Cartooning In Toon Boom Wiki - Recently Updated Pages

Adjusting and tweaking

JK-TGRS — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:23:54 CST

Adjusting and Tweeking: This page contains multiple tips and tricks for improving your animation work.

Converting Tweens for Non-constant segments from 1's to 2's
To use tweening first and then convert it to 2's, you establish the keys and create the tweened segment and set your spacing as best you can using your function curves. That makes your non-constant segment on 1's. Tweening is always on 1’s by how it is implemented in TBS. Now go to the end of the segment and step back two frames, with the transform tool active "add a keyframe". Then repeat this step back two frames and adding a keyframe process all the way back until your entire segment has been subdivided on 2's with keyframes connected by constant segments. You now have captured the computer assisted tweening and converted it into a sequence of keyframes. If you are not totally happy with the final spacing at this point you can tweek some of those keys. The point here being that you get the aid of automated tweening but the ability to adjust things after the tweens have been created.

Adjusting Animation Timing With Set Exposure and the Cells Panel

You have created a sequence of drawings, your keys, and you want to set up the timing for this sequence of drawings and then go in and add additional inbetweens without changing the timing you have already established for these keys. You always want to extend exposures from the first frame of the sequence of frames in an exposure set. For example, you have a drawing titled c-12 at frame 23 and you want to extend its exposure for 3 frames. You select c-12 at frame 23 and you <right click> and choose "set exposure to 3". This adds 2 additional exposure frames of drawing c-12 and pushes all additional cell exposures out to allow those exposures to be added at frames 24 and 25. Suppose that you want to change your timing and set the number of exposures of drawing c-12 to 4 exposures instead. You go back to frame 23, in this example, and select just drawing cell c-12 again at frame 23 and <right click> and choose "set exposure". This opens a dialog panel where you will enter 4 in the “frames” text box and click OK. You now will have 4 exposure frames of c-12 instead of 3 again the downstream drawing are relocated to accommodate this timing change. Suppose you don't like that timing and you really wanted it to only be 2 exposure frames. You need to go back to frame 23 ,again, and select drawing c-12 and this time <right click> and choose "set exposure to 2" .This reduces the exposure frames for drawing c-12 down from 4 to 2 and the downstream cells are shifted back to account for the reduction in frames used by drawing c-12. You can add or subtract exposures for each drawing in a sequence of drawings using this technique as a way to adjust and fine tune your animation timing.

See this tutorial Toon Boom Fundamentals - The Basics Part 1 for a great example of this technique

Now suppose that you have your timing adjusted and you now want to start adding some in between drawings into this timed out sequence of keys but you don't want to change the timing. You move to a frame where you want to replace an existing drawing exposure with a new inbetween drawing, and select that frame either in the timeline or on your exposure sheet. Now go to your "Cells" panel, where you will see a preview of the drawing cell that is currently occupying that frame. To replace that drawing cell with a new blank drawing, you just pull the slider handle at the bottom of the "Cells" panel all the way over to your far left and this replaces the current drawing with a new blank drawing and you are ready to draw your in between. You repeat this technique for each in between drawing you want to add into your already timed out sequence.

Suppose that you don't want to use the Cells panel to insert blank cells for your inbetweens as described above. Here is another approach where you want to duplicate the cell in the previous frame and then just modify the new cell as your inbetween. You have a sequence of frames with a cell followed by one or more hold frames of that same cell. You move the frame slider to whichever hold frame in this sequence that you want to convert into an inbetween. You right click to open the context menu and select the "duplicate drawing" command.You now have an exact uniquely named duplicate of your original cell and you can modify it into your inbetween.

C1- -C2-C3-C4-C5-C6- (13 frames) "C1" is a cell that is exposed three times the "-" represents a hold frame.
C1C7-C2-C3-C4-C5-C6- (13 frames) C7 is a duplicate of C1 to be modified as an inbetween.
C1C7C8C2-C3-C4-C5-C6- (13 frames) C8 is a duplicate of C7 to be modified as an inbetween.

Notice that the timing has not changed, it is still 13 total frames but you have now inserted two duplicate cells for inbetweens between key drawing C1 and key drawing C2. The same process is repeated to put in inbetween cells between keys throughout the sequence by converting holds to duplicates of the previous key drawing cell.

This technique also works on the timeline. You select the desired drawing which is represented by a tick mark on the track for the element and <right click> and choose set exposure and enter the desired total number of frame exposures in the dialog panel.

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lip synching

Zebtoonz — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:43:13 CST

Lip Synching Creating sequential drawings that simulate what a character looks like when they are talking.

Lip Synching is a powerful part of the Toon Boom tool set. It can be approached in a few different ways, with different consequences in the final result and the amount of time put into it.

While Toon Boom does have automatic lip-synching capabilities, it looses effectiveness in longer clips. If your sound clip is longer than about thirty seconds, the lip synching may get jumbled further along in the clip. One solution to this is to use separate sound elements, each containing a portion of the overall sound clip. Now when you run the Lip Synching on the clip, you'll have fewer adjustments to make.

The adjustments to lip synching can be made in a number of ways. The first way is to make changes in the Sound Editor itself. This is the fastest place to do the work because it has the fastest reaction and the quickest user interface, due to the simplicity of the design (this part uses buttons) and the proximity of the parts of the interface used.

Using this process, the user can run the lip synching process on a sound clip, then make any changes to the reading quickly in the Sound Element Editor.

