Character Animator

I've successfully got my puppet to talk, blink, wiggle his eyebrows etc. in a full frontal posture. I've also successfully gotten it to turn its head. But, even though I've included all the elements and I think I've arranged them the same way, I cannot get it to do any facial movements in quarter turn. Can anyone see what I might be doing wrong?Martin

whne attepting to start the trial the following linkaam://SAPCode=ANMLBETA?version=1.0.6?actionList=CC-UI?passPhrase=RYSNWN5NkOqVHgdLrpV3FzC6PmraNQTIwBhBkzN2zkAoggBOgKux9aXS0GfDBWre3GX/3VJvWtB3j/0rd/AafBD8KoktvEM59ezhEo7VJDDmYV6bdSY4zTtP3nWwmJAk218mYUL1FldoA7fXQMdx6Q7OkEcXaw65nd8ZkApZpY8=cannot be read by any browser i have.please fix

New and changed featuresProjects and the Project panelLong names for project items in the Project panel and layer names in the Puppet panel now appear in tooltips over the truncated versions of those names.ScenesScene snapshots: take a snapshot (Scene > Take Snapshot) of a reference pose to compare against, hide/show the snapshot, and increase/decrease snapshot opacity.Export the current frame of a scene (File > Export > Frame).Default scene frame rate is now 24 fps.Narrow Scene panel now shows the Refresh, Show Mesh, Stream Live, and Background Color buttons in a pop-up window opened by clicking the "<<" button.Artwork and AssetsJPEG (*.jpg or *.jpeg) support for puppets and cycles.Illustrator (vector artwork) rasterization control: new Resolution property (in the Puppet section of the Properties panel) for controlling the maximum quality of the vector artwork when it is rasterized.Puppets and the Puppet panelNew and updated template puppets in the Start workspace; use

Working in ACA 2018.My character disappeared after I made a few extra cycle layers. THIS IS WHAT I GET ^^^^^^^^^I have deleted 106 actions (apparently I can't get them back and have to redo them YUCK!).I thought maybe the character was out of view BUT when I click on the MESH view its there:                   PLEASE HELP I NEED THIS TO WORK!!!!!I have 230 triggers on this character, with 5 head views and eye changes, etc.IT WAS WORKING CORRECTLY but I feel I might be pushing the limits?Please help ASAP.HERE ARE SCREENSHOTS OF WHAT'S GOING On:Here's what my Illustrator project looks like: ANYBODY please help me make my character re-appear in the interface. This is driving me nuts! Thank you.

Hello, I have been working with Character Animator for 18 months. I had some puppets that were working very well, but then I upgraded. Now I have to re-rig them all? 1. HOW DO I TAG IN ILLUSTRATOR so that the swap sets import? I have complex characters with head turns, eye changes, cycle layers on eyes and eyebrows, etc. In the previous version, I could just put them in a folder and add (h!) or something to get a tag and swap set set up in an organized, easy to find way. NOW the swap sets for the same puppets appear in the panel BUT just plain don't work coming in from Illustrator. I figured out that if I delete them all and drag them back in one by one they work. This is a LOT of deleting and a lot of dragging and there's got to be another way to make this work. Can you show an example of a folder naming/setup that does import to Character Animator properly? Or is this a bug??? 2. The removal of the staple made some of my complex characters look very distorted (think 1990's computer s

Hi there, this is my first attempt at a puppet, so apologies.  I'm trying to animate a sheep.    It's head is not sitting on a neck, and I think that's what's causing me problems.    The head seems to be fixed to the body, there is no independent movement at all.   Any clues?Message was edited by: Paul Long

My wife and I often build .  We usually build our Character Animation characters in Photoshop, and, of course, do the rigging in Character Animator on a desktop workstation - but when travelling on a laptop.  We then load everything up to a folder on a network cloud server, and when we've gotten to a destination, opened the Character in Animator to make sure everything is working, we've found that Ch shows missing files - like all the character artwork.We check to be certain the Photoshop file and all other assets are in a folder together.It appears I'm missing something very important.  Any thought?  Many thanks for any help!

