For those that find this later, the issue was that the database file had been corrupted. I was able to repair it this time, thankfully. The project was in the pre-4.0 database backed file format. That format is susceptible to corruptions during power outages, abrupt external disk ejection, operating system crashes, and a few obscure scenarios that can happen in network sync'd folders. New projects created in 4.0 (or run through 4.0's "Save As" command to create new ones with existing content but without history) use a new format we designed to be more robust to all these forms of damage and also easier to repair (and a little smaller, too).
I just sent the database file back, but I'm hoping based on tests I did locally that this corruption story is one with a happy ending. Once you're at a point where you don't need to use Character Animator's persistent undo history and are sure you'll continue working in 4.0 and later, I'd recommend using "Save As" to convert the project to the newer format.
Thanks for the report!
Dan Tull
Character Animator Team
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