Hi there.
I'm currently evaluating the pipeline version. I only have 8 days left, so I thought I should ask a few questions while I can still try it:

1) How can I make a scrolling background? Imagine a street scene or a road with the character at center screen walking right. 

2) How could I animate motion is the sky, like stars winking, or an aurora borealis?

3) How could I animate snowfall in front of and behind the character?

3) I really like the way G2 characters move at a variety of angles. G2 characters are not allowed in the trial version. Are they still supported? I do not see a template for G2 characters. What is the consensus on G2 vs G3 characters?

That's just a few. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Fred

Hi Fred

1) If your background is a simple one-piece backdrop, it would be easy to animate just like a simple prop.  Go to the beginning of your scene on the timeline and position the backdrop offset to one side.  Set a Transform keyframe to lock this in.  Move the playhead along your timeline and move the backdrop to the other extreme to set a new keyframe.  Place your character in front and as you play this back, the background will scroll.

If your background is a compound set made from various different props, etc, then you'll have to animate each one individually, as above.  More work, however you could apply subtle differences to the scrolling to give a real feel for depth.  I think the technical term is differential scrolling.

3a) How realistic do you want your snow? One of the Reallusion props packs has a snow prop which contains a custom animation.  (Sorry, I've got a few packs and I'm not sure exactly which one was the source.)  Here's a quick demo against one of the 'plain' standard backgrounds and a single character.  Change the position on the Z axis (depth) to position the prop in front of or behind the characters, according to the scenic requirements.



3b) Yes, G2 characters are still supported in CTA3. There is a template you can download to allow you to develop your own G2 characters (not sure if it only becomes available to you if/once you make the purchase).  Take a look back over the forum posts - there's been some recent discussions about G2 development - it's basically Flash/Shockwave based, so not so readily available/practical as the PSD-based template for developing G3 characters from scratch.

Hope this helps some…

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Cartoon Animator 4 Pipeline (always the current production version, unless otherwise stated)
Mac mini M1, macOS Big Sur (11.6.5)
Signature data last updated 2022-05-15

Hi, you can refer this content pack, there are create in CTA3.
https://www.reallusion.com/ContentStore/CTA/Pack/G3_Props_SceneSystem/default.html