With Harmony 25, Toon Boom Animation Introduces Helpful Tools Across The 2D Animation Pipeline

Since 1994, Toon Boom Animation has developed software and services designed with professional artists and studios in mind. The Montreal-based company was an early leader in digital ink & paint software and throughout the years expanded its scope across the production pipeline.

Toon Boom Animation’s industry-leading product lineup now includes Harmony, Storyboard Pro, Producer, and Jump, alongside training and consulting services to support productions of all sizes.

Working with an all-in-one animation solution like Harmony Premium allows artists in studios to collaborate using the same programs and project files, from drawing roughs to rigging characters and compositing. Inside a Harmony pipeline, every element within a sequence remains fully adjustable without requiring time-consuming import and rendering between steps. Whether you work with hand-drawn animation or character rigs, Harmony gives artists everything they need to animate with style.

Supporting artists from rough animation to 2D character rigs, ink & paint and the final export

In the latest version 25, Toon Boom Animation adds impressive new functionality to support the most demanding studio productions. The new Breakdown Pose Assistant helps animators fine-tune their rigged character animation as well as the spacing of other keyframed objects. While inking characters or building rigs, artists can now draw assets with the same Photoshop brushes used in their concept art. For teams working within a cg production pipeline, this new update adds support for importing, exporting, and roundtripping scenes using the Universal Scene Description standard.

The Breakdown Pose Assistant is a feature that animators working with 2d rigged characters will notice immediately in the latest update. As the most natural breakdown between two key poses is often not halfway between two keyframes, the Breakdown Pose Assistant in Harmony 25 allows animators to adjust which keyframe a specific breakdown favors. This tool is highly customizable and can even be used to assist with antic and overshoot poses.

Having the option to import Photoshop brushes into Harmony allows ink-and-paint artists to more closely match the look and feel of the visual development material they work from. ABR brushes can either be imported as vector and bitmap brushes, and can also be applied to erasers.

The most significant quality-of-life improvement in Harmony 25 might also be its smallest. Artists can expect to see file transfers with smaller project files and significantly reduced scene load times – up to three times faster! This was made possible by both optimizing the structure of and compressing complex project files. Additionally, both Storyboard Pro and Harmony 25 have an option to save a project as a single file, which is ideal for collaborating remotely with artists and studios.

Toon Boom Ember is available for Harmony 25 and Storyboard Pro 25 as an optional addition. Ember is a suite of AI-powered tools designed to enhance creative workflows in Storyboard Pro and Harmony so artists can work with fewer interruptions, iterate faster, and focus on the creative process.

New features in Harmony 25

• Smaller Project Files: Reduce scene load times and long file transfers with smaller project files in Harmony 25
• Universal Scene Description Compatibility: Universal Scene Description (USD) is an open standard for transferring scenes along a CGI production pipeline
• Import Photoshop Brushes: Draw with the same brushes in your animation that were used in visual development in Harmony Advanced and Harmony Premium
• Pencil Line Retouch Tool: Adjust the opacity and thickness of existing pencil lines by drawing over with the Pencil Line Retouch Tool in Harmony Advanced and Premium
• Breakdown Pose Assistant: Fine-tune your rigged character animation and other keyframed objects in Harmony Premium 25 using the Breakdown Pose Assistant
• Lock Timeline Ruler: Avoid accidentally adjusting the timing of finished scenes while scrubbing through your project by using the Lock Timeline Ruler command

Both Storyboard Pro 25 and Harmony 25 were released alongside the full launch of Toon Boom Ember during this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Harmony 25 is available as a free update to artists on annual or monthly licenses. Artists and studios around the world are encouraged to visit toonboom.com for pricing as well as discounted student licenses.