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Toon Boom

Toon Boom Animation Inc., also known as Toon Boom, is a Canadian animation studio founded in 1994 and based in Ottawa, Ontario. It specializes in the development and production of animation and storyboarding software for film, television, the World Wide Web, video games, mobile devices, training and education.

Its software like Toon Boom Harmony is used in many countries. It was awarded the Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards in 2005 and 2012.

History

In 1996, Toon Boom purchased the software development business of USAnimation Studio. Its animation production services were to be merged into CST Entertainment according to a premature press release from CST. That merge 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 become Toon Boom Harmony.

Founding president and chief executive officer Jacques Bilodeau left the company in May 2003, and the company's board of directors appointed chief operating officer Joan Vogelesang to take his place. In 2004, Corus Entertainment, owner of Canadian animation studio Nelvana, acquired a 50% stake in the company.

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

In 2012, Corus acquired the remaining 50% stake of Toon Boom it did not already own, giving it full ownership. Chief Executive Officer and President Joan Vogelesang stepped down in September 2014 after over 16 years at Toon Boom, and Paul Gardner was appointed as interim CEO.

On March 9, 2016, Toon Boom acquired all the related IP for the TACTIC Studio product, an asset management, production tracking and review tool from Toronto-based Southpaw Technology and planned to re-launch the product as Toon Boom Producer. On June 13, 2017, Toon Boom re-branded and launched Producer.

On July 13, 2023, Corus announced that it would sell Toon Boom to International Media Company (IMC), a portfolio of private equity firm TPG Inc., for US$111 million (CA$147.5 million). Corus stated that the sale would be used to cover debt and "advance our strategic plan and priorities".

Historical products

  • Toon Boom Opus (1996-2008) - formerly USAnimation, it was used in the traditional film/TV animation industry.
  • Tic Tac Toon (1996-2001) was succeeded by Toon Boom Studio.
  • Toon Boom Studio (2001-2015) was aimed at home users and individuals, and succeeded by Toon Boom Harmony Essentials.
  • Toon Boom Concerto (2004-2005).
  • Toon Boom Solo (2005-2007) was aimed at small studios. It was succeeded by Toon Boom Digital Pro.
  • Toon Boom Digital Pro (2007-2009) was succeeded by Toon Boom Animate Pro.
  • Toon Boom Pencil Check Pro (2008-2014) was a line testing software product.
  • Toon Boom Animate (2008-2015) was aimed at professional animators, boutique studios, students, and educators. Succeeded by Toon Boom Harmony Advanced.
  • Toon Boom Manager (2009-2014) was a production tracking system for the entertainment industry.
  • Toon Boom Animate Pro (2009-2015) was aimed at animation studios and freelancers.
  • Flip Boom product line (discontinued in 2014): entry-level animation software
  • Garfield's Comic Boom (discontinued in 2014) is a comic strip or album creation software product developed with cartoonist Jim Davis. The application included built-in video tutorials by the cartoonist.

Products

Harmony

Harmony contains the tools required to handle cutout (puppet), paperless frame-by-frame, and traditional animation workflows from scanning to composing 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. Users can draw animation directly into the software, using a graphics tablet.

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.

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.

Producer

Producer is a web-based production tracking and digital asset management tool.

Series/films animated (in whole, or in part) with this program:

