Bro please make a video on how to animate eye without camera tracking please

Hello, Would it be possible to get the photoshop files from you? I also messaged you via Instagram. Thank you

Thanks Terry! Good luck!

Thanks! Agreed on the alternative mouth sets, they open up a lot of emotion.

Ha - good timing!

Yep - that should work great too!

Thanks for replying, an other quick question. Have you done a tutorial where you explain a bit more in details the trigger window? I'm using triggers but I do them individually, I didn't know you could do groups and allocate them to the selected layer just by double clicking on it? Time saver if I'd knew how to do that! :)

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Z8-DY8qG1MuVmWw.html is all I've done so far about the new Triggers system. Yes, there's a lot there, and I hope to do more in-depth trigger tutorials in the future given what a critical part of CH they are.

Thanks a lot, I must have missed this one!

I should have gone into this in more depth. You should tag both Head groups as "Head" and add Frontal tags to BOTH. Then it should work. Sorry about that.

I've added a correction note in the video description, thanks.

no worries dude! Thank you so much for the video in the first place!

Nutcracker jaw is performance only. So if it's red/armed, it will look for your jaw in the camera or the amplitude of your voice and use that to record a take.

You know, I don't have a great "how to build a mouth from scratch" tutorial anywhere, but this older PDF has some tips on the left that might help: shared-assets.adobe.com/link/199684e9-cde4-4ccf-67be-76ef8fe58b1a

And yes, a nutcracker jaw would probably work great for a toucan. More on that here: helpx.adobe.com/adobe-character-animator/user-guide.html/adobe-character-animator/using/behaviors/body-directly-controlled.ug.html#Nutcracker

Thanks! For Fright Supremacy I believe they were just using Google Hangouts, which automatically switches when people talk. I think they have two computers each running CH.

If it says the format isn't supported, it's possible your version of CH or PR are mismatched? Updating to the latest versions of each might solve it. If not please post screenshots about what's happening in the official forums for more help.

For all my puppets I at least do 3 positions: hand, hand flipped, and point. I talk a little more about arms and hands here kzfaq.info/get/bejne/g7ukhdF-srW4naM.html

For the textures I just do Google image searches like "watercolor texture" or "paper texture" or whatever. For the lines I just drew thin brushed lines in Photoshop or Fresco and then adjusted the opacity to help them blend into the background more.

Not sure exactly but it sounds like it might only be bringing in an image / object instead of the whole group. Dragging a PSD mouth group from project window to project window should work...

I've done body turns (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pcxxaq13vsywnIE.htmlm7s), which the same rules could apply if you triggered the additional quarter/profile/back views (they wouldn't need to be tagged, just triggered), but that's a really good idea - I'll add it to the potential tutorial pile!

If all the mouths are showing, that seems to say to me that CH isn't recognizing the mouth as a lip sync mouth - meaning it's either not tagged as a mouth and/or not associated with the lip sync behavior? Check out how I set up the character in part 3 of the Triggers tutorial, that might be an easier example to emulate: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jeCJfcWLvs7cnZ8.html

Hmmm this is tricky, because dragger is controlled one at a time. You may be able to add the Leader Follower behavior, tag the main character hand as leader and the the shadow hand as follower, and see if that works. Unless you're doing this live, you might have better luck doing this in After Effects, which is how I normally do my shadows: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Z9OEhrGXsrmqk58.html

Good question, I'm not sure I've done that before. I'd say experiment and see what works - my guess is that you should leave off the neck tag and treat the head as if it were a body. If that doesn't work I might make a fake Body group behind the Head that is hidden/obscured by it and is just a rectangle or something that the limbs can connect to. Might take some experiments but it should definitely be doable.

Thanks a million! Abandoned the neck was the way to go. For the body I just duplicated the head and keep it hidden. Learned a ton in the process - mostly what does not work. Keep killing it man!

