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The Lazy Animator Beginner's Guide to Cartoon Animator - The Fastest Way to Learn Reallusion's 2D Animation Software Application
IMPORTANT: This Course is still current for Cartoon Animator 5. All principles taught are identical to the current version. The only major difference is the implementation of the new Smart Content Manager. The course now includes an additional video to explain the differences between version 4 and 5's Content Managers.
How much value do you put on your time? $10 an hour? $50 an hour? $200 an
hour, or more?
While you can learn Reallusion's Cartoon Animator 4 using free tutorials, you
can spend hours of your time looking for tutorials that don't actually address
what you're trying to learn, or worse, may not even exist.
Don't waste hours of your valuable time when you can learn all the main
animation features of Cartoon Animator,
and become a power user, fast, for just USD$49.95, without having to
navigate all the official video tutorials that don't really cover everything
in a logical order, or show how everything is connected ...not to mention how
hard it is to navigate the online manual (that no one ever reads, because it's
more a reference tool than a learning guide).
The Lazy Animator, Beginner's Guide to Cartoon Animator
is the kind of course I wish was available when I was learning the software
back in 2012. I just wanted to learn Cartoon Animator as quickly as possible
so
I could spend more time creating my own animations without getting stuck on
things I had yet to learn.
With just over three and a half hours of video tutorials The Lazy Animator
Beginner's Guide to Cartoon Animator is a crash course in all the main
features you need to know in order to make 2D animated cartoons with Cartoon
Animator.
Suited to complete beginners or even if you've already been learning
Cartoon Animator for a while.
Follow along but there are no step by step projects to complete. The course is
a structured walkthrough of all the essential features you need to know to
make amazing animations.
Designed to teach you the easiest concepts first, gradually moving up to
harder, more complex features, that you will not be intimidated by, if you
follow through all the videos in order.
There are six main video topics (with each topic section split into about
ten minute bites so you're never too far from taking a break). You'll learn
about:
Navigating the stage, Scenes, Converting Props, Saving Scenes and
Projects (1 Video).
How to animate the camera using the Timeline and Transition Curves (1
Video).
All the types of Props and how to transform, deform, and animate them
using Transitions, Transition Curves or Elastic Motions, plus where each
system creates key frames in the timeline. (3 Videos).
All the types of Characters and how to animate G3 Characters using
pre-animated motions, pre-animated root motions, and the 2D Key Motion
editor, as well as how to modify, make, and save custom motions. You'll
also learn where motion files and the 2D Key Motion editor make key
frames in the timeline and how you can apply transition curves to them.
(6 Videos).
How to make your characters talk with auto lip syncing, and how to
manually adjust the lip sync in the timeline. You'll learn how to
animate G3 character faces using the Face Puppet Editor or the Face Key
Editor. You'll learn where both systems create key frames in the
timeline and how you can apply transforms, deforms, and transition
curves to facial animations. You'll also learn about character layers
and where to find the key frames for those. (6 Videos).
Finally you'll learn how to add sound effects and music, adjust
their volume, and how to edit audio in the timeline. Then you'll learn
how to export your work as a single frame, frame sequence, transparent
video, or standard video ready to import into your preferred video
editor. (2 Videos).
As you can see, even the course outline goes from easy to progressively
harder concepts because so much thought has gone into the learning
order.
Again, I highly recommend you watch all the videos in order, at least
once, even if you think you already know the earlier stuff (those sections
are short, you'll power through them!). The order matters because later
videos assume you've seen what has been shown before. It's how I can teach
so much in such a short time.
If getting you up to advanced level with Cartoon Animator as fast as
possible wasn't enough, the course comes with a free Office scene project
that is Render Styles compatible (you'll know what that means by part 3 of
the course if you're completely new), and includes a G3-360 head, bone
hands, Office woman character that you can use in your own personal or
commercial projects.
When you're finished the course there is a PDF document with all the time
codes for what you learned in each video so you can easily find anything you
wish to revisit without having to scrub through each video trying to
remember where that information was.
Essentially this is the last beginner's course you'll ever need. It doesn't
teach you everything (how could it in just over three and a half hours) but
it goes so much further than any other beginners course.
Even advanced users might find a thing or two they haven't tried or
didn't know about.
Purchase using the 'Buy the Course' button bellow or visit The Lazy Animator
Art Time Store
to buy this course and see other Cartoon Animator tutorials that are
available.
If you purchase the course and find it delivers, please be sure to leave a
review. You'll help other complete beginners, and newbies lost in the free
tutorial video backwater, find the answers they've been looking for.
Feedback for TLA Beginner's Guide to Cartoon Animator
"Hi David, Just thought I'd let you know that I found your complete
Cartoon Animator course really, really useful! I've been using CA4 for a
while and have gone through most of the Reallusion tutorials and the
difference between those and yours was the intuitive approach you took.
