MONTREAL, Apr. 13, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 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.
"The new Harmony Essentials is perfect for my friends who have expressed interest in my career as an animator and can now try many of the tools I use every day in Harmony Premium for themselves," says Christina Halstead, freelance animator.
And for teams or studios that need to streamline production, Harmony Server offers a secure and flexible way to collaborate and share a central asset and production database.
Used on productions like The Simpsons, SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of the Water, and The Congress, Harmony is the gold standard of 2D animation. Harmony combines artist-friendly drawing and animation tools with automation and workflow shortcuts to deliver a uniquely powerful creation experience. Feature improvements in Harmony 12 include:
- 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.
“We are very excited about the release of Harmony 12. The improvements in speed for the interactive user controls and render will have a distinct impact on our pipeline,” said Andrew Schoentag, Vice President of Digital and Post Production at Disney Television Animation. “The expansion of supporting third party plugins is groundbreaking for the software, and will change the way the industry views Harmony as a compositing tool. We will be moving all our shows to using version 12.”
Pricing and Availability
Toon Boom Harmony 12 is available immediately for purchase or by Desktop Subscription.
A full breakdown of pricing can be found on the Toon Boom website.
About Toon Boom Animation
Toon Boom Animation Inc.’s award-winning software is the global standard for 2D animation and storyboarding. Our solutions provide everyone from enthusiasts to professionals with the artistic freedom to create in any style and efficiently publish anywhere. Customers include Walt Disney Animation, Rovio Entertainment, Warner Bros., Universal Studios, Nelvana and 20th Century Fox Animation. For more information, visit toonboom.com.
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Copyright © 2015 Toon Boom Animation Inc., a Corus Entertainment Inc. company. All rights reserved. Toon Boom is a registered trademark and Harmony and the Toon Boom logo are trademarks of Toon Boom Animation Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners