Easy Animation Apps For Mac
This app is only available on the App Store for iOS devices.
Mar 21, 2016 - The Mac has long been a premier platform for many artists, and these six apps from the Mac App Store are powerful tools for creating all kinds.
Description
Create Amazing Custom Animations Quickly!
With Crayola Easy Animator, you can easily create custom animated videos using your own character designs! Use in-app characters, or design your own on an Easy Animator Coloring Page and scan it with the app using your device’s camera. Your design becomes a 3D character on screen! Choose cool moves for your character, create custom backgrounds, record your own voice and sounds! You can also playback your video and save your creation.
If you have the Crayola Easy Animation Studio, place your mobile device on the included stand and position the posable mannequin in front of your device. Move the mannequin into a series of poses. Your on-screen character mimics the mannequin's position and the app captures the action. Easy Animator creates additional animation in between your captured poses for full, smooth motion! Your favorite poses can also be saved and applied to any character, allowing you to create custom animated videos with unlimited creative possibilities!
FEATURES
• Design your own character from scratch using one of ten different templates!
• Includes custom-built, high-quality animation sequences such as: Breakdance, Back Flip, Golf Drive, Air Spin, and many more!
• Create custom colored backgrounds with one of six designs or take a custom photo.
• Record your own voice, sound effects and music to complete your custom video creation.
• The Easy Animation Studio retail package includes:
o Fully articulated and posable Mannequin that allows you to create custom poses and animations. Using Smooth Action Technology, only a few mannequin poses are needed to create a smooth, fully rendered animation.
o Custom Design Booklet with characters & backgrounds, Twistable Colored Pencils, Mannequin & Device Stands.
o For more information visit: www.Crayola.com/EasyAnimaton
HONORS
• Popular Science : Best of Toy Fair 2015
• Techlicious: Best of Toy Fair 2015
How To Get Started
• Download the free Easy Animator app and print out the free page for the front and back of your character
• Color your character, then capture within the app
• If you do not have Crayola Easy Animation Studio, begin animating by simply choosing one of the many pre-built animation clips and sequence them together to build your full animation creation!
• If you have Easy Animation Studio, position the mannequin in front of the device (in stand) and begin posing the ‘start’ and ‘stop’ positions of your animation. Tap the capture button to add a pose to the timeline. The app fills in the rest!
• Visit Crayola.com to find out more
• Check your device's compatibility, How to Animate! instructions, and watch a demo video at www.Crayola.com/AppCheck
Please Note:
• An Internet connection is required to use all of the features of this app
• This app only works with Easy Animator Coloring Pages
For more information, go to www.Crayola.com/EasyAnimation
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Ratings and Reviews
Inefficient app
Generally speaking, the app does what it claims. However, it needs significant work to be more efficient. The app lacks the ability to go back in the animation development process, thus forcing the user to have to recreate their production from step one. Additionally, the product doesn't allow you to save it until the end of the production process. Should the app freeze or malfunction, the user loses any product created up to that point. Finally, it would appear that their are other character or posing options available when using this app with an iPad, but the app doesn't allow the user to scroll past the existing options on the screen to choose them.
Bottom line: great initiative but poorly designed app. Parents and children alike may quickly lose patience and banish this tool to the app wasteland we all accrue in today's digital age.
This works with exceptions
Easy Animation Apps For Mac Computer
The Crayola Easy Animator does work. We scanned the drawing my grandson colored, selected as well as created a background and then took individual photos of each model pose. Animation is a frame by frame process so you cannot create moves by continuously moving the model as if it's being videotaped. That said, after creating 30 individual frames, we selected the animation moves at the bottom of the screen. After that, it created a great animated clip. Where this product falls short is when you purchase the Avengers coloring book. It does not react to the camera scan which I believe is due to the difference in the background design behind the coloring book characters. The book that came with the manny model has a web-like background where the Avengers book I just ordered has artistic backgrounds which, I believe, the app does not recognize, thus, no scan button is activated on the device. I've looked to see if the Avengers book has it's own app.
Fix This Crayola!
We echo the same problem as many, many other customers that the camera function for scanning your pages does not work. Black screen. We did try to do the tutorials as someone suggested but we can’t because that involves scanning a page and ...black screen. We tried it on two different devices and encountered the same problem. My daughter spent over an hour designing her scene and her character and now can’t do anything with it. The pre-loaded app functions are cute but the excitement for her was that she could see her own designs come to life. No such luck. It looks like people have been complaining about this in App Store for two years. Are you planning of fixing this? So bummed that my daughter can’t enjoy her birthday present.
Information
Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Supports
Family Sharing
With Family Sharing set up, up to six family members can use this app.
The number and variety of 3D software packages on the market is staggering, but many of the top applications in use by commercial film, gaming, and effects studios cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.
It's true that most commercial applications offer time-limited free trials or abbreviated learning editions for students and hobbyists. If you're planning to work in the computer graphics industry one day, these are well worth exploring even if you can't afford a full license, because your skills in the commercial packages are what will ultimately land you a job.
However, plenty of free 3D software suites are out there for hobbyists, independent filmmakers who don't have the budget for expensive software, and budget-conscious freelance professionals who have found all the tools and power they need in cost-free solutions like Blender or SketchUp.
Just because the software is free doesn't necessarily make it any less valuable. This list isn't exhaustive. There are dozens of other free 3D tools available beyond those mentioned here. However, these are the strongest of the bunch.
Blender
What We Like
Interface vastly improved over early versions.
Great for video games and animation.
Nearly on par with expensive professional 3D modeling programs.
What We Don't Like
Less useful in designing architecture and objects like furniture.
Heavy use of shortcuts to execute commands can be daunting for new users learning the software.
