Feature Focus: Smart replays

Smart replays simplify the way you view and edit replays in the timeline. Replays triggered during recording in new scenes now appear as trigger bars, instead of multiple take bars, for a simpler, more compact, and easier-to-modify timeline. 

Using smart replays 

1. Create a new scene from an example puppet on the Home screen (e.g., Tull or Chloe (Photoshop)) or create a new scene with one of your own puppets.  
2. Create a complex triggered replay, as follows: 
   a. Record a performance with several behaviors armed (e.g., Face, Eye Gaze, Dragger, Triggers). You can even trigger an existing replay to be triggered within your new replay! 
   b. Right-click on one of the selected take bars, then choose Create Replay & Trigger. 
   c. Give your new trigger a Trigger Key (in the Triggers panel) or control button (in the Controls panel). 
3. Confirm that smart replays are enabled for your scene. Select the scene in the Project panel, then make sure Smart Replays is checked in the Properties panel. 
4. Record a performance using your new replay with Smart Replays enabled. Disarm (red circle button) all behaviors except Triggers. Press Record. Press the trigger’s key or control button for your replay. Press Stop. 
5. Compare the difference in your timeline between the original replay take bars and the consolidated smart replays recording. 

Note: Smart replays change the way existing trigger takes with replays process animation. For this reason, existing scenes will not automatically have Smart Replays enabled in the Properties panel. New scenes will have Smart Replays enabled by default. 

Troubleshooting

• Smart replays change the way existing trigger takes with replays process animation. If you want to preserve the workings of a previous recording, leave Smart Replays disabled for that scene. 

Known issues and limitations

Smart replays is an enhancement to the existing replays feature, and is still in development. 

There are no known issues at this time. If you encounter unexpected results, please file a bug by posting it in the #animal-house channel. 

What we want to know

We want to hear about your experience with Smart replays:  

• What are your overall impressions?  

• Are there cases in which the resulting animation doesn’t match expectations? 
• Are there any scenarios when you’d choose to disable Smart replays for new scenes? 
• Do you find Smart replays improve your workflow when recording replays? 
• Do you have examples of particularly complex replays that will benefit from Smart replays? Show us before/after shots of your timeline! 
• How can we further improve Smart replays?   

Thank you! We’re looking forward to your feedback. 

(Use this Beta forum thread to discuss Smart replays and share your feedback with the Character Animator team and other Beta users. If you encounter a bug, let us know by posting a reply here or choosing Report a bug from the Provide feedback icon in the top-right corner of the app.)