Supercookie07
Imitation Krab
I've seen many posts on this forum claim that when SpongeBob switched to digital coloring in season 2, Rough Draft Korea used Toonz Premium to animate the show and then switched to using Toon Boom for seasons 4 and onward. However, I've actually obtained a copy of Toonz Premium 4.6, and after reviewing some BTS footage, I can confirm that this is not the case and that SpongeBob still used Toonz for as late as season 5. In the "Behind the Pantis" special included on the Atlantis SquarePantis DVD there are some clips of Atlantis SquarePantis being animated at RDK. Comparing the UI in the BTS footage with my copy of Toonz 4.6, they line up pretty much perfectly, as shown in the picture below.
This confirms that Toonz was used to animate SpongeBob up until at least Atlantis SquarePantis, and presumably up until Pest of the West, when the team switched to using Wacom tablets. But there is also one more BTS clip that may answer some more questions about when Toonz was used. In the "Square Roots" documentary from 2009 there is a clip of someone from RDK animating a clip of Plankton screaming. Once again, the UI matches up perfectly with the Toonz UI, confirming that the episode featured in the clip was animated using Toonz.
The problem, however, is I don't know what episode it's from. It looks to be from season 6 or 7 in how it shows a lot of detail in a way that isn't like season 4 or 5 (well maybe late season 5), and there are also some clips of I Heart Dancing being drawn on paper from the same documentary, proving as more evidence of the clip being from late season 6 or early season 7. All that really matters is if the clip is from an episode produced after Pest of the West. If it is, then we would know that Toonz was used even after Pest of the West, and probably up until the switch to HD in season 9, maybe even later. At the same time, that would mean that what looks to be Windows NT was still being used up until 2011~2012, which seems like a very outdated OS to still be using in that year. If the clip isn't from an episode after POTW, it would still be up in the air if Toonz was used after season 5, but my first theory would probably be the most believable. If anyone knows what episode the clip is from, please let me know in this thread. But for now, I hope that I was able to clear a few things up about this topic.
This confirms that Toonz was used to animate SpongeBob up until at least Atlantis SquarePantis, and presumably up until Pest of the West, when the team switched to using Wacom tablets. But there is also one more BTS clip that may answer some more questions about when Toonz was used. In the "Square Roots" documentary from 2009 there is a clip of someone from RDK animating a clip of Plankton screaming. Once again, the UI matches up perfectly with the Toonz UI, confirming that the episode featured in the clip was animated using Toonz.
The problem, however, is I don't know what episode it's from. It looks to be from season 6 or 7 in how it shows a lot of detail in a way that isn't like season 4 or 5 (well maybe late season 5), and there are also some clips of I Heart Dancing being drawn on paper from the same documentary, proving as more evidence of the clip being from late season 6 or early season 7. All that really matters is if the clip is from an episode produced after Pest of the West. If it is, then we would know that Toonz was used even after Pest of the West, and probably up until the switch to HD in season 9, maybe even later. At the same time, that would mean that what looks to be Windows NT was still being used up until 2011~2012, which seems like a very outdated OS to still be using in that year. If the clip isn't from an episode after POTW, it would still be up in the air if Toonz was used after season 5, but my first theory would probably be the most believable. If anyone knows what episode the clip is from, please let me know in this thread. But for now, I hope that I was able to clear a few things up about this topic.