The limitation to this method is that it lacks the ability to include any user defined visemes. However, it is the fastest place to make initial changes to any errors made by Toon Boom in reading the lip synching.

Once the initial read is handled in the Sound Element Editor, the user can then use the Modify Lip Synch Mapping to apply the synching to a drawing element. The drawing element in question must be prepared ahead of time with frame names that match the A-G, X frames used by the lip synching editor, It is possible to include additional drawings in this element, but these basic eight lip synching drawings must be included.

Now the user can drag through the timeline and make further corrections using the Cells tab in Properties. It may be tempting for the user to make all corrections with this method instead of using the Sound Element Editor, but using the Cells Tab is actually slower, and should be used only for fine tuning and including additional visemes not recognized by Toon Boom, like L/D/Th.

A very useful tutorial can be found at Manual Lip Synch Toon Boom Tutorial. It gives some very helpful info on basic approach to lip synching manually which is helpful for either doing it by hand or fixing up the lip synching done automatically.

lip chart

Zebtoonz — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:19:40 CST

lip chart: It can be a difficult task to know how to draw a characters mouth so that it matches the sound at the right frame. To help you solve this problem Toon Boom Studio provides you with the lip sync feature which analyses the contents of a sound clip element and generates a lip chart based on the eight animation phonemes (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and X, which represents silence). You can refer to the lip chart positions as you draw the shape of your character’s mouth. Basically sounds can be brok en up phonetically. You don't want to try to match your mouth positions to each letter in a word but rather to the sounds being made. The mouth chart on the left was created by Rob Campbell to help you get a better sense of the mapping of the basic phonemes to the TBS lip chart letters. It is a great resource. Just don't be confused by the use of letters either by Toon Boom or in these mouth charts. The letters represent phonetic sounds. So as you listen to dialog, listen for the sounds and begin to relate your facial muscles to how you make those sounds you don't speak in letters you speak in sounds. You spell with letters.

Lips charts have to be approached based on the orientation of the character speaking. If the character is in profile that will require a different set of mouth positions than if the character is face forward or in 3/4 perspective. The TBS lip sync functionality is a great tool to help you with your lip sync animation but you also need to look at it as just a great starting point. The final work is up to your own artistic skill. Many artists use in-betweening techniques to blend the mouth movements as the character speaks as opposed to "snapping" the characters mouth from position to position. Like any animation you want to first establish your keys and then you can apply in-betweens to smooth out the motions. Another important observation is that facial muscles distort as a character speaks but teeth do not.

I decided to make my own updated TBS mouth chart as the one in the manual was just too small for me. I also added a position for the sounds of L and TH. Hope this is a help.

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Toon Boom Studio Collaborative - Home Page

JK-TGRS — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:53:22 CDT

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Be sure to check the "UPDATES" tab above to see the latest activity here at the Cartooning In Toon Boom Wiki.

NEW: Stop Motion Animation Resources - With the release of Toon Boom Studio Version 5.0, new stop motion animation capability and functionality has been added to the software. To help interested users take advantage of this new addition to the software we have added resource pages focused on this form of animation.

WELCOME

Welcome to the Cartooning in Toon Boom Studio collaborative Wiki. Now that you are here what can you do and how do you do it? You can look up information about important terminology in the Glossary of Terms, or you can find interesting tips and techniques in the Index of Tips and Techniques. You can find tutorials in the Index of Tutorials or you can just perform a "keyword" search using the "keyword" search box located above the "-Wiki pages" side panel on your left. Just type in a word or phrase that relates to what you want to learn. It's that easy.

This wiki is meant to grow to be a great reference and knowledge resource for Toon Boom Studio users. So look and learn and collaborate too. Don't forget to register as a memebr of this Wiki on WetPaint who is our host for this wiki. You must be registered before you can do anything other than just read information.

OUR GOAL

This Wiki has been created as a shared knowledge resource for Toon Boom Studio users everywhere. It is a companion site to the Cartooning In Toon Boom blog. Our goal, over time, is to populate this wiki with a complete glossary of terminology and techniques pertaining to cartoon making, animation, and the usage of Toon Boom Studio. A wiki is a community built on responsible contributions and collaboration and in that spirit we invite readers of this wiki to add to this knowledge base. You as a participant in the wiki can assume many roles. You are first a reader but you also can be an editor or an author. Before you move from being just a reader, please visit the Author-Editor Guidelines page to better understand how to perform those responsibilities.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW FORUM STYLE DISCUSSION THREADS

If you have questions about how to use Toon Boom Studio software or about cartoon making and animation in general, we now have Discussion Forum Threads included as part of the Wiki that can be used for discussing and answering those questions. (please read the important exceptions statement below)

DISCUSSION FORUM THREADS EXCEPTIONS GUIDE

Please note that if you have specific "bug" reporting or comments about Toon Boom software, or you just want to express any kind of concern or opinion about the quality of the software or you want to get a constructive critique of your personal cartoon work, please don't use the Discussion Forum Threads on this Cartooning in Toon Boom Wiki. Those types of discussions are better addressed on the Toon Boom Studio Forums so please use the TBS Forums for all your software complaints, opinions, personal agendas, or self promotions etc.

