Sticks & Dragging - ARCHIVED (Adobe Character Animator Tutorial)

[@prosperityokechukwu1503]

Adobe character animator we have come this far. Thank u okey samurai

[@themysteriousunknownrevealed]

Ah there it is. I love learning via your tutorials... it's like a MYSTERY! Only Cartoons in the Building!

[@TavisMcKenzie]

These are absolutely incredibly videos, some of the best I've seen on KZbin. Thank you.

[@okaysamurai]

+Tavis McKenzie Thanks! Hope they're helpful!

[@Jefe1975]

Love the tutorials and software. You guys are awesome. I've looked over some feature requests, I have a few that I've seen you mention are W.I.P., but one that I'm having an issue with, is naming drag handles. I have a character with upwards of 15 handles, so, I'm searching for a way to name them to help sort through with editing and blending takes. Thanks again, keep up the great work!

[@okaysamurai]

Thanks! Select the handle with the arrow tool and press enter/return to rename any handle.

[@gdaydk]

Hey Dave, I love what we can do with Character Animator. You guys are awesome. Are you thinking of adding the capability to track arm movements with the webcam and then use that to animate arms in the animator? It would be incredible to record my face movement, then do a seperate recording with me further away from the webcam to get my arms in picture and then record arm movement. Would make it SO quick and easy!

[@okaysamurai]

Thanks! Unfortunately a standard webcam is not too great at that stuff (yet), and there are plenty of new challenges it brings up, but I hope that we'll get there as the technology improves - it would be great.

[@gdaydk]

Ah I see :) Would also be cool to interface with a Kinect to get that sort of input if the webcam can't do it. But I suppose that's not as accessible as just using a webcam

[@MariamEljamil]

Thank you so much, this is awesome. I have tried some of these tutorial but I'm having an issue with the mousetracker. I am following your steps but when I move to scene it doesn't respond to the mouse movement. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I am not sure if I have to edit anything first on PS as I'm a new learner to all adobe tools?

[@okaysamurai]

+mariam eljamil Have you downloaded the example file in the description? Try that and you'll see a few examples of characters with dragging working properly (it used to be called mousetrack, now draggable in more recent versions). Your character also needs to be selected in the timeline in order for dragging to work, and make sure to put the handles in a group that makes sense (if they're on the head instead of the body or arms, for example, they won't work).

[@MariamEljamil]

+Okay Samurai Thank you for your quick response. I am actually working on your puppets - Julie- for now. Everything is working appropriately. I managed to record my facial and lips expressions, used the dangle tool and control the wind and her hair is moving fascinatingly. The Target handles of the mousetrack are her two hands but it is not responding. I am using the mouse pad of my laptop, and an older version of CH ; do they have to do anything with this issue?

[@okaysamurai]

+mariam eljamil Ah yes - that might be it. Those characters were optimized for Preview 3, so if you're using an old version some features may not work. Also make sure that the red dots next to "Dragger" in the right properties are on. I just tried Julie here and she seems to be working fine. The trackpad on your laptop should be fine, I use mine all the time.

[@MariamEljamil]

+Okay Samurai Thank you so much. Lots of love for the share of knowledge. :) appreciated. May I ask, what is the version you used? is it v13.5.1?

[@okaysamurai]

+mariam eljamil My About Character Animator " menu item says I'm Preview 3 (x124).

[@leifmortensen5551]

Man when adding draggable handle and drag then the whole body and head and so on moves and yes i have selected the body when doing it ...

[@alphatoon-animation2534]

Stick tool is not working in my Puppet...it is still stretching very much... please suggest any solution for this problem

[@okaysamurai]

Sticks don't prevent stretching - for that you'll want Limb IK: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2mYeXqJdrhrZsk

[@pixpaxpostproduction]

Hey Dave, a Question aside from the main topic of this tutorial. How did you do this nice glowing light effect behind the character at around 2:40 which kind of bends around the edges of the dancing character? Something like Light Wrap or trapcode shine? I'm just currious, looks really good. Thank you very much, Elia

[@okaysamurai]

Thanks! It's just a simple yellow trapezoid that I added blur and duplicated several times with Add blending.

[@liampadwick2386]

Thanks, great videos :) Is it possible to modify the length of a stick after it's been created?

[@okaysamurai]

Not directly - but you can always delete it and make a new one.

[@liampadwick2386]

@@okaysamurai Thanks for your reply. I always look for the quickest way to do things so I was hoping there was a key you could hold down while click-dragging. Am I just lazy? I already know the answer. Yes. It's yes.

[@TheDjeasily]

is it possible to record dragging and then trigger that movement with a keyboard shortcut?

[@okaysamurai]

Yes - that's called a Replay. Check out the "Replays" tutorial on adobe.com/go/chtutorials for more info. When this video came out that wasn't around yet - but now it is!

[@TheDjeasily]

@@okaysamurai Cool, thank you! In fact, I have been browsing your videos all day. Very useful stuff. I am working on a mascot for my youtube videos. It's lot of fun. And thanks to your info, I am progressing pretty quickly. Thanks for everything. Best, Marcel.

