Character Animator

I'm building my first puppet and can't seem to get my arms to attach to the torso properlynow that the Staple tool is gone. When I select this left arm, for instance, and drag the point upto intersect with the Torso layer, I can't get it to turn "Green" and attach. Please help! Love your program!

can i upload my own character that i drew on paper with pen/pencil?

I tried importing 3 Character Animator scenes with different Puppets and Audio in After Effects using Dynamic Link.It was no problem with scene 1, but the puppet in scene 2 stuttered and scene 3 had no audio at all.In Character Animator itself the audio is normal. I tried rendering it out of AE to see if there are any preview issues but the audio still didn't work properly. Also I checked the settings of the audio files and they all seem the same.Importing them to a new After Effects Project was not successful as well.Has anyone a solution? Might this be a Bug?Edit: When I open the AE project I get this warning: " Audio conforming failed check media cache preferences"

Hello,I want to have two puppets in my scene.  And I have make separate wav filesfor each one of them. (they are the two cookies that you can download offthe internet.)  I set it up where one cookie would say something and then crumbleand the female cookie would say something like "That's the way the cookie crumbles"But I cannot figure out how to have them say their lines separate. (they both saythe first wav file and the second wav file works correctly) I want just the male cookieto say the first line which is "Be careful how you pick me up"Thanks

Hi,Character Animator runs buttery smooth on the Beta version but in the new release (CC 2018) the puppet in the scene responds with a delay on the webcam and the movement is all jittery. I'm still using the Beta version as the jittering prevents making minute adjustments to performance. I'm running Ch on the following:MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016) with TouchBar2.9 GHz Intel Core i716 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3Radeon Pro 460 4096 MBIntel HD Graphics 530 1536 MBmacOS Sierra : 10.12.6 I've run into similar problems when I first installed After Effects when I first purchased the MBP but after a few months, the problem went away. Probably due to an update.As I was writing this and running back and forth between Character Animator and Safari, I figured out the problem but I'm going to post this anyway for those who run into a similar issue. The solution is below

I have a Scarlett 2i2 hooked up to my iMac which is working perfectly fine in Garageband and shows a decent amount of volume in Sound input/output settings.However in Ch it shows no input at all.In preferences it shows the correct device in all the boxes.Can anyone suggest what I need to do?thank you.

Hello everyone, I have been working on a character that keeps getting more complexe day after day but everytime I rig it again, because I have to change my hierarchy I have been encoutering trouble to make the body, hands, heaf and feets to work properly.Right now my character body moves well but the feets and hands are getting bigger if i put my head on the right side of the webcam and smaller if i put it on the left.If iget closer to the camera my hans and feets get smaller and they get bigger when i move far away from the webcam.I tried to put fixed handle on different group but it doesn't seems to work.Here is my hierarchy:+Character     +Frontal          Head          Body               +Left Arm               BodyShapes  &nb

Hi,the wave-form feature is a great addition to CH, making it easier to line up multiple tracks .... if it works, that is.Maybe I'm missing something, but as I zoom in and out of the timeline the wave form will only show up on some levels and disappear on others. There appears no clear logic on when it does and unfortunately for me it never works on both tracks needing alignment when zoomed in to a level where alignment is actually achievable.Any thoughts?Just me?Bug?

I'm liking the new features in CC2018, and see much improved workflows, etc., so thanks, 1st of all, for the work your folks put into this great product!I'm now trying to set up my characters' head turns, but am having no luck with Triggers/Swap Sets.I've got individual groups of 1/4 + 1/2 turns for each side (right and left), and of course a "frontal" group - all inside my "Head" group.When I drag the "1/4 Left" group into my "Triggers" section, it sets up the group as Dave shows in the Tut.When I add triggers to each layer in the group, I get no response in the scene.Please help ....

I have a character who's default arm is behind her.I have another arm that is outstretched and also a 1-image, 2-frame, layer cycle added (a blurred arm in between).I've made the arm group into a Swap Set:I've added the cycle layer behavior to the arm set:So, my problem is that the trigger (swap set) works, but the cycle layer doesn't.I don't get my 2 frame blurred in between arm.How did I set this up incorrectly?Thanks in advance,

Hi,waiting for the final release to get pose-to-pose, was really worth it for me. Much improved the animation feel in what I'm doing.The only thing I struggle with is controlling the proper element. It is a "Face" property. So it works great for the head. Yes, there is a lag until it responds to the webcam (by necessity, since it must determine if I'm just jittering or making an actual move), but I can take care of this in the edit. What is more problematic is how it affects other features of the face such as eyebrows. With this feature turned on (or up %) they too exibit lag. Yet features such as eyebrows would benefit from being much more responsive independant of the head position.Am I just using it wrongly or is the eyebrow lag a "side effect" of pose-to-pose? And if it is a side effect, may I suggest to include a revision in a future update that differentiates between different elements where you may or may not want pose-to-pose.Cheers,Johannes

Hi, I tried out the physics example in CC and it seems like it loses it's physics behavior if you add a dangle to any of the individual objects (ie the ragdoll)Are you guys aware of this issue? Is dangle supposed to work with the physics?

For those who didn't know (I didn't until Dave told me), you can drag a CharacterAnimator scene straight into AfterEffects and it magically works with dynamic link. Except today! I just booted up my project after updating AfterEffects and all of the links are dead. I still have the original AE files, and it looks like I can rollback AE to a previous version (big thanks for making rollbacks easy, Adobe).

