The Lazy Animator Beginner's Guide to Cartoon Animator - The Fastest Way to Learn Reallusion's 2D Animation Software Application

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Everything you'll learn still applies
to Cartoon Animator 5!.

The Lazy Animator Beginner's Guide to Cartoon Animator

Is the Fastest Way to Learn Reallusion's 2D Animation Software Application. Just three and a half hours consisting of 21 of video tutorials that take you from zero knowledge to Advanced Animator with no projects to follow or tests to complete. Click to learn more...

However if you're determined to learn Cartoon Animator the way I did, from all the official free video tutorials, I have your back. Below I've sorted all 137 offical video tutorials into a learning order that makes sense. Just start at the top and work your way through all 28 and a half hours of video spread across three generations of the software (versions 3, 4, and 5).

Learn Cartoon Animator Free Using Reallusion's 137 Official YouTube Video Tutorials Sorted Into a Logical Learning Order

While Reallusion's Cartoon Animator is one of the easiest 2D animation studios to get up and running with quickly, learning it from all of the official, free, video tutorials can be more overwhelming than helpful. To make your learning easier I've collected together all of the essential, official, free video tutorials and sorted them into a learning order that makes sense.

All the amazing features shown in Cartoon Animator 4's Trailer are present in Cartoon Animator 5

Cartoon Animator 5 introduces new features like Full Form Deformation (FFD), Spring Bones, and SVG Vector support.

Simply start at the top of the list and work your way down. In this order you'll learn the basics of animating with Cartoon Animator first, then, if you want to get into creating your own custom props characters and scenes, you'll learn all that next.

Along the way you'll learn about non essential features like animating with your webcam and motion capture that you can learn or skip depending upon your interest.

Running times for each video are approximate and rounded to the nearest minute.

Many of the tutorials videos are from earlier versions of Cartoon Animator, when it was known as CrazyTalk Animator and came in two versions 'Pro' and 'Pipeline'. Pipeline was the full featured version while Pro had some advanced features removed. Cartoon Animator 5 only comes in one 'Pipeline' version, and therefore is not missing any advanced features.

Generally earlier tutorials still apply to Cartoon Animator 5 but will refer to the old Content Manager. You'll need to familiarize yourself with the new Smart Content Manager introduced in Cartoon Animator 5 in order to find where some content is now located.

Some content, templates, or project files used in the various official videos (particularly in earlier versions of the software) may no longer be available.

Good luck with your learning. This is basically the best way to learn Cartoon Animator completely for free... even if it isn't the quickest.

Start Here

Each link below will take you to the corresponding video on Reallusion's YouTube Channel and will open in a new window. If you already have Cartoon Animator Installed and you don't have to transfer content from an earlier version or already know how to buy and install content packs skip down to the User Interface section.

Installation

1
Reallusion Hub 5.0 Quick Guide (5 min) (Optional)
Learn the basics of the Reallusion Hub to manage all your Reallusion apps.

Transferring Your Cartoon Animator 4 Content Library to Cartoon Animator 5 (Optional) 

1
Cartoon Animator 5 - Accessing Legacy Assets from Cartoon Animator 4 (5 min) (Optional)
Update your old legacy content from previous versions into CA 5.
2
Cartoon Animator 5 Tutorial - Multi-drive & Workgroup: Custom (6 min) (Optional)
Store your custom content on multiple drives on your local machine, or share with a team via a network drive.

Content Pack Installation and Backup

1
Cartoon Animator 5 Tutorial - Effortless Trial to Buy Experience (5 min)
Test any assets you plan to purchase before you buy with trial content.
2
Cartoon Animator 5 Tutorial - Content Backup (4 min) (Optional)
(Optional for when you upgrade to a new PC)
Learn how to back up your content and tags when transferring to a new PC. Content Developers learn how to back up and transfer your Content Packs. 

User Interface

1
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Intro to UI (20 min)
Walk through of some frequently-used tools, how to import content into your scene, as well as some basics of the timeline and how to do a quick camera animation. Note that the old Content Manager has been replaced with the Smart Content Manager in Cartoon Animator 5.
2
Cartoon Animator 5 Tutorial - Getting Started with Smart Content Manager (7 min)
Learn about basic operations and new UI of the Smart Content Manager.

Getting Started

1
Cartoon Animator 5 Tutorial - Getting Started with Cartoon Animator 5 (10 min)
A brief introduction to some of the main tools to generate a simple scene with animated characters.
2
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Getting Started: My First Animated Project (24 min) (Optional) (Originally for CTA3)
Takes you through all the steps to create your first animated project.

Animation: Props

Note: While Elastic Motions are still supported by Cartoon Animator 5 they are a legacy feature that has mostly been replaced by Full Form Deformation (FFD). One of the major differences is that Elastic Motions can only be applied to props where as FFD can be applied to props and characters.

