How To Make 2D Animation with OpenToonz - for beginners!

[@DarrenTAnims]

*Thanks for watching* See all 10 episodes (over 10 hours) & download the OpenToonz project here: darrentanims.gumroad.com/l/steamboat www.patreon.com/DarrenT

[@NOBLEFILMS1987]

AWESOME! THANK YOU VERY MUCH DARREN!

[@MrArtist1971]

Thank you! Just bought.

[@DarrenTAnims]

Thanks. I hope you enjoy it 😀

[@StarblazerTV]

Glad to see you're back, always look forward to learning more 2D animation skills. Thanks for sharing.

[@DarrenTAnims]

Thank you for watching 😃

[@OreoO0O]

No way finally Darren 😍... Pleasure to see you again

[@DarrenTAnims]

It's good to be back 😀

[@AryanvedhFromIndia]

good to have you back Darren! nice tutorial :)

[@DarrenTAnims]

Thanks buddy 😀

[@Mamika_AFK]

Welcome back Darren! Thanks for another awesome video as always 🩵😄👍

[@DarrenTAnims]

😊 Cheers buddy

[@AwkwardPain]

Good to see you. I hope you had an amazing break! Animation is top notch! (I did notice that the final frames, Mikey's tail disappears, though!)

[@DarrenTAnims]

Noooooo. I'll have a check of that. I'm really happy to be back again

[@Animation_parade]

First one to watch finally after a long time you have upload the new video.

[@DarrenTAnims]

😀 It's good to be back. I'm still not uploading every week, but I'm happy to be sharing a few new videos. I've a couple more coming in the next 2 weeks

[@kassachap]

Hooray Darrens back. Good to see you sir!

[@DarrenTAnims]

😀 It's good to be back. I've been working on this video for a few weeks and thinking about it since Christmas! I'm so pleased to have it released at last

[@bertw4852]

Glad to see you back again!

[@DarrenTAnims]

Thank you. I was hoping to have this video out early January, but I've just been so busy! However, I'm keeping the issue off. Videos will be out on KZbin when they're out. I've been concentrating on sharing content in my Patreon while I've been at from here, which I'm really happy with 😊

[@pipeliner8969]

open toonz is so underrated. It's even used in the recent miyazaki movie and nobody knows about this

[@DarrenTAnims]

Then we need to shout about it whenever we get the chance!

[@MrArtist1971]

Brother, I can't thank you enough for this walk through of creating a cartoon. From scenes, assets and more. Your video is the most concise I've found. Thanks again!

[@DarrenTAnims]

Awesome. I'm pleased you enjoyed it. It was a challenge to show enough to be useful, but not so much as to be boring. This is why I have the full, unedited, version on my Gumroad.

[@wooggie9685]

Long time no see! Glad to see the increased production quality :) Hope everything is well Don't know if you remember but your tutorials helped me A LOT during my high school project 4-5 years ago.

[@DarrenTAnims]

Awesome. I'm so pleased 😀 Thanks for sticking around

[@TheRubberStudiosASMR]

Such a brilliant tutorial! Thank you. I think I’ve spent months trying to locate a legit alternative to animate

[@DarrenTAnims]

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I run through things a little quickly, so you might want to check out some of my other getting started tutorials for more details. And I agree that OpenToonz is a great replacement for Animate for many users. Happy animating ! 😀

[@artmanstudios7037]

I think everyone should do this for the first animation to create their own Steamboat Willie version a short sweet and to the point at least for beginners but instead of doing it with Mickey Mouse you do with your own character!

[@DarrenTAnims]

That's a great idea!

[@mikhailhumphries]

amazing work

[@DarrenTAnims]

Thank you 😀

[@NOBLEFILMS1987]

AWESOME! THANK YOU VERY MUCH DARREN!

[@DarrenTAnims]

Cheers 😀

[@NOBLEFILMS1987]

@@DarrenTAnims CHEERS!😃

[@jollygood25]

This is excellent! Thank you

[@DarrenTAnims]

Awesome. Glad you enjoyed it 😀👍

[@mikaleerhart]

Nicely done!

