Cartoon Animator 4 (formerly CrazyTalk Animator) is a 2D animation tool designed to allow users to create professional animations easily. Users can apply motion effects to static images, turn videos of human faces into animated avatars, etc.
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Krita
Score 9.5 out of 10
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Krita is a professional free and open source painting program, available under the GPLv3 license. An art tool, it aims to support users with:
-concept art
-texture and matte painters
-illustrations and comics
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.
Krita is well suited for digital painting and drawing. It has a wide variety of brushes and tools that allow for a lot of flexibility and control when creating artwork. Krita is also good for creating textures and patterns. It has a wide variety of filters that can be applied to images to create interesting effects. Krita is also good for retouching photos and for creating digital illustrations.
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.
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.
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.
I will not compare it with Adobe of Affinity Photo. This is more for photo editing and is a paid tool. The better comparison would be PaintTool SAI (still a paid one.) Krita and PaintTool SAI are both digital painting applications. Krita is free and open source, while PaintTool SAI is a paid application. Both applications have their strengths and weaknesses. Krita has a wide variety of features, including support for layers, filters, and brushes. It also has a wide selection of brush presets, and users can create their brushes. Krita is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. PaintTool SAI is a simpler application with fewer features than Krita. It does not support layers or filters and has a more limited selection of brushes. However, it is faster and more lightweight than Krita. PaintTool SAI is available only for Windows. So even for a free tool, Krita would win in my book.
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.
Its low cost and wide range of features make it an excellent value for the money.
Its ease of use means that even non-artists can produce high-quality art assets. This has saved me time and money in producing assets for my games, resulting in a higher return on investment.
