Cartoon Animator

What is Cartoon Animator?

Cartoon Animator is a 2D puppet animation tool from Reallusion, the company behind iClone and Character Creator. It began life as CrazyTalk Animator and grew into one of the fastest ways to make an animated character without drawing every frame.

The magic is auto-rigging. You import a front-facing character image, tell the software where the joints go, and Cartoon Animator builds a bone rig you can pose immediately. Then you can apply motions from the built-in library: walks, runs, dances, reactions, even full dialogue with lip sync.

It is popular with streamers, educators and small studios because it produces a professional look quickly. The software also supports 360-degree head turns, facial animation and physics, so characters feel alive rather than like stiff cardboard cutouts.

Key Features

• Auto bone rigging for characters from any front-facing artwork
• Large built-in motion library with walk cycles, gestures and dances
• Facial animation and automatic lip sync for dialogue
• 360-degree head turns for natural character motion
• 2D physics for hair, tails and clothing
• Sprite-based characters and props you can animate freely
• Character templates plus G2 and G3 character support
• Integration with iClone for mixed 2D and 3D workflows

How to get started

Download the free trial from the Reallusion site, which gives you a working version for evaluation. Cartoon Animator runs on Windows and macOS.

The fastest path: pick a ready-made character from the Content Store, drop it on the stage, and drag a motion from the library onto the timeline. For your own art, use the character creator to import an image and auto-rig it.

• Download and install the free trial
• Choose a character from the library or import your own artwork
• Auto-rig the character with the one-click bone tool
• Drag motions and expressions onto the timeline
• Add dialogue and let lip sync do the work
• Render your scene to video

Use cases

• YouTube cartoons and animated series for small teams
• Streamer avatars and animated overlays
• E-learning and training videos with talking characters
• Explainer videos and corporate presentations
• Quick character animation for games and apps
• Social media shorts and marketing content

Pricing and licensing

Cartoon Animator is sold as a perpetual license in two editions: Pro for individual creators and Pipeline for studios that need the full production feature set. Both are one-time purchases with paid upgrades for major versions.

Extra characters, props and motions are sold through the Reallusion Content Store, which is where the total cost can climb if you are not careful. Watch for bundle deals, which frequently include characters and motions with the software. Check the official website for current pricing.

Pros and cons

Cartoon Animator is all about speed and accessibility. The motion library is enormous, auto-rigging removes the hardest skill from puppet animation, and the lip sync is genuinely good. You can go from idea to animated video in an afternoon.

The downsides: the default character style is recognizable as a Reallusion look, deep customization takes practice, and the best content lives behind the Content Store paywall. Serious studios often graduate to Moho or Toon Boom Harmony for more artistic control.

Alternatives

• Moho: deeper bone rigging and vector tools at a similar price
• Adobe Character Animator: puppeteers characters with your webcam and voice
• Live2D Cubism: industry favorite for VTuber-style models
• Toon Boom Harmony: professional studio animation
• OpenToonz: free, open source and very powerful