[@filipandremyrseth8103]

What would I have to do when the hands are leaving the body? Made the character in Illustratur. The hands are in separate groups. When i try to make some movements with the hands, they won't stick to the body.

[@okaysamurai]

The hands need to be in the same "body" group as the body / legs / etc. you may also need a fixed handle to keep things rooted. Check out the default illustrator character from the welcome screen (the blue guy) for a good example of how you might structure stuff.

[@filipandremyrseth8103]

ok, thanks man :)

[@yazihooks8039]

how i make to hand work in the same time i only can drag and move one hand

[@okaysamurai]

You can use a touch-enabled device to move each - the mouse can only select one at a time. The best way to do this for recording is add a second dragger behavior at the top level of the puppet, and rename your two draggers as "Left Arm" and "Right Arm". Then only arm left when you want to record that one, and only arm right when you want to record that one - the other recording will still show up because it's linked to a separate behavior.

[@kennishimoto504]

I can't control the arms independently from one another. Dragging one seems to affect the other.

[@okaysamurai]

You should only have one dragger behavior, which automatically gets added upon import to the top level - do you have more than one? Multiple draggers on parts means they'll all move at once. The only other reason I can think of is if if they aren't independent (this video was made before independent stapling, which should solve that). Worst case scenario, can you share your .puppet at adobe.com/go/chfeedback?

[@MontaeMontana]

How would I remove a stick?

[@okaysamurai]

In rig mode, select the stick and press delete.

[@SmashingFoozer]

Hey dude, great video! I already have CC downloaded, should this update be there when I open up CA? Thanks for the great video!

[@okaysamurai]

Thanks! Yes the updates went live tonight - as long as you update After Effects you'll get the latest version on Character Animator too. Enjoy!

[@nkhan6429]

Hi: my character's neck and body get separated when I try to wave. I tried pinning at the neck but it isn't keeping the neck pinned with the body. any ideas?

[@nkhan6429]

Never mind thank you. I found stapling helps. =))))

[@nervehokage3176]

bro my soon as my character started moving the body parts moves seperatly for example my hand and legs are moving but it is not connected with my body chest and hip pls help me

[@okaysamurai]

Bro - independence and auto attach. Check out kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z6aWZWepapd0hqsm8s.

[@jesst9105]

i dont seem to have the stick tools im using preview 1 which is a 7 day trail , is there a way to make the arms and legs moving without using sticks?

[@okaysamurai]

+Jess T Yes - Preview 1 had the handles called "mousetrack" instead of draggable - that will let you move them. But Preview 4 is almost here - there are literally hundreds of features and improvements since 1.

[@jesst9105]

+Okay Samurai is there any way to update after effects to preview 4? im just using after effects for my uni project so wont really be using character animation after this

[@okaysamurai]

+Jess T Preview 4 is launching sometime in the summer - not sure of exact release date yet. Upgrading AE to the current version would get you Preview 3 though. www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects.html

[@jesst9105]

ive managed to do an update through the adobe cloud my mac wasnt responding at the time thank you :)

[@stuntcatproductions3714]

Hi, the draggable handles I have on the hands are deforming the entire body of my character. When I hit Show Mesh it appears well outside of the character outline. Is there a way to fix this? Thank you

[@okaysamurai]

+Stuntcat Productions Did you watch the live show? kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmWtaqeBqs6VjM0m39s goes into why this may happen. Basically, isolate any problematic layers and try to delete everything outside of them. This will be fixed/easier in future versions. If you still have trouble feel free to send me the artwork to take a closer look.

[@stuntcatproductions3714]

+Okay Samurai Thanks for your reply. I figured it out but I'll watch the show still. I ended up cleaning up the .psd. I think there were some errant pixels in there as well as a background solid. I changed the character Mesh Shape to Contour and it popped into place. Thanks again!

[@okaysamurai]

+Stuntcat Productions Cool, glad to hear it!

[@NyleLevi]

Hi! Thanks for making these videos. When I use draggables, the return to rest happens very suddenly after I release the draggable. Is there something that I need to do to make it return to rest smoothly? Thanks!

[@okaysamurai]

+Nyle Levi Currently the return to rest state speed isn't customizable. What I usually do is drag it back to around the correct spot, then use take blending on the end to ease it into place (drag the little square at the end of the dragger take a little to the left - see the "Recording and Editing with Takes" tutorial video for more info about how take blending works). Hope that helps!

[@NyleLevi]

+Okay Samurai Ah, so you use the hold in place setting and then do two takes and blend them together? I am also trying to move two arms using different takes, but when i record one, it overrides the other in the timeline. Is there a way around this plaese? Thank you!

[@okaysamurai]

+Nyle Levi Yeah, check out 1:40 - adding a second dragger behavior.

[@fredlaval93]

This feature is completely broken for me right now. It used to work but now even with sticks and averything only the front of the foot will move and distort it without moving the leg.

