Reallusion's Cartoon Animator 4 used to feature vector images more prominently for character and prop creation back when it was launched as CrazyTalk Animator 2 . So much so that they built into the application a Render Styles system that made it easy to recolor vector images if you took the extra steps to create vector color groupings for G2 vector characters and props. Unfortunately G2 Vector characters weren't the success story Reallusion hoped for, proving to be too difficult for the average user to make, and they also required Adobe Flash (now Animate CC) for which many users weren't willing to invest in a subscription. Since then  CrazyTalk Animator 3 , and now Cartoon Animator 4 , have focused more on high resolution bitmaps to create quality characters and props, however the Render Styles system and support for vector images still remains. Reallusion Not Interested in SVG Support? The only vector file supported by Cartoon Animator is Adobe's SWF format which i

One of the most recent additions to Reallusion's Cartoon Animator was the introduction of G3-360 Character Heads.  If you're not familiar with them it's a character head where all the component sprites are 2D images but, when rigged, they give the illusion of a 3D head - one that can turn from side to side or up and down simply by moving the sprites in a coordinated way. The heads themselves look really great but give the impression that they must be complicated to rig however, my latest tutorial,  How to Rig G3 and G3-360 Character Heads in Cartoon Animator , demonstrates that you really only need to rig four main angles to create a fully functioning G3-360 character head. This tutorial is the third and final in my Character Rigging Series for Beginners that includes: The Fastest Way to Rig a Character in Cartoon Animator - The One Sprite Method . Three Ways to Improve the One Sprite Character Rig in Cartoon Animator . Fortunately you don't need to have completed eith

If you've purchased my previous tutorial, The Fastest Way to Rig a Character in Cartoon Animator , you'll know that, while the one sprite character rig is relatively quick and easy, it does come with some limitations. The three main ones being: Limbs that have an elastic, noodle-like, quality that causes distortion at the joints when bending.   Very limited ability to have the character limbs overlap since all are on the same layer.   Bone hands that can't be flipped for the full range of front and back poses. To overcome these issues I have created a new, step by step tutorial that will take your G3 character rigging skills to the next level. Three Ways to Improve Your One Sprite Character Rig , shows you how to create layered character rigs and bone hands with a full range of motion, all using the same 'one sprite' you used in your original rig. All these improvements could be completed in 2-3 hours. Maybe even faster once you know the process. You will need to do

After creating my previous tutorial How to Create Cartoon Caricature Faces from Photos Using Krita , I wanted to create a complimentary tutorial showing how to rig those faces for animation in an application that is equally easy to learn simply by following a step by step guide. Reallusion's CrazyTalk 8 is a highly under rated application for creating talking head style animations. For example if you wanted to create an animated vlogger character CT8 will let you do that extremely quickly, with auto-animations, and auto lip sync. While it excels at animating 2D talking head characters (created from photos and your own artwork) one of its most unique features is the ability to create 3D Human style character heads from photos. Incredibly you have so much control over modelling every aspect of the face and head that the software really lends itself to creating 3D caricature style heads. Learn how to rig heads like these in CrazyTalk 8.    CrazyTalk 8 is a legacy product that will n

I was looking around online for an app that can 'cartoonify' a photo of a person, kind of hoping for a 'one click' solution. There are a few out there but none worth highlighting. Then I came across a video tutorial by Pixivu for Cartoonifying faces in Photoshop and wondered if I could do something similar in the free, open source drawing app, Krita ? While Krita isn't quite as elegant as Photoshop it does have some comparable features that make it very easy to create cartoon caricature faces from photos that you could use as illustrations or in your animations. They're particularly useful for using as Morph Based character heads in Cartoon Animator 4 (as shown below). Example Caricature Faces use as morph character heads in Cartoon Animator 4. While the actual steps to create heads like those shown above (and, yes, that character on the right is based on a photo of me that I snapped on my webcam) is not something you're just going to stumble across yourse

One of the biggest hurdles for beginner animators, new to Reallusion's Cartoon Animator Studio , is learning how to rig their own character designs from scratch. While Reallusion has worked very hard to make the process easier it still can seem complex and overwhelming, particularly now that CA's flagship, G3-360 character rigs are being adapted to work with live motion capture and pre-animated 3D motion files. Fortunately, by combining some of CA4's newest features (G3-360 body rigs and Bone hands) with one of its oldest (Morph-based heads), newcomers can get into animating their own character quickly and easily. The Lazy Animator tutorial, The Fastest Way to Rig a Character in Cartoon Animator , uses just one custom character sprite, and takes, around an hour or so (once you're familiar with the process) to rig a relatively simple, but still quite versatile character. The course is presented as a 19 page PDF document, with just two steps per page and clear diagrammati