toon boom harmony 11.1 play guide · film-1.33 ... storyboard ... toon boom harmony 11.1 play guide...

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1Play Guide

1

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Play Guide

Legal Notices

Toon BoomAnimation Inc.4200 Saint-Laurent, Suite 1020Montreal, Quebec, CanadaH2W 2R2

Tel: +1 514 278 8666Fax: +1 514 278 2666

toonboom.com

Disclaimer

The content of this guide is covered by a specific limited warranty and exclusions and limit of liabilityunder the applicable License Agreement as supplemented by the special terms and conditions forAdobe®Flash® File Format (SWF). For details, refer to the License Agreement and to those specialterms and conditions.

The content of this guide is the property of Toon BoomAnimation Inc. and is copyrighted.

Any reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited.

Trademarks

Product Trademark

Credits

Art Development: Shabana Ali, Marie-Eve Chartrand, Tania Gray, Annie Rodrigue, Anouk Whissell

Technical Editor: Peter Cawthorne, Pamela Grimaud, Liven Tam

Technical Reviewer: Joel Baril, Marc-André Bouvier-Pelletier, Lindsay Brown, SteveMasson, ElkeStarck, Lilly Vogelesang

Technical Writer: Shabana Ali, Marc-André Bouvier-Pelletier, Marie-Eve Chartrand, Christopher Diaz,Annie Rodrigue, Liven Tam, Tamu Townsend, Anouk Whissell

Publication Date

2014-11-28

Copyright © 2014 Toon BoomAnimation Inc. All rights reserved.

22

http://www.toonboom.com/

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Play User Guide

Contents

Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 Play Guide 1

Legal Notices 2

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

33

Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom Play Contents

Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom Play

The Toon Boom Playmodule is designed specifically for playing back and viewing your animatedprojects once they have been rendered out into image sequences.

This module opens directly from your programmenu to load your final render and it is also used whenplaying back a scene with effects in Harmony.

44


Starting Toon Boom Play

Before using Toon Boom Play, youmust start the program. You can run the software onMacOS X orWindows/Linux operating systems.You can start Toon Boom Play fromwithin Harmonyto play backyour scene, and see your effects and final images.

How to open Toon Boom Play

1. Do one of the following:

‣ In Harmony, select Play > Render and Play.

‣ In Harmony, in the Playback toolbar, click the Render and Play button.

‣ InMacOS X, select Applications > Toon Boom Harmony 11.1> Play.

‣ InWindows, select Start > Programs > Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 > Play.

‣ In Linux, select Applications > Toon Boom Harmony 11.1 > Play.

55

Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom Play About Toon Boom Play

About Toon Boom Play

The 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:

• Windows/Linux

• File

• View

• Play

• Help

• MacOS X

66


• MacOS X Play

• File

• View

• Play

• Help

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, loopplayback, navigate through frames and change the playback speed.

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

77

Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom Play Loading an Image Sequence

Loading an Image Sequence

Loading image sequences is a common Toon Boom Play 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 containing 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 weremodified since they were loaded.

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

‣ Select an option from the Filter Current Selectionmenu to select a series of frames fromthe ones selected. For example, to load one out of six frames instead of the wholesequence, select theKeep 1 Frame Out of 6 option in the drop-downmenu.

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

88


6. Click Load to load the selected images.

7. Once the images are loaded, click the Play button 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.

The Database selector dialog box opens.

2. Select the environment, the job, the scene and the element in which your frames are located.

3. You can select one or more of the frames you want 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 weremodified since they were loaded.

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

‣ Select an option from the Filter Current Selectionmenu to select a series of frames fromthe ones selected. For example, to load one out of six frames instead of the wholesequence, select theKeep 1 Frame Out of 6 option in the drop-downmenu.

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

7. Click Load to load the selected images.

99

Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom Play Loading an Image Sequence

8. Once the images are loaded, click the Play button to play back your image sequence.

10


Toon Boom Play Playback Toolbar

Use the Playback toolbar (located at the bottom of the player interface) to play your animation, loopyour playback, navigate through your frames and change the playback speed.

Playback Toolbar Interface

Interface Element Name Action

Frame slider Scrolls backwards or for-wards through the play-back frames.