[@DarrenTAnims]

Thank you 😊

[@antonistheodoridis3848]

First of all, I am glad that you are back and I hope that you got a much-needed break the time you were off. This video was awesome and it hit home because I'm also currently trying to create this old 30s greyish Disney atmosphere on my animation. I ve been looking everywhere in the internet to see if there was a program that could help me do this. However seeing you do this in Open Toonz could you share any tips on how to get the colours, the shadows, etc right? Because yours were on point. Also could this be made in vector layers? Or mabe are you planning to make a video in the future explaining this?

[@DarrenTAnims]

Thank you. Yes I did. I'm still pacing the videos I release. I won't have 1 every week and I will still take a few weeks of between videos, but I've been wanting to make this one for soooooo long. That's a great question about the colours. Really, I just eyeballed it. I started painting and then adjusted them once on screen. This is a huge one of the many benefits of using the Toonz Raster level and one of the main reasons I choose it most of the time. Once painted, the colours can be adjusted. And adjusting them on screen is so much easier when they sit with the background and other colours on screen. You could also drop in a reference image and select the colours from there. And also, at the end of the animation, as I briefly mentioned in the video, and show fully in my long-form videos on Gumroad and Patreon, I added an effect to "tone down" the black of Mickey. It looked too sharp and I wanted a more "washed out" look. That really helped, I think. Regarding vectors. I don't tend to use them. They have too many issues with filling and keeping their fills, so I avoid them for characters. But you *could* use vectors, yes, if you were confident in using vector fills. I know some users draw in vector for the outline, then convert that to Toonz Raster levels and fill on those, but for me, that's a 2 stage process and you don't really get much of the benefit from using vector, but it could work for you.

[@antonistheodoridis3848]

thanks@@DarrenTAnims

[@flufdude]

LETS GOOOO!

[@DarrenTAnims]

Gooooooooo! 😀

[@MINI_Manuranjan_TV]

Great Work im subscribed u man!! U deserve 1 milion subs 😃

[@DarrenTAnims]

Thank you buddy. Welcome to the party 😀

[@WaterShowsProd]

I've never heard anyone mention the equispacing and lack of ease-in-and-out in Steamboat Willie, or presumably other early Disney animations as well. It would be interesting to compare with Fleischer and see who started using it first, and when. I would guess Fleischer since they were doing rotoscope work, and I would assume that would have influenced the implementation.

[@DarrenTAnims]

The equispacing is something strange to force yourself to do after using easing for so long, but to keep the same style, you have to. I don't think there's a strict point where easing was recognised as a useful technique. I think it just eased it's way into the early cartoons. The early artists were all watching what each other were doing, so I think it just slowly came into their art.

[@Rover259Wild]

That's a very good streamed boat willie animation, but unfortunately, did you know they made it into a horror movie?

[@DarrenTAnims]

Yes, I heard about that. Interesting idea. It's one of those things that people will always try to do the opposite of the original.

[@unaninated]

This is such a great tutorial and tour of open toons, i currently use Clip studio and blender, but the former seems a bit lacking in parts

[@DarrenTAnims]

Thank you. It was a bit of a whirlwind your, but hopefully it gives a flavour of some of the options.

[@axhvjvlnkmogpnjnkcvbccus]

Which one is better? Open toons of Tahoma 2D❤❤

[@DarrenTAnims]

From my point of view, neither is "better". For some systems, OpenToonz works better. For others, it's Tahoma. Use whichever is more stable for you. Tahoma has a few extra features and some layout/presentation/defaults that are different to OpenToonz, to make it easier for new users. Tahoma has 100% of the features of OpenToonz and OpenToonz has 99% of the features of Tahoma. But for most users, they only use features that are in both software anyway, so it's hard to recommend one over the other.

