Toon Boom Launches Harmony 12 Product Family

With today’s launch of Harmony 12, Toon Boom Animation democratizes animation with a product line full of new features for studios and enthusiasts alike. Now with three editions of this popular 2D animation software and an optional subscription model that starts as low as $15 per month, the same production tools used by the world’s largest animation studios are accessible to everyone.

“Harmony 12 is not only our most powerful product ever, it’s now available for every type of user,” said Francisco Del Cueto, CTO at Toon Boom.

Each Harmony 12 edition caters to a different type of user and their unique animation requirements:

• Harmony Essentials is for simple paperless and cut-out style animation projects. By using the introductory edition of Harmony, enthusiasts and hobbyists have all the fundamental drawing, painting and animation tools they need.
• Harmony Advanced is a professional-grade solution for studios, freelancers or anyone who needs full paperless and simple cut-out animation capabilities.
• Harmony Premium is for full paperless and sophisticated cut-out style animation. This is the most powerful, professional edition of Harmony that adds the ability to create state-of-the-art character rigs, highly organic movement and unlimited special effects for any style of animation.

• Bitmap Brush Improvements – Artists can now create customized bitmap brushes as textures for experimental and organic creations. Along with dual brush support, artists now have even more ways to apply unique looks.
• Open Platform Tools – Harmony 12 supports OpenFX plugins, which can be used to add striking special effects to characters and scenes. Industry-standard Collada and Alembic 3D files load into Harmony, and animated character rigs can be exported to the popular Unity game engine.
• Light Shading – Harmony 12 adds surface volume and lighting to 2D objects, providing automatic tones/highlights for characters that is far more efficient than adding shading nuances by hand.
• Performance Improvements – Harmony 12 delivers rendering speeds that are up to 65% faster, as well as real-time visualization of deformers and special effects.
• Deformer Improvements – Simpler set-up and new envelope controls are perfect for bending, squashing and imparting highly organic character movement. New Game Bone deformers provide game engine compatibility.