"BUGS ! WE AIN'T GOT NO STINK'N BUGS !!!
THEY'RE ALL OVER AT BUG PUDDING"

Stop Motion Animation Equipment Information

JK-TGRS — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:31:30 CDT

Stop Motion Animation Equipment Information: Contributor's Note: This page is being added to the WIKI to act as a collecting point for information about cameras which are compatible for use with Toon Boom Studio Version 5.0 and above for making Stop Motion Animation projects. Other useful equipment suggestions will also be included on this page including but not limited to armatures, puppet building, clay sculpting etc.

Stop Motion Animation (main resource page)

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Index of Tips and Techniques

JK-TGRS — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:21:14 CDT

Here is a jumping off point for finding Tip, Tricks, and Techniques that are useful in using Toon Boom Studio.

Tips & Tricks

Adjusting your timing using the Set Exposure command

Cell swapping in an element

Adjusting and tweaking your timing by converting TBS tweened non-constant segments from 1's to 2's

Creating A Custom Color Palette

Drawing View and Camera View differences explained, and concepts of cells, pivot points, display settings and the multi-plane camera revealed Toon Boom Fundamentals - The Basics Part 2

Flipping to check your animation timing

Inking in Thick and Thin Lines

Importing artwork from Flash into Toon Boom Studio

Importing and animating image files Toon Boom Fundamentals - The Basics Part 1

Layering Elements in 3D space

Using Elements Notes and Cell Notes

Techniques

Automatic Lip Sync - a 2 part video tutorial
Importing a Series of Bitmapped Images into Toon Boom Studio to create a pencil test. - Video Tutorial
Stop Motion Animation Using Toon Boom Studio version 5 and above

Cut-out Building Rigging and Animating
Animating a Cut-Out Character in Toon Boom
Animating Cut-Out Characters - Part 1
Animating Cut-Out Characters - Part 2
Animating Cut-Out Characters - Part 3
Building a Cut-Out Character in ToonBoom
Introduction To Photo Cut-Out Animation Part 1
Introduction To Photo Cut-Out Animation Part 2
Introduction To Photo Cut-Out Animation Part 3
Rigging a Cut-Out Character in ToonBoom

Key Framed Animating Fundamentals
Key Framed Animation - Part 1
Key Framed Animation - Part 2
Key Framed Animation - Part 3
Key Framed Animation - Part 4
Key Framed Animation - Part 5

Classical Hand Drawn Animating
A Good Place to Start - Part 1
A Good Place to Start - Part 2
Jumping Into Animation - Part 1
Jumping Into Animation - Part 2
Thumbnail Planning Technique

Effects and Special Techniques
A Text Scrolling Technique In Perspective
Creating Multiple Shots in a Single Scene
Drop Shadow Technique
Using A Subtractive Animation Technique

Readers are encouraged to update this informational content, add keywords to assist other readers in locating this page, or link this page to other pages where appropriate. If this term is not yet defined please feel free to start the definition of this term and other readers will hopefully add to or improve upon that beginning.

Stop Motion Animation

JK-TGRS — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:18:40 CDT

Stop Motion Animation : Contributor's Note: This page is being added to the WIKI as a starting point for developing a resource to aid those TBS users interested in creating Stop Motion animation projects using Toon Boom Studio V5.0 or above.

Stop Motion is one of the many techniques of creating animation. It's origins go back to the earliest days of the art form. This technique is unlike drawn animation as it is primarily done with real objects which are photographed in a sequence of frames straight ahead with slight changes being introduced by the animator as each frame is created. Lighting and set design are very similar to live action film making.

Equipment Suggestions and Information

Stop Motion Resource Links

Animate Clay - an excellent resource featuring history of the technique, sources of equipment and software, and basic instructional articles and discussions.
Van Aken Clay - manufacturer of superior modeling clay for making puppets.
Clay Animation Discussion Group
Perfect Touch - resource for sculpting tools
Sculpey Bake and Bend Clay
Gryphyn Armatures
Information on making Ball and Socket Joints for Armatures
The Clay Animation Station - resource site
The Puppetry Home Page - puppet resource information
Aardman Animation Studios - the holy grail of stop frame
The Art of Stop Motion - Great resource and learning site
Stop Motion Animation - a useful reference and learning site
Stop Motion Works - a useful reference and learning site
Armaverse Armatures

Readers are encouraged to update this informational content, add keywords to assist other readers in locating this page, or link this page to other pages where appropriate. If this term is not yet defined please feel free to start the definition of this term and other readers will hopefully add to or improve upon that beginning.

Index of Tutorials

JK-TGRS — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:31:13 CDT

Automated Lip Sync - A Video Tutorial
Importing a Series of Bitmapped Images into Toon Boom Studio to create a pencil test. - Video Tutorial

Key Framed Animation Fundamentals
Key Framed Animation - Part 1
Key Framed Animation - Part 2
Key Framed Animation - Part 3
Key Framed Animation - Part 4
Key Framed Animation - Part 5
Keyframing the Bouncing Ball

General Animation and Toon Boom Usage Tutorials
A Good Place to Start - Part 1
A Good Place to Start - Part 2
A Text Scrolling Technique In Perspective
Creating A Custom Color Palette
Creating Multiple Shots in a Single Scene
Drop Shadow Technique
Jumping Into Animation - Part 1
Jumping Into Animation - Part 2
Thumbnail Planning Technique
Toon Boom Fundamentals - The Basics Part 1
Toon Boom Fundamentals - The Basics Part 2
Using A Subtractive Animation Technique

Cut-Out Character Animating
Animating a Cut-Out Character in Toon Boom
Animating Cut-Out Characters - Part 1
Animating Cut-Out Characters - Part 2
Animating Cut-Out Characters - Part 3
Building a Cut-Out Character in ToonBoom
Introduction To Photo Cut-Out Animation Part 1
Introduction To Photo Cut-Out Animation Part 2
Introduction To Photo Cut-Out Animation Part 3
Rigging a Cut-Out Character in ToonBoom

Readers are encouraged to update this informational content, add keywords to assist other readers in locating this page, or link this page to other pages where appropriate. If this term is not yet defined please feel free to start the definition of this term and other readers will hopefully add to or improve upon that beginning.

