Toon Boom News December 2007 by Toon Boom Animation

The animation community platform

DECEMBER 2007

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Animation Without Borders If we had to summarize 2007 in three words, they would be: consolidation, diversification and expansion. Recognized as the industry standard in film and television production, Toon Boom has reinforced its position in medium to large animation studios worldwide. Several products were added to the family, namely Storyboard Pro, Storyboard and Digital Pro, widening the Toon Boom digital pipeline to include the needs of small to medium studios. Developing environmentally friendly, easier to use applications was a priority and sets the tone for the new products in development. Geared towards consumers of all ages, these products will be marketed in 2008 and will foster creativity in a fun way. Toon Boom has also reached outside traditional areas working with First Nations on one hand, and triggering several activities in Africa and the Caribbean on the other. The educational market has always been a key focus in Toon Boom’s agenda, as illustrated by the critical role it plays in ensuring the viability of the animation industry. The partnership with FableVision, the awardwinning educational media and interactive developer and publisher, testifies to that commitment and represents just the tip of the iceberg of the great things to come in 2008. A line of consulting services will be offered along with the new release of Harmony, aiming at maximizing efficiency in all animation workflows. New revolutionary modules such as the 3D integration one will also push the creative envelope to new levels.

If the amount of travelling in the Fall 2007 is any indicator of Toon Boom’s dedication to visiting studios and understanding their needs, you can fasten your seat belt and enjoy the ride. From Asia to Eastern Europe, from the Middle East to Western Europe, from North America to Latin America, the team was deployed all over the planet touring customers and prospects. The tradeshow line-up for the Winter 2008 looks impressive, too, with Macworld in San Francisco, January 15-18, Florida Educational Technology Conference, in Orlando, January 22-25, Texas Computer Education Association, in Austin, February 4-8, KidScreen in New York, February 13-15, Design Indaba in Cape Town, February 29- March 2, Cartoon Movie in Potsdam, March 5-7, National Art Education Association in New Orleans, March 26-30 and FRAMES in Mumbai, March 25-27. Make sure to cross our path and have a wonderful and animated 2008!

This issue’s cover courtesy of Oasis Animation

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Toon Boom News

DECEMBER 2007

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TOON BOOM STAR This section is dedicated to Toon Boom employees. In each issue, we will introduce you to the people behind the technology and put a face to the voice you may have spoken to.

Karen Heese has been with Toon Boom since 2004. As the Inside Sales Manager, Karen is constantly on the phone contacting potential customers and explaining the benefits Toon Boom’s software can bring them, depending on their needs. She also takes care of pre-sales inquiries, making sure all questions are answered in a timely and accurate fashion. Considering Toon Boom’s focus on the educational market, Karen is also very dedicated to reaching out to schools, educators and students. She introduces them to Toon Boom products and their academic advantages as introductory tools or to prepare students for a career in animation. Karen feels very close to the Toon Boom community and has played a very important role in making it loyal and supportive. On the personal side, Karen is quite active in virtual communities such as MySpace, Facebook and Pogo. At the home she shares with her two cats, Samson and Delilah, she enjoys cooking and listening to a broad spectrum of music, ranging from metal to rock to classical. As an easy-going and friendly person, Karen always puts her friends first and won’t miss an opportunity to spend time with them, even if it’s last minute plans.

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Toon Boom athlete digging his way to China for his fourth Olympics! If Mark Heese’s 2007 beach volleyball season was any indication, 2008 should be his best yet! Mark, known worldwide for his defensive digs, won his tenth National Championship this past summer alongside beach partner Ahren Cadieux. They also posted their best ever international finish with a 5th place at the Croatia Open. Those results, as well as a few other top-ten international finishes have put Mark and Ahren in contention to represent Canada at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing next August. The qualification process is now at the halfway point, and Toon Boom-sponsored Mark Heese and his partner have earned an Olympic Ranking of 19, with the top 24 at the cutoff date of July 20th, earning a spot in Beijing! Although there are at least a dozen more events left in the qualifying process, Heese/Cadieux have a great shot at fulfilling their Olympic quest! One of the highlights of the season was Mark’s visit to Montreal, where he took part in an Olympic qualification event at Stade Uniprix just blocks away from Toon Boom’s head office. Toon Boom employees cheered him on to a 9th place finish in the event, which is a solid result considering he was up against many of the top teams in the world! Mark also made his annual visit to the Toon Boom offices to share some motivational words about chasing dreams and perseverance under pressure. We look forward to next year’s Montreal event where Mark will only be a few weeks away from learning his Olympic fate! Toon Boom will, of course, be there to root for him every step of the way! Read about Mark and Toon Boom on Mark’s blog page: http://www.heese-cadieux.com/Blog

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what’s new

Animating together in Harmony Toon Boom is expanding its consultancy services with the release of a new version of Toon Boom Harmony. Harmony is the ideal animation solution to create animated episodic and feature-length projects, using traditional and digital methods. In addition to offering a turn-key solution to its customers, Toon Boom is expanding the scope of its consultancy services in the fields of implementation, optimization and system integration, as well as custom development, training and production assistance. Designed to handle large-scale projects, Harmony facilitates team collaboration and increases productivity, from design to compositing and final rendering, all in a non-linear workflow. Harmony’s networking capabilities are essential in the context of multitask teams working on site or remotely as well as to set priority-based batch-rendering schedules.

