Complete Cartoon Workflow (Adobe Character Animator Tutorial)

[@CesarGamino]

I'm only 36min in and this video is THE BIBLE FOR THIS PROGRAM! As a filmmaker, I started with figuring out building the puppet and triggers and finally landed here. I'm not only taking notes w screenshots but watching w popcorn like it's a movie. BRAVO!!!

[@reggieknuckles2473]

I agree mate, the best video/tool

[@Aestheticlyfishy]

yes!! one of the best tutorials i’ve ever seen, and Ended up here just like you, from character rigging!

[@naektergal]

Seeing these comments I guess I shouldn't just watch this on the go at train bit by bit but take it all in. Great comment guys thanks!

[@nikhilsingh65]

I never thought that learning and doing character animation will be so easy and fun. Thank you so much. You brought a revolutionary change in the life of artists like me.

[@artwasemsr4950]

I did computer animation and SFX for 13 years in the 80s. I stated writing screenplays 7 years ago. Now I have the tools to create at least 6 of them into videos. It have been working on your tutorials for 2 weeks. I hope to have my first 4 minute video out in a month. Thank you for all you knowledge.

[@MythicalArtist1982]

As a digital illustrator artist with Adobe Photoshop, I have never get a chance to work with Character Anime and Adobe Animate. But the apps is AWESOME! All I can say that Adobe did an excellent job come up with these two animation apps. It giving everyone the chance to create their own cartoon, and bring the shows to Live on KZbin platform for every children to watches their favorite channel. The people who create cartoon animation (with Adobe Character Animator and Animate) will definitely bring a childhood memory to those kids today in the next 30 years. Reminded me as a kid back in the late '80s and the early-mid '90s, I used to get up every morning to watches my favorite show before school. Now today, everyone get to create their own show with these cool Character Animator and Adobe Animate apps! Love your tutorial by the way Okay Samurai!

[@GetRealwithMike]

This is my new retirement career! I always wanted to do this and now I can.

[@kjcamphor4671]

You are honestly the best teacher I've ever had - period. Thank you so much for taking the time to not just create this video - but for all of the tutorials you've put so much time and effort into. You're truly a legend! Stay Awesome!

[@osamaalghamdi-5916]

Man, probably you wont see my comment, but I really appreciate all the work you do to us. ppl like you are really rare and precious, and there are no words I could thank you with. I wish you all the best.

[@okaysamurai]

I read every comment! Thanks!

[@alexandruconstantin5410]

I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Under two weeks i was able to do my first animated show episode from absolute scratch. I owe all this to you and the great lessons you provided here on your channel. I wish you all the best man. You are truly great.

[@scumfiles2315]

So I noticed he he used multiple programs, other than the character animator. Do you need to buy all these programs individually, or do they come with character animator ?

[@alexandruconstantin5410]

@@scumfiles2315 i personally paidfor Adobe Creative cloud. Its quite expensive for a monthly subscription but it has all the Adobe programs available,including the ones mentioned here. I used Ps Ai Au Ae and Ch.

[@proinsiasmatthews6927]

At 1:30:50, an easier way of cycling the layers is to precomp them, add time remapping (Ctrl+Alt+T) and add the loopout() expression to time remapping by Alt-clicking the stopwatch. Then drag the duration of the precomp to be as long as you want. Saves having loads of duplicated layers. 👍👍

[@okaysamurai]

Oooh cool tip, thanks!

[@cordilete1]

I am Brazilian and I always consume your content through automatic subtitles. Thank you so much for the great videos!

[@leonardoelisonoriegaguarem551]

TNice tutorials is one of the best intro soft softs I've ever seen. The entire basic worksoftow with no B.S.!

[@theresaplacestudio5743]

With your videos, I have achieved a life long dream of animating. Thank you. Old dogs can learn new tricks.

[@bobbythespaceghost9934]

2 weeks. 2 weeks man. This is jewels. I'll have 11 cartoon episodes by the end of the June.

[@NexusOfElements]

I think I've watched this video over 20 times - as well as many of your other videos. Currently working on the third episode, thanks in no small part to your brilliant tutorials. Thanks so much, Dave!