1
CrazyTalk Animator 3 - Intro to Elastic Motions (19 min)
Learn how to apply elastic motions to your props, and then completely customize them to your own needs using the Elastic Motion Editor and Motion Curve Editing.
2
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - Combining Elastic Motions (17 min)
Learn how to recreate one of the embedded projects in CTA 3 which has a simple prop being flung about amongst a bunch of text titles using Elastic Motions.
3
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - Creating Custom Elastic Motions (10 min)
Learn how to create your own dynamic elastic motions.
4
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - Reusing Prop Animations (9 min)
Learn to re-use embedded prop animations on other props.
5
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - Riding Vehicles and Animals (10 min)
Learn how to get your characters to ride vehicles and animals like horses.
6
CrazyTalk Animator 3.2 Pipeline Tutorial - Accessory Assembly & Animation (13 min)
Learn how to create and save your own custom hair accessories from props.
7
CrazyTalk Animator 3.2 Tutorial - Combined Accessory Animation (14 min)
Learn how to animate various accessories, save their motions out to an action menu, and then combine motions to use just one action menu command.

Animation: Body Animation

1
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - Basic Motion Clip Editing (14 min)
Learn how to blend motion clips together, easily copy and paste them, modify their speed, and more.
2
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - G3 Character Keyframe Animation (19 min)
Learn the basics of the 2D Motion Key Editor. Topics include using the Motion Key Editor to customize library motions, creating motions from scratch, and using the curve editor and bone stretching to create a more emphasized animation.

Inverse Kinetics (IK) Animation

1
Cartoon Animator 4, Smart IK Motion Retargeting Tutorial - Intro to Motion Types (14 min)
This basic tutorial introduces you to the concepts of front and side facing motions. Learn two different ways to make your character walk across the screen using transform position changes and bone pivot motions.
2
Cartoon Animator 4, Smart IK Animation Tutorial - End Effectors for Biped Characters Part 1 (15 min)
Learn the basics of end effectors for biped humanoid characters. From basic UI to the constraint types and what they do.
3
Cartoon Animator 4, Smart IK Animation Tutorial - End Effectors for Non biped Characters Part 2 (10 min)
Learn how to use end effectors for quadruped and other non-human characters like bats, horses, and more.
4
Cartoon Animator 4, Smart IK Animation Tutorial - Intro to End Effectors for 2D Motions (17 min)
Learn the basics of "End Effectors" and some of the basics of keyframe animation using the 2D Motion Key Editor.
5
Cartoon Animator 4, Smart IK Animation Tutorial - Creating Dynamic 2D Motions (17 min)
Use a number of different tools and animation techniques to recreate some basic exercise animations. Learn how to save and add these motions to your character's Action Menu.
6
Cartoon Animator 4, Smart IK Animation Tutorial - Animations with Prop Interaction (17 min)
Learn how to use end effectors, constraints and linking in order to create natural movements that allow your characters to interact with on-screen animated props.
7
Cartoon Animator 4, Smart IK Motion Retargeting Tutorial - Intro to Motion Retargeting (19 min)
Learn how to use Motion Bones in Cartoon Animator to retarget motions correctly to characters with any scale or proportion.

3D Motion Convertor Animation

1
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Intro to Embedded Content (6 min)
Learn about 3D Motion Link and how you can use the 2D Motion Key Editor to customize 3D motions to your own specifications. Learn about aligning motions to get the best result.
2
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Getting Started with 3D Motion Converter (6 min)
Apply 3D motions to your G3 characters. Learn the basic workflow converting 3D motions so they can be applied to your 2D G3 characters. Learn about how to save motions and find other motion resources.
3
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - 3D Motion Converter: Camera Projection (6 min)
This tutorial focuses on the Camera Projection feature used to refine the angle appearance of characters when animated using 3D motions that may turn or twist. Learn how to lock the projection camera to the hip, use the Body Flip feature, camera tracking, and how to convert transform to root motions.
4
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - 3D Motion Converter: 2D Body & Hand (4 min)
Learn how to correctly adjust for body offset and how to display the correct hand gesture when converting 3D motions for use for Cartoon Animator 4.
5
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - 3D Motion Converter: Fine-tuning & Multi-angle Motion (10 min)
Learn about various ways in which you can refine and adjust the result of a 3D animation applied to your 2D character. Explore camera projection angles, layer editing, sprite replacement, hand flipping, and how to use the 2D Motion Key Editor to adjust animation for motion offset. 

Motion Link Plugin for iClone (optional)

1
Motion Link Plug-in Tutorial - Getting Started (6 min) (Optional)
The Motion Link plug-in for iClone provides a real-time link from iClone which allows you to stream 3D motions directly onto a 2D character in Cartoon Animator. Learn the basics and how to get it set up between iClone and Cartoon Animator.
2
Motion Link Plug-in Tutorial - Camera Projection & Motion Alternatives (5 min) (Optional)
Learn how to optimize your animation on G3 characters in Cartoon Animator by adjusting the camera projection angle to fit your motion. Learn about features like camera tracking and using Lock to Hip to correct and refine motions applied to your 2D character.
3
Motion Link Plug-in Tutorial - Edit 3D Motion & Multi Actor Animation (5 min) (Optional)
Learn how to use the motion editing tools in iClone to refine and edit your animation results in Cartoon Animator including features like the Edit Motion Layer Tool, the Motion Puppet Tool, and finally how you can animate multiple characters in a scene.