Glossary of Terms

JK-TGRS — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:42:12 CST

Readers are encouraged to add additional terms and to create a new information page for any term which doesn't currently have its own page. If a term currently has its own page, then readers are encouraged to add to the content on that existing term information page. If you create a new term information page for a term, please use the template called Definition page .

3D space

alpha value, animation, animation cycles, animation project, animation properties, Auto Light Table

Brush tool

camera, Camera View window, catalog, cell, cell notes, cell swapping, child, clone, Close Gap tool, color palettes, color sampling and capture, color swatches, color transform effect, constant segments, Contour Editor tool, contours, control point, copy, cushion, cut-out animation, Cutter tool

Draw Top Layer, drawing elements, Drawing View, Dropper tool

easing, element notes, Elements, Ellipse tool, Eraser tool, Exposure Sheet, exposures, extreme

flattening, flipping, frame, frame rate, Function Editor

global library, Grabber tool

image elements , inking

keyframes

layering elements, library, lip chart, local library

media elements, motion guide, motion path, motion points

non-constant segments

object drawing model , onion skin, overlay, Optimize

paint all, palettes, palette styles, paste, peg, pen definitions, Pencil tool, pivot point, Properties window

Rectangle tool, Rotate tool,

Scale tool, Sceneplanning views, Scissor tool, Set Exposure, Side View window, Sound Element Editor, spacing, Static Light Table, Stroke tool

templates, Text tool, Timeline window, timing, Top View Window, Transform tool, tweening

vectorizing, velocity

workflow

zone, Zoom tool

Dropper tool

JK-TGRS — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:40:17 CST

Dropper tool: You can use the Dropper tool to identify the color of a painted zone or line on your drawing. When you click a color in your drawing, Toon Boom Studio selects the corresponding color in the Color Palette tab.
To select the swatch you want to draw, ink or paint with, you can click a color swatch on the Color Palette tab. However, if you have a number of color palettes, palette styles and color swatches, it can be time-consuming to select the right color swatch.You can use the Dropper tool to select a swatch directly from a drawing. When you click a zone or line with the Dropper tool, Toon Boom Studio selects the color palette, palette style and color swatch directly from the line or zone. You can then switch to the Paint tool and color a line or zone with the active color swatch. A nice trick is while using the paint tool or the brush tool or the pencil tool, you can press the ALT (Option) key and your current tool temporarily switches to the dropper tool so you can select and change colors and then when you release the ALT key you are back using your original tool. This makes color swatch changing super quick without having to go to the properties panel while working on your cells. And if you are not sure which palette a color swatch originated from, the dropper tool will find the correct palette and style and swatch for you.

Color Sampling and Capture: There are actually two droppers that exist within the Toon Boom world so to speak. This often is confusing at first. The "dropper" tool, referenced above, which exists on the "tools" palette is for identifying and selecting existing color swatches on existing color palettes. This is useful when working on a project and wanting to quickly switch between colors during painting and not wanting to have to go search through all your active color palettes to find that swatch.

The color sampling and capture dropper, which is a different tool entirely, is found on the color editing panel. To access this color editing panel you first want to go to the color panel and on one of your color palettes you will "add" a new swatch. Double click on that swatch and the color editing dialogue panel will be opened. On that panel you will see depending on your computer operating system either a dropper icon or a looking glass style icon. That's the color sampler tool. You drag it over any color that is currently on your display screen inside or outside of TBS and it will sample that color and capture it to the newly created swatch in your color palette. Then you can paint with you new swatch color on your artwork.

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zone

JK-TGRS — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:08:26 CST

zone: A zone is an enclosed area bounded by a contour. Zones designate areas that can be filled by a paint color. The contour that bounds the zone must be completely enclosed otherwise gaps can prevent the zone from accepting a fill color. This situation can be managed by setting gap thresholds for acceptable sizes of gaps (small, medium, large). See also Close Gap tool and paint all.

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paint all

JK-TGRS — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:27:33 CST

Paint All: Another interesting feature added in V3.01 is the "paint all" feature. This is a shape recognition multi-cell painting feature. If you have a series of cells (drawings) with a character on them, for example, TBS can automatically recognize common "paint fill zones" and when you fill these common zones on one drawing TBS fills them on all the other cells at the same time. Now this works really well for speeding up the paint process for a common character or object where you would normally have to paint the same part of the character or object on each drawing, one drawing at a time. With this feature you can reduce your work significantly. The design of the character is a factor but it is a nice feature.

To use it, select the paint tool and press shift+alt.

