Hi Jeff,
Ok, that is what I thought. Not a problem but wanted to be sure that is the way to accomplish this task. I had been looking at some cartoonize type software but it didn't offer any more flexibility than an image software other than it was easier to adjust the filters with sliders etc. But the finished results lacked the proper result or at least not to me. Time to use a little elbow grease... :P
Thanks,
schemer

CTA itself does not have the ability to draw or create characters from scratch.
You must create the characters in another app and then load them into CTA and assemble.

Check out the many postings on YouTube on how to cartoon a picture using Photoshop.
The same techniques can be applied using almost any photo editor.

Jeff



Get my Plugin Manager and TaskNotes plugins for iClone.
Check out EZColors and Other products for CTA/CA. EZColors: the easy way to change Render Styled (RS) colors!
See my CTA Tutorials on the YouTube channel CTAStepByStep

Hi,
I am new here and new to CTA. Let me know if I missed this but is there a way to "cartoonize" a photo in the software or what is a recommended software that does this well? I love the using of photo's but also like the idea that I could "cartoonize" or make a "caricature" of my photo for added effect. Or does anybody have a tutorial on how I would do this with PSP or any plugins for PSP that might assist?
Thanks,
schemer

I saw few Cartoon Solution Characters online. They look pretty good and stylised. That shows a good Character development is doable. I also saw somebody posting more than 300 characters online for CTA.

In last 20-25 years I have seen people getting impatient to "animate". In 3D if they can't animate Objects / Characters properly, then they would move a camera and lo there was an animation !

They are all so eager to show their capability of animation that they forget about the character. After few years of aimless roaming they come back to the basic - Focus on the character.

It takes ONLY ONE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT and you mostly get to know all. But guys just refuse to do that.

Few things you pointed out. I would not know since I am not an CTA user. But my job is to evaluate different softwares and work on a pipeline for an efficient production. So when I look at the feature sets and few demos, I get the hang of a product, its strength and weaknesses and also the missing puzzles. Then I decide whether to buy a product to be integrated in our production or wait for future version.


I have gone through my share of frustrations. So I understand. But my suggestion as always is - "Have patience. The direct solution or an indirect one is mostly under the hood. Discover it and have fun. And instead of playing with features, do a real project. Stick on and try to finish. You will learn. Then decide if the software is for you or not."

This mostly worked for me and my team in all these years.

Not restrictive? Here's a simple test. Pull in a character, and at some point in your timeline, flip the character's head so he's looking the opposite way. Oh wait, you can't. Ok so here's another test, keyframe the character's eyes so they're looking where you want them too. Oh wait, you can't. Ok, perhaps this. Open a sprite based character in the character creator, and try to change the character's shirt color to an actual color. Oh wait, you can't. And there is a whole lot more of "oh wait, you can't" type scenarios.

I love how everyone says "just hire an artist and import the new character". First of all, not everyone can afford to hire an artist, for many this is merely a hobby not a profession so they're working solo with no budget, and for anyone who has actually imported a custom character (actual import, no the photo fitting gimmick thing) it's a tedious PITA. Having to reposition and resize every body piece. And importing the facial elements. Heck just saving and exporting each and every piece is an exercise in tediousness.

in Flash or Anime Studio Pro, I can have a fully custom character with little actual work (probably be quite ugly given my lack of graphic talent... lol). Rigged and animatible very quickly. Getting that character into CTA is going to be some mind numbing and overly repetitious click scale position over and over again for each individual piece.

I agree, CTA is good software for a ver 1. Actually, not really true. It's good software for a 0.5 version, but for a full priced version 1, it is lacking in a whole lot of areas.

I am not an CTA user. However, I think it's pretty good for a ver 1. animation software. For a basic story telling, it has enough features. The biggest feature I think is interface with Flash.

Take one character details/template and give to a good flash artist who can draw custom character as per your template and then replace the body parts and you will have your own character ready to fly.

Key is if you are an animator and story teller but not a good enough artist, then hire an artist who can draw the characters for you. A quality character drawing as per the template is all you need.

Ofcourse CTA can make use of Bone and Point animation System, Auto Character Generator, Crowd System and extensive particle system of Anime Studio, but I do not think CTA is that restrictive.

For a guy like me who used Corel draw 2.0 in early ninties to do character animations, a software like CTA could be a life saver any day. There is a lot to be appreciated in both CTA and ICLONE.

I couldn't disagree more. I've used lots of animation applications, from the very affordable Anime Studio Pro to the very high dollar ToonBoom Animate Pro and in comparison CTA is a toy. Strictly a beginners application. One that tries to make animation easy for everyone by hiding away all the real features that a real animation application should have in it. And to make matters worse, to get these any type of custom characters into the system in an exercise in tediousness and futility. As some who is claiming to be a newbie at it, I am appalled at how quickly you can judge CTA users to be so horrible, or the application to be so awesome without having any real experience with either CTA or any other application.

CTA is good software, and it has a lot of potential but it has a very very long way to go before it can be considered awesome.

I realize not everyone is talented in creating their own characters. Why not just hire a kid from High School Art Dept by talking around and pay him a few buck to draw what you want. I'm a newbie to this but I'm also an Artist. I have been morphing Photos and it is totally incredible! I have been working on a 20 minute cartoon that rivals the quality of Iclone 5. This software is so intuitive and there is so much you can do with it. I bought the package with the characters too but no matter how you change them They look like everyone elses. Being able to do cartoons and animate is what this is all about. If you are not artistic in the drawing end but love the animation end find someone to draw you original characters and stop depending on 3rd party companies. Be original. I have spent countless hours reviewing videos by fellow cartoonists here and I am appalled at the level of those who use the factory presets. 99% of CTA videos lack creativity...have terrible storylines..use the preset characters...and most of all lack originality. No passion for the art...no one takes the necessarry time to look at CTA Tutorial videos and I know this to be true because the viewing numbers are low. If you are going to do this you have to take your time and do your homework! It seems like most of the animators for CTA are creating garbage because they are rushing the process to create before learning. When I was shopping for cartoon software because I decided to commit to learning. I looked at hundreds of animation from my fellow animators and not one of them used this software to it's potential to make me want to buy. I watched the Tutorials and realized this software is totally incredible in the hands of a dedicated animator will to take the time to study. I am working on my first animation and when it is finished I will post but the quality is amazing as is the CTA software. I'm a professional Artist that sells paintings all over the world so putting scenes and characters together is not a problem for me. As an animator you have to know your weak spots. Collaborate with others if you are not gifted in certain aspects. If you need a storyline listen to what people are saying in everyday life...lots of great material there. Animate your favorite life story..If you can draw get someone who can...If you love to animate step up your game and start getting serious...there is a ton of Horsepower under the hood of the CTA engine but what the heck good is it if you are using only 4 cylinders and you shut the engine off when you coast downhill!

386 Characters have been uploaded to the City Marketplace and are now available for purchase. It took me an entire year to transfer my library over from Flash to CTA. Check them out if you get the chance.

http://city.reallusion.com/store/FlashCartoonLibrary

Yes, same here.

There were a few I was interested in too.


Get my Plugin Manager and TaskNotes plugins for iClone.
Check out EZColors and Other products for CTA/CA. EZColors: the easy way to change Render Styled (RS) colors!
See my CTA Tutorials on the YouTube channel CTAStepByStep