Assets are used with permission from Justin Lovell, Director and Atomic Cartoons Services Inc., June 2024

Creating Worlds of Animation

The largest animation and gaming studios from around the world choose Harmony to produce the highest quality animation, setting the standard for creative storytelling. Our all in one, end to end 2D animation software allows animators to create paperless and cut-out animation in every style.

BENEFITS

• All in one 2D production animation software; from drawing to final production render
• Flexibility, functionality and sensitivity of tools allows you to create at the highest quality

• Cost and time savings
• Reliable support team, accessible when you need help (speak with our team live)
• Value, offering the highest quality software to maintain the integrity of your artistic expression

• Chosen by leading animation studios globally, Harmony sets industry standards
• We don’t say our software is the best, we have the Emmy to prove it!
• Our community and network makes us unique: we are focused on creatives, sharing openly and training on our products, tips and trick, interviews, new features and more

STANDARD FEATURES

• Drawing Engine & Tools
• Color management
• Paperless & Cut-Out Animation
• 3D Integration
• Compositing & Special Effects
• Sound editing

Harmony is available in three versions, designed specifically to answer the needs of different types of clients.

NEW FEATURES

Toon Boom Animation engages in research and in-depth discussions with clients about the future of 2D animation pipelines and we are thrilled to unveil a ton of new features for artists, animators, and creators to help bring their stories to life.

This version of the software offers more 2D/3D integration features than ever before as well as a mix of new creative tools, audio editing and more.

SYMMETRY DRAWING GUIDES

Three symmetry drawing guides are added to Harmony 24. Vertical Symmetry, Horizontal Symmetry and Dual Axis.

When active, the symmetry guides mirror the strokes drawn by the artist by duplicating it on the other side of the guide. For example, using the Vertical Symmetry guide allows artists to quickly draw characters without having to draw both sides.

PENCIL LINES WITH OPACITY

The Pencil tool is improved to support opacity variations on lines as they are drawn. Artists control the amount of

transparency on lines by applying more or less pressure on their stylus, giving them more control over the look of their drawings. The resulting pencil lines have a more natural look, while still retaining the ability to be easily reshaped using the contour editor in the cleanup phase.

NEW BRUSH PROPERTIES FOR AN EVEN MORE NATURAL LOOK

New properties are added to the Brush tool to randomize the position of the brush tip when generating textured strokes. These properties will help improve the natural look of textured brushes and will open new artistic possibilities. Brushes that mimic soft brushes, sponges and air brushes will now be easier to create, as well as replicating brushes in from other drawing softwares.

NEW DEFORMATION ENGINE

A new type of deformer is added to Harmony 24 to provide higher quality and more predictable

deformations on textures. The new deformer engine produces better looking deformation, through better weight distribution of influence. Three types of manipulators are available to deform drawings

points, bones and cages. Bones to control rigid parts, cages to enlarge areas and exert precise control, and points to transform flexible areas. All three types of manipulators can be used simultaneously on

the same drawing.

NODE VIEW PORT FILTERING

Port names and filters can now be used in the Node view to simplify the node graph when applying effects to complex characters. This feature allows the user

to name ports in the node graph then use filters downstream in order to request the image coming from those ports, instead of pulling a cable to access the image.

CRYPTOMATTES

Cryptomattes are an essential part of modern production pipelines when rendered images need to be transferred between softwares. It allows to retain information about objects in the rendered scene for easier compositing process. Harmony now support reading EXR files with embedded crypto mattes (rendered by Maya, Blender or other DCC), as well as writing EXR files with embedded cryptomattes for use in the next stage in the production’s pipeline.

FASTER LOADING, DISPLAY AND MANIPULATION OF 3D MODELS

The technology used to load and display 3D models was completely overhauled to provide faster loading, display and manipulation of 3D models within Harmony. Large models can now be visualized and manipulated in real time in Harmony without latency or performance issues

POSING AND ANIMATING CHARACTERS BUILT WITH DEFORMATION RIGS

Characters built with bone armatures can now be posed and animated in Harmony by manipulating their bones. Animated 3D characters can be used as is in final renders or as references for

the artist to animate over more expressive or cartoonish animation. Drawing over 3D references is a common technique as it allows the artist more freedom in the acting, while keeping the drawings on models and with the proper proportions.

TOON SHADER

Artists working with 3D models can apply a simple Toon Shader which renders 3D models in the style of 2D animation. Artists can control the width of the line and the amount of color levels used in the render. Previously, external render engines needed to be used to produce this style.

DRAWING ON ROTATED LAYERS

Drawing tools are overhauled to allow artists to draw and modify drawings layers that have any orientation. Prior to this change, drawing tools would not work if the viewing angle was more than 5°. Now, drawing tools can be used on drawing layers regardless of the viewing angle, allowing artists to quickly sketch and add details without interruption and in context of the scene.

IMPROVED AND FASTER 3D RENDERING USING EXTERNAL APPLICATIONS

Rendering of 3D models using external applications such as Maya is now faster and more efficient when working in Harmony. This is achieved by improving the communication between Harmony and the external application. It is now also possible

to cache and keep the rendered frames from the external application in the Harmony scene to prevent re-rendering already rendered frames.

RENDERING 3D MODELS THROUGH BLENDER

Support for rendering 3D models through Blender is added to Harmony, giving an alternative to Maya for 3D creators.

For more information regarding Toon Boom Harmony, please visit:

toonboom.com and docs.toonboom.com

You can also find video content for our full line of software at youtube.com/@ToonBoomAnimation

Try Harmony 24 for free for 21 days! Visit toonboom.com