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3D Space

JK-TGRS — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:52:04 CST

Although Toon Boom Studio is 2-D software, it provides a form of 3-D space for you to use when creating your animated videos. This 3D space is based on a standard XYZ coordinate system. In TBS the X dimensions are referred to as East -West, the Y dimensions are referred to as North-South and the Z dimensions are referred to as Front-Back. This is terminology that was directly adopted from classical photographic animation and camera movements. Each X-Y defined space is a picture plane and the stack of X-Y picture planes produces a multi-plane 3D picture. Camera View is used to visually see the composition of this picture. The Side View and Top View panels are used to see the individual picture elements and their relationships in terms of their location in the multi-plane composition.

Each picture element is positioned on a picture plane. The perception of depth is created by overlapping picture elements distributed among many different picture plane levels. Picture elements can be freely moved about in 3D space and that movement can be animated along 3D motion paths. TBS automatically adjusts the scaling of picture elements to produce a sense of spacing. As an element is moved farther away from the viewer it is automatically scaled smaller. As an element is moved closer to the viewer it is automatically scaled larger.

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Drawing View

JK-TGRS — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:12:11 CST

Drawing View: The Drawing View pane is your space for creating and modifying vector drawings. You can use this window pane just as a traditional animator would use a drawing disk and light table. The Drawing View has a number of features that can help you work on your vector drawings. With the Drawing View, you can: Use the onion skin to see through the layers in an element so that you can judge the fluidity of change between the drawings in that element. You can use the Auto Light Table to see the drawings in other elements for the same frame. You can use the Static Light Table to view any drawing as a reference while you draw. You can use field grids as a visual reference while you draw. You can rotate the drawing space so that you can view and access the drawing you are working on from a different angle. Drawing view is used to create your animation drawings. Camera view is used to compose your frames and to manage keyed frame animation activities.

There are a number of useful icons that are included in the main window pane. Beginning on your upper right hand side there are four stacked icons that let you switch the content of the main view pane from drawing view to camera view to side view to top view with just a single click. In your lower left hand corner there are four horizontally oriented icons that can be clicked to reset, re-size, or recenter the view in this window pane, and a fifth icon that switches between the current view and the previous view which is very useful when you want to work back and forth between two zoom levels for example.

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Author-Editor Guidelines

JK-TGRS — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 06:59:46 CST

Collaborative Contributions

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Guidelines

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When you finish editing or authoring a page, before you click on the "save" button it is always a great idea to check for suggested links. Just click on the " Suggest Links " icon on the EasyEdit Toolbar. This causes all terms that can be linked to existing pages to be highlighted in yellow. If links are suggested, all you need to do is click on the "Accept and Add All Links" button and those suggested links will be added to the page. This is very helpful and useful in building our wiki spider's web of knowledge. The criteria for a term being suggested to be linked to an existing page is an exact match of the term with the specific page's title. If you see terms that don't match an existing page title but that you feel should be linked to an existing page then you can add them manually using the "Link" icon on the toolbar.

Suggesting New Information Pages

After you have checked for suggested links and made any logical links to existing pages, you may decide that there are terms on the page that should have their own information page. Making a "suggestion" is very easy. It's essentially just like manually creating a link. You highlight the word or group of words that you want linked to an information page, press <control> + C to copy the selection, click on the Link icon on the toolbar, then when the "Add Link" dialog opens you go to the "Link To:" edit box and press <control> + V to paste in the selection. Then just click on the "Add Link" button and you have just made a proposed link suggestion. The word or phrase now shows as a link even though the actual information page doesn't yet exist. Once the current page edits have been saved, you can click on this suggested link and a search of the wiki will reveal all related pages and it will also give you an opportunity to create a new page for the suggested link information. If you don't create that new page then perhaps later someone else will click on this link and decide to create the new page themselves. After all it's a collaborative community.

Authoring New Information Pages

You can create a new information page whenever you feel that it is appropriate. That's one way that the wiki grows, the other way is through enhancing existing pages. You can create a new page by clicking the add page button or by following the method described in the Suggesting New Information Pages section above. In either case for most pages we prefer that you use the Definition page template that we have provided in the templates list of the add new page dialog. That template places a "call to action" note at the bottom of the new page which helps to remind readers about their opportunity to be collaborators. Again, all that we ask of you is that you try to maintain a clear and understandable style of writing, that you proof read what you have written and check your spelling, and we also ask that you only add appropriate content and behave appropriately as a good member of this community. (read What's Inappropriate on This Wiki below)

What's Inappropriate on This Wiki

Inappropriate Content

Inappropriate content is anything that is off topic for the scope of this collaborative wiki, which in our case means it doesn't pertain to the topic of the page and more importantly it doesn't pertain to creating cartoons or doing animation using Toon Boom Studio. The wiki is a collaborative for sharing information about using Toon Boom Animation software but it is not appropriate to use it as a private informational or teaching platform. Teachers are welcomed to direct their students here as a reference site but not to turn the wiki into their private instruction lessons web site. Spam advertising is inappropriate. Links to or direct posts of videos or animations or images that aren't being provided as direct reenforcement to the content being presented are inappropriate. This isn't a show case for review of your personal work. The place to ask for constructive critiques of your work is the Toon Boom Studio Forums, not here. This is not a place to criticize or complain about anything. This isn't a place to editorialize or do self promotion. This also isn't a place to start arguments or to express differences of opinion. This is a wiki which is collaborative and not a competition so it is also inappropriate to remove someone else's content just because you don't like them or what they wrote. If you encounter inappropriate content you are encouraged to remove it. If you are not absolutely sure that it is inappropriate then leave it alone and the wiki manager will make that decision. Of course using vulgar, lewd or profane language or images of any form is totally inappropriate.

