Scene Group ships Cavalry 1.1
Scene Group has released Cavalry 1.1, the first major update to its next-gen motion design software since its release, alongside a new product logo and new design for its product website.
Key changes include support for the cross-platform Lottie animation format, support for per-character text formatting, and a lot of workflow improvements to the software’s vector design tools.
A next-gen 2D motion graphics tool inspired by 3D software
Originally released last year, Cavalry is a procedural animation app “combining the power and flexibility of 3D with the ease of use of 2D”.
Although currently a pure 2D animation tool, it supports workflows that will be familiar to 3D animators, including keyframing, curve editing, deformation, rigging, scattering and instancing.
Scene Group’s background is also in 3D motion graphics: the firm is a spin-off from Mainframe North, which developed MASH, Maya’s motion graphics toolset.
Once created, images may be exported from Cavalry in a range of file formats, including as JPEG, PNG or SVG sequences, as animated PNGs, or as WEBM or QuickTime movies.
New in Cavalry 1.1: native Lottie export
To that, Cavalry 1.1 adds the option to export animations in the cross-platform JSON-based Lottie format, initially used primarily as a real-time representation of After Effects animations.
The feature, currently available only with paid Professional subscriptions, supports “most of the Lottie format”, barring “completely After Effects centric” features like Text Animators.
Per-character text formatting, plus updates to vector design and shape editing
Cavalry 1.1 also extends the software’s text animation capabilities, adding the option to adjust font, style, size and letter spacing on a per-character basis.
You can see the new workflow in the video above.
There are also a lot of quality-of-life improvements to Cavalry’s vector design and shape editing tools, like the option to close a curve by dragging one end onto the other.
You can see the highlights in this blog post, and a full list of changes in the online release notes.
Other changes include the option to bake non-keyframe animation, and to import flattened PSD files.
Availability and system requirements
Cavalry 1.1 is available for Windows 10 and macOS 10.13+. Linux support is also planned.
The software is available rental-only, with subscriptions costing £20/month (around $28/month). Free subscriptions are also available, which limit render resolution to 960 x 540px and watermark output.
Read a full list of new features in Cavalry 1.1 in the online release notes