the Functions section to display the Column List section.

Xsheet Toolbar
The Xsheet view has its own toolbar where you can find the most common features. This toolbar is displayed bydefault. If you do not see it, select Windows > Toolbars > Xsheet View.
The Xsheet view must be part of your workspace in order to display its toolbar.
Column Header
Each column available in the Xsheet view has a header displaying the column’s name. The column’s name is thesame as the corresponding timeline layer. If you rename one or the other, they will both be renamed.
A quick access menu is available when you right-click. This menu contains the command affecting an entire column
such as renaming, changing the default colour, or deleting a column.
The tooltip that appears when you hover at the top of each Xsheet column shows the folder path to the source
drawings for that column.

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In Harmony, the column header shows the layer’s name and the name of the drawing folder to which it islinked. If the name of the layer is the same as the drawing folder, the drawing folder’s name will not be
displayed. For example; when you link a Timing column to a certain element (and thereby the Element’s folder).
To modify the name of the element folder independently from the column and layer name, you must select theAdvanced Element Mode option preference in the Advanced tab of the Preferences dialog box.

Current Drawing
A drawing selected in dark red indicates that the drawing is currently displayed in the Drawing and Camera
views. The current drawing selection is not linked to the drawing displayed in the Camera view since drawings
from each visible layer are displayed at once.

Current Frame
The darker frame appearing in the Xsheet view represents the current frame.

Drawing Exposure
In the drawing columns, you can see the drawing names and their exposure. You can use any alphanumericsymbol to name your drawing. When a drawing is exposed over more than one cell, a vertical black line isdisplayed to indicate the continuity of the exposure. When there is no drawing in a cell, the cell will be blank.

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Frame Numbers

On the left side of the Xsheet view, the frame numbers are shown indicating where you are. These read verticallyinstead of being displayed horizontally as they are in the Timeline view.
•

To go to a particular frame, click the frame number.

•

To select an entire range of frames, click and drag a selection downwards.

Current Frame Display
At the bottom-right of the Xsheet view, you can see the current frame number, as well as the column containing
the drawing currently displayed in the Drawing view.

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Functions Column
The functions columns are displayed in the Functions section of the Xsheet view. They represent the motion
and rotation you applied to a drawing layer. Only the function columns related to the selected layer are
displayed.
A function column can also be related to an effect. Selecting the effect layer shows you the corresponding
function column in the Xsheet view.
The function columns display the position value or effect value on each cell. If there is a keyframe on a cell, a
black square is displayed. Holding the same value for several frames displays a vertical black line.

Increase/Decrease Exposure
You can quickly increase or decrease the exposure of the selected cell by clicking on the up and down arrows in
the Increase/Decrease Exposure field.

Overwrite/Insert Modes
The Overwrite/Insert button allows you to decide the way the values are inserted into the Xsheet.

Toolbar References
Harmony has several toolbars. There are two types of toolbars: the top toolbars available at the top of theinterface and the view toolbars in individual windows. View toolbars are only shown if the particular view isdisplayed in the workspace. This is a complete list of the toolbars available in Harmony.

Top Toolbars
Advanced Animation Toolbar
The Advanced Animation toolbar contains tools to position and animate layers. The Scale, Translate andRotate tools can be used to reposition the permanent pivot position of a layer. Unlike the Transform tool, eachtool in the Advanced Animation toolbar performs a single operation, either rotate, scale, translate or scale inrelation to the camera distance.

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Art Layer
A drawing is composed of two layers, a line layer and a colour layer. The colour layer is always placed under theline layer. These layers are accessible in the Drawing or Camera view (using drawing tools). When you view thefinal drawing, you will see the final composition of the lines and colours, not two separate layers.

You can draw and paint in all layers. If you prefer to work in a single layer, everything can be done in the Line Art
layer.
You can change your preferences to enable the advanced use of layers and have access to four layers instead oftwo:•Overlay•Line Art•

Colour Art•

Underlay

How to enable the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences ( Windows/Linux ) or Stage > Preferences ( Mac OS X ).
2. In the Preferences panel, select the Advanced tab.
3. In the Advanced Options section, select the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts option.
4. Click OK.
Art Layer
Coordinate Toolbar
A drawing is composed of two layers, a line layer and a colour layer. The colour layer is always placed under thelinelayersare accessible
in thepoint
Drawing
orCamera,
Camera view(usingtools).
you view
the inEachlayer.
time Theseyou selecta keyframeor control
in theTimelineor drawing
Xsheet view,
itsWhenparameters
appear
final
drawing,
you
will
see
the
final
composition
of
the
lines
and
colours,nottwo
separate
layers.
the Coordinate toolbar. You can edit keyframes and control point parameters, such as the position, scale androtation coordinates.

Control Point Toolbar
You can draw and paint in all layers. If you prefer to work in a single layer, everything can be done in the Line Art
Eachlayer.time you select a keyframe or control point in the Camera, Timeline or Xsheet view, its parameters appear in
the Control Points toolbar. You can edit keyframes and control point parameters, such as the continuity, bias,
You
canandchangeyour preferences to enable the advanced use of layers and have access to four layers instead oftensionlock-in-time.
two:•Overlay• Line Art
Deformation Toolbar• Colour Art
The•Deformation
Underlay toolbar contains the various tools and options used to create a deformation rig. This toolbar is
171 option
How to enable the Support Overlay and Underlay Arts
1. From the top menu, select Edit > Preferences ( Windows/Linux ) or Stage > Preferences ( Mac OS X ).

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displayed in the default interface.
By default, the Deformation toolbar only contains the essential options. If you right-click on the toolbar andselect Customize, you can add additional buttons.

Display Toolbar
The Display toolbar lets you select the different Display nodes available in the node system.
When your scene does not have a Display node, it is automatically set to Display All which uses the Timelineview ordering and shows floating nodes from the Node view. You can also set your scene to use Display All
using the Display toolbar.

