Cartoon Animator vs. Venngage

This is a difficult question to answer. This software can be used for a hobbyist or professionals alike. On one hand, you can make fun, simple animations for things like YouTube or Facebook. However, on the other hand, you can use this tool for professional looking animations that can be used in marketing, presentations, etc. I am someone who uses the program for both - as a hobbyist and also professionally. The first time I took it upon myself to make an animation for something job-related, it impressed my colleagues so much that they bought the company their own copy of the software and encouraged me to make more. There have been numerous times where I have used the program to entice new clients. I would even take it a step further by using a potential client's logo or CEO as a character in the animation. In 2015, CrazyTalk Animator (CTA) has even helped me land a new job. I had been laid off and was out of work for a few months. I saw a job opening I was interested but had learned that the position had literally hundreds of potential applicants. Basically, I created a video using CTA of me performing the job as if I already had been offered it. I even included the company logo. In the video, I made an animation explaining why it was a good idea to hire the company. Once I finished the video I included it along with my resume. To make a long story short, I got the job.

Venngage works really well for basically creating any type of standard infographic that you can see when you browse the templates. We have used it successfully to communicate retention data, strategic plan information, workflows and more. It doesn't work as well though when you try to get too fancy with it. Meaning, you want a Word Cloud taking on a specific shape or reusing certain words a specific number of times. For those things, we found that it was best to use another application and then import the work as a graphic.

Incentivized

• The main pro of the entire program is that it makes animation incredibly simple. You are not required to even know how to draw. Once you grasp the gist of the software it is extremely simple to use.
• Another great aspect of CTA is the online community. There are a vast amount of online tutorials and an online forum for anyone who has questions. They even provide a content store in which users can sell their own content to other users.
• A recent update has allowed Photoshop integration. This allows even more customization of aspects of the animation you are working with.
• A characters mouth movements are automatically synced with voiceover audio. I felt this gave me one less thing to animate and has saved me time on more than one occasion.

• Access to pictures and upload of own materials.
• Create multiple projects at the same time.
• Organizing designs by project and campaign.

Incentivized

• Other products made by this company (Namely their 3D animation software) have a character creator. I would love to see something like this with CTA.
• I would like to see a bigger integration with social media. Having the ability to live broadcast a CTA character in real-time (like mo-cap) would be amazing. If this were a possibility you could live stream a video chat or Facebook live portrayed as your CTA character.
• Allow more in-depth settings for exporting media.

• They have an AI generator, but it can only generate the design once. Any modifications should be manually done. It would be great if the AI could make specific changes instead of having it regenerate everything.
• You can't use it on a mobile phone or tablet, it would be helpful if I could use it on my tablet for work done outside my office.
• It would be great if I could delete multiple designs at once. Currently, I can only delete them one by one.

I use Venngage for a new project 1-2 times per week... I could not see using another program at this point.

Incentivized

I find it very user friendly, straight to the point, and the minor issues I found wasn't really impacting on my role. So I think it would depend? but personally I find it perfect for me. There were lots of templates I could use, and they were very open to feedback and customer service was very accommodating.

I think that the attention that I get as a small business owner from Venngage is excellent. They quickly respond to questions and provide information that helps to resolve the issue that I am having.

Incentivized

CTA was a program that got me interested in 2D animation. After about a year of using the software, I began looking for other similar products. I had come across a program called Toon Boom. This was another 2D software somewhat similar to CTA. Toon Boom is a fantastic program however the price was higher than CTA. Aside from that, learning how to use Toon Boom had a much higher learning curve. Eventually, I purchased Toon Boom and learned the program. It is definitely a powerful 2D animation platform however I always seemed to bring myself back to CTA. I felt CTA was much more simple to use. It was also easy enough for other people to contribute to my animation projects. Having to reteach my coworkers another program was not going to work for us. Not being solely responsible for animations is a huge relief.

Canva had a lot of features, which is great, but I got overwhelmed and I didn't know where to start. Adobe PhotoShop is great too, but I think it's better for more experienced editors/designers? I'm not an editor, I don't know a lot of stuff with editing, so it was difficult. I rely on my common sense mostly.

• Since my company discovered that I was an animator, they are constantly wanting me to make videos. If the company were to outsource someone to create animations like the ones I am creating, they would be extremely pricey. CTA was only a one-time purchase. I have even trained several other employees of the company how to use the software. That way, if I ever exit the company they can continue to create marketing animations without me.

• It was frustrating to be required to purchase a full month, not be able to download into PowerPoint and edit, and not be given a refund.