Flipping
Many animators like to “flip” their drawings to check out how an action is progressing. There is a little talked about trick in TBS that is a great “flipping” substitute. If you select, highlight, a sequence of cells in an element in your exposure sheet or on the time line and then press the return key , TBS will just render that sequence of cells and by using the “loop” button on the render viewer, you can watch them flip over and over and see how the action is looking. This is much nicer than trying to use the and keys to flip through a sequence. It is a really fast way to flip through any sequence of cells you select. One more of those little animator friendly features in Toon Boom Studio. -JK
Stick Figure Tutorial
I posted this as a response to a request for a starting point tutorial for a 9 year old. It may actually be something many of you will find interesting. You just never know when a small crumb of enlightenment with fall in your lap. (Not to say that I’m a “crumby” writer, oh that hurts) -lol- So if you have the time and the inclination I certainly hope this simple tutorial will be useful. -JK
A Good Place to Start Part 1
A Good Place to Start Part 2
Animating Using Scratch Elements
I posted a second 2 part tutorial on Cartooning in Toon Boom. This one is about animating a jumping action. It is more involved than the earlier stick figure animation even though it doesn’t have any in betweens it uses several scratch elements to construct the action. I hope you will enjoy it. -JK
Jumping Into Animation - Part 1
Jumping Into Animation - Part 2
Lip Sync Reference
One area that often confuses TBS users is the mapping of phonemes (sounds) to the TBS mouth chart. A,B,C,D,E,F,G and X don’t have any phonetic meaning, they are just reference letters used to map to your mouth element. Yet they do have phonetic associations in the software. They do represent sounds.
Rob Campbell, a super nice guy, teacher and cartoonist has provided a nice cross reference chart that identifies traditional style phonemes to the TBS letters. I’m adding the link to Rob’s chart here in the Tips and Tricks thread because it is such a useful guide.
Rob’s TBS Mouth Chart
Now you don’t have to use that style of mouth drawing and you certainly can express your own creativity in your mouth shapes but the basic phonetic relationships still apply. So I hope you find the chart useful.
And of course, special thanks to Rob Campbell for being so nice and creating and sharing this great resource. -JK
Thanks for the kind words, JK:
There’s also a pretty smokin’ article in the e-learning section:
Advanced Lip Synch
For the first time I’m aware of, this includes a Toon Boom authorized chart that isn’t in the Sound Editor window. ;D
I’m slowly adding many previous posts from this thread to the Cartooning In Toon Boom blog and usually updating them and also adding some graphic as examples. You can read all of these Tips & Tricks articles by clicking on This by topic link for TIPS & TRICKS which collects all the blog articles labeled as TIPs each time I add a new article. I certainly hope this will further enhance this source of information about using TBS. -JK
Thanks a lot JK !!! 
Digicod, Merci de vos mots toujours aimables. (Thank you for your always kind words.) It is certainly gratifying to know that the content I produce is helpful to others. I just finished posting several more Tips articles on the blog. Feel free to translate it to French for your local users benefit. I didn’t get much real cartooning work done today, but I needed to get away from the studio anyway , so working on the blog was a welcomed change of pace. -JK
I just started a new series on the Cartooning in Toon Boom blog titled Key Framed Animation Part 1. The link to the blog in in my signature below. I hope to add to this series regularly as this seems to be an area of both great interest and also confusion. This is addressing Key Framed Animation in general and not Cut Out Animation specifically. Eventually I will do a series on Cut Out Animation but I feel that I have to build a foundation of knowledge for readers in fundamental Key Frame Animation first, as that is essential to understanding working with Cut Out Puppets. I hope you enjoy this new series and the blog in general. -JK
I just posted Part 2 of the series of articles on Key Framed Animation. The first two parts cover and update material that was originally published on my Understanding Pegs web page. I have tried to improve the clarity of the information and have added additional graphics as visual examples. Also, as part of my efforts to make this blog a useful information and reference tool, I have added on the side bar 3 index articles to help readers find previously published articles quickly. I’ll continue to update this thread when I post new material. As always the link to Cartooning In Toon Boom is listed below. -JK