NOTE: If you try to add a peg or other transformation layer in the Timeline view without having a layer selected, anerror message will display. Make sure to change to Display All. The peg layer will be floating in the Node view andwill not be visible in the Timeline view. The Timeline view shows only layers that are connected to the Composite
node.
If you switch to Display All, you run the risk of not realizing when you have floating nodes that are not connected toyour composite. For this reason, it is not recommended to work in Display All mode.

Easy Flipping Toolbar
The Easy Flipping toolbar lets you rapidly flip through drawings in the Drawing view as is done with paper
drawings.

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Edit Toolbar
The Edit toolbar contains common operations such as Copy, Paste, Cut, Undo and Redo. These options can also
be found in the Edit menu.

File Toolbar
The File toolbar contains the common file operations such as New, Save and Open. These options can also befound in the File menu.

Xsheet Toolbar
The Xsheet toolbar contains the common timing operations such as Add Column, Delete Column, Clone Column,
and so on. These options can also be found in the top menu.

Flip Toolbar
The Flip toolbar lets you determine the type of drawing to include in your flipping selection. You can flip throughthe key, breakdown or in-between drawings individually, or view a combination.

Mark Drawing Toolbar
The Mark Drawing toolbar lets you identify drawings such as Key, Breakdown and In-between. The drawing
Identification feature can help the animator stay well organized and save time when identifying key, breakdown orin-between drawings in the Xsheet and Timeline views.

Onion Skin Toolbar
When designing or animating, it is useful to be able to see your previous drawings. The Onion Skin tool is used topreview the previous and subsequent drawings. By default, the previous drawings will appear with a shade of red
and the next drawings will be displayed with a shade of green, but you can change the display options in the
Preferences dialog box. In the Onion Skin toolbar, you can select what type of drawing you want to display in youronion skin display.

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Playback Toolbar

The Playback toolbar lets you play back animation and sound. Use it to scrub the sound to create your lip-sync,
loop the playback, navigate through frames, and change the playback range and speed.
Name

ButtonDescription
Plays and stops the animation.

Play

You can also select Play > Play Scene
Forward or Stop.
Creates a render of your scene to play backthe final result including the effects.

Render and Play

Repeatedly plays back your animationindefinitely.

Loop

You can also select Play > Loop.
Enables sound in the playback.
Sound
You can also select Play > Enable Sound.
Enables sound scrubbing in the playback.
Sound Scrubbing

You can also select Play > Enable Sound
Scrubbing.
Lets you scroll through the playback’s
frames.

Jog Frames

Lets you change the playback frame range byentering new values in the Start and Stop
fields. You can also click on the Start andStop words to set the start or end frame at
the current frame.
Lets you enter a new value to change thespeed of the playback.

FPS

Scripting Toolbar
The Scripting toolbar lets you import and access the scripts created to automate actions and operations.

Tools Toolbar

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The Tools toolbar contains all of the main tools you will use while working in Harmony. In the default workspace,you will find this toolbar on the left-most side of the interface.
Tool Presets Toolbar
The Tool Presets toolbar lets you create new tool presets and manage them.

Workspace Toolbar
The first time you open Harmony, the default workspace is loaded. Other workspaces are available such as theHand-Drawn Animation and Compositing workspaces; these display different views and toolbars. You can accessthese workspaces and any you create, from the Windows menu and the Workspace toolbar.

View Toolbars
Here is a list of the toolbars available in the Harmony views:•

Camera Toolbar•

Drawing Toolbar•

Layer Toolbar•

Library Toolbar•

Model Toolbar•

Node Toolbar•

Script Editor Toolbar•

Timeline Toolbar•

Xsheet Toolbar

Interface Navigation
Toon Boom Harmony lets you zoom in, zoom out, rotate, pan and reset views for easy navigation of the interface.
Command

ActionAccess Methods
View > Zoom In

Zoom In

Zooms in the view.

Press 2 or roll the mousewheel up.
In the Timeline view, roll themouse wheel up.

Zoom Out

View > Zoom Out
Zooms out the view.

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Press 1 or roll the mouseChapter 9: Interface

wheel down.
In the Timeline view, roll themouse wheel downZooms in or out of the view.

Roll the middle mouse button
up or down.

Pan

Moves parallel to the view.

Hold down the Spacebar anddrag n in the direction inwhich you want to pan theview.

Recenter view

Recenters the view on the pointer.

Press N

Resets the view’s pan to its default
position.

View > Reset Pan

Reset Pan

Zoom In or Out

Press Shift + N
View > Reset View

Reset View

Resets the view to its default position.

Press Shift + M

Reset Rotation

Resets the view’s rotation to its default View > Reset Rotation
position.
Press Shift + X

Reset Zoom

Resets the view’s zoom to its default
position.

View > Reset Zoom

Enlarges the selected view to fullscreen which is done in three stages.

Toggle Full ScreenFirst, the selected view enlarges to the
maximum width or height, but keeps
View > Toggle Full Screen
the tool views such as Colour or Tool
Press Ctrl + F
Properties view.
(Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + F
Second, the view enlarges to full(Mac OS X)
screen.
Third, the view returns to its originalsize.

Rotate 30 CW

Rotates the Camera view 30 degrees
clockwise, like an animation table.

View > Rotate View CW

Rotate 30 CCW

Rotates the Camera view 30 degrees
counter-clockwise, like an animationtable.

View > Rotate View CCW

Toggle Quick Close-up

Use the Magnifier tool to quickly
center on the mouse position andzoom in to a pre-defined value such as
4X. Then you can zoom out again. Holdthe Shift key and press Z to zoom inand back out again. Replace the Reset
Zoom by pressing Shift +.

