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T
TanBoxer
Inspiring
May 19, 2025
Question

Move a group vertically downwards trigger or replay?

  • May 19, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 386 views

Hi everyone, I thought I had a really simple task and it sounded easy to me but I am struggling.

 

I have a van that I want to talk but also when hitting a key it becomes a lowered looking van.

 

So the process I started was:-

1) Created the Van with just eyes and a mouth

2) Made it work with lipsync and eyes

3) Mouth, eyes and eyebrows were all in one group

4) Then I just had the van on it's own layer ourtside the group as I was only thinking of a static van

 

Then I had the idea of the van going into a lowered position.

6) I separated the wheels and left them as the separated layer outside the animated facial group, I then moved the bodywork of the van into the main group with the facial features.

7) I then thought I could create a trigger that would slide the animated group of facial features and van body over the wheels.

 

Every method I tried to create the trigger left me with just a set of wheels showing until I pressed the trigger and then the van body and the face showed up. No sliding down either. Just appreared lower over the wheels.

 

 Okay Samurai suggested replay which I have tried as attached. I managed a drop but I can not drag it down smooth, straight and fast enough to be effective option. Also it wouldn't still lip sync.
 
Can anyone provide a working option with good instructions for a newbie? The replay attenpt is attached to explain what I am trying to do.
 

 

2 replies

k_oshiro
Community Expert
k_oshiroCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 23, 2025

Hello.
I am not good at English. So I may not understand your question correctly.

If you want to move the body of the car and the wheels separately using Adobe Character Animator, you would put a head tag and a facial behavior on each layer.
I hope this helps.
You can DL a sample puppet.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jPABUZKNzuyOOyMML1u6_G3mQLrljobJ/view?usp=sharin

 

 

k_oshiro(AdobeCommunityExpert)
T
TanBoxerAuthor
Inspiring
May 25, 2025

Thank you so much for the replies, what an awesome helpful community. I appreciate both responses especially providing me with a sample file and video. That is really kind to share your time like that. 🙏👍

 

I would settle for my vehicle to drop into a lowered suspension mode just for a brief moment without facial tracking and lipsync if it was the only easy option. I know also I could have two puppets, one lowered and one normal then join the videos but with this method the animation of the slide down would be missing. It was the animation of dropping the suspension I wanted during a conversation. I have not explored the other adobe animation app yet.

    TheOriginalGC
    Community Expert
    TheOriginalGCCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 20, 2025

    It seems to me that you should treat the puppet as a Head, using the van as a face and the face parts in layers above the face. The way swap works is to have two versions of your art in a single layer. In this case, the default face (van and wheels) and an alternate face. If the face parts need to move with the van, then a copy of those need to be in the alternate layer group as well. Swap doesn't do tween animations, though you can use cycle layers to have a smooth transition. You wouldn't be able to have the puppet speaking during that transition. 

     

    It can quickly become a complicated mess. 

     

    What you're trying to do might be better accomplished in Adobe Animate, as it does allow tweening and visemes for lip syncing. What Adobe Animate doesn't do, however, is motion tracking so you wouldn't be able to use the camera to animate the eyes and eyebrows. You'd have to do it by hand.

     

    Does that make sense?

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