Toon Boom Buys Cambridge Animation Systems
Software Used In The Simpsons Movie, The Princess and the Frog
Jan 8, 2009
Montreal-based animation software company Toon Boom Animation Inc. announced today that it has concluded an agreement with Cambridge Animation Systems, to acquire the Dublin-based company's intellectual property, which includes the Animo line of animation software.
"We welcome Animo customers to Toon Boom," said Joan Vogelesang, Toon Boom's President and Chief Executive Officer, in the company's press release. "Toon Boom caters to the needs of the animation community at large and will continue to remain on the leading edge of technology, efficiency and creative freedom.
"As a proponent of digital pipelines, media convergence and 2-D/3-D integration, this acquisition is expected to accelerate Toon Boom's objective in delivering powerful animation solutions."
Cambridge Animation's software has been used in the European Broadcasting Union's adaptation of The Animals of Farthing Wood, Helix Digital's The Mole Sisters and Germany's Animationsstudio Ludewig's Christmas Carol - The Movie.
"Toon Boom was the natural partner to pass on the torch and see the global animation industry benefit from this market and technology consolidation," said Cambridge's Cormac Slevin.
Toon Boom Software Used for The Simpsons Movie, The Princess and the Frog
The Walt Disney Company used Toon Boom's software at its DisneyToon Studios, the subsidiary that produced the controversial "dreck to video" animated movies, which included Lady and the Tramp 2: Scamp's Adventure, Cinderella II: Dreams Come True, The Jungle Book 2, and Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch.
Disney is also used Toon Boom software for its 2007 Goofy short, "How to Hook Up Your Home Theatre," and is using the product on its upcoming cel animated movie The Princess and the Frog.
Other studios currently using Toon Boom's products include Nelvana, Warner Bros., Mercury Filmworks, China Central Television, Toonz Animation India, eMation, Rough Draft Korea, Alphanim, Cosgrove Hall, Cromosoma and Enarmonia.
Toon Boom’s animation software has been used in such productions as Les Triplettes de Belleville (The Triplets of Belleville), Looney Tunes: Back in Action, The Rugrats Movie, The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie, Curious George, Go West: A New Lucky Luke Adventure and The Simpsons Movie.
In 2005, Toon Boom received the Prime Time Emmy Engineering Award by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for "its significant contribution made to the animation industry targeted for television." In 2006, the IT Federation of Quebec (FIQ) awarded Toon Boom an OCTAS 2006 in the Multimedia – educational and cultural sector category. In 2007, FIQ awarded Toon Boom's software Storyboard Pro an OCTAS 2007 in the Technological Innovation category.
Toon Boom's Recent Acquisitions
This is Toon Boom's third acquisition since its inception in 1994. In 1996, it purchased USAnimation's software development subsidiary, when its animation studio was merged into CST Entertainment. USAnimation's software was merged into Toon Boom Opus, later renamed Toon Boom Harmony.
In 2006, Toon Boom bought out French software designers Pegs' Co., developers of the Pegs 2-D bitmap animation software. Pegs was promptly taken off the shelves and its functions merged into Harmony.
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