First button Sets your current frameto the first frame of theloaded image sequence.

Play Backward button Plays theanimation fromthe currentframe to thefirst frame.

Stop button Stops playback.

Play Forward button Plays the animation fromthe current frame to thelast frame.

Last button Listen to your soundframe-by-frame. This com-mand is only availablewhen the application islaunched fromHarmony.

Loop button Repeats the scene when itreaches the last frameduring playback.

Sound button Includes the soundtrackduring playback. Thiscommand is only availablewhen the application islaunched fromHarmony.

Sound Scrubbing button Listen to your soundframe-by-frame. This com-mand is only availablewhen the application is

11

Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom Play Toon Boom Play Playback Toolbar

Interface Element Name Action

launched fromHarmony.

Start Frame field Enter a new value to con-trol the starting frame ofthe playback range.

Stop Frame field Enter a new value to con-trol the end frame of theplayback range.

FPS field Enter a new value (inframes per second) in thisfield to change the play-back speed.

Preroll check box Select thePreroll optionand enter thenumber ofblank frames inthe Prerollfield. Theseframes will beadded at thestart of theplayback.

Scale information Displays the ratio of theplayback size you are cur-rently viewing in ToonBoom Play compared tothe image’s actual size.

12


Toon Boom Play Commands

Mac OS X Play Commands

Note: This menu is only available for theMacOS X version.

Command Action Access Methods

About Opens the About windowwhich displays inform-ation related to theapplication version.

OnMacOS X, thiscommand is locatedin theMacOS X Playmenu.

OnWindows/Linux,select Help >About.

Quit Play Exits theapplication.

OnMacOS X, select(MacOS X) Play >Quit Play.

OnWindows/Linux,select File > QuitPlay.

File Commands


Load from Folder Opens the LoadPlayback dialog boxwhere you can selectone or more imagesto load in the player.

File > Load from Folder

Load FromDatabase If you are connected tothe Database, this com-mand opens the Data-base Selector windowwhere you can select animage sequence to loadin the player.

File > Load fromDatabase

Reload Frames Opens the LoadPlayback dialog boxand indicates whichframes are loaded.You can select theframes you want toreload. Use the

File > Reload Frames

13

Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom Play Toon Boom Play Commands


Reload command toload frames that arecurrently opened inthe player and thatweremodified sincethey were loaded.

Unload Frames This command opens theUnload Playback dialogbox and indicates whichframes are loaded. Youcan select the frames youwant to unload.

File > Unload Frames

Quit Play Exits theapplication.

OnMacOS X, select(MacOS X) Play >Quit Play.

OnWindows/Linux,select File > Quit.

View Commands


Zoom In Zooms in on the loadedimages to view themcloser. In the lower-rightcorner of the interface, youcan see the relative zoomlevel compared to theimage’s original res-olution.

View > Zoom In

Press 2.

ZoomOut Zooms out of the loadedimages to view them smal-ler. In the lower-rightcorner of the interface, youcan see the relative zoomlevel compared to theimage’s original res-olution.

View > ZoomOut

Press 1.

Image Displays the images in nor-mal modewith all their col-ours.

View > Image

Matte Displays the image’s matte View >Matte

14



(alpha channel). All trans-parent zones are displayedin black and all fullyopaque zones are dis-played in white. Zones thatare semitransparent aredisplayed in grey.

Loaded Files Properties Opens the Loaded FilesProperties dialog box. Dis-plays the format, path andresolution information ofeach loaded image.

View > Loaded Files Prop-erties

Play Commands


Enable Sound Includes the soundtrackduring playback. This com-mand is only availablewhen the application islaunched fromHarmony.

Play > Enable SoundSound button

Enable Sound Scrubbing Listen to your soundframe-by-frame. This com-mand is only availablewhen the application islaunched fromHarmony.

Play > EnableSound Scrubbing

Sound Scrubbingbutton

First Frame Sets your current frame tothe first frame of theloaded image sequence.

Play >First FrameFirst button

Go to Frame Sets your current frame toany frame you input in theGo to Frame dialog box.

Play > Go to Frame

Last Frame Sets your current frame tothe last frame of theimage sequence.

Play > Last FrameLast button

Next Frame Sets the current frame toits following frame.

