Windows uses DirectWrite; macOS uses Core Text. Linux uses FreeType. Toon Boom’s text tool often renders text with incorrect leading (line spacing) on Linux. If you are doing motion graphics with dynamic text, stay on Windows.
For technical directors (TDs), this is the most exciting update. Toon Boom has committed to aligning its Linux builds with the VFX Reference Platform. This ensures that the versions of Python, Qt, and compilers used by Harmony match the versions used by other tools in the pipeline, such as Maya, Houdini, and Nuke. toon boom harmony linux new
Why this matters: If your pipeline uses Python 3.9, you no longer have to write a custom wrapper to bridge Harmony’s internal scripting environment with your studio tools. It just works. Windows uses DirectWrite; macOS uses Core Text
You need the Flatpak runtime and the Freedesktop SDK. If you are doing motion graphics with dynamic
# On Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install flatpak flatpak-builder
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Platform//23.08
flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Sdk//23.08