Squirt

Squirt was a New Zealand children's television show, produced in Dunedin. It had been aired since 1996 and on two different TV networks, coming to a close on 25 November 2006. Squirt was aired every Saturday morning, originally from 7am to 9am, then from 8:30am to 10am, eventually running from 8:30am to 9am for only 30 minutes. In the original time, many cartoons were aired, such as Cow & Chicken, Batman of the Future and Earthworm Jim just to name a few. There were also weekly competitions, and many informational segments such as "Out There!" and "Astounding Squirt Facts". It was notable for Dunedin based production company TaylorMade, and Animation Research Limited's pioneering use of "live" motion capture, used in the 3D animation of the digital co-host Spike The Penguin. A performer was off camera in a special costume, making all the moves and vocal responses to the main host's comments, which played back in real time on a monitor for the crew, while all the motion was digitally recorded, which could then be applied to a fully rendered Spike, and composited into shot in post-production, ready for broadcast.