[@thedeepcutpodcast]

We are working on a 3-4 minute animation and then BAM you upload this video which we will use as a guideline! Thank you so much!

[@honeynaim9115]

Super amazing video, thanks alot.

[@paulmichaelgabriel319]

Can’t wait to check this entire video out! I’ve been working on a Character Animator project during lockdown and have learned so much from these videos. Super grateful for the work you do!!!

[@isacoritay]

Thank you Sensei! Man I've learned everything with your videos! 1,000% recommended

[@jeremyring5378]

This is exactly what I’ve been looking for! Love all of your videos and I’ve really enjoyed learning character animator. Thank you so much!

[@TruthSerumRadio]

I entered this with no idea how to use this. I feel confident now. Thank you.

[@theseanwardshow]

Adobe Fresco is what I use for my KZbin videos

[@LionKastle]

Character animator is a beast. All your tutorials they are amazing thank you! Never thought a team of 1 could ever handle an animation project. Now this full workflow breakdown is going to be so helpful for my next episode!

[@rogerengwall684]

Thank you Okay Samurai for this tutorials and others! - Look forward to putting a production forward and hopefully getting a chance to share it.

[@whoozie]

Animating things with this software is super easy and fun compared to frame by frame animations. Thanks adobe for the software and thank you as always for the amazing tutorial!

[@Eric-ih1ld]

Thank you for taking the initiative and showing us how this use this software, along with Firefly, Photoshop and After Effects. Your knowledge and your instruction is incredible and detailed. I don't know how to draw or really anything animated. This is channel is a wealth of knowledge. Many Thanks. E

[@SantiYounger]

Dave, you are the man, thank you once more for an outstanding video. I'll share some of my notes here, but for anyone looking for an organized index, Dave has one in the description! 22:00 Resolution when leaving Ch, this is super useful I don't know why I didn't even think of this thank you! 23:00 Splitting puppets on different instances, to simplify characters. 32:00 Record 2 frame take, faster way to record some actions. 33:00 Slow actions are a noob's mistake 43:00 Triggers editing 59:00 (bookmark)

[@cw4608]

I was initially hesitant to get into a long video. But once I did I was so glad I did. They are interesting, informative, and packed with value. Thank you!

[@DrFunds]

I really love your outro speech, animation is the best tool to tell stories, im passionate about stories that hve never been told from Africa, and I also strongly believe the best way they can be told is through animation.

[@markelliot2994]

Speechless! Without exaggeration, Dave you are one best presenters and top Adobe employee!

[@NonnakornMangklasiri]

The best CH channel in KZbin. Thank you.

[@marykirmo]

Your videos are so great. I just started getting into Character yesterday and I've done a bit of a marathon here. You are so concise and the timing is great and you're so thorough. I've been working in Premiere for a year and have some background in computer programming-y things so all of your explanations are really easy to understand. Thanks so much!!

[@keithperry955]

Your teaching skill is awesome, timing felt good, covering information for both Windows and Mac every time was above and beyond, I had no trouble following along, I hope you will continue to create these impressive videos. Subscribed and liked!

[@bilimfirtinasi]

Feel free to use and edit these however you want - no credit needed! thank you so much, you are great! and learning a lot from you as a new member...

[@Vitosaidso]

wow... you're my new favorite KZbinr. I love how your so amazing at teaching, and so generous! thanks for ur time ! this video deserves more likes

[@michaelmillan114]

Thank you Okay Samurai!! I finally watched through the whole hour and 40 minutes of this video. This was very helpful. I recommend people watching this as their first video b/c I was doing everything all wrong before watching this. Time to go back to my file and redo everything. :)

[@golord]

I come back to this video pretty much every time I make something. Eventually I'll memorize it. Thanks Dave!

[@AGhostIsAGhost]

Only forty minutes in but this is definitely reconnecting me to the program. Thanks so much for all you do!

[@Mo_Memo]

Please make a video of how to get voice actors, Thanks!

