Character Animator - required folder not visible in selection list

[geoffreya28176583]

My apologies that this is not actually a question about Ch but Adobe Support has referred me to this forum as they say they are not trained in workflow.

I have a folder called Gathered Media figures in which I have stored my Character Animator puppets over the last few months. When I select File>Import in Character Animator this folder does not appear in the list of folders to select. I know that this folder is still intact because when I just opened Illustrator one of the files I want to access was displayed in the list of recent files used. I opened this file and then went to Save as, and the the Gathered Media figures folder appeared in the list of selection options. But this folder is not present when I try to import in Character Animator. If someone could shed light on how I can get this folder to be continually present in the selection list the way  it has been  in the past, I would be very grateful.

[alank99101739]

What are you trying to achieve? I never access those folders directly myself. I use puppet export to create a xxx.puppet file. I then import that puppet file into a new project. Just wondering what you were trying to achieve as there might be a better to achieve it.

[geoffreya28176583]

Thanks for your reply. I am trying to access puppets I have previously created in order to use them in another scene of my animation. Until a couple of days ago there was never a problem in clicking on File>Import in Character Animator and seeing the folder I have always used for storing the puppets. But now the name of this folder does not appear in the drop-down list of available folders. I am wondering how I can get it to resurface.

[alank99101739]

If a new scene in an existing project, you can just drag the puppet from the project panel into the new scene. If a new project or one where the puppet has not been used before, you should be able to navigate to the folder where you exported the puppet previously and import it again. The “gathered media” directories however I thought only had the artwork file (unless you exported the puppet file there too). The exported xxx.puppet files are really zip files with artwork and rigging instructions inside,

Do you have an old project with the puppet still in it? One thing to try is to export the puppet from that old project, put it somewhere safe (e.g. your Documents folder), then go to the new project and try the import again (from the Documents folder).

If that does not work, can you share the version of CH you are using?

[geoffreya28176583]

Thanks for your reply. In the meantime I have managed to sort out this problem by clicking on the magnifying glass in the top right corner and entering the first few letters of the file name I am searching for. When it opens I click on the relevant file, then choose Save as and it reveals that it is stored in the Gathered Media Figures folder. After clicking to replace it I then went to open a file in Illustrator, Character Animator and After /effects and the Gathered Media Figures folder appears in the drop-down list every time now.