Free Form Deformation (FFD) Animation

1
Cartoon Animator 5 Tutorial - Getting Started with Free-form Deformation (6 min)
Learn the basics of the Free Form Deformation tool, and how you can use it to utilize traditional animation concepts such as squash and stretch applied to characters and props.
2
Cartoon Animator 5 - Squash & Stretch with FFD Motion (6 min)
This quick tutorial will introduce you to the basics of FFD and how you can edit them to add your own touch.

Motion Capture Animation (Optional)

(This Section is Optional and requires you purchase the Motion LIVE 2D plugin)

1
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Getting Started with 2D Mocap Animation (9 min)
Get started with 2D motion capture in Cartoon Animator. Learn the basic settings for connecting and previewing for face, body, and hand capture.

Webcam (and iPhone)

1
Cartoon Animator 4 Facial Mocap Tutorial - Getting Started with Motion LIVE 2D (Face Mocap) (11 min)
Learn how to quickly setup Motion LIVE 2D for webcam to do facial motion capture.
2
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - 2D Facial Mocap - Quick Guide for Motion LIVE 2D Part 1 (3 min)
Setting up your character with the correct motion profile and calibrating your character's zero poses.
3
Cartoon Animator 4 Facial Mocap Tutorial - Head Driven Body Movements Part 2 (8 min)
Learn how to use head movements to drive body motions, and detailed setup instruction.
4
Cartoon Animator 4 Webcam Tutorial - Audio Recording and Real-time Lip Syncing Part 3 (12 min)
Learn how to do audio recording along with real-time lip-syncing also adjustment and finally data re-use ability.
5
Cartoon Animator 4 Facial Mocap Tutorial - Profiles and Strength Editing for Facial Mocap Part 4 (10 min)
Learn how to select Character Profiles for different angles and types of characters and use Strength Editing to optimize the performances.
6
Cartoon Animator 4 Facial Mocap Tutorial - Customize Your Own Sprite based Expressions Part 5 (12 min)
Learn how to customize your own sprite based expressions through facial mapping and sprite adjustment.
7
Cartoon Animator 4 Facial Mocap Tutorial - Create Facial Animations with Webcam Part 6 (10 min)
Learn how to use the facial motion capture feature to create facial animation through any webcam.
8
Cartoon Animator 4 Facial Mocap Tutorial - Creating Virtual YouTuber with OBS Part 7 (9 min)
Learn how to create your own virtual YouTuber.

iPhone

1
Cartoon Animator 4 Facial Mocap Tutorial - Basic Workflow to Start Live Animation (iPhone) Part 1 (10 min)
Learn how to connect your iPhone with Cartoon Animator through Wi-Fi or hotspot, then go through the process of motion capturing along with recording the animation, and quickly editing it inside the Timeline.
2
Cartoon Animator 4 Facial Mocap Tutorial - Character Profiles Editing (iPhone) Part 2 (12 min)
Learn how to adjust the Strength Settings for specific facial features, and how to choose the correct Face Profile for Sprite Front-facing and Sprite Side-facing characters, along with Morph Based characters.
3
Cartoon Animator 4 Facial Mocap Tutorial - Customize your Sprite-based Expressions (iPhone) Part 3 (11 min)
Learn how to do facial mapping and custom character feature adjustment through sprite changes and Free Form Deformation (FFD).
4
Cartoon Animator 4 Facial Mocap Tutorial - Create Facial Animation and Motion Clip (iPhone) Part 4 (10 min)
Learn how to create your own facial animations to create motion clips and later do blending with additional facial features on top.
5
Cartoon Animator 4 Facial Mocap Tutorial - Audio Recording and Lip-syncing Adjustment (iPhone) Part 5 (12 min)
Learn how to do audio recording along with lip-syncing adjustment and finally data re-use ability.

Leap Motion Controller (Hand Mocap)

1
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Getting Started with the Leap Motion Controller Part 1 (9 min)
Utilize motion capture on both your character's arms and hands using the Leap Motion controller! Learn how to set up this inexpensive hand motion capture device, and capture dynamic 2D finger, hand, and arm animation using different control modes, profiles, and presets.
2
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Advanced Leap Motion Controller Setup Part 2 (21 min)
Learn the more advanced features for doing motion capture with your character using the Leap Motion controller, in addition to different scenarios in which you would use these techniques.

