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toonboom newswww.toonboom.comhHAPPY HOLIDAYSIN THIS ISSUEHarmony and OpusNew Releasesand much more...December 2005

What An Animated Year It Was!2005 has certainly been a milestone year for Toon Boom. Wehave expanded our portfolio of animation software solutionsfor all styles, formats and users. We also established anincreased presence in both the commercial and educationalarenas. To cap it all off, Toon Boom Animation Inc., accepteda Primetime Emmy® Engineering Award granted by theAcademy of Television Arts & Sciences, for the contributionof its technology to the televised animation industry. ToonBoom is extremely grateful to the animation communityfor these great achievements and thrives to always deliverquality, efficiency and reliability to remain the leadinganimation technology partner.To support the Red Cross' relief efforts following the devastationcaused by hurricanes Katrina & Rita, Toon Boomdecided to donate 5% of its online sales for the month ofOctober 2005. Realizing that animation is known to be agreat source of entertainment and also offers a powerfulcreative outlet in relieving traumatic stress, we are proud tohelp the Red Cross and contribute towards the hurricanerelief efforts. In a related response to a request for helpreceived through The Animation Co-op, Toon Boom isdonating Toon Boom Studio Express licenses to theLouisiana State University School of Art. ■TOON BOOM STARThis section is dedicated to Toon Boom employees. In eachissue, we will introduce you to the people behind the technologyand put a face to the voice you may have spoken to.Jean-Raymond Lemieux has recently been promoted toDirector of Technical Support and Training. With his ten-yeartenure at Toon Boom, Jean-Raymond has become an expertin production workflow analysis, network setup, animationproduction efficiency and technical training. He providestraining and production assistance services on all Toon Boomproducts worldwide. Many of our customers have been trainedby Jean-Raymond, who everyone addresses by his nickname,JR. His extensive experience with international animationstudios contributes greatly to his training assignments, givinghim a unique perspective on customer needs and creativechallenges. In February 2005, JR and his wife became theproud parents of Gabrielle whofills their lives with joy andexcitement. Understandably,he can't wait to spend time withthem between all his assignmentsand he now has a goodexcuse to bring back all ofthose fun cartoon toys! ■As always, the Toon Boom team will be attending the leadinganimation trade shows and special events. Starting with theAsia Animation Conference in Singapore, from November 30to December 2 including participating in The Bigger Picture:Asia Animation in Development session, then onto the NationalAssociation of Television Program Executives (NATPE)conference and exhibition in Las Vegas, from January 24 to 28,the KidScreen Summit in New York, from February 8 to 10 andMIPTV in Cannes from April 3 to 7.The entire Toon Boom team wishes you, your loved ones andco-workers everlasting peace, well-deserved happiness,good health and infused creativity. Let's all have a rockinganimated 2006!HARMONY ANDOPUS NEW RELEASESToon Boom Animation announced the release of Opus IIService Pack 1 and Harmony Service Pack 1. As Harmonyincorporates all of Opus' capabilities, all added featuresand enhancements apply to both products. Highlights ofthese service pack releases include:• Support of new scanners, namely Fujitsu fi-5750cand Epson GT-15000• New shortcuts, optimized memory management andworkflow enhancements in the Scan module• Optimization of template management• Improved batch rendering• Additional bug fixesAs a response to customers' needs to create new animationstyles, Toon Boom has brought new animationsoftware solutions to the market, including Toon BoomHarmony. To deliver the highest quality of product supportand with this latest release of Opus and Harmony,it is now necessary to end support for USAnimationthat has reached the end of its life cycle. A noticeregarding expiration of support for this product hasbeen sent to customers to allow the time to upgrade toa replacement or enhanced product, such as ToonBoom Harmony. In implementing this policy, ToonBoom's goals are to redirect resources to support currentand future products and technology and to maximizecustomer satisfaction by providing up-to-datesupport on the latest versions of our products.Moreover, Toon Boom is working on the release ofToon Boom Harmony II. Scheduled for early 2006, thisnew version will bring significant user interfaceimprovements, enhanced morphing, inverse kinematics,timeline and exposure sheet capabilities as well ascomplete integration with Solo.2 toonboom news / december 2005