[@okaysamurai]

All I do is get my friends to help out, so that would be a short video. :)

[@stevecarter603]

excellent and helpful presentation. This guy is the best teacher in these tutorials. I really enjoy his presentations.

[@thebuzzingbrain]

You are Genius. thanks for this tutorial and all free assets. :)

[@saals5316]

Thank you I love this tutorial

[@videohelper2299]

Hi Dave, Thank you very much for this very detailed, easy to follow workflow. Nice to know that After Effects can also do the finishing job. I’ve been following your tutorials about clipping mask, cycle layers, rigging and creating backgrounds etc. The glowing lights on Switch’s body looks very cool. If I may ask; 1. How did you create the glowing lights (time stamp 23:05) on Switch’s body. 2. Are those glowing lights created using cycle layers? Did those lights fit perfectly within the grouped shapes with the use of clipping mask? 3. Are those glowing lights a result of the glow effect in Character Animator or those are GIFs files? 4. I might have missed some of your tutorial on how thse glowing lights are made, may I ask for the KZbin link? Thank you.

[@okaysamurai]

1. Light layers with linear dodge blending mode added to them. You can download the character at okaysamurai.com/puppets/ and see it yourself! 2. Yes, cycle layers. I just drew roughly over top of the artwork, when you add the blend mode it looks pretty good. 3. Blending mode. Linear dodge is great for glow effects in lots of Adobe products. 4. I might have talked about this in the Evan Flamethrower behind the scenes, look in the video description of that video to see the 2 behind the scenes videos about it. Hope that helps!

[@videohelper2299]

@@okaysamurai Hi Dave, thank you very much for your reply. I'll check out and study Evan Flamethrower. Yeah, I took Sitting Switch and Standing Switch apart using Adobe Illustrator before posting my question but I wasn't able to figure out the layers where the lights cycle layers were placed. But I'll try it using Photoshop. But then again, thank you and thank you for your hardwork and dedication to give us all these detailed and useful tutorials.

[@MaximilianReid]

I can't seem to watch and bookmark these videos fast enough - thank you for all the thorough video tutorials!

[@MOON_dozer]

Hello, love the tutorials and I have become very proficient at character animator. I noticed when I tried to use motion library on a character. It usually doesn’t work, I know it works for some stock adobe puppets, but what do I need to add to my character in order to use motion library

[@okaysamurai]

You'll need to rig it a specific way: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIXIp557lsmmoc0si=CN5NJqq-bxe7wPr4

[@MrMustachieo]

I am loving my time in the Character Animator trail, its alot of fun and these videos help alot. I hope Ill be able to afford this & get to this stage where I can make a full episode, its why Im here lol.

[@jae_mation2275]

Thank you so much for all of the thorough tutorials and guidance! I was able to make my first animation and could never have done so with such ease without this program or your videos. We all appreciate the hard work you put in!

[@aKnoLedgeEd]

This is awesome! I am going to be using your characters and what I learned here in my next video!

[@iberryboi]

I'm glad I watched this before starting because I was just going to live record everything, this is a much better workflow!

[@marykirmo]

Ha! Yep. I did that yesterday so there's a bit of things to re-do but that's ok!

[@mohamadabdi8085]

I am totally new to animation, I just started yesterday, and I think I have watched almost every of your videos. Very Helpful. Is it possible to make a video teaching how to make a background, like you did for this video? I don't know how to make a custom background on photoshop to use in a character animation video. Thank you.

[@okaysamurai]

I would watch the Fresco or robot drawing videos on this channel, I talk more about how I illustrate there! kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4C4nJuPbNubmZY or kzbin.info/www/bejne/a4qwhXmCbsabe7c

[@TimMillaway]

The world does need more animations. Really enjoyed watching & learning. I am always inspired!!

[@WendyAldwyn]

Is there a place we can read the transcript of this video? Sometimes it's quicker and easier for me just to scan through subtitles and text first, then watch the video afterwards. Thank you, Dave, you are a valuable resource.

