Toon Boom Harmony 12.2.1
Play GuideLegal Notices
Toon Boom Animation Inc.
4200 Saint-Laurent, Suite 1020
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
H2W 2R2
Tel: +1 514 278 8666
Fax: +1 514 278 2666
toonboom.com
Disclaimer
The content of this 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
Format (SWF). For details, refer to the License Agreement and to those special terms and conditions.
The content of this guide is the property of Toon Boom Animation Inc. and is copyrighted.
Any reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited.
Trademarks
Harmony is a trademark of Toon Boom Animation Inc.
Publication Date
7/6/2018
Copyright © 2016 Toon Boom Animation Inc. All rights reserved.

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Harmony 12.2 Play Guide

Contents
Toon Boom Harmony 12.2.1 Play Guide

1

Contents

3

Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom Play

4

Starting Toon Boom Play

5

About Toon Boom Play

6

Loading an Image Sequence

8

Toon Boom Play Playback Toolbar

11

Toon Boom Play Commands

13

Glossary

17

3Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom Play

Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom PlayThe Toon Boom Play module is designed specifically for playing back and viewing animated projects once they
have been rendered out into image sequences.
This module opens directly from your program menu to load your final render. It's also used when playing back ascene with effects in Harmony.
This section is divided as follows:
Starting Toon Boom Play

5

About Toon Boom Play

6

Loading an Image Sequence

8

Toon Boom Play Playback Toolbar

11

Toon Boom Play Commands

13

4Harmony 12.2 Play Guide

Starting Toon Boom Play
Before using Toon Boom Play, you must start the program. You can run the software on Mac OS X or
Windows/Linux operating systems. You can start Toon Boom Play from within Harmony to play back your scene,and see the effects and final images.
How to start Toon Boom Play
1. Do one of the following:l

In Harmony, select Play > Render and Play or in the Playback toolbar, click the Render and Playbutton.

lWindows: Start > Programs > Harmony 12.2 [Edition] > Playl

Mac OS X: Applications > Toon Boom Harmony 12.2.1 [Edition] > PlaylLinux: /usr/local/ToonBoomAnimation/harmony_12/lnx86_64/bin/Play

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Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom Play

About Toon Boom PlayThe Toon Boom Play interface is composed of two main components.

Top Menu
In the top menu are all the necessary commands for loading and previewing image sequences.
The top menu is divided as follows:llWindows/Linux

l

File

l

View

l

Play

l

Help

Mac OS Xl

Mac OS X Play

l

File

l

View

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Harmony 12.2 Play Guide

l

Play

l

Help

NOTE: For more information on the commands in these menus, seeToon Boom Play Commands on page 13.

Playback Toolbar

The Playback toolbar, located at the bottom of the player interface, lets you play an animation, loop playback,navigate through frames and change the playback speed.

NOTE: For more information about the interface elements on this toolbar, see Toon Boom Play Playback Toolbar on
page 11.

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Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom Play

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

4. Click one of the following:‣

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

‣

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

‣

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

‣

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

‣

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

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

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Harmony 12.2 Play Guide

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

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

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

‣

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

‣

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

‣

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

‣

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

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

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Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom Play

7. Click Load to load the selected images.
8. Once the images are loaded, click the Play10

button to play back your image sequence.

Harmony 12.2 Play Guide

Toon Boom Play Playback Toolbar
Using the Playback toolbar (located at the bottom of the player interface), you can play your animation, loop
playback, navigate through frames and change the playback speed.

Playback Toolbar Interface
Interface Element

Name

ActionFrame slider

Scrolls forwards or throughthe playback frames.

First

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

Play Backward

Plays the animation from thecurrent frame to the first
frame.

Stop

Stops playback.

Play Forward

Plays the animation from thecurrent frame to the last
frame.

Last

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

Loop

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

Sound

Includes the soundtrack during playback. This commandis only available when theapplication is launched from
Harmony.

Sound Scrubbing

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

Start Frame

Enter a new value to control
the starting frame of the playback range.

Stop Frame

Enter a new value to control
the end frame of the play11

Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom PlayInterface Element

Name

Actionback range.

FPS

Enter a new value (in frames
per second) in this field tochange the playback speed.

Preroll

Select the Preroll option andenter the number of blankframes. These frames will
be added at the start of theplayback.

Scale

Displays the ratio of the playback size you are currently
viewing in Toon Boom Play
compared to the image’s
actual size.

12Harmony 12.2 Play Guide

Toon Boom Play Commands
File Commands
Command

ActionAccess Methods

Load From Folder

Opens the Find Directory
window where you can selectone or more images to load in
the player.

