How Do You Make Symbols in Toon Boom Harmony?
Making symbols in Toon Boom Harmony is a fundamental process for creating reusable assets, which can significantly streamline your animation workflow. Symbols help reduce file size, improve performance, and ensure consistency across your project. There are several ways to create them directly within the software.
You can create symbols in Toon Boom Harmony through menu options, toolbar buttons, or by dragging elements into your library.
Here are the primary methods based on the software's capabilities:
Methods for Creating Symbols
Harmony provides flexible ways to turn drawings, layers, or sequences of cells into reusable symbols.
- Using the Top Menu:
- Select the drawing or element you want to turn into a symbol in the Camera, Drawing, or Timeline view.
- In the top menu, select Edit > Create Symbol or press [F8]. This is a quick and common method for converting selected drawings.
- Using the Edit Toolbar:
- Ensure the
Edittoolbar is visible (you can usually enable it viaWindows > Toolbars > Edit). - Select the desired drawing or element.
- Click on the Create Symbol button in the Edit toolbar. This button often looks like a folder with a star or plus sign, representing the conversion to a library asset.
- Ensure the
- Dragging to the Library View:
- Open the
Libraryview (Windows > Library). - Navigate to or create a
Symbolfolder within your library. - Select the layer or cells from the Timeline view and drag them on the Symbol folder in the Library view. This method is particularly useful when you want to convert an entire layer's content or a specific sequence of drawings over time into a single symbol.
- Open the
Quick Reference Table
| Method | Action | Shortcut | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top Menu | Select Edit > Create Symbol | [F8] | Converting selected drawings/elements |
| Edit Toolbar | Click the Create Symbol button | N/A | Quick access for selected drawings/elements |
| Dragging to Library | Select layers/cells in Timeline and drag to Symbol folder in Library | N/A | Converting layers or sequences of cells |
Utilizing these methods allows you to populate your symbol library with reusable assets like character parts, props, effects, and more, making your animation process more efficient. Once created, you can rename the symbol and easily drag instances of it back into your scene from the Library view.
