Slicing puppet into clips and movements?

[Tony8_]

Hi, I'm using my character as a narrator in a news story, and I will add video B-roll in the background (I do this via the dynamic link to After Effects, and add the video there). As my b-roll switches I want to be able to switch the position of my character. Therefore I have sliced my puppet into shorter sections in Character Animator, and set different x,y positions and scale for the different sections, synced with the B-Roll switch.

I would also like the arms (for example) held in a specific position the beginning of each new section. For that I put the arms in the position I want them to be, press record and quickly stop the recording. Then, drag this "Dragger" element in the timeline to be as long as the section. 

But the problem is that in the first few frames, for some reason the character "moves" into place before taking and holding the position of the arms I want to have as the starter position. See video attached and you will know what I mean, the wrists are moving into position in the first few frames. And I'm also attaching a screenshot of the timeline I have in Character Animator for reference. Note: if I go frame by frame in the Character Animator preview, I do not see the wrist issue.

Basically, my goal is to be able to press record at the beginning of each of the sections I have sliced, and have the character in a specific position, scale, and with the placement of limbs as I want them to be so that I can hit record and make movements starting from there.

How could I achieve that please? I'm missing something, what am I doing wrong? Maybe there's a better approach.

Thanks!

[TheOriginalGC]

Have you tried using different cameras to get the view you want? Check out this video: Cameras (Adobe Character Animator Tutorial)

[Tony8_]

Thank you, the camera was the right way- however I'm still struggling with setting a specific pose for each new camera angles. For example, have the camera move to a close-up shot, but on the close-up shot the character would have a specific body position, maybe he is sitting, while in the camera shot before he was standing. Do you see what I mean?

[TheOriginalGC]

That is a conundrum. Someone out there probably has a better solution, but if it were me, I'd consider having multiple puppets for the specific poses and make that particular puppet visible for the shot.

[Tony8_]

Do you mean by setting a different rest pose for each puppet? How would I go about doing this, because I wasn't able to manually change the resting pose (the default pose) - and it's not working too well with the webcam so I'd rather drag and do this manually.

Let's say I want another pose where the character is sitting - how do I get him to be seated as the default position?

Also do you think I should open a new discussion for that specific matter? Thx!

[TheOriginalGC]

Perhaps the quickest way is to export the puppet to make a duplicate and then "Edit Original" to reposition the pose in Illustrator or Photoshop - making the default position the pose you want. Editing Puppetmaker files can get a little tricky, so make sure you have a back up. Once you've saved and updated the new puppet, you will probably have to go in and fix the rigging. I know I'm throwing a lot at you, does this seem feasible?

[Tony8_]

Thank you a lot for the help. To be honest that does sound quite tedious, as I have a fast-paced video with lots of camera switches so that would mean making quite a few duplicates and editing the originals for each of them and adjusting the rigging.

I'm surprised there would be no alternative approach? I mean what if I was doing a classic animation film, with multiple characters. Sometimes I would have a switch to a new camera angle with a character doing some specific pose, for example sitting down on a chair. And not have the characters always having to start from the resting pose (which could be standing up for example) before making a move. Seems like a common use case or am I missing something?

[TheOriginalGC]

There are other ways. For instance, you can pose the character the way you want it and set up a replay that will trigger the pose at the touch of a button. You'll probably want to set it  up so you can edit out any transitional animation. This video covers the topic: Replays (Adobe Character Animator Tutorial)