Are you using PNG + WAV or dynamic link? If you're using one try the other. See helpx.adobe.com/adobe-character-animator/using/export.html

By default triggers are a tab next to the history panel. See this video for more about triggers: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Z8-DY8qG1MuVmWw.html

Yes, adding cycle layers to a group will run through its contents. Check out Almasol on okaysamurai.com/puppets and you can see the things that have cycle layers on them have the little behavior brick icon next to them in Rig mode.

@@okaysamurai thank you so much Mr. samurai! Really appropriate all your tutorials!

As of version 3.0, this works now - if you have a nutcracker jaw present and armed, and go into your timeline menu, you will see a "Compute Nutcracker Jaw Take From Scene Audio" option.

That works too! This method works for live animation as well.

Not dumb at all! You would probably need to add some additional dragger handles to the legs or torso to drag the various parts into place. Or you could do a cycle layers frame by frame animation of the character going from a standing to sitting state. It's a little complicated but possible!

Ha! Me too. I don't plan to stop making videos anytime soon.

If you double-click a layer, you'll get to its layer properties. One of these is called "Color Overlay" - and by playing with that and blending modes you can get a lot of interesting variations. I use this ALL the time.

@@okaysamurai Thank you so much ♡

Try part 8 here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ldmdf7uAqbrIZok.html

If lip sync is armed and the jaw movement param is on under it, it should compute along with the lip sync. At least it is on my end, just tested it with Tull the Cat from the home screen and it worked.

@@okaysamurai I am using Ch 18 in which i dont have jaw movement param i m using nutcracker jaw shown on this video(ADVANCED RIGGING TIPS

Ah ok. Yeah we added it in later versions specifically for this problem. I ran into the same thing making Evan Flamethrower Robot Detective, where I just turned up the volume on my computer and recorded it live.

Some characters are AI, others are PS - it's a mix. I do more PS characters but there are quite a few AI ones as well, like the Turner Bros or Heller on www.okaysamurai.com/puppets/.

@@okaysamurai Thank you so much for getting back to me! Once again - LOVE your videos!

I can see an argument for either. If you look in the just-released Tips episode the Socratica Kids guys did a spider in CH you can look at. Multi-limbed characters aren't the easiest to make walk (see Acquavella on the Okay Samurai puppets page) but it's possible.

Not sure exactly what you're asking, but if you can only see part of the head, use the Transform behavior to resize and move them to a better position (Position X and Y and Scale should help).

@@okaysamurai Yes, perfect. Thank you so much.

Hmmm hard to say without seeing the puppet, but try turning the Lip Sync > Jaw Movement to 0% to see if that helps. Also ideally the background of your face isn't independent - if the jaw and face are both independent they're going to probably move unexpectedly. For more direct help, please post a screenshot, video, or File > Export > Puppet (.puppet file) to adobe.com/go/chfeedback.

@@okaysamurai thank you so much for your suggestions!!

1. We'd love to do this one day. Audio triggers are one of the top feature requests we get. 2. Dragging arms should follow with the body during walking - if not that seems to be a bug. The flipping arms / elbow issue is a known bug we're working on fixing. 3. If the character is walking without input, you probably have the Walk behavior's body speed set to something other than 0 and Start set to immediately.

Thank you, you're super helpful!

Check out the "Layer Picker: behavior. There is a way to move between layers with audio amplitude. Other than that, I would probably just make some long Replays and use that instead - that would probably be the most "random" looking solution.

@@okaysamurai Thank you for your answer. I looked into Layer Picker and got through creating a cycle animation triggered by audio input. I went through this community.adobe.com/t5/character-animator/layer-picker-or-cycle-layers-via-audio-input/m-p/10182546 and also your video starting here kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rLx7oKd92NTXmX0.html I got these basic examples working and it's a step in the right direction, but I'm not there yet. As far as input, I dont care about loudness of the audio, I need to either show different sequences of layers randomly based on any audio input being detected (loudness not being important), or specific replays when specific sounds (lip sync) are uttered. I'm hoping you can point me to a way to accomplish this. It could use either the Layer Picker behavior, cycle layers, a combination, or something else entirely that I may not be aware of. Or perhaps it is possible to use audio input to trigger a random sequence of layers from a swap set? Or perhaps there is a way to trigger different replays randomly when any audio is detected (loudness not being important). Thanks for everything you do!

