Media Notes / Toon Boom

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Harmony is a digital animation software package produced by Canadian company Toon Boom Animation, Inc. Harmony (previously Toon Boom Studio), along with Adobe Flash, are the go-to software for modern-day 2D digital animators due to their low cost and potential shortcuts that are not offered with traditional ink-and-paint animation. Harmony is also fairly affordable for both professionals and amateurs alike. While Flash has been used more frequently for television/movie animation entertainment for years, it was actually built for interactive web design, thus making it a bit of a curve to create content for other areas, and Harmony's software was developed to solve this by tailoring it to the creative cartoon animator's needs instead. It has tools for both traditional frame-by-frame animation and "puppet rig"-style animation. Harmony has capabilities that emulate an animator's drafting table, network nodes, built-in automated lip-syncing functions, built-in 3D modeling and intergration, and quality rendering directly from the program. Toon Boom used to have separate programs for storyboarding, animating, entire production pipelines, and children's learning, but have simplified the pipeline in the latest version into just three pieces of software- Harmony for all animation tasks, and Storyboard Pro for storyboarding and concept visualization. The third product, Harmony Server, is meant to help synchronize the works of large studios by acting as a repository for animation assets and storage.

Harmony is sold in three different versions- Essentials for amateurs and students, which offers only the most basic capabilities, Advanced for the more advanced animators who demand the ability to import bitmap graphics as the backdrop and do simple 3D animations, and Premium, for those who need full-fledged 3D animation capabilities^note License copy of Maya 3D also required to activate the advanced 3D features, advanced 2D capabilities, and cinema-quality 8K rendering. Both Advanced and Premium versions can use the Harmony Server for remote storage of asset and projects, but not the Essentials version.

Toon Boom has bought over Cambridge Animation Systems, whose Animo software powered the United Kingdom's animation industry (as well as some of Hollywood's) from the early 1990s to the mid 2000s.

Toon Boom Animation Inc. was wholly purchased by Corus Entertainment in 2012, following up on their 2004 purchase in half of the company's shares. As Corus also owns Nelvana, most of Nelvana's productions since the Late 2000s have been done using Harmony and other Toon Boom products. In 2023 however, financial woes at Corus led to them selling Toon Boom Animation Inc. to the private equity firm TPG Inc.

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Series/films animated (in whole, or in part) with this program:

