Creating 30 Minutes of Animation for ABCmouse and NASA
ABCmouse is a subscription-based provider of early learning solutions designed to help children build a lifelong love of learning. For more than 15 years, ABCmouse has been a category leader in educational media for kids, so we were genuinely excited when they reached out to us to animate five learning modules for their collaboration with NASA.
In total, the project required approximately 30 minutes of finished animation — delivered on a tight schedule and within a carefully managed budget. Below is a look at how we approached the production and why this project was a perfect fit for our studio.
Project Background
We had wanted to collaborate with ABCmouse for years, and at the same time we had been actively looking for opportunities to deploy our ultra-efficient digital-first animation pipeline for third-party clients. This project offered the ideal proving ground.
The assignment allowed us to demonstrate just how flexible—and cost-effective—our pipeline can be when timelines are short and expectations are high.
ABCmouse provided the character designs, while our team handled everything else, including:
- Backgrounds and props
- Storyboards
- Rigging
- Animation
- Compositing
With a production window of roughly one month, we knew our traditional Adobe Animate or Toon Boom pipelines would not be the right tool for the job. Instead, we built a hybrid workflow using Photoshop for backgrounds and props, Adobe Character Animator for performance-based animation, and After Effects for final compositing.
A Hybrid Animation Approach
While we leverage the real-time animation capabilities of Character Animator, we have developed proprietary workflows that combine performance capture with traditional frame-by-frame animation. This allows us to produce work that is far more nuanced and polished than what is typically associated with 2D motion-capture animation.
Just as importantly, these workflows are highly adaptable. We have successfully applied the same techniques across a wide range of budgets and platforms—from premium streaming projects for outlets like Hulu to our own independently produced YouTube content, including Barkster Kid Songs.
The ABCmouse / NASA project is a great example of how this approach enables us to scale production efficiently without sacrificing quality.
Production Stills
Below are a few still images from the episodes we animated. Unfortunately, we are unable to link directly to the finished animation, as it lives behind the ABCmouse paywall.
Let’s Talk
If you are looking for a studio that offers personalized, white-glove service and knows how to deliver high-quality animation efficiently, we would love to talk. At Pipsqueak Animation, we pride ourselves on providing exceptional value and a collaborative production experience from start to finish.
Feel free to get in touch to discuss your next animation project.
