8/12/2019 Toon Boom Studio File Format

1/3

Toon Boom Studio File Format

There are many files types that are linked to the Toon Boom

Studio application. This being said, not every one of those file

types can be opened directly or by the application itself, so here

is a quick description of all the file types along with their purpose:

.tbpd:The tbpd file stands for Toon Boom Project Directory. This is afile type that is only applicable for Mac users. Basically these arepackaged files so they include all the other files that you launchto open up your project on the Mac platform. If you want toaccess the file assets of your project on the Mac you will firstneed to navigate to the package tbpd file in the Finder and thenCntrl+Click on the tbpd file to do a Show Package Content. Thiswill bring you inside the package where you will have access to

drawings/bitmap/sounds that you have imported or created inyour project so far. Viewed from a PC machine the tbpd file willbe shown as a simple folder which contains the tbp and thesubfolders that contain the project contents.

.tbp:The tbp file stands for Toon Boom Project. These files are thecore of your project and will be the files that you open to accessyour project on Windows PC (you can also open tbp file under

Mac but you will first need to access the tbpd package content tosee the tbp). The information contained inside the tbp file islimited to the project information (names of elements and such),pegand timinginformation and links to all the external files suchas the drawings/bitmaps/sounds. This means that if you move atbp file away from its location in the project folder you will still be

8/12/2019 Toon Boom Studio File Format

2/3

able to open the project but no contents will show (you will geterror messages about being unable to access drawings).

.tbd:

The tbd file stands for Toon Boom Drawing. These are the actualvector drawings that you create with Toon Boom Studio. Thosefile cannot be opened in any way with Toon Boom Studio, theyare accessed through the links contained inside the tbp file. Theonly way to get those files into a project, other then the one inwhich they were created, would be to create a second projectwith in which you create a drawing with the exact same nameand afterward replace the newly created drawing with the onefrom to old project. Basically you are creating a link to a drawing

file and then substituting an identically named file in its place. Beaware that this method is not the easiest one to get drawingstransferred ,you should use library templatesinstead. Thisdrawing substitution method is mostly used for recover drawingsfrom corrupted projects.

.tbc:The tbc file stands for Toon Boom Catalog. These files are thecore of the library. Their purpose is to tell Toon Boom Studio

where the templatesare saved on your machine. It does notcontain any specific files but rather links to the actual templates.These type files will be created when you create a new libraryfrom inside the Toon Boom Studio Library panel. It is notpossible to open such a .tbc file directly with the Toon BoomStudio application, if you want to import a catalogfile that youhave downloaded you will need to use the OpenLibrary...command from the Library panel inside TBS. Eventhough these files are referred to as catalogsthey should not be

confused the actual catalogs that can be created as subdivisionsof a libraryinside theToon Boom Studio application. A tbc file isactually a full libraryby itself, which can contain manysubdivision catalogs, which you have created to subdivide it, soonly one tbc file will be created even if you create multiplecatalogs to subdivide that library).

8/12/2019 Toon Boom Studio File Format

3/3

.tbt:The tbt file stands for Toon Boom Templates. These are thetemplate files that are created whenever you drag content from

your timeline panel to the library. A tbt file cannot be opened byitself directly with Toon Boom Studio. To get the template insideof Toon Boom Studio you will first need to open up the ToonBoom Studio application and then access your library. In thereselect a libraryor catalog into which you want to import thetemplate and then right click (cntrl+click on Mac) in the right partof the libraryto use the ImportTemplatecommand. Onceimported you will be able to modify the template itself by usingthe Edit Templatecommand by right clicking on the template in

the library. Once you are done working on that template saveyour work and right click on that same template to use theReturn to Scenecommand.

.tbcp:The tbcp file stands for Toon Boom Color Palette. You cancreate these files to export and import color palettes from oneproject to another. These files contain the color swatchesfor thecolor palettethat was previously created and exported from a

TBS project. The tbcp file cannot be opened directly with ToonBoom Studio but rather needs to be imported using the ImportPalettecommand from the context menu associated with theColor Palette tab of Toon Boom Studio.