Character Animator won't launch

Report · Nov 26, 2016

Character animator doesn't launch from creative cloud or Windows 10 menu. Nothing happens at all. No error messages. Just nothing.

I've uninstalled and reinstalled three times. Logged out of CC and back in. Closed down other applications. What could be going wrong?

Cheers

Phil

Report · Nov 28, 2016

That...is super weird. I haven't heard that happening before - I'd expect at least something to show up.

Can you post a screenshot of your full system specs here?

Report · Nov 28, 2016

Hi oksamurai,

Thanks for replying. Enjoying your video tutorials btw.

I've since had a chat support session with someone from adobe because photoshop wasn't working either after updating to cc2017. I've got a fix but it's not ideal. It involves disabling one of my graphics cards.

I have an integrated graphics card (Intel HD Graphics 4600) and a dedicated card (AMD Radeon R9 200). Character animator wasn't loading at all but photoshop was at least letting me see my preferences, which showed that no graphics card was being detected at all!

So disabling one or the other for some reason allowed photoshop (and I guess character animator) to detect the enabled one.

Problem is I use both cards for other things. So it would be great to get a better solution. Should I report this as a bug somewhere?

Cheers

phil

Report · Nov 29, 2016

Thanks - I'll file a bug. If someone needs more info they'll be in contact.

Report · Nov 30, 2016

Is there an option in the AMD graphics driver to use the discrete AMD GPU instead of the integrated Intel chip for Character Animator? Maybe something on the following page might be helpful?

How do I switch graphic card from intel to amd in window 10? - Quora

Do let us know if possibly selecting AMD or Intel for Character Animator allows it to work. Thanks.

Report · Nov 30, 2016

I was hoping there would be but I can't find that option after a lot of searching.

After playing around a bit more I realised the problem is stemming from having 3 monitors plugged in. Two into the AMD card and one into the Intel. When I unplug the third monitor CA works, then I can plug the monitor back in and CA continues to work. But if I try and launch with both cards feeding monitors, nothing. Same as if I disable a graphics card temporarily.

Unfortunately the info in that link didn't apply to my AMD control panel.

Cheers

Report · Dec 01, 2016

Thanks for the additional info. The third monitor you unplug is one of the two connected to the AMD card? If so, does it matter which of the two is disconnected?

Report · Dec 01, 2016

No I have been unplugging the Intel card one. So two monitors plugged into the AMD card works fine. So I think the issue is when both cards are actively sending to a monitor.

Report · Dec 01, 2016

So I'm assuming if only one monitor is connected to the AMD and another monitor to the Intel, it still fails.

To help diagnose this a little more, can you try the following:

1. Disconnect the Intel monitor, then launch Character Animator.

2. Turn off the Camera Input (in the Camera & Microphone panel), then quit Character Animator.

3. Reconnect the Intel monitor.

4. Relaunch Character Animator.

Does having the camera input off during launch in this way make a difference?

Thanks.

Report · Dec 01, 2016

Hi Jeff,

I tried the above but it didn't make a difference.

Also, one monitor in each card fails.

Report · Dec 02, 2016

Thanks for that added info. So if you only have the Intel HD Graphics 4600 connected, Character Animator launches OK?

And your current AMD control panel (I'm assuming you have a recent/updated graphics driver for it), doesn't show any option to force a specific application to use it over the Intel?

Also, can you provide the following...

-- In System Information, select Components > Display in the left sidebar, and provide a screenshot of the right side info?

-- Use GLview to provide a report:

1. Download GLview from http://www.realtech-vr.com/glview/download.php and install it.

2. Run the OpenGL Extension Viewer.

3. Click the blue cylinder icon (on the right side of the toolbar), choose Save as, then specify a location and name for the report, and include it here.

-- Use GPU-Z:

1. Download TechPowerUp GPU-Z from http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ and run it. You don’t need to install it — running in standalone mode is fine.

2. Take a screenshot of the Graphics Card tab.

Thanks!

Report · Dec 02, 2016

Thanks for that added info. So if you only have the Intel HD Graphics 4600 connected, Character Animator launches OK?

Yes

And your current AMD control panel (I'm assuming you have a recent/updated graphics driver for it), doesn't show any option to force a specific application to use it over the Intel?

Correct

Also, can you provide the following...

-- In System Information, select Components > Display in the left sidebar, and provide a screenshot of the right side info?

-- Use GLview to provide a report:

1. Download GLview from http://www.realtech-vr.com/glview/download.php and install it.

2. Run the OpenGL Extension Viewer.

3. Click the blue cylinder icon (on the right side of the toolbar), choose Save as, then specify a location and name for the report, and include it here.

It's a massive XML file which doesn't like being pasted in here for some reason. Some other way to send as attachment?

-- Use GPU-Z:

1. Download TechPowerUp GPU-Z from http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ and run it. You don’t need to install it — running in standalone mode is fine.

2. Take a screenshot of the Graphics Card tab.

Thanks!

Report · Dec 02, 2016

Thanks. Able to send a shared link (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.) to the file?

Report · Dec 02, 2016

Dropbox - glview-AMD Radeon R9 200 Series-11.XML

Report · Dec 02, 2016

Thanks. It's odd that the report shows <System>Windows Vista x64 Edition (Build 9200)</System>, but you're clearly using Windows 10.

Is this the driver version you're using?

Desktop

Crimson Edition 16.9.2 dated 10/4/2016, or something newer?

