Hi,
I am new to both Cartoon animator (Pipeline) software as well as this forum.
I am still in a state of confusion as what works and what doesn't with CTA 4.
A few quick queries:
1. Is breaking a character into so called sprite is the only way to animate it? Is there any other easier way to animate an image in a picture (not a standalone png image)?
2. If sprite is the only answer, do I need to have artistic skills to make them?
3. Why importing a MP4 file is not straightforward in CTA 4? It always gives me codec error message. I don't want to convert everything into larger AVI files if possible.
I will be grateful if someone directs me to youtube clips (if any) that has/have very succinct answers to above queries. I tried looking for ones myself, but ended up with myriads of them and didn't know which ones are really worth watching.
cheers

There are two types of character you can use in CTA4. One is Sprite based characters but you can also create Morph based characters (from photos). You also have the option of creating standard characters based on the G3 bone structure, or you can animate any photo or drawing by creating a Free Bone character.


If you don't have artistic skills you can use existing character images or drawings and convert them into CTA4 characters.


Importing MP4 videos won't normally work without installing a codec pack first like the K-Lite pack (easily found with a search). I personally don't like codec packs so I prefer to convert videos to WMV or AVI which will normally work without any problems.


Please take a look at our CTA4 Tutorials page below. There you will find numerous tutorials including how to create morph based and Free Bone characters.

https://www.reallusion.com/cartoon-animator/tutorial.html


                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Thanks a lot Peter. Will do.
BTW, I have 3 more quick (?) question:
1. How do I animate lower limbs of a person who is wearing one piece long robe from top to bottom or say the lower half has one piece cloth like the Indian sarees?
2. Do G3 characters have a real side view as well or the same character turns a little bit sideways with side animation keys?
3. Can the animation cover fingers and toes movements or just the hand as one unit?
As before will appreciate link to relevant (youtube) clips. 
cheers

When you are designing a character with a long dress or skirt you normally do it by adding a part of the skirt to each leg as well as the main part on the hip sprite. This way when you have leg movement such as walking it will just appear as though the dress or skirt is stretching. Please see the image below to get the idea.

75% of original size (was 667x19) - Click to enlarge


You will find most full bodied CTA4 G3 characters come with both front and side views. You can then switch between the angles as required for your scene. It is important to remember you are working in 2D with CTA4 and not 3D like in iClone. With 3D you can rotate a full 360 degrees but with 2D you are working with images so the views are fixed. However we do use techniques in CTA4 to simulate 3D to a certain extent such as the new 360 heads, but it isn't true 3D.


The standard G3 characters that come with CTA4 do not have individual fingers that can be animated. However, each character has a number of different hand sprites that can be switched to when animating your characters using the Sprite Editor. This allows you to choose different fixed hand gestures.


                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Thanks for the detailed reply Peter.
I think this should solve my problem.
cheers

Hi Peter,
1. I am finding handling kids images very difficult.
When I try to enlarge them by zooming or resizing them, so that I can manipulate the limbs or head, things get all messed up because the  kids image size started playing up and I couldn't restore it back to normal without resetting everything.
How can I handle smaller images by enlarging them first for key frame animation and then restore them back to their original size smoothly?
2. I have full set of mouth (lips) images in eps format. How do I convert that for Cartoon animator use as sprites?
3. If shape/size of any sprite is changed using sprite editor, would that become a permanent change? If say, in future if I press "reset all" (on sprite editor) in order to get rid of changes that I may have made on a day after a month, would that only reset changes made on this particular day or every single change made thus far would be rest?
If so, do you advise using photoshop for the changes to be retained permanently?

cheers

You shouldn't need to actually adjust the size of the character to make edits. Just use the camera zoom tool (Z) in preview mode and this will not set keyframes. It is only when you have camera record mode active that keyframes will be set on the timeline. Using the zoom tool you should be able to make edits such as using the 2D Motion Key Editor.


You will need to convert/save these to standard raster formats like PNG, JPG  or BMP. How you do this will depend on the image software you are using.


If you add or replace sprites using the Sprite Editor in Composer mode, then these will be retained if you save the character or prop. If you delete the character, prop or project then your changes will be lost. Any size changes to sprites in a project will be retained in the project if saved but will not be retained otherwise.



                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Thanks Peter for the succinct reply.
1. BTW, I posted a question further to your reply re characters wearing long gowns or Indian style sarees etc. My additional query was that that method is alright as long as the character is walking/standing. But how to solve the problem with sitting down?