PBS Kids Cartoon Studio (partially found online animation software featuring PBS Kids characters; 2011)
A screenshot of the website.
Status: Partially Found
PBS Kids Cartoon Studio is a program that was found on the PBS Kids site that was launched in September 2011. The site was meant for children to create their own cartoons and share them online with their friends.
The site lasted for 5 years, until the site suddenly went into "temporary maintenance" without warning in the spring of 2016, until it was later shut down for good on September 1st, 2016 which meant the program was later lost.[1]
Functions Of The Site
Users of the site were able to create characters using the "Build a Character" function, in which they are able to create characters based on Arthur and Word Girl respectfully. In order to save characters and use them in the video creator, you would need a PBS Kids Go user account.
The "Make A Cartoon" function is similar to what would be in GoAnimate/Vyond, but however you were able to fully animate them by hand rather than just dragging and dropping them. The tutorial and the functions of the video maker are narrated by Word Girl.
The last function "Watch Cartoons" allows users to watch other users' creations.
Availability
The only surviving mirror of the site can be found on r53-vip-soup, albeit with the functions of the site no longer working anymore.[2]
It is unknown if the assets of the site were saved or not, and if it will still be functional with the assets considering some of the features require the user to have a PBS Kids Go user account.
Videos of the video creator in action can be found online uploaded by various users.
The video maker can be found on FlashPoint that was uploaded on August 24, 2021 albeit missing the assets for the tutorial in which softlocks it and various thumbnails for items, and you cannot create your own custom characters; the character creator is still lost, and it wouldn't work unless someone modifies the game to allow them to save the characters without requiring an account.
The character creator can be found on r53-vip-soup.[3] However it currently doesn't work outside of a Flash Player and it will not load inside the browser, and you won't be able to use the characters inside the video maker as it requires a PBS Kids Go account in order the character to be saved.