Omation Animation Studio

Background

Omation was an animation studio run by Steve Oedekerk as a subsidiary of his O Entertainment company. It produced the Barnyard franchise and the Jimmy Neutron spinoff Planet Sheen for Nickelodeon. It was founded in 2002 by Oedekerk, in conjuction with animators who formerly worked at DNA Productions. Omation was working on a new Mighty Mouse film for Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies set for a release in 2013, but it appeared to have been cancelled, likely due to the massive flop of Planet Sheen, until it was revived as a live-action/animated hybrid film for Paramount Animation in 2019.

1st Logo (January 19, 2008-November 12, 2011)

Nicknames: "The O Kid", "Yellow O" "Little O"

Logo: We see the CGI "O" from the 1998 O Entertainment logo drop to the center, which shrinks, turns yellow (perhaps referencing the first O logo), grows arms and legs, and changes into 2D. The text "mation", in the Jokerman LET font, jumps out of the O's mouth, which then jumps up and freezes.

FX/SFX: A mix of CGI and 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: The "O!" from the O Entertainment logo at a slightly higher pitch, starting with a strange magical whirring sound, combined with whooshes/synth sounds from the classic Hanna-Barbera sound library. A high-pitched voice says "Mation!" and a snare drumbeat plays.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On split-screen Nickelodeon airings of Back at the Barnyard, the logo music was often followed by a short country tune, which played over the Nickelodeon logo at the time.
• Also on earlier split-screen airings of Back at the Barnyard, the original 1998 O Entertainment music was occasionally heard. This probably was because when the show first started, the 1998 logo was used, so Nickelodeon programmed the show's split-screen credits to have it. But when this logo replaced the mentioned logo, Nickelodeon followed suit and removed the 1998 logo, but must have forgotten to remove the audio.

Availability: Uncommon. It was originally seen on Back at the Barnyard, starting with the episode "The Barnyard Games/War of The Pranks", however. Current Nicktoons reruns have the logo plastered with the 1998 O Entertainment logo; however, it's preserved on Paramount Plus prints and DVD releases of the show.

Editor's Note: A rather unique concept for a logo from a transition from CGI to 2D animation.

2nd Logo (October 2, 2010-February 15, 2013)

Nicknames: "The O Kid II", "Yellow O II"

Logo: It's a CGI remake of the first logo, but the black background and the color dots in the "mation" text are now white.

Variant: An extended 6-second version exists on the Omation Tour video, a promo for Omation itself.

FX/SFX: All CGI animation using Autodesk Maya.

Music/Sounds: Same as the last logo, but sped-up and reduced. The extended version uses the full audio.

Availability: Seen on Planet Sheen. The extended version is only seen on the Omation Tour video on Vimeo and YouTube.

Editor's Note: Many see this as a poor effort to recreate the previous logo in CGI.