Cavalry: MoGraph but for 2D

[Pierre Gombaud]

I haven't seen this software being discuted here yet, so I open this topic!

Recently I was introduced to Cavalry, a 2D animation program somewhat similar to After Effects, as its main goal is to do motion graphics
AFAIU, the idea here is to use the equivalent of the MoGraph from Cinema 4D, but for 2D:




There's a fairly comprehensive free version - the downside (for me) of the full version is that it's based on a monthly subscription...
For now, I only gave it a couple of tries but it looks quite easy to use (if you are already familiar with C4D's MoGraph and/or AE)

Have you guys used it already? What's your feedback?

[mmmaarten]

I tried it a few weeks. It's definitely great software, although it had some quirks (like wrong colors of imported videos). It's especially great how realtime and logical everything is and the fact that you can add all kinds of joystick controllers and such in the UI.

However, I stopped using it, because there is just a point where you want or need the pro version to get the other functions and they offer no way to buy the software. They refused to add a one pay per major release version, only rental. And I stopped renting software. After Adobe no more renting here. I would never go back to Adobe, but compared to Adobe I think even Adobe is a better deal because you get way more valuable software (not saying that After Effects is better tho).

What IS better about Cavalry tho is that when stop paying the monthy fee you still will be able to open the files you made in the free version. So your files are not as 'taken hostage' as Adobe has you files after quiting their licensing system. But you cannot edit your files no longer when needing pro-features.

I still have the free version installed for 'just in case' there's something I cannot do in other software, but so far didn't use it. And I'm not planning to. I'm pretty sure I won't use it again, unless they offer a one time payment purchase.

When you don't need visual effects and much raster work and are happy to work with vector, like doing logo animations, I think it's way cleaner, logical and faster than After Effects. And it's also great to feed data into existing layouts (I haven't used After Effects in a while, but I'm pretty sure that's still a pain to do there).

If they decide to offer a one time payment for a major version tho, I will be happy to change my mind for sure. The software itself has great potential for motion design work. But for me the subscription model killed it, I really don't get why companies still do that if they want to compete against adobe. I don't think you gain much users from Adobe, who are using After Effects and Animate. And the ones that left Adobe are most probably fed up with subscription models anyways. I think companies like Affinity took a way better approuch and gained many new buyers and a loyal userbase.

[Pierre Gombaud]

That's a very interesting feedback going deeply into the details, thanks for that!
The idea of renting software instead of owning it is a real pain, it's been my main problem with Cavalry so far and it's also the reason why I'm reluctant to spend more time learning it and that's a shame because otherwise the core idea of this software is quite promising

[mmmaarten]

That's a very interesting feedback going deeply into the details, thanks for that!
The idea of renting software instead of owning it is a real pain, it's been my main problem with Cavalry so far and it's also the reason why I'm reluctant to spend more time learning it and that's a shame because otherwise the core idea of this software is quite promising

I completely agree. That whole licensing thing got a bad taste in my mouth at the time. Not that I didn't know that upfront, but for the pure fact that there just isn't any great alternative out there to do something like it without a 'taken hostage' contract. And a company like this I think shouldn't take the same route Adobe did and put customers first instead of stakeholders and selfish monopolic grow needs.

I'm also very surprised how little companies are aware of the big issue of that system: all files they build with programs like Adobe are taken hostage by Adobe. Once you stop paying you just lose all access to all your files. Files that are yours. Which is a big problem for a company building an archive. But instead of preventing that to happen, companies seem to rather keep paying (way too much after all these years, no reward for loyalty) instead of taking the leap to other software which isn't treating loyal customers like that. With the excuse of it being 'industry standard'...

So I was hoping this company was finally the one making a valid alternative for the motion design side of After Effects without the files taken hostage and paying way too much for software. But they didn't. Missed opportunity if you ask me.

I'm sure that if there will be a new company doing what they do but without this licensing system, they will get all the clients. And Cavalry missed the opportunity if that happens and they don't change.

But let's hope a new company WILL come filling this gap (or Cavalry will offer a one time payment). It did happen with Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign and video editor alternatives, and there are great alternatives for the VFX side of After Effects, but let's hope there will be a good alternative for the motion design side of things, with good support of text-related stuff, vector related animations, data-driven stuff, masking, compositing of layers etc.! I think there is a big gap to fill there and I've seen lots of request for an AfterEffects alternative with one time payment (per major version).

[slowtiger]

That's one more thing Affinity does right: not only it's damn cheap compared to Adobe while doing more or less the same, it also can import Adobe stuff (as long as you save in a certain format) and even PDF in a useable way.

[mmmaarten]

That's one more thing Affinity does right: not only it's damn cheap compared to Adobe while doing more or less the same, it also can import Adobe stuff (as long as you save in a certain format) and even PDF in a useable way.

Yeah, it's pretty great. I even think the interfaces of Affinity are way cleaner and way more intuitive and efficient. Things are just built better with the modern knowledge, also performance wise.
I recentely also purchased VectorStyler which is also pretty promising. It has way more tools and bells and whistles than Designer and really feels like a clone of Illustrator. But I only bought it for 'just in case'. Because it can do a lot of stuff Designer can't , like image tracing and many tools. But tbh I never missed any feature in Designer and I like the interface of Designer way better. I'm also an extreme fan of the realtime watcher of the export persona, making it possible to automatically convert all layers and stuff to output files on every change you make. Which has been a fantastic time saver on many project I did for the web, where my design instantly got updated on the website while creating it in Affinity! That's priceless!

And the fact that you can open the file created in one of the Affinity apps directly with one of the other apps! Or even stay in the same program while switching from Designer to Publisher to Photo and back in an instant!

Damn, I could continue on and on... like everything that is realtime, the isometric drawing modes and grids, the fact that we have pixel and vector combined in the same tool, the direct export mode for Spine animations, the non-descriptive boolean and masking workflows.... I really think many Adobe users underestimate highly the power Affinity has over the original Adobe equivalents.

[Ronbo]

I have the free Cavalry version but I've never really used it for a project. I do have Affinity Photo, which I love, and Affinity Designer and I'm happy to say that I don't miss PS much anymore. Now that Serif offers alternatives to PS, AI, and Id, I'd been hoping to see them offer something to compete with AE, but they don't seem to have any kind of animation program on their roadmap.

Since I'm on a Mac I have and use Motion, which has become my replacement for AE. But I do hope to try doing something in Cavalry at some point.