For all you people out there who still fiercely think that 2D Animation is 10x better than the CGI animation those executives are fiercely pushing down our throats, say no more because I'm back with a vengeance..... not really but yeah... Because I've got this thing right here:
TOON BOOM HARMONY TIPS, a series of blogposts about Toon Boom and it's many quirks and features that make me want to use it more than other 2D software packages.
After multiple delays due to my Airport Cafe job, Miso the Feline's Gingivitis treatment, payments, the unexpected death of Akira Toriyama, etc, there will be no more delays. This series of blogposts about Toon Boom Harmony is coming full steam ahead.
But the main tips will have to wait as I experiment with the puppet rigs, the various nodes, and other things.
But right now, IDEAL MONITOR LAYOUTS:
I have my own preferred screen layout that I use for working on animations because for one, I'm obsessed with large monitors with a higher resolution. Plus, a 1080p display used for animation work in 2024 is already long in the tooth for me.
The defaults provided by these software packages whether they be from Adobe, Autodesk, Blender, ToonBoom, Krita, ToonZ, etc, they don't have the desired layouts actually I care about, especially in terms of virtual work environments.
So what I prefer to use is larger displays with a higher resolution like 1440p or 4K and create my own work layout.
And since I use a triple monitor setup as shown in the photo above, that works much more better for my line of work. It gets less claustrophobic that way.
Here's a screen capture of my actual layout. It also illustrates my screen resolutions too.
My Asus TUF VG27AQ 1440P Monitor is my main work area where I see what's going on, manipulate the layers if I want to use a multiplane camera, select my color palette, work on the timeline, etc.
And yes, I have an EX Sheet over there for all you EX SHEET lovers out there but I seldom use it due to timelines and onion skins.
And last but not least is my Wacom One Pen Display which is used for when I'm actually drawing by hand. As a matter of fact, I've been using this layout for Hand-Drawn Animation since April 2022 when I got my WACOM ONE Pen Display from a BEST BUY in Downtown Vancouver.
A far cry from the Setup we mostly have with the WACOM tablets we had at Lasalle College but those are Cintiq Displays which are not only larger and heavier with a 4K resolution but those CINTIQS cost over thousands of dollars. 
Back in 2022, I did not have the money for those displays.... Well I do have the money now but what's the point of buying one right now when I have other payments as well as my nice ASUS TUF Monitor?
Yes, I know Autodesk Maya is displayed on the CINTIQ behind me but this is the only photo of my School's CINTIQs that I could find on my iPhone. Also, this was before I grew my beard.
Maybe I'll consider getting a Cintiq once my WACOM ONE craps out.
(Barring reinstalling new drivers that is.)
But anyway, what's the ideal layout for a WACOM Tablet like mine?
It all depends but for many an animator who works on 2D animation and prefers a screen over just a flat tablet, a Cintiq is much preferred for many a 2D Animator.
I suspect it's because of their desire to have something dissimilar to an old school animation desk like the ones used by Disney's Nine Old Men back in the golden age of animation.
I've noticed in a few photos shared on LinkedIn by various 2D Animators that they share their desk layout but as far as I'm aware, those photos are of their tablets connected to their laptop of sorts... usually a MacBook or something.
Believe me, when I started this blog on Blogger.com, I too was using a Laptop connected to my WACOM Tablet.
The laptop in question was an MSI GP62M 7RDX Leopard
For one, I got a job at retail, racked up the money earned from that job combined with my Government cheques and my Tax Return from that year and got the parts to build a PC.
And even if I had switched to AMD Radeon for graphics,
I'd still rather buy a PCI-E X16 GPU like an RX 7900 XT.
Don't ask me to use Intel Arc. I don't think Arc, whether it's the Alchemist or Battlemage cards, are cut out for my animation and video rendering even if I go for a high-end card.
But I don't have an AMD Radeon GPU or Intel Arc GPU.
Instead, I have an Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU as my main source of graphics.
I currently use a 16GB GIGABYTE EAGLE RTX 4080 in my system and so far, It's been swell to use since installation on November 2023.
Also seen in most LinkedIn photos of Animator's workstations is the use of their keyboards which are either Low Profile or Rubber Domed Chiclet Style Keyboards.
I detest rubber domes since they all feel mushy to type on. And Scissor Switches don't belong on desktop keyboards. Scissor Switches are meant for laptops and I'm fine with my MSI Laptop's SteelSeries keyboard.
But for desktops, I tend to prefer mechanical keyboards because it's better to type on them and just feels good to feel the key switches.
Yes, they have low profile keyboards with the same mechanical switches as the ones I prefer but I prefer full height keyboards…. But hey, preferences.
