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R
Rene BK
Participant
February 4, 2023
Question

CH File Management, a solid tutorial would be great.

  • February 4, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 403 views

I gotta say, some clearer instructions for file management for CH would be really great. I've been watching a lot of the tutorials and have not quite grasped this... can someone point me in the right direction? 

 

What exactly is the relationship between the CH document itself, the artwork files (Photoshop/Illustrator), and Puppet files? I usually pick this kind of stuff up quickly (been using Photoshop, Protools, etc for many years) and I've made some short test animations with CH.

 

Say you've finish you character "Not Elmo" adn you import the PS document "Not_Elmo_v3psd" into CH. You rig it up, create and export a scene. Later you need to do some more work on the Not Elmo character, so you save new version of the PS doc as "Not_Elmo_v4.psd". 

How do you keep the rigging work you've done?

Do you save a .puppet file? If so, how to you make a next version of PS file?

Does one save "Not_Elmo_v5.puppet" in the same folder with "Not_Elmo_v5.psd" and... the CH doc?

Why do the links between CH and files keep breaking?

 

also... the CH file are zero bytes... what? 🙂 

 

thanks!

- Rene

 

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

ElectroPuppet
ElectroPuppet
Inspiring
February 5, 2023

Try building a master project that contains your initial rigged puppet. When that is working, export it as a Not_Elmo_v1.puppet. You can then just import your puppet file for each project/scene you require it in.

 

If you need to make a change to your puppet return to your master project. Make any changes and export a new puppet called Not_Elmo_v2.puppet - that way it won't save over the top of your previous puppet in case your require it.

 

Think of your project as a little theater. Inside that lives your scenes. Each scene is like a little stage inside your theater. When you import a puppet the software imports a copy of the puppet into your project. So you are always working with a copy of your .puppet file.

.puppet files are just a zipped up version of your artwork and rigging. 

 

Hope that helps and my little analogy doesn't prove more confusing!

 

 

R
Rene BKAuthor
Participant
February 6, 2023

ElectroPuppet,

Ah, I see. So you're saying the CH file is the master file, not the the PS/Ai file. 

 

So...

- The original Ps/Ai artwork is imported once into CH, saved as "Not_Elmo_Master.chproj" and that becomes the character's master file.

- The character's improved squencial versions would be exported as puppet files directly from the CH file as "Not_Elmo_v1.puppet", "...v2.puppet" etc.

 

My mistake was looking at the PS/Ai files as the master files and making versions of those files. 

 

So helpful, Thanks!

- 

 

    ElectroPuppet
    ElectroPuppet
    Inspiring
    February 6, 2023

    Yes and no,

    When you first build a puppet you create a live link between Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. So when you modify those files they update in your CH file. If you delete the linked source art file you will lose the artwork in Adobe Character Animator. So that artwork is also part of your master file.

     

    When you export a puppet, it gathers the source file and contains it inside the .puppet file. So the .puppet file has a self contained copy in there. You can open and edit the .puppet source artwork too.

     

    What I do is create a folder named after the puppet. (Not_Elmo). Inside that folder is my original artwork (Not_Elmo.ai)  and the Character Animator project (Not Elmo CH Project) and then when I export a puppet I will create another folder called Not_Elmo_Puppets and inside that would be each version of the exported puppet.

     

    Hope that helps clarify for you!

     

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