I started a youtube series with some Harmony rigging tutorials, if anyone is into that kind of thing. I’ve had some pretty good feedback, so I think it’s helpful. My mom says it’s really good lol.
Yeah I agree, I look forward to it. Peace!
Hello just subscribed to your channel, and checked out a couple of videos, they"re, good, keep it up and very helpful.
Thanks a lot 
Hey can you do a crash course on Inverse Kinematics? I would like to incorporate this but the learning material is limited. Thanks!
I can put it on the list. I hope to work up to the more advanced stuff like using expressions and creating control handles. There’s a tonne of stuff that’s hard to find info on.
Hey let me ask you a question do you prefer using control handles over IK? and what is expressions?
I very rarely see IK used in the studios. It’s hard to set up, so only a small percentage of animators know how to do it, and it’s not as reliable as something like Maya IK system. but I have met some senior guys who can get a lot out of it.
Control handles have a lot of great uses. You can make a simple handle that can control image switches, Make little handles to grab pieces hidden in the back of the rig, like the far arm. Or you can make a handle that controls multiple pegs. So if you had 12 gears on some contraption, you can have them all rotate using 1 handle, instead of doing each one separately.
Expressions are using scripting to assist with this set up. If you need gear 1 to move half the speed of gear 2, they can still share one handle. You can use math to create a ratio - for every 3 fields I move the handle it should rotate the gear 90 degrees. Stuff like that.
The help menus have documentation on how to set them up. You don’t need a huge background in python to do a few simple things with them. I’m not a programmer by any means.
http://docs.toonboom.com/help/harmony-12/premium/Content/_CORE/Workflow/028_Animation_Paths/074_H1_Expression_Columns.html
Oh my, -this is awesome! I’ve been watching tutorials for quite awhile now to get my head wrapped around the concepts and techniques of Harmony and it’s so rare to see something that’s dedicated towards studio work flow ideas rather than the student who may still be learning to draw in addition to learning the software. Wonderful! I’m going to be devouring this stuff as you produce it so consider me eager to see more! Thank you thank you thank you!
Thanks so much! that means a lot 
OOoooh Yes a video that shows how to make a control for image switches would be amazing! I cant wait to see that! I can make control handles to to move smaller parts and groups of pegs, but I did not know you could do image switches too. WOW how do you do that?
Your mother is absolutely correct. These are some of the best tutorials on Harmony available…logically explained, practical, detailed and insightful from a veteran user. Thank you for taking the time and sharing your knowledge.
Thanks o0Ampy0o <3
I would love to do some Q&A videos, and more topics for longer videos. so if anyone has questions or topics they want to see addressed I would appreciate it.
I have butts, mouths, and shoulders on my to-do list.
T
Great idea, um I have a few questions
Can you tell me how studios handle audio? I want to start putting voices to my characters, but I have no clue how to do it efficiently. have you ever done the lip sync process, and what are some tips you can offer?
Are there any books you would recommend for up and coming animators and artist?
Have you ever done storyboarding? any tips ?
Do you have a portfolio, if so what’s in it?
bump
I don’t do much with the audio side of it. The editor, and story board guys get the audio working, by the time I get a scene it’s already in there. When I do lip sync, I just scrub through and use the hot keys to select the best mouth. I don’t think there’s any quick solution. Just sound stuff out and pay attention to your own face. Play it through a lot to see if it looks right. I am not a huge fan of the auto lipsync feature, but I will include it in my mouth video. It’s not a science, if it looks right, it is right.
There are so many good books kicking around for general art, Art Of books are huge right now, and it is geek christmas. lol. For animation specifically I like the force anatomy book, Elemental magic, if you want to get into FX, and Drawn to life.
https://www.amazon.ca/Force-Dynamic-Life-Drawing-Animators/dp/0240808452
https://www.amazon.ca/Elemental-Magic-II-Technique-Animation/dp/0240814797/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1489764477&sr=1-2&keywords=elemental+magic
https://www.amazon.ca/Drawn-Life-Classes-Stanchfield-Lectures/dp/0240810961/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1489764493&sr=1-1&keywords=drawn+to+life
I am a terrible storyboarder so I would feel bad offering advice. The best board guys I know are interested in film, and story.
I haven’t needed a portfolio in a while. I bounced around to a bunch of places the first 3-4 years I was in the industry , so I find contracts through people I’ve worked with before.
But Portfolios are really a lot less scary than they feel like. Really they just need to h ave relevant work in it. If you want to be a character animator, have character animation, bit of action, bit of acting, not too long. If you do layout include layout and perspective drawing.
Use common sense - it is underutilized lol. I was vetting resumes for a 2d FX job, and one applicant had no 2D fx… or 2D animation…or drawings of fx. It was clearly a shot-gun attempt to get any job that was posted.
cool good stuff, Im checking these books out now, I wonder if my local library might have them.
as for the bump I just want to keep the conversation going, hopefully others will chime in with some good questions as well.
so getting back to the storyboard, when the art comes to you is it already laid out for you or do you just rig the character up for them to lay out at a later time?
have you ever done any freelance work and if so how did you find the job, are there any good online resources for finding animation work?
You mentioned character animator and layout and 2d fx, what are some other positions studios might be looking for?
YES! Library got the books on deck SON! well they have to borrow from another library but they will call me when they come in! Gotta love that public library! thanks for the tip pn the books. PEACE.
For rigging I have seen anything from a piece of paper with a pencil sketch, which I had to clean up and rotate myself, to completed character designs, rotated, and with additional action poses provided by a character designer.
The story boarders work from sketches or designs provided by the design team. They don’t work with the rigs.
Some studios have a scene set up guy, or a program that can distribute the assets to the scenes. Smaller studios might require the animators to populate their own scenes with the assets provided by the riggers.
I have done freelance work, but it was always someone calling me. I don’t actively look for it. I like working in a studio.
To look for jobs, https://www.animatedjobs.com/ is a good start. They also have a good twitter feed. It’s easier for you to check that out than for me to try and think of all the possible jobs titles. More than you think