When I typed this post, I was using a Razer Blackwidow V3 TKL Yellow Switch keyboard.
It's a Linear Switch board that omits the Number Pad seen on most full sized Keyboards.
I've since switched to using my EPOMAKER DYNATAB 75 Keyboard.
It's a Nice Keyboard that has 3 modes: Bluetooth, USB, and 2.4GHZ Wireless.
What's neat about my keyboard is that it's Gasket-Mounted so I can change my switches when the time permits. Currently, my Keyboard is using Wisteria Tactile Switches.
Also, my Keyboard is THOCKY!!!
And it's a 75% Layout keyboard.
It's also the only smallest I'll ever go for mechanical keyboards. I actually despise the 40% layout for keyboards because the amount of keys are subtracted to just essentials such as ctrl, numbers, letters, etc but no arrow keys or function row keys.
So why is it that most animator's desks don't have a tower like mines?
I suspect the answer will be they don't have the desk space to put a full tower set up regardless if it's full tower, mid-tower, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX etc.
Honestly, that's just an excuse to just clutter up your desk with things you don't really need.
Let's take this LinkedIn photo below as an example.
Yes, I have a desk lamp but I don't use that on my main PC Desk anymore because for one, I don't have the space to put it anywhere and besides, the backlights on my ASUS and ACER monitors are bright enough for my eyes as is so I don't need that desk lamp on my desk.
One could look at the photo of my PC and say:
"But Dan, couldn't you just put your desk lamp on top of your PC?"
I could but I can't do that because if you look closely in this photo, there's some RGB lighting there. That's coming from my Thermaltake Pure12 ARGB Fans....
That was before I upgraded my Motherboard to a
GIGABYTE AORUS Elite AX V2 AM5 Motherboard.....
The Fans have been swapped so now my Fractal fans are the top exhaust while the Front intake and my rear exhaust are my Thermaltakes.
As you can tell from the now outdated photo, I've mounted those two fans as the top exhaust for my PC and I'm not putting anything on top of my FRACTAL POP case because if I did that, I'd be blocking the exhaust in my PC.
The same problem would persist if I used an AIO Radiator mounted to the top.
The essentials I need are my Monitors, My Fractal Pop Air Tower, my Stereo Speakers, my Asus Monitor's External Power Brick, My Wacom Tablet, my Lexar SD Card Reader, my Phone Stand if I want to put my iPhone 15 Pro there, my Game Controller, and other things.......
And one final dedicated space for a cup if I want to drink coffee, tea, or a pop drink like Coca-Cola.
And I prefer computer desks with a dedicated keyboard tray so I can have more things on the main desk area.
I strongly believe everybody with a Desktop PC or Mac should have a keyboard tray.
But what do I need that for in ToonBoom... like RTX Cards. It's not like I'd use 3D rendering on ToonBoom or anything unless I want to go all FLEISCHER STUDIOS with my scenes?
With my RTX 4080 GPU combined with my AMD Ryzen 9 7900x3D CPU, it allows me to export my videos at a quicker pace..... and it be much quicker if I had used THREADRIPPER instead of the consumer Ryzen chips but for now, I'm stuck with Ryzen 9.
And of course, I can't shirk off without mentioning Ultrawide displays.
Like I said on my MAYA tips post about screen layouts, I don't have the desk space for an Ultrawide monitor at least for my regular eye level but I will admit that using an ultrawide monitor like that ASUS ROG Swift shown above would make working on your animations an absolute breeze..... but then again, most 2D Animators would rather prefer to use a CINTIQ for their workspace whether it be hand drawn or puppet rigged so I don't see a reason to include an ultrawide monitor reference but just wanted to mention that.
I understand that the real reason most people go with laptops for their home animation desk setups is because of the amount of money spent on the CINTIQ displays which could go for more money than a typical budget build. Also, I understand that some people could solve their desk space woes by putting their tower underneath the desk but it's not advisable due to airflow concerns especially with carpets and plus, with all the RGB on PC builds, putting the tower on the floor would defeat the purpose of showing off your RGB fans.
And thankfully, the power did not go out during the making of this blogpost unlike what happened with the MAYA Tips Post back in February so I can be thankful for that.
Update as of August 11 2024:
I've made some changes in my room to the point my Fractal Tower is now on another desk beside my usual so maybe in the future, probably Black Friday, I'll get an Ultrawide Monitor and relegate my ASUS TUF Monitor as my Overhead Monitor as my Acer Monitor is showing a bit of it's age.... or I might use the Acer Monitor as my fourth Monitor... Who Knows.
Even if I got a Dell Alienware or Asus ROG Swift Ultrawide Monitor, I'd still not replace my WACOM ONE pen display until it craps out and I have to replace it with a cintiq.
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