Make phone animation with this software application

Quite a number of people ranging from kids, youth to maybe some adults have developed some kind of love for motion graphics but children love it the most. This perception is taken from a certain perspective in relation to current trends and likes of people. We can find these motion graphics or animations in games, movies, advertisements and social media creations. Animation is one aspect of Graphic Design that has made it largely in some countries and because of this people want to learn it and also express their ideas as it is an avenue to create and share your ideas to the world. 

Despite the insatiable desire a person might have to learn this, it takes a lot of time and activities to complete an animation work but the process has not remained the same as it used to be. At first, a whole lot of drawings must be done and in some cases many drawings have to still be done especially in a 2D animation series. Even though the whole process in general is demanding, I came across a mobile application that creates a very nice animation if not all that you would want it to be too, it has a lot of tools to create nice rhythm movement of characters though it is a mobile app. Nevertheless, it is not the simple app you think can do everything you want but it has got a lot of things to offer.

What is this application?

Well, I think it is a kind of like a rare app though but I came across it in one of my expeditions. A job offer was given that required the creation of characters to be used in a mobile cartooning app and the recommended app was Chroma Toons App.

In this application, there a number of backgrounds available to choose from for your short animations and even different characters to choose from and there are diverse movements you can select to affect a character's movement. Some of the movements are talk, jump, run, walking holding prop etc.

Now this app is a kind of like an Indian app so the characters too have a kind of Indian ones so I will take you through simple steps to add your own custom characters into the app. The characters that you add as custom  ones must be in PNG format and you have a myriad of applications to choose from for the character creation from desktop to mobile ones. The software used for the character shown in this article is Adobe Illustrator. Be not surprised that Microsoft Word can be used to create a character. It all depends on your creative instincts and knowledge of the tools available for your use.

A custom character created in Adobe Illustrator

Steps

• Download chroma toons app

Interface of app when it is opened

• Click 'Let's Start' button and application opens. A warning pops up about Rec Type 1 or Rec Type 2 settings. Select one depending on the one that shows app below the app icon on your phone.

• Click the round button with a figure inside located at the left hand side of the interface above the settings icon. Click on any character numbered from 1-4 and select 'Import custom' then enter the character name. Proceed by checking the ''From drive' box and then you have the option to select any custom character you have created.

• Immediately a character (PNG format) is selected, it shows and begins to perform the default actions.

• At the top right of every character is a + sign inside a pink circle. Click to change the movements you want a character to perform.

This application is such that it has a special way in which the characters have to be created in order for it to function the right way. After creating a character, a split version of that same character has to be created and that is what you import.

Check this sample......

Split character

Shown above is a sample of how a fully made custom character has to be split and saved in png before importing into chroma toons app. This is how the software works to enable the character perform different kind of actions assigned to it. When a sample like this is imported, the application joins the parts to form a whole character like the one you have made before the split. In performing any action, the parts joined together are able to perform the actions because there is a level of flexibility in the character.

Get the app here and try it out.

Animation requires a bit of careful attention to details and planning but with something like this you will learn a lot to get yourself established in the basics for great achievements in the future.

Check this articles that throw more hints on illustrating specific ideas ..

Guide to drawing and illustration

Illustrating a house

Quick things to know before trying to venture into illustration

Get to love the desire and inspiration for it.

Be ready to put in the hardwork and the determination.

Never be afraid to fail because failures at times are the steps to success. 

Be enthusiastic about drawing and I mean trying many drawings if you can just to experiment with the styles and ideas that will work out well.

Always be ready to learn.