The “Winner Tips & Tricks ” series covers practical workflows and techniques shared by winners from the “2022 Animation At Work Contest”. To let users see the full spectrum of the Cartoon Animator pipeline, we are introducing projects that received attention and credit from the community. Let’s now take a look at “Ninja” to see how Ronny Gomez worked his magic with Reallusion Cartoon Animator (CTA).
About Ronny Gomez
Ronny Gomez is a composer and music producer specializing in music for video games and cartoons. He is also the Director of Music for PowerUp Kids and a music composer for the Cartoon Network, Sony, Google, Nickelodeon, and Hasbro, among others. His love for video games and animation has not only led him to compose music but also to learn Cartoon Animator. In 2020, his PowerUp Kids video entry: “Color by Color” won third place in the YouTuber category for the Reallusion Animation At Work contest of that year.
Why choose this entry topic?
I chose this topic because, since I was a child, I have been fascinated by classic Super Nintendo and arcade games as well as anime and cartoons. In addition to this, I have always liked traditional martial arts, so I put all of these interests together, put them in a blender, and out came “Ninja”.
Why choose Cartoon Animator?
Pre-rigged characters and facial animations are, in my opinion, the two crucial areas that CTA dominates. As a 3D animator, I can confidently say that these aforementioned facets take a lot of time in production. CTA makes the turnaround twice as fast with results that can compete with other software. User-friendliness and large, clear user interfaces are a must for me, and CTA provides it in spades.
How I did it with CTA
Step 1: Character Creation & Rigging
As for the creation of the characters, I first made some sketches on paper, then when I’m satisfied with the results, I turn them into vector drawings with Affinity Designer and mount the rigs from the templates provided by Reallusion.
Step 2: Character Customization (Facial, Hands)
First, I reused the face of one of the characters that came with Cartoon Animator. I make modifications to the eyes, face, and eyebrows. For the hands, I chose to use the ones that CTA4 comes with.
Step 3: Character Animation (Facial, Lipsync, sprite)
For the lip sync, I used the automatic function, and once ready, I manually corrected the synchronization of the details. For the sprite animation, I imported the first image of the sequence and then added the missing sprites in Composer and Sprite Editor mode. Then I animate them in the timeline.
Step 4: Scenes creation & composition
For the scenes, I was looking for something minimal, simple, and with a composition that looked cinematic.
Step 5: Camera setting
My aim was the cinematic use of cameras especially paired up with the 3D depth of the tunnel scene at the end.
Follow Ronny Gomez
YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@tikitakagames4640/featured
Join the 2023 Animation at Work Contest
This year, we are accepting new submissions from June 8th to August 13 (PST). Partnering with XP PEN, Magix, and Affinity, we have prepared a total value of $15,000 in cash and prizes! So get your entries prepared, and good luck on winning!