  • 101 Dalmatian Street
  • 50/50 Heroes
  • 6teen
  • Aikatsu! - Episode 42 onward (Episodes 1 to 41 used Retas)
  • American Dad! (season 3 in production order onwards; the first two production seasons were tradtionally animated with digital ink-and-paint)
  • Amphibia - Only in the season 3 episodes "Adventures in Catsitting", "Spider-Sprig / Olivia & Yunan" and "Froggy Little Christmas". "The New Normal" actually uses a mixture of Harmony and traditional animation, rather than purely using one style or the other. All of the aforementioned episodes were credited to Saerom. All other episodes of the series, even all the other ones outsourced to Saerom, are instead traditionally animated with digital ink and paint.
  • The Angry Birds Movie (2D sequences)
  • Angry Birds Toons
  • Astro Boy (2003 series)
  • Archer
  • Arthur - used traditional animation with digital ink and paint from season 1 to 15. When 9 Story took over production from CINAR/Cookie Jar starting with season 16, the show switched to Adobe Flash, but when Oasis Animation took over starting with season 20, it switched to Harmony.
  • Atomic Puppet
  • The Awesomes
  • Big Blue
  • Big City Greens - Only in the season 2 episode "Chipocalypse Now," which was outsourced to Sugarcube and animated in a very similar fashion to that studio's work on The Owl House and Star vs. the Forces of Evil (see below). All other episodes of the series, even the other ones outsourced to Sugarcube, are instead traditionally animated with digital ink and paint.
  • Big Hero 6: The Series
  • Blazing Dragons
    • Blazing Dragons: The Movie
  • Bluey
  • Bob's Burgers - Season 2 onward (season 1 used Adobe Flash)
  • Brickleberry (seasons 2 and 3 note )
  • Bro Town
  • Caillou - First three seasons were traditionally animated with digital ink and paint by SMEC Media in Taiwan before production was moved to Clockwork Zoo in South Africa. Season 4 was animated using Adobe Flash, but Season 5 switched to Harmony.
  • Camp Lakebottom
  • Cats Don't Dance
  • Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2017)
  • Corn & Peg
  • Cupcake & Dino: General Services
  • The Cuphead Show!
  • Curious George
  • Danger Mouse (2015 reboot)
  • Dave the Barbarian
  • The Day My Butt Went Psycho!
  • Detentionaire
  • Di-Gata Defenders
  • Dorg Van Dango
  • Dragon Hunters
  • Droners
  • DuckTales (2017)
  • Elinor Wonders Why
  • Empress Chung
  • Esme & Roy
  • Ever After High
  • F is for Family
  • The Fairly OddParents - Only seasons 1-10 was traditionally animated with digital ink-and-paint by Yeson Animation Studios.
    • The Fairly OddParents Movie
    • The Fairly OddParents: Abra Catastrophe!
    • The Fairly OddParents: Channel Chasers
    • The Fairly OddParents: School's Out! The Musical
    • The Fairly OddParents: Fairy Idol
    • The Fairly OddParents: Wishology
  • Family Guy (season 8 onwards note  ; seasons 1-7 were traditionally animated with digital ink-and-paint)
  • Fangbone!
  • Fatherhood
  • Fire Ball (2005 film)
  • Fishtronaut
  • Flag
  • Funky Cops
  • Future-Worm!
  • Galactik Football
  • Gerald McBoing-Boing (the 2005 series)
  • Geronimo Stilton (the animated series based on the book)
  • Get a Horse!
  • Godspeed
  • Grossology
  • Gravity Falls
    • Gravity Falls: The Movie
  • The Ghost and Molly McGee
  • HarmonQuest
  • Hilda
  • Hit-Monkey
  • Hotel Transylvania: The Series
  • How to Hook Up Your Home Theater
  • Inside Job (2021)
  • Invader Zim
  • Jorel's Brother
  • Jimmy Two-Shoes - Season 1 only. Switched to Adobe Flash in Season 2.
  • Johnny Test, beginning with season 7, the first season of the 2021 revival (season 1 was traditionally animated with digital ink-and-paint, and seasons 2-6 used Adobe Flash)
    • Johnny Test: The Movie (2009 film)
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012 series onward)
  • The Jungle Book 2
  • Kid Cosmic
  • King of the Hill (season 13 only; seasons 1-7 used traditional cel animation, and seasons 8-12 were hand-drawn with digital ink-and-paint)
  • Klaus (2019)
  • Kung Foot
  • Kuu Kuu Harajuku (Seasons 2 and 3)
  • Legends of Chamberlain Heights
  • The Legend Of Ponnivala Death And The Queen
  • Lemmings (short film)
  • Leroy & Stitch
  • Lifeboat Luke
  • Lilo & Stitch: The Series
  • Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch
  • The Lion Guard
  • The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
  • Little Amadeus