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The area where you zoom in or out isdependent on the pointer location in
the Camera view. If you zoom in andthen move the pointer to a different
location when you zoom out the mousewill be centered on that location.

Using the Play Menu to Navigate
From the top menu, you can select any of the following commands from the Play menu to navigate around theinterface.
Command

Description

Start Frame

Lets you set the frame on which playback will start.

End FrameLets you set the frame on which playback will end.

First Frame

Jump to the first frame. You can also press <.

Previous Frame

Jumps to the frame before the frame currently selected in the Timeline view.
You can also press the comma (,) key.

Next Frame

Jumps to the frame after the currently selected frame in the Timeline view. You
can also press the period (.) key.

Last Frame

Jumps to the last frame. You can also press >.
Opens the Go to Frame window in which you can enter the number of the frame
you want to display.

Go to Frame

You can also use the Go button, which you can add to the Timeline toolbar
through the Toolbar Manager. Open the Go to Frame dialog box and enter theframe number to jump to.

Enable Playback

Plays back your animation from the Top, Side, or Perspective views.

Zoom Tool
The Zoom

tool in the Tools toolbar lets you zoom in and zoom out of the Camera or Drawing view.

•

The keyboard shortcuts are 1 and 2.

•

When you're in Zoom In mode, hold Alt as you click to zoom out.

When you select the Zoom tool, its properties are displayed in the Tool Properties view.

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Parameter

ButtonDescription

Zoom In

Zooms in

Zoom Out

Zooms out

Zoom Tool Options

Zoom in the Camera or Drawing view.
Perform Zoom In
The keyboard shortcut is 2.
Zoom out the Camera or Drawing view.
Operations

Perform Zoom Out
The keyboard shortcut is 1.
Reset Zoom

Restores the current zoom level to 100%.

Reset View

Restores the original display by resetting
any pan, rotation or zoom actions.

Glossaryalpha channel

An image channel that carries transparency information. An image alreadyhas three channels: red, green and blue (RGB). The alpha channel is the
fourth channel (RGBA). The matte, or the transparency information, isstored in this fourth channel. An image without an alpha channel is always
opaque.

animatic

A movie with sound that is developed from the storyboard. The storyboard
panel is exposed for the duration of the scene and at times, the characters
are placed on a trajectory to indicate motion. The camera moves are also
animated. The animatic is used to determine the rhythm of a project andprovides a good overview of the project before beginning production.

animation

A simulation of movement created by displaying a series of pictures orframes.

anime

An animation style known for its sinister and dark feel; popular in Japan.

arc

Action rarely occurs in a straight-forward manner; rather it typically unfolds
in what storytellers refer to as an arc. The purpose of a story arc is to movea character or situation from one state or scenario to the next.

aspect ratio

The relationship between the width and height dimensions for any scene,
frame or film format. Television ratio is 4:3 and widescreen ratio is 16:9.

auto-feed

An automated method of feeding drawings into a scanner in which multiple
drawings are stacked into a sheet feeder. When the scanner is activated,the drawings are scanned consecutively, without further user intervention.

automatic lip-sync detection

Automatically mapping drawings in an element to the mouth chart
generated for a sound. This can save time when lip-syncing a voice track.
An imaginary line around which an object rotates.

axis

For 2D graphics, there are two axes: X (horizontal and Y (vertical).
For 3D graphics, there are three axes: X (horizontal, Y (vertical) and Z(depth).

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background

The part of a scene that is farthest to the rear. The background is theartwork, or decor, against which the animation takes place.

Bézier

A method of defining curved lines invented by French mathematician Pierre
Bézier. A Bézier curve is a mathematical or parametric curve. Bézier curves
use at least three points to define a curve.

bitmapAn image composed of pixels with a single resolution (size). If it is enlarged
too much, it will lose definition and pixels will begin to appear. This is
known as pixelation.

breakdown

In cut-out animation, breakdown is the action of breaking a character into
pieces to create a puppet with articulations. To break down a character,the artist cuts parts, such as the hands and arms, from the character's
model and pastes them in separate layers. Next, the joints are fixed and thepivots set.
In traditional animation, a breakdown is an animation pose generally foundbetween two key poses. The key poses are the main poses in an animationand the breakdowns are secondary poses, ones that help describe themotion and the rotation curve (usually referred to as an arc).

camera shake

Camera shake occurs in a scene when the camera moves slightly and quickly
in several directions. This gives the impression of an impact, vibration or,for example, bumps on the road.

captionA text field containing dialogue, effects, sound, or slugging information in astoryboard.

cel

In traditional animation, a cel (also known as celluloid) is a transparent
sheet on which the animation is inked and painted before being sent to thecamera. The picture's outline is drawn on the front of the cel and thencoloured along the back.
In Harmony, a cel is an individual space in an Xsheet column from which you
can expose a drawing or a function's coordinate.

character design

Each character in an animated film is drawn from multiple angles in posterstyle format, called a model sheet, which serves as a reference for the
animators.

clean up

After rough drawings have been tested and approved, all the noise in theimage (excess lines, notes, etc) is removed to create final drawings which
can be inked, painted and shot. The cleanup process refers to either tracing
a clean line over a rough drawing to achieve the final version, or removing
dirt and extra lines left by the scanning process.

CMYK

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black. Refers to the process used by printers todefine colour on the printed page.

colour card

A colour card is a solid colour card that is the same size as the camera. The
colour card can be used to fill the background with a solid colour when
there is no background image included.

colour model

The official colour design that must be used to paint the animation. A
model is the definitive character, prop, or location design that each artist
must follow for the production.

