This question is not meant to offend or troll.

I'm curious if CTA 3 can produce a finished animated product? When I say that, I mean I've not seen many examples of what looks to be  professional looking shorts or animated productions that one would see in the main stream. I realize it takes several products working in conjunction to produce a finished product using CTA3. Most of what I see on the boards seem limited in animation capability when compared to other platforms such as Toonboom, Flash, Maya or other animation platforms. I'm aware that all have their pros and cons. I just know that after purchasing CTA3 plus additional content including power packs etc. and having to bring in Photoshop, illustrator and the like to develop a project only to see what appears to be an engine with limited production capabilities makes me wonder if I made the right choice. I will admit that I am new to this platform and probably have not unearthed the secrets that make CTA shine, but that said most of the finished examples I see appear to limited in production value.

Once again not trying to start a fight.

Thanks

Hey MS12. The best answer I could give is that CTA is ideal for creating individual clips or camera cuts, which then can be saved and linked together in your favourite video editing software and finished off with soundtracks, effects etc. I wouldnt attempt to create a complete 'movie' inside CTA. Hope this helps. If I can be more help, email me at garrypye@bigpond.net.au

Have a great day


Garry Pye
www.facebook.com/garrypyeanimations?ref=bookmarks

Just about every professional animation application is intended to be a scene editor and/or sequence editor. They're not intended to be used in isolation. You do need other software such as video editors, Artwork creation applications, audio software etc. Some studios include drawing and paint tools as well as plenty of visual effects tools and limited audio capability - Two that I have direct experience of are Toon Boom and Moho Pro (Formally Anime Studio Pro). What's common to both is that they're exceptionally difficult to learn and take even longer to learn proficiently.

CTA3 is much easier to learn and has some of the features of more advanced animation tools along with a few tools completely unique to CTA3 that speed up the animation process considerably. It can certainly be used to create professional animation. You just don't see as many examples because, compared to other applications it's still relatively new and hasn't yet made an impact within professional working environments (though I'm sure there are professionals using it).

Personally, I prefer CTA3 over Toon Boom and Moho because it's just more fun to use and gives you easy access to a lot of ready made content that you can play around with in between projects. I've been toying with the idea of creating an animation with CTA3 that looks as good as anything you'd find as a Saturday morning cartoon, and blogging the process, just because there aren't that many professional examples where people will own up to using CTA3.





- TET
Animation and Video Life
The Lazy Animator - Tutorials for Cartoon Animator

etourist, you should do that (create a "full" animation/cartoon) with CTA3 and blog the process. I'd love to watch/read. I once tried to recreate a one minute section of an Archer episode. It took absolutely ages and the end result wasn't great. What the process did do was teach me what is and is not possible with CTA3.

I'm thinking about it but, as you say, it's a lot of work to take on. I'd be looking to do something original rather than a recreation of an existing animated show.

Technically, animating something like Archer should be possible with CTA3 (with exception to the 3D models they use for vehicles etc.). Would require a bit of reverse engineering given you don't have access to the original artwork and character models like the show does.




- TET
Animation and Video Life
The Lazy Animator - Tutorials for Cartoon Animator