TECHNOLOGY NEWSGet Ready to Storyboardwith Toon BoomToon Boom is working on the development of a storyboardingcompanion tool. The Digital Storyboard application will havea panel-based system, as used by traditional storyboard artists,and all the tools necessary to create an entirely digital storyboard.The Digital Storyboard will also have additional tools tosupport the construction of animatics. This first generation ofDigital Storyboard application will integrate with Toon BoomHarmony.The user interface (UI) will contain settings for basic andadvanced toolsets, with the basic setting providing an easy-touseinterface with the ability to perform basic operations rightaway (create/import a drawing, add/delete panels, etc).The UI design should support nearly all operations using just apen/tablet. This will allow users to work on hardware such asthe Wacom Cintiq with a minimum amount of keyboard use.Here are a few highlights of the Digital Storyboard solution:• A flexible panel display with color and camera capabilities• A basic timeline to allow timing of the board to create ananimatic• A complete set of drawing tools using a digital graphictablet and pressure sensitive pen• Text tool for scene description and comments• Support of audio files to combine with the animaticThe Digital Storyboard will be available in the next few months.This will enable users to add this great tool in their toolset andmaximize their workflow integration.For any sales enquiries, please write to sales@toonboom.com.More Tutorialsfor Toon Boom SoloThe Toon Boom Documentation team is dedicated to producinga series of tutorials that will guide users through ToonBoom Solo step by step. Here is a list of the existing tutorialsavailable to date:Introduction to Toon Boom Solo: Get an overview of some ofthe tasks users can achieve with Toon Boom Solo. By performingthe following activities in this tutorial, users learn how to:• Navigate the Toon Boom Solo interface• Create, paint and manage color palettes for drawings• Animate several drawings in a row and use onion skinning• Understand the difference between color art and line art• Complete a line test and play back your drawings• Build a scene from assets stored in the template library• Place elements on the 3D stage• Create a motion path with a peg• Lip sync a character• Build a special effects and compositing network• Render files to write them to your file system and playthem backMorphing with Toon Boom Solo: Learn how to use the amazingpower of the Toon Boom Solo morphing tool. Once usershave completed this tutorial they will be poised to producesome remarkable transformations. This tutorial is split into threeparts:• Basic Morphing, in which users morph a circle into a square.• Medium Morphing, in which users morph a square into a sixpointed star.• Advanced Morphing, which users use the prepared materialand the techniques learned in the previous two parts to morpha face from a gazing expression to one of astonishment.Inverse kinematics and glue: Learn how to use inverse kinematics(IK) and the uses of the Glue Module. Users learn how to:• Create the peg chain• Set the pivot points• Animate the IK chain• Use Glue• Customize the Glue effect• Keyframe constraintsLip sync: Learn how to work with sound in Toon Boom Solo.The following activities are covered:• Cell Swapping• Adding a Sound Element• Importing a Sound Track from the Template Library• Opening the Sound Element Editor• Assigning Lip Positions AutomaticallyThe Animating tutorial is in the works and will be ready soon.All tutorials are available on Toon Boom's web site athttp://www.toonboom.com/support/solo/tutorials/toonboom news /december 2005 3

TOON BOOM HARMONY NEWSCourtesy of Luke the Lifeboat Ltd.Based in Belfast's newly developed waterfront Titanic quarter,Banjax was founded three years ago by Darryl Collins, RichardMorss and Alastair McIlwain. Darryl runs the business side ofthings while Richard and Alastair manage the creative side ofthe company. Pooling these skills has led them to embark onthe pre-production of a five-minute 52-episode series forpre-schoolers, entitled Luke the Lifeboat. The animation forLuke the Lifeboat involves a mixture of characters from anasset library, traditional animation for natural effects along withimported 3D animation for some of the main vehicles andcharacters. Initially, they used Toon Boom Studio and Flash,and were impressed with Toon Boom's interface and ability togive them the flexibility needed for the look they were after.Following this initial brush with Toon Boom's technology theydiscovered Harmony and, after signing up to a week's initialtraining, it soon became obvious that Harmony was exactlywhat they needed for their situation. Using Harmony allowsBanjax to deal with the various animation elements and thedemands of managing production assets across the studioteam. "We're looking forward to getting to know Harmonyinside out", shared Alastair McIlwain. ■explore, and protect Kookamunga National Park,and all who walk, swim, fly and crawl within it. Infact, Iggy is so committed, he created the PigScouts, an organization dedicated to thepreservation and tender loving care of the'Kook'. Except he and beaver pal, Jiggers, arethe sole members. And together they will go to anylength to uphold their duty - even if it meanshang-gliding from the lofty summit of Peak-A-Boo, shooting the swirling rapids of RiverWhoosh, or swinging on vines in the Wet Willie Rainforest.And all in one day. “When creating the demo for Iggy, we wereable to use Harmony's powerful animation and compositingtools to create the rich animated style needed to fully capturethe excitement of the series. The result was an amazingrepresentation of a project our team is really looking forwardto being a part of,” enthuses series director Phil Lafrance. IggyArbuckle is scheduled to begin pre-production at Mercury'sOttawa animation studio in February 2006 and will air onTeletoon Canada in the fall. Blueprint's John Morayniss andNoreen Halpern executive produce the series while MercuryFilmworks' Clint Eland is Supervising Producer. ■Courtesy of NelvanaCourtesy of Blueprint