[@okaysamurai]

I downloaded the captions track and converted it to text, here you go: drive.google.com/file/d/1TAEiKyvHezf8XEQkz2p2-GyFNzKhfHrB/view?usp=sharing

[@chokolatgurl]

THIS. IS. AMAAAAAAAAAAZING!!!!! I'm very new to Adobe Character Animator (like... three days old and spiraling down a rabbit hole of learning lol). I absolutely cannot wait to use these tips as a guide. Right now, I'm just watching thru. Next watch, I'll take notes. Then I'll practice. Thank you for this!

[@Animatekar]

I'm left with few steps in making a fully compiled animation project. Bunch of thanks to you Okay Samurai 🌺✌️🤙

[@albionstudiogamedev5777]

i am not good at in English therefore i cant explain how happy i am because of your tutorial , Thank you very much !!!!!!!

[@oasisdigitaloficial]

Can't stress enough how your videos are informative and easy to understand. Animation never even crossed my mind before and now it's something that does not seem so impossible. I'm really diving into it. Thank you so much for your content. You're doing an incredible think for the profession. Keep up the good work and the videos coming!

[@okaysamurai]

I'm a longtime Xbox fan over here...great videos!

[@oasisdigitaloficial]

@@okaysamurai Thanks a lot! I'm looking forward to learn animation to add something unique and unusual to my videos.

[@orange_alchemy]

I just switched my character animations from AE to CA and can't quite believe how perfect this tutorial has been for that transition. It's an amazing piece of work and so helpful to anyone wanting to get into animation. Thank you! I had one thought about the shadow creation in AE. Duplicating the animated characters makes it quite heavy on the system, so for people with less powerful machines, it might be a good idea to use the Drop Shadow effect instead and shift the angle/opacity.

[@okaysamurai]

Yep, as you well know, sometimes there are 20 ways to do the same thing. Good call about the AE drop shadow being more performant, I'll try that next time!

[@sams802]

@@okaysamurai Hey Okay Samurai! Thank you for another great video and wonderful tutorial! I am wondering with the drop shadow method in the video, what would happen to characters in motion? For example, when the switch jumps, the positions were already keyed. So if I were to move the shadow layer on one frame, it won't affect all key frames. Is there a way to make a second position control that is consistent, so it will follow the character while its position is comparatively constant to the character itself?

[@johnnymegalos6594]

Super awesome cross! I agree with below comments and then some x's a bunch. You have given so much time and love to helping people be able to create and be creative. Thank you thank you.

[@Adventures07]

Nicely done. I can't stop watching your video.

[@fgxstudios617]

Finally watched this whole thing. So much detailed information. Thank you Dave for taking the time to make these tutorials. May God bless you sir.

[@aidanbenbow6682]

Really useful and finally I've understood how best to do zoom and pan in After effects!

[@mariammeer1129]

I did my first character animation and made a little cartoon for my family kiddos for school not as professional but good starter with the short time frame to learn about the program and compose the full cartoon at the same time ... your video is quite helpful loved that you had the exporting part ..❤

[@aaronburriss]

Thank you for this!

[@carelbrouwers1707]

Your tutorials are always so clear and to the point. Very inspiring!!! Thank you so much for another great tutorial!!! I had never used Ch before Lockdown and now I am making my own cartoons!!!

[@danielmunsaka2051]

this is very comprehensive and well put. I've been following you for a while since making my first puppet, now to more advanced stuff like this. Very awesome stuff

[@KSals]

Just started following you. Never used photoshop before. I appreciate your help!

[@SLOPPEWALL]

Nice to find a tutorial that is informative, gets to the point and is easy to understand. Thank you for up loading this.

[@undrdogz]

I've been waiting for this... I'll share my work soon thanks Dave

[@theweeklywhatwhatwithscott763]

Hey we finally did it... Please have a look at it... kzbin.info/www/bejne/eqimgZZmfMyZl8U

[@Chickasawndngirl]

Thank you so much for making this video!!! Yes, I watched the whole thing. It is so valuable. I have a really important project in language preservation, and recently realized that animated stories in the target language would be really effective. Just now learning about Adobe Character Animate. I am pretty well versed in photoshop, so I’m hoping the learning curve won’t be too steep. Watching you work through all the steps was reassuring that I can tackle this new skill. Thanks again!!!