Inappropriate Behavior

Adding inappropriate content is inappropriate behavior. Trying to subvert this wiki for any other purposes other than as a constructive and collaborative knowledge base is inappropriate behavior. Arguing, flaming, or disrupting the collaborative environment in any way is inappropriate behavior. Removing content for any reason other than the fact that it is inappropriate or totally incorrect and wrong is inappropriate behavior.

Properties Panel

JK-TGRS — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:35:55 CST

Properties Panel: The Properties Panel is used to set various scene specific properties for an element. When you draw objects in Drawing view they are exactly as you create them referenced to the field guide grid. Then when you place your drawing objects in Camera view (also referred to as Scene Planning view) you can change their scale, rotation orientation, positional location etc. These changes do not alter the original drawing, they are just modifications applied in Camera view.

Camera view modifications are parameter driven and there are two categories of them. They can either be "frame specific" or "scene specific". The parameters that are "frame specific" are referred to as keyframes (which is short for keyed frame parameters). The word keyed means that the parameter is pegged or pinned or tacked to that specific frame in time. You can vary keyed frame parameters along the timeline and thus they are animatable.

"Scene specific" parameters are pegged or pinned or tacked to an entire drawing or image element (all the cells of that element) for an entire scene. They are not variable along the timeline like keyframes but rather they are static or fixed for the duration of the entire scene. "Scene specific" parameters are set in one of two ways. Either you set them using the Scene Select tool (6) or you type in a value for the parameter in the appropriate box of the Properties Panel. So the Properties Panel could also be easily named the Scene Properties Panel because it is used to set the "scene specific" properties of an element.

Here is a good guideline for when to use scene specific parameters VS frame specific parameters. If the element is a background element that doesn't move during the scene like a rock or a tree or a piece of furniture etc. Then it is static and you can set it up for the entire scene. If the element is an actor, a character, or a body part, something that will move and be animated then you want to use keyframes to modify that element so that they can be animated along the timeline.

Readers are encouraged to update this informational content, add keywords to assist other readers in locating this page, or link this page to other pages where appropriate. If this term is not yet defined please feel free to start the definition of this term and other readers will hopefully add to or improve upon that beginning.

layering elements

JK-TGRS — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:24:25 CST

layering elements: Frames are composed of many elements which are layered to create the illusion of depth in 2D. Timeline layering in TBS is from the top down as listed vertically. So elements at the top of the timeline are closer to the viewer and elements at the bottom of the timeline are farther away from the viewer. Layering in the exposure sheet is from the reader’s left to right. (This is a change from earlier versions of TBS which were ordered from right to left). So elements on the exposure sheet which are on the reader’s left are closer to the camera then columns (elements) to the right.

One interesting difference in TBS is that you can designate a “positioning” type for an element that will establish it as a “foreground” or “background” element or just a “normal” element. (Elements are “normal” by default.) Foreground elements are automatically seen in front of other elements and background elements are automatically behind other elements, although there can still be hierarchical layering in the foreground “group” of elements and in the background “group” of elements.

Again this hierarchy is based on each group member element’s relative position with respect to other member elements of the same “positioning” type in the timeline and the exposure sheet. So some foreground elements can be positioned to display in front of other foreground elements and the same for background elements overlapping other background elements. Normal elements fall in between foreground elements and background elements for viewing.

The "z" Direction of 3D Space

There is another degree of layering available in Toon Boom beyond ordering in the exposure sheet or the time line track list and it involves using the "z" direction of 3D space also referred to as the Front/ Back position of the element. Elements in the exposure sheet or time line track list all start out with the same Front/Back position in 3D space. Essentially they are all on the same picture plane even though they are in a stack. So their relative layering order can be adjusted by positioning an element forward or backward by a fractional amount.

The Front/Back position of an element can be changed by using the scene planning “Select” tool (6). Select your object. Go to the Properties panel under the Drawing tab change the offset for the Z-direction which is the last Offset input box to the viewer’s right. Just a slight change of a .01 units either F (front) or B (back) is all that is required.

You can also move elements back and forth along the Z axis while in Camera View. Useful keyboard shortcuts are [Alt] + [Down Arrow] to bring the element one increment closer to the camera, and [Alt] + [Up Arrow] to push the element one increment back away from the camera. Using these shortcuts in Camera View will move elements in .01 increments. Again, you need to use the scene planning “Select” tool to select the desired element in the Camera view panel before trying to adjust its Front/Back position.

Readers are encouraged to update this informational content, add keywords to assist other readers in locating this page, or link this page to other pages where appropriate. If this term is not yet defined please feel free to start the definition of this term and other readers will hopefully add to or improve upon that beginning.

copy and paste

JK-TGRS — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 07:47:32 CDT

Copy and Paste has a lot of different contexts so it isn't just simply a matter of copy and paste, but rather what you are wanting to copy and paste. You can copy and paste entire drawings (cells) or you can copy and paste component parts of complete drawing (drawing objects) or you can copy and paste selective key framed parameters. And in addition to the various contexts for copy and paste there is also duplicating for cells which isn't the same as a copy and paste.