EntertainmentExecutive Produced by Blueprint Entertainment in associationwith National Geographic Kid's Programming &Production, Iggy Arbuckle is an exciting new series about ayoung pig with a yen for adventure as big as all outdoors.Produced by Mercury Filmworks, the fifty-two 11 minuteseries follows Iggy, an idealistic porker with a mission: to chart,At the last MIPCOM, Alphanim announced the co-productionof a theatrical adaptation of international TV animation hitFranklin with partners Nelvana, StudioCanal and Europool.Directed by Academy Award® Nominee Dominique Monféryand slated for release in fall 2006, the film will chronicleFranklin's quest, along with his archaeologist Aunt Lucie, for asecret talisman hidden in the forest that purports to have thevirtue of healing the favorite turtle's ill grandmother. Publishedworldwide by Kids Can Press, Franklin made a name for itselfas a bestselling children's book, with more than 26 millioncopies sold worldwide. The TV series, produced by Nelvana,is also a tremendous success and has opened the path for athriving Licensing & Merchandising program. Preproductionand production will be handled by a team of former DisneyFeature Animation creative talents and carried out byWelldone Films in Paris, Luxemburg's Luxanimation andKorea's Emation. ”The optimization of the production workflowwith Opus enables us to have a good handle on budgetand time constraints while offering the director and artisticteam all the production tools used in large scale productions”shared Jean-Pierre Quenet. ■4 toonboom news / december 2005

Courtesy of Facelift EnterprisesPipangaï Productions is equipping its entire studio with ToonBoom Harmony, making it the first French installation with thisEmmy® award winning technology. Based out of La Réunion,Pipangaï plans to maximize its use of Harmony by offeringink and paint, animation and compositing services to the animationindustry but also by developing its own productions.Pipangaï Productions is Europe's second largest animationstudio in terms of output with over 850 episodes of animationproduced, totaling 350 hours of programming, and sold inover 80 countries. Pipangaï has worked on Babar, Bob Morane,My Dad The Rock Star, Wombat City and Totally Spies to namea few. "Considering how superior Toon Boom Harmony istechnology-wise, we decided to use it exclusively throughoutour studio. We are convinced Harmony will give us the leadingedge required to position ourselves as strong and competitivecontenders in the animation arena and offer animation servicesof the highest quality," said Azmina Goulamaly, GeneralManager at Pipangaï. ■Facelift Enterprises Inc. is producing Monstories, their internationallyaward-winning television series, using Toon BoomHarmony. A mix of hand-drawn animation with CG components,the 52-episode production has its entire pre-production, colorstyling, compositing and post-production created out ofFacelift's Vancouver location, while Philippine animationstudio PASI takes care of a majority of scanning, portions ofanimation, and inking and painting. Scheduled for broadcaston Cartoon Network in 2005/2006, Monstories introduces anensemble cast of characters who provide the funniest, mostentertaining one minute of cartoon possible. Facelift Ent. Inc.is a full service pre-production through post-productionanimation development company. Responsible for creativecontributions to numerous international award-winning animatedseries, Facelift Ent. Inc. brings a comprehensive understandingof series creation, production, and an establishedtrack record of industry success to all projects produced underthe Facelift banner. "We enjoy the workflow flexibility affordedus by utilizing Harmony on Monstories. Harmony's efficientpaint tools help streamline our color styling process; weeasily export color palettes from Harmony to send to PASI,and just as easily import files sent in return to continue postproductionhere at Facelift. The ability to create our digitalpaint files with resolution independence makes the transitionto multiple platforms a simpler process. Currently we useHarmony's digital paint capacities and are already working onour new project for next year where the full capabilities ofHarmony could be used" said Lance Taylor, Creative Directorat Facelift. ■The Baby Triplets is the latest Cromosoma's series, coproducedwith Televisió de Catalunya (TVC), presented duringlast MIPCOM and specifically targeted to a younger audience(1 to 4 year-olds). The Baby Triplets are the lead characters,serving as a reference point for the youngest members of thefamily, who will make new discoveries and learn new vocabulary.The dialogue will be as simple and clear as possible, fullof those short but very significant expressions typical ofsmall children at this age. The series is being produced withToon Boom Opus and Harmony, which allow it to be a completepaperless production. All the animation, compositingand final editing are computerized. The production will befinished at the beginning of 2006, but Disney Channel Spain,Alter Channel (Greece), Cineplex Thailand, have alreadypre-acquired the series. After MIPCOM, more sales will be innegotiation. ■Courtesy of Cromosoma Courtesy of Facelift Enterprisestoonboom news / /december september 2005 5

