Everything You Need To Know About Cartoon Animator 5, Available Now

Cartoon Animator 5 (CTA5) has launched with several crucial features introduced to level the playing field for amateur and professional artists alike.

In addition to overhauling rudimentary animation with the secondary motion from Spring physics, free-form deformation (FFD) makes cartoonish anticipation and exaggeration accessible to any aspiring animator. CTA5 also supports vector animation giving rise to boosted render quality with high-res output and a highly-acclaimed SVG pipeline.

Cartoon Animator is a 2d animation software designed for ease of entry and productivity. It can turn static images into animated characters, drive facial expressions with facial mocap animation, generate lip-sync animation from audio, create 3d parallax scenes, and produce 2d visual effects. Artists can access content resources and wield a comprehensive photoshop/vector pipeline to rapidly customize sprite characters and create interesting content. While implementing the most innovative workflow by synergizing industry-leading applications, 3d animation resources, and motion capture devices, Cartoon Animator brings the ultimate freedom for high-quality production.

Key Features

• Whether vector or bitmap, any image can be imported, rigged, and animated in Cartoon Animator.
• Automated secondary motion is applicable to any object and extremely easy to work with.
• 3D Head Creator transforms 2d art into 3d styled characters with 0 to 360° head turns.
• Motion Link connects iClone with CTA 2d characters to stream and converts 3d motion to 2d animation.

1) Spring Dynamics

Few things are more rewarding than watching your static 2d artwork suddenly turn into living and breathing animation. CTA’s autonomous Spring dynamics puts you in creative control without fussing over complex physics and follow-through motion. These flashy physics effects are perfectly fit to energize character and prop animation.

New Features

• Spring bones bring a secondary motion to characters so that they jiggle as they move.
• An object can have multiple Spring settings set up with different Spring groups with distinctive behavior.
• Spring physics reacts to all types of movement including simple transform keys, mouse-driven facial puppets, and live performances made by facial tracking or motion capture.
• Ten Spring presets of different material types make it easy to find the most eligible starting point for Spring animation.
• Spring attributes include bounciness, speed, gravity, and angle limitations for squash and stretch characteristics.
• A set of 14 samples and templates designed after common items work in tandem with manual rigging.

2) Free-Form Deformation

FFD can easily exaggerate motion by simply moving the bounded lattice points. With 109 FFD presets and customizable timeline keys, designers can create cartoonish effects like squash and stretch, anticipation, and exaggeration. FFD presets can be dragged and dropped onto static objects to make them come alive.

New Features

• By adding FFD to existing animated 2d characters, designers can accentuate different parts of the animated drawing by moving lattice points and adjusting intensity levels.
• FFD keys can also be exaggerated by using transition curves in the timeline or deployed with pre-made FFD templates to instantly enrich existing animation.
• 36 squash and stretch presets in the FFD Editor can give a cartoonish style to any type of animation.
• The asset library is updated with free G3 Human motion files containing adjustable FFDs.
• Multiple FFDs can be additively stacked to fine-tune exaggerations and deform with precision.
• FFDs can be dragged and dropped onto photos and vector graphics to make them come alive and emote.

3) Vector Graphics

Vector graphics support lets users import widely available SVG vector assets to CTA5; whether they are downloaded from stock image sites, or custom created with Illustrator, Coreldraw, or other compatible tools. Unlike raster images that allocate file size to store pixel data, you can zoom in and out of vector graphics and still enjoy a picture quality that is both crisp and sharp. There is no better way to build a large scene than with vector graphics that can be scrolled, zoomed, and navigated throughout.

New Features

• Vector Grouping Tool gives designers the power to define color combinations and opacity settings, letting users set color options for any vector object or sprite character and create various looks in a snap.
• Adjustable coloring for entire groups that do not break the cohesion of custom color schemes.
• Color grouping and opacity settings can swap clothing styles and even adjust cuts of clothing.
• Any visual style can be realized with the aid of spline curves, line styles, gradient fills, and vector layers.
• New tools make it easy to animate sketches, line art, fashion designs, and photo-realistic images.
• Vector graphics of various formats can be converted to SVG and imported into CTA for a variety of applications.
• Color Grouping Tool automatically bands together elements and defines associated vector groups for effortless color change.

Smart Content Manager

Smart Content Manager lets users one-click install purchased assets and free designer resources. Artists can easily search and browse personal works, upload, and download items to and from their online inventory.

New Features

• Newly purchased assets from the Content Store, ActorCore, or Marketplace automatically sync to the Smart Content Manager during checkout and are immediately accessible in CTA.
• New purchases download and install directly within the application.
• Marketplace trial assets are directly downloadable from the Smart Content Manager.
• Content of any type can be searched and filtered by category, keywords, and tags.
• Content can be found based on user-defined categories: project, genre, usage, abbreviations, and more.

Complementary Paid Assets

To fully take advantage of CTA5’s powerful new features and see what CTA5 can do, make sure to look into this new series of content releases.

• Dynamic Character Designer – Face & Dress Composer Enhanced with Spring Dynamics.
• Exaggerated Motions – Bouncy and Fluid Motions with Free-form Deformation.
• Enlivening Moves 140+ – Adding Deformations Performances to Any Object.

Learn more about Cartoon Animator 5:
2d Animation Software for Cartoon Maker | Cartoon Animator

Free for 30 days with 1,700+ ready-made content:
2d Animation Software Download | Cartoon Animator