About Layers and Columns

T-RIG-009-003

Before filling in any values or setting any timing or exposure, you need to create drawing elements. Each drawing element is represented as a vertical column in the Xsheet view and a horizontal layer in the Timeline view.

In Harmony, whether you work in the Timeline or Xsheet view, any modification you do to one view will be applied to both. You can also see your layers displayed in the Node view as nodes.

When you add a drawing element to your scene, a folder is added to the scene directory. This folder is named the same way as the drawing element and is in fact, linked to the drawing element. Its purpose is to contain all the drawings related to this element (layer, column). For example, in cut-out animation, a character can have many heads available. All of the head drawings will be contained in this folder, even if they are not exposed in the Timeline or the Xsheet view.

Drawings are exposed in cells/frames and linked to the drawings saved in the layer's directory. When you remove a drawing from a cell/frame, it is not displayed, but still exists in the directory.

When you create a drawing cycle, all of the repeated drawings are linked to the original files. This means that when you modify, repaint, or correct a drawing named “1,” all exposures of drawing “1” are updated simultaneously. In order to modify a drawing independently from its other exposures, you must duplicate the drawing.

NOTE There are different element types available, such as sound and expression. A sound element contains sound files. Expressions, Beziers, eases, 3D path, Quadmaps and Pegs are for motion purposes during the compositing step. It's not necessary to create these types to create your exposure sheet.

You can add drawing elements from the Timeline view, Xsheet view, and the Scene menu.

NOTE To learn more about the layer parameters, see Element / Drawing Node.