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colour wheel

A display of the colour spectrum in the form of a circle.

compositing

Compositing is the action of incorporating all of a scene's elements tocreate the final result prior to rendering. For example, the compositing
artist will import all the animation sequences, background, overlays andunderlays in the scene and position them correctly. The artist will then set
the camera frame and animate it, if needed. Finally, the animator will create
all the computer-generated effects for the project.

cross dissolve

An effect used to fade two scenes, one into the other.

cut

A direct transition between two scenes. When a cut is used, there are notransition effects inserted to pass from one scene to the next. The firstscene ends and the second one starts immediately.

cut-out animation

The action of animating characters made of several pieces by moving themaround frame by frame. Cut-out animation can either be computer
generated or done traditionally using paper.

cycle

A group of images that together make up an action, such as walking. A
cycle is an action repeated as a loop over a period of time. It can be a seriesof animated drawings or keyframes.

dialogue

The text spoken by a character in a movie or animation.

dope sheet

Used by animators, directors and other members of a crew to track thesequence and timing of images, dialogue, sound effects, sound tracks andcamera moves. Also known as an exposure sheet or Xsheet.

dopingTo assign a particular drawing to a range of frames.

DPI

Dots per inch is the standard measure of resolution for computerized
printers. It is sometimes applied to screens, in which case it should moreaccurately be referred to as pixels per inch. Either way, the dot is thesmallest discrete element making up the image.

ease/velocity

In animation, the ease, also known as velocity, is the acceleration anddeceleration of a motion. It can be a motion created by a function curve, ora series of animated drawings. Other common terms for ease-in and easeout are slow-in and slow-out.

ease-in

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

ease-out

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

establishing shot

A scene in which the viewer can see the whole area in which a sequence ishappening. For example, if a child is playing on the ground in front of his
house, the establishing shot would be a scene where the viewer can see thehouse, the ground, a part of the street and the buildings around the central
point of action. This helps the viewer understand the story location andscene orientation.

exposure

In animation, an exposure is the number of cels on which a drawing appears
in the scene. For a drawing to appear longer, the exposure must be
extended over a greater number of cels.

exposure sheet

A sheet with several vertical columns and horizontal frames used to indicate
a scene's timing. Each column represents a scene layer. The drawing

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numbers in each column are indicated and repeated over the particularamount of frames they need to appear.
The exposure sheet is used by animators, directors and other members of acrew to track the sequence and timing of images, dialogue, sound effects,
sound tracks and camera moves. Also known as a dope sheet.

fade in/fade out

Fade in or fade out is a transition effect used to open or close a sequence. A
fade in occurs when the first scene appears progressively, from complete
transparency to its complete opacity. A fade out occurs when the last scene
progressively disappears, going from complete opacity to complete
transparency.

fast-inDramatic acceleration at the start of the action.

fast-out

Dramatic acceleration at the end of the action.

field

In animation, a field is a measurement unit used to calculate motion,
registration and camera positioning. A standard animation scene will vary
between 6 to 12 fields.

field chart

A guide containing all the field units that animation and layout artists use todetermine a scene size or camera motion.

film-1.33

A resolution that is ideal for the widescreen film format that conforms to
the standard 4:3 pixel aspect ratio.

film-1.66

A resolution that is ideal for the widescreen film format that conforms to
the 16:9 pixel aspect ratio. (The pixels are wider than they are high).

flipping

In traditional animation, flipping is the action of going through the drawingsof an animation sequence very quickly in order to see the animation in
motion. Flipping can also be the action of creating a mirror transformationof an object.

follow-throughThe secondary motion caused by the main action. For example, a character
wearing a cloak is running. The main action is the body running. This willcause the cloak to follow the motion, although it will not move at the sametime, but react a few frames later and follow the main motion curve.

forward kinematics

Forward kinematics is a feature used to animate principally 3D charactersand cut-out puppets with hierarchy. It is used to animate a puppet from oneof parent parts, such as a shoulder, and make the rest of the arm move with
it as a single piece.

frame

A single photographic image in a movie. In traditional animation, the North
American standard generally contains 24 frames per second, while inEurope the standard is 25 frames per second.
The frame rate is the speed at which the frames are played. They are
generally calculated by frame per second. For example, a scene could beplayed back at 12, 24, 25, 30 or 60 frames per second or any other number.

frame rate

This is the measurement of the frequency (rate) at which an imaging device
produces unique consecutive images, called frames. The term applies
equally to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion
capture systems.

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Frame rate is most often expressed in frames per second (fps) and in
progressive-scan monitors as hertz (Hz).
functions

A computer-generated motion, trajectory or path on which elements, othertrajectories and effects parameters can be attached. The function can becontrolled by adding keyframes and control points on the function curve.

gamut

The range of colours that a particular device can represent.

HDTV

High Definition Television delivers a higher quality image than standard
television does because it has a greater number of lines of resolution. To
take advantage of the superior quality and make full use of your resolution
setting, the output device must be compatible with HDTV technology.

hold

A frame in the animation in which the character maintains its position
without moving. A hold can be created between any two keyframes.

HSV

Hue, Saturation, Value. A method of defining colours in terms of hue (tint),
saturation (shade) and value (tone or luminance).

in-between

The drawings that exist between the key poses. These are drawn to create
fluid transitions between poses.

ink and paint

The ink and paint process is the action of painting the empty zones andcolouring the lines on the final animation drawings, while following a colour
model.

interpolation

The computer-generated motion created between two keyframes. You
have the choice to create interpolation, or not, between your keyframes.

jump cut

A jerky cut between two scenes. Typically, a jump cut is not visuallypleasing. It is generally caused by one scene ending, and a second one
starting, with a similar image. The lack of difference causes the eye to see alittle jump between the two scenes.

key pose

Important positions in the action defining the starting and ending points ofany smooth transition. Keys, or key poses, are the main drawings in an
animation sequence describing the motion. For example, if an arm iswaving, the keys will be of the arm at one extremity of the wave motion andthe other extremity. By flipping those drawings, the animator can see theskeleton of the motion without having all the drawings.

keyboard shortcuts

One or more keyboard keys which, when used, cause an operation to be
performed.

