Hello…doing some research here,
I’m an Independent Filmmaker and own a small production company. Right now, we are doing projects that range from 100k to just over 1M. We have had some success, however we are looking to expand into Animation.
It’s important that I get all the information before investing significant time and resources. With that said, I’m now exploring the hardware and software options for supporting a modest commercial animation studio.
Doing my homework, I have a few questions…
1) I’m looking for a system that will allow us to work in a number of diverse markets such as; Television Programing, Theatrical Film, Commercial Advertising, Internet Webisodes and Mobile Device Content. Is Toon Boom Animate Pro scalable in this regard?
2) Is Animate Pro 2 a stand alone (all in one) program or are we going to have to purchase additional applications to be able to compete with larger and better funded studios? (Beyond other high end requirements such as a sound and post production facility.)
3) What are the limits of Animate Pro 2 or HARMONY? If I hire a Competent Artist(s), employ the proper hardware, and invest in quality infrastructure to support the operation, can I produce at near the same level of quality as a mid-range studio?
4) Let’s look at some examples of popular animation productions in the market place at the moment.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:The_Animated_Series
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archer(TV_series)
*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ej4-Zk5WSs&feature=related
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Guy
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro_Samurai
*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30N-4odV1OY
If I invest in TOON BOOM software, can I create similar productions of the same quality? What am I limited to with Toon Boom?
Not many members of this forums can really company Harmony and Animate Pro. Harmony is more of a pipeline software which can be great for larger studios. To get more info definitly email toonboom.
Question 1)
Yes. It is vector based and thus resolution independent.
Question 2)
Yes you can produce whole animations in it, just need a compositer to put your scenes together.
Question 3)
Limitation of Harmony is you cut out most of the freelancers since they are using Animate Pro.
Limitation of Animate Pro is you don’t have the ability to do some of the pipeline stuff Harmony is designed to do.
Quaility you can produce is at the same level. The great thing about animation is stylized so there are lots of ways to get to the final product.
Question 4)
I will just pick out the 2 I have seem.
Family guy is made in toonboom software.
Archer could easily be done but the characters would be done in Animate, while you would probably paint the backgrounds in photoshop.
You are limited to your artistic skills and immagination.
Last_Stand_Films your answer is Harmony 9, as software is excellent, as pipeline software is great, and as tool is powerful, the learning curve is very fast, I dare say that different Toon Boom products have no competition at this time,the information that you mention, with Harmony 9 or Animate pro can do and even better, everything depends on teamwork and creativity, I invite you to see:
http://www.toonboom.com/showcase/
http://beta.toonboom.com/professionals/harmony/production-pipeline#production-pipelines
http://www.toonboom.com/expertcorner/
And they have The Simpsons as a customer. That tells you something!
Thank you!
Everything sounds great. I always like to get feedback from actual users of a given product before investing. Nothing beats unbiased first hand experiences. I’ll email a Sales Rep for more information.
Do know for Archer they create the backgrounds in 3D and edit them into photoshop. The people are photographed and also edited in photoshop. They use After Effects for compositing and animation.
After Effects has tons of cool plugins such as particular, lens flairs etc. Seems Harmony is headed in that directions and probably the way to go if you’re mainly doing animation.
That sounds like a strange workflow for the characters. I had no idea they were photographs of people. It really doesn’t look it at all, are you sure they did that?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjay_8dfgW0 For those who haven’t seen it here is the style (note it has adult humour and might not be safe for work!)
But yeah I imagine some of the backgrounds were done in 3D and sketched over. The painted backgrounds are one of the distinctive styles of Archer.
I think you might benefit a lot from having a chat with one of our sales people so that they can help you to get going, so go ahead and email sales@toonboom.com and one of our people will get back to you right away.
~Lilly