Creator / VirtualMagic Animation

VirtualMagic Animation was an American animation studio and software development company based out of Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Digital Productions' John Whitney Jr. and Gary Demos. Digital was bought by Omnibus Computer Graphics in 1986. They filed a complaint against their competitors, stating that their rights as minority shareholders of the company were breached in the Omnibus sale.

In early 1992, Whitney developed a "paperless" animation process where animation drawn on paper was scanned into a computer to be colored and composited. The company was originally as founded USAnimation, with David Lipman (who would later become one of the co-producers of Shrek franchise) as the vice president of the company. 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.

They worked on select episodes of The Simpsons, The Ren & Stimpy Show and Beavis and Butt-Head among others to provide the digital ink and paint services. The company began offering their digital animation system to other customers in 1995. In 1996, the company sold their software business to Canadian competitor Toon Boom and it's animation facility was renamed to VirtualMagic USA. Toon Boom continues development of the USAnimation software, now known as Harmony. VirtualMagic would continue to operate the company while expanding its production capacity to include CGI animation and significantly increasing employment.

In late 1997, the company moved its operations to the San Fernando Valley in North Hollywood. But in order to economically compete in the animated series and motion picture market, VirtualMagic evaluated potential affiliate foreign animation companies with digital capabilities as well as joint venture possibilities. So in 1999, VirtualMagic teamed up with Asian facility ImagineAsia Studio to form VirtualMagic Asia based in Manila, Philippines.

But in 2003, the company was put up for sale due to the changing dynamics of the American animation industry and its non-animation industry investors wishing to move on. As a result, both the American and Asian branches closed down that same year.

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VirtualMagic Animation/USAnimation's digital ink & paint and compositing work include:

• 101 Dalmatians: Escape from DeVil Manor (graphics; with Creative Capers Entertainment and Yowza! Animation)
• Beavis and Butt-Head (seasons 1-2, with J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc. and Metrocel Animation Studios)
• Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot (main title sequence, with DR Movie)
• Boo Boo Runs Wild (with Galaxy World, Fil-Cartoons and Color Key Studios)
• Carmen Sandiego: Word Detective
• Cartoon Sushi
• CatDog (1 short)^List "Fetch" (with Rough Draft)
• Channel Umptee-3 (main title sequence, with Yearim Productions)
• The Curse of Monkey Island
• David Macaulay: Roman City
• Disney's Animated Storybook: 101 Dalmatians (with Creative Capers and Yowza!)
• Disney's One Saturday Morning (Great Minds Think 4 Themselves shorts)
• Extreme Ghostbusters (main title sequence)
• Freddy Got Fingered
• Godzilla: The Series (main title sequence, with DR Movie)
• Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (final digital composite; 5 episodes)^List "Very Personal Injury", "Shaggy Busted", "Death by Chocolate", "Shoyu Weenie", "The Dabba Don" (all with Rough Draft and the Asia branch)
• Hercules (video game adaptation, with Creative Capers and Yowza!)
• Hey Arnold! (opening sequence, with Toon-Us-In)
• Joseph: King of Dreams (digital painting for Bardel Entertainment; with Wang Film Productions, Fil-Cartoons, Starburst Animation, Tama Productions, Golden Bell, Canuck Creations, Mercury Filmworks, Character Builders, Heart of Texas, Spaff Animation, Studio Bihou, DKP Studios, Baku Productions, Giant Productions, Design Office MECHAMAN, Blue Sunflower, Mukuo Studio, Red Rover Studios, Dynomight Cartoons, Big Fish Animation, Wild Horse Animation Group, New Vision International, Hits for Less and Ray Pang Effects)
• Jumanji: The Animated Series (main title sequence, with Sunwoo Entertainment)
• Lenny & Sid (color styling; 1 video)^List "Love Thy Neighbor/All Hands on Deck" (with Wang Film)
• Living Books: Arthur's Computer Adventure
• Men in Black: The Series (main title sequence, with Mook DLE)
• The Nanny (1 episode)^List "Oy to the World" (with Rough Draft)
• Nightmare Ned (with Creative Capers and Yowza!)
• Oh Yeah! Cartoons (1 short)^List "Planet Kate" (with Sunwoo)
• The Powerpuff Girls Movie (2D composite and visual effects; with Rough Draft, Mercury Filmworks and Savage Frog!)
• The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest (1 episode)^List "In the Realm of the Condor" (with Pacific Animation Corporation)
• The Ren & Stimpy Show (6 episodes)^List "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen" (with Carbunkle Cartoons and Metrocel Animation Studios), "Stimpy's Cartoon Show" (with Rough Draft), "Hard Times for Haggis" (with Rough Draft), "Blazing Entrails" (with Mr. Big Cartoons), "Prehistoric Stimpy" (with Mr. Big), "The Last Temptation" (with Toon Us In)
• Rugrats Adventure Game (with Heart of Texas and WildBrain)
• The Simpsons (2 episodes)^List "Radioactive Man" (with Anivision), "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular"
• The Tigger Movie (additional ink & paint for Walt Disney Animation Japan; with Tandem Films, Cornerstone Animation, Studio Basara, Creative Capers Entertainment, Tama Productions and Telecom Animation Film)
• Wanna Be A Dino Finder
• What A Cartoon! Show (1 short)^List "Captain Sturdy: Back in Action!"
• We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (additional ink & paint and digital compositing)

Shows worked on by VirtualMagic Asia:

• God, the Devil and Bob (digital ink & paint; with Fil-Cartoons)
• Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (digital ink & paint; 5 episodes)^List "Very Personal Injury", "Shaggy Busted", "Death by Chocolate", "Shoyu Weenie", "The Dabba Don" (all with Rough Draft and the American branch)

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