TOON BOOM CASE STUDIESToon Boom Case Study #1Jaime Luis Hernandezhas been involved in ArtEducation for the past 18years at Immokalee HighSchool, Florida, USA. Hehas also been creating artwith various media for thepast 25 years, includingillustrating and marketingchildren's art for the past12 years.As a young child, he wascaptivated by animation.The brightly colored movingimages amazed him,but also planted a seedof curiosity for how it wasall done.While searching through software vendors online, he cameacross Toon Boom Studio V1 and decided to order onelicense. "The school year was busy, busy, busy so I didn't evenopen the box for six months or so. When I finally got aroundto installing the software, I played around with it and didn'treally take it too seriously because it just wasn't part of ourcurriculum. So it wouldn't be until Toon Boom Studio'sversion 2.5 that I would realize that the dreams I had as a childwould be revisited. I asked our school district if they wouldpurchase 36 licenses for my computer lab and it wasapproved so I taught Toon Boom Studio (TBS) for a fewmonths of the next school year and got my students fired upabout animation! Teenagers love to animate with TBS! Werecently upgraded to TBS version 3.0 and are currentlyworking on a competition producing a 5-7 minute animatedvideo for the Florida Governor Jeb Bush's reading initiative.The contest guidelines ask that high school students create avideo based on C.S. Lewis' original book, The Chronicles ofNarnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, to celebratethe December 9th release of Walt Disney's movie of a classicchildren's storybook".Due to the recent hurricanes that hit Southwest Florida, thestudents lost 7 days of school and with their November 25 thNarnia project deadline soon approaching they had to makeup time. To do this, he asked the students to use Derder,a character which Toon Boom introduced to teach the amazingpeg hierarchy in TBS V3. The students redrew andrepainted Derder's body parts to create the new charactersthey needed for their animation. Making use of the drawingtools in TBS they repainted Derder's head, facial features,neck, abdomen, arms, hips, legs and shoes. This illustrationshows Toon Boom's Derder and one of the new characters toits right side."So you're probably wonderingwhy we used Derder.Our goal was to save timeby not having to create ourown peg hierarchy for eachof the characters we createdbut use Derder's existingPeg Hierarchy. Wow! Itworked wonders! Studentswere immediately animatingour new characters. Thekey was to pay attention tohow Derder's body partswere set up. When we painted our new body parts, we keptthem in more or less the same position. When we tested themovement of the parts with the Transform Tool, we mademinor adjustments to ensure that all the drawing details linedup correctly. If you are not familiar with Derder, I stronglyrecommend you download him into your Library and practicethese techniques. What I found to be most beneficial aboutall this was that students grasped how TBS tools all workedtogether like a well-oiled machine to save us time".While all of this is going on at work, Jaime decided to try ToonBoom Studio at home. He has been a professional freelanceartist for 10 years or so and his work is published on greetingcards, puzzles, paint-by-number sets, key chains, posters andprints, T-shirts, CDs and books., which have done very well forhim. Animation had been put aside, so he began to wonderifhe could accomplish his dreams with animation using ToonBoom software. "I was using other animation software but Isoon realized Toon Boom Studio was absolutely the best animationtool for the price. I know many will argue Adobe AfterEffects, Macromedia's Flash and other animation programsare incredible tools but they cannot do what Toon BoomStudio can do. The paint tools with a command called Flattenand the Peg Hierarchy with its pivot system are just twofeatures that put Toon Boom Studio in a far superior categorythan its competitors. Those other programs are not designedto do character animation, which is my ultimate goal. Today Iown four licenses of TBS 3.0 and have begun to assemble ateam to produce a series of children's DVDs that will introducea group of lovable characters that will teach childrenhow to draw."6 toonboom news / december september 2005

After 18 years of teaching children art, from kindergartenthrough high school, in the public school system he learned afew tricks that allow children to experience success. "Mycareer experience and my animation seed of curiosity werenow merging together without me even realizing it and ToonBoom software was my tool of choice to execute this newbusiness venture. Today I use Apple computer technology andsoftware, Wacom technology and Adobe software along withToon Boom Studio to create, design and animate".His first DVD is almost completed and will feature a few of thecharacters he created. The series is called The Adventures ofValerie & Joy, the Traveling Artists."We produce 'cut out' animation mixed with some traditionalanimation. Cut-out animation is basically sophisticated puppetswhose body parts rotate on pivot points"."What's great about using Toon Boom Studio is that you couldactually draw, paint and add the pivot points to the entireproduction without having to use other software. We choseto illustrate some of our files in Adobe Illustrator andPhotoshop then import them into Toon Boom Studio. Ourcreative process is actually quite simple. First we come upwith a story/idea concept, design the characters withPhotoshop/Illustrator or TBS then we write a script, draw up astoryboard, record the character