Adobe Character Animator
 | |
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Adobe Character Animator running on OS X | |
| Developer(s) | Adobe Systems |
|---|---|
| Stable release |
Preview 4
/ June 21, 2016 |
| Written in | C++, Lua, JavaScript |
| Operating system | Windows, OS X |
| Type | Computer animation |
| License | Trialware, software as a service |
| Website |
forums |
Adobe Character Animator is a new type of desktop application software that combines live motion-capture with a multi-track recording system to control layered 2D puppets drawn in Photoshop or Illustrator. It is automatically installed with Adobe After Effects since CC 2015.[1]
Description
Character Animator imports layered Photoshop & Illustrator documents into puppets which have behaviors applied to them. The puppets are then placed into a scene, which can be viewed in the Scene panel and Timeline panel. Rigging is set up in the Puppet panel, though basic rigging is fully automatic based on specific layer names like Right Eyebrow and Smile. Properties of selected elements can be examined and changed in the Properties panel, including behavior parameters. Live inputs include a webcam (for face-tracking), microphone (for live lip sync), keyboard (for triggering layers to hide/show), mouse (for warping specific handles).
Final output of a scene can be exported to a sequence of PNG files and a WAV file.[2]
History
Character Animator was originally code-named "Animal".[3][4]
The following is the list of versions of Character Animator.
| Ship Date | Version | Major features added |
|---|---|---|
| June 15, 2015 | Preview 1 | markerless face tracking; layered PSD & AI import; WAV & AIFF import; PNG sequence export; WAV export[5] |
| July 27, 2015 | Preview 2 | more accurate face tracking & lip sync; track reordering and snapping in the timeline; transparency grid; improved performance; bug fixes[6][7] |
| November 30, 2015 | Preview 3 | “sticks” to control rigidity of the puppet mesh, multi-touch gestures to control character limbs, the ability to share rigged puppets, increased recording flexibility, performance improvements[8] |
| June 21, 2016[9] (announced April 12, 2016) | Preview 4, part of After Effects CC 2015.3 (13.8) | visual layer tagging, improved lip sync, export via Adobe Media Encoder, Syphon support, Motion Trigger, Auto Blink[10] |
| November 2, 2016 | Beta 5 | dynamic link to After Effects & Premiere Pro, shareable puppet files, Cycle Pause tag, MP3 import, PNG sequence import, speed improvements[11] |
See also
- Adobe After Effects
- Creative Cloud
- Live usage on The Simpsons
- Usage by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for Cartoon Donald Trump and Cartoon Hillary Clinton
- Usage on DisneyXD for Facebook Live chat with character from Star vs. the Forces of Evil
References
- ↑ http://nofilmschool.com/2015/07/depth-look-adobe-character-animator-their-revolutionary-new-performance-capture-animation
- ↑ http://www.adobe.com/go/chhelp
- ↑ http://blogs.adobe.com/aftereffects/2014/10/weve-created-an-animal-2.html
- ↑ http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2015/04/09/adobe-character-animator-lets-you-make-cartoons-speak-with-face-tracking/
- ↑ http://blogs.adobe.com/aftereffects/2015/06/adobe-character-animator-preview-1-now-available.html
- ↑ http://blogs.adobe.com/aftereffects/2015/07/character-animator-preview-2-now-available.html
- ↑ https://forums.adobe.com/docs/DOC-6028
- ↑ http://cgpress.org/archives/after-effects-cc-2015-v13-6-and-character-animator-preview-3-updates-available.html
- ↑ http://blogs.adobe.com/creativecloud/character-animator-preview-4-makes-animation-easier/
- ↑ http://blogs.adobe.com/creativecloud/sneak-peek-whats-coming-next-in-character-animator/
- ↑ https://forums.adobe.com/docs/DOC-6028
External links
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