File > Load from Folder

Load From Database

If you are connected to the Database, this command opens the
Database Selector window
File > Load from Database
where you can select an image
sequence to load in the player.

Reload Frames

Opens the Load Playback dialog
box and indicates which frames
are loaded. You can select theframes you want to reload. Use
the Reload command to loadFile > Reload Frames
frames that are currently open in
the player and that weremodified since they were
loaded.

Unload Frames

Opens the Unload Playback dialog box and indicates whichframes are loaded. You canFile > Unload Frames
select the frames you want tounload.

Quit Play

Exits the application.

Mac OS X: Mac OS X Play > Quit
Play.
Windows/Linux: File > Quit.

View Commands
Command

ActionAccess Methods

Zoom In

Zooms in on the loaded images
to view them closer. In the lowerright corner of the interface, you View > Zoom In
can see the relative zoom level
Press Ctrl + =.
compared to the image’s original
resolution.

Zoom Out

Zooms out of the loaded images
to view them smaller. In thelower-right corner of the interface, you can see the relative

13

View > Zoom Out
Press Ctrl + =.

Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom Play

Command

ActionAccess Methods

zoom level compared to theimage’s original resolution.
Image

Displays the images in normal
mode with all their colours.

Matte

Displays the image’s matte(alpha channel). All transparent
zones are displayed in black andall fully opaque zones are disView > Matte
played in white. Zones that aresemitransparent are displayed in
grey.

Loaded Files Properties

Opens the Loaded Files Properties dialog box. Displays theformat, path and resolution
information of each loaded
image.

View > Loaded Files Properties

Command

ActionAccess Methods

Plays the animation from thecurrent frame to the last frame.

Play > Play Scene Forward

Play Scene Forward

Plays the animation from thecurrent frame to the first frame.

Play > Play Scene Backward

Play Scene Backward

Stop

Stops playback.

Play > Loop

Loop

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

Play > Start Frame

Start Frame

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

Play > Stop Frame

Stop Frame

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

Go to Frame

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

Play > Go to Frame

Playback Speed

Changes the frame rate of theplayback. Opens the Set

Play > Playback Speed

View > Image

Play Commands

Play Forward

buttonPlay Backward

buttonPlay > Stop

14

Stop

Loop

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

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

Harmony 12.2 Play Guide

Command

ActionAccess Methods

Speed dialog box.
First Frame

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

Previous Frame

Sets the current frame to its prePlay > Previous Frame
vious frame.

Next Frame

Sets the current frame to its folPlay > Next Framelowing frame.
Play > Last Frame

Last Frame

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

Command

ActionAccess Methods

Online Help

Opens Toon Boom Online Help
where you can find usefulindexed and searchable information on the operation of theToon Boom Play module.

Play >First Frame
First

Last

buttonbutton

Help

About

Help > Online Help
Press F1.

Windows/Linux: Help > About
Opens the About window which
Mac OS X: This command isdisplays information related tolocated in the Mac OS X Playthe application version.
menu.

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Harmony 12.2 Play Guide

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Harmony 12.2 Play Guide

Glossary
3D stereoscopic

The ability to create stereo images which, when animated and viewed through 3D active
shutter glasses or using glasses with one red and one blue lens, will appear as a threedimensional movie.

alpha channel

An image channel that carries transparency information. An image already has threechannels: red, green and blue (RGB). The alpha channel is the fourth channel (A). The
matte, or the transparency information, is stored in this fourth channel. An image without analpha 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 toindicate motion. The camera moves are also animated. The animatic is used to determine
the rhythm of a project and provides a good overview of the project before beginning
production.

animation

A simulation of movement created by displaying a series of pictures or frames.

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 whatstorytellers refer to as an arc. The purpose of a story arc is to move a character or situationfrom 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 arestacked 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.

axis

An imaginary line around which an object rotates.
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).
In animations that constantly rotate, the axis element specifies what axis the object rotatesaround. A negative number causes an animation to rotate counter clockwise whereas apositive number causes an animation to rotate clockwise.

background

The part of a scene that is farthest to the rear. The background is the artwork, 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 todefine a curve.

bitmapAn image composed of pixels with a single resolution (size). If it is enlarged too much, it willlose definition and individual pixels will begin to appear. This is known as pixelation.
Bitmap image files are defined as a standard rectangular mesh of individual pixels. Eachindividual pixel contains a value that represents a specific colour.

