TOON BOOM NEWSLETTER
July 2003
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| 1. A Word from the President | 
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Dear Friends, As of May 13, 2003, I have been appointed as the new President and Chief Executive Officer of Toon Boom Technologies. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for your continued support and to reiterate my firm commitment to making Toon Boom your most obliged technology partner. Undoubtedly, the whole animation industry has suffered from challenging world situations with the SARS outbreak and the war in Iraq. However, we remain optimistic for the future and cherish the power of animation to lighten our hearts and minds! As always, we look forward to forging closer relationships with you and to facilitate that we have entered into several customization contracts. In addition to our core products USAnimation, Toon Boom Studio and Toon Boom Studio Express, we develop made-to-measure solutions focused on work processes and productivity. As the leader in 2D animation technology, we have expanded our offerings to ensure you benefit from a real advantage with streamlined processes and products that target your specific requirements, in particular in Flash-style animation projects. An integral part of our mandate is to be in close contact with you, visit you in your facility or meet you at major events to talk about technology and the market trends. Feel free to contact us if you'd like to share any comments or requests. I trust we can count on your continued support and build together a strong and viable animation industry. Joan Vogelesang
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| 2. Technology News |
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Toon Boom Studio Express - The value-priced soltuion for creative 2D animation
for the web, video, wireless and beyond
Easy-to-use, Toon Boom Studio Express is a must-have animation tool for all your creative projects. Use it to create great animations for your corporate and personal web sites; Flash banner ads, Interactive projects and games; videos, PDAs and phones; and anywhere else you want to add eye-catching animations! Animate in 3 Easy Steps!
Effective immediately, you can NOW purchase a BUNDLE of Toon Boom Studio (Retail Only) and selected Wacom Tablets*! $ 379 USD
for Toon Boom Studio and Graphire 2 (4 x 5) USB (color: steel blue) Toon Boom Studio Express and WACOM Bundles* $ 199 USD
Toon Boom Studio Express and Graphire 2 (4 x 5) USB (color: steel blue)
These are GREAT DEALS! The regular SRP of Toon Boom Studio is $ 374 and TBS Express is $ 144. (*) Bundles
available in the Americas (North, Central and South) only. |
| 3. User Tips |
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| User tips are regularly added to the USAnimation User Group in the Support section of the USAnimation website and in the User Forum on the Toon Boom Studio website. Our FAQs also offer a wealth of information. With the launch of USAnimation OPUS, we already posted new user tips in the USAnimation User Group. Check it out! |
| 4. Customer News |
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Life
Of Buddha is a full length 104 minutes, 35 mm, 2D animated feature
film produced by Pentamedia Graphics
Ltd. and the Economic Development Board of Singapore. The project
started in April 2001 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of August
2003. All of the pre-production, including the script, character design,
costumes and storyboard,  was
done in India. Production of the movie, including layout, animation, clean-up,
inbetweens, line test and animation checking, was done in the Philippines,
by a Pentamedia subsidiary company, Kingdom Animasia Inc., Manila. The
post-production of the movie is being done in Kelambakkam, a township
near Chennai city in South India. USAnimation was used for scanning, digital
inking, painting and compositing the film. The subject was a challenging
matter as it covers scenes before the birth of Buddha, his upbringing
as a child and then as a Prince, his youth, marriage and then departing
from all the materialistic life in search of truth and finally getting
enlightened. Buddha alone has four different character set out of the
total of 56 characters. The movie contains 1196 scenes containing 753
backgrounds. All the backgrounds of the movie are hand painted in poster
colors. The movie was designed to be enjoyed by adults and children alike.
Another great feature of this movie is it is truly an Asian production:
over 345 Filipinos, 100 Indians and 60 Singaporeans worked on the movie
and the characters have a very South East Asian style.