Perception Neuron Controller

1
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Connect to Perception Neuron (3 min)
Learn how to set up and connect the Perception Neuron gear profile in Cartoon Animator, as well as a couple of useful tips and tricks for making sure your character has the proper results in-program.
2
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Mocap Settings for the Body Profile (7 min)
Utilize full-body motion capture with the Perception Neuron device and apply it to your on-screen 2D avatars in real-time! Learn the complete setup process for your Noitom device in Cartoon Animator, and then learn a number of important settings to be aware of before you capture any motion.

Rokoko Controller

1
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Connect to Rokoko (5 min)
Learn how to use Rokoko's motion capture tools, Smartsuit Pro and Smartgloves, with Motion LIVE plugin in Cartoon Animator.

Optimizing Mocap Animation

1
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Optimizing Mocap Animation (11 min)
Explore a variety of different ways in which you can utilize the motion tools in Cartoon Animator to refine your mocap animation once it's captured. This tutorial uses motions captured using Perception Neuron Studio.

Animation: Bone Hands

1
Cartoon Animator 4, Tutorial - Hand Pose Key Editor - Intro to Hand Bones (11 min)
An introduction to bone hands, and how you can use the Hand Pose Editor to quickly and easily generate more realistic and flexible hand movements. Learn how to convert the sprite-based hands of your old characters to bone hands.
2
Cartoon Animator 4, Tutorial - Hand Pose Key Editor - 2D Finger Animation (18 min)
Learn the basics of how to animate bone-enabled hands with the Hand Pose Editor, as well as how to save and export them for use on other characters.

Animation: Face Animation

1
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - Face Key Editing Basics (16 min)
Learn how to use the Face Key Editor. This tutorial introduces you to the various ways you can use it, and how it can be incorporated into your facial animation workflow.
2
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - Face Puppet Basics (16 min)
Learn the basics of the Face Puppet tool, one of the quickest and most powerful ways to animate your character expressions. Quickly and easily blend between facial expressions in real-time according to your mouse movement.
3
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - Lip Sync Basics (9 min)
Use your own voice, an audio file, or even text to speech in order to give your character something to say and generate automatic lip syncing. Learn how to manually refine your results, and a couple of other quick tips along the way.
4
Cartoon Character Maker - Facial Animation for 2D Cartoon Heads | Intro to G3-360 Heads (12 min)
This tutorial introduces you to the 360 Head feature with Cartoon Animator. Learn about what these heads are and how you can use them.
5
Cartoon Animator 4, 360 Head Animation Tutorial - Face Key Editor Enhancements (21 min)
Learn all about the basics of the Face Key Editor including many features that allow you more detailed control over the frame by frame animation of your character.

Exporting Your Animation

Exporting to Photoshop (For Illustrative Projects)

1
CrazyTalk Animator 3.2 Pipeline Tutorial - Exporting Props & Scenes to Photoshop (11 min)
CrazyTalk Animator props and scenes can be used for a lot more than just animation! Learn how you can export props or even entire scenes into PSD format so you can edit them in Photoshop for integration into any of your graphic design projects.
2
CrazyTalk Animator 3.2 Pipeline Tutorial - Exporting Characters with Poses & Expressions (8 min)
Learn how you can use CrazyTalk Animator's motion tools to create a custom pose. Then export your character into PSD format to incorporate into another project, such as a poster, or any other commercial or educational project.

Exporting to After Effects

1
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Install CTA Script in After Effects Part 1 (2 min)
Export your entire project to Adobe After Effects in order to utilize a huge variety of effects and visual tools to enhance your project. Learn how to get the Cartoon Animator script for Adobe After Effects installed and up and running.
2
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Export CTA Project to After Effects Part 2 (5 min)
Learn how to export your Cartoon Animator Project to After Effects. Find out the structure and items included in the export. Learn how to add additional objects into your After Effects composition by updating the project from Cartoon Animator 4.
3
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Enhance Your CTA Project in After Effects Part 3 (6 min)
Learn how to apply a couple of really cool effects to your scene in After Effects to add a much more polished and professional finish.  

Exporting to Other Applications

Cartoon Animator supports both transparent video (MOV) and image sequence (PNG) export, while providing useful features such as exporting selected items for fast video compositing, Fit-to-Object-Size output for optimized video editing, and much more. This allows video makers to easily add visual effects to animated items, along with compositing 2D animation with video on all major video editors.

