Toon Boom

Toon Boom is a suite of professional animation software, with Toon Boom Harmony being its main animation platform. Harmony is a vector and bitmap-based 2D animation tool used for traditional hand-drawn animation, cut-out animation, character rigging, compositing, and other production workflows.

It is designed for professional animation production and combines drawing, rigging, effects, camera controls, and compositing tools in one application. Toon Boom software is used by major animation studios and is suitable for projects ranging from television content to more advanced animated productions.

How Toon Boom Works

Toon Boom Harmony combines drawing, animation, rigging, and compositing through a multi-layer digital canvas.

• Traditional Frame-by-Frame: Animators can draw individual frames using digital brushes and pencils. This approach is suited to traditional hand-drawn animation workflows.
• Cut-Out Animation: Characters can be separated into parts such as the head, torso, arms, and legs. These parts can then be connected through the Node View and animated as digital puppets without redrawing every frame.
• Deformation: Bone, Game Bone, and Envelope deformers allow artists to bend, stretch, and reshape digital artwork to create more natural movement.
• 3D Camera: Harmony supports a 3D space where 2D layers can be positioned at different depths. Animators can move the camera through the scene to create depth and multiplane effects.
• Compositing: Effects such as lighting, shadows, glows, and blurs can be added within the software before the final animation is produced.

How We Rated Toon Boom

We evaluated Toon Boom based on its drawing tools, frame-by-frame animation, character rigging, deformation systems, compositing capabilities, camera controls, lip-sync features, and overall suitability for professional animation production. We also considered its learning curve, hardware requirements, pricing, and whether its extensive feature set is appropriate for simpler projects.