voices, animate our charactersto match the voice tracks, add backdrops and props, adda music and special effects soundtrack and finally edit the finalproduction until perfection which takes many hours. But whenwe are done it is all worth it. In the process Toon Boom Studioallows us to save the characters, backgrounds, props andaudio into the library and re-use these items over and overagain. This is an advantage over other animation softwarebecause these stored files retain their animated functions,which could also be edited slightly to create new scenessavingvaluable time in the long run.Valerie's desires to improve her art skills and her magicalfriend, Joy, a butterfly, is the art instructor and travelingcompanion who together venture off to experience private artlessons around the world. But these lessons aren't just forValerie but for viewers at home and school where children areactually learning to draw. With the magic of animation andcute adorable characters, children will experience entertainmentat a creative level, which moms and dads are sure to givetwo thumbs up.If I could make one wish regarding animation, it would beto have discovered Toon Boom Studio sooner and taken itseriously right away. Time is too precious to waste and ToonBoom Studio's technology can save you time if you use itcorrectly. Toon Boom technology is used by many professionalstudios creating animated series for television. I wanted to usethe same high quality technology for our creations becauseit's just a matter of time now until our product hits the shelvesand possibly make it onto television. We already have a lot ofinterest in our product but are waiting for the right deal. Webelieve because of Toon Boom technology we will meetdeadlines and soon see our product enjoyed by childrenworldwide! We love Toon Boom Studio but we are alsolooking at the newest addition to the Toon Boom family, Solo!We believe Toon Boom Solo is our next step!" ■toonboom news /december 2005 7

Toon Boom Case Study #2In addition, working with a bitmapped program created qualityproblems. Bitmapped drawing programs seem to slow theanimation process. Experiments with many bitmapped drawingprograms were too labor intensive and had uneven results.Flash, the traditional standard in PC/Mac animation, seemedpromising. “Unfortunately, it is simply too awkward for a traditionalanimator.” His efforts turned back to creating a regularnewspaper cartoon and he stopped animating for several years.Dr. Steven Mussey is an independent animator and a primarycare physician. While a student at the George WashingtonUniversity School of Medicine, he created several animatedmovies for an annual presentation in Washington, DC. This wasback in the early 1980s when computers were not yet tools forthe artist. He used the traditional and laborious method ofpainted acetate sheets and movie film. Looking back, he wondershow he ever created the annual five-minute animatedmovies while studying to be a doctor at the same time.“Last year, however, after playing with a demo of Toon BoomStudio on a Tablet PC, I suddenly felt motivated to retrymy hand at animation. The vector mapping solved manyproblems. There is a huge value in working with a resolutionindependentmedium.”While an intern and resident, he concentrated on newspapercartoons and abandoned animated movies for several years.Then, when he saw an early animation program for the PC,Autodesk Animator, he was hooked on computer animation.Though early results looked rather primitive, he realized thepotential for creating animation with less pain.“I also soon discovered the Amiga computer, which was theonly desktop that could output easily to television. The toolswere primitive. Many programs were needed to make a soundanimation. To assemble a final product, you had to learn aprogramming language similar to BASIC and type in hundredsof commands.”After creating several lengthy cartoons about the world ofmedicine, he tried his hand at animating public service spotsfor the local television stations. Autodesk Animator Pro wasused as the primary drawing tool. Sound and final compositionswere created in Adobe Premiere.Still, he was disappointed with the results. “A particularlydepressing moment came when I compared the old medicalschool animations with the computer work. The liveliness wasgone when I left film. The computer animation looked sterile.”“The Tablet PC has also been a wonderful developmentfor artists. It's like carrying around a portable animationworkstation.”“Lip sync in Toon Boom is also a huge plus. A local televisionproducer used to joke about the lips on my characters simplyflapping with speech, allowing little correlation to realisticmouth movements. It was a real deficiency. With Toon BoomStudio, this becomes very easy. You can even make last-minutemodifications to dialogue and fix the animation to match thenew words. It definitely has cranked up the quality.”8 toonboom news / december september 2005