Western Animation

• 101 Dalmatian Street (the pilot pitch reel used traditional animation; but the series itself was animated purely digital)
• 50/50 Heroes
• 6teen
• American Dad! (used Wacom Cintiqs for season 3 in production order onwards (though hand-drawn layouts are still used); the first two production seasons were tradtionally animated with digital ink-and-paint)
• Amphibia - Only in the season 3 episodes "Adventures in Catsitting", "Spider-Sprig / Olivia & Yunan" and "Froggy Little Christmas". "The New Normal" actually uses a mixture of Harmony and traditional animation, rather than purely using one style or the other. All of the aforementioned episodes were credited to Saerom. All other episodes of the series, even all the other ones outsourced to Saerom, are instead traditionally animated with digital ink and paint.
• The Angry Birds Movie (2D sequences)
• Angry Birds Toons
• Archer
• Arthur - used traditional animation with digital ink and paint from season 1 to 15. When 9 Story took over production from CINAR/Cookie Jar starting with season 16, the show switched to Adobe Flash, but when Oasis Animation took over starting with season 20, it switched to Harmony.
• Atomic Puppet
• The Awesomes
• Best and Bester
• Big Blue
• Big City Greens - Only in the season 2 episode "Chipocalypse Now," which was outsourced to Sugarcube and animated in a very similar fashion to that studio's work on The Owl House and Star vs. the Forces of Evil (see below). All other episodes of the series, even the other ones outsourced to Sugarcube, are instead traditionally animated with digital ink and paint.
• Big Hero 6: The Series
• Blue's Clues & You! - 2D-animated segments only
• Bob's Burgers - Season 2 onward (season 1 used Adobe Flash)
  • The Bob's Burgers Movie
• Brickleberry (seasons 2 and 3 ^note  as well as the parts of additional animation for the season 1 episodes "Two Weeks Notice" and "Hello Dottie", that were animated by Cyber Chicken and Hanho Heung-Up )
• Bro'Town
• Caillou - First three seasons were traditionally animated with digital ink and paint by SMEC Media in Taiwan before production was moved to Clockwork Zoo in South Africa. Season 4 was animated using Adobe Flash, but Season 5 switched to Harmony.
• Camp Lakebottom
• Carl the Collector
• Cat Burglar
• Cats Don't Dance
• Cleopatra in Space
• Clifford the Big Red Dog (2019 series only; previously the direct-to-video specials used traditional cel animation while the 2000 series and its spin-off Clifford's Puppy Days were hand-drawn with digital ink-and-paint)
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2017)
• Corn & Peg
• Cupcake & Dino: General Services
• The Cuphead Show!
• Curious George (TV Series, 2006)
• Danger Mouse (2015)
• Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood
• The Day My Butt Went Psycho!
• Detentionaire
• Di-Gata Defenders
• D.N. Ace
• The Dog & Pony Show
• Dorg Van Dango
• Dragon Hunters
• Droners
• DuckTales (2017)
• Elinor Wonders Why
• Empress Chung
• Esme & Roy
• Ever After High
• F is for Family
• Family Guy (the episodes animated by Yearim Productions for seasons 6 and 7 used Wacom Cintiqs (though the layouts are still hand-drawn); eventually became fully digital with hand-drawn layouts full time starting with season 8 ^note  excluding "Something, Something, Something, Darkside" ; seasons 1-5, most episodes of season 6 and the season 7 episodes animated by Digital eMation were traditionally animated with digital ink-and-paint)
• Fangbone!
• Fatherhood
• Fire Ball (2005 film)
• Fishtronaut (season 2 only)
• Funky Cops
• Futurama (seasons 1-7 were animated traditionally in Open.Toonz, with hand-drawn digital ink-and-paint; switched over to being drawn on paper for the revival)
• Future-Worm!
• Galactik Football
• Gerald McBoing-Boing (the 2005 series)
• Geronimo Stilton (the animated series based on the book)
• Get Ace
• Get a Horse!
• Godspeed
• Goldie
• Grossology
• The Ghost and Molly McGee
• Hamster & Gretel (used Wacom Cintiqs)
• HarmonQuest
• Harriet the Spy
• Harvey Street Kids
• Hazbin Hotel
• Hilda
• Hit-Monkey
• Hotel Transylvania: The Series
• How to Hook Up Your Home Theater
• Inside Job (2021)
• Jake and the Never Land Pirates (season 2 onwards; season 1 used Adobe Flash)
• Jellystone!
• Jorel's Brother
• Jimmy Two-Shoes - Season 1 only. Switched to Adobe Flash in Season 2.
• Johnny Test, beginning with season 7, the first season of the 2021 revival (season 1 was traditionally animated with digital ink-and-paint, and seasons 2-6 used Adobe Flash)
• The Jungle Book 2
• Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil
• Kid Cosmic
• King of the Hill (used Wacom Cintiqs starting with season 11;^note  (in production order, so excluding "Lucky's Wedding Suit" in season 11) though hand-drawn layouts are still used for seasons 11-13; became fully digital by the revival (seasons 14-15); seasons 1-7 used traditional cel animation, and seasons 8-10 were hand-drawn with digital ink-and-paint)
• Klaus (2019)
• Krapopolis (Season 2 and onwards, Season 1 was traditionally animated with digital ink-and-paint)
• Kung Foot
• Kuu Kuu Harajuku (Seasons 2 and 3)
• Legends of Chamberlain Heights
• The Legend Of Ponnivala Death And The Queen
• Lemmings (short film)
• Let's Go Luna!
• The Life & Times of Tim (season 3 only, seasons 1 and 2 were animated in Adobe Flash)
• Lifeboat Luke
• The Lion Guard
• The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
• Little Amadeus
• LoliRock
• Looney Tunes Cartoons (episodes are often animated on either rigs or Wacom Cintiqs)
• The Loud House
  • The Casagrandes
• Lyla in the Loop
• Mickey Mouse (2013): The title cards even says it's "in Harmonic Mercurivision"
• The Mighty B!
• Mike Tyson Mysteries
• Mixels - Season 1 and the Season 2 episode "Mixel Moon Madness", switched to Adobe Flash in the next episode onward.
• Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (2023) - According to producer Steve Loter, a mixture of Toon Boom Harmony (for staging and head-rigging) and hand-drawn animation (character bodies) is used.
• My Life Me