[@chxbbofficial]

this looks really cool! 👍

[@shrutiktrivedi663]

your work is awesome, i am just trying to make similar kinda videos, but my question is ,in my video my recordings for switch is 53 seconds,xbox is 4 min, playstation is 4 min in character animater scenes, so how to align it in AE in final mix

[@okaysamurai]

Always start them all at 0:00. Even if Switch doesn't start speaking until 45 seconds in, have 45 seconds of dead air until he starts. If everything lines up in Audition it will line up later too!

[@shrutiktrivedi663]

@@okaysamurai ok i got it, thank you so much, your support is awesome

[@SurrealKeyzy]

Thank you for all of these, this one is a great overview of parts of the adobe subscription that I haven't really explored or ever bothered to even download. great everything.

[@finnthehuman934]

Good lord you're a good instructor and are easy to listen to. I've been spending time in Unity, Unreal and Blender and you are one of the most enjoyable KZbin/teacher I've seen yet (including many paid courses). I do have a couple questions, if I may. 1) What advantage is there for animating in Adobe Character Animator over animating in Blender for a cartoon episode? 2) My brother does some of my art in Krita. Would I be able to import his work into Illustrator then into Character Animator or just straight into Character Animator? 3) Is After Effects suitable for an Anime project similar in style to Pokémon or is Character animator all that is needed? P.S sorry for all the questions, but I must know.

[@okaysamurai]

1. I think the biggest benefit we hear studios tell us is SPEED. Making animations in Character Animator with a solid rig goes really fast, so it's easier to make stuff quicker. 2. Yes, if you're making artwork somewhere else, you would want to find a way to export or convert it into a PSD or AI file. Those layered files are what we need to work. 3. You could probably get away with doing it all in CH, but adding After Effects opens up a lot of extra possibilities so I'd recommend going that route.

[@bobbleheadjoefilms6151]

Dave Thanks for this video. This is my new addiction. I am working on a multi-character video so this will help alot. Hopefully I'll have it done in a few more days.

[@heroesofcolor]

Wow, you just made animating fun again. So simple! I can't wait to start a new project now!!

[@stupiduser6646]

Wish you would occasionally discuss the amount of work. In this 3 min project, how many times did you listen to the 3 mins of audio? 10 times, 20 times, 100 times. I am teaching (homeschool project) some young kids (8-13) about graphic and audio design and when I tell them the amount of effort there is to make something "Professional" versus "cheap". I often describe their work in levels of money I would pay for it rather than school grade levels (a, b, c).

[@okaysamurai]

Probably closest to 100 times for sure! I do speak about this toward the end of the CH recording part, how long it took me to record each character. All told I'd estimate this entire project took me 5 days.

[@DavidKhoirul]

Wow. Nice workflow. Thanks for sharing this, Dave.

[@ChrisOVEMERY]

Learning new stuff for my own projects with everyone of your uploads. Awesome Dave!

[@okaysamurai]

Thanks Chris! Love your Freelancing series (everyone check his channel out)!

[@ChrisOVEMERY]

@@okaysamurai Wow thanks, really appreciate it :)

[@iteachchem1693]

These tutorials are awesome! I am working my way through your tutorials and in less than one week, i managed to build my own puppets, export and import into Adobe Pro. I am hoping to use this creativity to make learning chemistry fun! Thank you for the great work.

[@thebusyscribbler3300]

Amazing! I cannot fathom how anyone could thumbs down this.

[@musakurel]

I've finished today. And I weant to thank you again for all this effort. Please keep doing these and inspire us :)

[@judylin9371]

Very invaluable information. Thank you! BTW, besides the animation tips, your art is fascinating!!

[@tbonethugg]

amazing stuff. can't wait to start animating! thank you!

[@Bufillustrated]

I made it through the whole video! Can't wait to get started. Thanks Dave.