The next level of 2D/3D integration 2D animation is increasingly being created digitally using computers either to assist during traditional animation tasks such as ink and paint and compositing or to go completely paperless. It is important to differentiate this more modern approach from 3D animation very well illustrated in movies like Pixar’s Toy Story.

Since the first integration of 3D elements into the Disney feature The Great Mouse Detective in 1986, a lot of movies have gone along this expensive road to increase the viewers’ visual experience such as in Don Bluth’s Titan A.E., Disney’s Tarzan, and more recently Fox’ The Simpsons Movie. Even television series are now mixing 2D and 3D. Toon Boom is once again at the top of the wave with the first true 3D integration into its 2D flagship animation solutions. Forget about complex workflow and tedious 2D/3D drawing registration! Soon, you will be able to import your 3D models and 3D scenes into a unique application, manipulate all your 2D and 3D elements into a unified environment and render them all together! This new module will significantly extend Toon Boom Harmony and Digital Pro’s 3D space by allowing transformation on all three axes. It will also support the import of 3D files compatible with major 3D applications and authorize compositing with external Z buffer sources such as IFF images. Stay tooned as this new module will open the door to new creative ideas that could not be done before. 4

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Highlighted capabilities include: Studio Collaboration / With its impressive track record, Harmony is the solution of choice to manage all production stages and assets within a common central repository. Break down complex tasks to enable animators to easily work together on the same scene at the same time. Creativity Liberated / Harmony supports any kind of 2D animation project without compromising quality or style. Freely mix cut-out characters with traditional vector animation over 3D rendered props with high resolution bitmap backgrounds and maintain the production’s creative look throughout the project. Versatile Animation Pipeline / Harmony covers all production steps from design to final rendering in a non-linear workflow. Configure workspaces to match specific tasks and focus on required execution processes. Optimize the production pipeline with the built-in scripting capabilities to save time. Cartoon Powered Engine / Based on a state-of-the-art real-time vector engine, Harmony is resolution independent and outputs to all media from web to handheld devices, film and HD. Fully maximize the smart ID-based palette manager, line texture drawing as well as true 3D space to create animation of the highest quality. Check out the new Paperless section of the Toon Boom website in which you can read additional information on frame-by-frame and cut-out animation production: toonboom.com/company/paperless/

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CONSUMER NEWS Prior to opening his own independent studio, Diego Guerra worked as an animator at a Colombian TV Network. Diego creates animated TV spots and is currently working on the development of a feature animation project. ”Studio’s features allow me, as an independent producer, to create professional animation in my small studio offering a fast turnaround. My work with Toon Boom Studio has been very profitable in this way,” he stated. With Toon Boom Studio, Diego truly appreciates the automated lip-sync tools. ”Years ago, we had to draw and scan a sheet for each mouth, and spend a lot of time editing the voices. The ink and paint tools, and the x-sheet are so easy to use, that I can delegate those tasks to people with no experience in animation, while I’m drawing,” concluded Diego.

Image courtesy of Diego Guerra

Image courtesy of Sam Morrison

Sam Morrison graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1997 and the following year began making a short for Channel 4 called Emma 18. This proved popular enough to merit a sequel – Donkey Town, which won best short at Melbourne International Film Festival. Around 1999, Sam began doing commercial work with Nexus Productions, including the British Animation Award-winning Q4music commercials and several sequences of BBC3’s Monkey Dust. In 2005 he began making a personal project called Rocket Science using Toon Boom Studio, and now uses the same software for almost all his work, including commercials, another short film called Greetings, and a pilot for Aardman Animations called The Uptight Assassins. Rocket Science is a traditional project done digitally. ”Previously, I resisted the urge to change to computer-based imagery because I found the software stifling. But any production that eliminates (or cuts down) cleaning up, scanning, tracing, etc., will improve production speed dramatically. Toon Boom Studio is the only program I’ve found that feels as though you can work with a similar amount of freedom as traditional animation techniques allowed,” shared Sam.

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Born in Poland in 1984, Cezary Kwasny is now in his fourth year of a five year program at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan. As his talent could not wait for his graduation, he has already created a dynamic and creative music video for Mocean Worker titled Shake Ya Boogie. Cezary used Toon Boom Studio to animate his concept. ”It has been fantastic software from the beginning. It feels like you are in a 3D environment thanks to different views, yet it’s still animated in 2D. I loved all the transitions coming from a traditional animation environment like the peg bar appearing while you rotate the canvas, the exposure sheet as well as onion skinning- but that’s just the beginning. Lip sync tools are fantastic, and the feature I often use, pegs, is invaluable. Camera tools allow you to create very complicated movement which is very hard to create in a traditional animation environment,” stated Cezary. Check it out at http://czarekkwasny.com/shakeyaboogie/.

Ronen Zhurat graduated in animation from Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem. Pickles Season, his graduation film, has been shown in film and animation festivals around the world, including Trickfilm-Festival Stuttgart 2007, SICAF2007 Animated Film Festival, Jerusalem Film Festival 2007, CinéGlobe 2007, Ottawa Animation Festival and Animadrid 2007. After making small projects as a freelancer animator, Ronen started working in his studio on a short film about dental hygiene. Ronen loves doing cartoons as he feels he can express his ideas best through them. “Importing rough bitmap animation and cleaning up with all the drawing tools allowed me to work faster, more accurately and get the result I needed. Also in terms of production, because Toon Boom Studio is easy to use and offers all the exact features a 2D animator needs, I can work my way up all the way from story board to finish animation with no setbacks or going back and forth through programs,” explained Ronen.