1
Cartoon Animator 4.5 Tutorial - Export Transparent Videos by Object - Hit Film (6 min)
Learn about how you can quickly and easily export transparent video of individual objects from Cartoon Animator, and then composite them into a Hit Film project.
2
Cartoon Animator 4.5 Tutorial - Export Transparent Videos by Layer - Premiere (6 min)
Learn how you can use the Isolate Selection command to quickly and easily export individual video layers, and then combine them with different effects in Premiere for a polished final product.
3
Cartoon Animator 4.5 Tutorial - Export Transparent Videos to iClone (6 min)
Learn how you can utilize Reallusion's popVideo format in order to composite transparent video into any scene, whether it's 2D or 3D.
4
Export Transparent Video Clips for Video Compositing with Cartoon Animator for Video Makers - DaVinci Resolve (6min)
Learn how you can export individual objects from Cartoon Animator and then composite them into your projects using DaVinci Resolve for the best overall result.
5
Cartoon Animator 4.5 Tutorial - Composite Video Objects with a 2D Scene using Movavi (4 min)
Learn how to export both static and video layers from Cartoon Animator, assembling and compositing them in Movavi, and then refining and adding special effects to each layer.
6
How to Create 2D Character Animation in Blender 3D Environment? | Cartoon Animator Tutorial (10 min)
Cartoon Animator allows users to take their projects into Blender to take advantage of the 3D environment there as well as the plethora of tools that allow you to enhance the visual quality and flexibility in a variety of ways. Learn how you can adjust the materials of your objects to create glow effects, and also to extrude 2D planes to generate 3D props.
7
Cartoon Animator 4.5 Tutorial - Normal Map & Lighting Enhancement in Blender (8 min)
Learn about a unique workflow that utilizes both Photopea and Blender in order to significantly enhance the visual appeal of your Cartoon Animator project. Learn how to assemble and animate a scene in Cartoon Animator within minutes, and then export it layer by layer. Photopea will be used to create normal maps from key background elements to enhance their depth in the 3D program Blender. Finally, assemble everything in Blender, utilize the normal maps to enhance the scene, and add simple lighting and camerawork to create the mood.

Prop/Scene Creation

Prop Creation

1
CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 Pipeline Tutorial - Create a Prop with Hierarchy (17 min)
Learn how to create props from scratch and how to add animation to your prop.
2
CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 Pipeline Tutorial - Create your first Compound Prop (15 min)
Learn how to create your first compound prop with the PSD pipeline workflow. A compound prop is collection of individual elements such as sprites and images to form a complete whole with animations allocated to each element.

Scene Creation

1
Cartoon Animator 4, Draw to Animate Tutorial - Setup Your Favorite PSD Editor as Content Creator (8 min)
Learn how to setup your favorite PSD editor as the default editor for Cartoon Animator and how to sync the two for easy editing and updating.
2
Cartoon Animator 4, Draw to Animate Tutorial - Create Parallax Scene with PSD Image Layers (15 min)
Learn how to import an entire scene from Photoshop into Cartoon Animator along with some of the basics of prop manipulation, how to animate the camera, and use elastic motions.
3
Cartoon Animator 4, Draw to Animate Tutorial - Create Animatable Scene Elements from PSD Layers (11 min)
Learn about how to use naming conventions for your layers and folders in Photoshop to define how your props are imported into Cartoon Animator.

Character and Prop Customization

Raster Color Adjustment and Stylizing

1
CrazyTalk Animator 3.2 Pipeline Tutorial - Changing G3 Color Style in Photoshop (17 min)
Learn how to launch your G3 character into Photoshop, and use various techniques to change the color and other properties using the exported PSD file.
2
CrazyTalk Animator 3.2 Pipeline Tutorial - Stylizing G3 Characters in Photoshop (5 min)
There are a ton of cool ways that you can stylize your character in Photoshop. This tutorial demonstrates just a couple of examples of cool yet simple effects you can achieve. 

Vector Color Adjustment

1
Cartoon Animator 5 Tutorial - Vector Objects Color Adjustments (5 min)
With SVG format compatibility, easily adjust the colors of your content in Cartoon Animator by using the SVG Color Adjustment and SVG Grouping tools. These make it easy to quickly generate completely different styles of characters with just a few simple tweaks. Learn the basics of how you can adjust the colors of your vector-based characters using these tools.

Character Creation (G3-PSD-Raster/G3-SVG-Vector)

1
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Intro to CTA Character Types (18 min)
Learn about all the different types of characters, from G1 & G2 all the way up to the intuitive and useful G3 free bone characters.

Character Composer

1
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Intro to Character Composer (17 min)
A general introduction to the Character Composer demonstrating the basics of all the tools within. Learn how to customize the structure of your character's bones and sprites, test them out, and also export sprites to external image-editing software for customization.

Layer Manager

1
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - Intro to Layer Manager (19 min)
Learn about the Layer Manager with a walkthrough of all the various ways that you can manipulate and customize your character, including creating new layers, customizing the bone structure, masking out parts of your image map, and much more.