• My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)
• Mysticons
• Nature Cat
• Neighbors from Hell
• Not A Box
• Ollie's Pack
• Once Upon a Studio (used Wacom Cintiqs for the 2D characters)
• Open Season: Call of Nature
• Oswaldo
• Overlord (2012) (Seasons 2 & 3)
• The Owl House (only the episodes that were animated by Sugarcube ^list"I Was a Teenage Abomination", "Covention", "Something Ventured, Someone Framed", "Adventures in the Elements", "The First Day", "Really Small Problems", "Understanding Willow", "Wing It Like Witches", "Young Blood, Old Souls", "Separate Tides", "Echoes of the Past", "Keeping Up A-fear-ances", "Hunting Palismen", "Eda's Requiem", "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door", "Eclipse Lake"; the rest of the series is hand-drawn with digital ink-and-paint)
• Peg + Cat
• Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero
• Phineas and Ferb (although it is animated traditionally; it is done on a Toon Boom package software; where the drawings are done on a graphics tablet; switched over to rigs for the revival)
  • Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe (only the parts outsourced to Snipple Animation; the rest of the movie is traditionally animated with digital ink and paint)
• Pickle and Peanut
• Pikwik Pack
• Pinkalicious & Peterrific (earlier seasons are animated in CelAction)
• Pink Panther and Pals
• Pinocchio (2012)
• The Powerpuff Girls Movie
• Primos (episodes animated by Snipple Animation only; the Sugarcube episodes use traditional animation)
• The Princess and the Frog - Uses frame by frame animation shots through the program rather than tweening.
• Producing Parker
• The Proud Family (only the content for the series provided by Liquid Animation^Listthe show's opening sequence; "Tiger Whisperer", "Don't Leave Home Without it", "I Love You, Penny Proud", "Romeo Must Wed", "Hero for Halloween", "Hooray For Iesha", "Camping Trip", "Crouching Trudy, Hidden Penny", "The Camp, The Counselor, The Mole, And The Rock", "Wedding Bell Blues", "SmackMania 6: Mongo Vs. Mama's Boy", "Suga Mama's Believers", and "She Drives Me Crazy"; the rest of the series was traditionally animated with digital ink-and-paint)
  • The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder
• Puffin Rock
• Recess: School's Out
• Rescue Heroes - Seasons 2 and 3 only.
• Return to Never Land
• Rick and Morty
• Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Robotboy
• Robot Chicken
• Rosie's Rules
• Ruby Gloom
• Santapprentice
• Saving Me
• Scaredy Squirrel
• The Secret of Kells
• The Simpsons (used Wacom Cintiqs with hand-drawn layouts for season 19 (in production order) onwards; most of the episodes from the first 13 seasons and the first half of season 14^note "Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire"-"Helter Shelter" used traditional cel animation, and "Radioactive Man", "Tennis the Menace", "Treehouse of Horror XIII", and all the episodes from the second half of season 14^note more specifically, beginning with "The Great Louse Detective" until season 18 were traditionally animated with digital ink-and-paint)
  • The Simpsons Movie
• Skunk Fu!
• Solar Opposites
• South Park
• Space Hip Hop Duck
• Spliced
• SpongeBob SquarePants (used Wacom Cintiqs from "Pest of the West" to "SpongeBob, You're Fired", season 1 used traditional cel animation and season 2 until season 5's "To Save a Squirrel" and season 9B onwards are animated traditionally with digital ink-and-paint, though are storyboarded with Toon Boom)
• Star vs. the Forces of Evil (except for the episodes that were animated by Rough Draft Korea^List"Blood Moon Ball" (which was actually only partially animated by them, as they co-animated the episode with Toon City, who animated their portions of the episode in Toon Boom, and the difference in animation is definitely noticeable), "My New Wand!/Ludo in the Wild", "Mr. Candle Cares/Red Belt", "Star on Wheels", "Starstruck/Camping Trip", "By the Book", "Game of Flags/Girls' Day Out", "Friendenemies", "Hungry Larry/Spider With a Top Hat", "Into the Wand", "Bon Bon the Birthday Clown", "Baby/Running with Scissors", "Crystal Clear/The Hard Way", "Collateral Damage/Just Friends", "Starcrushed", "Return to Mewni/Moon the Undaunted", "Toffee", "Club Snubbed/Stranger Danger", "Lint Catcher/Trial by Squire", "Sweet Dreams/Lava Lake Beach", "Night Life/Deep Dive", "Monster Bash", "Stump Day/Holiday Spellcial", "Butterfly Trap/Ludo, Where Art Thou?", "Skooled!/Booth Buddies", "Divide", "Conquer", "Butterfly Follies", "Moon Remembers/Swim Suit", "Yada Yada Berries/Down by the River", "Out of Business/Kelly's World", "Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell/Ghost of Butterfly Castle", "The Knight Shift/Queen-Napped", "A Boy and His DC-700XE/The Monster and the Queen", "Doop-Doop/Britta's Tacos", "Sad Teen Hotline/Jannanigans", "The Right Way/Here to Help", "Cleaved", which are hand-drawn with digital ink and paint)
• Sunny Day
• Super Duper Bunny League
• Ten Year Old Tom
• The Strange Chores
• Summer Memories
• The Tigger Movie
• Total Drama and its spinoff, Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race
• Tom
• Transformers: Prime
• Transformers: Rescue Bots (only for the first season)
• The Triplets and Gaudi
• The Triplets of Belleville
• Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go
• TRON: Uprising
• Trunk Train
• The Unstoppable Yellow Yeti (the show uses a mixture of rigs and Wacom Cintiqs)
• Van Helsing: The London Assignment
• Vikingskool
• Voltron: Legendary Defender
• Wander over Yonder
• Wayside - Wacom Cintiqs were used for the first season, but later switched to Adobe Flash in Season 2 due to drastic budget cuts.
• Weird Years
• Wild Kratts
• Winnie the Pooh (2011) - Uses frame by frame animation shots through the program rather than tweening.
• Wishfart
• Work It Out Wombats!
• Wylde Pak (used Wacom Cintiqs)
• Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum
• YooHoo & Friends (The show mostly uses rigs but has a handful of hand-drawn episodes)
• Yvon of the Yukon
• The ZhuZhus
• Zig & Sharko
• Zombie Hotel

