Copy Over Behaviors, Handles, & Key Triggers

Report · Sep 04, 2017

So I was trying to make a version of my puppet like you did with RedMonsterLive that has a wide, mid, and closeup camera view. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see a way to copy over all the behaviors, handles, and keytriggers to the new psd file that includes the three camera shots. Is there a way to do that or do I have to manually put all those things back into each of the three scenes separately?

Report · Sep 05, 2017

You can't copy behaviors per se (yet), but you can select anything and right-click it to make it a shareable puppet. In Red Monster Live, I made the camera its own PSD, but Red Monster was a completely separate puppet file that I dragged into the camera puppet 3 separate times. That way I didn't need to re-rig Red Monster each time - it was just 3 references to him.

Report · Mar 05, 2018

Hi Dave! Any update with this request? for a feature copy and paste, or drag, triggers from one puppet to another? It'd be a fantastic time-saving feature (if it doesn't already exist). Thanks!

Report · Mar 07, 2018

Not sure if useful, but if you duplicate a scene or puppet (Edit/Duplicate in the menu - CTRL-D), all of the behaviors get copied don’t they? Then you can edit the copy? I find it a useful way to experiment. Copy an existing thing, hack the copy, then delete it if the experiement failed. (Sorry if I have missed your point!)

Report · Mar 07, 2018

Thanks, Alan. Yes, but that doesn't solve the problem of copying triggers

from one puppet to a different looking puppet. It's for many instances

where you want the trigger (eg arm moving, specific eye blinks) to apply to

an entirely different character.

Report · Sep 12, 2017

So your scenes were their own PSD file for red monster live and you can add your character animator puppet 3 times to the camera psd file? Does this also help with managing computer resources or does it become more resource heavy?

I'll see if I can figure out how to do this, but am a little unsure how it would be done. If you can include how you do this in one of your tutorials that would be cool.

Report · Sep 13, 2017

This video should show exactly how it's done: https://youtu.be/28oHGKEWflk?t=2m8s

But yes, I dragged a RM puppet inside the Cameraswap puppet inside CH (not inside Photoshop).

Report · Sep 15, 2017

Thanks. I thought I remembered you talking about this in your videos but couldn't refind this video. I kept thinking it was in your Red Monster Live video. This is exactly what I wanted. Thanks again.

Report · Nov 10, 2018

Dave, has this changed in the latest v2 of Ch? For the life of me I can't work it out. I'm using Almasol as a template to work from but I can't find a way to copy the arm triggers from Almasol to my modified puppet. Any clues?

Report · Mar 07, 2018

I agree that would be nice, but I was wondering if you could duplicate the puppet (copying triggers) then change the artwork path property to a different file. (This is hacks, but best I could think of today.)

Report · Dec 19, 2020

Hi eveyone! It's a bit late but people may still be wondering if this is possible. If the question is can you copy triggers the answer is yes. A few things:

the puppets need the same layer outline. Named the same.
Both puppets need to be open in one project.

Once that's done you can copy and paste the triggers you want to the new puppet by selecting. them and using Copy-command and then pasting those Triggers in the window of the new puppet.

When that's done the triggers will be highlighted and say they don't have a layer source.

Simply drag the correctlayer to the correct trigger and you have it. Triggers are transferred.

Note that with Swaps for things like mouths you may have to do some more tinkering but just make sure all the layer proprties match the pupet you are copying from.

Not sure if I'm way behind on this but happy animating! I'm a newbie so excuse the enthusiasm!

Report · Jul 11, 2022

Is it possible to copy over the dragger animations from one puppet to another/link them up with the arm layers?

Example: For when you need to replace a character with a different one but want to keep the same arm movements/gestures, thanks!

Report · Jul 12, 2022

You can copy and paste dragger tracks, but because the rigging is different for every character, it tends not to look right (or work at all if the handle can't be found in the new puppet). Personally I'd advise against this and record unique performances for each rig.