[@meet_mui]

it was really helpful

[@DarrenTAnims]

Awesome 🙂

[@onkarchoudhary2269]

Amazing 😅 I love Opentoonz, ❤

[@DarrenTAnims]

Me too 😀

[@allegressempuisani3475]

Very impressive

[@DarrenTAnims]

Thank you. This was a lot of fun to work on 😀

[@bikiahmed2108]

Sir, Assistant tool is not showing in my computer 1:25

[@DarrenTAnims]

Have you installed a nightly build? That's where it is. And if you rename your OpenToonz Stuff folder before installing to be sure of a clean install, to get all of the new commands and features.

[@DarrenTAnims]

Alternatively, after installing (or if you don't want to re-install) follow these 3 steps: 1. Close OpenToonz. 2. Delete all of the xml files that are in this format: room#_menubar.xml from: C:\OpenToonz stuff\profiles\layouts\personal\Default.[username] 3. Start OpenToonz All of these xml files will be replaced with the default for the current installation, including any new commands.

[@ini_james_]

@@DarrenTAnims its not opening

[@GustavoMSilva]

Darren, please, answer to me: in this video it's the first time i see the 'Assistant Tool'; i have the Opentoonz 1.7.1 and i don´t see that tool. It's available just in the Opentoonz Morevna Edition?

[@DarrenTAnims]

The assistant tool isn't in Morevna. That version has been stopped now, so I wouldn't try it. The assistant tool is in the nightly build, available from the OpenToonz downloads page.

[@GustavoMSilva]

@@DarrenTAnims Thank you so much, Darren! I followed your instructions and found your video how to install the Nightly Build!

[@myvisualnovelquest822]

1:29 I'm assuming it's a perspective tool the triangle square tool. I don't have it on the toolbar. Is there a way to get it? Please help

[@DarrenTAnims]

It's available in the nightly build, available on the downloads page of the OpenToonz site. Before installing it, rename your OpenToonz Stuff folder, so you'll get a clean install.

[@myvisualnovelquest822]

@@DarrenTAnims I keep getting the application was unable to start correctly (0x000007b) click ok to close application. I click ok where it freezes completely and I have to close it manually re-unistall everything and delete everything and then re-install opentoonz. I've done it several times now

[@myvisualnovelquest822]

@@DarrenTAnims I tried it different ways when downloading it. Opentoonz won't open it just freezes. I have to close it manually through the task manager and uninstall and reinstall opentoonz. I tried looking at other tutorials to figure it out. I'll probably have to do it manually I can't get it to work

[@artmanstudios7037]

I wonder is it really possible to create a full-fledged cartoon and or animated series in OpenToonz without any Other external software besides importing and exporting the necessary graphics or media in and out? If so has anybody already attempted to do this I'm not talking about maybe long form animation more like short ones something like cow and chicken or I am weasel or even Dexter's Laboratory something of that nature and of that timeline

[@DarrenTAnims]

Great question. Yes, I think it's possible. I don't know of anyone that has made a series or short animation, apart from very short animation tests, but I look forward to the day that someone does. You can be sure that I'll be shouting about it when they do.

[@artmanstudios7037]

​@@DarrenTAnims This is great! I’ve been thinking about ways to streamline the animation process, especially for smaller teams or solo developers, and I think breaking down the workload is key. For example, a typical 22-minute episode might seem overwhelming, but if you cut that in half to 11 minutes, it’s much more manageable for a small team. If you're working solo, you can reduce it even further, maybe down to 6 minutes or even 3 minutes for newcomers. Also, I’ve found it’s a good idea to work on scenes individually instead of trying to create an entire episode in one project. This way, you avoid potential issues like file corruption and it’s easier to focus on one scene at a time. I’d love to see more tutorials on how to handle this type of workflow in OpenToonz, especially for those just starting out! Thanks again for sharing your tips and content - it’s really helpful for the animation community!