Image courtesy of Cezary Kwasny

Image courtesy of Ronen Zhurat

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Case study

Combining animation and music brings Québec City and Liverpool in unison

Images courtesy of Chris Hinton

Multi-award winner and two-time Oscar nominee, Chris Hinton is a master of technique. This charismatic professor of animation at Montreal’s Concordia University is a director who moves easily from indie work to commercials to filmmaking at the National Film Board. Chris has animated, written, directed and produced over a dozen NFB films, including Blowhard (1978), Lady Frances Simpson (1978), Giordano (1985), Oscar ® -nominated Blackfly (1991) and Watching TV (1994). As an independent filmmaker, Chris has animated and directed The Gift (1981), Fiprecan (1983), A Piece of the Action (1983), A Nice Day in the Country (1988), Twang (2002), Flux (2002), Before and After (2003), Oscar ® -nominated Nibbles (2003) and cNote (2004).

cNote brought Chris together with another creative mind, Michael Oesterle, an award-winning “new music” composer. They matched the dynamic and animated movement of visual art with the bold musical strokes of the modern classical composition. In 2006, cNote garnered a Genie Award for Best Animated Short. The magic this animated pas de deux created could not end there! Following this success, Chris and Michael wanted to work together again and Véronique Lacroix, Artistic Director of Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, connected them to the right opportunity: the 400 th Anniversary Celebrations of Québec City to be held in 2008. Events are scheduled for Montréal, Québec City and Liverpool, U.K. where the Gala event will mirror the celebration happening in Québec City. Michael Oesterle started to write a special threepart concerto that will be played during the celebration and serves as the base for Chris’s new creative 6

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explosion. Influenced by the Futurist and the Abstract Expressionist movements in art, Chris developed Chromaconcerto, his new visually-appealing eleven-minute film, over one year, going back and forth to develop the right imagery. He created many short sequences

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that were combined together to produce the ultimate composition very minimalist in its design and taking the opposite approach of bright colours, special effects and complex camera moves. “I wanted the animation to be very simple, reflecting the subtleties of the piano and the delicacies of the music. It is a quiet piece done in a graceful fashion as ultimately, we want to provide the audience with a new way of listening to the music and engaging them in a manner they didn’t expect! In order for the orchestra to play live music with animation on the big screen, I need to create visual cues on the film in order for the conductor to be prepared for what is coming. Synchronization is critical to have the right impact. For the audience, it will be a completely new experience. Not only will they be more engaged but also they will be more connected to the music. With my careful selection of visual cues, it is possible to create anticipation for the audience to hear the music differently. It was interesting to me to note Michael found the music different to listen to when it was played in sync with the animated images. I have placed visual cues on selected sounds that would not be as interesting, which creates surprises and

“Chromaconcerto has triggered huge interest from the music community. We are discussing the idea of making animated shorts as well as musical works from two or three composers available on the net for people to create their own musical experience.”

anticipation and keeps the audience interested from beginning to end. You can never expect what is coming as it works against everything you could imagine. I created the animation with Toon Boom Studio, making full use of the drawing tools. Some global camera moves were also done in Studio. However, I knew exactly the values of depth of field I needed to have to get the right positioning so I was creating my drawings accordingly. Studio works spectacularly for me. I have also created background cycles of 20 to 30 drawings in Photoshop that are similar but not identical and that move subtly to bring additional energy. All compositing was done in After Effects,” explained Chris. Chromaconcerto has been completed recently and will be used in conjunction with the original score as well as a new one. The synchronization needs to be checked for that second option but we are confident that Chris has all the cues necessary to make it a masterpiece on its own. Chromaconcerto will also be submitted to festivals and will surely cause juries to rave. “Chromaconcerto has triggered huge interest from the music community. We are discussing the idea of making animated shorts as well as musical works from two or three composers available on the net for people to create their own musical experience,” stated Chris. Chris is already working on an even more daring project. In addition to combining animation and music, he is now adding a new dimension: dance. Inspired by Montréal Jose Navas’ dance company, Compagnie Flak, Chris plans to use images shot in 4k as a natural platform to experiment with animated motion, saying “Animation and natural human motion will blend into one in perfect harmony, having the visual art highlight the beauty of the dance and music.” This is another artistic endeavour that Chris will approach with skill, enthusiasm and brilliance. Toon Boom News

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Case study

When humour goes cross-platform in Harmony

Images courtesy of Oasis Animation

Founded in 2003, Oasis Animation is lead by a dynamic team combining unique expertise with state-of-the-art digital animation tools. Oasis Animation produces high quality animation for TV, motion picture, commercial, mobile and the new media industry. Oasis provides a full range of advanced digital animation services, ranging from pre-production to production, post-production and consulting. With a staff of over 40, the studio is a power user of Toon Boom Storyboard Pro and Harmony. Recent productions include 104 60-second episodes of a cartoon newscast titled On s’écoute parler which starred François Pérusse’ comic universe and aired on TVA Network. Other productions include 26 22-minute episodes of 6Teen with Elliott Animation for Fresh TV Inc. Oasis has also worked on some complex scenes of the highly awaited Go West: A New Lucky Luke Adventure, which will hit the big screen in Quebec on December 21, 2007. A new cross-platform project is currently keeping the studio quite animated. The project is called StandUp, and consists of a series of 105 short animated jokes of the day using the voices of famous stand-up comedians. The original French version is almost completed and stars the renowned comedian Gilles Latulipe. Using the same humourous character, the series will be dubbed in 8

