Importing Scene with Audio from Animator to After Effects

[Adareimages2]

I have current, updated, versions of Character Animator and After Effects. I am trying to export a scene, with Puppet and Audio from Animator to After Effects.

I have seen older tutorials for this that use file menu items that my versions have. Can you advise on how to do this - step by step please - and also if it is possible to export and import the audio track, as when I have tried it, this does not appear in AE.

UPDATE: I have now been able to import to AE by dragging the scene from CH. The problem is that when it plays, it is in slow motion, perhaps 4 times slower than normal speed. Anyone have thoughts on what is the problem?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Message was edited by: Stephen Power Updated with new issue.

[alank99101739 · Accepted solution]

Buy a faster computer? (Sorry, could not resist !!)

i generally find it sluggish. It does speed up once the cache is refreshed, but it’s never fast.

To get better speed I often export a video file (with transparency) then just do video editing. That runs faster, but you have to export the video each change in CH (Which is a pain).

[Adareimages2]

Once again, you have been very helpful, thanks. As for the computer, I reckon it's fast enough, including 16GB of RAM, but I could probably use a faster Video card.

I exported the scene as a video with Alpha (whatever that is), and it ran in Premiere Pro with no problems. In After Effects, it was very sluggish at first, and then the first 20% or so ran at normal speed. There was a green line at the top of the timeline, increasing from left to right, as the scene played. If the timeline bar went off it, the scene slowed to a crawl. I assume this is a rendering bar? If so, is there a way to speed up the rendering or to do it before the scene is played.

Thanks again for your help.

[alank99101739]

Alpha means transparency. So if it is a video format “with alpha” it means you can put transparency in the video file. Many Cannot support transparency, only a few do.

Yes, I think the green bar is the background render and cache, so it speeds up when that is done. I personally don’t know any way to speed that up. There were some options inside character animator for rendering quality in the properties panel for the scene (you can render at 200%, 100%, or 50% - where 50% goes fastest), but no idea if it works when in AE (I have not tried).

You need to be a bit careful. You can adjust settings like FPS to reduce rendering time (12fps will be twice as fast as 24 FPS), but you will be in trouble afterwards as timings in CH are frame oriented, not time. So changing the FPS later will stuff up all your recordings I think.

But if you browse the forums you might find what others have done. I don’t use AE very often, but do recall others experimenting with options.

[Adareimages2]

Thanks again. I'm surprised you don't have an ACP badge!

I'm very new to Character Animator, but not to video or photography (I have worked professionally in both areas for over 30 years). What I am trying to do is have a puppet replace me in a series of tutorial videos - for introductions and when I would be "on screen".

This will involve mixing imagery - photographs, diagrams and other media, including sound, in the background behind the puppet - with the puppet in the foreground, for short sequences. Do you think this would be best done in Premiere Pro or After Effects?

p.s. this is how you spell...hobbyist.

[alank99101739]

If just superimposing videos, I use Premier Pro. After Effects I use if I want other visual effects.

For what you describe, I create a separate scene in CH for each appearance of the puppet and export a video. I can then slide it around in Prem Pro to line it up. It can also easily span different background videos.

But there is a feature request you can vote for which is to allow a video in the background of CH. That would allow creating the video then superimpose your character over the top, syncing it up properly. Its a bit hard to do at present (dynamic linking works, but is sluggish). Only solution I have seen today is to export video as a PNG sequence and use cycle layers to import it into CH. It makes it possible, but is rather clunky and does not work well with long videos. I think this would be a good feature for CH myself - make it easier to do exactly what you are doing - add an instructor to a video.

Here it is if you want to vote for it: import video to scene as background – Adobe video & audio apps