“My first project was a public service spot on aggressive driving.It had been years since I had attempted any animation of consequence.I really believe the results were fantastic. Airplay herein Central Virginia has been heavy and created a lot of talk.”The first version of the animation, however, had a big problem:It was 60 seconds long and needed to be cut to 30 seconds. “Ithought it would be impossible. I processed some of thedialogue to speed it up while maintaining the same pitch andI cut a lot of good animation. Working in Toon Boom Studio,however, I was able to make radical changes without a lot ofwork. Amazingly, the result looked better than the original. Inany other program or medium, the only solution would be atotal redo of the entire animation!”animation with its subtle shades and thought: I want to dothat! Unfortunately, with Studio, I could only get the flat Flashlook. To move up to the next level, would cost the kind ofmoney that only a huge studio could afford.”“Then, Solo was announced and I knew it was for me. Here, Icould now have the same software used by Warner Bros. andother big names, minus the bazillion dollar price tag. I quicklysnapped it up and studied the manual. There are two mainmanuals which are very well written.”He followed that up with three more 30-second spots.“Essentially, Toon Boom Studio is a total animation andprocessing package. I have used Adobe Premiere and AfterEffects to make some minor color and sound modifications tooptimize the final output, but I could easily live without theseadditional programs.”“I also now use the drawing tools in Toon Boom Studio to drawmy newspaper cartoons.”“After becoming so totally familiar with Studio, I wanted totake my animations to the next level. I kept looking at a pictureon the Toon Boom website from a recent Warner Bros. feature“So far, the most useful features for me have involved shadingand setting fields of focus. Also, the ability to blur fast actionadds an element of professionalism. The drawing tools aremore sophisticated. Sceneplanning is faster.”“Learning a new program like this is not always easy. I'm oldernow and have fewer brain cells, so it's tougher. I read the twomanuals and tried not to worry if I hit concepts that seemed tomake little sense. The key thing is I knew where to referencewhen I needed a certain task. Then, I decided to animate a30-second spot. The program has generally been easier thanexpected. When I get stuck, I email Toon Boom and within24 hours a well-researched answer is waiting for me. The valueof their presence has been huge.”“Programs like Toon Boom Studio and Solo create a levelplaying field between me and the big studios. Here I am, anindependent one person studio, creating projects that wouldseem otherwise impossible, especially given my budget.”“Tools like kinematics and morphing should speed output andtake away a lot of the tedium of animation.”“There is a thrill to animation that is not possible with newspapercartoons. I love watching a scene come together. WithSolo, the effects modules create a real sophistication to thefinal product. Solo lets you add those extra touches that tellyou the production values are 'big budget.'”“Now, when I compare my computer animations with the oldfilm animations, I can finally say that technology has created abetter, livelier production.” ■toonboom news / december 2005 9

TOON BOOM SOLO NEWSblurr productions is a South African-based post-productionhouse that is recognized for their quality delivery of tailormadeproducts to clients in various . Their latest offering is aninternational cinema advertising campaign for AirMadagascar. "After [using] various 3D animation products,we have now taken our animation delivery onto the path of2D animation," shared blurr's director, Harry Ravelomanantsoa.A well-known security company requested a video explainingtheir security processes to their customers. Through theadventures of a typical South African family, the script willtake customers through these often dull explanations, in ahumorous and memorable way! "With our illustrator, a wholefamily of characters is being developed on paper and willbe animated by myself on Toon Boom Solo. Using the flexibilityof Solo we are equipped to stay at the forefront of thegrowing African animation industry!" added Harry. ■BVB Films Inc. is a full digital filmproduction company founded in2002, with clients in manyfields including feature films,television, music videos andcommercial advertising. BVBFilms also produces its ownlive and 3D motion pictures.Itsstereo-scopic 3D films offera tight integration between liveaction and stereoscopic 3D animation.This dynamic studio recently adoptedCourtesy of BVB Films Inc.Toon Boom Solo to start offering 2D animation services aswell as to use the software for a 2D animated feature. "Afriend of mine recommended this software as the best forwhat we need," shared Prince Boyce Uboh, Founder andPresident at BVB. ■Courtesy of Bburr ProductionsMago Production is a Barcelona based audio-visual studiothat has created a multicultural society of artists who producea various conceptual and commercial projects. Besides theanimation department, the company is involved in featurefilm and advertising. This year, Fina Color ProductionCompany has contracted Mago to produce the pilot of a26-episode animation series, Nattu. Nattu is an adventurousecological animation series for children age 4 to 7 created byillustrator Bernat Serrat and directed by Juan Carlos Concha.With this project, Bernat shows his will to consciouslyentertain children by showing the environmental matters theworld is facing. Mago Production discovered Toon BoomSolo through their well experienced post-production expertGuillermo Patino says "Solo saves tones of software dependentexperiences, the deeper you get involved in it the moreyou realize how easy your pipeline becomes, with only onepackage!". Contact Mago at www.magoproduction.comand shortly you can see Nattu, a little loving creature atwww.nattu.tv ■10 toonboom news / december 2005Courtesy of Mago Production

