Rigging My Puppet

[Guest]

Hello I have a puppet that i rigged last year before all of these new Character Animator Updates came out in 2022. Now that I am going back to finishing my animation I've noticed that my puppet is walking very weird which it wasnt before. Im figuring this is happening because of the new updates to CH. I see new behaviors like "Motion Library" and i would love to start using it. Before I start using my puppet i would like for someone to fix the rig on my puppet so that it can walk properly...just a little tweek. I also need an explanation on why my puppet was walking funny if possible...THANK YOU

Google Drive Link to Puppet:  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Blds2pYH66X_AUpqbPPJc89Tar8y-iRD?usp=sharing

[j-saito]

Hi,

Thanks for reporting with a link to your puppet. This always helps so we can be specific with the rigging guidance.

I hope you like my version here: https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/8bbb7c3d-0042-4c41-6c5e-7418552d97a9

Here is the summary of what I did:

Walk behavior:

1. Uncheck "Pin Feet When Standing"

2. Change "Behavior Interaction" to "Override"

Frontal view (under "Blank" layer"):

1. Change the "Blank" layer's Attach Style to "Free"

2. Use a regular handle as a Waist (not the dotted "origin" handle)

3. Move the Right Hip and Left Hip to the Body layer as regular handles

Profile views (under "Blank right" and Blank left"):

1. Change the "Blank left/right" layer's Attach Style to "Free"

2. Move the Breathe handle to the "Body" layer (otherwise, the breathe behavior will affect the head too)

Extra:

1. Added Motion Library behavior

2. Tweaked the heel and toe handle placement in the frontal view for better leg bend

3. Tweaked the wrist handle placement for wrist rotations from Motion Library

Additional recommendation:

Try Leader-Follower to attach props

Have fun!

[Guest]

Thanks alot for your help J....The link you sent has a file that is not a .CH nor .PSD....I cannot open the file. Can you resend the file in .CH or .PSD format so I can open it with CH....Thank You

[j-saito · Accepted solution]

Sorry about that - can you try this link? https://assets.adobe.com/public/8bbb7c3d-0042-4c41-6c5e-7418552d97a9

(also updated the link in my original post)

It should be a zip file containing a folder with a puppet "Bugs - profiles1 - jsaito ver.puppet".

You should be able to import this .puppet to your CH.

[Guest]

Ok this file works, the puppet walks much better now but moves weird when the motion library is on. The puppet is trying to do the Motion but its not rigged properly im guessing. Is there any way the puppet can be tweeked a little better so it can move more precise with the Motion Library? Some of the Puppet's Motions look close to what its suppose to look like but most of them are not moving accurately. Thanks again for your help.

[j-saito]

Good to hear that the puppet is working better 🙂

As OkaySamurai says in his YouTube videos, not all motions will look good on all puppets. Retargeting motions to arbitrary 2D stylized characters is an extremely difficult open problem. Rather, users are expected to have fun exploring the library, hopefully finding the ones that fit their story.

Nevertheless, here are a few tips:

• Try adjusting the "Orientation" parameter in the Motion Library. Remember that the source motions are in 3D (they come from Mixamo) and you can spin them with this parameter to find a better projection to your 2D puppet and intended animation.
• Try adjusting the artwork and handle placements. In particular, I noticed that the legs were bent and the feet were not flat on the ground in the profile view of your puppets. Try to adjust the artwork so the Hips-Knee-Heel handles line up close to a straight vertical line, and the feet are flat on the ground. Not much I can suggest on arms. They are extremely difficult in general. You can give auto-swap a try if you are OK with creating a lot more artwork.
• Motion Library works better if characters have more realistic human proportions. Hopscotch (the frog) on the home screen works OK with Motion Library because of this.
• You can additionally adjust animations with Dragger and Body Tracker on top of Motion Library to fine-tune

[Guest]

Thank you very much for your help and I totally understand.