Can you take a look

Okay so i can vectorize an import drawing. I can contour things out.
I have some questions tho.
The way i do it is.—>exposure sheet (vectorize drawing)----->save as drawing 1----->make copy as drawing (2).
On drawing (2) I disect and contour the drawing. (expanded copy of D1 cut into the parts im going to use for animation.)


Now thats what Ive taught myself so far. HERE’S my questions…
1. Do I need to save each body part as a seperate drawing
or can i somehow peg the body parts from my expanded D(2) ?
I am pegging each drawing to individual pegs. Then setting them as such

Parent peg MAIN CHAR (blank drawing)
head(parent)
torso (Parent peg)
Left arm (parentpeg)
upper arm
4arm
Lhand
Right arm(parent)
upper arm
R4arm
Rhand
LEGS (parent peg//blank drawing)
Left leg(parent)
Leftupperleg
L Low leg
L foot
Right leg(parent)
R upper leg
R low leg
Rfoot

2.I am so far trying to peg each drawing (sperate body part)
I can not see a character on screen that I can move or animate. I click on the drawings and see only each individual body part.
AM I doing this right as i mapped out my pegs?
3. Is there a manual from toonboom I can buy. Or a basic beginners anything out there? I have watched the tutorials on this forum. And they are over my head. If i can just get past this first hump i will figure the rest out.

I really need a step 1 —>sit down---->open toonboom---->??3??---->??4??–>??5??---->??6??-----??7??------
This is very new to me. I drew comics frame by frame as a teenager. And i Really have a passion for this work.
For all those that have helped me so far, Thank You!!

Are you in camera view or drawing view?Do your drawing in drawing view, then switch to camera view to rig your char & animate. You should be able to see all your parts once you switch to camera view.

Your use of terminology suggests that you are not distinguishing between elements and cells. Drawings are equivalent to cells. Cells belong to elements.

To build a cut-out character you must have all the individual body parts separated into individual elements not just individual cells in the same element.

So if your character has 20 body parts, for example, that means you will have 20 elements each containing one or more cells. Individual elements can have multiple cells (different versions of the same body part) but in compositing a cut-out character you only work on a single frame, normally frame 1. So to composite your character into one picture all the cells for that pose need to be in the same frame and you only can do cut-out character compositing in the camera view window. (window>camera view)

So as you cut out and separate your character into body parts you must place each body part into a cell in a separate element. Each body part cell should be placed on frame 1 for that element. As I said if you have multiple versions of the same body part (IE open left hand, closed left hand etc.) they will be in the same element but only one will be seen at a time on the composited character. If you want step by step instruction you should consider purchasing the TBS Workout Series on Cut Outs offered as part of E-learning. Cut-out character design, rigging and animating is not beginner level usage of Toon Boom and requires significant knowledge of how to use the software. -JK

Thanks alot guys!
well what would call beginner lvl stuff. I guess i need a better foundation to do even start.

I have suggested previously that you read the Cartooning in Toon Boom blog articles and tutorials, so if you haven’t done that yet, you really should, it will help you get a better foundation. I am currently working on a Cut-Out tutorial series that will take people through the entire process step by step from concept to animation of cut-out characters. So that will be available on the blog soon also. I already did a short series on Photo-Cut-Outs on the blog, but this new series will be drawn characters and very in depth. But you have to get your head around the basics of TBS to understand how things work so start by reading the articles in the blog and if they aren’t clear to you then ask questions here on the forums to get clarification. The series on Key Framed Animation is chocked full of insight into pegs and how they are used. The series on It’s Elemental is absolutely must reading to get a better understanding of the TBS metaphor and how the software is organized. Step by step instructions are useful but you really want to understand the concepts behind the steps so that you can create your own work flows.



A GOOD PLACE TO START This series is aptly named because it is a good starting place for combining animation knowledge and software usage in its simplest combination. -JK