Since its founding in 1978, the growth of Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd. has been steady - and phenomenal. It is one of the largest and most productive animation studios worldwide. With facilities in Taipei, Bangkok and Suzhou, Wang Film provides a wide rage of services from layout and animation to both digital and traditional painting to compositing. The rapid growth and success of Wang Film is due to its commitment to quality, speed, service, and the latest industry techniques and technology - combined with respect for production schedules, delivery dates, and air dates. Since 1992, Wang Film has ventured into the creation of titles in feature films, TV series, CD-ROM and other forms of publishing with themes based primarily on culture - all this to create entertainment with educational value for children. Past and current projects using USAnimation include Land Before Time 10 and Balto 3 for Universal; 26 for SD Entertainment; Lilo & Stitch series for Walt Disney; Ozzy & Drix series Seasons 1 & 2 for Warner Bros.; Chalk Zone series for Nickelodeon; and, Lenny & Sid video specials #1 and #2 for Toonacious. Treehouse
Productions have climbed back into full-scale production in the
UK starting with a new production of How to Care for Your Monster,
a 26x30 minute series co-production with Vivatoon in Canada and Toon Factory
in France. In their St Alban's offices the company have thrown out their
old Animo software and installed a suite of USAnimation systems to Vancouver
Film School (VFS) announced Dreem tv is a newly formed animation company that has been created to produce high-end products for the international animation market. Dreem tv is currently in pre-production for its first 2D/3D animated television series - D.R.E.E.M teenz. Based in Sydney, Australia, Dreem tv has drawn on some of the best animation professionals in the industry, to form a creative team dedicated to producing world class animation for all broadcast formats. "The current and emerging technologies have allowed a working environment where a show can be made with creative content and production value as its highest priority", shared Gary Turner Dreem tv C.E.O They gave lengthy consideration in their choice of a 2D animation software system and extensive research led them to USAnimation OPUS. "Using Opus as our core production tool has enabled us to confidently engage a studio half-way around the world to handle a portion of our workload", commented Jim Mountzouris, Dreem tv GM. Dreem tv animation is currently looking for the world's best 2D & 3D designer's. Send résumé to info@dreem.tv Vithita Animation, one of South East Asia's leading character animation companies,
announced the development of a new cartoon series for children's television
to follow up last year's highly successful release of its first 3D TV animation
product, Pangpond the Animation. The new series, entitled Pangpond
The Series, will comprise 13 episodes of 11 minutes, and will be produced
using USAnimation. A colorful and engaging production, it tells the story
of Pangpond, an ordinary five-year old boy with three strands of hair. Pangpond
is highly creative and energetic, always having fun doing good deeds for
others. The more he does, the happier he is, but unfortunately his deeds
often end up causing problem for others. Ever optimistic, Pangpond is a
trouble seeker yet an accidental hero assisted by his many friends. Its
target audience is children in the age range 6 to 8 years. The new series
is scheduled to air on Thai television during the second half of the year
2003 and will be ready for international distribution in August 2003.
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| 5. Awards |
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Now in its 8th year, CyberFair has been described as the largest educational
event of its kind ever held on the Internet. This program has brought
together more than 750,000 students from over 90 countries. CyberFair
organizes an international challenge where students produce a web site
that tells a story about how people or programs in their own local communities
use education to help make the world better, friendlier or safer. 5 students
aged 11-12 worked together to complete their CyberFair project, which
was due on March 18, 2003. The team representing the Sanyu Elementary
School from Taiwan won the CyberFair 2003 Platinum Award, in the
Environmental Issues & Awareness category. One of their team members,
Ariel Hu, is also a winner of Lambert Newmedia's Animation Camp 2002.
Using Toon Boom Studio to create their Web animation, their project titled
Recycling Magic related to how a successful recycling system operates,
how the recycling system is planned and what kinds of accompanying policies
are needed to support the recycling system. All that done in animation!
Check
it out!
The Awarding
Ceremony of the All-Russian Computer |
| 6. Commercial Corner |
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Wild
Brain, Inc. is an award-winning animation studio that develops
and produces content for the global film, TV, commercial, and interactive
markets. Wild Brain, Inc. recently delivered a fourth commercial for  Quaker
with the Cap'n Crunch character, titled Ticket Window. The plot
revolves around kids saved from boredom by Cap'n Crunch and treated to
the new Rugrats Go Wild movie - which was done using USAnimation too!
Eating Cap'n Crunch's new Rugrats Go Wild Crunchberries, the kids enjoy
the wonders of a Guppy ship and their pal Cap'n Crunch. This commercial
is a combination of live-action, CG, After FX and 2D animation, which
was handled by Aaron Sorenson. "For Cap'n Crunch "Ticket Window" we used
USAnimation during our animation testing process, so that our tests looked
the best they could for client presentation. This helped us get faster
client feedback and approval. And, we used the US Animation system for
finishing our cel animation in ink and paint", shared Liz Gazzano, Producer
at Wild Brain.
Salt Lake
City's Crowell and Associates Advertising went to Magnetic
Dreams for an animated television campaign for the Utah Department
of Health's Tobacco Prevention and Control Program. The campaign features
a pair of unlikely anti-smoking a |
| 7. Schools on Board |
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| Based in
Pune, India, Thumbnail
School of Animation & Arts aim at providing qualitative education
on Classical Animation filmmaking concepts, offering a wide range of courses
from the foundation to high-end professional courses, through expertise
of highly skilled faculty and state-of-the-art training facilities. Keeping
in mind students' convenience, Thumbnail School of Animation & Arts provides
advanced facilities, including placement guarantee based on merit, attractive
student loan schemes and accommodation arrangements at very special rates
for outstation students. Along with the career oriented training programs,
they have also initiated a unique concept of Gift a career - Expert in
Flip Art, for all animation lovers interested in nurturing drawing as
a hobby or illustration. Thumbnail Animations Studios have chosen USAnimation
and Toon Boom Studio to teach 2D animation and train the talents of India
with the leading animation software solutions.
