Write Node

The Node view allows you to make advanced connections and isolate certain portions of your project. It also allows you to perform multiple exports from the entire node structure or from specific sections.

For this kind of process, use the Write node. The Write node lets you render and output the connected image information. Using the Write node, you can export a project as a QuickTime movie or as image sequences. You can export one format at a time or both simultaneously.

NOTE: To learn how to use the Write node, see About Node View Export.

To export an image sequence, you need to adjust a few settings in the Write node’s properties.

Here is a list of all the image formats supported for rendering with Write nodes.

Format Specification Description
TVG

Toon Boom Vector Graphic (*.tvg)

Toon Boom's proprietary format for storing vector drawings.

NOTE: To export TVG files, your Write node must be connected to a vector drawing layer or to a vector composite node. The exported TVG files will contain the vector and bitmap drawing information, but will ignore effects and deformations.
TGA Full colour

Truevision TGA/TARGA (*.tga)

A standard image format with lossless compression and support for transparency.

TGA1 Greyscale
TGA3 Full colour
TGA4 Full colour with transparency
SGI Full colour / 8 bits per channel

Silicon Graphics Image (*.sgi)

A highly capable format with lossless compression as well as support for double precision and transparency.

SGI1 Greyscale / 8 bits per channel
SGI3 Full colour / 8 bits per channel
SGI4 Full colour with transparency / 8 bits per channel
SGIDP Full colour / 16 bits per channel
SGIDP3 Full colour / 16 bits per channel
SGIDP4 Full colour with transparency / 16 bits per channel
PSD Full colour / 8 bits per channel

Photoshop Document (*.psd)

An Adobe Photoshop proprietary format used for image editing.

PSD files exported by Harmony contain a single background layer with the rasterized image.

PSD1 Greyscale / 8 bits per channel
PSD3 Full colour / 8 bits per channel
PSD4 Full colour with transparency / 8 bits per channel
PSDDP Full colour / 16 bits per channel
PSDDP1 Greyscale / 16 bits per channel
PSDDP3 Full colour / 16 bits per channel
PSDDP4 Full colour with transparency / 16 bits per channel
YUV

Y'UV frame (*.yuv)

A legacy format optimized for NTSC television. The image information is encoded in the Y'UV color space, which means Luma (Y') and Chrominance (UV).

NOTE: YUV images must be exported in NTSC resolution (720 x 540), or they will not be legible.
PAL

PAL frame (*.pal)

A legacy format optimized for PAL television.

NOTE: PAL images must be exported in PAL resolution (768 x 576), or they will not be legible.
SCAN

Toon Boom Scan Files (*.scan)

A Toon Boom proprietary format used by Scan to store scanned image information along with its registration (peg) information. SCAN files are in gresycale.

PNG Full colour / 8 bits per channel

Portable Network Graphics (*.png)

A highly portable image format with lossless compression as well as support for transparency and double-precision. PNG is typically used for Web applications, graphical user interfaces and image sharing.

PNG4 Full colour with transparency / 8 bits per channel
PNGDP Full colour / 16 bits per channel
PNGDP3 Full colour / 16 bits per channel
PNGDP4 Full colour with transparency / 16 bits per channel
JPG

Jpeg (*.jpg)

A very compact image format with lossy compression. It is typically used for Web pages and photo sharing. Because it does not preserve image quality, it is recommended to never use it except when disk space or rendering time is critical and image quality is expendable.

BMP Full colour

Bitmap (*.bmp)

A standard uncompressed image format commonly used on Microsoft operating systems.

BMP4 Full colour with transparency
IFF 8 bits per channel

Interchange File Format (*.iff)

A container file format which can store text, image and sound data, and which is commonly used for exchanging data between different platforms.

IFF files exported by Harmony contain the rendered image as well as Z-depth information for each pixel. If your scene has multiplane or 3D elements, this format can be used for compositing your animation with other graphical elements in 3D animation software.

NOTE: Contrary to EXR and DTEX images, this format does not support antialiasing. It is recommended to use EXR or DTEX if possible.
IFF_16 16 bits per channel
OPT Full colour

Toon Boom OPT image (*.opt)

A legacy Toon Boom proprietary format that stores raw image data with lossless compression.

