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| Formerly | Whitney/Demos Productions (1986–88) Optomystic (1988–90) Digital Animation Laboratories (1991) USAnimation (1992–96) |
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| Type | Private |
| Industry | Digital 2D animation |
| Predecessor | Digital Productions |
| Founded | July 14, 1986 |
| Founder | John Whitney Jr. Gary Demos |
| Defunct | 2003 |
| Headquarters | Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S. (1986–88, 1991–97) Culver City, California, U.S. (1988–90) North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S. (1997–2003) |
Key people | Don Spielvogel (president) |
| Subsidiaries | VirtualMagic Asia |
| Website | Official website (archived) |
VirtualMagic Animation, Inc. (previously known as USAnimation, Inc.) was an American traditional animation studio and software development company based out of Los Angeles, California. The studio produced animation for television series and commercials, and provided ink and paint services to animated TV series such as The Ren and Stimpy Show and The Simpsons and films such as We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story . Its software division was best known for developing USAnimation, a high-end software package designed to facilitate the traditional animation process using digital technologies.
John Whitney Jr. and Gary Demos worked at Digital Productions, which was bought out by Omnibus Computer Graphics in June 1986. Whitney and Demos filed a complaint against Digital, Omnibus, Ramtek, and others in June, claiming that their rights as minority shareholders of DP were breached in the Omnibus sale. In July, they were locked out of their offices and founded Whitney/Demos Productions. Omnibus alleged to a court that Whitney and Demos, who were still paid under their contracts, founded a new competitor, hired at least three Omnibus employees, and used software and other property that belonged to Omnibus. The court temporarily ordered Whitney and Demos to return certain property to Omnibus. [1]
Tom McMahon from Symbolics' Graphics Division and other private investors provided funding assistance for W/D. The following year, W/D purchased the Thinking Machines Connection Machine 2, fronted by Symbolics workstations with programming done in LISP. W/D's first project had them work with Symbolics' Graphics Division to produce the short film Stanley and Stella: Breaking the Ice. Before they could collect the rest of an initial $5 million loan, much of the CG production industry collapsed because of Omnibus's failed growth plan, and investors balked. After W/D declared bankruptcy in June 1988, Demos formed his own research company, DemoGraFX, while Whitney stayed and took the company through bankruptcy proceedings. Whintey continued the company with Karl Sims as Optomystic. When another company was found to have a similar name, Optomystic's name was changed to Digital Animation Laboratories.
Whitney developed a "paperless" animation process where animation drawn on paper was scanned into a computer to be colored and composited. He founded USAnimation in early 1992 with David Lipman as vice president and executive producer after he decided to use his technology to change how animation was produced. The animation industry was immediately receptive to this concept since digital capabilities were a powerful creative tool for the animation producer to improve the look of shows and do it more efficiently. USAnimation completed episodic projects such as Beavis and Butt-Head , The Ren & Stimpy Show and the first digitally colored episodes of The Simpsons , as well as commercial projects ranging from Lucky Charms cereal to Levi's jeans. In 1995, USAnimation began offering its digital animation system to other customers.
In 1996, USAnimation sold its software development business to Canadian competitor Toon Boom Technologies and its animation production services were renamed VirtualMagic USA. [2] Toon Boom continues development of the USAnimation software, today known as Harmony. VirtualMagic International Productions, Inc., founded in Vancouver a year prior, signed a letter of intent to acquire USAnimation's Production Services Division on August 30 and closed the deal on October 31. [3] VirtualMagic would continue to operate the company while expanding its production capacity to include CGI animation and significantly increasing employment. With resources now dedicated solely to its production expertise, VirtualMagic USA diversified itself by taking on a significant amount of interactive CD-ROM work for clients such as Disney Interactive, Broderbund, and Digital Domain.
In late-1997, the company completed changing its name to VirtualMagic Animation and moved into a new production space in the San Fernando Valley. In order to economically compete in the animated episodic series and motion picture market, VirtualMagic Animation evaluated potential affiliate foreign animation companies with digital capabilities as well as joint venture possibilities. In 1999, VirtualMagic Animation and ImagineAsia Studio formed VirtualMagic Asia, a digital ink, paint and compositing service based in Manila, Philippines. In 2003, Don Spielvogel and the company's investors put up VirtualMagic Animation for sale due to the changing dynamics of the United States' animation industry and its non-animation industry investors wishing to move on. [4] VirtualMagic Animation and VirtualMagic Asia closed the same year.
Video games
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The Ren & Stimpy Show, commonly referred to as simply Ren & Stimpy, is an American animated television series created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi for Nickelodeon. Originally produced by Spümcø, the series aired from August 11, 1991, to December 16, 1995, spanning a total of five seasons and 52 episodes. The series follows the misadventures of Ren Höek, an emotionally unstable and psychopathic chihuahua dog; and Stimpy, a good-natured and dimwitted Manx cat. It is the third cartoon to air of the original three Nickelodeon animated series known as "Nicktoons", alongside Rugrats and Doug and is considered to be one of the progenitor series of the brand.