TOON BOOM STUDIO NEWSKids play with Toon Boom Studio in a South Indian village!Dr. Brenda Beck took a Toshiba drawing tablet with Toon BoomStudio V3 loaded on it to a village in India at the end ofSeptember 2005. She is currently working on the animation ofa South Indian folk epic using Toon Boom's new Solo software.After giving a presentation at the 11 th Technology Summit inNew Delhi on her recent work, Dr. Beck decided to visit thespecific area in the South of India (Karur District, Tamil Nadu)where many of the epic's core events are said to have takenplace. During this phase of her travels she stayed in a villagenearby, enjoying the hospitality of a family who helped her initiallytape record a 48-hour performance of the epic she is nowanimating. This happened way back in 1965! On this trip sheshowed the kids in the village where she staged some of hernew animation work in the story. She then wanted to see howthey would react to the opportunity of drawing characters oftheir own design using Toon Boom Studio. Dr. Beck reportsthat the village children she met ”loved” the freedom and theease of drawing with this software and that they did not wanther to take her drawing tablet away when she left! Althoughthese kids had never used acomputer before, they pickedup the basics of using variousbrushes and assorted colors inless than five minutes. “It was abig hit,” she says. Dr. Beckhopes to return to Indian toconduct animation workshopswith local Indian folk artistsusing Toon Boom Studio,some time late in 2006.important part of the program. I never would have imagined[that] such a powerful tool would be available to the averageanimator. It's unbelievable", shared David. OpenEye-Studio.com is a website showcasing his art and ambitions.Red Moon, his first full-length animated film project will featurethe Toon Boom Studio program as its foundation. ■Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Magnetic Dreams AnimationStudio created a short film for Sesame Workshop's homevideo release Elmo Visits the Doctor. Toon Boom Studio V3was instrumental in the creation of the film, which follows alittle boy and his mom on his first visit to the doctor's office. Ananimated band-aid narrates and eases the boy's fears. ToonBoom Studio V3 was utilized to produce 2D character animationof the boy, his mom and the doctor. For the band-aid,facial expressions created in Toon Boom Studio were mappedonto a 3D band-aid object that was then animated usingLightWave 3D. A boisterous tongue depressor was animatedin the same fashion. Other objects in the piece-a stethoscopeand a needle-were animated in cel-shaded 3D usingLightWave to match the line style of Toon Boom Studio.Backgrounds were illustrated in Photoshop. The elementswere then composited with After Effects. “Toon Boom StudioV3's new library assets function was very helpful in creating theband-aid character's facial animations,” says director RickeyBoyd. “He's a talkative little guy, and the ability to re-use lipsync and facial expressions was invaluable.” ■Some of the maincharacters being rigged usingSolo, In Preparation for TheSouth Indian Epic Animationdescribed.Kids in Olappalayam Village,Coimbatore District, TamilNadu, India experiment with thefun of computer drawing usingToon Boom StudioCourtesy of Magnetic Dreams Animation StudioAs an artist and filmmaker, animationholds a special place inDavid McAdoo's heart. Davidis not a professional animatorbut he has been doing it, oneway or another, since he was achild. It wasn't until he foundToon Boom Studio that he realizedthat the animation lookand feel that had he had beenattempting to create since hewas a child was finally within hisgrasp. "Not only does ToonBoom Studio put all aspects oftraditional animation in onepackage, it adds the ability tomove the camera in 3D space,a feature that is by far the mostCourtesy of Open-EyeStudio.comThe team at the Why Not Stop project is completing productionof their alcohol, drug and tobacco prevention websitefor the 8 to 11-year-olds who are standing on the brink,deciding whether or not to use these substances. ”What funwe've had! Our animator, Dennis Mazur, had no experiencewith animating before this production. He says that in additionto the relative ease in understanding how to use Toon BoomStudio, the thing he liked best was being able, in the finalscene, to produce the turning green of the Why Not StopMouse to demonstrate his sympathy for Joey; when he getssick from smoking his first cigarette and drinking a can ofbeer,” shared Carole J. Thompson, Ph.D. Take a look atwww.WhyNotStop.org. ”And thanks Toon Boom for making itpossible,” added Carole. ■toonboom news / december 2005 11

