I just posted a new tutorial in the Cartooning in Toon Boom blog. I have received many comments and requests to do some additional tutorials and articles on basic animation techniques so this latest tutorial is in line with those requests. It is a cartoon style running action as planned out using thumbnail type animation. I hope you will find it useful and informative.
THUMBNAIL PLANNING TECHNIQUE
As always, leave comments or ask questions in the Q&A thread shown below and I’ll try to answer them. -JK
CARTOONING IN TOON BOOM BLOG Q&A THREAD
I just posted a new tutorial on the Cartooning In Toon Boom blog in response to a question asked in these forums pertaining to “Web Safe” color palettes. This tutorial is focused on one of the aspects of the TBS color management system which is the creation of custom color palettes. Even if you have no interest in “Web Safe” colors, this tutorial should give you some great insights into creating your own custom color palettes for your animation projects. I hope you find it informative and useful. -JK
CREATING A CUSTOM COLOR PALETTE
Oh the tangled webs we weave. I offered to do a “quick” tutorial on scrolling text in perspective. Now I can only tell you that creating the animation project was a breeze compared to explaining the technique. I certainly hope that readers will learn a lot from this tutorial because it was a bear to write. The techniques shown are so easy to master once you understand what to do, so hopefully I clearly explained the process. -JK
A TEXT SCROLLING TECHNIQUE IN PERSPECTIVE
In another thread in the forums, there was a question about:
The writer asked for step by step guidance. So I wrote the following answer which I am also posting here in “Tips and Tricks” for easy future reference.
Here are some step by step instructions which I hope you will find helpful.
“How to attach elements to pegs"
Assumptions: you have created one or more drawing or image elements and each of those elements contains one or more cells. If not you need to create your elements to follow these steps.
You are using TBS (studio not studio express) V 3.0 or higher.
We will be working in the timeline, on your left is a list of elements each element is also referred to as a track. When a track label is highlighted that means it is the current selection. For the purpose of this explanation I will use several drawing elements which I have named D1, D2, D3. These are just example names and not significant. I will name my pegs P1, P2, P3 ect. These are example names also and not significant.
My timeline track list starts off looking like this with 5 tracks:
D3
D2
D1
P1
Camera
Step 1: I select track D3.
Step 2: I go to the upper left corner of the timeline and click on the “add peg element” icon (it looks like an arc with a plus sign in the middle)
My timeline track list now looks like this with 6 tracks:
P2
D3
D2
D1
P1
Camera
I now want to attach D3 to P2.
Step 3: I click on D3 and hold the mouse button while I drag D3 directly on top of P2 then I release the mouse button.
My timeline track list now looks like this with 6 tracks:
>P2
D3
D2
D1
P1
Camera
Notice that D3 is now indented under P2 which indicates that it is attached to that peg element. P2 shows a triangle icon that lets me collapse or uncollapse the peg and its attached elements.
I’m going to do the same thing to my camera and P1
Step 4: I click on Camera and hold down the mouse button and drag Camera directly over the top of P1 then release the mouse button.
My timeline track list now looks like this with 6 tracks:
>P2
D3
D2
D1
>P1
Camera
Now I’m going to attach D2 and D1 to a new peg.
Step 5: I select D2 and click on the Add Peg Element icon to create the new peg
My timeline track list now looks like this with 7 tracks:
>P2
D3
P3
D2
D1
>P1
Camera
Step 6: I " select” both D1 and D2 hold down the mouse button and drag this group of elements directly over the top of P3 and then release the mouse button.
My timeline track list now looks like this with 7 tracks:
>P2
D3
>P3
D2
D1
>P1
Camera
Now I want to attach P2 and its attached element D3 and P3 and its attached elements D2 and D1 to a common parent peg P4.
Step 7: I select P2 and click on the Add Peg Element icon to create P4.
Step 8: I click on the triangle next to P2 to collapse the peg.
Step 9: I click on the triangle next to P3 to collapse the peg.
Step 10: I " select" tracks P2 and P3 and hold down the mouse button and drag this group of pegs directly over the top of P4 and then release the mouse button.
My timeline track list now looks like this with 8 tracks and all pegs un-collapsed:
>P4
>P2
D3
>P3
D2
D1
>P1
Camera
That’s the process step by step for creating parent child relationships using pegs in a hierarchy. I hope that helps you, keep asking questions as needed -JK
In another thread of the forums the following question was asked:
I wrote the following answer which I am also posting here in “Tips and Tricks” for easy future reference.
1. collapse the highest level peg in your hierarchy.
2. on the collapsed peg track highlight the frames that make up one loop of your cycle.
3. from the edit menu select “copy cell” or copy which ever it shows for copy.
4. move the red frame slider to the first frame past the end of your loop on the same track as the collapsed peg
5. from the edit menu select “paste special” , the default version of the dialog should be OK so click the OK button
6. to do additional loop of this cycle move the frame slider one frame past the end of the previous loop, and paste special again
7. repeat step 6 for each additional loop desired.
