Toon Boom Animation

Infobox Company
company_name = Toon Boom Animation Inc.
company_type = Private
company_
foundation = 1994 in Canada|1994
location = Montreal, Quebec, Canada
industry = Software
products = animation and storyboarding software
homepage = [http://www.toonboom.com/ toonboom.com]

Toon Boom Animation Inc. is a Canadian software company, which specializes in animation production software. Founded in 1994 and based in Montreal, Quebec, Toon Boom develops animation and storyboarding software for film, television, web animation, games, mobile devices, and training applications. In 2005, Toon Boom was granted a Primetime Emmy in Engineering.

Overview

Toon Boom's client base comes mostly from individual animators and colleges. Toon Boom states that their products are being used by the following studios: Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Television Animation, Nelvana, Warner Bros. Animation, Mercury Filmworks, China Central Television, Toonz India Ltd, eMation, Rough Draft Korea, Alphanim, Cosgrove Hall, Cromosoma and Enarmonia. However, many college teachers and professional animators claim that the program is glitchy and unusable. So there is doubt that studios use Toon Boom at all.

In 2006, the IT Federation of Quebec (FIQ) awarded the company an OCTAS 2006 award in the Multimedia – Educational and Cultural Sector category for Toon Boom Studio 3.0. In 2007, the FIQ awarded Toon Boom an OCTAS award in the Best Technology Innovation category for Toon Boom Storyboard Pro. In 2008, Flip Boom was awarded the Parents' Choice Gold Award.

Products

* Flip Boom - Part of Toon Boom Kids division, this is an entry level animation software made to learn animation principles (draw, add frames, playback)
* Toon Boom Studio - This Toon Boom software is aimed at home users and individuals rather than professional animation studios. There is a streamlined version of the software called Toon Boom Studio Express which is more basic.
* Toon Boom Digital Pro (formerly Toon Boom Solo) - This Toon Boom software is aimed at animation studios and freelancers and has more features than Toon Boom Studio. Like Autodesk Maya, there is a free Personal Learning Edition (PLE) that animation students and those who are interested in starting animation can use. However, the PLE is for non commercial use only, and has a limited resolution of 540x540, a watermark on rendered images, and the use of a non-commercial file format for the final animation.
* Toon Boom Opus (formerly USAnimation) [(Aug. 6, 1996). " [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1996_August_6/ai_18575537 Toon Boom Technologies enters merger transaction with USAnimation Inc] " [Business Wire] . Retrieved March 17, 2008.] - This Toon Boom software is commonly used in the traditional film/TV animation industry. This software contains all the tools required to handle traditional animation workflows from scanning to compositing and 2D/3D integration. Its centralized database system allows the sharing of assets between scenes and enables the workload to be shared efficiently across a studio or even between studios. "As of April 2008, Toon Boom Opus has been discontinued."Fact|date=May 2008
* Toon Boom Harmony (formerly Toon Boom Symphony) - Like Opus, this software is based on a centralized database system and is used in the Film and TV animation industry. It contains all the Opus features and has additional tools that can be used for cut-out animation style. These tools include the transform tool, morphing, inverse kinematics and the "glue" effect. Harmony can also be used as a paperless animation solution, drawing animation directly into the software, using a Wacom tablet.
* Toon Boom Pencil Check Pro - A line testing software.
* Toon Boom Storyboard - This software is used to create storyboards which can be printed.
* Toon Boom Storyboard Pro - Like Storyboard, this software is used to create storyboards. In addition to the Storyboard features, the Pro version has tools to create animatics and can be integrated into a pipeline using Opus, Harmony or Digital Pro. You can export to the leading NLE as well. Release 1.5 of Storyboard Pro is now compatible with Final Draft (using Tagger to export XML script) as well as with the Automatic Duck plug-in for importing AAF file into Final Cut Pro.

Filmography

Toon Boom was used as the digital ink and paint for some of the theatrical and direct to video DisneyToon Studios films.
* "Doug's 1st Movie" (1999)
* "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas" (1999)
* "" (2001)
* "" (2001)
* "Return to Never Land" (2002)
* "" (2002)
* "The Jungle Book 2" (2003)
* "Piglet's Big Movie" (2003)
* "Teacher's Pet" (2004)
* "The Lion King 1½" (2004)
* "" (2004)
* "" (2004)
* "Mulan II" (2005)
* "Pooh's Heffalump Movie" (2005)
* "Tarzan II" (2005)
* "" (2005)
* "Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie" (2005)
* "Kronk's New Groove" (2005)
* "Bambi II" (2006)
* "Leroy & Stitch" (2006)
* "Brother Bear 2" (2006)
* "The Fox and the Hound 2" (2006)
* "" (2007)
* "" (2008)
* "Taco Sam's Adventure" (2008)

They have also claimed to have used Toon Boom on the following movies:
* "The Rugrats Movie" (1998)
* "" (2003)
* "Les Triplettes de Belleville" (2003)
* "The Spongebob Squarepants Movie" (2004)
* "Curious George" (2006)
* "The Simpsons Movie" (2007)
* "La Leyenda de la Nahuala" (2007)
* "Go West: A New Lucky Luke Adventure" (2007)
* "The Three Robbers" (2007)
* "How to Hook Up Your Home Theater" (2007)
* "The Princess and the Frog" (2009)
* "Last Days Of Coney Island" (TBA)

TV series that Toon Boom's claims the studios have used:
* "6Teen"
* "Ruby Gloom"
* "Zombie Hotel"
* "Santa Apprentice"
* "Robot Boy"
* "Dave The Barbarian"
* "Kim Possible"
* "The Simpsons"
* "Gerald McBoing Boing"
* "The Three Baby Triplets"
* "Bro’Town"
* "Yvon of the Yukon"
* "Juanito Jones"
* "Miniman"
* "D’Myna Leagues"
* "King of the Hill"
* "Caillou"
* "Family Guy"
* "The Fairly Odd Parents"
* "Spongebob Squarepants"
* "Robotboy"
* "Galactik Football"
* "Di-Gata Defenders"
* "Grossology (TV series)"
* "The Large Family"
* "Toot and Puddle"
* "Mischief City"
* "Jimmy Two Shoes"
* "Wilbur"
* "Weird Years"

International presence

The Toon Boom community comes from 85 countries. Working extensively in Asia and more particularly in India, China, Korea and The Philippines, Toon Boom is also developing new geographies in the Caribbean and Africa.

eLearning material

Several video tutorials developed by Toon Boom are available to learn Toon Boom Studio, Storyboard Pro and Digital Pro. In addition to that, several power users have developed their content to help the community develop higher quality animation. Examples can be found in the Cartooning in Toon Boom Wiki at [http://toonboomcartooning.wetpaint.com/ toonboomcartooning.wetpaint.com] and at [http://www.toonboomtutorials.com ToonBoomTutorials.com] .

Tips and tricks, animation charts and FX templates are also developed on a monthly basis, and teaching aids are available to educators. Students and educators have now a dedicated section in the Toon Boom Forums.

ee also

*USAnimation

References

External links

* http://www.toonboom.com
* http://toonboomcartooning.wetpaint.com
* http://www.toonboomtutorials.com
* http://www.calicomonkey.com