Blender is easily the most versatile entry on this list, and in many regards, it compares favorably to top digital content creation tools like Cinema 4D, Maya, and 3Ds Max. To this day, it stands as one of the greatest open-source development projects ever conceived.
Blender is full-featured, offering a complete range of modeling, surfacing, sculpting, painting, animation, and rendering tools.
The software is good enough to have produced numerous impressive short films and is in use by several professional studios.
Blender was criticized early on for having a confusing interface, but don't let outdated complaints steer you away. The software was given a thorough overhaul recently and emerged with a fresh interface and a feature set that aims for parity with the best.
While you don't see Blender in any Hollywood effects pipelines where Autodesk and Houdini are deeply ingrained, Blender has steadily carved out a niche in motion graphics and visualization, similar to where Cinema 4D excels.
Pixologic Sculptris
What We Like
Makes quick editing easy.
Excellent tool for learning the art.
Users can transition to ZBrush without a difficult learning curve.
What We Don't Like
Rendering can be slow at times.
Lacks some useful tools and features found in other software.
Sculptris is a digital sculpting application similar to ZBrush or Mudbox, but with an easier learning curve. Because Sculptris uses dynamic tessellation, it is essentially geometry-independent, meaning it is an ideal learning package for someone with few or no modeling skills who wants to try his hand at sculpting. Sculptris was originally developed independently by Tomas Pettersson, but is now owned and maintained by Pixologic as a free counterpart to ZBrush. Sculptris is aimed at beginners. The website offers video tutorials and an assurance that the skills you learn in Sculptris easily translate to ZBrush.
SketchUp
What We Like
Great for architectural modeling.
Large library of models available.
What We Don't Like
Interface may be a challenge for new users to get used to.
Importing 3D models created in other programs can sometimes be a problem.
SketchUp is an intuitive and accessible modeler, originally developed by Google and now owned by Trimble. SketchUp excels at practical and architectural design and probably has more in common with a CAD package than traditional surface modelers like Maya and Max.
Like Blender, SketchUp has been amazingly well received and has gradually carved out a niche with professionals in the visualization field due to its ease of use and speed.
The software has little in the way of organic modeling tools, but if your primary interest is in architectural modeling, SketchUp is an excellent starting point. You begin by drawing lines and shapes and then stretch and copy them to make whatever you like. You don't have to draw everything, though. SketchUp offers an enormous library of free 3D models to get you started — search the 3D Warehouse for what you need.
Wings 3D
What We Like
Good tool for learning 3D modeling basics.
Supports many other 3D file formats.
What We Don't Like
Doesn't offer features beyond the basics.
No animations.
Wings is a straightforward open-source subdivision surface modeler, which means it has similar modeling capabilities to Maya and Max but none of their other functions.
Because Wings uses traditional (standard) polygon modeling techniques, everything you learn here is applicable in other content-creation packages, making this an ideal starting point for anyone looking to learn how to model for animation, film, and games.
Tinkercad
What We Like
Easy-to-learn interface.
Design tools are online, no software to download.
What We Don't Like
Doesn't fare well with very complex designs.
Requires an internet connection.
Tinkercad is an impressive suite of free, lightweight 3D tools offered by Autodesk as an easy entry point into the world of 3D. Autodesk develops five different applications under the Tinkercad banner, including modeling and sculpting apps, an iPad based creature designer, and a tool to assist with fabrication and 3D printing.
In a way, Tinkercad is AutoDesk's answer to Sculptris and Sketchup and is meant to interest beginners in 3D without the tremendous learning curve of their Autodesk's flagship applications: CAD, Maya, Max, and Mudbox.
Daz Studio
What We Like
Includes lots of props and models to use.
Strong in animation, image, and film creation tasks.
What We Don't Like
Animation Software For Mac Free
Limited sculpting, modeling, and surfacing tools.
Easier to create new models in other 3D software and import for use.
Daz Studio is an image creation tool that comes with a wealth of characters, props, creatures, and buildings that you can arrange and animate to create still images or short films. The software is primarily meant for users who want to create 3D images or films without the overhead of creating all their models and textures by hand.
The software's animation and rendering toolset is fairly robust, and in the right hands, users can create impressive shots. However, without a full range of modeling, surfacing, or sculpting tools built in, your content can become limited unless you're willing to buy 3D assets in the Daz marketplace or create them yourself with a third-party modeling package.
Still, it's a great piece of software for people who just want to jump in and create a 3D image or film without a whole lot of overhead.
Mandelbulb 3D
What We Like
Create impressive fractal objects and scenes.
Can play around with formulas to see what you get.
The website offers downloadable examples to experiment with.
What We Don't Like
Takes some time to acclimate to this software.
Interface is overwhelming at first and not as intuitive as other 3D software.
If you're interested in fractals, Mandelbulb 3D should be right up your alley. The application certainly takes some getting used to, but the result is stellar once you know what you're doing. The 3D fractal environment includes color, lighting, specularity, depth-of-field, and shadow and flow effects used to generate amazing fractal objects. If the concept of fractals is Greek to you, visit the featured artists' section of the Mandelbulb website to see the types of things you can do with this software.
Autodesk Software (Free but Limited)
What We Like
Free top-tier 3D design software if used only non-commercially.
Powerful and feature-rich software tools that are industry standards.
What We Don't Like
Steep learning curve when starting to use these complex software packages.
Software can have hefty system requirements and be resource intensive.
Autodesk offers virtually its entire software line free for non-commercial use to 'students and community members.' However, you don't have to be enrolled in a school to download them. If you want to work in the industry eventually, knowing Autodesk software is a valuable skill, so this is a highly recommended path. The only limitation is that you can't use any of the software in commercial projects. Among the educational downloads are 3DS Max, Maya, Inventor Professional, and AutoCAD.
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