OPT1 Greyscale
OPT3 Full colour
OPT4 Full colour with transparency
VAR

Toon Boom VAR image (*.var)

A legacy Toon Boom proprietary format that stores raw image data with lossless compression in greyscale.

TIFF

Tagged Image File Format (*.tiff)

An image format with many compression and encoding settings. It is often used for image exchange in visual arts and publishing.

TIFF images exported by Harmony are uncompressed, encoded on a per-pixel (interleaved) basis in PC byte order.

DPX 8 bits per channel / Full color / RGB channel order

Digital Picture Exchange (*.dpx)

A professional photo format that supports various different approaches to storing colour information, which can be used for storing, exchanging and editing raw information recorded by cameras. It is commonly used in film production.

DPX3_8 8 bits per channel / Full color / RGB channel order
DPX3_10 10 bits per channel / Full color / RGB channel order
DPX3_12 12 bits per channel / Full color / RGB channel order
DPX3_16 16 bits per channel / Full color / RGB channel order
DPX3_10_INVERTED_CHANNELS 10 bits per channel / Full color / BGR channel order
DPX3_12_INVERTED_CHANNELS 12 bits per channel / Full color / BGR channel order
DPX3_16_INVERTED_CHANNELS 16 bits per channel / Full color / BGR channel order
EXR

OpenEXR (*.exr)

A highly capable deep image format. Each pixel in an EXR file is exported with its Z-depth information, as well as color and depth information of pixels further back for semi-transparent pixels. If your scene has multiplane or 3D elements, this format can be used for compositing your animation with other graphical elements in 3D animation software.

PDF

Portable Document File (*.pdf)

Typically, PDF files are used to store, archive, share and print documents. However, Harmony uses the PDF format for its capability to store bitmap images and vector graphics.

If the write node is connected to a vector drawing layer or to a vector composite, the exported PDF files will contain the image as a vector graphic. It will ignore bitmap layers, effects and deformations. Otherwise, the PDF files will contain the rendered image as a bitmap.

DTEX

Deep Texture (*.dtex)

A commonly used deep image format. Each pixel in an DTEX file is exported with its Z-depth information, as well as color and depth information of pixels further back for semi-transparent pixels. If your scene has multiplane or 3D elements, this format can be used for compositing your animation with other graphical elements in 3D animation software.

NOTE: Exporting in Deep Texture requires RenderMan to be installed on the machine and the path to RenderMan properly configured in Harmony—see Setting 3D Renderer Paths.

 

Output Tab

Parameter Description
Drawing Folder

Click Choose and browse to the directory where you want to save the output. You can also use the default directory to save in the default frames folder included in the scene directory.

Drawing Filename Type the image sequence’s name prefix. It is recommended to leave the hyphen (-) at the end of the name to separate the image name from the image number.
Drawing Select this option to create an image sequence.
Start Select the starting number for the image sequence.
Leading Zeros Select the number of digits you want to see after the sequence prefix.
Drawing Type Select the file format in which your project will output. When the file format includes a "4" at the end of its name, it means that an alpha channel will be created.
Movie

Select this option to create a QuickTime move. When enabled the Movie Filename and Movie Folder fields appear. Type in the movie output name and select the output folder.

Movie Options Click the Customize button to open the QuickTime movie settings dialog box to customize the movie output.

Enabling Tab

Parameter Description
Always Enabled Enable this option for the Crop node to always be enabled.
Enabled when Resolution Name is Enable this option for the Crop node to only crop the final images when the scene resolution is set to a specific resolution preset.
Filter Name Select one of the existing resolution preset from the list for the Crop node to only crop images when that resolution is set at the scene settings level.
Enabled when Resolution is Enable this option for the Crop node to only crop the final images when the scene resolution is set to the X and Y resolution specified in the X resolution and Y resolution fields.
X Resolution X (horizontal) value in pixel of the scene resolution the Crop node will become active.
Y Resolution Y (vertical) value in pixel of the scene resolution the Crop node will become active.