CONGRATULATIONSMilch, by Igor Kovalyov, is receiving several prestigiousawards worldwide. Produced entirely with Opus, Milch wasthe Grand Prize winner at the Seoul International Cartoonand Animation Festival (SICAF), the Molodist KyivInternational Film Festival and the Ottawa InternationalAnimation Festival, and recognized as Best Short Film at theNorwich International Animation Festival. It is selected forcompetition at Fantoche (Switzerland), the LeipzigInternational Film Festival, the Chicago International FilmFestival, the London Film Festival, Cinanima (Portugal)), ICastelli Animati (Italy), Sitges (Catalonia), and Cinémathèque.Milch is an intriguing story of an 8-year-old boy's discovery oflove and suffering as he faces the mortality of his family. IgorKovalyov is an internationally acclaimed filmmaker, designer,animator and director. His short films Andrei Svislotski, Hen,His Wife, Bird in the Window and Flying Nansen have alsoreceived numerous awards and accolades throughout the animationand film community. Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Kovalyovwas the co-founder of Moscow's legendary Pilot School ofAnimation. In 1991, Kovalyov accepted an invitation to workat Klasky Csupo's studio in Hollywood. In his time there,Kovalyov co-directed Klasky Csupo's first feature film, TheRugrats Movie, and has directed the television series,Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, as well as episodes of Duckman andRugrats, commercials and Internet shorts.On the technical side, Dave Scarpitti was in charge of makingsure the technology would convey Igor's concept. "I stillcan't believe all the tricks we were able to come up with onOpus to create that film. Notice the texture on the body ofthe characters. I came up with a way to make that texturemove not just with the full character but with the individualportions of the character. My goal was to be able to freezethe movie at any frame and not be able to tell what is backgroundand what is animation. I came up with anothertechnique to make really dirty thick textured lines work in avector environment with very little hassle," shared Dave, currentlyworking as Technical Director on the Curious Georgeproduction at Warner Bros. Rumors say Milch is a greatcontender for an Oscar. Let's keep our fingers crossed! ■Lemmings, which was screened as part of the AnimationProgram of the 41 st Chicago International Film Festival, hasbeen honored with the Chicago Award. This is given to anIllinois filmmaker for best feature, short, or documentary."It's very rewarding that an animated film has transcended allthose other categorical boundaries," shared Ron Fleischerfrom the Animation program at Columbia College Film &Video Department. Lemmings was recently a finalist in theReno Film Festival. It has also been invited to three otherfestivals (the Dam Short Film Festival, the Omaha FilmFestival, and the Short Shorts Film Festival) and is currentlyentered in 15 more. The production of Lemmings was featuredin the previous issue of Toon Boom News. ■Courtesy of ACME FilmworksSCHOOLS ON BOARDCentennial Secondary School in Coquitlam, BritishColumbia, Canada, has been using Toon Boom Studio sinceversion 1 as their 2D animation package in their popularAnimation & Multimedia program for grades 9 through 12.Students start each course by going through a charactersketchingmodule to strengthen their drawing skills andcover animation fundamentals, progressing to the a 2Danimation module, then 3D animation, leading to thecreation of an interactive multimedia portfolio to showcasetheir coursework. The supplied tutorials are utilized in thejunior grades, along with projects to build up student skills."Toon Boom Studio has proven itself to be stable, userfriendly,and works well on less-than-new computer hardware.My students really enjoy the 2D animation module asa result. And as this software uses vector drawing, file sizesare kept down in size. The quality of my students' projectsjust keeps on getting better, and as Vancouver is a centerfor animation and multimedia, a number of my studentshave gone on in this area once leaving high school," statesteacher Sarah Sanderson. ■Freelance Animation School is New Zealand's longestrunninganimation school, training students to obtain aninternationally-recognized Diploma in 2D or 3D CharacterAnimation. Freelance was founded by Walt Disney animatorJohn Ewing (101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book) andstarted more than 15 years ago as a studio. Freelance hassince evolved into a successful animation school, with itsgraduates gaining employment at prestigious studios suchas Weta Digital, and I&G Productions, as well as at localanimation, film and advertising studios. The course atFreelance is three years in duration and in their final yearstudents are required to complete an individual animationproject to broadcast standards. This year, Freelance hasbecome an enthusiastic user of Toon Boom Studio, a movethat has resulted in an improved quality of animationprojects and greater efficiency for the artists producingthem. “Because Toon Boom Studio is used for the wholeproduction process it alleviates the need to use multipleprograms. The implementation of Toon Boom into theschool has been a smooth process; it is a really easy programto teach, quick to use and our students are nowachieving results that were previously difficult to attainwith other software” comments Sharon Eccleshall, Head ofthe Classical Diploma Course. ■Two leading schools in Korea have also joined the ToonBoom family. Chungnam Animation High School specializesin animation and has chosen Opus for their advanced animationclasses. Opus being the prime animation softwaresolution in use in Korea, Chungnam Animation HighSchool's mission is to train their students using industrystandards and to prepare them for a career in animation.Since 1979, Sungil Woman's High School has offeredvocational training to people in various fields and has nowadded animation as a new sector. Toon Boom Studio will beincluded in their curriculum as their technology of choice tocreate Web animation and their students look forward tolearning the how-to's with this award-winning software. ■