Toon Boom Animation has launched the Harmony 12 product family, full of new features for both studios and individual artists. The popular 2D animation solution now comes in three editions and can be accessed through a subscription model that starts as low as $15 per month.
Harmony Essential is for simple paperless and cut-out style animation projects, an “introductory” edition that contains the fundamental drawing, painting and animation tools required by hobbyists. Harmony Advanced is a professional-grade solution for studios, freelancers or anyone seeking full paperless and simple cut-out animation capabilities. Harmony Premium is for full paperless and sophisticated cut-out style animation — the most powerful, professional edition, with the added ability to create state-of-the-art character rigs, highly organic movement and unlimited special effects for any animation style.
Feature improvements in Harmony 12 include: ability for artists to create custom bitmap brushes as textures (plus dual brush support); support for OpenFX plugins, ability to load in Collada and Alembic 3D files and export character rigs to Unity; added surface volume and lighting for 2D objects; up to 65% faster rendering speeds and real-time viz for deformers and special effects; and simpler set-up and new envelope controls for deformer, as well as new game bone deformers for game engine compatibility.