Play > Next Frame

Previous Frame Sets the current frame toits previous frame.

Play > Previous Frame

Start Frame Controls the starting Play > Start Frame

15

Chapter 1: Using Toon Boom Play Toon Boom Play Commands


frame of the playbackrange. Opens the SetStart Frame dialog box.

In the Playbacktoolbar, entervalues in the Startfield.

Stop Frame Controls the end frame ofthe playback range.Opens the Set StopFrame dialog box.

Play > Stop FrameIn the Playbacktoolbar, entervalues in the Stopfield.

Loop Repeats the scene when itreaches the last frame dur-ing playback.

Play > LoopLoop button

Play Scene Backward Plays the animation fromthe current frame to thefirst frame.

Play > Play Scene BackwardPlay Backwardbutton

Play Scene Forward Plays the animation fromthe current frame to thelast frame.

Play > Play Scene ForwardPlay Forwardbutton

Playback Speed Changes the frame rate ofthe playback. Opens theSet Speed dialog box.

Play > Playback Speed

Stop Stops playback. Play > StopStop button

Help


Help Opens Toon BoomOnlineHelp where you can finduseful indexed and search-able information on theoperation of the ToonBoom Playmodule.

Help > Online Help

About Opens the About windowwhich displays informationrelated to the applicationversion.

Help > AboutOnMacOS X, thiscommand islocated in theMacOS X Playmenu.

16

http://docs.toonboom.com/

http://docs.toonboom.com/


Glossary

alpha channel

The image's channel carrying the transparency information. Animage already has three channels: red, green and blue (RGB). Thealpha channel is the fourth channel (RGBA). Thematte, or thetransparency information, is stored in this fourth channel. An imagewithout an alpha channel is always opaque.

animatic

Amovie with sound that is developed from the storyboard. Thestoryboard panel is exposed for the duration of the scene and attimes, the characters are placed on a trajectory to indicatemotion.The camera moves are also animated. The animatic is used todetermine the rhythm of a project and provides a good overview ofthe project before beginning production.

animationA simulation of movement created by displaying a series of picturesor frames.

animeAn animation style known for its sinister and dark feel; popular inJapan.

arc

Action rarely occurs in a straight-forward manner; rather it typicallyunfolds in what storytellers refer to as an arc. The purpose of astory arc is to move a character or a situation from one state orscenario to the next.

aspect ratioThe relationship between the width and height dimensions for anyscene, frame or film format. Television ratio is 4:3 and widescreenratio is 16:9.

auto-feed

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

automatic lip-sync detectionAutomatically mapping drawings in an element to themouth chartgenerated for a sound. This can save timewhen lip-syncing a voicetrack.

axis

An imaginary line around which an object rotates.

For 2D graphics, there are two axes:

• X: Horizontal

• Y: Vertical

For 3D graphics, there are three axes:

• X: Horizontal

• Y: Vertical

• Z: Depth

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

Bézier Amethod of defining curved lines invented by French

17

Glossary Toon Boom Play Commands

mathematician Pierre Bézier. A Bézier curve is a mathematical orparametric curve. Bézier curves use at least three points to define acurve.

In Toon Boom, a function can be hooked to a Bézier curve and varyalong with the curve value information. Bézier curves are also veryuseful in vector graphics. They are used to model smooth curvesand can be scaled indefinitely.

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

breakdown

In cut-out animation, breakdown is the action of breaking acharacter into pieces to create a puppet with articulations. Tobreak down a character, the artist cuts part, such as hands andarms, from the character's model and pastes them in separatelayers. Next, the joints are fixed and the pivots set.

In traditional animation, a breakdown is an animation posegenerally found between two key poses. The key poses are themain poses in an animation and the breakdowns are secondaryposes, ones that help to describe themotion and the rotationcurve.

camera shakeCamera shake occurs in a scene when the camera moves slightlyand quickly in several directions. This gives the impression of animpact, vibration or, for example, bumps on the road.

captionIn a storyboard, a caption is a text field containing dialogue,effects, sound, or slugging information.

cel

In traditional animation, a cel, also known as a celluloid, is atransparent sheet on which the animation is inked and paintedbefore being sent to the camera.The picture's outline is drawn onthe front of the cel and then coloured along the back.

