Disabling the Animation on Drawing Layers

By default, a drawing layer can be animated, but Harmony lets you disable this feature. Being able to switch your drawings so they can no longer be animated without a peg has certain advantages. It means that you can have access to the drawing substitution feature for this drawing layer, while being able to create keyframes on it's parent peg. This feature is also available for backward compatibility when bringing in templates created in older versions of the software, so as not to lose their offset keyframes or drawing substitution keyframes.

When selecting the element in the Camera view, the actual Drawing layer is selected, but the motion you will create will automatically be transposed to the Peg layer. You cannot animate (add keyframes) directly onto the drawing layer if the option is disabled. You will still be able to perform certain offset movements in the Transformation tab of the Layer Properties, but not using any of the animation tools in the Tools toolbar.

There are two ways to disabled the Animate Using Animation Tools option:

Layer Properties View
Preferences Panel

Layer Properties View

When you disable the option in the Layer Properties view, the operation will be solely done on the selected layer and not on any other ones.

To disable the Animate Using Animation Tools option in the Layer Properties view:

1. In the Timeline view, double-click on the layer that you want to set the parameter for.

The Layer Properties editor opens.

2. In the Advanced tab, disable the Animate Using Animation Tools option.

Notice how the availability of the layer functions is no longer an option in the Timeline view.

3. Click the Close button.

Preferences Panel

If you know that you prefer this style of animation and you would like every drawing element that you create not to be animated, you can disable the Element Module “Animate Using Animation Tools” Default Value preference. This will disable the Animate Using Animation Tools option so that you don't have to do this through the Layers Properties window for every layer. It is recommended to disable this preference before starting a new character rig.

To disable the option in the Preferences panel:

1. To open the Preferences panel, go to:
Windows/Linux: Select Edit > Preferences.
Mac OS X: Select Stage > Preferences.
The keyboard shortcut is [Ctrl] + [U] (Windows/Linux) or [⌘] + [U] (Mac OS X).
2. Go to the Advanced tab.
3. In the Advanced Options section, disabled the Element Module "Animate Using Animation Tools" Default Value preference.

4. Close the Preferences panel.

Related Topics 

Preview and Drawing Substitution
Swapping Images