Setting the Camera Frame
The scene action occurs inside the camera frame, so it’s really important to set it up correctly.
The Camera layer is static which means that if you need to animate it, you must add a peg—see Animating the Camera
To set the camera frame, you need to add a camera layer to your scene, so you can edit the camera frame. If you have added more than one camera to the scene, you can switch the active camera by selecting Scene > Camera and then selecting a camera.
In Toon Boom Harmony, you can also use the Network and Module Library views to add a camera to your scene.
In the Timeline view, you can only see one camera at the time. If you add several cameras to your scene, you can use the Camera List to select the active one. You could use this feature if you are still working on your scene composition and have different camera framing to try out.
You can reposition your camera frame directly in the Camera view, using the Translate and Rotate tools.
Another way to set up your camera frame is to type the coordinates directly in the camera's Layer Properties dialog box. Doing this positions the camera precisely where you want it to be rather than gauging it visually—see Positioning an Element Using the Layer Properties .
Once you set up your camera frame, you can always easily reset it to its original position. Use the Reset command to reset the value of the selected element to the initial value of the active tool. For example, if the Rotate tool is active, the transformation angle will be reset to 0 and if the Transform tool is active, then all parameters values will be reset.
1. | Do one of the following: |
‣ | In the Timeline view, click the Add Layer button and select Camera. |
‣ | From the top menu, select Insert > Camera. |
A new camera layer is added to the scene and appears in the Timeline view.
1. | Display the Network view. |
2. | In the Module Library view, select a Camera module from the Favorites, Move or All Modules tab. |
3. | Drag the Camera module into the Network view. |
1. | From the top menu, select Scene > Camera > the desired camera. |
If you only add one camera to your scene, you will only see Default Camera in your list.
1. | In the Tools toolbar, disable the Animate mode. |
2. | Do one of the following: |
‣ | From the top menu, select Animation > Tools > Translate. |
‣ | In the Advanced Animation toolbar, click the Translate tool. |
‣ | Press Alt + 2. |
3. | In the Camera view, click on the camera frame to select it. You can also select the camera layer from the Timeline |
The selected camera frame is highlighted in purple.
4. | Drag the camera frame to a new position. |
5. | To tilt the camera frame, do one of the following to select the Rotate tool: |
‣ | From the top menu, select Animation > Tools > Rotate. |
‣ | In the Advanced Animation toolbar, select the Rotate tool. |
‣ | Pres Alt + 3. |
6. | In the Camera view, drag to rotate the camera frame until it reaches the desired rotation angle. |
‣ | In the Timeline view, double-click on the Camera layer. |
The camera Layer Properties dialog box opens.
Parameter | Description |
Enable/Disable | Turns the camera layer on or off. |
Change Track Colour | The Change Track Colour button lets you change the colour of the exposed frames; this helps you to quickly locate a layer in the Timeline view. Double-click on the colour swatch to open the Select Colour window and choose a new colour. You can modify the layer for any type of layer, such as group, peg, drawing, and effects. |
Name | Displays the current layer name. You can rename the layer by typing in a new layer name. |
Position | Displays the current position of the camera layer using X-axis (East/West), Y-axis (North/South) and Z-axis (Forward/Backward) coordinates. To reposition your camera frame, type in the new values corresponding to the desired position coordinates. You can also use the up and down arrows to set the value of each field—see Positioning an Element Using the Layer Properties . |
Angle | Displays the current rotation value. To set a new rotation position, type in a new angle value. You can also use the up and down arrows to set the new angle value. |
Pivot | Displays the current position of the rotation pivot of the camera layer. The camera will perform a rotation taking the position of the pivot as its angle centre. By default, the pivot is set at the centre of the camera frame. To reposition the pivot point, type in new X and Y coordinates values in the appropriate field. You can also use the up and down arrows to set the position values. In order to see the pivot's position you will need to have the Rotate tool selected. |
Clipping Planes |
You can change the near and far clipping planes of the camera. The near plane is the point on the camera cone where the camera is located. The far clipping plane is the far end of the camera cone. Nothing outside that range is visible. This is useful when dealing with 3D elements and 3D sets. For example, the camera can be looking inside a 3D box or room and you might want the foreground wall to not obstruct the view of the interior. By default, the near clipping plane is set to 1 field and the far clipping plane is set to 1000 fields. |
Override Scene FOV | Enable the FOV field in which you can type in a new field-of-view value. |
FOV |
Displays the current field-of-view default value. When enabled, you can type in a new zoom value for your camera frame. You can also use the up and down arrows to set the new zoom value. Click on the Create Function button to animate the camera zoom value—see Animation Paths to learn more about creating functions. |
Set Default FOV | Resets the custom zoom value to its default value. |
1. | In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform tool or press Shift + T. |
2. | In the Timeline or directly in the Camera view, select the camera layer. |
3. | From the top menu, select Animation > Reset or press Shift + R. |
The camera automatically returns to its original position.