Hope this helps, if you need help on connecting the looping cycles to a motion peg just ask. (and of course they did ask, so here is the rest of the answer explaining how to add the looping cycle to a motion path)
I am going to begin with a few assumptions:
The cycle has been created “in place”, this means that the cycle is like the character is walking on a exercise tread mill. They appear to be walking but they aren’t really going anywhere relative to their location on the screen.
The character has a top level peg, what I usually refer to as the character peg. This is for rigged characters. If you drew the character and their cycle on a single element and just wanted to motivate the cycle that will work also for a non-rigged character, more traditional in approach. So in that case the character’s top level peg would just be the single drawing element’s internal peg.
Our first step is to determine the duration of this cycle on the screen. This often is referred to as the screen time of the action. Perhaps the character is walking down a road or across a room. We need to determine how many cycles or parts of cycles we need to create to have enough frames of the motion visible for that amount of time. This is done by knowing the frame rate of the cartoon (FPS) and using the formula : frames = FPS x screen time in seconds. So now we know that we need a certain number of repeats of our cycle and we create those “loops” on our timeline so that the character will walk or run or whatever on screen for the desired time.
We now have our loops of the cycle so we collapse the character peg, their top level peg, collapsing a peg does more than just hide the attached elements, it insures a ripple down of key frames etc from the parent to the attached children.
Next we will add a new peg to our time line and name it “character motion peg” or “walking peg” (a personal choice). Then we drag our character peg on top of the “walking peg” to attach it to the walking peg. We then can collapse the “walking peg”. This helps us to not accidentally select the character peg while working on our motion path.
Now we go to the first frame of our walk cycle on the “walking peg” where we want to initialize our walk. We want to select the motion tool and keep it active as we move the red frame slider to the frame of the beginning of our motion the start of the looping cycles. Then we use the context menu to add a key frame (or you can use keyboard short cut ). This is the beginning of our motion path next we go to the last frame of the looping cycles and add a key frame there which will be the end of our motion path.
Now go back to the starting frame of the motion path and using the top view and side view panels as well as camera view you will move the character to the starting location relative to the background etc. In many cases this may be outside the camera’s view.
Next go to the ending frame of the motion path and using the top view and side view panels as well as camera view you will move the character to the ending location relative to the background etc. In many cases this may be outside the camera’s view also. So essentially the character moves from stage left to stage right or vice versa.
At this point you will change the segment on your “walking peg” between the two motion keys from a constant segment to a non-constant segment if it wasn’t already non-constant. This cause the motion path to become visible. The default velocity of a motion path is linear (balanced) which means that the speed of the character as they travel along the motion path will be constant (no speeding up or slowing down etc.) You can use the function editor and the motion path’s velocity function curve to adjust this if desired.
Now if you go back to the start of the motion path frame and “scrub” the timeline you will see your character walk from the starting screen position to the ending screen position along the motion path. In the simplest case that’s all there is to it. In a more complex case you can add motion points along the path and adjust the motion path as desired.
I copied and reposted this because often forum threads get buried over time and this way the q&a is captured here in this Tip and Tricks thread which never gets buried. -JK
I thought based on some recent questions in the forums that I would put together a “tips and tricks” type article for the Cartooning in Toon Boom blog which shows you some of the template aids I like to use to help with frame tracking in test renders and perspective drawing. So I hope you enjoy this article and maybe even pick up a new trick or two. -JK
PERSPECTIVES AND COUNTERS
Cut-Out animation and using cut-out characters continues to be a subject of some confusion for many TBS users. There is a cross between the lure of being able to animate with a minimal amount of drawing being required, and the basic simplicity of puppets. So I have begun publishing a series of articles / tutorials in the Cartooning In Toon Boom blog to unravel some of the mysteries of cut-out characters and their usage. For the benefit of those who have complained in the past that most “cut-outs” tutorials are incomplete, I have determined to really take this series into great detail. We are going to really get into every aspect. So take your time and take multiple sessions to wade through the material. I hope you enjoy and learn a great deal from this latest series of articles. As always questions and comments are welcomed. -JK
ANIMATING CUT-OUT CHARACTERS PART 1
I have to give my good friend Will Reinhardt a big plug for his new website
TOON BOOM TUTORIALS
Will is a very talented and creative cartoon maker with a very edgy approach to creating really entertaining animated cartoons. So add this link to your favorites because he is gearing up to make this a “must visit regularly” destination for anyone wanting to learn more. -JK
I appreciate the link JK, thank you! It’s good to have a place to write all the tutorial ideas that float through your head.
As promised here is the next installment in the series about animating cut-out characters:
ANIMATING CUT-OUT CHARACTERS - PART 2
I hope you learn some new tricks from this tutorial. -JK
Just as a brief note, I recently started a new blog that doesn’t show in my current signature. It is located on AnimationForums.net and is titled:
TOON TWITTERINGS
For those interested, this new blog is an abbreviated format of my Craft of Making Cartoons blog and is oriented to animation and cartooning but it is not software specific. -JK
NOTE: This is not TBS software specific but offered rather as a reference book on learning to do 2D animation without respect to a specific software product. I have no personal interest in promoting this book except that I believe it should be excellent based on his original teaching notes that use to be available on the Internet.
