Thoughts on CACANi (Free Trial Version)

Thoughts on CACANi (Free Trial Version)

(Plus, some unorthodox methods)

So, normally, I'd make something like this into a Gissy-Log but I can't be bothered. I know I drone on and on and on and this is way I ended up getting the bloody archive pages for the Gissy-Logs. So consider this a specialize page, lol.

Anyways, I'd want to make a think where I talk about my thoughts on CANCANi. But first, a bit of a rundown.

What is CACANi

CACANi is a 2D Vector Based Animation Software that automatically generates in-betweens for the key-frames that you yourself create. Think of one of those interpolation software. Except unlike those software, CACANi is for 2D Animation in mind, the animator/animation team are in control, and the default frame-rate is 24fps instead of the 60fps that games seems to like a little too much.

Believe it or not, it has been used by some anime studios

What got me wanting to try CACANi

I saw a video of a fellow creator, ellebastonart, animating in CACANi for the first time.

And when I saw the end results from her experience, I was like "Yo, I want to try this out."

Of course I went with the Free Trial version (which is thankfully infinite until further notice) and not went with the paid version as of me talking about this

What are the limitations of the Free Trial?

Oh it's not much but there are

  • the Max Resolution is 640 x 640 px
  • Some Canvas and Export settings are locked
  • You cannot Save Project Files, as that's disabled
  • That Fucking Watermark when it comes to exported files... (And that includes PNGs as well!)

So yeah, as you can tell, these limitations are rather annoying imo. Like yeah, the free trial is meant be a person's testing ground before they buy the product and I get that but come on, dude. -.-;

Now, I was able to avoid the watermark by doing what I like the call "The Chaotic Dumbass" Method, where I extend the size of the canvas+camera, export the animation as a PNG sequence, dump the frames into FireAlpaca, and if the watermark is far from the frames themselves, crop the frames into a 16:9 aspect ratio. And just do the finished work there. I could to the automatic coloring in CACANi if I wanted to but I also heard that coloring it's notoriously finicky and I'd rather not deal with that. I prefer coloring in software like Clip Studio Paint and/or FireAlpaca, anyways

Now, it that method sounds to complicated before of how utterly dumb it is, there is the other method of "Actually work hard to make it look good", where you export the frames as the typical 16:9 ratio, import said frames into Clip Studio Paint, resize the project to my preferred 720px, and trace over each frame.

I have yet to do this latter method and yeah, it kinda defeat the purpose of CACANi's "Work Smarter" but at the very least, it's something I can do before I can feel comfortable spending money on one of the licenses for CACANi. (Like I was already feeling a lil' guilty for recently purchasing the license for CSP ver. 3 after sticking with ver. 1 for a long time, even if it was on sale by the time I've bought it)

Oh yeah, speaking of licenses

Payment Methods

So, there are ways to purchase CACANi. And the are:

  • The One Time Payment - $499
  • Annual Subscription - $180
  • Monthly Subscription- $20

If I were to chose with payment method, I'd go for the Annual because the One Payment seems too much and Monthly Subscriptions is a more annoying. Yes, 20 USD is cheaper than 180 USD but 20 x 12 is 240, which is cost 60 dollars extra.

The Following Questions:

Would I purchase CACANi

When I have enough money, yeah! I still wouldn't use the automatic coloring tho but for everything else, I'd say so.

Would I recommend the Chaotic Dumbass Method for those wanting to try out the Free Trial and sticking with said trial?

I'm not exactly sure. If you are the type that want's to get work done and don't mind working with 640px, than yeah, give it a shot. Otherwise, it's best to do the "Actually work hard to make it look good" method

Would I recommend CACANi in general?

I'd say give it a try with the free trial and see it's for you. Because while as the features that those that are sick doing their own in-betweens from scratch would LOVE, also know that it ain't for everyone. I know that some animations styles that isn't smooth have gotten a rise in popularity.

I'd say that if it's not your cup of tea, that is fine. There are plenty of other animation software in the sea.

But if you do like it, great! And if you like it enough to buy it, awesome! You'll probably have more freedom that I (as of me talking about this) would have.

Overall thoughts

While I don't think it's perfect and there are some things I can criticize, especially with the free trial version, I do like the workflow CACANi has to offer.

If I'd probably use like, smear frames or have a much more simple animation style, I'd probably won't need CACANi for that.

That say, I'd probably would use it in case if I'd want to make a smooth animation, regardless if I'm gonna do the "Chaotic Dumbass" method or the "Actually work hard to make it look good method".

Anyways, that is all for this specialized page, hope you have a good one!! ^^ Take Care!!!!