Totally worked for me and taught me things which should have been
obvious (Transition curve explainer, Character layer explainer and how
to tweak easily etc etc) but other tutorials didn't cover...maybe
because they're conceived and delivered by the software techies who
assume people like me (retired social worker) will find all the nooks
and crannies on their own. Once again a BIG Thank You!"
- Gerard, Retired Social Worker.
"I'm on the first lesson and no where ever did any video tutorial I
ever watch cover what this is covering handling scenes and props--I've
been working hard and not smart. I'm delighted so far, and don't think
that will change."
"Best money I've spent so far on anything CA4, really. And I've
purchased a lot of characters and assets---all of which I love and glad
I have, but without this course I certainly wasn't using the software to
the best of its ability, nor mine. I was able to play right along with
you and learn---tempo is awesome in each video, really enjoying it."
- Renee, Creator of several Cartoon Animator shorts prior to
purchase of the course.
"I just want to say thank you David for creating this course. I’ve
watched and rewatched the first 3 videos about 5 times each and I’m
finally beginning to “get it”. Your slow and methodical pace was just
what I needed!"
"I tried watching some of the other videos and many were good but I
never was able to really connect it all together and I really think
that’s where your course really shines. In fact after finally grasping
some of the basics from your first 3 videos I looked at another video I
had tried to follow and it finally made sense to many."
"It's totally worth the money! I'm about to start on video 4 and,
even though I have used CTA before, I'm learning a lot. What I like
most about this course is how it is built up systematically and you
never feel swamped by too much information."
- Muriel Raes - Teacher.
"This was the best beginning course I have taken. I was able to do
a fun animation to I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas as I was
learning the program (and it came out so much better than I
anticipated!). I really appreciate the time and effort that went
into creating this class. I would strongly recommend it to anyone
looking to get up to speed with CA4 quickly. Thanks David!"
- Kathy Adler - New CA4 User.
"There are a lot of videos out there to help getting to grips with CA4, I have seen most of them and they all can be a bit of a task to get to grips with, mainly because the little bits of detail that we all need, seem to be missing as it is assumed we know. So I bought this package and it was very very helpful. Now those little missing bits in all those other videos start to make sense! It`s well set out and easy to follow - well worth buying"
- Steve Messruther - New CA4 User.
FAQs
Do I need to know anything about Cartoon Animator to take this course?
All you need to know is how to start the application. The course assumes
you have never used Cartoon Animator before.
I've been learning Cartoon Animator for a few months will this course be
too basic for my level?
You may have already learned some of the concepts but you will still get
excellent value from the course as it demonstrates almost every major
feature of Cartoon Animator and how everything relates back to the
timeline, where each system makes key frames in the timeline and more.
Because it doesn't start with a run down of the User Interface you won't
feel like you're repeating other beginner courses.
What makes this course better than all the free courses and tutorials?
Unlike other courses this one is very specifically organized from easiest
to hardest features and shows you more complex features earlier so you can
see how many, seemingly unrelated features share common traits. This makes
really difficult things like character and face animation seem less
complex by the time you get to them. Other courses jump around, and teach
you some basics but don't dive into advanced things like what all the
tracks on the timeline are for? Trying to learn from individual tutorials,
that may have been created by many different tutors, will leave you with a
lot of knowledge gaps.
Can I see a sample video from the course?
Yes. Scroll down to the product box below where you'll see a graphic
advertisement for the course (just above the yellow $49.95 price ticket).
The graphic is a slide presentation. Click the arrow on the right of the
graphic (when you mouse over it) to the fourth slide which is a video
tutorial about Clipping Motions taken from the course. You'll learn
something from it because I taught myself something new making this part
of the course - and I've been using Cartoon Animator since 2012 when it
was called CrazyTalk Animator Pro.
Does this course teach you how to animate like a pro?
Not really. While the course does give a few tips on how to animate, the
purpose of the course is to show you how to use Cartoon Animator to
animate the camera, props, and characters. You'll learn the features of
Cartoon Animator in the shortest possible time so you can spend more time
improving your animation skills and less time getting stuck on how Cartoon
Animator works.
Does the course teach me how to create, rig, and animate props and
characters from scratch?
No. The main goal of this course is to teach you all the essential
features of Cartoon Animator you need to know in order to animate existing
props and characters that come with the program or you've purchased in
Reallusion's Content Store or Marketplace. If you would like to learn how
to create and rig your own characters I have a beginner's tutorial.
Subscribe to the Animation and Video Life Newsletter (subscription box in
the side menu if you don't see the pop up form)
to get a coupon code for 30% off the price and to be notified of when
more courses become available along with other site updates.
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 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