Hello there! I am here again with yet another bug. Recently I did few puppets with walking behavior and they all had this problem -there seems to be an invisible "fixed point" at the bottom of the body that distorts while walking. Sometimes the puppet's legs hide the distortion but it's still unpleasant to look at .Here I have made the legs and arms invisible so you could see what it looks like.walking bug.mp4 - Google Drive I am not able to find the source of this problem! Someone else had it? I appreciate your help!

Its probably something simple but my characters pupils won't move can anyone tell me why?https://drive.google.com/open?id=1B88O-HPAo5q8JCOlyvN4DPf3VOg3Tumd

This happens often within after effects, when a file location is changed and you open AE there's suddenly this nasty block of colored lines on the screen. This is easily fixed with right clicking that file and "reloading" it or even "replacing" it with the new file's location. My animation team and I have just begun utilizing Character Animator to get smaller budgeted projects done, and we've hit this same snag. One guy rigs the Photoshop file, sends it to the CH rigging guy, who sent it to me, but the puppet is not recognized and replaced with blocks of colored lines. I did notice a "gather media to folder" option in the file tab, is this the solution to the issue? Is there a way to tell Character Animator where this file is without having to make my rigging guy resend me the files? Thanks for your help!

Hi,So I'm having trouble with getting a cycle layer animation to work with swap sets. The cycle layer is a series of five frames for a "High Five" animation. What I would like to happen is this: when I pressed "1" the animation will play with his default arm disappearing, and then when I release "1" his default arm placement is back. They way this character is set up is that his default arm is within one group while his cycle animation is within another. So far, when I press "1" the cycle plays fine, but the default arm can be seen. How do I stop this from happening? Both groups are within the trigger panel as swap sets. I'm p[probably just misunderstanding something or missing something entirely. Any help would be appreciated!

Hello,    Let me preface that I am very new to Adobe Character Animator. I have watched the tutorial videos, but for some reason cannot seem to figure out the issue I am having. I am sure it is a simple one, so I am hoping you guys can help me.    I am attempting to have a puppet walk in from out of view (left to right) and stop mid screen. Another puppet (object really) then comes in from the same position (off screen left) and stops to the left of the first puppet. I recorded this segment without issue, by simply walking with puppet 1, and adjusting x-position on puppet 2, to have it slide in.    The issue I am having now is in trying to pick up where I left off. When I position the slider head to the end of the recorded segment, and arm either puppet, they return to their original position off screen left, rather than remaining where they were at the end of the recorded segment. I am hoping to be able to pick up recording at their end pos

Hello there! I have a little problem with one of the puppets I am working on. Below is a video demonstrating the bug- basically the face gets distorted.bug demo angel.mp4 - Google Drive The weird thing is that when this puppet was first rigged it was working properly. At one point this bug appeared. I have been through the AI file several times but I can't find anything wrong with the naming of the layers ( that's usually the problem with other puppets showing a similar bug).Trying to fix it, I removed one of the wing animations ( the -fast fly- one, where the wings are so high above the head, that the head is in the center of the puppet). When I did that the bug disappeared.I am guessing that the head being in the center of the puppet when the wings are up is the problem, but I don't know. Can you help me? Is it possible to keep this wings animation as is and debug the face? Thank you very much! By the way, I must say that Character Animator is amazing! It makes animation so approach

It would be great if clipping masks could be turned into "guide layers" like in After Effects, so they are only visible in the puppet rigging window (and not in the recording/streaming windows). This would allow us to create clipping masks for layers/groups which may be smaller than the mask itself. Another option could be for the opacity toggle of the clipping mask not affect the layers it is masking. So we can turn the clipping mask opacity down to 0%, but the layers/groups being clipped are still visible.

I wanted to create a character similar to the Maddy example that can turn and walk. My question is- is there an example available showing the proper set-up? For Maddy there is nothing showing the Photoshop layers. And I see nothing in any of the turtorials that deals with more complicated figures.