keyframe

Important positions in the action defining the starting and ending points ofany action. A keyframe is a computer-generated position at a specificmoment (frame) on a given trajectory.

layersIn animation, a layer is an individual column, level or character. A scene's
layers are superimposed to form the final image.

layout

The communication step between the storyboard and the animation. It is
the action of putting the storyboard on model. That is, drawing thecharacter by following the design in the model pack, so the animator canstart working.
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matching the scene and camera motion. Lastly, the animator draws on
model the main action poses.
layout and posing

The action of putting on model. That is, at the right scale, the storyboard
for the animator to start working.

library

A storage area containing templates and assets that can be reused in any
project or scene.

light table

A device that allows you to see other layers in transparency while you areworking on a particular layer.

line of action

The direction that the action will follow. Also known as path of action.

lip-sync

The character's mouth synchronization with the dialogue sound track.
Frame by frame, the mouth will be adjusted to fit the sound to give theillusion of the character is speaking.

low resolution

A format that is ideal for videos destined for the web, where size and fast
download of a video file take precedence over quality. A low-resolution
image is one that lacks fine detail.

manual lip-sync detection

The manual swapping of mouth position drawings to match a voice track.
For this process, both sound scrubbing (listening to a sound wave broken
up frame-by-frame) and drawing substitutions are used.

master palette

A group of colours attributed to a character or prop. The palette is usedthroughout the entire production to maintain consistency in the look and toensure that the same colours are used throughout the production. Also
known as palette.

model/colour model

The definitive character, prop or location design each artist must follow fora production. A colour model is the official colour design that must be used
to paint the animation.

motion keyframe

A keyframe with computer-generated interpolation.

mouth chart

A chart based on the eight animation phonemes (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and X,
which is used to represent silence) used for lip-sync.

multiplane

The effect of passing through multiple levels of drawings to create a senseof depth in a shot. A multiplane is a scene in which the layers are placed at
different distances from the camera so that when the camera moves, adepth illusion occurs. With a multiplane, all the perspective and scale iscalculated automatically.

NTSC

The standard analogue television broadcasting system used in North
America. NTSC conforms to North American standards on how rectangularpixels are displayed for computer and television screens.

nudge

A small push (left, right, up, down, forward or backward) done with the
keyboard arrow keys on a selected element. Nudging is used to move aselection very slightly and precisely.

onion skin

A feature that lets you see the previous and next drawings of a sequence.

overlay

A part of the scene environment, such as a chair or a bush, that is placed in
front of the main animation.

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PAL

A resolution that works best with the European format for television andcomputer screens, as the rectangular pixels are displayed at a different
orientation.

palette/master palette

A palette or master palette is a group of colours attributed to a characteror a prop. The palette is used throughout the entire project to maintain aconsistency in the look and avoid the colour changing during the animation.
Also referred to as a master palette.

palette style

A palette style is a second version of an existing palette with a slight change
in the tint and value. A palette style can be used to create the night version
of a palette. It may also be called a clone palette.

pan

To move the camera across the scene in any direction.

panel

In a storyboard, a panel is a frame in a shot. A shot can be composed of one
or several panels.

The paperless animation process is the action of animating digitally. The
paperless animation/tradigital main paperless animation process is to draw, frame by frame, theanimation directly in the software.
passing position

When drawing a walk sequence for a character, the passing position is thepoint at which one leg passes the other.

path of action

Direction that the action will follow. Also known as line of action.

peg

In traditional animation, a tool used to ensure accurate registration ofaction as cel layers move. In digital animation, in which you are doing amore advanced puppet rigging, you can use peg layers. Peg layers aretrajectory layers that do not contain drawings. They are motion paths thatyou can use to add path articulations. For the latter, you can also use theInverse Kinematics tool.

phonemeA unit of sound in a language.

pivot

The point around which a peg or drawing rotates.
The smallest element of an image displayed on a monitor or TV screen.

pixel

Pixel, short for picture element, is a single point in a graphic image. It is asmall sample of an image, a dot, a square, or a very small section made outof smooth filtering. If you zoom in close enough on a digital image, you will
see the pixels, which look like small squares of different colours andintensity.

pose-to-pose animation

The pose-to-pose animation process is the action of creating all the main
action poses, called key poses, and then placing the secondary poses
between the keys. The secondary poses are called breakdown. Finally, theanimator fills the gaps with the in-between drawings to achieve a smoothanimation.

rendering

The final step when animating by computer. During rendering, thecomputer takes each pixel that appears on screen and processes all of thecomponents, as well as adding motion blur before it produces a final
image. The process of calculating the final images after the compositing
process.

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resolution

The size of a scene, generally calculated in pixels. For example, the NTSC
resolution is 720 x 480. The resolution should match the final output: HDTV,
film-1.33, film-1.66, NTSC, PAL, low.

RGB

Red, Green, Blue. A method of defining colour by specifying amounts ofthese three colour components.

rigging

The process of attaching the various parts of a cut-out puppet.

rotary table

Equivalent to the animation disk/table, a device that allows you to rotate
the workspace for greater comfort while drawing.

rotoscoping

An animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film
movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films. The act of sketchingover live-action footage to create an animated sequence.

roughs

The skeleton sketch of an animation or design. Roughs mainly consist of
sketch lines and shapes, though they can also contain design details.

safe area

The zone at the center of a scene's frame that is safe from being cropped
by the TV frame. As a TV frame cuts a margin off the original frame size,
maintaining a safe area ensures that the scene's main action will remain
clearly visible once the film is screened on television.

scene

A shot in a movie or show. A sequence is composed of several scenes. A
scene changes to another scene by a simple cut or transition.

scriptThe original text containing all the movie or show information. In animation,
the script contains all of the location descriptions, dialogue, time and more.
A project starts with a script.