So how do we sort all this out? First we need to be clear that a cell is a complete drawing. An element is a stack of drawings (one or more cells). Each of those cells can be assigned to one or more frames for that element in a time line sequence. The assignment of a cell to a frame is called an exposure. A cell is not a frame, a frame is not a cell. There is only one of each frame that exists in a time sequence, but there can be many instances of the same cell exposed in that same time sequence. So each frame is numbered to identify its time based location in the sequence. And each cell is uniquely named so that it can be identified each time it is exposed (assigned to a specific frame). When you copy a cell and paste that copy to a new frame for the same element then you have just actually assigned the same identical cell to an additional frame. It isn't a separate copy it is the same exact cell, it just has been assigned an additional exposure. In the exposure sheet adjacent frames that have the same cell assigned to them are indicated by a line through the frame much like you made a "ditto" notation on a piece of paper to show that the word on the line above is repeated on the next line and so on.

If you want to have a unique instance of a cell you don't copy and paste the cell you duplicate the cell.

The easiest way to duplicate a cell is as follows.
(1) select the cell you want to duplicate in the exposure sheet or in the timeline.
(2) right click to open the context menu.
(3) select the "add exposure" command (keyboard short cut R)
(4) move to the frame where the added exposure was created and select the new exposure of your original cell.
(5) right click to open the context menu.
(6) select the "duplicate drawing" command.
You now have an exact uniquely named duplicate of your original cell.

A different type of duplication:
If you select a cell in element "A" and you drag it to a frame position in a new element "B" on your exposure sheet (or timeline) the cell will be renamed to fit the naming order for element "B" and it will no longer be assigned to the frame it occupied in element "A", but the originally named version of the cell still exists in element "A", it just no longer has a current frame assignment. So it appears to disappear. You see a cell is a drawing and it exists in the element where it was created even if it is no longer assigned a time sequence frame position for that element.

If you select a frame for element "A" and you go to the "cells" panel and type in the number for the "missing" cell, it will be there and will be reassigned to that frame in addition to being a unique cell in element "B".

Because the same cell is part of two separate elements it has two unique names and therefore each instance of that cell is unique and separate from the instance in the other element. Effectively you duplicated the cell in a different element by dragging the cell from one element to another element.

What about other form of copy and paste? Let's copy a drawing object. First we need to be sure we are clear on what is a drawing object. A cell is a drawing and a drawing is composed of one or more drawing objects. So if you have a cell displayed in drawing view you can use the drawing select tool (keyboard short cut 1) to select any of that drawing's component drawing objects. You can hold down the shift key as you select drawing objects to create a temporary group of drawing objects. Once you have your desired drawing object selected you can use the "edit>copy drawing object" command to copy the drawing object. Next you need to select a new cell in the same or a different element in your exposure sheet. This often is confusing for people because if a cell doesn't exist for a frame location in an element and you select that frame location TBS will create a new cell and assign it to that selected frame as soon as you paste into the new cell or start to draw in the new cell. Just remember a frame is not a cell and cell is not a frame.

OK, so how do we paste a drawing object into our selected cell. We will use the "edit>paste drawing object" command. But this command is only available if the drawing view window has "focus". Which means we must click on the drawing view window to give it "focus" then we can execute the paste action for the copied drawing object.

peg

JK-TGRS — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 08:07:03 CST

peg: We can direct computer aided animation using keyframes but we need a way to connect an element to many different types of keyed frame values as well as a way to specify the length of our connecting segments between each beginning and ending keyed frame pair. We also need a place to tie a velocity function curve to each connecting segment. In Toon Boom Studio we have a container for keyed frame values and inbetweening instructions and that container is called a peg. Looking back to the origin of the registration peg, we can see that pegs and peg bars were originally created as registration devices, and we are still using them in that way in our virtual version too. We are registering animation attribute values and instructions to art work elements for specified frame sequences.

In Toon Boom Studio beginning with version 3.5, we can have pegs in two forms. We can have them as independent element tracks in our timeline or we can have them as integrated parts of other element tracks where the peg is included inside of a drawing or image element track. The important point here is that any usage of pegs for containing information and instructional registration is a part of compositing and planning and therefore only useful in the timeline directly associating the pegs with Camera View for scene planning. Pegs have no real meaning with respect to the exposure sheet which is primarily used to manage drawing organization and Drawing View.

A peg, whether an independent element or integrated into a drawing or image element, can contain multiple different types of attributes of keyed frame values at each individual frame in a scene (location, scale, rotation, or skew values). TBS provides specific visual indicators on a timeline track display for each type of keyed value present at each single frame. Conceptually a peg element is a collection of pegs, each of which is a multi-valued container. Each frame position of a peg element is a peg container. For simplification we just refer to the peg element and its individual peg containers as a peg. So just like the term keyframe can be singular or plural depending on the context of our use, the same thing is true for the term peg. And a peg element can contain many connecting segments as defined by each occurrence of a starting and ending key framed value for the same type of attribute.

This means that even though three segments, one for scale and one for rotation and one for location, might all start at the same frame they don’t have to be the same length, they can each end on different frames. Each segment does not have to have the same type of inbetweening method either, some could be constant and the others non-constant, and each non-constant segment has its own unique velocity function curve that controls the in between image spacing. That’s a lot of flexibility for us as animators to be able to direct.