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English. Led by Jacques Bilodeau and Chantal Bédard, the production team is organized around a well-thought out workflow which combines the beauty of working paperless, all under one roof, and relying on leading edge technology. The team comprises of three to four storyboard artists as well as five to six animators, who take care of the animation and compositing. “Stand-Up is quite unique as this concept is targeted for TV, mobile phones and the web. Our pipeline is completely digital, fully maximising Toon Boom’s technology,” explained Jacques Bilodeau. “As script writing, storyboarding and animation are done within the same premises, we are able to achieve significant efficiency gains. Once the script is approved, the team starts using Storyboard Pro to the fullest. The format of each episode is set from the beginning: the action takes place in a bar called Stand-Up, there are regular characters and several intrigues related to the joke. Each episode is edited and paced like a TV show. After recording the jokes in a sound studio, the team imports the sound files in Storyboard Pro along with the script and starts sketching the facial expressions, the audience’s reaction and the intrigue. It is amazing to see that at the animatic stage with full sound, we have a pretty good idea of the

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end result. At the creative level, Storyboard Pro delivers tangible benefits. We can make adjustments early in the process which translates in much less retakes at the end. Then, the animators import the Storyboard Pro files in Harmony and starts fine-tuning the animation and facial expressions. Using the animatic as a reference, they can work more accurately and efficiently. Our animation style is quite snappy. We are proud of our technique as even though it is done the cut-out way, it really looks traditional. Given the paperless workflow, animators are able to deliver 60 seconds of finished animation per week, sometimes more,” added Jacques. The TV series will be available as 26 two-minute episodes or 105 30-second episodes and offers great export potential to other territories, including the USA. The mobile phone possibilities are quite interesting as well, considering the format of each 30 second joke. Oasis has also developed its own conversion tool to make its animation compatible with wireless devices. Discussions are ongoing with several telecommunication companies in different territories. On the web side, the scenario takes a new dimension. The animated jokes will be netcast on www.stand-

Stand-Up consists of a series of 105 short animated jokes of the day using the voices of famous stand-up comedians.

Oasis animation’s focus is humour. The team is always on the look out for great concepts that are funny and smart. “In an era when convergence is key, we find that

”Our expertise and proficiency in Toon Boom technology combined with the fact that all the production is done under one roof result in 15% savings in terms of efficiency and far more in terms of quality.”

up.tv, which is developed in partnership with Télévision Quatre Saisons. Visitors can submit their jokes and vote for the best one on a monthly basis. The winning joke will then be animated by Oasis. “At the end of the year, we will have a contest of the best joke submitted by the stand-up.tv visitors. It is critical to keep high standards when you build a community and want to generate user generated content. They will also be able to download the jokes on their mobile phones directly from the site”, continued Jacques Bilodeau.

humoristic shorts cater very well to the needs of TV, web and mobile phones. Our expertise and proficiency in Toon Boom technology combined with the fact that all the production is done under one roof result in 15% savings in terms of efficiency and far more in terms of quality,” concluded Jacques. Oasis has many projects in development, three of which are in-house. The future is bright for this dynamic studio which is determined to put a smile on your face for a very long time. Toon Boom News

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Case study

NetSmartz helping tweens stay safe with Harmony

Images courtesy of NetSmartz

The NetSmartz Workshop is an educational safety resource from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Created in 2001 to specifically address the issue of online safety, their mission has expanded to include concerns related to real-world risks since technology has become increasingly pervasive in the lives of children and young adults.

NetSmartz is unique in the world of non-profits. They are a comprehensive studio responsible for the entire production cycle of their materials—script, voice talent, music, editing, animation, and web-based development are all done in-house and collaboratively between their entire production staff. A team of five enormously talented animators collaborate with the writing staff, Creative Manager, and Production Manager to produce their materials, which are provided free-of-charge to parents, educators, law enforcement and the general public though NetSmartz. org. Although the team came in with a mix of 2D and 3D skill sets, the open production process has every member of the team using a wide variety of techniques and software to give their animation a unique and entertaining feel. “In the past, the majority of our production was primarily done through a 3D production pipeline, but the walls between 2D and 3D have been whittled away as the creativity of the team has pushed in the integration of hybrid mattes, backgrounds, characters, props and other techniques to bring out the best qualities of both approaches. Technology has always been integral to the process in our studio, and our team freely moves between an array of software packages including Maya, MotionBuilder, Photoshop, 10 Toon Boom News

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After Effects and more. Before Toon Boom, our 2D work was done in Flash but bringing Harmony into our studios has changed all that,” said Roarke Lynch, Technology Specialist. NetSmartz saw the need for a line of materials crafted to fit the sensibilities and issues of the tween group. Through a partnership with Sprint and the NEA/HIN, Netsmartz brought to life the NSTeens. The cast of eight are the stars of an animated video series designed to initiate discussions between tweens and their educators, parents and guardians about social networking, cyberbul-

lying, gaming and other pertinent issues. Each animated short is accompanied by peer response videos from real tweens and teens speaking frankly about their opinions, knowledge, and experience with the short’s themes. “The development of an NSTeens short starts from conversations between our writers and their focus group panel, consisting of teens, educators, parents, and law enforcement officials, about the latest of everything in the world of tweens and teens. The risks and stories passed