Cant see the staple tool in my toolbar

Hey friends .... I don't know what has changed in Ch or Ae with the CC2018 roll-outs.  But I'm in a hole.  Please correct me if I'm missing something ..... but I'm syncing up the "Cat" puppet from Adobe (thought I'd use one of yours), in a new project and popped in a 5 second .WAV voice.I did a "Lip-Sync", and the Ch produced a layer with the visemes - all lined up and looking good.Should I not be able to tap "Play", to preview the lip-sync result in the scene?  It seems I've been  to do this as I can extend some of the mouth shapes (or shorten them) as needed to better match the faces and expressions of the characters.And even more, perhaps, is .... how else can I verify that the puppet's mouth shapes will render out correctly?Man .... I'm dead in the water, and about to miss some important deadlines ....SOS ..... Please - somebody!

It seems there was, in the BETA versions, a distinct menu item in After Effects for importing the PNG+WAV output from Ch.   If not (sometimes I may not remember correctly for sure ...), do we import as just a "File" as a "PNG Sequence"?

Not only is Character Animator behaving strangely (character not responding to lip-sync track after invoking the control to sync, tapping the "play" control, to check lip sync in the Scene, makes the character freeze in position even as I am moving around to animate), but I see no controls in After Effects about importing, exporting, or anything regarding Character Animator.I have CC2018 updates for everything (Ps, Pr, Ae, Ch, Au,Ai, Mu ....).I'm also Windows 10 Pro ....No panic, as I have other work to catch up on in Ae and Ps, but I'll sleep better if this can be resolved sooner rather than later.Thanks for the help!  I know we'll get there!

I've built all my character scenes and props in After Effects CC2018, but cannot find a way to open Character Animator from inside AE.  When I do open Character Animator on its own, my characters' mouths don't seem to be associated with the Lip synched file in the project.  In fact,it looks as if the Lip Sync is not affecting the puppet at all.

... I have selected in timeline the scene of a puppet and wave audio. Each time I get the message below. I have to restart programme again to overcome problem. Is this a bug in A Ch 2017 october?Joop

The preferred method of using a Character Animator scene in an After Effects project is via Dynamic Link (i.e., drag a Character Animator scene from its Project panel in the the Project panel in After Effects, or import the .chproj file into After Effects and select the Character Animator scene to use).If you still use the PNG Sequence and WAV export functionality from Character Animator, the older script to import it into After Effects is no longer bundled with the latest versions of After Effects CC. However, you can still import it in the following ways:If you still have After Effects CC 2017 installed, from your current version of After Effects, choose File > Scripts > Run Script File, then navigate to the Scripts folder for After Effects CC 2017, and select the New Comp from Character Animator Recording.jsx script to run. If you don't have the older After Effects still installed, download the archive file containing the .jsx script file.Import the exported scene manually usi

Hey Dave and the Adobe Community,Wanted to see if you could take a look at this puppet?  I'm having issues with the walk cycle and I know it's because it's a cat that walks on all fours.  I tried the hack with added walk cycles to the front arms and tagging them as legs.  It does work walking to the right but when you walk to the left the front legs aren't moving correctly.  As well as it warps my character a bit and makes it walk upright a bit.  I understand that the walk cycle isn't optimized for four limbs like this but was wondering if there was any work around or hack to make it happen without having to record frame by frame.  Also for some reason my eyes stopped working.  The pupils don't follow me and they don't blink anymore.  It was working perfect until i added the walk sequence and made the left profile and right profile groups for making a more dynamic walk.  Really hope you can take a look at this.  Any sort of insight woul

Hello,I'm working on some tests animating a personified penny. Everything but the face and top of the head seem willing to walk at a moment's key press, in either direction, instead of altogether. Causes major warping eventually:PennyPincherTest20 2017 05 21 4KAE - YouTubeNoticed a Khain user may have had similar issues recently. I'm currently trying to link skeletally to the waist/hips at the base of the penny head. Considering there's no "body" beyond the legs/shoes, any ideas? Thanks for any suggestions!Sincerely,[personal info removed by moderator in accordance with forum rules]

I'm building a very complex puppet in Illustrator, and large number of layers need to be latched, or need to cycle, or need to hide other items as they play. I understand that I can apply these settings in the Rigging window, but as I make changes to parent layers in Illustrator those settings are erased. I would like to apply them as part of the layer title, if possible, so that as I continue to update my Illustrator file, the behaviors don't have to be reapplied.I'm using "+" to make layers operate independently, and I'm using "(X)" in the .ai layer names to apply key triggers. What other functions can be applied in this manner?

I've started using Character Animator almost every few days now. When the lip sync works well, it really nails it, but there are times that it really looks different from what should be coming out of my characters mouth. I there any way to help the program learn how you personally speak? Or updates where it will become adaptive and learn your voice?I'm using CA for YouTube videos, and it would cut out a lot of time if I didn't have to edit the mouth quite so much.

Hello, using the new CA CC2018, totally love the new improvements!Have a question though- I have tried to rename trigger/swap sets I have created (shown on the "trigger" panel), but can't seem to find a way to do it.For example, I want to rename one swap set for my puppet's right hand "right hand", but don't want the illustrator layer to be named "right hand" (less titles, words, easier to rig and know where parts are). I have tried double clicking the name in the trigger panel, as well as looked in the edit menu, but no luck so far... is this possibly a bug?