So to extend what we have learned so far, pegs are used to keyframe animate objects across time. You can attach one or more elements to a peg and you can attach pegs to other pegs to create complex hierarchies of control. Pegs are used to facilitate computer rendered inbetweening. So when you have elements attached to a peg, you can set keyframes and TBS interpolates inbetween those keyframes based on the values of those keyframes and the type of connecting segment used. And you can use velocity function curves to adjust the way the inbetweening is applied which is often called “custom easing” or "cushioning". Basically the curve specifies the rate of change between the images, their spacing.

Additionally, pegs can be controlled by motion paths which are 3D and those motion paths can have adjustable keyframes and they also can have frame independent motion control points. That allows you to have some motion control that has to happen at a specific point in time and other motion controls that are 3D space dependent and not time dependent. At this point, you should begin to see that TBS has some very sophisticated functionality that can provide a lot of flexibility for us as animators once we master the skills of directing this method of communicating instructions to the render engine. There is a new way to use pegs in v3.5 as each image or drawing element now includes a peg as part of that image or drawing element. This means that keyframing does not require attaching elements to separate peg elements as was the case in previous TBS versions. Of course the power and flexibility of separate peg elements still exists and so this new creation of integrated peg elements is not just a simplification but is also an enhancement.

On top of the many uses pegs have in the animation process, they can also serve as organizational devices, or folders of sorts, which can hold assets in your libraries and maintain them in a very orderly manner. For example, if you have a cut-out character, and want to save it in your global library, you could drag each individual element into the library, where each would become a template. However, this can easily cause a lot of clutter in your library, but we can use pegs as containers or folders to store all those elements and make them much easier to access later on. To do this all you need to do is take your cut-out character, and create a parent peg at the top of your timeline. Attach all of your elements to this parent peg, name it whatever you like, collapse it and drag that peg into your library. It will bring all attached elements with it, and they will keep their hierarchical relationships and any key frame values as well. This is a great way to store characters as well as groups of background elements or just about anything else you want to organize. When you need the assets again, simply drag your peg "folder" into your timeline, expand it, and you will have all the elements right at your fingertips in a new project.

Readers are encouraged to update this informational content, add keywords to assist other readers in locating this page, or link this page to other pages where appropriate. If this term is not yet defined please feel free to start the definition of this term and other readers will hopefully add to or improve upon that beginning.

peg hierarchy

JK-TGRS — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 08:01:12 CST

Peg Hierarchy: Creating a pegged hierarchy of elements is a technique used in TBS to create and maintain relationships between the included elements. This is particularly useful in insuring that elements move together in a coordinated and predicitable manner. It is also the basis for construction of cut-out character rigs.

How to attach elements to pegs to establish a peg hierarchy

Assumptions: you have created one or more drawing or image elements and each of those elements contains one or more cells. If not you need to create your elements to follow these steps.

You are using TBS (studio not studio express) V 3.0 or higher.

We will be working in the timeline, on your left is a list of elements each element is also referred to as a track. When a track label is highlighted that means it is the current selection. For the purpose of this explanation I will use several drawing elements which I have named D1, D2, D3. These are just example names and not significant. I will name my pegs P1, P2, P3 ect. These are example names also and not significant.

My timeline track list starts off looking like this with 5 tracks:
D3
D2
D1
P1
Camera

Step 1: I select track D3.

Step 2: I go to the upper left corner of the timeline and click on the "add peg element" icon (it looks like an arc with a plus sign in the middle)

My timeline track list now looks like this with 6 tracks:
P2
D3
D2
D1
P1
Camera

I now want to attach D3 to P2.

Step 3: I click on D3 and hold the left mouse button while I drag D3 directly on top of P2 then I release the mouse button.

My timeline track list now looks like this with 6 tracks:
>P2
D3
D2
D1
P1
Camera

Notice that D3 is now indented under P2 which indicates that it is attached to that peg element. P2 shows a triangle icon that lets me collapse or uncollapse the peg and its attached elements.

I'm going to do the same thing to my camera and P1

Step 4: I click on Camera and hold down the mouse button and drag Camera directly over the top of P1 then release the mouse button.

My timeline track list now looks like this with 6 tracks:
>P2
D3
D2
D1
>P1
Camera

Now I'm going to attach D2 and D1 to a new peg.

Step 5: I select D2 and click on the Add Peg Element icon to create the new peg

My timeline track list now looks like this with 7 tracks:
>P2
D3
P3
D2
D1
>P1
Camera

Step 6: I "<shift> select" both D1 and D2 hold down the mouse button and drag this group of elements directly over the top of P3 and then release the mouse button.

My timeline track list now looks like this with 7 tracks:
>P2
D3
>P3
D2
D1
>P1
Camera

Now I want to attach P2 and its attached element D3 and P3 and its attached elements D2 and D1 to a common parent peg P4.

Step 7: I select P2 and click on the Add Peg Element icon to create P4.

Step 8: I click on the triangle next to P2 to collapse the peg.

Step 9: I click on the triangle next to P3 to collapse the peg.

Step 10: I "<shift> select" tracks P2 and P3 and hold down the mouse button and drag this group of pegs directly over the top of P4 and then release the mouse button.

My timeline track list now looks like this with 8 tracks and all pegs un-collapsed:
>P4
>P2
D3
>P3
D2
D1
>P1
Camera

That's the process, step by step, for creating parent child relationships using pegs in a hierarchy

Readers are encouraged to update this informational content, add keywords to assist other readers in locating this page, or link this page to other pages where appropriate. If this term is not yet defined please feel free to start the definition of this term and other readers will hopefully add to or improve upon that beginning.