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Toon Boom Certified Animation Courses

Toon Boom Certified Training Course: Harmony Foundation for Gaming

Course Introduction

Discover the powerful intersection of animation and gaming with our Harmony Foundation for Gaming course. This program equips artists with the beginning skills to create, rig, and animate characters specifically for games using Toon Boom Harmony Premium. Whether you’re new to Harmony or expanding your animation skills into game development, this hands-on course ensures you gain practical knowledge of everything from animation principles to pipeline integration with Unity.

This is a foundational course designed for artists eager to expand their skills into the world of game development. Led by a Toon Boom Senior Solutions Specialist, this course takes you through the essential tools and processes in Harmony Premium, empowering you to create characters, skins, and animations for 2D games.

You’ll learn about the difference between paperless and cutout animation techniques, learning how to export assets seamlessly from Harmony into Unity, one of the most widely-used game engines today. Key topics include rigging for gaming, the use of game bones, and how to export characters across different gaming platforms using sprite sheets and rig-based animations.

By the end of the course, you’ll have foundational skills to integrate Harmony’s robust animation tools into a gaming pipeline, opening up new possibilities for further development in animation for gaming. Whether your focus is character creation or animation, this course offers you the skills and confidence to create game assets that elevate any project.

Course Outline

Participants will learn the core gaming concepts in Harmony, from basic tools and interface to character creation, rigging, skinning, animation and pipeline integration in Harmony Premium. This course is intended for artists who are familiar with gaming concepts, but new to Harmony, and want to gain a general knowledge of all the main game-related functionalities.

Topics Covered Include

• Harmony Premium Introduction and Project Steps Overview
• Interface Overview: Creating and managing workspaces, setting preferences, using presets, and customizing shortcuts
• Basic Concepts & Settings
• Introduction to Sketching and Animating
• Exporting
• Drawing Tools
• Hardware & Specifications
• Games vs. Theatrical
• Asset Designs
• Scene Markers
• Gaming FBF Paperless Animation Pipeline
• RAW Data Rigging Pipeline
• Cut Out Animation for Gaming
• Props & Anchors
• Gaming Pipelines: Game Skinning
• Export & Import to Unity

Course Format

• This class is an instructor-led, hands-on activity lab.

Objectives

• Understand the difference between paperless and cutout animation in gaming
• Create and manipulate characters for gaming in Harmony Premium
• Create skins and animations for gaming assets in Harmony Premium
• Export a properly formatted project from Harmony Premium for use in Unity
• Import a properly formatted project to Unity

A detailed course breakdown will be shared with those candidates who are selected for the course.

Certification

• A Toon Boom course certificate will be provided to participants who complete the program.
• Completion of this course qualifies participants for the official Toon Boom Harmony Software certification exam.

Dates 3 – 15 May 2025 (2 weeks)

Hours
Hours
The course duration is 40 hours.
Broken into weeknights (3.5 hours evenings) and 7 hours on Saturdays.
Each session takes place from Saturday through Thursday.
Sunday to Thursday from 4:30 PM to 8:00 PM (including a 30-minute break)
Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM (including a 1-hour lunch break)

Language: English

Group Size: 10 participants

Course Fee: 2,000 QAR per module

Selection Information and Eligibility

• To take this course, attendees should have a basic knowledge of animation principles and a general idea of game concepts.
• Participants should be familiar with animation techniques used in 2D gaming.
• Open to citizens and residents of Qatar and the Gulf.
• The Doha Film Institute will not be responsible for the visa and travel procedures.

Submission Deadline: 16 March 2025

Submission Requirements

Please send the following in Word or PDF format to animation@dohafilminstitute.com

1. Letter of motivation mentioning the title of the course you are applying to (up to one page)
2. Copy of Passport or ID
3. Contact information (email and phone number)
4. If available, an artist portfolio or CV
5. If available, any previous film or creative works (illustrations, animation, online portfolio, website etc.)

Selection Process

Candidates will be selected by the workshop mentor. Shortlisted candidates not selected for the lab will be placed on a waiting list in case of cancellations.

Instructor

Oscar Romero
Creator of Worlds

Oscar’s animation journey ignited at the Ottawa School of Art and flourished at Algonquin College, where he honed his skills in the Television Animation program. Graduating with honours in 2004, he embarked on a diverse career spanning television, interactive experiences, and mobile game development, showcasing his versatility as an artist, illustrator, and animator.

A master of his craft, Oscar commands industry-standard software with finesse, from Toon Boom Harmony and beyond. His expertise extends to game engines like Godot, Unity and Unreal, reflecting his commitment to continuous learning.

Oscar bridges the gap between artistic vision and technical implementation, seamlessly connecting art and development teams. His collaborative spirit has been instrumental in numerous projects.

Beyond animation, Oscar is a published cover artist, lending his talents to independent publishers. He also explores music production, revealing a well-rounded individual with a deep appreciation for the arts.

Currently, Oscar thrives as a Senior Gaming/Animation Solutions Specialist at Toon Boom, empowering clients on their creative journeys. His dedication to excellence makes him an invaluable asset to Toon Boom and a driving force in the animation industry.

Mentor

Stacey Eberschlag
Emmy Award-Winning Master Storyteller and Animation Maestro

Embark on a journey through the illustrious career of Stacey Eberschlag, an Emmy Award-winning animator and director hailing from Toronto, Ontario. With a rich tapestry of over 30 years in the animation industry, Stacey has become a beacon of creativity and expertise. His work has spanned an array of projects—from captivating animated series and feature films to innovative commercials and video games.

Stacey’s magic touch has been seen in his collaborations with industry giants such as Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros, Universal, and Nickelodeon. His remarkable contributions have shaped the narratives of beloved projects like ‘Thomas and Friends,’ ‘Final Space’, and the revitalized ‘Animaniacs’.

But Stacey’s journey extends beyond the studio walls. Over the past 15 years, he has embraced the role of a global animation ambassador, living in Asia and Africa. As a certified Toon Boom instructor, he has illuminated the paths of numerous studios and aspiring animators, imparting wisdom in animation skills and techniques. His passion lies at the intersection of storytelling, animation, and rigging, where he consistently pushes the boundaries of what’s possible. This passion culminated in winning an Emmy Award with DQE Entertainment for ‘Tutenstein’, an animated series that breathes life into a 12-year-old mummy in a modern museum setting. Today, Stacey resides in Toronto with his wife and two children, continuing to inspire and lead in the world of animation.

About Toon Boom

For 30 years and counting, Toon Boom Animation has been the global leader in pre-production and 2D animation software, with clients in over 140 countries. The organisation has made its mark with products that include Harmony (end-to-end animation) and Storyboard Pro (storyboarding and layout), which continue to build upon their reputation for high-performance tools that push the limits of creativity. Producer (production management) and Harmony Gaming (drawing and animation tools for game development) are the most recent new products to join the line-up. Disney Television Animation, Atomic Cartoons, Bento Box, Fox Television Animation, Dog Head, Toei Animation, The SPA Studios, Xilam and Boulder Media are just a few examples of Toon Boom Animations’ high-profile clients. To learn more about Toon Boom, visit www.toonboom.com.

Presented in collaboration with the Qatar Museums Vocational School for Creative Industries

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