Google launches Toontastic 3D cartoon-making app following Launchpad Toys acquisition

Google today is announcing the launch of a new app called Toontastic 3D for both Android and iOS. The app amounts to a considerable expansion of the Toontastic iOS app kids could use to make cartoon-style video content.

The launch comes almost two years after Launchpad Toys, the startup behind Toontastic, announced that it had been acquired by Google “to create even more amazing creativity tools for kids.”

Sure enough, that’s happened. Toontastic is now cross-platform, and it also allows its users to work in 3D rather than just 2D.

This comes after Microsoft introduced the Paint 3D app, which people of all ages can use.

“With Toontastic 3D, kids can draw, animate, and narrate their own adventures, news stories, school reports, and anything else they might dream up,” Google product manager Thushan Amarasiriwardena wrote in a blog post. “All they need to do is move characters around on the screen and tell their story. It’s like a digital puppet theater … but with enormous interactive 3D worlds, dozens of customizable characters, 3D drawing tools, and an idea lab with sample stories to inspire new creations.”