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Toon Boom

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Toon Boom Animation Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustrySoftware
Founded1994; 30 years ago (1994)
HeadquartersMontreal, Quebec, Canada
ProductsAnimation and Storyboarding software
ParentCorus Entertainment
(2012–present)
Websitetoonboom.com

Toon Boom Animation Inc. is a Canadian software company that specializes in animation production and storyboarding software. Founded in 1994 and based in Montreal, Quebec, Toon Boom develops animation and storyboarding software for film, television, web animation, games, mobile devices, training applications, and education. It was acquired by Corus Entertainment in 2012.

Toon Boom software is used in over 130 countries, and was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award in 2005 and 2012,[1][2] among other awards.

Notable users include Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Television Animation, Pixar, Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. Animation, Fox, Rough Draft Studios, Nelvana, Xilam, Mercury Filmworks, China Central Television, Toonz India Ltd, Digital eMation and Gaumont Animation.

History

In 1996, Toon Boom purchased the software development business of USAnimation studio. Its animation production services were initially to be merged into CST Entertainment according to a premature press release from CST. That merger never took place, and USAnimation's studio changed its name to VirtualMagic Animation in 1996 and operated independently. Toon Boom Animation continued the development of USAnimation software which became Toon Boom Opus. It has since evolved into Toon Boom Harmony.

In 2006, Toon Boom acquired French company Pegs'n Co,[3] developer of the 2D bitmap animation software called Pegs. Since the acquisition, the software has not been updated and can no longer be purchased.

In 2009, Toon Boom acquired the British company Cambridge Animation Systems, developer of Animo.[4] Since the acquisition, the software has not been updated and can no longer be purchased.

In 2012, Toon Boom was acquired by Corus Entertainment.[5]

Historical Products

  • Toon Boom Studio (discontinued in 2015) - aimed at home users and individuals.
  • Toon Boom Animate (discontinued in 2015) - aimed at professional animators, boutique studios, students and educators.
  • Toon Boom Animate Pro (discontinued in 2015) - aimed at animation studios and freelancers.
  • Toon Boom Opus (discontinued in 2008) - Formerly USAnimation, it was used in the traditional film/TV animation industry.
  • Toon Boom Pencil Check Pro (discontinued in 2014) - A line testing software product.
  • Flip Boom product line (discontinued in 2014) - Entry level animation software.
  • Garfield's Comic Boom (discontinued in 2014) - A comic strip or album creation software product developed with cartoonist Jim Davis. The application included built-in video tutorials by the cartoonist.

Products

Toon Boom Harmony

This software is used in the film and TV animation industry for its professional-quality 2D animation production capabilities. Harmony contains the tools required to handle cutout (puppet), paperless frame-by-frame and traditional animation workflows from scanning to compositing and 2D/3D integration. Its toolset includes pencil lines with textures, deformation tools, morphing, inverse kinematics, particles, built-in compositor, 3D camera and 2D-3D integration. When used as a paperless animation solution, users can draw animation directly into the software, using a graphics tablet. Harmony is available in three editions: Harmony Essentials, Harmony Advanced and Harmony Premium where each addition offers progressive functionality.

Harmony has been in continuous development since 2005 and has been used on productions like The Simpsons, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, The Congress and April and the Extraordinary World, among others.

Toon Boom Harmony Server

This software provides additional capabilities for teams of animators using Harmony who want to share files and manage assets from a central database that is located on a server. Its centralized database system allows the sharing of assets between scenes and enables the workload to be shared across a studio or between studios. It also includes production controls for managing rendering jobs and coordinating batch scanning of paper drawings. Harmony Server is available as an add-on for users of Harmony Advanced and Harmony Premium.

Toon Boom Storyboard Pro

This software is used in pre-production to create storyboards for a wide variety of project types including 2D and 3D animation, stop motion, and live action productions. Storyboard Pro contains all the tools required to create storyboards and animatics. Its toolset includes vector and bitmap drawing tools, pencils and textured brushes, a built-in camera, audio tools, a timeline for timing control, and a 3D toolset to integrate imported 3D models.

Storyboard Pro supports Final Draft scripts, image file formats, vector graphics and sound for easier integration into an existing production pipeline. Storyboard Pro projects can be sent to Harmony for animation production, exported to popular 3D formats and sent to NLEs.

Awards

  • In 2005, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences awarded Toon Boom Animation a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development for USAnimation Opus.
  • In 2006, the IT Federation of Quebec (FIQ) awarded an OCTAS 2006 for Toon Boom Studio in the Multimedia – educational and cultural sector category.
  • In 2007, FIQ awarded an OCTAS 2007 for Toon Boom Storyboard Pro in the Technological Innovation category.
  • In 2008, Flip Boom was awarded a Parents’ Choice Gold Award and a New Canadian Media Award in the Excellence in Children’s category.
  • In 2009, Flip Boom was selected as Editor’s Choice by the Children’s Technology Review for excellence in design.
  • In 2010, Flip Boom All-Star was granted a Parents’ Choice Silver Award, the NAPPA Honors Award and the Tech & Learning Award of Excellence.
  • In 2011, Toon Boom won the HSBC International Business Award in the small and medium size category.
  • Flip Boom Classic and Flip Boom All-Star Curricula were granted the 2011 Distinguished Achievement Awards in the Art category, for K-5 and 6-8 markets by The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP).
  • Garfield’s Comic Boom was awarded the 2011 Preferred Choice Award granted by Creative Child Magazine, the 2011 NAPPA Honors Award and the 2011 Parent Tested Parent Approved Seal of Approval.
  • Flip Boom All-Star received the 2011 Media Of The Year Award, granted by Creative Child Magazine and the 2011 Parent Tested Parent Approved Seal of Approval.
  • Toon Boom Studio received the 2011 Tech & Learning Award of Excellence.
  • In 2012, Frost & Sullivan granted Toon Boom the 2011 Global Animation Software Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award.
  • In 2012, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences awarded Toon Boom a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development for Storyboard Pro, recognizing its significant impact in the industry.
  • In 2013, the International Animated Film Society awarded Toon Boom Animation an Annie Award, namely the Ub Iwerks Award for Special Achievements in Animation.

Films

Walt Disney Studios

Warner Bros. Animation

Nickelodeon Movies

20th Century Fox Animation

Universal Animation Studios

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation

DHX Media

Cometa Film

Sunwoo Entertainment

Dapaco Productions


TV series

Disney Television Animation

Nickelodeon

Cartoon Network

20th Century Fox Animation

Nelvana

Gaumont Animation

Xilam

Other

See also

References

  1. ^ Creative Arts Primetime Emmys' winners
  2. ^ Olivia Munn hosts the 64th Primetime Emmy Engineering Awards
  3. ^ (Jun. 6, 2006). "Toon Boom Animation acquires Pegs’n Co’s" [Studio Daily]. Retrieved January 7, 2009.
  4. ^ (January 8, 2009)."Toon Boom Acquires Cambridge Animation" [AWN]. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
  5. ^ "[1]" [PDF]. Retrieved August 18, 2013.
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