AGF (www.chrworks.com, www.agf.com.tr) today announced the release of CharacterWorks 2024, the new generation of the renowned character generator and motion graphics application. CharacterWorks 2024 runs on any laptop or desktop Windows PC with an nVidia GPU and renders full-HD, true 3D dynamic text and graphics in real-time, streamed over the network via Newtek NDI, or SDI via Blackmagic Decklink hardware solutions.
Tons of New Major Features
Instancer
- CharacterWorks 2024 adds a huge number of new features to an already-powerful, feature-rich motion graphics system. The Instancer is a new construct that allows dynamic creation, layout and animation of graphics elements based on real-time data. It is a simple, powerful, yet flexible tool that makes the creation of all kinds of beautiful animated tables a breeze. That, however, is just the surface. Its synergy with all the other new features offered in CW 2024 is what makes it truly shine…
Attribute Expressions
- The new Attribute Expressions leverage the power of simple mathematical formulas (like those used in Data Source Expressions that CW users are already familiar with) to compute and drive the values of all sorts of layer or material attributes based on real-time data inputs (or even other attributes). A simple attribute expression is all it takes to give a layer a different color, position or size when the value it shows rises above a preset threshold, for example. Even keyframes can be controlled via attribute expressions, for example, if animated transitions are desired.
Impressing the Audience
New Animation System
- The new Animation system builds on top of CW’s existing keyframe animation facilities and adds the capability to drive graphics with multiple, simultaneous, independent real-time keyframe animation tracks. These tracks can be activated manually through the Grid Controller or in an automated manner via CW’s behaviour system. This means that it just became much more feasible to implement dynamic graphics layouts. Animated data updates are no problem either, as animation tracks can be triggered automatically in response to data field updates. The new Animation preset system makes it easier to store, recall and apply animation tracks, even with attribute expressions in them.
Path/Polygon Renderer
- The new Path Layer object offers vector graphics capabilities, which includes lines, Bezier curves and arcs. While these are great when manually designing and constructing graphics and backgrounds, they also provide the basic primitives needed by the Instancer to build all the exciting dynamic charts, diagrams or illustrations. All control points and parameters of Path layer primitives are first-class attributes, which means they can be animated or controlled by expressions, if desired.
Revamped UI, Easier Customization
- CW’s User Interface has been completely overhauled to accommodate the new features and improve ease-of-use for the existing ones, while retaining the overall look and feel to enable a smooth transition. A couple of major new project building aids are now available:At the high-level, the Customizer facilitates rapid design customization of templates by providing shared parameters and data bindings. Simply import a template motion, edit a few parameters to achieve the desired look, set up the connections to data sources, and start broadcasting. If more detailed, lower-level customization is necessary, everything is still available and accessible at the individual layer level.
Stable, Compatible, Ready-for-Production
Other Improvements
- The above just skims the surface, as CW 2024 includes a huge number of other improvements, large and small, to existing features. These include improvements to the Grid Controller and the Behaviour system, new material and effect blocks, new Remote Control commands, 3rd-party component updates, and others that are simply too many to list here.
