Working with AE

[shooterstache]

I use AE on almost all my projects and it is NOT fun. Character animator scenes seem to really bog down anything I do in AE and make rendering almost impossible. My AE also goes into not responding mode frequently until I have to force the program to quit. This is very annoying and not at all productive.

Do others have this problem when using CH and AE?

Any recommendations on set up or getting things to go smoothly?

I'm working on a brand new 8th gen I7 with 16GB RAM

Apps on SSD and files on HDD

Thanks!

[alank99101739]

I try to do as much as possible inside CH - I found CH + AE too slow for my laptop as well. If I need AE, then try to export video files (you can export with transparency). Then I fall back to dynamic linking as the last resort (it is still useful at times - I just minimize it).

What are you trying to do in AE? Maybe there is a way to do it in CH as a speed-accelerating-workaround.

[ScooterD76]

Taking this into consideration while thinking out my workflow for my next video-

My puppet needs to interact with elements and infographics that are animated in AE, and Id really like to do my final edits and compositing in AE. I figure once timing is locked, export a video without the puppet and use it in the CH background for timing, then remove it and render video of the puppet to bring back into AE, hoping that the timing etc holds up through all the back and forth. I havnt yet tested a live puppet in AE in my machine so im also staying open to that method, if it will work.

[alank99101739]

If you come up with a good solution would love to hear it. Not being able to play back a video in background in CH will make it painful I suspect.

Really want CH to allow a movie file as background so it syncs up frame by frame. Then allow dynam linking form AE into CH to keep them in sync! Two way linked... fun!

One idea was to create a cycle layers and load that into CH for short sequences (eg at lower res to keep small). But not suitable of long or high res sequences.

I guess once AE was locked down you could take key frames as screen shots and drop in the background at time points to help sync things up a bit while editing in CH.

i just worry that having to preview each CH edit in AE might be a bit two annoying. So would love to hear your final experience and what works best!

[ScooterD76]

No playback in CH does complicate things

Maybe some placeholder objects in CH for timing might do the trick then just remove them later. All the timing will be from the audio so at least that will be constant in both places.

And like i said i have yet to test dynamic link on this machine its a brand new Macbook Pro so crossing fingers..... lol

[alank99101739]

If timing is linked to the audio track that is not so bad then. You can see the waveform in CH so work out when clicks etc occur. (Sometimes during playback audio is not perfectly synced with the animation as they try to keep it realtime so take shortcuts.)

I also used pencil synchronization a few times. That is an advanced technique where you get a piece of paper and a pencil and write down the timepoints something happens. I tried using a text editor, but found paper and pencil a superior experience as I did not have to jump between windows on the screen.

Possibily relevant is https://extra-ordinary.tv/2018/08/30/music-videos-in-character-animator-part-3/  (which includes a link to previous parts as well) which focussed on how to get movements synchronized to music. Might have a useful idea or two in it.

[ScooterD76]

Its not directly linked, the audio is dialogue. So aside from lip sync, he just needs to kinda gesture as these infographics do their thing.

I will definately keep you posted on my progress, Im just in the planning and rigging stage as of now. Someones gotta finish this script before we get dialogue audio

[shooterstache]

Thanks for the responses guys I still have an absolutely awful time working between CH and AE. Unfortunately for the stuff I am wanting to do I NEED after effects. On a more positive note I've been live streaming with characters on twitch and the program works amazing for that.