Hi, Dave ... How to make some object behind and at the same time another object? Like, for example, a big hat on a small head, with independent physical movements or following the head with a certain delay ... pretending that it is "loose". Anyway, how to connect parts without getting caught in the puppet? More examples? A necklace of pearls dangling from one neck, but appearing from the back. Or straps of a dress higher than the shoulders, showing the other side or even two parts of a skirt. Hands alternating both from the front of the body, and backwards, without the need for a pause to reconfigure the pupett. Is this possible today? And without the need for cicle layers? I say this because I've asked similar questions still in the beta for over a year, if I'm not mistaken. And to enjoy, this is another video from my channel. I confess that I find the movements of the arms of the character very mechanical ... I need more practice and studies. Some of them, where hands appear lifting

I've just experienced my first series of crashes in Character Animator. I'm really impressed I haven't had any sooner.Upon restarting after the first (and subsequent) crash(es), I got this message.I can't find any way of closing this project and it keeps crashing shortly after open. I've done a full computer restart and I've even managed to open the project long enough to then formally quit it— would think that would close the project—and I still keep crashing on subsequent opens.Any ideas anyone?Martin

One of the nonlinear edit systems I use has a feature called Media Relatives. You select a sequence, select Media Relatives and it shows you all the media files that are used in that particular sequence. Something like this would be very helpful in Ch. Sometimes in the heat of creation, I don't carefully name my scenes, later I don't know what additional Puppets, audio files, etc. I may have thrown into it.Martin

Hello! I am loving the speed at which we can animate using Adobe Character Animator, but for those times I need to refine a specific movement or pose is it possible to use the "hold in place" feature of the dragger behavior to do frame by frame animation without it jumping back to its original position after recording?Currently, I have both my characters arms independently assigned to separate "dragger" behaviors (right arm & left arm). If I want to refine a movement with my character's left arm, I toggle the left arm's dragger behavior from "return to rest" to "hold in place." I can then position my characters arm to the right position (which is great!), but when I hit Command-1 and it animates a single frame, my character's arm jumps back to it's original position and I have to start over again and try to guess where the last position was so I can animate another single frame. I can always scrub back on the timeline and see where I left off and try to get the arm back into a simi

My character is having issues with the neck area when walking. I've tried moving the neck tag around, removing it completely, but the issue persists.... I made my torso independent, but that caused the bottom of the head to warp. It sort of has 2 spikes and they move like the legs.Can anyone give any suggestions to fix it? Thanks!

How do I stop the Walkabout template from walking in Record.  Even when I set it to start with arrow keys, it won't stop walking.

Hi oksamurai​ - in your March 2018 tips and tricks video, at around 22:07 you record a hand drag for the robot. When I do hand drags, my puppet arms get stretched (see below). In your video, the arm of the robot did not stretch - it just went in the direction of the mouse. How did you achieve this? Arms that stretch makes it harder to get the drag recording right.Thanks!PS: The YouTube video is a bit funny - I cannot find it in the list of episodes for the channel. Maybe Google needs to update its indexes still?

I could not find the old question that came up in the forums to add this to, but oksamurai​ just released the March tips and tricks video on YouTube which has some nice tips in it.  A previous question I cannot find now (sorry!) was how to record a new drag and know where things were placed before. As soon as you arm the dragger, the old drag settings disappear. E.g. the hands go back to default position. At about 20 mins in, Dave describes adding additional dragger behaviours to a puppet.You can then record the default hand positions and extend that out to the full scene, and then disarm. You can see the value. You can then arm another dragger and record that. You will then see the perfect starting point from the other dragger behavior!Easier to see the video, but a really nice tip! Thanks Dave!

My recording has a character that walks left and right. This all works fine. The issue I have is the characters X position doesn't update with the walk cycle, so when ever I stop the edit or swap recording triggers, the puppet will either reset to the original off screen location or start from where it is at. Because of this, I do not have the ability to simply scrub through the timeline or or move the playhead to the next location I would like to edit. I have to play the scene from the beginning in order to have the puppet in the proper location for my next edits. Is there a switch I need to turn on somewhere for this to track and update?Thanks

Hello! I am loving Adobe Character animator, and I'm making a cartoon with it (and After Effects.)One thing that would help IMMENSELY is the ability to have certain things like WIND and GRAVITY effects turn on at a certain point in the timeline without having to let go of your character. I'm doing some complex characters with multiple keyboard inputs, but I notice that it usually won't accept more than 2 at a time (having effects set to turn themselves on after a pre-set number of seconds of recording would be SO awesome).Having a gust of wind go through the scene is very fun, but having my character go back to neutral so I can turn it on during the scene isn't fun at all. Please respond! Is this possible? Is this maybe already a feature I can't find anywhere? Thanks!!!