[@DarrenTAnims]

I often talk about creating small scenes, 1 per shot, so they might only last 2 or 3 seconds. And then stitching the scenes together in a video editor. But breaking down your animation is key. Multiple scenes for multiple shots. Possibly creating a different project for actual scenes. Also, if you're sharing the work, having someone ONLY work on backgrounds or on a specific character and another on the effects, then a final one to combine them in the video edit. That would really help. And follow the traditional approach, which has been built up over decades to provide the smoothest way to create an animation. Storyboarding, an animatic with the audio included at that stage. That'll give everyone their timing. Then onto temporary backgrounds, keyframes, inbetweens, etc. Then onto inking, paint, effects. I hope you get chance to work on a larger animation. It'll certainly be a learning experience for you. Good luck!

[@OsaoasoGdhshd]

Question: What is the difference between open toons of open toons morva❤

[@DarrenTAnims]

Morevna was a branch of code from OpenToonz. The developers of it added some extra features that they reached for their animation production and twist it to everyone else. However, they stopped developing it, so it's very out of date with the current OpenToonz.

[@axhvjvlnkmogpnjnkcvbccus]

Some of the raster features do not work for me. I wonder if it is a problem with the program. It says Raster.

[@DarrenTAnims]

There won't be a problem with the program. Which features don't appear to work for you?

[@axhvjvlnkmogpnjnkcvbccus]

The dot features do not work even though I downloaded the latest version of the program and searched a lot on KZbin and did not know the solution

[@DarrenTAnims]

I don't know what the dot features are. However, if you're not getting new features, the best thing to do is to rename your OpenToonz stuff folder before installing. Otherwise you'll still have your old commands.

[@axhvjvlnkmogpnjnkcvbccus]

A yellow sign appears saying you have a problem activating raster. ??????

[@DarrenTAnims]

At what point does it say that? What was you doing?

[@gamerzshow3800]

1:31 What was the tool he used for drawing the background and how can I add it in the tool bar section

[@DarrenTAnims]

That's the perspective tool. It's available in the nightly build, available from the OpenToonz downloads page. Before installing, you should rename your OpenToonz Stuff folder, to get a clean install and all of the new tools.

[@gamerzshow3800]

I have another query actually the image reference as well as the transparent feature isn't working as well and I have the 1.7.1 version. How can I fix this problem.

[@DarrenTAnims]

Can you be more specific when you say that they're "not working as well". Do you mean that they don't work at all? The commands aren't available? They written, but not as well as you'd expect? Or something else?

[@joshrichard990]

Would the gumroad course work if I did it with Tahoma2D or would it be better to go through it on OpenToonz?

[@DarrenTAnims]

The gumroad videos don't have anything in that wouldn't work in Tahoma2D. In them I try to explain each step in detail, so you can follow what I'm doing, which is why they're so long and not really suitable for KZbin.

[@JerryDechant]

How many hours go into making a short complicated (many movement elements,) video like that?

[@DarrenTAnims]

I took just over 10 hours. That was with recording the process and talking through it. If I wasn't recording it, probably about 8 hours. But it would depend on you, how much you know what you want to build and how well you knew the program.

[@JerryDechant]

@@DarrenTAnims 8 hours is pretty good, I'm not as proficient with the software, so I would take me much longer. I need more practice :)

[@DarrenTAnims]

@@JerryDechant I've spent much more time editing the videos and preparing this one than I did with the original animation. I'm pleased with how it went, but even after making this I've learned how to make it better next time.

[@kristofszotak9590]

How can i use the assistant tool in opentoonz? I research it built in morevna and tahoma 2d but not available stantard opentoonz. Which opentoonz program are you using exactly?

[@DarrenTAnims]

I'm using they latest nightly build. I cover the assistant tool in the main video that I share in the Gumroad project.

[@ITAITA-q4f]

Hi Daren T. Please how can I select other "mesh columns" without going to schematic view or X sheet. I believe it should be like the skeleton tool or the animation tool (all) that allows this. Please help.

[@DarrenTAnims]

I tend to use the xsheet/timeline to select different meshes, but I don't have highly complex skeletons. However, there is one way you could select them without using the schematic or xsheet and that's when using the animate tool. You can choose the mesh (or any other column) from the dropdown on the left of the options toolbar.

[@ITAITA-q4f]

@@DarrenTAnims Thank you.

