Toon Boom

Toon Boom Animation Inc., also known as Toon Boom, is a Canadian animation studio. It was founded in 1994. It is 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
101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure
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.
Atlantis: Milo's Return
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 (Only the movie was outsourced and animated by Yeson Animation Studios, Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd., Studios Animage and Le Studio Ellipse; the rest of the movie is traditionally animated with digital ink and paint, much like the main series)
Bob's Burgers - Season 2 onward (season 1 used Adobe Flash)
The Bob's Burgers Movie
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
The Cuphead Show!
Curious George
Curious George (TV series)
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 1-10a was traditionally animated with digital ink-and-paint by Yeson Animation Studios.
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
Futari wa Pretty Cure (English Dub)
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
The Ghost and Molly McGee
HarmonQuest
Hilda
Hit-Monkey
Hotel Transylvania: The Series
House of Mouse
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)
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; switched to Adobe Flash beginning with the revival)
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
The Leotits: Answer Time!
Lifeboat Luke
Lilo & Stitch: The Series
Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch
The Lion Guard
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
The Lion King 1½
Little Amadeus
LoliRock
Looney Tunes Cartoons
The Loud House - Seasons 1-present; switched to Adobe Flash for season 4-10 removed.
The Casagrandes
The Loud House Movie
The Casagrandes Movie
No Time to Spy: A Loud House Movie
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
Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe (only the parts outsourced to Snipple Animation; the rest of the movie is traditionally animated with digital ink and paint, much like the main series)
Pickle and Peanut
Pikwik Pack
Pinocchio (2012)
Pokémon: The Series
Pokémon Generations
The Powerpuff Girls
The Powerpuff Girls Movie
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 (2D animation only)
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)
The Simpsons Movie
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 (a mixture of cel-shaded CGI and Toon Boom Harmony for 2D animation)
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

Category:2D animation software
Category:Companies
Category:Software companies of Canada
Category:Companies based in Montreal
Category:Traditional animation