I guess you could make your arms in a second group also tagged as a mouth with a second Lip Sync behavior added to it, and then make arm cycles for each of the shapes, like arms raising for Aa or an outward gesture for Oh. I worry this might be too frantic though, as every second the normal voice says 5 or more visemes. I'm sure there's a way to do it, I just have never seen it done exactly this way!

@@okaysamurai Thank you, your input is great and I got this working...but I agree, it's quite frantic and doesn't look natural. Is it possible to show a Replay when the character says "Oo", "Aa", etc? I know how to create replays and show them when a trigger key is pressed, but I am wondering if there is a way to show specific replays based on audio input (when specific sounds heard)? Or show a swap set (having many replays) based on audio input (when specific sounds heard)? Thanks again for everything you do!

I don't believe you can auto-trigger a replay unfortunately. We have talked about trying to eventually create a more open triggering system, but for now you're limited to certain events.

Seleccione la escena en el panel Proyecto, luego ajuste los fps en las propiedades de la derecha.

@@okaysamurai Muchas Gracias! 👍

No, you will have to rig it. This newer video goes into greater detail how to do this: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qclphplmv9SdiIU.html

Try recording with the Almasol example from okaysamurai.com while pressing the sad trigger - if the Sad trigger is showing up / recorded in the timeline, the mouths will show up sad. The Lip Sync track will remain the same, that isn't touched - it's just a matter of if the sad mouth is active or not.

@@okaysamurai thank you so much for your answer! I found a mistake within the rigging of my own character and it works now. Again thank you, also for making those puppets available to everyone. That's so awesome :D

Try kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aJ6fe6p8qr3KnJ8.htmlm8s. This is an older tutorial and 90% of it is correct, the only out of date thing is that Triggers are now set in the triggers panel instead of in the right properties. Also see Red Monster on the Okay Samurai puppets site as a working puppet example of this in action.

Great! Thanks a ton. This is very helpful. I really enjoy seeing these tutorials and what others are doing with Character Animator.

Not really yet - there are some hacky ways to do this with third party apps now, but we really want to make this native to the app. Stay tuned!

@@okaysamurai please suggest a hacky way. For example, i want my character to play the piano, but i want the sound to trigger the right notes on the keyboard.

I don't remember what it was, some third party sound program. My guess it was probably done through MIDI? It might have been the Digital Puppets UK guys? kzfaq.info/love/a8lVt2SqYD4zz5DZbkI5CQ

I'd post that on the forums with a photo of your puppet rig structure. My best guess is there's a trigger preventing it from showing, whether manual or in an eye/mouth group accidentally.

Hey there my friend..I FIGURED IT OUT 😱😀...Like you've said previously..I had something organized improperly..my face background was in my mouth group..just as you suggested...THANKS. ILL HE BOCK...no seriously I will..I love what your tuts!

Any MIDI device should work. I have a Akai Professional MPK Mini MKII, which has some buttons and knobs and stuff that work as well as the keyboard.

​@@okaysamurai Thank you so much! I always ran out my keyboard keys to assign triggers. So I'm hoping that getting a MIDI lets me have more triggers! ;D

I think that came out in Preview 4: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qOB7ntFixNzepJc.html. I don't remember if I went more in depth into it or not in another video. Motion Trigger doesn't get enough love, it's a pretty cool behavior.

Check out the Getting Started video, part 4 (first in this playlist) - it teaches about adding fixed handles to keep the body fixed to the ground.

Great! Thanks

See “Red Monster Live” on the okay samurai puppets page - it’s just the Cycle Layer behavior swapping between scenes.

Okay, I just figured it out-- just tagging the bottom layer as "jaw" applies movement to it that has to be changed under "lip sync." :) I guess nutcracker jaw is now obsolete?

Yeah, after this video we added the ability for lip sync to also control jaw movement. Nutcracker jaw is still helpful if you want a character with a pivoting mouth like a Robot or something, but the lip sync method is much better for most characters!