In Toon Boom, a cel is an individual space encountered in anXsheet's column, fromwhich you can expose a drawing or afunction`s coordinate.

character designEach character in an animated film is drawn frommultiple angles inposter-style format, called amodel sheet, which serves as areference for the animators.

clean up

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

CMYKCyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black. Refers to the process used byprinters to define colour on the printed page.

colour cardAColour Card is a solid colour card that is the same size as thecamera. The Colour Card can be used to fill the background with asolid colour when there is no background image included.

18


colour model

In animation, a colour model is the official colour design that mustbe used to paint the animation. Amodel is the definitive character,prop, or location design that each artist must follow for theproduction.

colour wheel Adisplay of the colour spectrum in the form of a circle.

compositing

Compositing is the action of incorporating all of a scene's elementsto create the final result prior to rendering. For example, thecompositing artist will import all the animation sequences,background, overlays and underlays in the scene and position themcorrectly. The artist will then set the camera frame and animate it, ifneeded. 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.

cutAdirect transition between two scenes. When a cut is used, thereare no transition effects inserted to pass from one scene to thenext. The first scene ends and the second one starts immediately.

cut-out animationThe action of animating characters made of several pieces bymoving them around frame by frame. Cut-out animation can eitherbe computer generated or done traditionally using paper.

cycleAgroup of images that together make up an action, such aswalking. A cycle is an action repeated as a loop over a period oftime. 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 totrack the sequence and timing of images, dialogue, sound effects,sound tracks and camera moves. Also known as an exposure sheetor Xsheet.

doping To assig a particular drawing to a range of frames.

DPI

Dots Per Inch is the standard measure of resolution forcomputerized printers. It is sometimes applied to screens, in whichcase it should more accurately be referred to as pixels per inch.Either way, the dot is the smallest discrete element making up theimage.

ease/velocity

In animation, the ease, also known as velocity, is the accelerationand deceleration of a motion. It can be a motion created by afunction curve, or a series of animated drawings. Other commonterms for ease-in and ease-out are slow-in and slow-out.

ease-inGradual acceleration in the action. Another common term for ease-in is slow-in.

ease-outGradual deceleration in the action. Another common term for ease-out is slow-out.

establishing shotA scene in which the viewer can see the whole area in which asequence is happening. For example, if a child is playing on theground in front of his house, the establishing shot would be a scene

19


where the viewer can see the house, the ground, a part of thestreet and the buildings around the central point of action. Thishelps the viewer understand the story location and sceneorientation.

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

exposure sheet (Xsheet)

The exposure sheet or Xsheet, is a sheet with several verticalcolumns and horizontal frames used to indicate a scene's timing.

Each column represents a scene's layer. In each column, thedrawing's numbers are indicated and repeated over the particularamount of frames they need to appear.

The exposure sheet is used by animators, directors and othermembers of a crew to track the sequence and timing of images,dialogue, sound effects, sound tracks and camera moves. Alsoknown as a dope sheet.

fade in/fade out

Fade in or fade out is a transition effect used to open or close asequence. A fade in occurs when the first scene appearsprogressively, 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-in Dramatic acceleration at the start of the action.

fast-out Dramatic acceleration at the end of the action.

fieldIn animation, a field is a measurement unit used to calculatemotion, registration and camera positioning. A standard animationscene will vary between 6 to 12 fields.

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

film-1.33Use this resolution setting for the widescreen film format thatconforms to the standard 4:3 pixel aspect ratio.

film-1.66Use this resolution setting for the widescreen film format thatconforms to the 16:9 pixel aspect ratio. (The pixels are wider thanthey are high).

flipping

In traditional animation, flipping is the action of going through thedrawings of an animation sequence very quickly in order to see theanimation inmotion. Flipping can also be the action of creating amirror transformation of an object.

follow-through

The follow-through is the secondarymotion caused by themainaction. For example, a character wearing a cloak is running. Themain action is the body running. This will cause the cloak to followthemotion, although it will not move at the same time, but react afew frames later and follow themainmotion curve.

forward kinematicsForward kinematics is a feature used to animate principally 3Dcharacters and cut-out puppets with hierarchy. It is used to animate

20


a puppet from one of parent parts, such as a shoulder, and makethe rest of the armmovewith it as a single piece.

frame

A frame is a single photographic image in a movie. In traditionalanimation, the North American standard generally contains 24frames per second, while in Europe the standard is 25 frames persecond.

frame rate

This is themeasurement of the frequency (rate) at which an imagingdevice produces unique consecutive images, called frames. Theterm applies equally to computer graphics, video cameras, filmcameras, and motion capture systems.