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Glossarybreakdown

In cut-out animation, breakdown is the action of breaking a character into pieces to create apuppet with articulations. To break down a character, the artist cuts parts, such as thehands and arms, from the character's model and pastes them in separate layers. Next, thejoints are fixed and the pivots set.
In traditional animation, a breakdown is an animation pose generally found between two key
poses. The key poses are the main poses in an animation and the breakdowns aresecondary poses, ones that help describe the motion 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 theroad.

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

cel

In traditional animation, a cel (also known as celluloid) is a transparent sheet on which theanimation is inked and painted before being sent to the camera. The picture's outline isdrawn on the front of the cel and then coloured along the back.

character design

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

chromatic
aberration

In optics, chromatic aberration (CA), achromatism or chromatic distortion, is a type of
distortion in which there is a failure of a lens to focus all colours to the same convergencepoint.

clean up

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

CMYK

Acronym for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black. These colours are the standard model used in aprocess called offset printing.

colour card

A colour card is a card containing one solid colour that is the same size as the camera. The
colour card fills 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.

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 to create the final result
prior to rendering. For example, the compositing artist will import all the animation
sequences, background, overlays and underlays 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 no transition effects
inserted to pass from one scene to the next. The first scene ends and the second one starts
immediately.

cut-out animation

The process known as cut-out animation is the action of animating characters made out ofseveral pieces by moving them around frame by frame. Cut-out animation can either be

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Harmony 12.2 Play Guide

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 series of 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 the sequence and timingof images, dialogue, sound effects, sound tracks and camera moves. Also known as an
exposure sheet.

dopingTo assign a particular drawing to a range of frames.

double bounce
walk

In the key frames and passing positions in a double bounce walk, the body is lower than areference line drawn in the upright position. During the in-betweens, the body is above thisline giving the appearance of a bounce.

DPI

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

ease

In animation, the ease, also known as velocity, is the acceleration and deceleration of amotion. It can be a motion created by a function curve, or a series of animated drawings.
Other common terms for ease-in and ease-out 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 is happening. 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 the house, the ground, a part of the street and thebuildings around the central point of action. This helps the viewer understand the story
location and scene 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 ofcels.

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 numbers in each column are
indicated and repeated over the particular amount of frames they need to appear.
The exposure sheet is used by animators, directors and other members of a crew 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 fromcomplete opacity to complete transparency.

fast-inDramatic acceleration at the start of the action.

fast-out

Dramatic acceleration at the end of the action.

field

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

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Glossary

field chart

A guide containing all the field units that animation and layout artists use to determine ascene 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 drawings of an animation
sequence very quickly in order to see the animation in motion. Flipping can also be theaction of creating a mirror transformation of 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 will cause the cloak to follow the
motion, although it will not move at the same time, but react a few frames later and follow
the main motion curve.

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

An animation frame is a single photographic image in a movie. In traditional animation, theNorth American standard generally contains 24 frames per second, while in Europe thestandard is 25 frames per second.

frame rate

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 be played back at 12, 24, 25, 30 or 60
frames per second or any other number.
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.
Frame rate is most often expressed in frames per second (fps) and in progressive-scanmonitors as hertz (Hz).

function

A computer-generated motion, trajectory or path on which elements, other trajectories andeffects parameters can be attached. The function can be controlled by adding keyframes
and control points on the function curve.

gamut

The range of colours that a particular device can represent.

HDTV

Acronym for High Definition Television which delivers a higher quality image than standard
television because it has a greater number of lines of resolution. To take advantage of thesuperior quality and make full use of your resolution setting, the output device must becompatible 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 and colouring the lines

20Harmony 12.2 Play Guideon the final animation drawings, while following a colour model.
interpolation

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

inverse kinematics(IK)

A feature used mainly to animate 3D characters and cut-out puppets with hierarchy. Inverse
kinematics will animate a puppet from one of the extremities, such as a hand, and make therest of the body follow naturally.

jump cut

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

key pose

Important positions in the action defining the starting and ending points of any smoothtransition. Keys, or key poses, are the main drawings in an animation sequence describing
the motion. For example, if an arm is waving, the keys will be of the arm at one extremity of
the wave motion and the other extremity. By flipping those drawings, the animator can see
the skeleton 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 of any action. A
keyframe is a computer-generated position at a specific moment (frame) on a given
trajectory.

layer

In animation, a layer is an individual column, level or character. A scene's layers aresuperimposed 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 the character by following the design in themodel pack, so the animator can start working.
The layout artist draws the background, creates the camera and field guide matching thescene and camera motion. Lastly, the animator draws on model the main action poses.

layout and posing

The action of putting on model (at the right scale) the storyboard for the animator to startworking.

layout artist

The artist who draws the background, and creates the camera and field guide to match thescene and camera motion. They will draw on model the main action poses.

layout planning

Drawing of the main features of the scene used as reference when planning the animationand executing the initial stages of it.

layout process

The communication step between the storyboard and the animation.

