TIM'S NOTES FOR HARMONY

This is a special section for look development and advanced animation users.

I have been researching methods to make new animation styles with 3D and 2D mixed together for premium looks. Using different software and technical methods.

Currently putting notes here in this section, I think come back to it as I keep updating it from time to time.

For questions on my notes please PM, if you use any technique listed, let me know so I can see the result and make update to my notes.

EXPORTING 3D MODELS FROM TOON BOOM HARMONY (BAKING RIB)

DOWNLOAD 3DELIGHT

Harmony will use a script from it's system to access 3Delight render package. It is a very good render system and lightweight so I recommend downloading it. (It's free!) Go here to download the install file : 3delight.com, install normally and it will write environment paths for it to work with Harmony

DOWNLOAD AYAM

Ayam is a 3D software that allows to import your baked RIB files and use them.

When you export RIB files from Harmony you will need this to import and convert them to OBJ , DXF or other formats. Download the software here : http://ayam.sourceforge.net/

COPY YOUR SCRIPTS FROM SCRIPTMODULE FOLDER

Go to your scripts from your Toon Boom Harmony / resource folder and copy them into your scripts folder in the "\AppData\Roaming\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom Harmony Premium\2110-scripts" probably do the same for Mac users

SETUP YOUR SCENE AND ADD THE SCRIPT MODULE NODE

Setup your scene, any items you wish to export add the script module node between the 3D object and the composite node. Keep in mind your 3D object (or drawing) needs to have the 3D option on and the script node needs to have in "Softrender" attributes "render3Delight()" then it will export the 3D object to the temp directory

GO TO YOUR TEMP DIRECTORY

Harmony will make a temporary directory for rendering 3D objects, to get the location just go to your "Message log" window and see the output, it will show the location of the RIB file. Note the render will be black but the output will work. Go to that folder and get the RIB file to import to Ayam.

IMPORT THE RIB FILE - EXPORT OBJ

When you have your RIB file from the temp directory, it will probably show 0000.RIB that I copy and paste on desktop, rename it and import to Ayam software, when you start Ayam you need to load in the plug ins rrib.dll and objio.dll to read RIB and export OBJ.

I export to Blender then I notice the mesh is flipped, so I fix that by doing a -1 scale flip back, and it's back to normal and got the mesh to work.

Same thing with other 3D software, check if it is flipped and just flip it back (do not know if it is the scripted export but will find out later)

Later I will share how to export an animated camera to match the camera Harmony perfectly.

3D POINT POSITION EXPORT FROM TOON BOOM HARMONY

This section is how to get point positions accurately exported to other software using scripts provided by Toon Boom. I am currently working on this section so if you see it not completed, just come back later and will update it with my notes.

FIRST MAKE YOUR SCENE IN 3D, BLENDER OR MAX, HOUDINI ETC

This part takes planning but you should first setup your 3D file to accurately place where your 3D points that will be taking animated data from Harmony to it. For example I am going to make a car with wheels. Make sure to label everything to keep organized and set all pivot points, it will pass to FBX file. Note: This will not work for vertex deform, skin or fluid simulation since I did not experiment with that yet.

EXPORT THE FBX TO HARMONY

This is the tricky part because of the size relationship, but you have to export the FBX from Blender, Maya, 3D Max etc. and import the FBX into Harmony.

SET NULL POINTS TO BE EXPORTED WITHIN
HARMONY

In Harmony, setup camera null points to export. Make sure they are direct on the null position markers you setup in your 3D file. These Camera Null Points will be exported with the Camera Script, make sure the camera is zeroed out on a peg, and the peg is position properly to translate the position and rotation data to the other software. (Accurately placed null point)

EXPORT EACH CAMERA NULL TO JSON FILES

For now, select each camera and set it to top scene level. Keep track of the names so that way you can import them and put them into the scene with out confusion.

IMPORT JSON FILES TO MAYA

At the moment, Maya has the JS import python file to read the camera null data and bring into Maya. It's ok, just load up a trial version to import the data and then export the data as FBX to bring into other software. Don't forget to make sure everything is positioned correctly and checked. Also bring in your main camera so you can have that as well in your FBX file and label everything properly.