  • The Lizzie McGuire Movie (the characters from The Fairly OddParents, Invader Zim and The Powerpuff Girls was traditionally animated with digital ink-and-paint by Yeson Animation Studios, Sunwoo Entertainment and Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. in a live-action/traditional animated movie while the Animated Lizzie sequences was animated by Tapehouse Toons, much like the TV series)
  • Lizzie McGuire: Timmy Turner, Cosmo and Wanda's First Day of HillRidge Junior High School: The Movie (the characters from The Fairly OddParents, Invader Zim and The Powerpuff Girls was traditionally animated with digital ink-and-paint by Yeson Animation Studios, Sunwoo Entertainment and Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. in a live-action/traditional animated movie while the Animated Lizzie sequences was animated by Tapehouse Toons, much like the TV series)
  • LoliRock
  • Looney Tunes Cartoons
  • The Loud House - Seasons 1-3; switched to Adobe Flash for season 4 onwards.
  • Mickey Mouse (2013): The title cards even says it's "in Harmonic Mercurivision"
  • Mike Tyson Mysteries
  • Mixels - Season 1 and the Season 2 episode "Mixel Moon Madness", switched to Adobe Flash in the next episode onward.
  • Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (2023) - According to producer Steve Loter, a mixture of Toon Boom Harmony (for staging and head-rigging) and hand-drawn animation (character bodies) is used.
  • My Life Me
  • My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)
  • Mysticons
  • Nature Cat
  • Neighbors from Hell
  • O Jii San No Lamp
  • Ollie's Pack
  • Once Upon a Studio
  • Oswaldo
  • Overlord (2012) (Seasons 2 & 3)
  • The Owl House (only the episodes that were animated by Sugarcube list; the rest of the series is hand-drawn with digital ink-and-paint)
  • Phineas and Ferb
  • Phineas and Ferb: The Movie
  • Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension
  • Pickle and Peanut
  • Pikwik Pack
  • Pinocchio (2012)
  • Pokémon: The Series (specific scenes for XY, full series for Sun & Moon)
    • Pokémon Generations
  • The Powerpuff Girls
  • Pretty Cure (English Dub)
  • The Princess and the Frog - Uses frame by frame animation shots through the program rather than tweening.
  • Producing Parker
  • The Proud Family (only the content for the series provided by Liquid AnimationList; the rest of the series was traditionally animated with digital ink-and-paint)
    • The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder
  • Puffin Rock
  • Recess: School's Out
  • Rescue Heroes - Seasons 2 and 3 only.
  • Return To Never Land
  • Rick and Morty
  • Robotboy
  • Robot Chicken
  • Ruby Gloom
  • Rugrats Go Wild!
  • Santapprentice
  • Saving Me
  • Scaredy Squirrel
  • The Secret of Kells
  • The Simpsons (season 19 onwards; most of the episodes from the first 13 seasons and the first half of season 14note  used traditional cel animation, and "Radioactive Man", "Tennis the Menace", "Treehouse of Horror XIII", and all the episodes from the second half of season 14note  until season 18 were traditionally animated with digital ink-and-paint)
  • Skunk Fu!
  • Solar Opposites
  • South Park
  • Space Hip Hop Duck
  • Spliced
  • SpongeBob SquarePants (seasons 5-9 from "Pest of the West" to "Yeti Krabs"; season 1 was done with traditional cel animation, and seasons 2-5a and Season 9b-present are traditionally animated and digitally inked and painted)
    • The Patrick Star Show
  • Star vs. the Forces of Evil (except for the episodes that were animated by Rough Draft KoreaList, which are hand-drawn with digital ink and paint)
  • Stitch! The Movie
  • The Strange Chores
  • Summer Memories
  • The Tigger Movie
  • Tokyo Ghoul:re
  • Total Drama and its spinoff, The Ridonculous Race
  • Tom
  • Transformers: Prime
  • Transformers: Rescue Bots (only for the first season)
  • The Triplets and Gaudi
  • The Triplets of Belleville
  • TRON: Uprising
  • Trunk Train
  • The Unstoppable Yellow Yeti
  • Van Helsing: The London Assignment
  • Vikingskool
  • Voltron: Legendary Defender
  • Wander over Yonder
  • Wayside - Season 1 only. Switched to Adobe Flash in Season 2.
  • Weird Years
  • Wild Kratts
  • Winnie the Pooh (2011) - Uses frame by frame animation shots through the program rather than tweening.
  • Wishfart
  • Work It Out Wombats!
  • Yvon of the Yukon
  • The ZhuZhus
  • Zig & Sharko
  • Zombie Hotel
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