Anime

• Aikatsu! - Episode 42 onward (Episodes 1 to 41 used Retas)
• Astro Boy (2003 series)
• Flag
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012 series onward)
• O Jii San No Lamp
• One Piece (used Wacom Cintiqs starting with episode 207; the first 206 episodes used hand-drawn animation with digital ink-and-paint)
• Tokyo Ghoul:re
• Pokémon the Series (specific scenes for XY, full series for Sun & Moon)
  • Pokémon Generations

Series/film that are storyboarded but not animated with this program

• The Amazing World of Gumball ^note The crew actually wanted to switch to this program, but didn't because it would be too dificult to remake the entire asset library.
• Futurama (as of season 8)
• Hannibal
• Knights of Sidonia
• Steven Universe
• SpongeBob SquarePants (as of season 9B)
  • The Patrick Star Show
• Uncle Grandpa

Series/films that used Cambridge Animation Systems' Animo:

Western Animation

• The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police
• Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (the animated series)
• The Adventures of Captain Pugwash
• Anatole
• The Animals of Farthing Wood (1995)
• Ben Hur (the 2003 animated version)
• Birdz
• Bob and Margaret
• The Cartoon Cartoon Show ("Johnny Bravo" and "Lucky Lydia" shorts)
• Clone High
• Corduroy - The 2000 animated series based on the book
• The Cramp Twins
• Elliot Moose
• Enchanted (2D sequences)
• Fairy Tale Police Department
• Fantomcat
• Flipper and Lopaka
• The Foxbusters
• Franklin
• Fred Bastard
• George and Martha
• George Shrinks
• Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids
• Gurin With The Foxtail
• House Of Rock
• The Iron Giant
• Joseph: King of Dreams
• Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (anime sequence)
• Kim Possible (along with Toon Boom/USAnimation)
• The King And I
• Kung Fu Panda 1 (2D sequences; along with Adobe After Effects)
• The Lampies
• The Last Polar Bears
• Little Elvis Jones and the Truckstoppers
• Little Bear
• Little Ghosts
• Looney Tunes: Back in Action
• Maggie and the Ferocious Beast
• Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse
• Metalheads
• Microscopic Milton
• Monica's Gang ("O Extranho Soro do Dr. X" only)
• Ned's Newt
• Noah's Island
• Osmosis Jones
• Pettson and Findus
• Pippi Longstocking - The 1997 animated film and series
• Pond Life
• Pongwiffy
• Prelude To Eden
• The Prince of Egypt
• Quest for Camelot
• Redwall - The animated series based on the books
• The Road to El Dorado
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie
• The Rugrats Movie
  • Rugrats in Paris
• Rupert (Season 4 onward)
• The Secret World of Benjamin Bear
• Seven Little Monsters
• Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
• Skippy: Adventures in Bushtown
• Space Jam
• Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
• Spot the Dog (Spot's Magical Christmas onward)
• Stellaluna - The Direct-to-Video film based on the book
• Stickin' Around (Seasons 1 and 3)
• Tabaluga
• Tales from the Crypt ("The Third Pig" episode)
• Timon & Pumbaa ("Stand by Me" episode)
• Timothy Goes to School
• Wheel Squad
• Wiggly Park

Anime

• Ah My Buddha!!
• Azumanga Daioh
• Rave Master
• Read or Die
• Simoun
• You're Under Arrest! (Full Throttle season)

List of Web Animation that have used/currently using this program:

• Bad Days (along with its main software TVPaint)
• Eddsworld (only the episode "Mirror Mirror"; all others were animated with Adobe Flash, except for "Saloonatics" which used TVPaint)
• Fanboy Rampage for Mondo Media (along with its main software TVPaint)
• Fixed Fairy Tales and Munchkin Music for HISHE Kids (along with their main software TVPaint)
• Pretty Pretty Please I Don't Want to Be a Magical Girl (1 sequence)
• The Seven Sinisters.
• The LeBrons - Season 1 only. The next two seasons are CGI.
• Leisure Time (The Original Pilot)
• Ralph Kard (along with its main software TVPaint)

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