Frame rate is most often expressed in frames per second (FPS) andin progressive-scanmonitors as hertz (Hz).

The frame rate is the speed at which the frames are played. Theyare generally calculated by frame per second. For example, a scenecould be played back at 12, 24, 25, 30 or 60 frames per second orany other number

functions

A function is a computer generated motion, trajectory or path thatelements, other trajectories and effects parameters can beattached to. The function can be controlled by adding keyframesand 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 thanstandard television does because it has a greater number of linesof resolution. To take advantage of the superior quality and makefull use of your resolution setting, your output devicemust becompatible with HDTV technology.

holdThis is a frame in the animation in which the character maintains itsposition without moving. A hold can be created between any twokeyframes.

HSVHue, Saturation, Value. Amethod of defining colours in terms ofhue (tint), saturation (shade) and value (tone or luminance).

in-betweenThe drawings that exist between the key poses. These are drawnto create fluid transitions between poses.

ink and paintThe ink and paint process is the action of painting the empty zonesand colouring the lines on the final animation drawings, whilefollowing a colour model.

interpolationIn animation, the interpolation is the computer generated motioncreated between two keyframes. You have the choice to createinterpolation, or not, between your keyframes.

jump cut

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

21


key pose

Important positions in the action defining the starting and endingpoints of any smooth transition. Keys, or key poses, are themaindrawings in an animation sequence describing themotion. Forexample, if an arm is waving, the keys will be of the arm at oneextremity of the wavemotion and the other extremity. By flippingthose drawings, the animator can see the skeleton of themotionwithout having all of the drawings.

keyboard shortcuts

One or more keyboard keys which, when used, cause an operationto be performed. Keyboard shortcuts are used throughout theToon Boom software and form an integral part of the workflow. Itis, in most cases, possible to customize the shortcuts in thePreferences dialog of the software.

The shortcuts are written as follows in the Toon Boom userdocumentation: Each key in a sequence is shown inside squarebrackets as in: [Ctrl]+[A]. The brackets "[ ]" separate the key fromthe plus sign (+). Neither the brackets, nor the plus sign are part ofthe sequence. To use a shortcut, press the key and the charactersimultaneously.

keyframeImportant positions in the action defining the starting and endingpoints of any action. A keyframe is a computer generated positionat a specific moment (frame) on a given trajectory.

layerIn animation, a layer is an individual column, level or character. Ascene's layers are superposed to form the final image.

layout

The layout process is the communication step between thestoryboard and the animation. The layout and posing process isthe action of putting the storyboard onmodel, that is drawing thecharacter following the design in themodel pack, so that theanimator can start his work. The layout artist will draw thebackground, create the camera and field guidematching the sceneand the camera motion. Lastly, he will draw onmodel themainaction poses.

layout and posingThe action of putting onmodel, that is, at the right scale, thestoryboard for the animator to start his work.

libraryA library is a storage area containing templates and assets that canbe reused in any project or scenes.

light tableThe Light Table feature allows you to see the other layers intransparency while you are working on a particular one in theDrawing view.

line of actionDirection that the action will follow. Also known as the Path ofAction

lip-syncThe lip-sync is the character`s mouth synchronization with thedialogue sound track. Frame by frame, themouth will be adjustedto fit the sound to give the illusion of the character is speaking.

