Learning Cavalry by Andy Needham

Get a practical introduction to Cavalry, the 2D motion design tool that blends traditional keyframe animation with procedural workflows. In just over 90 minutes, Andy Needham walks you through building a complete FUI (futuristic user interface) from scratch, covering the core interface, shapes, behaviors, and rendering.

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Navigate the Cavalry interface and understand its core concepts
• Create and animate shapes, text, and SVG assets
• Use behaviors like Falloffs, Color Arrays, and String Manipulators
• Build and animate a complete FUI composition
• Render your final animation with the Render Manager

✅ Requirements

• Skills: Basic familiarity with 2D animation concepts
• Tools: A 3-button mouse is recommended
• Hardware: Minimum 8GB RAM, dedicated GPU recommended for smooth playback

📝 Description

This course skips the fluff and gets straight to building. You won’t just watch menus—you’ll create a real FUI animation, the kind used in sci-fi movies and TV commercials. Andy starts with the absolute basics: where to click, how to set up a project, and what those weird terms like “Falloffs” and “Color Arrays” actually mean.

The real magic happens when you start combining Cavalry’s procedural tools. You’ll learn to duplicate shapes with a single click, animate text using String Manipulators, and control color variations across dozens of layers instantly. No tedious manual keyframing. By the end, you’ll have a looping, polished UI animation that looks like it came straight out of a blockbuster film.

Andy keeps the pace tight and focused. Each lesson builds on the last, so you’re never lost. If you’re a motion designer looking to add a new tool to your pipeline, or just curious about what Cavalry can do, this is your starting line.

🧑‍🎓 Who this course is for

• Motion designers curious about adding Cavalry to their workflow
• 2D animators looking for a faster, procedural approach to motion graphics
• Beginners with some animation experience who want a hands-on project

🧑‍🏫 About the Author

Andy Needham is a Senior Motion Designer and Maxon Master Trainer with over a decade of experience in the industry. He specializes in high-performance motion systems for tech, broadcast, and sports clients, using tools like Cinema 4D, Redshift, and After Effects. His practical, no-nonsense teaching style makes complex workflows accessible.

🏁 Final Result

• A complete, animated FUI composition ready for portfolio use
• A solid understanding of Cavalry’s interface, shapes, behaviors, and rendering pipeline