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The Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show is a half-hour American animated comedy television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and aired in 1995 as a spin-off of the show Marsupilami, a spinoff itself of Raw Toonage. The show represents Disney's attempt to do a more "edgy" cartoon in the vein of Nickelodeon's The Ren & Stimpy Show and Rocko's Modern Life. Unlike other Disney Afternoon cartoons, Shnookums & Meat only aired once a week, usually Mondays. Only thirteen episodes were produced.
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Nicktoons is a collective name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company in their copyright bylines.
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The Computer Animation Production System (CAPS) was a proprietary collection of software, scanning camera systems, servers, networked computer workstations, and custom desks developed by The Walt Disney Company and Pixar in the late 1980s. Although outmoded by the mid-2000s, it succeeded in reducing labor costs for ink and paint and post-production processes of traditionally animated feature films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It also provided an entirely new palette of digital tools to the filmmakers.
Rough Draft Studios, Inc. is an American animation production studio based in Glendale, California, with a second studio in Glendale and its sister studio Rough Draft Korea located in Seoul, South Korea. The studio was founded in Van Nuys, Los Angeles by Gregg Vanzo in 1991.
Adobe Flash animation is an animation that is created with the Adobe Animate platform or similar animation software and often distributed in the SWF file format. The term Adobe Flash animation refers to both the file format and the medium in which the animation is produced. Adobe Flash animation has enjoyed mainstream popularity since the mid-2000s, with many Adobe Flash-animated television series, television commercials, and award-winning online shorts being produced since then.
Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd. is one of the oldest and most prolific Taiwanese-American animation studios since 1978. The company, based in Xindian, Taipei and Los Angeles, California, has done traditional hand-drawn 2D animation/ink and paint for various TV shows and films for studios across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Robert Frank Camp is an American animator, writer, cartoonist, comic book artist, storyboard artist, director, and producer. He has been nominated for two Emmys, a CableACE Award, and an Annie Award for his work on The Ren & Stimpy Show.
Toon Boom Animation Inc., or just Toon Boom, is a Canadian software company founded in 1994 and based in Montreal, Quebec that specializes in the development and production of animation and storyboarding software for film, television, the World Wide Web, video games, mobile devices, training and education.
Marland T. "Ren" Höek and Stimpson J. "Stimpy" Cat, created by John Kricfalusi, are the title characters in the Nickelodeon animated series The Ren & Stimpy Show, and its 2003 spin-off Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon". Kricfalusi created the characters during his stay at Sheridan College and they first appeared on film in the pilot episode "Big House Blues". Ren is a scrawny, emotionally unstable, and sociopathic "Asthma Hound" Chihuahua, and his best friend Stimpy is a dim-witted, good-natured Manx cat. The show portrays their wacky, bizarre, and often surreal adventures.
The history of computer animation began as early as the 1940s and 1950s, when people began to experiment with computer graphics – most notably by John Whitney. It was only by the early 1960s when digital computers had become widely established, that new avenues for innovative computer graphics blossomed. Initially, uses were mainly for scientific, engineering and other research purposes, but artistic experimentation began to make its appearance by the mid-1960s – most notably by Dr Thomas Calvert. By the mid-1970s, many such efforts were beginning to enter into public media. Much computer graphics at this time involved 2-dimensional imagery, though increasingly as computer power improved, efforts to achieve 3-dimensional realism became the emphasis. By the late 1980s, photo-realistic 3D was beginning to appear in film movies, and by mid-1990s had developed to the point where 3D animation could be used for entire feature film production.
Cambridge Animation Systems was a British software company that developed a traditional animation software package called Animo and is now part of Canadian company Toon Boom Technologies. It was based in Cambridge, England, hence the name. Established in 1990, it created the Animo software in 1992 after acquiring Compose in Color, which was developed by Oliver Unter-ecker. Animo was used for several animated feature films, shorts, and television series, and it powered the UK animation industry until the 2000s as it was used by studios like King Rollo Films, Telemagination, and Cosgrove Hall Films, but it was also used by studios in other countries, most notably Warner Bros. Feature Animation, DreamWorks, and Nelvana. In total, Animo was used by over 300 studios worldwide.
Pegs'n Co was a French software company that developed a traditional animation software package called Pegs, and is now part of Canadian company Toon Boom Animation. It was based in Paris, France. Pegs was used for several animated feature films, shorts, and television series, and it powered the French animation industry until the 2000s as it was used by studios like Millimages, Alphanim, and Animage, but it was also used by studios in other countries, most notably Saerom Animation, CineGroupe, and Mike Young Productions. In total, Pegs was used by over 100 studios worldwide.
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