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back and forth are stitched together and taken to local schools and youth centers where they are brought into focus through collaboration with the target audience. As the writers put the final touches on the script, the animators start their storyboarding which gets combined with a rough recording of the voice talent to give us the animatic. Shots are distributed between the animation team who dive right in, updating their shots daily on the timeline to bring the animatic to life from pencil drawings on note cards to the full HD 1080p final product. Through this the voice talent works with our creative team to record the final draft of the script which then gets embellished with music and sound effects. Our automated nightly rendering process gives all of our teams the ability to review and revise the piece on-demand as the production cycle moves forward. Harmony was the major tool that made NSTeens a practical project to undertake. With our tight timelines and expertise in 3D animation, Toon Boom Harmony lets us easily distribute the 2D process between our animators without concerns over consistency. A technique that mixes paper/cut-out and hand-drawn replacements allows our team to quickly block out shots, then go in and punch up the details and subtleties that bring the characters’ interactions to life. Shared asset libraries allowed the animators to easily collaborate on shots, backplates, and all the other components that go into the final product.” he continued.

Over the next year, NetSmartz is looking forward to more NSTeens projects moving through the pipeline. “Having just completed our first set of shorts using this new process, our team is eager to get right back into it again and find the best ways to let Harmony tap into their creative process and push their skills to greater heights. We expect to see tighter and faster animation coupled with a better ability to integrate Harmony with all the other tools and software in our studio’s quiver, as well as the use of Harmony in the other 3D and even more traditional video projects we From left to right those in the picture are as follows: will be undertaking in the Christina Andrews, Tiffany DeMidio, Justin Siemaszko, Chris Bevington, months to come. Toon Boom Scott Trolan, Chris MacDonald and Andre Howard Harmony is a welcome addition to the NetSmartz Workshop,” Roarke concluded. Toon Boom News

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Case study

Images courtesy of Cinemon Entertainment

Toon Boom digital pipeline delivers wonders at Cinemon Cinemon Entertainment, Hungary’s largest animation studios is renowned for their high quality productions putting them amongst the top of their field in Europe. In 2007, the studio has completed the production of Princess of the Sun, a seventy-eight minute animated feature film released in on the big screen in April 2007. Right after this project, Cinemon embarked on the production of The Wumblers, a 26 eleven-minute episodes television series

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characters using the cut-out techniques as well as rigging them, using Wacom tablets. In each team, they combined three seasoned animators with a more junior one to give him/her a unique learning experience. “The producer was visiting us every three weeks for two days” shared Hanan Kaminski. “Zviah was able to

Photos courtesy of Laszlo Lennard

With a fall 2007 debut on both the Trinity Broadcasting and Smile of a Child networks, the production of this preschool series undertaken by Gravity Visual Effects Inc., executive producer Zviah Eldar, has been done using Toon Boom Harmony and cut-out techniques. Supervising producer, Réka Temple, is leading her creative team, among which, Hanan Kaminski, Director, Andrea Miskedi, Head of Rigging, Albena Petrova, Head of Animation, Laszlo Lenhardt, Head Compositing and Istan Roth Art, Director, to create this phenomenal programme. The Wumblers’ imaginative storylines, engaging music, and sophisticated animation let children take these characters into their lives, hearts, and homes. This preschool series offers an entertaining and educational path, making the world a better place for all children and families both today and in future generations. “Exceptional creative minds today joining forces and countries for a better tomorrow...It seems we are already setting the example!”, shared Laura J. Wellington, creator and CEO of The Giddy Gander Company LLC. The total team included six artists in charge of backgrounds and props, five storyboarders, five compositors, four teams of four animators and one editor. Each team was responsible for a full episode and had to deliver 9 min 45 sec every three weeks. One person was building the DECEMBER 2007

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check the animation and request corrections during the online editing. The team was receiving her instructions and uploaded the corrected episodes on FTP within hours only so that he could check and approve several episodes in two days only. Harmony worked great for us as we could implement all the changes she requested and deliver a final product in record time”, he continued. The producer quickly understood how faster the approval process could be, working with a studio proficient in Harmony and maximizing its total flexibility. During the production, Hanan Kaminski decided to add Toon Boom Storyboard Pro in his arsenal to build a complete paperless pipeline. Working out of Tel Aviv, it was critical for him to work digitally and send to the Budapest studio his animated storyboards. “Storyboard Pro literally changed my life. I can honestly say that it saved me 25% of my time during the pre-production of each episode. I really enjoyed the camera moves capabilities as well as the ease and speed to make corrections. The fact we could generate an animatic in real-time was perfect for me. As the production was progressing, I was able to reuse assets from the library and had less and less artwork to create. It truly saved me one-week of work per episode compared to before” he added. The entire series was completed by mid-august 2007. Both the producer and the American broadcaster sent Cinemon thank you letters for delivering the project so professionally. Cinemon has also worked on a pilot for a European customer, in view of getting the green light to produce a 26 eleven minute episodes pre-school series. “At first, the customer was not convinced of using Harmony and its digital capabilities. However, they came to Budapest to screen the pilot and during their four-day stay, they requested significant changes every day that were implemented right away. A new version was ready the next

morning, which blew them away completely. They were totally sold at the end of their trip” concluded Hanan. In preparation for their 2008 production calendar, Cinemon has just signed a long-term agreement with Toon Boom Animation. This agreement provides for increased delivery capability and makes use of consulting services to increase Cinemon’s workflow efficiency by using the latest Harmony software. What an animated year it will be! From left to right: Istvan Roth, Hanan Kaminski, Andrea Miskedi, Laszlo Lenhardt, Réka Temple and Albena Petrova

