Toon Boom is a very powerful animation program, and like many programs it is not always as user-friendly as it should be. This is a very basic Toon Boom tutorial, and will show you how to create your own cartoon of a nice looping walk cycle, shown here. We’ll also cover the basics of creating parent/child relationships and adjusting pivot points.

Planning

The first step is to download and install the Toon Boom trial, which you can use for free for 30 days. Got that? Good.

Once you’ve installed Toon Boom, open the application. Note that the screenshots show below are showing the Mac OSX version of Toon Boom so it will not look identical, but the instructions will work for the PC version of Toon Boom as well.

When you initially open up Toon Boom you’ll be presented with a window asking you to setup some basic information including size, frame rate and the name of your animation. Enter the following for these values:

• Name: Toon Boom Tutorial
• Size: Width: 465, Height: 465
• Frame Rate: 15

Frame rate is the number of frames per second that your cartoon will play at. Most online cartoons play at a rate of 12 frames per second, but we recommend a rate of 15 frames per second for increased detail and smoothness.

Once you hit OK, Toon Boom will create a work space for you. Let’s take just a moment to become familiar with the environment.

The screenshot below shows the following Toon Boom windows:

• Camera View
• Properties
• Timeline
• Drawing Tools
• Scene Operation Tools

Click to view larger image

> Download the Toon Boom file that corresponds with this point in the tutorial.

If you’d like to match your work space to this one, use the Window menu to add or remove the appropriate windows. We’re limiting the number of windows you’ll see on purpose, so as not to overwhelm you. Let’s keep things simple.

Toon Boom uses layers to keep the elements of your cartoon organized. If you’re familiar with most Adobe products (Photoshop, Illustrator or Flash) then this concept will not be unfamiliar to you. Layers allow you to manipulate individual elements of the animation without disrupting everything around it.

The first thing we’re going to do is use the Timeline window to create the layers we need. Notice in the Timeline window Toon Boom has already created two layers for you: Drawing and Camera. Click on the “Plus” icon in the timeline and create 5 layers that are have a type of “Drawing”. Use the following names:

• torso
• front arm
• back arm
• front leg
• back leg

Click to view larger image

> Download the Toon Boom file that corresponds with this point in the tutorial.

I typically use the Drawing layer to sketch out the scene before getting into setting up the character. Select the brush tool from the Drawing Tools, then select the Pen tab of the Properties window. Choose a comfortable pen size, I recommend the first one in the list labeled Pen 1, which has a minimum width of 5 pixels and a maximum width of 20 pixels. Make sure you’re on the Drawing layer in the Timeline window and then sketch out the character in the Camera window.

Note that the character is just about as large as the camera height. Make him be as big as you can, using up all but a small margin of the screen.

Click to view larger image

> Download the Toon Boom file that corresponds with this point in the tutorial.

In the Properties window select the Color tab and choose a color other than the one you drew the sketch with. We’ll use this new color to tell the difference between the sketch layer and the individual animation elements.

Now, selecting one layer at a time, trace over your sketch (don’t forget to select the brush tool) with the new color putting the appropriate body part on its respective layer. Note that for this tutorial we’re just going to put the facial features on the torso layer.

Click to view larger image

> Download the Toon Boom file that corresponds with this point in the tutorial.

Feel free to delete the sketched Drawing layer now, as it will no longer be needed.

We will now drag and drop the four appendage layers (two arms, two legs) on top of the torso layer in the Timeline window. This is how Toon Boom establishes parent/child relationships. Once created the children layers will mimic the movement of the parent layer, in this case the arms and legs will now move however the torso moves. Notice that the appendage layers are now indented in the Timeline window to indicate that they are now children.

Click to view larger image

> Download the Toon Boom file that corresponds with this point in the tutorial.

The next step is to adjust the pivot point of each of our elements so that they move where they’re supposed to. A pivot point is the specific place where an element is rotated and transformed around. For example, the pivot point for your forearm is your elbow. The pivot point for your leg is your hip. We need to change the default pivot points for our 5 layers so that the elements behave as expected.

In the Scene Operation Tools select the Rotate tool. This is the tool you’ll use to adjust the pivot points. When you select a layer in the Timeline window you’ll see a green circle appear, with a smaller green circle within it. The smaller green circle is the pivot point that you want to move. Click on the pivot point and drag it to the correct locations: for the arms and legs it will be where they meet the torso, for the torso put the pivot point some where low on the body.

> Download the Toon Boom file that corresponds with this point in the tutorial.

You have now successfully completed the setup for your own cartoon character. It was a lot of work, but your effort means that animating him will be as easy as possible. Now let’s make him move!

Animation

At 15 frames per second you can loop a character’s walk cycle every 11 frames or so. This is not a hard and fast rule, it is simply what I recommend from experience. Select all of the frames in the Timeline window and hit the shortcut “R” 10 times, each press should increase the exposure by one frame until you have 11 total.

Select the Transform tool from the Scene Planning tools and then choose the first frame of the torso layer in the Timeline window. Right click and select Add Keyframe. This will set the starting point of the element. You’ll see an icon appear in the frame representing that you’ve set the keyframe.

Now select the 12th frame for the torso layer and right click once again and select Add Keyframe. Even though no drawing will appear on that frame, doing this will ensure that the looped 11 frame animation will cycle flawlessly.

Click to view larger image

> Download the Toon Boom file that corresponds with this point in the tutorial.

Select the torso layer and in the Camera window drag the element up on the 3rd and 8th frame and down on the 5th and 10th frame. You can add a bit of flair by using the rotation handle on the up frames to make your character rock from side to side.

This…

…is less interesting than this:

Now we can move the legs in time with the torso. You’ll need to adjust the positions of the legs on the first frame, set the keyframe on the 1st and 12th frames, and then adjust the position of the legs on the 6th frame. The resulting looped animation should look like swinging legs.

To increase the illusion of a real walk we need to bend the legs a bit as they come back forward in the walk cycle. On the 7th frame of the front leg right click and select Insert Blank Cell. Now draw the leg in a slightly bent fashion, as if it was swinging forward. Increase this frame’s exposure to the 11th frame. Apply the same premise to frames 2 through 4 on the back leg.

Click to view larger image

> Download the Toon Boom file that corresponds with this point in the tutorial.

The resulting animation is pretty convincing, and is really starting to come together now.

The final step for this Toon Boom tutorial is to animate the arms. Keep it light and simple, bobbing them up and down lightly as the torso is moving. Notice in the animation that the keyframes are slightly different for the front arms than for the back arms. They’re effectively doing the same thing, but to avoid a “twinning” effect we offset the keyframes to keep it looking natural.

> Download the Toon Boom file that corresponds with this point in the tutorial.

Conclusion

Hopefully this Toon Boom tutorial has helped you learn how to create your own cartoon character. Where can you go from here? You could walk this character across a meadow. You could add some spritely music for him to walk to. You could fill in his torso with some color, giving him some depth. You could add a shadow beneath him as well. You could add a blink in there or even have his eyes track something moving across the screen. There is no limit, and I invite you to explore your imagination.

If you’d like to try using the skills you’ve learned here on something with sound and color, try working on the create your own character tutorial.

If you experiment with this tutorial, feel free to post your results in the comments below. We’d all love to see your work.

Tags: toon boom tutorials, walk cycle

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Beginner. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.