Yes. Recorded would be easy, just composite everything in AE. Live you would just make a looping video of the background and make that a background source in whatever live software you're using like Wirecast or OBS.

Okay Samurai Thank you, think I’ll just record then upload

It's tricky - if you're only getting head movement it's possible the head or body is independent OR the origin handles (dotted line circles) are in different positions. What I show here is still probably the best way (at least that I can think of). If you're still running into trouble please post a video to adobe.com/go/chfeedback for more direct help.

Yes! Watch the Evan Flamethrower section of the video I just uploaded: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iLOfYN1pzbWWeIE.html - it goes through exactly this.

Thanks.

Not directly, no. You could export a still from Fuse and slice it up in Photoshop to become a CH puppet, but there's not (currently) a way to connect these directly.

Thank you.

I drew the desk and hid the body behind it. This particular character doesn't have legs, although with Limb IK in the latest release you can now stand/sit.

Sounds like the mic volume is too low to pick up, try increasing it in your system settings or use a different microphone. There are also some audio options in the preferences or the little three-lined menu icon next to "Camera & Microphone."

The only way I know of how to do this is to basically put the alt mouth inside a second (invisible) head group so it will move as well. It's a pretty hacky solution though - we hope to have a better answer for this in the future. I think most of my characters with parallax on okaysamurai.com/puppets like Narrator Dave don't have parallax for the alt mouths, so I tried not to parallax the face much while one of them was active to hide it a little.

@@okaysamurai Thank you so much for the quick reply! Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to work for me. There is movement with this solution, but it’s independent from other parts of the head, even though I have the origin point at the same place as the main head’s origin point. Maybe it’s not working because I also have different head views and the head is set to independent (for better head tilt movement). But probably it’s the best to go around this issue with a different approach, my character is already way too complex to add a bunch of more head groups. I already have a frontal and a left profile view for the whole body and in both, I have frontal, left quarter, and right quarter view for the head. I also gave the character a back hair (the part of long hair that goes behind the torso). That works great with head tag and behavior to create a parallax effect with the head. Can I ask something else if you don't mind? I have similar problems with the eyes. I have set up different eyes for different emotions. Under the left and the right eye, I have a “Neutral” and a “Sad” group, inside both of these groups I have a blink, lid, pupil, and eyeball. I can switch between them, the parallax works here, the blinking too, the only thing that is not working is that the pupil is not moving in the “Sad” group. I checked everything, the pupil is independent, and the whole group is set up the same way with the same tags as the “Neutral” group. I really appreciate all the awesome content you create for this program, I switched to Character Animator because of these videos, they are really helpful.

​@@okaysamurai I think I solved both of these problems. I created a "happy" and a "sad" head for the frontal and side views. Now the parallax for the mouth and pupils are working fine. Still a bit hacky, and now I have huge file with lots of layers, but it works!

Glad you figured out a workaround! If something like multiple eye states not moving, it's usually because the default Eye Gaze behavior is only looking for the first instance of eye tags in each view. So if a view has 3 left pupils in its front view, eye gaze will only work with the first instance. You can get around this by keeping single pupils and working around them with lid positions, or brute force extra pupil movements by adding extra eye gaze behaviors.

That does seem like a bug, unless things aren't being armed correctly. Can you post a video (unlisted is fine) of what happens?

I've just reused the chloe template and re drew over it, but I'm getting this error, any help would be helpful thanks! :) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/m9-Ra8iqp5_Op6c.html

Thanks for this! So that twitch at 3.5 seconds in definitely seems like a bug, I'm not sure why that's happening, but thanks for reporting. Since it only seems to be happening at the beginning, I'd record a few filler seconds in the beginning before doing your real recording, and then edit that out later. You might also want to try this technique instead: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y92BjaWLtrPKfKc.htmlm31s

All of the templates in the app or online are made using recent CC versions, so if you're on an older version you won't be able to edit them. If you do the Photoshop trial as well you should be able to do what you need.

