Reallusion

Reallusion Cartoon Animator (Cartoon Animator 4) – Reallusion’s Cartoon Animator (previously known as CrazyTalk Animator) is a desktop software for creating 2D animations with characters. It lets users take drawn characters (your own artwork or template characters provided) and animate them through a combination of manual keyframing and mocap-like features.

A big draw of Cartoon Animator is its facial animation capability: you can import a character’s head (or full body) and, using a standard webcam along with the software’s face tracking (via an add-on), you can perform expressions and have the character mimic them in real time – essentially doing motion capture for 2D. This makes lip-sync and facial expressions much easier; you can also import an audio file and the software will automatically lip-sync the character’s mouth to that audio.

For body animation, Cartoon Animator provides a bone rigging system. Characters are rigged with pivot points (neck, arms, legs, etc.), and you can animate them by setting key poses on a timeline or by applying preset motion clips. Reallusion offers content libraries of motions – like walking cycles, clapping, jumping – which you can apply to your characters, then customize as needed. Cartoon Animator supports free-form deformation for more cartoony squash-and-stretch effects, and physics simulation for things like hair, clothing or pendulums (so they sway naturally when the character moves). Users can work with multiple characters and scenes, add props, camera zooms, and multi-angle characters (characters can have different angle views and the software can help transition between them). It’s a powerful tool yet more accessible than frame-by-frame animation, ideal for those making animated explainer videos, web series, or educational cartoons. In summary, Reallusion’s Cartoon Animator enables 2D animators to produce high-quality animations faster by combining traditional timeline editing with modern aids like webcam facial mocap and libraries of pre-made movements, all while allowing fine manual control for truly custom results.