Drawings

To Create an Empty Drawing

There are a couple of ways to do this:

• From the Timeline / Layers Region, click the Empty Drawing Button (an icon of a square with an [x] with a plus [+] in the upper-left corner).
• Key strokes: Alt + Shift + R.
• Main Menu > Drawing > Create Empty Drawing.
• Context menu from the Xsheet and/or Timeline: Context-click > Drawings > Create Empty Drawing.

To Create Many Empty Drawings

• First, add an Empty Drawing to the Timeline and/or Xsheet. There are a couple of ways to do this:
  • From the Timeline / Layers Region, click the Empty Drawing Button (an icon of a square with an [x] with a plus [+] in the upper-left corner).
  • Alternatively, use the key strokes Alt + Shift + R
• Then, add frames to extend the duration of the Empty Drawing. Again, there are a couple of ways to do this:
  • Press the Plus Key [ + ] on the key pad multiple times.
  • Alternatively, context-click > Exposure > Increase Exposure.
  • Or, context-click > Exposure > Extend Exposure. From the Extend Exposure Window, enter the frame number you would like to extend to, further down the Timeline. Choose Insert or Overwrite (to replace frames already on the Timeline).
• Now, you will convert those to a sequence of empty drawings:
  • Select the first frame, hold the Shift Key, and click on the end frame in the selection.
  • Context-click > Drawing > Create Empty Drawing. Doing this will subsequently create a group of empty drawings.
  • Similarly, you could select the first frame, hold the Shift Key, and click on the end frame in the selection, and then click the Create Empty Drawing button.
• After you have made empty drawings, you might want to convert them to double frames. To do so, select the group (select the first frame, hold the Shift Key, and click on the end frame in the selection) and then context-click and go to > Exposure > Set Exposure to 2.

In Harmony, an Empty Drawing is meant to be used to make in-between drawings, to insert or breakdown between key drawings. You would utilize Empty Drawings when you build on and adjust the timing of a movement phrase.

Empty Drawings are similar to blank physical sheets of animation paper or flimsies. They are blank digital sheets, ready for you to work on. It appears that, in order to do some tasks, like paste artwork into a frame, you might need to set an empty drawing first. No matter what, it’s good practice to employ them, as a way of planning and animating movement phrases. You can extend the timing by increasing the length of exposure.

To Rename a Drawing

You can rename a drawing from the Timeline, Xsheet, or Menu. No matter what, you have to do this renaming process, you cannot simply click on the name of the drawing and change it. Nonetheless, renaming is simple!

• From the Xsheet or Timeline, context-click on the drawing and choose Drawings > Rename Drawing. A Rename Drawing dialogue box will open, where you will enter the new name and press OK.
• The keyboard shortcut is: Command + D.
• From the Main Menu is Drawing > Rename Drawing.