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INDUSTRIAL NEWS

Image courtesy of Little Wolf Pictures

design, storyboarding, character animation, effects animation, articles and tutorials as well as music videos. Adam has only recently begun to use Toon Boom Digital Pro because “I feel my animated series is outgrowing the limitations of the internet. On each project I do like to stay within just one authoring environment, so now that I’m comfortable with Digital Pro, I’ll be using that software alone for future projects,” said Adam. “I cleared a week from my schedule and dedicated the entire time to learning Digital Pro. During that time I learned not only how to translate my existing workflow to Digital Pro, but also discovered many powerful new ways of doing things that I couldn’t do it with other software. (..) After just a couple of weeks with Digital Pro I’ve already surpassed what I can do in Flash by miles!” he concluded.

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Image courtesy of Adam Phillips

From 1993 to 2004, Adam Phillips worked at Walt Disney Animation Australia, as an Inbetweener, Animator, Effects Animator and Effects Director. In 2004, he became Director at Brackenwood Entertainment, which on one hand, develops an online series of 2D animated shorts titled Brackenwood and on the other, runs Bitey Castle, a website showcasing his personal work including stories, artwork and animated shorts. Adam is also doing freelance contracts in

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Image courtesy of Illusion Studios

Once in the heart of Texas, Little Wolf Pictures is now located on the front range of the Rocky Mountains in Lakewood, Colorado. The studio is owned by Sam Fleming, a twentyfive year veteran of classic 2D animation whose personal and studio credits range from feature film, direct-to-video, and TV to creative development across a wide spectrum of special interests. Little Wolf Pictures has used Toon Boom technologies for over a decade. It has benefited from access to the best 2D animation software in the world, as well as the incredible support staff who have not only written special DOS scripts on the fly to implement during the post process of production, but also shown great care and respect for deadlines with timely responses to questions and issues. “Our studio started out with an earlier version of USAnimation, migrated to Opus, and is currently upgrading to the much-anticipated Harmony, Toon Boom’s ultimate software solution for 2D animation. We also recently acquired Storyboard Pro and love being able to use it on a tablet PC to better facilitate creative development meetings with our clients,” said Shari Fleming, co-owner of the studio. “Toon Boom has been our greatest source of technological support in becoming the autonomous animation studio we have dreamed of and worked so hard to become.”

Illusion Studios, one of the leading entertainment companies in Argentina, has adopted Storyboard Pro and Harmony to produce its animation projects digitally. In view of the growing demand for high-quality programming, Illusion Studios has decided to rely on the most advanced animation technology to produce multi-platform content for local, regional and international markets. “To remain competitive, develop local talent and bring to market quality animation projects more efficiently, we have decided to implement a complete paperless pipeline based on Toon Boom’s stateor-the art technology. This technological leap forward will propel Illusion Studios to a new level, marking the beginning of a new era in Latin American animation,” shared José Luis Massa, President at Illusion Studios and director of Patoruzito, the animated feature film which registered a box office record in Argentina, selling 2.5 million tickets in 2004. Illusion Studios, one of a kind in the whole of Latin America, knows no boundaries and the implementation of a Toon Boom animation pipeline testifies to its commitment to grow and become a major player in the global entertainment industry. The company is currently working on the production of three animation projects. Boogie is the first feature film that Illusion Studios will produce using Storyboard Pro and Harmony. This ambitious project offers loads of harsh and humour as well as a healthy dose of stupidity, which is necessary to help understand that this story is actually an ironic look at these kinds of characters.

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Image courtesy of 2d3D Animations / MotionWorks / Enanimation / JugendFilm

Image courtesy of Full Circle Studio

Based in Angoulême, France, 2d3D Animations is an audio visual and film production firm. The team develops and produces projects for TV and film as well as multimedia programs for theme parks and aquariums. Since 1999, 2d3D has demonstrated their thorough expertise which has spread from design to production and post-production in highly visible productions such as Astérix and the Vikings, Ghost Spirit, My Dad is a Rock Star and Triplets of Belleville, to name a few. Currently, 2d3D is working on a feature length project along with MotionWorks (Germany) and Enanimation (Italy). Titled Three friends, this project is based upon one of German authour Helme Heine’s books. He has sold over 30 million copies of his work worldwide with 8 million copies of Three friends alone. The story revolves around the wonderful encounter of Johnny Mousse with François Lecoq, the rooster, and Gros William, the pig. Aimed at 4 to 10 year old children, the 75-minute feature is targeted for theatrical release in 2009. Following a traditional workflow, the production covering scanning, inking and painting and compositing will all be done using Harmony.

it has taken on another dynamic dimension. Now we are not just talking about entertainment and content, we are looking at developing an industry in the region. The creative industry is booming in the Caribbean and what better way to express it but through the art of animation. The intention is that in a few years time the Caribbean would provide a reliable industry for studios in America and Europe. Trinidad however is taking the first giant leap.” ____________________________________________________________________________________

