The first complete 2D animation system for live performance and motion capture is now a reality, thanks to Reallusion: the company announced the release of 2D Motion LIVE for Cartoon Animator.

Reallusion launched in May 2019 its Cartoon Animator 4 and Facial Mocap Plug-in, designed to simplify and fasten the whole animation production. The company said, then, that the software is more than a character animator, it is a total 2D animation toolbox that can turn images into animated characters, generate lip-sync animation from audio, accomplish 3D parallax scenes, produce 2D visual effects, access content resources, and wield a comprehensive Photoshop pipeline to rapidly customize and create characters.

Introducing the Facial Mocap Plug-in for Cartoon Animator 4, Reallusion noted that “anyone can animate character with their facial performances via webcams or an iPhone TrueDepth camera to track expressions with head and eyes movements, and natural body animations driven by head position. This solution is designed for virtual production, performance capture, live TV shows and streaming web broadcasting.”

Now the company takes another step forward, with the release of Cartoon Animator 4.2 and 2D Motion LIVE, the first complete 2D animation system for live performance and motion capture.  2D Motion Live, a new plugin for Cartoon Animator is a unique 2D mocap solution that connects industry-leading motion capture devices to control characters and live digital puppets inside Cartoon Animator for a total face, body and hand solution with real-time animation.  2D Motion Live brings characters to the stage as live performances with a fast production workflow for character setup, motion capture and editing.

Full-body mocap scenarios

Traditional keyframe animation is revolutionized with efficiency and speed through Cartoon Animator 2D Motion LIVE, a complete 2D character animation pipeline from creating custom rigged-characters, bringing characters to life with mocap devices, and animation with timeline editing.

The  2D Motion LIVE synchronous data streaming design freely allows users to combine different mocap devices to suit upper-body to full-body mocap scenarios.  Select the iPhone or Webcam for 3D-like facial performance. Use Leap Motion Controller for finger and arm movement or suit up with Perception Neuron mocap devices to enable full-body motion capture, puppeteering, and live actor performance.

Add real-time productivity to the 2D animation process with quick iteration and collaboration through the 2D Motion LIVE animation workflow.  Get feedback fast and deliver animations faster with real-time character motion capture.

A workflow revolution for 2D animation

“Motion capture for 2D character animation is a true breakthrough.  Now creating full-body 2D mocap or even unique hand puppets is a workflow revolution for 2D animation work. Reallusion is democratizing the 2D animation world with software that is affordable enough for any creator or studio to innovate their workflow“ said Marissa Ginger Tontaveetong, Executive director, Asifa-South.

“Cartoon Animator 4 is a game-changer for any content creator looking to simplify their animation workflow. It’s absolutely incredible! Using our Perception Neuron mocap suits to capture body movements, even complex 2D characters can be manipulated in real-time with ease. And with Perception Neuron’s point-to-point remote broadcasting tool, it can be done from home, or to and from anywhere remotely. This almost makes creating 2D animated cartoons like child’s play!”  added Roch Nakajima, President of Noitom International.

The application breakthroughs for animators

• Fast Production
• LIVE Animation
• Interactive Events

Powerful features

• Perform to animate
• Synchronous multi-device motion capture
• iPhone and webcam face tracking
• Runtime posture adjustment and correction
• Foot Stabilization and Floor Contact
• Finger tracking and Whole Arm IK
• Multi-pass recording
• Sample motion for reeditig – 80% mocap 20% fine tune

No version for Mac users

The new 2D Motion Live 1.1 for Cartoon Animator (CTA) represents Reallusion’s effort to revolutionize the 2D animation industry through an integrated face, hand and body mocap solution. However, the company is not offering the solution for Mac, and explains users the reason Mac is excluded from Motion LIVE 2D 1.1 is because “the motion capture device manufacturers like Xsens, Perception Neuron, Rokoko, Optitrack, Leap Motion and others DO NOT provide Mac compatible devices. Unfortunately, as a software developer  we can not break through the limitations set by hardware at this time. But rest assured that Reallusion will provide options once these hardware limitations are overcome.“

Reallusion adds that, however, “Mac users can enjoy the new ‘Bone Hand’ feature which contains over 200 natural hand gestures to select to create smooth hand moves instantly. Furthermore, it also allows you to create 2D by keyframeing each and every single bone of a hand. Finally, ‘Bone Hand’ is the ground where our hand mocap stands. Once the mocap devices are Mac ready, you can start right away.”