Toon Boom Studio Tutorial - Cartoon Animation Made Simple

Learn to set up a new Toon Boom Studio project, name it, choose size and frame, select presets for web, mobile, or HDTV, and navigate default and custom workspaces.

Customize Toon Boom Studio workspaces by arranging windows, adding a camera view, and saving a new layout like Tony 0 1; reopen keeps your open views.

Explore the Timbales interface in Toon Boom Studio, navigating camera, drawing, bone, and scene planning tools along with side, top, and drawing views; manage tools and animations via the timeline.

Learn to use the Toon Boom timeline to add drawings, sound, cameras, pegs, and effects; scrub with the play head, rename elements, and manage names via the add elements menu.

Learn to use onion skin and light table in Toon Boom Studio to compare previous and next frames, adjust eye pupils, and switch between camera and drawing views for animation.

Master keyboard shortcuts in toon boom studio to move the timeline playhead, toggle the grid, switch tools, and zoom, with customizable options like option+s for smoothing.

Explore shape tools: rectangle, ellipse, and line. Adjust stroke thickness with pen window’s min size and max size and smoothness; hold shift to lock proportions or draw from center with option.

Explore the polyline tool in Toon Boom Studio to create precise shapes by adding anchor points, adjusting curves, and closing paths with the contour editor.

Explore the pencil tool for freehand drawing in Toon Boom Studio, with unvarying line weight set by pens, and use tracing and cleanup on layered files.

Explore the brush tool in Toon Boom Studio to vary line weight with stylus pressure, while mouse input remains uniform. Adjust minimum and maximum pen sizes and smooth lines.

Master pen tools in Toon Boom Studio by adjusting minimum and maximum stroke sizes, using pressure with a stylus or mouse, and selecting end shapes or custom pens for lines.

Learn to transform a basic rectangle with the contour editor: edit anchor points, adjust the path, add points with option-click, and refine curves using direction handles.

Learn to apply smoothing in Toon Boom Studio to clean up hand-drawn lines, reduce anchor points, and use the contour editor for smoother pencil and brush drawings.

Master erasing, cutting, and scissoring in Toon Boom Studio to remove marks, cut shapes, and refine strokes. Learn quick shortcuts for selecting, undoing, and moving parts to create precise edits.

Convert lines to brush to turn strokes into fills and gain hand-drawn feel; use the contour editor and smooth tool to reduce anchor points and refine thick and thin lines.

Group all sketch lines in Toon Boom Studio into a single unit with the select tool and a plus registration mark, then ungroup with command shift G for flexible editing.

Flatten connected strokes in Toon Boom Studio to create a single solid drawing you can move, color, and manipulate, then decide when to group versus flatten.

Learn how to use Toon Boom Studio's color palette to color and recolor artwork, manage swatches, rename and duplicate colors, and apply global color updates across scenes.

learn to create custom color palettes in Toon Boom Studio, sample colors from public domain images for an aged look, and update colors across drawings and projects.

Learn to close gaps in drawings with Toon Boom Studio using the paint bucket, close gap, and stroke; verify connections with show strokes and outlines, then color the result.

Learn to create and refine gradients in Toon Boom Studio using custom colors, selecting linear or radial gradients, editing textures, and shading eyes to move beyond flat color.

Apply textures to character colors by using a plaid texture and gradient fills, tile textures, and adjust patterns with texture and cutter tools to add depth to clothing and eyes.

Duplicate the current palette to create a new custom palette for a character, then build styles like bob regular, bob night, and bob greyscale via hue, saturation, brightness, and blending.

Import bitmap images in Toon Boom Studio, adjust fit within the camera, and scale assets larger than the document to reduce pixelation while preserving Photoshop layers.

Import Illustrator or PDF vectors into Toon Boom Studio, preserve layers, rename palettes, and convert text to outlines, while noting unsupported features and color imports.

Import sound files into Toon Boom Studio to create a timeline layer from AIFF, MP3, WAV, or M4A, then scrub, play, and edit for lip sync and music layering.

Import sketches from a file, set to black and white with no filter, preview and adjust thresholds, then vectorize solid black lines and refine with smoothing and the contour editor.