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

22


manual lip-sync detection

Themanual swapping of mouth position drawings to match a voicetrack. For this process, both sound scrubbing (listening to a soundwave broken up frame-by-frame) and drawing substitutions fromthe Library view are used.

master palette

Amaster palette is a group of colours attributed to a character ora prop. The palette is used throughout the entire production tomaintain consistency in the look and to ensure that the samecolours are used throughout the production. Also known aspalette.

model/colour model

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

motion keyframeIn Toon Boom, themotion keyframe is a keyframewith computer-generated interpolation.

mouth chart

Adding a lip-sync to a project can really enhance its quality andstorytelling. However, it can be difficult to shape a character'smouth so that it matches the sound at the precise frame. To solvethis problem, Toon Boomprovides a lip-sync feature whichanalyses the contents of a sound element and generates a mouthchart based on the eight animation phonemes (A, B, C, D, E, F, G,and X, which is used to represent silence).

multiplane

The effect of passing throughmultiple levels of drawings to createa sense of depth in a shot. Amultiplane is a scene in which thelayers are placed at different distances from the camera so thatwhen the camera moves, a depth illusion occurs. With a multiplane,all the perspective and scale is calculated automatically.

NTSC

The standard analogue television broadcasting system used inNorth America. NTSC conforms to North American standards onhow rectangular pixels are displayed for computer and televisionscreens.

nudgeA small push (left, right, up, down, forward or backward) donewith the keyboard arrow keys on a selected element. Nudging isused to move a selection very slightly and precisely.

onion skinA feature that lets you see the previous and next drawings of asequence.

overlayApart of the scene environment, such as a chair or a bush, that isplaced in front of themain animation.

PALA resolution that works best with the European format fortelevision and computer screens, as the rectangular pixels aredisplayed at a different orientation.

palette/master palette

Apalette or master palette is a group of colours attributed to acharacter or a prop. The palette is used throughout the entireproject to maintain a consistency in the look and avoid the colourchanging during the animation. Also referred to as a masterpalette.

23


palette style

Apalette style is a second version of an existing palette with aslight change in the tint and value. A palette style can be used tocreate the night version of a palette. It may also be called a clonepalette.

pan To move the camera across the scene in any direction.

panelIn a storyboard, a panel is a frame in a shot. A shot can becomposed of one or several panels.

paperless animation/tradigitalThe paperless animation process is the action of animatingdigitally. Themain paperless animation process is to draw, frameby frame, the animation directly in the software.

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

path of actionDirection that the action will follow. Also known as the Line ofAction.

peg

In traditional animation, a tool used to ensure accurate registrationof action as cel layers move. In digital animation, in which you aredoing a more advanced puppet rigging, you can use peg layers.Peg layers are trajectory layers that do not contain drawings. Theyaremotion paths that you can use to add path articulations. Forthe latter, you can also use the Inverse Kinematics tool.

phoneme Unit of sound in a language.

pivot Apivot is the point around which a peg or a drawing rotates.

pixel

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 smallsectionmade out of smooth filtering. If you zoom in close enoughon a digital image, you will see the pixels, which look like smallsquares of different colours and intensity.

pose-to-pose animation

The pose-to-pose animation process is the action of creating all themain action poses, called key poses, and then placing thesecondary poses between the keys. The secondary poses arecalled 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, thecomputer takes each pixel that appears on screen and processesall of the components as well as adding motion blur before itproduces a final image. In animation, the rendering process is theaction of calculating the final images after the compositingprocess.

resolution

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

RGB Red, Green, Blue: method of defining colour by specifying amounts

24


of these three colour components.

riggingThe rigging process is the action of attaching the cut-out puppetparts one to the other.

rotary tableThe Rotary Table is equivalent to the animation disk/table andallows one to rotate the workspace to bemore comfortable whiledrawing.

rotoscoping

Is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-actionfilmmovement, frame by frame, for use in animated films. The actof sketching over live-action footage to create an animatedsequence.

roughsThe roughs are the skeleton sketch of an animation or a design.Roughs mainly consist of sketch lines and shapes, though they canalso contain design details.

safey area

In animation and movie parlance, the safey area is the zone at thecentre of the scene's frame, one safe from being cropped by the TVframe. As a TV frame cuts a margin off the original frame size,maintaining a safey area ensures that the scene's main action willremain clearly visible once the film is screened on television.