Body (G3-PSD)

1
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Creating a Character with the G3 Spine Template (10 min)
CrazyTalk Animator includes a selection of useful bone templates you can use as a base for creating custom characters. The simplest of these is the G3 Spine Template, which can be used as the bone structure for the most basic characters. Learn how to easily import in your own single sprite as the mesh for this simple bone structure, and then animate it all within a few minutes.
2
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - Creating a Simple Free Bone Character (20 min)
Learn how to create and assign a custom bone structure to your character's mesh, and how that affects your character's movement. Learn the basics of the Bone Editor, and how to master it to create unique and useful bone structures to animate all different types of characters.
3
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - Character Masking (11 min)
Masking is a very important concept to learn when creating your own custom characters. Use this tool in a variety of ways such as making limbs disappear, or when you want to separate certain parts of your single mesh from each other into separate sprite layers. Learn the basics of the masking tool, and the various ways that you can use it, particularly for avoiding the issue of your character's head morphing along with the shoulder and chest bones.
4
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - Creating Multi-Sprite Free Bone Characters (18 min)
Learn how to take a single character image from any source like Shutterstock or even your own drawings and create separate animateable limbs from a single image by separating them into different sprite layers. Learn how you can mask out different parts of the body to create limbs that you can manipulate individually without affecting the other body parts.
5
CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 Pipeline Tutorial - Basic Free Bone Character Creation (16 min)
Learn how to create your own G3 free bone character in two different ways. Create your own G3 characters with the connect bone tool which helps you understand the bone structure of G3 free bone character better.
6
Cartoon Animator 4, Smart IK Animation Tutorial - End Effectors for Custom and FreeBone Actors (19 min)
Learn how to add "End Effectors" for custom and free bone rigs to initiate realistic motions.
7
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Character Creation with G3 [Human] Template (14 min)
Learn how much we've streamlined the character creation process from previous versions. Learn how to adjust the bone and sprite values for your new character to get ideal results.
8
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - Creating a G3 Character in Illustrator (7 min) (Optional)
IMPORTANT: This tutorial is how to make a G3-PSD character using Adobe Illustrator and was released prior to Cartoon Animator 5's support of SVG vector files.
We walk you through the process of deconstructing the G3 Character PSD template, assembling and organizing your characters body parts in Adobe Illustrator, and finally importing the PSD file directly into CrazyTalk Animator all ready for animation! 

Morph-based Heads (raster)

1
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Morph-based Heads for Free Bone Actors (15 min)
Learn to create a morph-based head from a single image of a full-bodied character. Animate everything from your pet to your favorite painting, and bring life to their body by setting them up with a simple bone structure as well! Learn all about how to set up a simple free-bone structure on a picture of a dog, then mask out the head separately for a completely separate morph-based head. 

G3 Heads (Raster/PSD)

1
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - Quick G3 Face Customization (11 min)
Learn the absolute basics about the Content Manager, Sprite Library, and simple ways to customize your G3 character's facial features and do some quick adjustments to the way that they animate in the Facial Puppet Editor.
2
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - G3 Head Creation for Any Character (17 min)
CrazyTalk Animator 3 introduced the new G2+ head type, which allows for the morphing and stretching of vector-based facial features to create a much smoother, dynamic, and flowing result for facial animation. Learn the process of how to create your very own G2+ heads using both embedded sprites as well as your own custom imported images. You'll also get a brief introduction to the Facial Animation Setup, and how you can use it to modify your facial animation results.
3
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - G3 Face Animation Setup (17 min)
G3 characters have unique vector.-based facial animation capabilities that are a marked improvement from previous generations of characters. In addition to sprite-switching, you can now morph the facial features of G3 character's faces for more enhanced facial animation. Learn how to set up how the facial features animate on your character. This is all fully customizable thanks to the Face Animation Setup tool.
4
CrazyTalk Animator 3 Tutorial - Applying a Talking Head to Any Object (11 min)
CrazyTalk Animator is full of talking heads for characters, but have you ever thought about bringing a regular old object to life by giving it a face and a voice? Learn the easy steps to applying a talking head to any object in your scene with a bone structure, whether it be a ribbon or a box. Personify your inanimate props and bring an unconventional world to life!

Create Full Custom Standard G3-PSD/Raster Characters Tutorial Series (Optional)

1
CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 Pipeline Tutorial - Single Image Character Creation (10 min)
Learn how to create your own G3 free bone character from scratch.
2
CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 Pipeline Tutorial - Add Talking Head to Free Bone Character (18 min)
Learn how to add a head to a G3 Free Bone character using two methods.
3
CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 Pipeline Tutorial - Animate a Character from 6 Body Parts (9 min)
Learn how easy it is to customize and animate a 2D character. After 6 sprite-based body parts – head, torso, legs and arms are created, you then use the CTA3 PSD template for structural instructions on how to create an instantly animatable PSD character.
4
CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 Pipeline Tutorial - Create Standard G3 Character (10 Body Parts) (11 min)
Learn how to create and animate 2D characters from 10 PSD layers.
5
CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 Pipeline Tutorial - Add Full Set of Animatable Hand Gestures (7 min)
Learn how to create a full set of hand gestures for G3 characters in Photoshop or PSD compatible tools. Learn the number of the sprites needed, how to add hand sprites onto your PSD characters, how to flip hand sprites for the opposite side, and the importance of the order sequence of folders.
6
CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 Pipeline Tutorial - Add Facial Animation with Facial Library (9 min)
Learn a quick solution for adding animatable facial parts to your G3 characters. Instead of creating facial features one by one, you can add ready-made facial parts.
7
CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 Pipeline Tutorial - Create Your Own Animated Facial Features Part 1 (12 min)
Learn how to create your own animated facial features for your G3 characters.
8
CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 Pipeline Tutorial - Create Your Own Animated Facial Features Part 2 (10 min)
Part 2 of how to create your own animated facial features tutorial. Learn the techniques needed to add complete sprites for both eyes and mouth.
9
CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 Pipeline Tutorial - Creating High-Resolution Facial Features (9 min)
Learn how to create high-resolution facial features for your PSD characters.
10
CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 Pipeline Tutorial - Designing A Fully Functional Masked Eyes (13 min)
Take a deeper look into the facial animation process. Learn how to design and animate a fully functional masked eye for your PSD characters. 