sequence

A series of scenes or shots forming a distinct part of the story or movie,
usually connected by unity of location or time.

shot

A scene in a movie or show. A sequence is composed of several shots. A
shot changes to another shot by a simple cut or transition.

slow-in

The gradual acceleration in the action. Also known as ease-in.

slow-out

The gradual deceleration in the action. Also known as ease-out.

slugging

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

sound scrubbing

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

stop-motion keyframe

A keyframe with no computer-generated interpolation.

storyboard

A visual plan of all the scenes and shots in an animation. The storyboard
indicates what will happen, when it will happen and how the objects in ascene are laid out.

straight-ahead

A technique in which an entire sequence is drawn from the first position to
the last, in order. There is very little planning in this methodology. Where
the character ends up and how it gets there can be a surprise for both theaudience and the animator. While this approach is spontaneous andcreative, it can create inaccurate results.

strokes

Invisible vector lines forming the drawing zones. They can be adjusted with
Bézier handles.
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Chapter 9: Interface

tablet/pen

A device used in conjunction with, or instead of, a mouse to move a mousepointer (sometimes referred to as the cursor) around the computer screen.

template

An asset stored in the library that can be reused in any project. A template
can be a drawing, a series of keyframes, a sound file, a panel, a cut-out
character, an effect, a trajectory, an animation, or anything else used in the
animation.

thumbnails

A very small image used as a reference or indicator.

timecode

The timing information printed on a movie clip to indicate the scene, hour,
minute and second that is currently displayed on the screen.

timeline

A horizontal representation of a scene's elements, timing and keyframes.

trace and paint

After the rough animations have gone through cleanup and a final line or
pencil test, each drawing is traced and painted for the final animation. In
today's digital world, this may be done in a variety ways other than the
traditional celluloid or acetate methods.

track breakdown

The break down of an animated film's soundtrack into individual sounds to
produce the precise frame-by-frame position of each sound.

traditional animation

A type of animation process whereby all the animation sequences are
drawn by hand on paper before scanning or inking them on cels.

trajectory

A computer-generated path or trajectory that elements can follow. The
trajectory can be controlled by control points, keyframes and velocity.

transition

An effect placed between two scenes as they pass from one to the other.
Common transition effects are cross-dissolve and wipe.

underlay

In animation, an underlay is a specific part of the decor placed behind themain animation.

aspect ratio

The aspect ratio describes the shape of the grid unit. A square grid unit
would have a 1:1 ratio , whereas a grid unit of aspect ratio 4:3 is a unit with
one side 1.33 times as big as the other side.

vector

A vector-based image is composed of points and Bézier curves. The
computer reads the points and traces the segments, linking them toreproduce the image shape. There is no fixed size or resolution in a vector
image. The graphic can be enlarged and distorted as much as desired andthe system will simply recalculate the segments and rebuild the shapes.
Vector images are translated and displayed in pixels once the calculation isdone.

velocity

In animation, the velocity, also known as ease, is the acceleration or
deceleration of a motion. This can be achieved by a function curve, or via aseries of animated drawings. Other common terms for ease-in and ease-out
are slow-in and slow-out.

walk cycle

A series of drawings "on the spot" that describe the walk for a character.
The illusion of movement is created by the use of background pans. To
avoid making innumerable drawings, animators routinely make a walk cycle
for a character.

Xsheet (exposure sheet)

The Xsheet or exposure sheet, is a sheet with several vertical columns and186Harmony 12.1 Premium - Fundamentals Guide (Server)

horizontal frames used to indicate a scene's timing.
Each column represents a scene's layer. In each column, the drawing
numbers are indicated and spread over the specific number of frames inwhich they appear.
The exposure sheet is used by animators, directors and other members of
the crew to track the sequence and timing of images, dialogue, soundeffects, sound tracks and camera moves. Also known as dope sheet.
zone

An area which can be painted with colour.

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188

•

Index
4:3
12 fields 95
about
Cloud module 14
Harmony 11
Harmony Control Center 12
Paint module 14
Play module 14
Scan 13
Stage 13
addingviews 109
Advanced Animation toolbar 170
alignment 95
4:3 12 Fields 95
Square 12 Fields 95
alpha channel 178
animatic 20, 178
animation 178
principles 35
animation principles 35
anticipation 36
arcs of rotation 37
concepts, traditional 41
exaggeration 39
follow-through 37
pose-to-pose 36
secondary actions 38
slow-in, slow-out 38
solidity 39
squash and stretch 35
straight-ahead 36
timing 35

animation types 23

bitmap images 179

cut-out 25

bitmap resolution

paperless 24

height 97

traditional 23

resolution factor 97

animation workflows 17

settings 97

post-production 21

width 97

pre-production 17

bounding box

production 21
anime 178

selection style 124
breakdown 179

anticipation 36

sound 21arc 178

broadcast standards 45

arcs of rotation 37

camera mask 123

area, safe 124

camera shake 179

Art Layer toolbar 171

Camera toolbar 127

enabling art layers 171
art layers

Camera view 122
bounding box selection style 124

enabling 171
aspect ratio 93, 178, 186
grid 95

camera mask 123
Camera View toolbar 127
current drawing on top 123

audio

Editing Stack menu 127

dubbing 22

light table 123

editing 22

Matte View mode 126

recording 20

OpenGL view mode 125

auto-feed 178

outline locked drawings 124

auto-save

Render View mode 126

disabling on workspaces 119

resetting view 124

axis 178

safe area 124

background 179

View menu 127

background styling 20

Zoom menu 125

backing up

caption 179

palettes 64
Bezier 179

cel 179
celluloid

bitmap graphics 41
advantages, disadvantages 42
image types 41

189

See cel. 179
center coordinates, setting 96

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characterconventions, naming 66

documentation

design 19

layer 67

accessing 78

styling 20

puppet drawings 68

dope sheet 180

character design 179

renaming modules 68

doping 180

checking

scene 66

DPI 180colours 98

Coordinate toolbar 171

files, project 98

coordinates

project files 98
clean up 179
clockwiserotating 176
closing
views 110CMYK 179
colour card 179
colour layers 42

adding 88

keyframes and control point
parameters 171
Coordinates and Control Points
view 133
counterclockwise
rotating 176

workspace, new 117
cross dissolve 180

colour model 179, 183
colour palettes 43

customizing
toolbars 114
cut 180

storage location 63

cut-out animation 25, 180

Colour view 127
switching palette display modes 128
colour wheel 180
colours
checking 98
commands
basic 99
compositing 180
Control Center
about 12Control Point toolbar 171
controls points 171