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

script

The script is the original text containing all themovie or showinformation. In animation, the script contains all of the locationdescriptions, dialogues, time andmore. A project starts with ascript.

sequenceIn animation, a sequence is a series of scenes or shots forming adistinct part of the story or movie, usually connected by unity oflocation or time.

shotA shot is a scene in a movie or show. A sequence is composed ofseveral shots. A shot changes to another shot by a simple cut, or atransition.

slow-inGradual acceleration in the action. Another common term for slow-in is ease-in.

slow-outGradual deceleration in the action. Another common term for slow-out is ease-out.

sluggingIn Storyboard Pro, slugging refers to indicating the start and stoptimes of dialogue and relevant actions.

sound scrubbingAprocess that lets you hear sound in real timewhile youmove theplayhead forward or backward. This is very useful for finely-tunedlip-syncing.

stop-motion keyframeA stop-motion keyframe is a keyframewith no computer generatedinterpolation.

storyboardA visual plan of all the scenes and shots in an animation. Thestoryboard indicates what will happen, when it will happen and

25


how the objects in a scene are laid out.

straight-ahead

A technique in which an entire sequence is drawn from the firstposition to the last, in order. There is very little planning in thismethodology, and where the character ends up and how it getsthere can be a surprise for both the audience and the animator.While this approach is a lot more spontaneous and creative, it cancreate inaccurate results.

strokesStrokes are invisible vector lines forming the drawing zones. Theycan be adjusted with Bézier handles.

tablet/penDevice used in conjunction with, or instead of, a mouse to move amouse pointer (sometimes referred to as the cursor) around thecomputer screen.

template

In Toon Boom, a template is an asset stored in the library, one thatcan be reused in any project. A template can be a drawing, a seriesof keyframes, a sound file, a panel, a cut-out character, an effect, atrajectory, an animation, or anything else used in the software.

thumbnails A thumbnail is a very small image used as a reference or indicator.

timecodeTimecode is timing information printed on a movie clip to indicatewhat scene, hour, minute and second is currently displayed on thescreen.

timelineThe timeline is a horizontal representation of the scene`s elements,timing and keyframes.

trace and paint

After the rough animations have gone through cleanup and a finalline or pencil test, each drawing is traced and painted for the finalanimation. In today's digital world, this may be done in a varietyways other than via the traditional celluloid or acetatemethods.

track breakdownThe soundtrack for animated film is broken down into individualsounds documenting the precise frame-by-frame position of eachsound.

traditional animationThe traditional animation process is the action of drawing on paperall of the animation sequences, before either scanning them orinking them on cels.

trajectoryA computer generated path or trajectory that elements can follow.The trajectory can be controlled by control points, keyframes andvelocity.

transitionA transition is an effect placed between two scenes as they passfrom one to the other. Common transition effects are cross-dissolve and wipe.

underlayIn animation, an underlay is a specific part of the decor placedbehind themain animation.

aspect ratioThe aspect ratio describes the shape of the grid unit. A square gridunit would have the ratio 1:1, whereas a grid unit of aspect ratio4:3 is a unit with one side 1.33 times as big as the other side.

26


vector

A vector-based image is composed of points and Bézier curves.The computer reads the points and traces the segments, linkingthem to reproduce the image shape. There is no fixed size orresolution in a vector image. The graphic can be enlarged anddistorted as much as desired and the systemwill simply recalculatethe segments and rebuild the shapes. Vector images are translatedand displayed in pixels once the calculation is done.

velocity/ease

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

walk cycle

To avoid making innumerable drawings, animators routinely makea walk cycle for their character. This comprises a series of drawings``on the spot`` that describe the walk for that character. The illusionof movement is created via the use of background pans.

workspaceIn Toon Boom, the workspace is made up of the views, toolbars,and menus.

Xsheet (exposure sheet)

The Xsheet or exposure sheet, is a sheet with several verticalcolumns and horizontal frames used to indicate a scene's timing.

Each column represents a scene's layer. In each column, thedrawing numbers are indicated and spread over the specificamount of frames they need to appear.

The exposure sheet is used by animators, directors and othermembers of a crew to track the sequence and timing of images,dialogue, sound effects, sound tracks and camera moves. Alsoknown as a Dope Sheet.

zone An area which can be painted with colour.

27


28

toon boom harmony 11.1 play guide · film-1.33 ... storyboard ... toon boom harmony 11.1 play guide...

Documents