[@okaysamurai]

Glad to hear some people make it to the end! :)

[@massetozacarias5693]

I liked the marketing, I got Character Animator because of this guy

[@d.poetry9797]

Sir love from Pakistan ❤️ such a lovely and great teacher I have ever seen in KZbin

[@DavidMiloDoyle]

Such clear, nicely-delivered, well-paced teaching. Thanks so much!

[@MisterMurphy]

I really REALLY hope you know how helpful you are. What a lovely fella!

[@Ruonerful]

Could you explain how would you compose a full body action like sitting down? And animating things like grabbing an object? And complex actions like two characters hugging or kissing? I feel like they're crucial moves to any animation, would be amazing to see how it could be properly done! Thanks for everything David!

[@okaysamurai]

I hope to show more complex interactions like this in the future...there are some potential future features which will make this much easier, so I might be holding out a little until those get added. Stay tuned!

[@Ruonerful]

@@okaysamurai Thanks again!

[@toeandnail14U]

Thanks, I found that really useful. The only part I struggled with was animating the camera movements in After Effects, my computer threw a hissy fit and would not comply. I probably don't have enough RAM so I ended up using a null object and animated that to move the camera about. It was great to see how you simplified the workflow. I was importing individual scenes into After Effects, animating and then assembled everything in Premiere but your method is much better.

[@okaysamurai]

Glad it helped! Yeah, once you have everything in AE it can chug depending on complexity but glad you seemed to figure out a workaround!

[@Kabodnm]

i made my script exactly like that a while back. definitely ready to bring it to life now

[@HavekAttacketh]

Currently working on an animation project in Ch animator for work but its super rushed! Loving the software and cant wait to make an independent short!

[@metafuel]

Fantastic tutorial and you're a brilliant and easily understandable explainer of things. Edit: (Apparently "explainer" ain't a real word. Who woulda' thunk?) Thank you for your time and knowledge and software.

[@tonyfisher6379]

Dave, just WOW... thank you very much for this workflow and detailed video. Amazing.

[@spencere7394]

You are the best teacher ever!

[@feelingatom3477]

Thanks Dave ! Great tutorial as allways. Cheers from France...

[@emnd4540]

Omg thank you so much for this. This is awesome foundation for everyone. The correct path to start animation. Thanks again

[@shivamtripathi2622]

This video is really helpful, thanks for this first of all and secondly, can you tell me how to add these automatically beeping lights animation to our characters?

[@okaysamurai]

Download the characters from okaysamurai.com/puppets and check out their setup - each of them have several "lights" groups that have a bunch of artwork with a cycle layers behavior added to them. So the cycle layers switches between the different lights every few seconds and loops.

[@snap-n-shoot]

A bit confused. At 39:39 you activated other triggers other than the default in order record a 2 frame take for each swapset, but when you did it the poses stay in place without a latch trigger, when I try it the state goes back to normal state once I let go of the keypress and so cannot set them to the new state to create a 2 second take?

[@okaysamurai]

I latch every trigger except the default in a swapset. I think in that part of the video it might be confusing because I do have the default selected in the triggers panel, which is unlatched, but if you check out the robots at okaysamurai.com/puppets you can see that everything else is latched. Another thing to note is if you have a default for any Replays, you will always record whatever is in them by default, which can cause conflicts with other triggers. So for characters like that I recommend turning defaults off so it's less confusing.

[@SwalifCartoon]

tell me please can we make some action. like boxing or some thing like that ?

[@okaysamurai]

The same technique I show for dragging the hands here could work for a boxing match. Record a jab, uppercut, etc.

[@SwalifCartoon]

Okay Samurai thx 🙏🏿

[@daxcastro]

Also, it would be great to have a "lipsync mode" that would switch from the program-level shortcut keys and change mode to a preset of shortcut key presses for each viseem so we could type almost like typing shorthand to set the viseems to the speech. Would be far faster than right clicking.

[@okaysamurai]

Surprise, you can already do this! When you have a viseme selected, press the first letter of another viseme to swap it (A for Aa, O for Oh, etc.). Left/right arrows move previous/next. A lot of our pro users use this daily!

[@daxcastro]

@@okaysamurai Super! I need to get back into it! Honestly I haven't been in it much since your class at AdobeMax last year. :(