Core Animator helps developers create visually stunning animations.
Being an experienced animator with Adobe’s After Effects I was immediately intrigued when I learned about Core Animator. I love to create animations and am always interested in the advancements in that field. Animations can add a lot of richness to app development and that is exactly what the developers of Core Animator (Polished Play, LLC.) was aiming for.
Core Animator is an easy-to-understand app that will allow you to create stunning animations that will bring your apps to life. It was just released on February 12 this year. The best part about it? When you export your final project out, the app builds out the Swift or Obj-C code for you. Plus, because it’s built around the Mac operating system, Core Animator works flawlessly with Apple’s native frameworks.
When I first started working with Core Animator, I was at a loss of where to start. The interface is familiar – it’s clean and looks like a lot of other Apple-centric apps, but, I just didn’t know how to get started. So, I turned to the app’s website coreanimator.com/tutorials. I can’t stress the importance of having these as a resource. The tutorials really help even the most experienced animators get started. Once I got off on the right foot, I couldn’t believe how easy it was to create animations within the app. In addition to providing some really nice videos that show step-by-step instructions for creating projects, the developer also provides the elements so that you can follow along and hone your skills.
First you start with your elements – in my case, some clipart of a stick figure and a boulder – and then you work with them on the timeline. My stick figure doesn’t have articulating arms and legs, but Core Animator is capable of animating limbs separate from the body of an object. In fact, the main use cases called out by Core Animator’s developers are:
- Character Rigs – Rig up full characters and quickly produce beautiful fluid movements.
- Tutorials/Instructions – Quickly point your users in the right direction with motion.
- Animated Focus Points – Nudge users toward important information or areas in your apps.
- UI Elements – Add personality and subtle help animations that increase production value.
- Full Scenes – No more huge video files or clunky png sequences; simply your creations running optimally.
- Living Illustrations – Books come to life with native iOS Core animations running the show.
- Subtle Animated Enhancements to Any App
One of the most familiar tools with in Core Animator is the key framing option. Key Framing is a concept that is used across many, many video editing and animation apps. It allows users to effect the media elements by defining starting and ending points for smooth transitions. Core Animator has a very powerful key frame tool that includes easing splines so that you can visually see the animation ease path at a glance.
One other thing I want to mention is how easy it is to export your project. Once you are happy with your animation, you simply click on the Export icon on your menu navigation. You can then choose between:
- Obj-C or Swift Code
- iOS or OS X code
- Clipping or UnBounded
- Image Management options
- Full Preview Pane of all animations that can run simultaneously to check for conflicts and/or desired behaviors
Once you decide how you want to export, you click ‘export’ and your files are saved where you choose and are ready to use in your development process.
Core Animator is a very in-depth application that is easy to use. I can highly recommend it to any app developer because you can add so much to your creations with even just a simple animation. Core Animator retails for $99.99 and can be downloaded from the App Store.
For more information, visit coreanimator.com.
