Votes
0
Product:
Cartoon Animator 4
Version:
4.0
Status:
Active
Issue 6019
My impression
Hello! You had a link to send you feedback and although I had to go through lots of hoops and loops to get here, this is a feedback, also meant to give you some ideas (hopefully)
I am a professional editorial cartoonist, something which I have been working with for soon to become 30 years. From time to time I have been trying out animation, but so far I haven't found what I am looking for; a very intuitive 2D animation software, with which you can jump right in and start animating and learn as you go.
One of the first programmes I bought was one by Toon Boom. After a while they even contacted me to get my opinions on a new software they were developing, which ended up being their Essentials package. I guess the reason why they wanted my input was because I had expressed my frustration with the learning curve. I have to admit, I am a sucker for intuitive programs:)
One of the things I discovered with Toon Boom was that it is built upon traditional cel animation, working in a studio with an array of cameras and what not, something which is good enough and certainly a boon for people with a background from it, but if you come from a computer and just want to create an animation because you know you're damned good at drawing, then all the terms and processes and what not, is very obscure. What I would want to see first of all, is a timeline, like you see in a video editor. In that timeline there should be frames. Into those frames I can place my content, let us say a very simple face to begin with.
Then it should be as easy as a pie to drag that face around, for instance, creating an animation. The programme would do the dirty work for me.
Or, if I would want to do so, I could add drawing by drawing. Then it would of course be perfect if I could draw on my iPad Pro.

So, I read about Cartoon Animator and decide to give the trial a try.
I open it and I don't see any timeline. It is hidden. Not that skeuomorphism is the solution alway, but a little colour and depth to the GUI wouldn't have hurt me, at least. Now it is like I am looking into some boring spreadsheet an accountant has fallen asleep across.

Ah, and the installation process? I downloaded Cubase and ProTools the other day, just to try them out. Where do you learn to complicate simple stuff? Everything in one package with one installer, thank you.

But here is what I suggest; make a more delicate and welcome GUI. Show the timeline. Add an opening example. A simple animation people can play around with, in order to discover the basic. After all, the earliest examples of animation, is a bundle of paper sheets which one flicks through so the drawing on them comes alive.
Why not open with that?
Of course, the pros can skip that an dive right into it.

But then there should be a studio, like. A room or a space, which would make good use of the processor speeds we have to day. In that room we can see everything laid out in space and time. The background is like a background on a theater stage. Then one places the different elements. A tree here, a rock there. A little house. Clouds. And people.

All of this one grabs from the storage and drops it onto the stage. One will of course have the possibility to create one's own object and store them.
When the stage is set, one goes back to View Mode to have a look at it. And from there one startes to animate. Move people around. Go into details, like lip syncing etc. Planning the scenes.

I don't know, but something along those lines. Something welcoming, lustful, colourful, easy, intuitive.

As it is I will have a look at some videos and tutorials to see if I will give it a spin or just save me the money and the headache. So far I haven't seen the animation software I am dreaming of, but my vision is becoming a little clearer at least.
OS: Mac OS 10.14
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Submitted bywilf53_242339
1
COMMENTS (1)
evelineheston
This is an interesting opinion I have to say. I think that there are some issues that need to be improved and topics like this one help a lot. Why did you choose MAC?
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