G3-360 Heads (Raster/PSD) Part 1

1
Cartoon Animator 4, 360 Head Tutorial - Basics of 360 Head Creation Part 1 (15 min)
Learn the basics of how to set up a 360 degree head using 2 separate methods, a quick and easy 4-directional setup as well as more detailed procedure dealing with manual transform, deform, and perspective.
2
Cartoon Animator 4, 360 Head Tutorial - Multi-angle Sprites for 360 Heads Part 2 (15 min)
This tutorial introduces you to the concept of sprite changes at different angle profiles for your characters. Learn how easy it is to replace sprites on your character's face, and most importantly the difference between sprite changes and transform changes.
3
Cartoon Animator 4, 360 Head Tutorial - Adding Multiple Facial Components Part 3 (17 min)
This tutorial is a follow-up from the Multi-angle Sprites on 360 heads video that introduced you to the steps required to add sprites at various angle profiles to your character's head. This video takes it to the next step, by showing you how you can add unlimited facial components to your character's face. You'll also learn about how to manipulate the layers and masking of different facial features to simulate the appearance of a true 360 degree head!
4
Cartoon Animator 4, 360 Head Tutorial - PSD Pipeline, Adding Unlimited Sprites Part 4 (20 min)
This tutorial is an advanced follow-up from the Multi-angle Sprites on 360 heads video that introduced the steps required to add sprites at various angle profiles to your character's head. This video shows you how you can add unlimited facial components to your character's face with the PSD import and export features.
5
Cartoon Animator 4, 360 Head Tutorial - PSD Pipeline, Realistic Facial Feature Composition Part 5 (18 min)
This tutorial is an advanced follow-up from the Adding Unlimited Sprites with PSD Pipeline video that introduced the steps required to add sprites at various angle profiles to your character's head through PSD pipeline. Learn how you can customize facial features that create multi-layered features with the PSD import and export features.
6
Cartoon Animator 4, 360 Head Tutorial - PSD Pipeline, Creating and Editing Feature Masking (15 min)
This tutorial is a basic PSD Pipeline that introduces how to mask facial features on your character and add masks to your character's face.

G3-360 Heads (Raster/PSD) Part 2

1
Cartoon Animator 4, 360 Head Tutorial - Basics of Head Composition (15 min)
Learn the basics of the components of a standard G3 character head. You'll learn all about bones vs. sprites on the face, as well as how to replace facial features in order to customize your character's head.

2
Cartoon Animator 4, 360 Head Tutorial - Full 360 Degree Head Creation Part 1 (11 min)
Part 1 of a 2-part tutorial which demonstrates how you can use the 360 Head Creator to create a full 360 degree head. Learn how to add angle points in order to refine and adjust the position of your character's head at various intervals, and also how you can mirror features, set their movement weights, and adjust layers to ensure that the 360 movement is smooth and natural.
3
Cartoon Animator 4, 360 Head Tutorial - Full 360 Degree Head Creation Part 2 (11 min)
Part 2 of a 2-part tutorial which demonstrates how you can use the 360 Head Creator to create a full 360 degree head. Learn how you can use the averages tool to set an average value between two other values at a specific point in your 360 Head Creator setup. You'll also learn how to finalize the features on your 360 head to ensure the best results.
4
Cartoon Animator 4, 360 Head Tutorial - PSD Pipeline, Multi-Angle Head Sprite Setup (13 min)
This tutorial introduces you to the multi-angel sprite setup. This is how you can use sprite switching to create and emphasize depth on your characters' faces when you rotate them in the 360 degree fashion.
5
Cartoon Animator 4, 360 Head Tutorial - Intro to Smooth Expression Mode (20 min)
Smooth Expression mode allows for much more flawless and smooth 360-simulated animation of facial features. Learn how to set up Smooth Expression mode from scratch for your character's facial feature animation.
6
Cartoon Animator 4, 360 Head Tutorial - Content Pack Tutorial, Create 360 Head with 360 Hair Tool (6 min)
This pack is a G3 360 hair creation tool that includes 31 hairstyle templates, allowing you to create and animate a character's hair freely at different angles. Use the template as references to import/draw or replace with your own character’s hair components and quickly adjust to perfect G3 360 hair rotation. Learn about how to use the hair templates in order to get the best results when applying and creating hair to your 2D characters.
7
Cartoon Animator 4, 360 Head Tutorial - Content Pack, Create 360 Head with 360 Face Tool Templates (8 min)
This pack is a G3 360 head creation tool that includes 12 face templates, allowing you to create and animate a character's face freely in different angles. Use the template as references to import/draw or replace with your own character’s face components and quickly adjust for perfect G3 360 face rotation. Also, the Face Tool contains 84 ready-to-use facial components include eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and hair in various styles, which you can mix and match to create different looks. Learn how to create a 360 Head using the face templates. Simply select the right template, replace face components with our Photoshop pipeline and fine-tune in Cartoon Animator 4.