Sparks Education is an educational reseller based in the UK, which has developed some innovative educational projects using Toon Boom Studio. Their projects develop story telling, character development and literacy strategies for children as young as ten. They have also worked to include Toon Boom Studio in some of the 100 ICT centers, which are government-funded high-tech educational centers installed in urban areas across the country. Known as City Learning Centers, they have provided an exciting platform around which teachers can both explore and utilize the creative power of Toon Boom Studio. In particular, centers based in Islington, London, and Kings Norton, Birmingham have introduced the software into their everyday teaching experience, which is also being backed by the government. It has had such an exciting and lasting impact that the schools themselves have started to purchase Toon Boom Studio to include in their curriculum. "We have found that by using Toon Boom Studio we have really tapped into the imagination and creative abilities of all the children and teachers we work with. They have started to develop the true idea of story creation and character investigation in a more inspirational and motivational manner. Through our partnership with Sparks Education we have built in some really creative and exciting schemes that really make learning fun!!" shared Jonny Davey, Center Manager, Islington City learning Center, London. Animex
Student Animation Awards - Deadline date 1st August 2003 |
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If you have news, review materials, events or other items of interest for the Toon Boom Newsletter send it to: Karina Bessoudo, Toon Boom Technologies Inc., 7, Laurier East, Montréal (Québec) Canada H2T 1E4; or E-mail: karina@toonboom.com; or Fax: 1-514-278-2666. |
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the series. "We have begun work with USAnimation and our staff picked
up the system in a couple of days. As the work began to pour in from our
Indian studio, they had to be up to speed very quickly. Without the advanced
painting tools of USAnimation we could not have hoped to have got through
this amount of animation in such a short period of time." explained Matthew
Sleaford, Chief Technical Director at Treehouse. "Having been an avid
fan of Toon Boom's tool set I knew that we would be converting to the
systems as soon as the time was right. We have ramped up the production
and the time is now right to take on USAnimation. We are very pleased
to have signed up for what I believe is the best system out there by far!"
shared Phil Littler, MD, Treehouse Productions. 
that
ten films produced by their students were selected to participate at the
11th International Animation Festival of Brazil - ANIMA MUNDI 2003,
which will take place in Rio de Janeiro from July 11th to 20th, and in
São Paulo from July 23rd to 27th. Done with USAnimation, the films Hijos
De La Tierra, Radio Toad and The Heaviest Love and Untitled
will compete for the Audience and Professional Awards in both cities.
Each short was completed as a final project by a student in either the
2D Animation or 3D Animation & Visual Effects program at VFS.
Competition between kids and youth, DIGITAL WIND-2003, was
held on April 18, 2003 at Saratov State Technical University Aptech Center
in Russia. The competition was organized by Saratov Aptech Center supported
by Aptech Central Office (Mumbai, India) and Toon Boom Technologies, and
by the government of the Saratov Region. More than 300 computer projects
made by Russian kids and students aged from 7 to 21 were submitted to
the competition. Projects represented different Russian cities, including
Saratov, Engels, Balakovo, Balashov, Astrakhan,
Volgograd, Kazan, Uljanovsk, Samara, Pyatigorsk, Belgorod, Cheboksary,
Uralsk (Kazakhstan), and Kiev (Ukrania). In the 2D Animation category,
the projects were made using Toon Boom Studio and USAnimation. Congratulations
to the young talents Suslikova Anastasia (12 years old), for her animation
Zanzakhar - Country of Magic, Levykin Pavel and Saveljev Ivan (both
15 years old), for their animation Be as you want!
dvocates
- cartoon vultures. The ad illustrates the pitfalls of smoking by telling
a humorous story from the two vultures' point of view. The campaign consists
of two 30-second spots. The animation - black line art on a white background
- was produced by Rickey Boyd from Magnetic Dreams, using Toon Boom Studio.
"Toon Boom Studio was a perfect match for the vultures project. The client
wanted an energetic, 'wiggly-line, quick sketch' style so I decided to
draw the frames directly in the program interface rather than scanning
artwork. Toon Boom Studio's editable pen tools, quick playback, and easy
to use exposure sheet were critical in delivering the spots on schedule.
Toon Boom Studio gives us a lot of "bang" for the buck every time we use
it!", shared Rickey Boyd, Animator/artist at Magnetic.