Import video into Toon Boom Studio by choosing AVI or MPEG formats, adjusting opacity, and using the footage as reference for rotoscoping or animation.

Learn to create movement in Toon Boom Studio by using frames and keyframes, extending exposure, and setting constant or non-constant segments for smooth animation.

Learn how to rotate elements with a pivot point using the transform and rotate tools, move the pivot permanently, set keyframes, and create multiple spins for a boomerang animation.

Explore easing in Toon Boom Studio by applying velocity-based curves and presets like slow acceleration, slow deceleration, and ease in/out, illustrated with onion-skin animation and adjustable control points.

Learn to manage complex animations by pairing layers in a parent-child hierarchy, making the arm the parent and the boomerang the child to move together and save time.

Attach animation to a peg to drive complex motion along a path. Learn three ways to add a peg and make it the parent for keyframed curves.

Learn to create complex motion paths using the motion tool to add anchor points, adjust curvature, and set velocity-based timing for a natural boomerang animation.

Learn how to use the X-sheet in Toon Boom Studio, compare it with the timeline, and manage drawings, frames, onion skin, thumbnails, and layer organization.

Compare straight ahead animation and pose to pose animation, highlighting live feel, timing control, and risks to volume and scale in character work, using onion skin and layers.

Explore pose-to-pose animation, contrasting with straight-ahead methods by building key frames at 1 and 5, then create in-between breakdowns (2–4) with onion skin to control timing and beats.

Create cycles in Toon Boom Studio by drawing frames, setting exposure, and using simple and advanced cycle options to extend animation across multiple frames.

Learn rough animations and pencil tests in Toon Boom Studio, then clean up with solid lines on a clean layer. Use a two-color palette and in-between sketches with smoothing.

Learn rotoscoping by tracing video to produce a realistic, proportionate animation. Import the video, set opacity, draw above the reference, lock the layer, and export for a polished finish.

Create and manage annotation and element notes on a dedicated annotation layer to communicate changes. Learn to toggle visibility to hide annotations from the final animation.

Master power painting in Toon Boom Studio to color multiple frames at once when zones overlap, using option/shift and onion skin to save time and add highlights.

Master best practices for cutout animation in Toon Boom Studio by building a layered character with anchor points, rotating parts, and swapping drawings to create illusion of a single drawing.

Cut a line drawing into movable parts like hands, arms, legs, torso, neck, and eyes, then arrange them in a layered hierarchy with pivot points for animation.

This lecture shows cutting up a character head by separating Bob's mouth, neck, eyes, and hair onto layers, with the head on a separate layer and hierarchy to control movement.

Create a character rig by establishing layer hierarchies, parenting limbs to the forearms and torso, duplicating arms and legs, and adjusting the stacking order for proper alignment.

Set precise pivot points for character parts in Toon Boom Studio to control rotation from the neck, eyes, mouth and limbs, using the transform tool to avoid default pivots.

Learn to hide hinges in Toon Boom Studio by layering and nudging parts in z space to create a single straight drawing, using delete, opacity tweaks, and forward/backward adjustments.

Learn to animate cutout characters in Toon Boom Studio using keyframes, constant vs nonconstant segments, and pivot point control with the Transform Tool, including squash and stretch for balance.

Master drawing substitutions in Toon Boom to add life to a character, enabling blinks, tongue movements, and eye squash and stretch through duplication, frame edits, and repainting.

Create a master peg to form a master pack, store it in the library, and reuse it across projects as a puppet template.

Learn to create and manipulate a skeleton rig in Toon Boom Studio using the bone creator to add joints, bend segments, and animate a single drawing line on the timeline.

Master bone setup and bone influence in Toon Boom Studio for a two-joint arm. Learn to adjust the envelope and preview the skeleton effect to ensure proper deformation.

Apply deformable textures with bones in Toon Boom Studio, using the deformable by bones option to make plaid patterns bend with the skeleton or stay fixed for tiling effects.

Animate with a skeleton using keyframes and the bone manipulator. Choose constant or non-constant frames, turn on skin, adjust the arm drawing, and explore textures and deformation to create motion.