Full Circle Studio, a state-of-the-art design studio based in Trinidad, has equipped its facility with Toon Boom Digital Pro. Full Circle aims to become a major animation studio in the Caribbean and cater its professional animation services to North American and European studios. Full Circle focuses on animation, new media production and training. Through the Ministry of Tertiary Education in Trinidad and Tobago, Full Circle offers animation training to ten students for a twelveweek period twice a year. This is one of the first animation and multimedia technology centres that provides this type of service in the Caribbean. Full Circle Studio was formed by Camille Selvon Abrahams in January 2002. In 2003, she founded the Animae Caribe Animation and New Media Festival as a way to provide a platform for the art and to make the Caribbean aware of the potential of this industry. “This festival is celebrating six years of Caribbean and international animation. Over time it has evolved into the Caribbean’s premier animation festival. With Toon Boom’s involvement from 2006,

Image courtesy of Griffilms

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Griffilms, one of Wales’s largest and most successful animation companies have recently added Toon Boom Harmony and Storyboard suites to their kit. The company is currently in production on an epic 2D and 3D animated tale based upon the Celtic legend of Gelert. The 30 minute film will be broadcast on S4C on Christmas day and forms a central part of the broadcaster’s festive schedule. Next year the company will focus on developing their own slate of IP content following a very successful Cartoon Forum and securing MEDIA funding. Griffilms will be developing their slate of animated projects for children and adolescents and have already teamed up with a number of established script writers and character designers. Hywel Griffith, Managing Director, says, “Toon Boom is a fantastic asset to our company and we’re looking forward to using the new technology to great effect on all our upcoming projects. We’re just finishing production on Gelert and Toon Boom has allowed our animators to get shots we may not have been able to achieve if we’d used any other sofware. Next year we’ll be focusing on developing our own slate of ideas and we’ve got a fantastic mix of really good and entertaining programme ideas which have already attracted inte rest from some the major UK players. So watch this space!”

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SCHOOLS ON BOARD

Image courtesy of Studio Arts

done using Toon Boom Digital Pro. Students’ projects are based on their work in Storytelling & Story Development in year two. In year three, following their Character Design course, students will now use Toon Boom Storyboard Pro to board their films, and will produce an animatic using that software. They’ll simultaneously take a 12-week course teaching them how to use Toon Boom Digital Pro, followed by a four-week intensive during which they’ll produce their individual films. “Previously, our students worked in Flash; they are still taught that program. However, the possibilities offered by Toon Boom Digital Pro, with its far greater artistic potential, make it a natural choice for Max the Mutt. The move to Toon Boom has everyone here very excited. We look forward to sharing the outcome with you at the end of our academic year!” enthused Maxine Schacker, director of Max the Mutt.

Image courtesy of MAX the Mutt

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Max the Mutt began in 1996 as a classical animation school offering a broad-based, in-depth curriculum based on Disney and Warner Bros. guidelines, including storyboarding, cartooning, character design, life drawing, anatomy, animal drawing, layout, background painting, and classical animation. In addition to this, they’ve since added computer courses. Students in year three learn digital background painting and do a final project in 2D computer animation, which will now be 16 Toon Boom News

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Image courtesy of Manipal University

Studio Arts is a proud partner in a new training programme that is Toon Boom technology – based and is positioned to be, without question, the finest 2D computer animation training offered anywhere in the Hollywood production scene. This unique training offers heretofore traditional, cel and paper-oriented 2D animators a learning programme designed specifically to acquaint them with working in a “paperless” animation work environment. In its earliest stages this programme is a dramatic success and will undoubtedly lead to positive outcomes for both the artists doing the training and the companies who will hire them. Established in 2001, Studio Arts has quickly become Hollywood’s premier 2D and 3D animation training facility. Located inside the historic Los Angeles River Center and Gardens, Studio Arts has garnered the well-earned reputation as the school of choice for motion picture and television animation professionals seeking training that reflects the latest trends in the industry. Studio Arts continually develops its innovative, hands-on curriculum and is managed by a prominent team of industry professionals. Studio Arts alumni are an impressive group. Artists presently working at Disney Animation Studios, DreamWorks SKG, Cartoon Network, Film Roman, Sony Imageworks, Rhythm and Hues and other prominent studios in Hollywood are testimony to its dedication to excellence.

Manipal University is the first private university recognized by the Government of India. Manipal Education Group has been imparting world-class education for over 54 years. Manipal has seen more than 70,000 students graduate and today has around 100,000 students enrolled in different courses. Manipal Education comprises of 2 universities, 23 Professional colleges, affiliated institutes and numerous primary and high schools. Thousands of students study in Manipal institutions situated in India and international campuses in Nepal, Malaysia, Dubai and Antigua. Manipal University now opens up the world of animation to students and professionals alike with a graduation program B.Sc., Animation. This three-year, full-time degree in Animation from Manipal University enables students to learn the fundamentals of traditional art and design, and then apply this knowledge to 3D Animation, VFX and Gaming. The students are also able to work in a professional grade drawing studio with industry standard light tables, animation labs with Apple computers, and the latest software including Toon Boom. The degree programme in animation will be conducted at Manipal University off campus at Yelahanka in Bangalore.

