Likelihood to Recommend We have the design team using that to create videos for our concepts in the Cyber security - Products, services and solutions as well as in AI/ML, basically everything that needs to be communicated in the best way we use Autodesk Maya for the videos thus making it more fun and easy to understand the concepts to get going.
Read full review This is a difficult question to answer. This software can be used for a hobbyist or professionals alike. On one hand, you can make fun, simple animations for things like YouTube or Facebook. However, on the other hand, you can use this tool for professional looking animations that can be used in marketing, presentations, etc. I am someone who uses the program for both - as a hobbyist and also professionally. The first time I took it upon myself to make an animation for something job-related, it impressed my colleagues so much that they bought the company their own copy of the software and encouraged me to make more. There have been numerous times where I have used the program to entice new clients. I would even take it a step further by using a potential client's logo or CEO as a character in the animation. In 2015, CrazyTalk Animator (CTA) has even helped me land a new job. I had been laid off and was out of work for a few months. I saw a job opening I was interested but had learned that the position had literally hundreds of potential applicants. Basically, I created a video using CTA of me performing the job as if I already had been offered it. I even included the company logo. In the video, I made an animation explaining why it was a good idea to hire the company. Once I finished the video I included it along with my resume. To make a long story short, I got the job.
Read full review Pros Easy to build workflow due to strong customizability. Industry share. Easy to collaborate with other companies. Strong cooperation with other software. Read full review The main pro of the entire program is that it makes animation incredibly simple. You are not required to even know how to draw. Once you grasp the gist of the software it is extremely simple to use. Another great aspect of CTA is the online community. There are a vast amount of online tutorials and an online forum for anyone who has questions. They even provide a content store in which users can sell their own content to other users. A recent update has allowed Photoshop integration. This allows even more customization of aspects of the animation you are working with. A characters mouth movements are automatically synced with voiceover audio. I felt this gave me one less thing to animate and has saved me time on more than one occasion. Read full review Cons Right now Maya has no good viewport like Blender 2.8 has. It is good that Maya 2019 devs focused on performance and stability but it's strange to see that mainstream soft aren't on trend in developing really cool and helpful tools. Maya LT is very good for artist who don't need complex FX tools. So the devs must add python API to Maya LT. Add more helpful tools to modeling section especially for retopology. Read full review Other products made by this company (Namely their 3D animation software) have a character creator. I would love to see something like this with CTA. I would like to see a bigger integration with social media. Having the ability to live broadcast a CTA character in real-time (like mo-cap) would be amazing. If this were a possibility you could live stream a video chat or Facebook live portrayed as your CTA character. Allow more in-depth settings for exporting media. Read full review Alternatives Considered Animating in Autodesk Maya is much more convenient and easier in comparison to
Blender . It's easier to use features like constrains, motion trails, and attribute editors in Autodesk Maya. Most of the time I use
Blender for modeling and Autodesk Maya for animation. Either way, I like to use both software according to my needs.
Read full review CTA was a program that got me interested in 2D animation. After about a year of using the software, I began looking for other similar products. I had come across a program called Toon Boom. This was another 2D software somewhat similar to CTA. Toon Boom is a fantastic program however the price was higher than CTA. Aside from that, learning how to use Toon Boom had a much higher learning curve. Eventually, I purchased Toon Boom and learned the program. It is definitely a powerful 2D animation platform however I always seemed to bring myself back to CTA. I felt CTA was much more simple to use. It was also easy enough for other people to contribute to my animation projects. Having to reteach my coworkers another program was not going to work for us. Not being solely responsible for animations is a huge relief.
Read full review Return on Investment Effectively able to get the designs created and visualised Video creation for concepts has become easy ROI has been good, but if the costing is brought down then its even more amazing Read full review Since my company discovered that I was an animator, they are constantly wanting me to make videos. If the company were to outsource someone to create animations like the ones I am creating, they would be extremely pricey. CTA was only a one-time purchase. I have even trained several other employees of the company how to use the software. That way, if I ever exit the company they can continue to create marketing animations without me. Read full review ScreenShots