I think my computer is getting confused, I have Photoshop CS6 Extended, After Effects, Illustrator and Premiere Pro already installed a few years ago, but when doing the trial for CA, CC desktop trumps my CS6. I have a sick feeling here, I hope I won't have to reinstall all of my software again. If you could help me with the ears, that would be great. Should I put them in a group with the Body or Face? Thanks

You shouldn't have to reinstall anything - CC is probably taking over by default because it's the more recent, fully featured version. But in the CC desktop app you can even go back and download CS6 versions (it's in the "previous versions" option). Regardless, the ears should go in your Head group. This video explains basic puppet structure better: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Z9tjZ5ekmpilgH0.html

Thank you so much for responding, I know you are busy. About that situation, losing CS6, check this thread out. forums.adobe.com/thread/1005273 People are pretty angry, including myself. Can you rename the software already installed into your computer so CC version doesn't take over? I don't know what I'm going to do now, I've lost a lot.

I think it's geared towards the 99% use case, which is people using the modern versions (CS6 being 6 years old now). It looks like that thread has a fix that seemed to work for some people, but unfortunately I don't personally have any experience with it...the forums or customer service may be better bets. Sorry for your troubles and good luck!

This should help: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jtWcq6t_zt6moHU.html

@@okaysamurai appreciate it! You've been a huge help! Will be here for more tutorials!

I talk about this at 7:36.

Add the "Head Turner" behavior in your Head group. See the "Ninja" example from the home screen in the app as a working example of this.

In more recent versions you don't have to add the nutcracker jaw behavior - jaw movement is built into the lip sync behavior. If you add a jaw into your character, it should move automatically while you talk.

Some schools have started to teach CH in their classes. There are also several online courses out there on Lynda and elsewhere.

Hmm... alright, I will go through the whole tutorials through the adobe site. If I still can't figure it out, I will go ahead and pay Lynda for the classes... I mean like at $700 to $1000 I might as well asked you to teach me and pay you instead. LOL.

Never mind. I found it. Thanks.

No worries! Yep it's the Akai Professional MPK Mini MKII.

​@@okaysamurai Hi Dave. Hope you are having a great holiday season! I am in the market of purchasing a midi device to be used specifically for Character Anima and wanted to know what features I should be looking for in a device. I tried using my Native Instruments Maschine MK2 and was not able to get anything out of it. It is a midi controller so I just assumed that it would work, but did not. Is it only the knobs that work with CA or should the buttons work as well? If only the knobs work, maybe I should be looking at purchasing a device that has a lot? Currently this Is the only tutorial that mentions anything regarding the midi controller; and you kind of just gave an overview:( It is a really cool feature and can potentially take your puppet game to a whole new level. It is possible that you can create a quick video specifically on how to connect a midi device to CA, which kinds of knobs or buttons we can expect to work with CA, which devices are supported and recommendations? not sure why my MK2 didnt work, maybe i did something wrong. maybe it only responds to the knobs. IDK. Any help would be appreciated. Again, Many thanks!

We hear you - adding keyframes is a very common request. Some things are better off performed, others are better keyframed. We hope to explore this a lot more in the future.

Okay Samurai can't wait to get keyframe animation in Character Animator! :)

He's on www.okaysamurai.com/puppets/

Yep. okaysamurai.com/puppets/

Thank you. Also, where can I share my work with you?

Post it here or use #CharacterAnimator on social media!

There's no real order to the OKS puppets, I just throw them up there. The CH Examples ones should be updated to include auto attach now - if there are ones that still need updating please let us know. Love the band video, really nicely done? Did you photograph those - are they physical toys?

Thanks for your reply! Yes, I photographed them. It's 'Playmobil' - aren't they known in the USA? I loved it and still do ;-) Have a nice weekend!

Yep, we have Playmobil over here too. Nice!

Agreed, I'd like to do more full workflow tutorials in the future!

Great news :) Thank you

For this I used the Akai Professional MPK Mini MKII. The individual buttons work for single triggers as well as the CC knob controls for sliders/dials.

Probably - I personally don't mess with adjustment layers too often!