Creating Children’s Television with Cartoon Animator 4

Christopher Meyer-White

Based in the heart of Bristol – Qu Studios and owner Christopher Meyer-White have set out to create versatile spaces for filmmakers.

With a long standing background in children’s media, Chris’ achievements demonstrate how Cartoon Animator 4 can help creative minds develop successful large projects for commercial purpose.

Cartoon Animator 4 has proven itself a valuable tool in Chris’ production, allowing him to develop broadcast quality 2D animation without the need for excessive work time, thanks to its smooth work flow and wide range of professional tools. In his interview with Reallusion, Chris shares insights into his work and his passion for 2D animation

“A flawless pipeline from Photoshop to Cartoon Animator 4 that makes character creating fun, easy and enjoyable””
Chris Meyer-White / 2D Cartoon Animator

Hi Chris, welcome! Please share with us your background and tell us about the work you’re doing with Cartoon Animator?

My background is in children’s content, marketing and distribution in the UK, and over the past couple of years I’ve been working on a number of pilots for potential broadcast, and also working on re-booting a much loved children’s brand from the UK.

Unfortunately I can’t reveal what it is just yet as I’m under a non-disclosure agreement, but all I can say is that it will be a brilliant series.

Why did you choose Cartoon Animator as the platform to create your content?

Although I’ve always had a passion for animation, character design and story telling, my main downfall was that I can’t really animate. I’ve used other software and I could never get to grips with the process, however, as I used to use iClone for 3D (which I LOVE) – about 4 years ago I saw an advert on Facebook advertising CrazyTalk. It was priced well, in fact I did think it looked a bit too good to be true as the process looked straight forward. I took the punt, purchased it and have loved it ever since – so easy to use. The pipeline is great and software which any animator with relatively little experience of animating could easily pick up and use. Later CrazyTalk Animator evolved into Cartoon Animator.

What’s your favorite genre or theme to work with?

My favorite style, animation wise is 2D animation (so Cartoon Animator 4 is perfect) – the genre and themes I like working with are pre-school and educational (mostly because they are the types of shows I’ve managed and marketed in the past, so have a good understanding of the target audience).

Do you find the process of creating characters and content for Cartoon Animator easy and enjoyable?

Absolutely, Reallusion have really nailed the process – the templates for Cartoon Animator are a brilliant starting point for anyone to create their characters, the layout is really straightforward, which in turn makes it fun to design, you can also have a fully animated character within minutes (depending on the level of design).

When I started to use Cartoon Animator and they introduced the 360 head rotations, this was a real bonus as it gave me the opportunity to breath more life into the characters, a little head turn goes a long way (dreadful reference to the Exorcist). So, in short, flawless pipeline from Photoshop to Cartoon Animator 4, which in turn makes character creating fun, easy and enjoyable.

What advantages do you find Cartoon Animator gives you?

Ease of use and speed – other software can take so long to rig the characters and animate – for me that takes the enjoyment out of the process. What Cartoon Animator 4 gives me is speed, maybe I’m a little impatient, but what I love is that you can design a character and have it animating in a matter of minutes, and also the render time is very fast too. I also love the way you can swap out images to add more fine tuned mouth expressions. It’s all these little things that, for me, really make Cartoon Animator 4 the go-to software for animation. I absolutely love it.

What advice would you have for inspiring developers looking to break in to the Reallusion Marketplace and sell their content?

Do it. Simple as that really. Managing Facebook groups over the years I’ve seen people share their characters, get feedback, grow in confidence and are now selling their characters and content on the store which is really lovely to see. This is something that I’ve also looked into doing in the past, and something I will do at some point this year.

Do you have plans for future content in the works?

I do have a couple of characters I’m looking to develop for the marketplace, which I will hopefully have uploaded at some point this year, however, what I’m concentrating on at the moment is getting a couple of animated pilot concepts off the ground, as soon as I can share more about all of this with you, I will do. But, regarding content, I do indeed have plans to create content.