Drawing view 135
drawings
current drawing on top 123
flipping through 172

outline locked drawings 124
dubbing 22
ease 180
ease-in 180
ease-out 180

locking 75-76

switching display modes 128

locking 89

locking 75-76, 89

creating

current drawing on top, Camera
view 123back up 64

drawing layers

Easy Flipping toolbar 172
editing

workflow 32

audio 22
final 22cycle 180

Editing Stack menu 127

dark style interface 105

editors

database

Layer Properties 138

connecting 73
files 55

environments
Harmony Network 54

structure, Harmony Network 53

establishing shot 180

Deformation toolbar 171

exaggeration 39

deleting

exportingworkspace 120

palettes 63

dialogue 180

exposure 180

display

exposure sheet 180, 186

workspace 120
Display toolbar 172
distribution, master 23

190

traditional 45
fade-in 181

•fade-out 181
field 181functions 182
displaying 137

field chart 181

gamut 182

field of view 93

get rights to modify 77

Help
Harmony 7
structure 7
hidingcustom 93

global lock 76

views temporarily 112

horizontal fit 93graphics, bitmap and vector 41

workspace 121

vertical fit 93
file structure 53, 55
drawings and layers 60
Harmony Network 55

advantages, disadvantages 42

Hold 182

bitmap image types 41

HSV 182

vector image types 42

in-between 182

grid

ink and paint 182

File toolbar 173

aspect ratio, setting 95

files

centre coordinates, setting 96

checking project files 98

number of units, setting 96

film-1.33 92, 181

group navigation 150

film-1.66 92, 181

Harmony

integrity
project, checking 98
interface 105
dark style 105interpolation 182

film-1.66_Vertical 92

dark style 105

jump cut 182

final editing 22

file structure 55

key pose 182

flat toolbars 112, 116interface 105

keyboard shortcuts 182

Flip toolbar 173

modules 11

keyframes 182

flipping 181

starting 71-72

Layer Properties editor 138

follow-through 37, 181

Harmony Server

layers 182

format 49

centralized database 71

adding drawing layer 88

forward kinematics 181

connecting to database 73

line and colour layers 42

FOV (field of view) 93

dark style 105

naming convention 67

custom 93

database files 55

layout 182

horizontal fit 93

database structure 53

layout and posing 183

vertical fit 93

environments 54

Libary folder

fps 93

file structure 55

frame 181

interface 105

frame rate 49, 181

network connections 71

frames per second 93

starting 71-72

Library view 139

full screen 176

usa_db structure 56

light table 183

Function view 137
displaying functions 137

HDTV 92, 182
HDTV_Vertical 92

locking 75-76
library 64, 183personal 66

Camera view 123
line layers 42
line of action 183

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lip-sync 183
auto detection 178
lip-sync detection
manual 183
loadingworkspace 117
location design 19
locking 75-76