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Image courtesy of Cyfle

Cyfle, the Skillset Approved Training Company for the TV, film, interactive media and animation industries in Wales, is currently running its full-time Digital Animation Training Studio in Cardiff. The twelve-month vocational training scheme is designed to provide high quality training in animation with industry collaborations from S4C’s commissioned animation companies Calon, Dinamo and Griffilms. Combining both animation and new technology, the Training Studio provides six animators with specialist digital animation skills and essential management and entrepreneurial skills. Training takes place in-house and will also include a three-month industry placement with one of above mentioned Welsh animation companies. In addition to this, the trainees are eagerly preparing for

their one-month International placement with Imagimax Studios in Bangkok in January. To date, industry projects during the course include Digital Storytelling for BBC Wales, Animated mobisodes for Cyfle, Flash, Maya and After Effects projects for local animation companies. During their next project, the talented trainees will be introduced to Toon Boon. Gareth Ioan Davies, Cyfle Manager of New Media of Animation, is delighted that the Studio can offer training in such highly regarded industry software. “The trainees are thrilled to be given the opportunity to learn Toon Boom and are eager to start work on the industry creative briefs supplied by local animation companies Dinamo, Griffilms and Calon,” explains Gareth.

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Spotlight on Africa Toon Boom has been very active and thankfully very successful in establishing a name for itself in Africa in the last twelve months. Toon Boom is determined to make Africa the next animation hub and has made contact, started projects and trained animators in many countries – Madagascar, Kenya, Ghana, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Namibia, Tanzania, Botswana and South Africa.

To ensure continued success in all these initiatives, Toon Boom has opened an office in Cape Town, South Africa and has appointed Harry Ravelomanantsoa as Director of Sales, Africa. Harry will be the key contact for any Sales, Training, Support, Production and Service related queries in Africa. Toon Boom has assigned Touchvision Digital Media Solutions, as its reseller in South Africa. This strategic relationship will help Toon Boom maximize training opportunities through Touchvision’s state-of-the-art training facilities in both Johannesburg and Cape Town. Toon Boom also welcomes its newly appointed representative in Kenya and neighbouring countries, Rubinder Choudrie, who has been of great help in setting up the first ever Digital Pro training session in and around Kenya. The main goal is to work with the educational sector in and around this great continent, to develop training initiatives and to empower people to express their creative talents through the amazing art of animation. 18 Toon Boom News

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Accra Toon School Project Animation Africa, a training and production company in Accra, Ghana, is a Toon Boom representative in the West African region. It has launched a free programme to train thirty art school graduates over a six week period at its studios. The training programme which is designed to help artists diversify their art and learn new approaches in digital story telling will also provide transfer of skills to a group not likely to have access to training. The training programme which precedes Toon Boom’s authorized training sessions in the West African sub region, commences in early 2008 and hopes to provide support for the growth of the animation industry. The session will create jobs directly for the thirty graduates in the animation industry in Ghana. Animation Africa will employ half of this number on its projects and is partnering with media houses and other government agencies to employ the others. The training will provide the critical foundation for anima-

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tion and enable easy upgrades to help them build their own set up. The workshop’s faculty is headed by Samuel Quartey and supported by Sala Yakubu, Frank Tetteh and Emmanuel Mensah. Completed projects by students will be screened on national television networks and other electronic media outlets. In March 2007, Animation Africa partnered with Media Magic Sierra Leone and organized an introductory training for fifteen students and television professionals at the Forah Bay College, Freetown, Sierra Leone. A sixweek animation course is scheduled for March 2008. Animation Africa has a network of animators and production houses in Africa and Europe which is further enriched by its joining the Toon Boom family. Digital Pro training in Nairobi First of its kind in sub Saharan Africa, Toon Boom completed a two-week training session of its latest highperformance animation package, Digital Pro. Participants were essentially from the educational sector, in line with the company’s agenda to empower and train African animators. “This is only the first of many sessions scheduled for this region in the next six months”, said Harry Ravelomanantsoa, “From the amount of enthusiasm and talent that I have encountered in Kenya, I am not surprised that our first stop for Digital Pro is East Africa! No doubt that this region is going to be a driving force in the African emancipation.” Schools, colleges, universities and companies from

Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania were represented with levels ranging from absolute beginners to seasoned professionals and instructors. The training covered all aspects of the program, plus some basics in paperless animation, and pipeline workflow to prepare students for a real digital animation production environment. Next stop: South Africa and Ghana, with no less than four training sessions scheduled before the end of February 2008.

CONGRATULATIONS Speedy Productions is an animation studio operating in South Africa, which produces the TV shows based on the cartoon work of Tim Mostert, an American cartoonist living in Pretoria. The studio is producing two stopmotion series and four CGI series. On the 2D front, five different properties are in development or production, and have all been pre-sold. One series, The Finer Things won the award for the Best Short Form Audiovisual Entertainment Made for Mobile and Internet TV:Factual Category at the MIPCOM international trade show held in Cannes, France in October 2007. A total of 280 entries from 38 countries were received, with a record number of 180 companies participating in the competition. The Finer Things is a series of 104 three-minute episodes that explain the history of art and design using animation, motion graphics and humour. Originally produced using Adobe AfterEffects, the series will now be done in Toon Boom Harmony. Harmony will also be used to produce all the other 2D series, including The Cover Girls, Know Your Nation, Cluckety-Cluck, and Sticky Wicket. Tim Mostert, founder of Speedy Productions, says ”Harmony and Storyboard are a dream. That’s why we’re moving almost all of our animation production on to the innovative and artistfriendly packages created by Toon Boom.”

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Wishing you the best animated year ever in 2008!

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DECEMBER 2007

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