I just posted Key Framed Animation - Part 3 on the Cartooning In Toon Boom blog. If you have been following this series you are in for what I hope will be a nice surprise. I have included a short cartoon scene as a demonstration example. So starting with Part 3 I’ll be taking readers through the behind the scenes creation of this short scene. It is well packed with great learning opportunities for discussion. So I hope you will enjoy this next installment. There is plenty of information packed into these articles and they take some effort and concentration to absorb, but from the off line feedback I have already received they are providing a beneficial learning and reference service. I’m doing way more than just rehashing things you can read in the TBS manuals. I’m adding inside tips and tricks and pointing out places where you as a user of TBS can get into trouble if you aren’t careful. Enjoy -JK
I just posted Key Framed Animation - Part 4 on the Cartooning In Toon Boom blog. This article continues to explore working with keyframes to create animation. In this latest installment I am discussing the behind the scenes part of the character animation for the underwater demonstration scene. So if you want to learn more about how to create a cycle and then animate that cycle using a motion guide, you should find this latest article informative. I also have created a Q&A thread here in the Tutorials section of the forums to give you an extra place to post questions related to the blog articles. Hope you are getting some useful tips and information from the blog. -JK
In case you missed the announcement elsewhere, we have created a Cartooning In Toon Boom Wiki. A wiki is a collaborative knowledge base. So this TBS oriented wiki is all about Toon Boom Studio. It’s like an encyclopedia of TBS related stuff. It is just getting started and it is sure to grow significantly over the summer so please take advantage of it as an additional learning and information resource. The Cartooning in Toon Boom blog will continue to have articles and tutorial material too. If you feel documentation challenged the wiki may bring you some additional relief. The link is listed below. -JK
I posted a comment about the wiki on the TBS myspace page, & they were nice enough to put out a bulletin with a link, so hopefully that will give the site a nice surge. At the very least a whole bunch of TBS users of all skill levels will become aware of it, here’s hoping they contribute.
Thanks alot to Karen, who I’m guessing is responsible for posting the bulletin.
I just posted the 5th and final part of the series on Key Framed Animation in the Cartooning in Toon Boom blog. It covers camera moves and other aspects of finishing the demonstration scene. I hope you enjoyed this series and maybe even learned something new. The new major series of articles I plan to write will build from the KFA series as I begin to talk about constructing a cut-out character and animating that character in a new demonstration scene. In the meantime don’t forget to visit and use the new TBS oriented wiki. -JK
I have been holding off posting to the Cartooning In Toon Boom blog waiting for the release of TBS V4.0 so that I could begin posting new articles and tutorials that included the features of this newest version.
Here are the links to the latest posts:
Introduction To Photo Cut-Out Animation Part 1
Introduction To Photo Cut-Out Animation Part 2
I hope that these two new tutorial style posts will help to introduce the new Import and Vectorize With Textures command and how to get started using it to do Photo Cut-Out style animations. -JK
I just posted an addition to the series of tutorials showing ways to use the new “import and vectorize with textures” command.
Here is the link:
Introduction To Photo Cut-Out Animation Part 3
If you ever wanted to do a JibJab style of cartoon or if you are wanting to learn more and get really motivated about making animated content that requires little or no drawing, or you still haven’t upgraded to V4.0 because you aren’t sure it is worth it, then this tutorial is just for you. Just get out your Toon Boom scissors tool and start cutting. And there is still more that can be done with the new “import and vectorize with textures” command. So stay tuned. – JK
Beth am ddipin o Gymraeg?
Yn lle Frangeg
Mae yn hawddach deall Iaith yna na deall Toon Boom
This E-Mail is in Welsh
Rev, Wena D. Parry
A rough translation as best I could do from Welsh to English
I don’t know how to write tips in Welsh any more than I know how to write them in French, so I am sorry you are having trouble understanding the ones written in English. Perhaps you can find someone who speaks your language to help you with translations. -JK
Well it’s double header Monday. I must have gotten really motived this weekend. Below are links to two new Cartooning In Toon Boom tutorial articles.
This tutorial shows you how to add a shadow to a moving character walking across the stage. It is really easy and fun.
DROP SHADOW TECHNIQUE
This tutorial shows you how to create the effect of writing or a drawing being created before the viewer’s eyes as they watch the movie. It also has a bonus treat at the end of showing you a 3D vectorized rocket ship created in Swift 3D and imported directly into Toon Boom.
USING A SUBTRACTIVE ANIMATION TECHNIQUE
As always, leave comments or ask questions and I’ll try to answer them either here or in what ever thread you choose. -JK