[@elcuchotecuenta_1218]

Greetings, community, does anyone know why I don't get the types of layer levels, whether vector, bis maps, etc..

[@DarrenTAnims]

Are you saying that you babe see the toolbar above the timeline?

[@elcuchotecuenta_1218]

@@DarrenTAnimsYes, in the timeline there, as normal, it has the different types of layers, whether vector, encore map layers. But it doesn't appear to me, I don't know why.

[@Elleviya]

opentoonz is good for make 2d animation for game development? possible export result animation to Unity 2d? i have no money for Spine 2d)

[@DarrenTAnims]

Possibly. What format of files do you need for Unity?

[@Elleviya]

@@DarrenTAnims Thanks for the answer, I don’t know, apparently need animation with bones and somehow so that it can be used in the Unity engine. I'm looking for a program in which I can make 2D animations of characters, except for Spine 2D for 370 dollars.

[@DarrenTAnims]

If you can find out what format you need, then we can figure it out, but I was assuming you'd want a series of png images or similar.

[@luisvergara9001]

Hello Mr. Darren, my name is Luis Vergara and I am delighted from Barcelona. If he allows me, I'll take the liberty of asking you a question. I would like to return to 2D animation as a hobby and I see that I have two very good free options (Praise be to those responsible). I am undecided whether to use Opentoonz or Tahoma 2D, I must say that I understand both programs, since in my studies when I was young we used Flash , the Digicel flipbook or the Dragon frame and I have quickly become familiar with these two options. I see that they are almost the same, Opentoonz has more options in the interface than Tahoma2d and if the reason is that, it can be solved by customizing it to your liking. Any compelling reason to choose one or the other? Thank you very much and greetings. ​ ​

[@DarrenTAnims]

Hi Luis. I hear this wisdom a lot and I don't have a specific answer. What I can tell you is that if I want making videos here and just animating for myself, i'd probably use only Tahoma. It has some amazing features that opentoonz doesn't. The "explicit holds" where you don't few to expose a drawing on every frame that you need is amazing. It's just had a "ping pong" play option, which is a small addition, but soooo useful. But I also prefer the flexibility of the assistants in OpenToonz, to help with perspective and assisted drawing. The main advice I tend to give about this is to try both and see which you're comfortable with. They do have 90% of the same functions and you can try both at the same time. And to be honest, if only one of them was available, I would still be very happy 😀 I how that helps, even a little. Good luck

[@luisvergara9001]

Thank you very much teacher, before venturing out I will start by watching your videos, and yes, I will listen to you, I will try both and see which one best suits my needs.

[@ChutkiPapaFun]

Its owsm, Sir i do have 12 years exp. Can i do this?

[@DarrenTAnims]

I don't see why not. I cover each step as I go, talking about each tool and the reasons for using it. I think it's pretty extensive.

[@curlyhairboy14]

I Replicated the exact one

[@DarrenTAnims]

Do you mean, you remade this whole cartoon? 😃

[@William_Oswald1]

Make an animated Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Please.

[@DarrenTAnims]

I love Oswald!

[@GinoZump]

Shame his tail didn't make it to the end. RIP 😅

[@DarrenTAnims]

😢

[@diverse4985]

Too fast,

[@DarrenTAnims]

It is quite fast, but there was a lot to share. The full length, slower videos are linked in the description.

[@VenusNine]

This is not at all for beginners You're talking a story while clicking here and there... no one beginner can follow the proccess

[@DarrenTAnims]

That's a fair point. The video is more of an overview of what I did to recreate this short scene, just to show that you can do it with OpenToonz. As I mention in the video, in the description and the pinned comment, you can watch all 10 hours of this process, in real time, with commentary on every tool I use and the reason for every choice I make, by purchasing the full process on my Gumroad page, also linked from the description and pinned comment. I do have a few other getting started videos where I move a lot slower. You can find them on my channel page.

[@VenusNine]

@@DarrenTAnims In that case your title is a pure clickbait. There is no the word - overview - or something similar Not a fair point