CrazyTalk – iOS App Review
CrazyTalk is a very powerful animation app that works flawlessly allowing you to create an incredibly innovative animations that are suitably impressive. CrazyTalk really does lock into the power of the smartphone device and allow you to create the most incredible simulations.
CrazyTalk comes from Reallusion the same elite developer studio as Big Lens another fabulous app.
The app itself is free for iPhone or iPad but to unlock everything you will need to top up $0.99/£0.69 for the in app full version. To purchase additional characters as well, that’s an additional $0.99/£0.69. It’s important to make full use of this app that you will need to purchase the full version, so the additional $0.99/£0.69 price should be borne in mind from the outset.
Ease of Use
The app itself is very straight forward and simple to use and has some incredibly cool functions, including uploading your voice to generate lip-sync videos. Once you’ve uploaded it to your iDevice there is an in-app tutorial to follow, if you wish to help you create your first video. This is an excellent addition and well worth listening too to get the most from this app from the outset.
CrazyTalk is a unique tool and is quite outstanding, the developers Reallusion are award winning leaders of 3D and 2D Cinematic tools and it shows, it really does. This is the mobile version of the desktop app and it’s a fabulous idea to take this concept further and make it portable like this.
There are other similar style apps on the market, similar in that they have some of the features of CrazyTalk but there isn’t one that gets close to all the features that CrazyTalk has to offer or to present them in such a professional and creative format.
With CrazyTalk by Reallusion you have total control with your own unique control features. The strength of this app is based around Reallusion’s ‘intuitive animation’. The UI is clear and clean, it’s designed to used with the iPhone and the few buttons and options allow you to create what you want without feeling cluttered or inhibited in any way. It also works with the iPhones built-in motion sensors ensuring they are all fully utilized – it’s just a case of shaking or tilting your character to create movement animations – to create facial expressions you just need to tap and drag your finger over the apps puppet grid and as it changes in real time it’s simple to keep track of your progress.
As well as all the fabulous animation possibilities one thing that we really like a lot is the ‘Voice to animate’ feature – you basically record your own voice via the app and the clever audio technology analyses the strength of your voice to enhance the animation – so for example if you whisper you may create a subtle character motion but if you shout, you’ll make your character react in a very different extreme way.
There are characters built-in to the app and you can increase these via an in-app purchase but to create your own unique characters you need to purchase the desktop version of this app – CrazyTalk 7. Once you have done this you are able to create original characters from images that you have created or downloaded to your iDevice. This is when it gets really fun, we animated our TheAppWhisperer icon via this method and it proved very popular but equally you can do this with your own images, either taken with your iPhone or uploaded to it.
When you take the image into the desktop version you can line it up to ensure that all the facial expressions are used at the right points. It’s incredibly complex but with the benefit to the user of being very simple to use.
Conclusion
CrazyTalk for your iOS device is a very professional and comprehensive animation program – one that you should most definitely have on your device, without question. Once you’ve got it on there, we are sure that you will be seduced into purchasing the desktop version so you can create your own characters for animation. This is when the app comes into its own and judging by the forum responses on Reallusion’s site it seems that many users are using this app to animate icons for businesses too – so this app adds that commercial value too. It really packs a punch and it has been an absolute pleasure to review and learn more about – we wish the team at Reallusion all the success that they deserve in bringing such a comprehensive app to market.
CrazyTalk is available on the Apple iTunes Store for free and in-app purchase at USD$0.99/£0.69 ad you can download it here.
CrazyTalk 7 the desktop version, can be picked up here/download.
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)
