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kylem9378613
kylem9378613
Participant
Jul 1, 2019 2:04 AM UTC
Answered

Laggy Camera

The camera in character animate is is unbearably slow. I have a mac book pro with 8 gb ram, using the default webcam. I've tried to reset my PRAM also and the camera is still slow. Any fixes?

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    kylem9378613
    kylem9378613Correct answer
    Participant
    Jul 1, 2019 4:33 PM UTC

    There was also the suggestion of making sure the app has permission to use the camera, if you're on Mojave. I'm going to ask around and see if anyone has some insight into this issue.


    Found my own fix. I had to open up FaceTime prior to opening up character animate. No idea why it works this way.

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    11 replies

    David Arbor
    Inspiring
    Jul 1, 2019 2:27 PM UTC
    • Can you be more specific? What do you mean that the camera is slow? You're recording a performance and you see the video in the Camera & Microphone panel lag?

    • Is this lag only happening while recording or does it happen even if you're not recording or playing back the Timeline, but instead are just moving your head around to practice?

    • Clearing your PRAM isn't going to help here, it's possible that Character is just taking too many resources and it can't handle both recording your timeline and your performance. 8 GB of RAM isn't a lot anymore, so have you tried closing every other application before using Character Animator?

    • There's also an option in the flyout (hamburger) menu of the Camera & Microphone panel called "limit camera to 12 fps." This is for changing the frame rate of your puppet's face vs the frame rate of the body and other movement, but it could also reduce the amount of CPU usage needed.

    Please answer the questions above and try all the suggestions and let me know what happens next. If none of these solutions help please also post all the specs of your MBP and whether or not you're experiencing performance issues with other apps.

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    kylem9378613
    kylem9378613Author
    Participant
    Jul 1, 2019 2:41 PM UTC

    The camera has very low fps, even with the blank face template & while i am not recording. I know the problem isn't my camera, because it works fine on any other application. I've even closed everything on my computer and had character animate the only one open, and it still has the same issue.

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    David Arbor
    Inspiring
    Jul 1, 2019 4:12 PM UTC

    What version of Character Animator are you running? Did you try the option to limit the camera's FPS to 12?

    Did you by any chance run across this thread? Low fps in camera

    DanTull​ from the Character Animator team had some suggestions. Perhaps he's discovered something new since that post in December?

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    David Arbor
    Inspiring
    Jul 1, 2019 2:27 PM UTC
    • Can you be more specific? What do you mean that the camera is slow? You're recording a performance and you see the video in the Camera & Microphone panel lag?

    • Is this lag only happening while recording or does it happen even if you're not recording or playing back the Timeline, but instead are just moving your head around to practice?

    • Clearing your PRAM isn't going to help here, it's possible that Character is just taking too many resources and it can't handle both recording your timeline and your performance. 8 GB of RAM isn't a lot anymore, so have you tried closing every other application before using Character Animator?

    • There's also an option in the flyout (hamburger) menu of the Camera & Microphone panel called "limit camera to 12 fps." This is for changing the frame rate of your puppet's face vs the frame rate of the body and other movement, but it could also reduce the amount of CPU usage needed.

    Please answer the questions above and try all the suggestions and let me know what happens next. If none of these solutions help please also post all the specs of your MBP and whether or not you're experiencing performance issues with other apps.

    Translate
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