requesting the most basic things

Report · Sep 15, 2021

Maybe I'm the only one this is happening to, but I usually find that the poses I've created do not usually show while scrubbing the timeline. Instead, the puppet reverts to the default rigged pose. It's only when I move the playhead or hit play that I can see the actual pose I've arranged. Otherwise, it's just the default pose. In other words, the whole idea of WYSIWYG is totally out the window after 30 years.

I've been trying to be more positive with my posts lately, but I just can't help myself. I mean, WTF, Adobe? Really? This is not the way an enterprise application is supposed to behave. Get yourself together. This should be embarrassing for you. But I doubt it will even enter your radar. Sorry again, for not being positive. But I mean, COME ON. Sometimes it's like you're not even trying. You create this amazing technology but then you just drop it on the ground so the user experience is just dog-crap. And you do this again and again as if you're punishing us. I just don't get it. Am I alone? Am I crazy?

Report · Sep 15, 2021

No need to be positive if it's not working for you! We want to hear when things don't work, that's how we make it better.

Sounds like you need to "disarm" your puppet: click the red dot next the puppet name in the timeline to turn it hollow. That stops all camera/mic/mouse inputs and only reads recordings from the timeline. Of course you'll have to re-arm the puppet before doing any more recordings. If that doesn't work for you, please share a screen recording so we can see what's going on.

Report · Sep 30, 2022

I love the concept of CA. I hate the implementation. Adobe took something great, bought it, and then did the worst job possible with the UX. Like they never bothered to talk with a real animator. I yell at my screen more with CA than any other software. Stuff it can do requires way too much labor for stuff that can be simplified with better coding and then theres the limitations....

Not being able to scrub or trim things like triggers to be separated by press and release or "start trigger"/"end trigger" is just so draining. Playing the "move 1 frame and check" game is 1998 nonsense. It's 2022.

Shareable puppets could be an amazing solution to workflow and performance issues, but they need to be expanded and improved. Also debugged.

Adobe's answers are "simplify your art, scale to 720, turn off behaviors, etc) but thats all nonsense. These are excuses for a software that was not ready for release. If I were maxing out resources, I would understand, but that's also not the case.

From what I see, CA team is way too busy focusing on the starter (free) version than helping the paying professionals.

There are so many things CA needs before it can be great. Alot of those things could come from coordinating with the AE team to add better tools for animators based on the years of data they've collected.

Please consider an audit of your UX. Make some target profiles and see if you're actually solving problems for those profiles.

Examples of what I see:

Pro- willing to manually do lipsync because the time saved is wasted and doubled in the other processes of CA. So they probably use AE. Also can't make products for free/starter users like motion libraries or appearance changes, etc. So there's no market for pros in CA. If they are still willing, they run into the same problem as the next profile.

Streamer- bogged down and low fps broadcasts. Probably simplified puppet to minimal profiles, views, triggers, and art. Most likely wishes for a better result.

Consumer/enthusiasts/tiktoker/children-

The free/starter version covers all their needs and more. If this is your target, there's no money in this product. It's now the product loss leader for Adobe used to improve the "Creativity for all" campaign and will die off in a year once tiktok gets bored of it.

I'd like to see CA be the mocap leader for 2d and being a broadcast quality solution for animation teams on a budget. It has so much potential, but it can't be the version it is today to acheive that.

I apologize if I'm being negative, but I only want CA to succeed and be the tool we all want it to be. We have a ways to go before that can happen, but I'm hopeful the CA team will listen to users and make the proper adjustments.

Thank you.

Report · Sep 30, 2022

Thanks, Eric, for saying what needed to be said! It's still real to me dammit!! Adobe is the crazy girlfriend you just can't leave because the sex is so good. You leave again and again, but you always come back. You keep thinking, "If only she could just get her act together, then this would be a beautiful relationship." I ain't holding my breath, but I ain't kicking her to the curb just yet either. The ball is in your court, girlfriend. (Yes I know I may have used gender-biased language. I'm a cis-hetero-male. These are the pronouns that are relevant to MY life. Deal with it.)