Toon Boom Rigging 01

£250 or 2 monthly payments of £125

Toon Boom Rigging

80 Lessons

This course will teach you how to build rigged characters in Toon Boom Harmony Premium. Suitable for complete newcomers or those looking to transfer skills from other software, rigging will allow you to build your own characters and animate them within Toon Boom.

This is an instant access course, but please allow 48 hours for your software code being sent through. Now includes one-to-one tutorials instead of group calls! Email to book at a time to suit you.

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Course Content

An overview of each weeks topics

Week 1 - Introduction and Key Concepts

Week 1 deals with building a solid foundation of knowledge, ready to layer the fundamentals in coming weeks. You will become acquainted with your new best friend, the node view and lots of other useful tools (think deformers and cutters) that will make your rigs incredibly useful and easy to use.

Week 2 - Building the Head and Face

During week 2 we will step up your learning with a deep dive into the power of art layers and re-ordering of artwork. We’ll create non-rendering visual helpers to make things easy to select, organise our node view and discuss the best structures for the job. Oh, and templates!

Week 3 - Upper Body Techniques

In week 3 we’ll continue our character build by solving some major problems within the upper body. How to build arms? What method works best in Z depth? Is there a solution for perfect shoulders? All is revealed along with a handy guide to importing Photoshop and Illustrator files with ease.

Week 4 - Leg Constraints and Super Shoes

The fourth week means finishing off our character rig with a set of legs. We cover lots of great details on reversing deformers, kinematic outputs, using textures and complex cutter mask set ups. There’s also an advanced lesson in here about a true IK leg set up, if you’re feeling brave 🙂

Week 5 - Master Controllers and More

Over the final week we take a giant leap forward into the future of rigging and build our very own master controller set up, complete with sliders. We also cover 2 point constraints, how to rig various types of hair, dynamic springs and troubleshooting common problems.

What's included?

✔️ 5 weeks of online training curriculum (lifetime access)
✔️ 40 day license of Toon Boom Harmony Premium
✔️ 2 x one-to-one live calls to chat and solve problems
✔️ Feedback on your homework and final project
✔️ Lifetime Discord community access
✔️ Work files to download and keep
✔️ Certificate upon completion

Course tutor

Adam Oliver

Manchester, U.K.

With over 16 years of professional experience in the animation industry, Adam was also the UK's first certified Toon Boom expert. He's worked in TV and film, both as a hand-drawn and cut-out animator, as well as teaching in higher education and as an artist-in-residence. He started the Academy in 2017 and since then has trained thousands of creative folk how to rig and animate in Toon Boom Harmony.

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Frequently asked questions

What is rigging exactly?

Rigging is the process of creating structured characters or props. The job of the rigger is to create the skeletal framework and attach the artwork to it. This is then used by the animators to create movement with. It’s a technical job full of compromises and challenges, so it's never the same day twice!

The real creative challenge comes when finding ways to cram all the correct functionality in, whilst keeping the rig fast and easy to use. Toon Boom Harmony is a leading 2D animation package that has rigging at its core, and many of the modern 2D cut-out shows on TV use this functionality. Rigging is used over pure hand drawn animation because it generally saves time and allows for better re-use of animation within a team.

Do I need to already know how to use Toon Boom Harmony?

Any experience you do have is useful, including in other animation software, but is not required. The course has been made for those new to Toon Boom Harmony or with basic experience.

Please note that this course is slightly more technical than its counterpart, Animation - Level 1.

What will I learn on this course?

The main aims of the course are to teach you how to build characters and props in Toon Boom Harmony. You'll learn the process from initial planning stages right through to a finished rig, and there's the opportunity to customise your personal project to your own designs. By the end of the course you may have finished your first fully functional character rig, ready for production!

How long does the course run for?

This course runs for 5 weeks from the start date.

Can I still watch the videos when the course is finished?

Although the live part of the course is 5 weeks long (the part where you'll receive personalised feedback and be able to book tutorials), you'll have access to the course videos and files for 1 year. This gives you plenty of time to study the software and come back to the library of videos for a quick review, if needed.

What times do I have to be available? Is my timezone a problem?

The whole course has been designed to be as flexible as possible, so everyone can take part, no matter where in the world you live.

The curriculum can be studied whenever you wish, as it's pre-recorded and you can send your work for review at any time.

Is the software included?

Yes! Each student will receive a 40 day license for the latest version of Toon Boom Harmony Premium. This will cover the length of the course and then some, to give you time to finish off those projects!

How much free time do I need to take part?

We suggest a minimum of 5 hours a week, although this really depends on your experience.

The longer you have, the more you can practice. Ideally setting aside half a day and an evening or two will give you lots of time each week to build your rig without time pressure.

You can also progress faster through certain parts of the course, if you have a chunk of free time. We've had former students complete a 5 week course in 2 weeks when they've studied full time! So again, it's very much flexible to your personal situation.

How do I receive feedback on my course work?

As you progress through the course, you'll have a gradually evolving rig that you may want feedback on.

You'll be given specific instructions on how to send this over to me, and in return I'll give you personalised feedback. This can either be via a recorded video where I go through your animation on-screen, or screenshots and notes.