Report · Dec 02, 2016

Also, is the application's window not appearing at all, or just hanging while showing it?

Can you look in Task Manager to see if there are any orphaned versions of Character Animator.exe that might be stuck, and to manually end those processes before starting again? We are aware of one issue that would prevent launching if the Character Animator.exe process didn't quit successfully.

Another thing that might cause the application UI to not appear on Windows is if there is a conflict with another program that also uses the webcam (e.g., Skype) or that has video capture capability...but it doesn't sound like that if connecting using either GPU alone works.

Report · Dec 02, 2016

If you do see a single Character Animator.exe process appear and never go away when you try to launch, select it from Task Manager, right-click then choose Create Dump File. This will create a .DMP file that we'd like to analyze. It might be a big file, so Dropbox link would be best.

Thanks for your assistance.

Report · Dec 02, 2016

Also, is the application's window not appearing at all, or just hanging while showing it?

The application window is not showing at all.

Can you look in Task Manager to see if there are any orphaned versions of Character Animator.exe that might be stuck, and to manually end those processes before starting again? We are aware of one issue that would prevent launching if the Character Animator.exe process didn't quit successfully.

No orphans. It pops into task manager momentarily then goes.

Another thing that might cause the application UI to not appear on Windows is if there is a conflict with another program that also uses the webcam (e.g., Skype) or that has video capture capability...but it doesn't sound like that if connecting using either GPU alone works.

Don't think there is anything else running like this.

Report · Dec 19, 2016

Hi Jeff, any updates on this issue?

Cheers

Phil

Report · Dec 20, 2016

Nothing so far. (Sorry for the delay... I've been out of town for most of this month.)

Can you try the following?

1. Open a File Explorer window, then change to the C:\Users\<yourusername>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Character Animator\Beta\logs folder.

2. Create a text file called "Character Animator Log.txt" (no quotes). If file extensions are currently hidden, make sure you're not adding .txt twice to the name.

3. Open a Command Prompt window, then change to the folder where Character Animator.exe is located, then launch Character Animator.exe. e.g., type on separate lines:

cd /d C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Character Animator CC (Beta)\Support Files\

Character Animator.exe

The logs folder should now show "Character Animator Log.txt" and "Character Animator Log-last.txt" files. Please send the "Character Animator Log.txt" file.

Thanks.

Report · Dec 20, 2016

Hi,

I Tried that without disabling a graphics card. As soon as I launched the .exe I got a Windows warning "Character Animator has stopped working".

And nothing in the log file.

So, I disabled the Intel graphics and then launched again. Everything opened fine and got the following in the log file:

Log file created: 21/12/2016 10:41:25 AM

------------------------------------------

Ticks = 0 <23772> <App> <5> DYNAMICLINK_MAJOR_VERSION_STR = 11, DYNAMICLINK_MINOR_VERSION_STR = 0

Ticks = 47 <23772> <Animal.Player> <5> Initializing AuDSP

Ticks = 47 <23772> <Animal.Player> <5> Initializing AuBackEnd

Ticks = 78 <23772> <Animal.Startup> <5> Initializing AMIO Host

Ticks = 78 <23772> <AuLog.Startup> <5> AMIO Host initialization sequence started...

Ticks = 78 <23772> <AuLog.Startup> <5> AMIO Host initialization sequence complete.

Ticks = 109 <23772> <Animal.Player> <5> Failed to load device from preferences, will load the system default instead.

Ticks = 984 <23772> <AudioDeviceRenderer> <5> AudioDeviceRenderer::ReadyInput waited approximately 48 iterations for 507.813 ms to fill the input streams.

Ticks = 2015 <23772> <AudioDeviceRenderer> <5> AudioDeviceRenderer::ReadyInput waited approximately 48 iterations for 509.213 ms to fill the input streams.

Ticks = 2703 <23772> <AudioDeviceRenderer> <5> AudioDeviceRenderer::ReadyInput waited approximately 48 iterations for 508.408 ms to fill the input streams.

Ticks = 2703 <23772> <Animal> <5> SetProjectFilepath called with inProjFilepath = C:\Users\Philip\Documents\Adobe\Character Animator\Beta\Character Animator Project 4

Ticks = 2765 <23772> <DynamicLink> <5> Attempting to launch dynamiclinkmanager

Ticks = 2765 <23772> <DynamicLink> <5> C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Character Animator CC (Beta)\Support Files\32\dynamiclinkmanager.exe

Ticks = 7312 <23772> <App> <5> DoAppActiveStateChanged called with inAppActivated = 0

Ticks = 8000 <23772> <AudioDeviceRenderer> <5> AudioDeviceRenderer::ReadyInput waited approximately 48 iterations for 505.301 ms to fill the input streams.

Report · Dec 21, 2016

While the "Character Animator has stopped working" message is still open, can you try to create a .DMP file as previously described? Thanks.

Report · Dec 21, 2016

Dropbox - Character Animator.DMP

Report · Dec 24, 2016

Thanks. I'm waiting to hear from others if the .dmp file shows anything obvious for us to suggest.

I'm not familiar with the newer AMD driver software UI. The Gaming section doesn't have the ability to force Character Animator to use it over the Intel GPU? I couldn't find screenshots of the configuration of that Gaming section on the web.

The Intel GPU software doesn't have a way to disable or enable based on app?

FYI, Adobe is on holiday break right now, so apologize for the delay in our responses.

Report · Dec 24, 2016

When the machine is configured so that Ch can't launch, can AE launch?