A television animated series can involve hundreds of professionals spread across writing, art, animation, compositing, and post-production teams. Each one works at a different stage, with different files, in a specific order. If any of those stages falls out of sequence, the cost multiplies: rework, character inconsistencies across episodes, delivery delays. The pipeline isn’t an operational detail. It’s what makes it possible for a project of that scale to reach the screen.
The global 2D animation software market was estimated at $5.64 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach nearly $12 billion by 2035, expanding at a CAGR of 7.1%. Demand keeps growing: in the United States alone, more than 220,000 animation professionals were employed in 2024. In that context, studios that operate with well-structured pipelines have a concrete competitive advantage over those that manage production on an ad hoc basis.
The Three Phases of a Professional Pipeline
Every 2D production pipeline is organized into three major phases that must be completed in sequence. Skipping steps or executing them in parallel without coordination is the most common cause of costly rework.
Pre-production is where all the decisions that shape the rest of the project are made. It includes script development, character and environment design, creation of the visual bible, storyboard, and animatic. The storyboard translates the script into images: it defines camera compositions, movements, and the narrative rhythm scene by scene. The animatic adds timing to the storyboard, generating a preliminary version of the project that allows the team to validate pacing and structure before committing resources to production. Decisions not made in pre-production are made later, at a significantly higher cost.
Production is the most resource-intensive phase. Layout teams define the spatial composition of each scene. Animators create keyframes and in-between poses. Ink & paint teams apply color to characters according to the chromatic guides established in pre-production. Compositing integrates all elements — characters, backgrounds, effects — into the final image of each shot. Each stage feeds the next; continuity errors between scenes detected at the compositing stage mean going back to animation, which can represent days of work.
Post-production closes the cycle: final editing, color correction, audio and music integration, and delivery in the formats required by the client or distribution platform.
Where Pipelines Break Down
Studios working without integrated tools face a recurring set of problems. The most frequent is visual inconsistency: when characters are designed in one software, animated in another, and composited in a third, files don’t always migrate faithfully. Rigs — the control structures that define how a character moves — can behave differently across software versions or between animators, generating inconsistencies that are only detected late in the pipeline.
The second problem is version management. In a production with dozens of scenes in simultaneous development, tracking which version of each asset is current, who has it, and what its approval status is requires an explicit system. Without one, teams work on outdated versions and the production director has no real visibility into progress.
The third problem is remote collaboration. Cloud-based production and remote collaboration are becoming the standard, enabling global teams to manage rendering, assets, and reviews more flexibly. Studios without tools designed for distributed work face bottlenecks in scene review and approval, especially when working with satellite studios or external freelancers.
Toon Boom: The Suite That Structures the Complete Pipeline
Toon Boom is the industry standard for professional 2D production, present in over 140 countries with a client roster that includes Disney Television Animation, Toei Animation, Xilam, Fox Television Animation, and Boulder Media, among others. The suite covers the two critical pipeline stages with native tools designed to work together.
Storyboard Pro is the pre-production tool. It combines drawing, scripting, camera controls, and animatic creation in a single environment. Directors can structure complete sequences, define camera movements, add audio, and generate a pitchable version of the project without leaving the platform. The native integration with Harmony allows content developed in Storyboard Pro to migrate directly to the animation stage, maintaining visual consistency between pre-production and production.
Harmony is the production and compositing tool. Harmony Premium is built for professional studios and enables the creation of sophisticated cut-out rigs, natural and realistic character movement, and unlimited special effects for any animation style. It supports both frame-by-frame and rigged animation, making it suitable for any style — from digitized traditional animation to cut-out in the style of television series.
Toon Boom Producer completes the suite with centralized pipeline management: scene-by-scene progress tracking, team coordination, and production status visibility for directors and producers.
| Tool | Pipeline Stage | Main Function |
|---|---|---|
| Storyboard Pro | Pre-production | Storyboard, animatic, pitch, camera controls |
| Harmony Essentials | Production | Digital animation for independent and educational projects |
| Harmony Advanced | Production | Rigging, compositing, and effects for professional production |
| Harmony Premium | Production | Full pipeline for studios: advanced rigging, compositing, unlimited effects, USD |
| Toon Boom Producer | Management | Scene tracking, team coordination, pipeline visibility |
The latest release, Harmony 25 and Storyboard Pro 25, introduces tools covering every stage of production — from thumbnails to animatics, ink & paint, rigged and keyframe animation, and interoperability with broader CG pipelines. One of the most relevant updates for studios working with hybrid 2D/3D workflows is support for the USDZ format — the open standard created by Pixar for 3D scene data transfer — which significantly expands flexibility for new pipeline integrations.
Ember: AI in Service of the Animator, Not as a Replacement
In March 2025, Toon Boom announced the beta program for Ember, a suite of AI-powered tools designed to enhance creative workflows in Storyboard Pro and Harmony. These tools allow professional artists to work with fewer interruptions, iterate faster, and focus on the creative process.
In its initial release, Ember can intelligently create masks to separate objects from backgrounds onto new layers, upscale and add padding to existing backgrounds, and assist in the time-consuming scene setup process. Toon Boom’s approach with Ember is explicit: the AI tools are designed to assist artists with repetitive tasks, not to replace their creative work.
AI-driven pipelines are reducing production times by up to 40% in 2024. In that context, Ember represents the integration of those capabilities directly into the tools studios already use, without requiring platform changes or alternative workflows.
For animation studios in Latin America working on original productions, international co-productions, or service work for third parties, having the industry standard in pipeline tools is not just a technical decision — it’s a requirement to participate in productions where contracting studios specify Harmony as a delivery requirement.
Aufiero Informática distributes Toon Boom in Argentina and Latin America. Contact us for a demo of the suite and an assessment of how it integrates with your studio’s pipeline.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Toon Boom Harmony and what is it used for? Toon Boom Harmony is the most widely used professional 2D animation software in the industry. It enables frame-by-frame and cut-out rig animation, multilayer compositing, special effects, and export in multiple formats. It is the standard at television and film animation studios worldwide.
What is the difference between Harmony Essentials, Advanced, and Premium? Essentials is aimed at independent and educational projects with basic animation features. Advanced adds rigging, compositing, and effects for professional production. Premium is the full studio version: it includes advanced rigging, unlimited effects, compositing nodes, support for 3D formats like USDZ, and all pipeline features.
What is Storyboard Pro and how does it differ from other storyboarding tools? Storyboard Pro is a complete pre-production suite that combines drawing, scripting, 3D camera controls, animatic creation, and pitch tools in a single environment. It integrates natively with Harmony, allowing pre-production assets and visual direction to migrate directly to the animation stage without loss of information.
What is Toon Boom Ember? Ember is Toon Boom’s AI tool suite, available as an add-on for Harmony 25 and Storyboard Pro 25. It includes features such as automatic object-background separation onto layers, background upscaling, and scene setup assistance. It is designed to automate repetitive tasks without replacing the artist’s creative work.
Is Toon Boom suitable for small studios or only for large productions? The suite scales from independent animators and small studios (with Harmony Essentials or Advanced) to large studios with globally distributed teams (with Harmony Premium and Producer). Licensing plans are available for different team sizes.