G3-360 Head Mod for G2 Characters (Optional)

1
Cartoon Animator Tutorial - G3 360 Head + G2 Body, 360 Character from Head to Toe (7 min)
Optional tutorial with no audio. If you've ever wondered if you can apply a G3-360 head to a G2 character body, this screen record video shows you how it can be achieved and how you can apply G2 motions to the character body and G3 motions to the character head. This is basically a hack and not how G2 or G3 characters were ever intended to be used.

Spring Bones (Secondary animation)

1
How to Create Animated 2D Characters & Objects with Spring Animation (8 min)
Learn the basics of how to add spring bones to your custom character’s mesh and also how you can group your bones to assign different values to each.
2
Cartoon Animator 5 Tutorial - Application of Spring Bone and Secondary Animation (7 min)
Learn some additional tips and tricks on how different spring effect settings can be utilized to generate new and creative effects on your character.

Character Accessories

1
Cartoon Animator 4 Tutorial - Attaching Accessories to a Character (14 min)
Learn how to combine accessories together to totally change the appearance of your character, or have them interact with various other props like bicycles, skateboards, horses, and more! In this tutorial, learn how you can add accessories to your character and animate them. You'll also find out how you can link one character type to another to give your character an animation-ready tail!
2
CrazyTalk Animator 3.2 Pipeline Tutorial - Adding Clothing to G3 Characters in Photoshop (14 min)
Learn about customizing the clothing of your G3 characters. A beginner's walkthrough of how to export your character in PSD format into Photoshop, add clothing layers to the groups, and then update into CTA for a brand new, fully customized character!
3
CrazyTalk Animator 3.2 Pipeline Tutorial - Animated Accessory Design (17 min)
Learn how to customize your character's clothing both by adding features to particular sprites, and also by creating separate accessories via PSD files in Photoshop.  

Vector Characters (G3-SVG)

1
An introduction into Vector Art in Cartoon Animator 5 by Garry Pye (9 min)
A quick overview of Cartoon Animator 5's new object Free Form Deformation (FFD), Spring Bones, and ability to create characters using vector software.
2
Cartoon Animator 5 Tutorial - Setup Your Favorite SVG Editor as Content Creator (7 min)
Learn how to link Cartoon Animator with your favorite SVG editor. In this tutorial learn about how to quickly create a character in Adobe Illustrator and import it into Cartoon Animator. We’ll also cover importing in a scene with a few different layers as well as some simple animation.
3
Cartoon Animator 5 Tutorial - EPS Import & Animated Character Setup (7 min)
Cartoon Animator 5 lets you import vector formats which allow for unlimited zooming without blurring or distortion. Learn how you can take an EPS format character image, convert it to SVG in Photopea, then import it and set up the bone structure and spring effects for dynamic animation.
4
Cartoon Animator 5 Tutorial - Free SVG to CTA Color Adjustments (6 min)
Learn how to use the Color Adjustment Management tool to automatically group the elements of your SVG files in both Composer and Stage mode, and also take it a bit further and manually define them as well. Learn about how this feature can be used to enhance your workflow.

Quadruped Characters (Dogs, Cats, Horses)

1
CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 Pipeline Tutorial - Animate your Pets with our PSD Template (12 min)
Learn how you can quickly animate a pet illustration by using our Quadruped PSD file.

Packaging Your Custom Content for Sale in the Reallusion Marketplace (Optional)

1
Cartoon Animator 5 Tutorial - Packaging & Publishing Content Packs (7 min) (Optional)
Creating and publishing your own custom content in the Reallusion Marketplace is a great way to make some extra money by sharing your content with the Cartoon Animator community. In this video guide learn how you can quickly and easily publish your own content for sale on the Marketplace.

Congratulations!

If you made it all the way through this list, and watched every tutorial you should be a Cartoon Animator expert and power user. If you do have further questions about something that wasn't covered your next free option is to browse the online manual or join the Cartoon Animator Users Facebook group (where you'll find me answering questions) at the links below:

Cartoon Animator Online Manual Join the Cartoon Animator Users Facebook Group
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Art Time Productions is an independent Animation and Content creation studio owned by South Australian Artist, Writer, Animator, Video Producer, David Arandle A.K.A. The Extraordinary Tourist or 'TET' for short.

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