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 are working on aparticular layer.

line of action

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

lip-sync

The process of synchronizing a character's mouth to sounds in the dialogue soundtrack.
The mouth is adjusted frame-by-frame to match the sound of the dialogue and provide theillusion that the character is speaking. Lip-sync can be used for any sound sequence, notonly speech, you could for instance have a bird chirping or a wolf howling at the moon.

low resolution

A format that is ideal for videos destined for the web, where size and fast download of a21

Glossary

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 used throughout the entire
production to maintain consistency in the look and to ensure that the same colours are usedthroughout the production. Also known as palette.

model/colour
model

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

morphing

A feature for creating computer-generated drawings between a source drawing and a
destination drawing. Animation created with the morphing feature can be reused in different
projects.

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 sense of depth in a
shot. A multiplane is a scene in which the layers are placed at different distances from thecamera so that when the camera moves, a depth illusion occurs. With a multiplane, all theperspective and scale is calculated automatically.

NTSC

The standard analogue television broadcasting system used in North America. NTSC
conforms to North American standards on how rectangular pixels are displayed forcomputer 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 a selection 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.

PAL

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

palette/master
paletteA palette or master palette is a group of colours attributed to a character or a prop. The
palette is used throughout the entire project to maintain a consistency 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 andvalue. A palette style can be used to create the night version of a palette. It may also becalled 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.

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

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

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Harmony 12.2 Play Guide

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 of action as cel layers
move. In digital animation, in which you are doing a more advanced puppet rigging, you can
use peg layers. Peg layers are trajectory layers that do not contain drawings. They are
motion paths that you can use to add path articulations. For the latter, you can also use an
inverse kinematics tool.

phonemeA unit of sound in a language.

pivot

The point around which a peg or drawing rotates.

pixel

The smallest element of an image displayed on a monitor or TV screen.
Pixel, short for picture element, is a single point in a graphic image. It is a small sample of
an image, a dot, a square, or a very small section made out of smooth filtering. If you zoom
in close enough on a digital image, you will see the pixels, which look like small squares ofdifferent colours and intensity.

pose-to-poseanimation

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, the animator fills the gaps with the in-between
drawings to achieve a smooth animation.

rendering

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

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 of these 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 forgreater comfort while drawing.

rotoscoping

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

roughsRough is a common name in an animation movie for a drawing that is used as a reference
but which does not form part of the final image. A layout is a rough.
The skeleton sketch of an animation or design. Roughs mainly consist of sketch lines andshapes, but 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 thatthe 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 toanother scene by a simple cut or transition.

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Glossary

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 ascript.

sequence

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

shot

A scene in a movie or show. A sequence is composed of several shots. A shot changes toanother 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 a scene are laid out.

straight-ahead
animation

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 itgets there can be a surprise for both the audience and the animator. While this approach isspontaneous and creative, it can create inaccurate results.

strokes

Invisible vector lines forming the drawing zones. They can be adjusted with Bézier handles.

symbol

A symbol combines animation, artwork or layers into a single object that you can control in
one layer. You can also create symbols out of each body part in your cut-out puppets.
You can place whatever you want in a symbol. You can use symbols to animate a puppet or
create reusable animations such as blinking.

tablet/pen

A device used in conjunction with, or instead of, a mouse to move a mouse pointer(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, ananimation, or anything else used in the animation.

thumbnailA very small image used as a reference or indicator.

timecode

The timing information printed on a movie clip to indicate the scene, hour, minute andsecond 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, eachdrawing is traced and painted for the final animation. In today's digital world, this may bedone 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 theprecise frame-by-frame position of each sound.

traditional

A type of animation process whereby all the animation sequences are drawn by hand on24

Harmony 12.2 Play Guide

paper before scanning or inking them on cels.
trajectory

A computer-generated path or trajectory that elements can follow. The trajectory can becontrolled 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 the main animation.

vector

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

velocity

In animation, the velocity, also known as ease, is the acceleration or deceleration of amotion. This can be achieved by a function curve, or via a series 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.

zone

An area which can be painted with colour.

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