motion keyframe 183
mouth

Node view 148
group navigation 150

chart 183

Navigator view 149

movingSearch toolbar 149

toolbars 114
multiplane 183
traditional animation 48

Symbol Stack 149
nodes
Cloud 14multiplane camera 48

Control Center 12

drawing 75-76

naming convention 66

Harmony 11

drawings 89

layer naming 67

Paint 14global lock 76

puppet drawings 68

Play 14

Library folder 75-76

renaming modules 68

renaming 68

palette list 75-76

scene naming 66

Scan 13

palettes 75-76

navigating

selecting 172

scenes 75-76

centering screen on mouse 176

version 75-76

full screen 176

NTSC 92, 183

panning 176

nudge 183

Play menu 177

Onion Skin toolbar 173

low resolution 92, 183

recentering view 176

onion skinning 183

manual lip-sync detection 183

resetting pan 176

Mark Drawing toolbar 173

resetting rotation 176

mask

resetting views 176

looping
playback 174

camera 123

resetting zoom 176

master distribution 23

rotating clockwise 176

master palette 183-184

rotating counterclockwise 176

exporting 63

Stage 13

toolbar 173
OpenGLview mode 125
opening
Workspace Manager 117
organizing

zooming in 175

drawings and layers 60

Matte View mode 126

zooming in or out 176

files 53

menus 106

zooming out 175

projects 53, 57

Editing Stack 127

Navigator view 149

orthographic projection 94

View 127

network 48

outline locked drawings 124

Zoom 125

network connection 71

overlay 183

Message Log view 141

Node Library toolbar 143

Paint module

model 183

Node Library view 142

model sheet See character design
Model view 141

toolbar 143
node system 48, 149

192

about 14
PAL 92, 184•

palette list
locking 75-76
palettes 62, 184

Playback toolbar 174

product requirements

FPS button 174

Harmony 9

Jog Frames button 174

Harmony Server 9

backup 64

Loop button 174

production steps 27

colour 43

Play button 174

projection settings 94

exporting 63

Render and Play button 174

orthographic 94

locking 75-76

Sound button 174

perspective 94

storage location 63

Sound Scrubbing button 174

style 184
switching display modes 128

playing back 174

projects
checking colours 98

fps 174

checking files 98

panel 184

jogging frames 174

colours, checking 98

panning 176, 184looping 174

content building scenes,
organizing 57

resetting 176
paperless animation 24, 184
workflow 30

rendering and playing 174
sound 174
sound scrubbing 174

passing position 184

pose-to-pose 184

path of action 184

post-production workflow 21

pegs 184

pre-production

traditional animation 47
pen 186

workflow 17
preferences 102

perspective projection 94

disabling auto-save workspace 119

Perspective view 150

flat toolbars 116

rotating a scene 151
phoneme 184

Preferences dialog box 102
principles, animation 35

picture element 50

anticipation 36

pipelinearcs of rotation 37

Toon Boom 11

exaggeration 39

pivot 184

follow-through 37

pixel 50, 184

pose-to-pose 36

dimensions 93

secondary actions 38

pixelation See bitmap image

slow-in, slow-out 38

Play menu 177

solidity 39

Play module

squash and stretch 35

about 14straight-ahead 36

drawings and layers, organizing 60
files, checking 98
locking 75-76
organizing 53
resolution 91
root directory, organizing 57
verifying integrity 98
prop
design 19
styling 20
puppets
naming convention 68
recenteringview 176
renaming
nodes 68
workspace 119
Render View mode 126
rendering 184
reordering
workspace 121
resettingtiming 35

Camera view 124

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pan 176

safe area 124, 185

shot 185

rotation 176

savingSide view 153

views 176

auto-saving scenes 79

slow-in 38, 185

zoom 176

scenes 78

slow-out 38, 185

workspace manually 120

slugging 185

resizing
toolbars 113
views 111
resolution 185

Scan module

solidity 39

about 13

soundscene resolution 97

breakdown 21

bitmap 97

Scene Settings dialog box 91

scrubbing 185

factor, bitmap 97

scenes 50, 185

squash and stretch 35

film-1.33 92

auto-saving 79

Stage 13

film-1.66 92

file structure 56

film-1.66_Vertical 92

locking 75-76

HDTV 92

naming convention 66

HDTV_Vertical 92

new scene startup script 87

height, bitmap 97

rotating in Perspective view 151

Harmony 71-72

Low 92saving 78

ToonBoomProductName 72

NTSC 92

scene length, setting 87

stop-motion keyframe 185

PAL 92

setting length 87

storyboard 19, 185presets 91

settings 90

straight-ahead 36, 185

about 13standards
broadcast 45
starting

scene 97

script 185

strokes 185

width, bitmap 97

Script Editor view 151

swapping

restoringworkspace, default 121

scriptingviews 110toolbar 174

RGB 185

Scripting toolbar 174

rigging 185

scripts 18

rights to modify 77

switchingworkspace 117
Symbol Stack 149

new scene startup 87

system requirements

root directory 57

scrubbing 185

Harmony 9

rotary table 185

secondary actions 38

Harmony Server 9

rotating

selection style

resetting rotation 176

bounding box 124

tablet 186
technical specifications

rotating clockwise 176

sequences 185

Harmony 9

rotating counterclockwise 176

settings

Harmony Server 9

rotoscoping 185

projection 94

templates 64, 186roughs 185

scene 90

thumbnails 186

194

•

timecode 186

Tool Presets 175

underlay 186

timeline 186

Tools 174usa_dbtraditional 46

top 170

usage 46

view 175

vector 186

Timeline view 154

Workspace 175

vector graphics 41

timing 35

Xsheet View 173

scene length 87
tool presets 175

structure 56

tools

advantages, disadvantages 42
images types 42

Zoom 177

velocity 180, 186

Tool Presets toolbar 175

Tools toolbar 174

versionTool Properties view 162

Top view 162

toolbars 170

trace and paint 186

View menu 127

Advanced Animation 170

track breakdown 186

view modes

Art Layer 171

tradigital 184

Matte 126

Camera View 127

traditional animation 23, 186

OpenGL 125

locking 75-76

Control Point 171

colour layers 42

Coordinate 171

colour palettes 43

customizing 114

concepts 41

adding 108-109

Deformation 171

exposure sheet 44-45

Camera 122

Display 172

file structure 53

closing 110

Easy Flipping 172

frame rate and format 49

Colour 127

Edit 173line and colour layers 42

Coordinates and Control Points 133

File 173line layers 42

Drawing 135

flat 112

multiplane 48

Function 137

Flip 173

network 48

hiding temporarily 112

hiding 112

pegs 47

Library 139

managing 112

project organization and filestructure 53

managing 108

Mark Drawing 173
Module Library view 143
moving 114
Onion Skin 173
Playback 174
resizing 113
Scripting 174
Search, Network view 149
showing and hiding 112

scenes 50
timeline 44
timeline usage 46
timeline, traditional 46
timing 44

Render view 126
views 108

Message Log 141
Model 141
Navigator 149
Node 148
Node Library 142
Perspective 150

workflow 27
Xsheet usage 46
trajectory 186transition 186

195

recentering 176
resetting 176
resizing 111

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Script Editor 151
Side 153

Workspace Manager
opening 117

swapping 110

Workspace toolbar 175

Timeline 154

Xerox process 43

Tool Properties 162

Xsheet toolbar 173

Top 162

Xsheet view 163, 186

Xsheet 163

usage 46

walk cycle 186zone 187

Web Control Center

Zoom menu 125

about 14
Welcome screen 77
workflows

Zoom tool 177
zoomingin 175animation 17

in or out 176

cut-out animation 32

out 175

paperless animation 30

resetting zoom 176

post-production 21

Zoom tool 177

pre-production 17
production 21
traditional animation 27
workspacecreating new 117
deleting 120
disabling auto-save 119
displaying 120
hiding 121
loading 117
managing 116
renaming 119
reordering 121
restoring default 121
saving as new version 120
saving manually 120
showing 120
toolbar 175

196