ANIMATOR’S CRASH COURSE by Eric Goldberg (available for pre-order at a reduction off list price until mid July)
If you aren’t familiar with Eric Goldberg, he is one of the leading 2D directors / animators working today. He trained under Richard Williams in England, moved to Disney where he really made his name doing the Genie in Aladdin. He went on to WB where he did Looney Tunes Back in Action. He also did the opening credits animation for the Steve Martin version of the Pink Panther. And now he is back at Disney doing features in their 2D studios. But he is more than just talented at making animation, he is one of the few people who can not only do it really well, he can also explain the process as a teacher. -JK
Will Reinhardt has just posted a really well done lip sync tutorial on his Toon Boom Tutorials website. He clearly explains how you can learn to do your lip sync work without having to rely on the auto lip sync tool in TBS. If you have ever watched one of Will’s Calico Monkey cartoons you are familiar with the excellent lip sync work that is included, so here is your chance to learn the behind the scenes method that Will uses. -JK
Manual Lip Sync - Toon Boom Tutorial
Hi JK 
hope you to be fine , i have been working in Toon Boom Solo software today i need to do just a walkcycle animation in TBS v4 and i wanted to add shadow effect in cut out character animation , i checked your tutorial which is really very helpful , but i am facing a little problem here , my shadow appears not perfect after passing few frames and i see a distance between actual character & and his shadow after few frames , am i missing something ? can we control shadow layer i mean can we add key frames in shadow layer ?
The “drop shadow” effect is not actually a peg element it is an effect. To position the shadow you are using the Scene Ops Select tool (6) which is not a key framing tool but rather a static properties tool so there are no key frames involved. The drop shadow is a bit tricky but basically you do exactly as shown in my tutorial and keep tweaking the shadows properties until you are satisfied with the results. One trick to remember is that you want to start at the first frame of the action you are attaching to the shadow and make all your adjustments there and not down stream in the action. If you set the shadow up the way you want it on that first frame it will follow the attached action. Of course if you have a cleanly animated action (walk) it will be shadowed cleanly and if you have a poorly animated action it will probably not be very good for the shadow to follow. I also suggest that you add the shadow only after the walk is completely finished and all motion tweened frames have been converted into actual keyframes. If this last statement is confusing I suggest that you read the tutorial on the Cartooning in Toon Boom Blog titled:KEYFRAMING THE BOUNCING BALL . It clearly explains the process of converting tweened frames into actual keyframes. -JK
Thank you JK for your very brief explanations , i just tried again with my cutout character …in the end i am facing the same problem 
don’t know why even i converted all interpolated frames into key frames …may be i am getting error because i am animation 3/4 view of a character not side view , huh? is it any valid reason ? 
either way i also had a look on your bouncing ball tutorial which is also very self explanatory but i want to know just a little thing that where do we use transform tool and when should we switch to motion tool , i have seen people use motion tool to create interpolation where as we can also achieve the same results by using transform tool like here http://web.mac.com/nolan.scott/Gallery/Panda_walking.html animator used motion tool to move character one side to others , can we do that the same with transform tool ? ah ok another i used to use SHIFT key to move character exactly in horizontal or verticle direction in toon boom solo , here its not working … please help me how can we move exactly in the same direction … thanks in advance : )
First, using the shift key when using the transform tool to move an object will provide a constraint on the movement. With the transform tool selected, position the four way arrow icon on the object to move and click to start to drag the object, hold down the shift key and you will see a thin blue line displayed that is the directional constraint indicator and you can adjust your movement either to be vertically or horizontally or diagonally constrained. (V4.5)
As to the choice of the transform tool Vs the motion tool, they can be used for similar purposes as far as keyframing movement. But they are really very different tools. The motion tool is specifically for motion path keyframing and motion paths are very powerful and flexible animation controls. The tranform tool is a universal keyframing tool and is the primary tool for all keyframing operations that aren’t motion path specific.
When dealing with scaling, skewing, and rotations as well as simple directional movements the transform tool is the best choice. When dealing in complex multidimensional movements, particularly if I want positional or time related controls included, I choose the motion tool. -JK
Hello, I followed the steps to create a local template containing my rigged character’s walk cycle. I can double-click on the template in my library view, and play back the cycle in the thumbnail preview.
But, when I alt-drag the template back to my timeline, it successfully creates a media layer, but with nothing in it.
When I do the same alt-drag with a ToonBoom-created template (e.g. Der Der), it works.
Have I missed something in my template creation? The master peg is correctl collapsed when I drag it to my local library, and I’m able to preview it (as noted previously) so I’m lost for ideas.
Any help would be great appreciated.
I’m using ToonBoom 4.5.
Just off hand it sounds like you needed to create your template in your global library so that it can be shared across projects. Also, you don’t need to hold down the ALT key you just need to click on the template and drag it to your time line track label list. -JK
Hey, thanks for responding. I tried using the global library, with the same problem.
The alt-drag is a way to have ToonBoom automatically create a media layer with a reference to the asset, which is what I want. If I do a regular drag without holding alt, then the whole asset is brought over and it works. But I don’t want that… I want the reference only. That will enable me to update the walk cycle in one place and have it update throughout my project.