Reducing File Size Without Having to Change Everything

[Martinnel]

I'm animating a PhotoShop puppet based on a series of photos of a real person. Because I'm new to this and a little clumsy I've had to return to PhotoShop many times to refine my puppet. I knew I would have to do this so I kept the PhotoShop image size really large (5763 px X 4200 px) so I'd have plenty of detail to finesse. But I'm finding it's really slowing down my computer. Switching between Rig and Record takes a lot of time and in Record mode my puppet moves slowly. I have not had this problem with smaller, lower resolution puppets.

But when I resized my PSD image all my handles and I think some other things went haywire in CA. Is there an easy way to adjust down to 1920 X 1080 (the size of my scene in CA) in PS without reeking havoc?

Martin

[Martinnel]

…And, if not, is there a place on Adobe's site to offer update requests?

And, please believe me, I really admire how really great v.1 of this application is. But, you know, we always want more.

Martin

[angie_taylor]

If you set up your handles etc in PS then changing the Image size should maintain the positions relative to the layers. However if you added handles etc in CA then these will not maintain position relative to the layers and will have to be adjusted.

[Martinnel]

I didn't realize Handles were a feature in PS. Is that what they're called? I'm having a hard time finding any information on how to work with them in PhotoShop. I just keep finding references to resize handles. Any ideas on where I should look for some sort of tutorial?

Martin

[zandwacht]

I'd like the same info! Is doing rigging in AI/PSD always best practic? Is there a list of layer/null naming conventions for rigging-while-designing? Thanks!

[CoSA_DaveS]

Normally we recommend adding handles in Ch because it's easier and you have options like sticks, but Angie's right: if you add handles in PS (using pen-tool single-point Shape layers) they'll scale with image size changes in PS and thus remain in the right location.

For feature requests, see Help > Provide Feedback...

zandwacht: For magic names to auto-tag layers, see Prepare artwork in Adobe Character Animator

[Martinnel]

CoSA_DaveS  wrote

…if you add handles in PS (using pen-tool single-point Shape layers) they'll scale with image size changes in PS and thus remain in the right location.

Thanks Dave and Angie, but I still don't understand the protocol for creating the handles in PS. Do I simply create a new layer within, say, the left eye folder and tap a point with the pen tool?

Martin

[CoSA_DaveS]

Yes. Make sure it's set to Shape mode. If you name the layer one of the special tag names it will be auto-tagged upon import.