Toontastic 3D: Great App for Storytelling

Google has launched this amazing app for kids to help them showcase their imagination and creative kick with the power of storytelling.

Kids love stories, either they get to hear them, see them or just tell them but they love stories a lot. Stories instill them with imagination and they are being able to give structure, face and figure to what they think of. With Toontastic 3D students can draw, animate, and narrate own cartoons. It’s as easy as play. Just move your characters around onscreen, tell your story, and Toontastic records your voice and animations and stores it on your device as a 3D video. Toontastic is a powerful and playful way to create adventures, breaking news reports, video game designs, family photo albums, and anything else students might imagine!

With so many web tools catering to this love of story telling what sets Toontastic 3D apart is the familiarity kids feel with the various characters they create. The app enables the kids to animate the characters of their story hence they are being able to make it just the way they want.

The tool is just the right fit for kids who are interested in making videos, loves to plat with cartoons and are brilliant to turn their ideas into 3D Cartoons. Now the tool not only helps students to get creative but also gives an educational value. The whole process teaches kids the basics of a story arc and plot points.

How The App Works:

1. The application is user friendly as it’s meant for kids. The first thing is to pick a type of animation. There are three options, a short story, a classic story and a science report. These stories are cut into scenes to help kids achieve their goal one at a time. Also, the small stages helps kids understand how the animation flows. For example, the classic story has prompts for setup, conflict, challenge, climax and resolution. The science report has question, hypothesis, experiment, result and conclusion parts. These clearly labeled parts shows kids what should be done in each scene.

2. Next, kids have to choose an environment or setting for their animations. Kids can draw their own setting, or choose from the ones available in the app. There is a cutting edge command center straight out of a spy movie, an ancient and mysterious temple, a typical classroom, a pirate ship, the lost city of Atlantis, a camp in the middle of the forest and a flying steampunk airship.

3. Now is the main thing i.e. to add characters to the scene. The app features many characters that can fit all the story line kids wish to demonstrate. Some of the characters are a robot, a jellyfish, a shark with machine legs, a mermaid and a gorilla. The characters are organized according to themes such as city, space, explorers and pirates. Alternatively, children can express their creativity and draw their own characters as well. The 2d drawings are automatically converted to 3D by the application.  Each scene can have a cast of up to 7 characters, and the same character can be added multiple times.

4. This I believe is the best part for kids. Now children have to record each scene, move around the characters or the background. Swiping moves the scene in different directions, and these movements are recorded. The characters can be directly manipulated with the finger, and made to move about the scene. Kids can record voice over narrations at this stage to explain what is happening, or provide dialogues to the characters. Toontastic 3D automatically adds the animations for turning and walking. Once the animations are set, the movements can be exaggerated or enhanced by setting a mood. Available moods include gloomy, tense, stormy and curious.

Watch this app trailer below to get a feel of the tool:

Important Points:

– What all can be made: Epic Capers, Historical films, Mysteries, Social Lessons, Cooking Shows, Silent Films, School Reports, Fan Fiction, Family Flicks, Buddy Films, SciFi, Documentaries, and Memes.

– The app comes with an idea lab full of playful stories, characters and settings to inspire new adventures.

– It works offline. The only feature requiring internet access is the idea lab, which showcases awesome cartoons by other kids. Also, it doesn’t require any sign ups. Once you download it you’re good to go!   

– You can save your cartoons to the device. Export your finished cartoon to the photo library, or Photos app, on your device.

– The app can be used by all who loves to tell stories especially great for kids aged 6-12.

– The app is compatible with Android and iOS. 

The tool seems promising and helps students showcase their imagination and creativity in a manner that engages them and teaches them the art of storytelling. We recommend educators and parents to give this app to their kids and help them explore it.

Share your experiences with us in the comment section below.