[@okaysamurai]

Usually when this happens it means something is fixed or preventing the other parts from moving. To solve this I usually adjust independence (crowns), fixed points, or where I'm adding the draggable handles. Also the next tips & tricks episode will have a section specifically on fixing issues like this, should be out by the end of the week.

[@aruminorogo]

Hello Dave! I created a walking puppet but the arms won't move?

[@okaysamurai]

Probably just an organizational or tagging issue. Are the arms in the body? Are they stapled at the shoulder? Are they tagged on the group itself with wrist and elbow handles? Walkbot from the Start menu is a good simple example to look at as a reference.

[@aruminorogo]

Thank you, Dave! :)

[@PixelatedPeach]

Hi, the "sticks" tool is not on my tool panel at all. I can't find the sticks option. I have the pushpin, the mouse tracker, the dangle thing, and everything else on there except for sticks. I've tried looking it up in the menu bar and typing it into "help" but it says it can't find anything by the name of "sticks." What can I do?

[@okaysamurai]

+PixelatedPeach Sticks were added in Preview 3. Check your Character Animator > About and see what it says. If it isn't 3, you'll need to upgrade to the latest version of After Effects to get the updates!

[@PixelatedPeach]

+Okay Samurai oh thank you! Makes sense! Mine is 2. I will update. :)

[@willardjansen]

When I add draggers they keep pointing to the same draggable. How can I assign to different draggables?

[@okaysamurai]

+Willard Jansen Every time you place the dragger tool it should make a new draggable instance - when you drag your mouse or finger on a scene, it will look for the closest draggable to influence. You should be able to put them anywhere in your character. For best results, try putting them on the same level that you're dragging - so if it's a hand, put it in a hand, arm, or body layer (as opposed to the top level character).

[@willardjansen]

Thanks for your quick reply. I have two dragers one on the right hand and one on the left hand. I see one dragger behavior (left hand) so I add another dragger behavior but this second one also points to the left hand. I can dig deeper and add a behavior with right hand selected, but that then doesn't show up in the scene for recording animation ( in two runs).

[@okaysamurai]

+Willard Jansen Hmmm. The behaviors in your version are agnostic, so they don't care if you use right or left, they're just looking for draggable info. So what I'll do is have Dragger 1 armed, record one hand, then disarm Dragger 1 and turn Dragger 2 on, and record the right hand. That ensures they each get a separate track. This will be automatic and easier in the next version, coming out early summer. Check out the example puppets and see where they put their handles and behaviors, it might help too.

[@willardjansen]

Ok I'll try, thanks. What I noticed was that when I placed the draggables to the arms that are in the bodygroup, the initiated draggers were called dragger and dragger 2 but both target handles were draggable, draggable 2. This seems odd. One would assume that the first instance would point to draggable, draggable and the second to draggable, draggable 2 and so on.

[@okaysamurai]

+Willard Jansen Yep - this will be fixed soon. You will only need 1 dragger behavior and each dragger will automatically get its own track in the timeline!

[@charlottebassed3836]

Hey, the draggable hands are deforming the body each time I try to move the arms, I have made sure that there are no drawings outside of the body parts, but the mesh is still all messed up. I have tried everything and it still isn't working :/ Do you know why this might be happening? Thanks so much :)

[@okaysamurai]

+Charlotte Bassed See kzbin.info/www/bejne/hInZl4Scp7GNeNkm30s or kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmWtaqeBqs6VjM0m24s. If neither of those work, save a copy of your PSD/AI and try deleting individual layers until the problem stops inside CH - then you'll know which layer is causing the problem. We have fixed a lot of issues surrounding this in the upcoming Preview 4 release as well.

[@coolcatkim22]

When I drag the one hand the whole body moves. Why does that happen? Every body part is on its own layer btw.

[@okaysamurai]

Note the subtle yellow line on the left of the layers in the puppet panel - that determines what is controlled by what. To make the arms move on their own, you need to make them independent. Here's a more updated look at making limbs: kzbin.info/www/bejne/laTQfYuFebmXbLcm55s

[@coolcatkim22]

Okay, it's not dragging the whole body anymore but every time I drag it the part gets distorted; stretched or twisted. How can I get it to stay a fixed shape?

[@okaysamurai]

Have you added sticks to the forearm and bicep? That helps a lot. Setting the mesh to contour int he right properties can help as well. There are no stretch constraints yet but it's a common request: character-animator.ideas.aha.io/ideas/CH-I-169. Common rigging issues here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqrElZR8jr56mJIm11s

[@coolcatkim22]

Thank you! Finally worked after I added behaviours.

[@okaysamurai]

Great to hear!

[@ISknne3D]

Hi, on the draggable parts, are the keyframes editable afterwards?

[@okaysamurai]

They are editable, but not as keyframes, as performances. It's kind of like recording music, you can record multiple dragger performances and blend them into each other. Watch the "Recording & Editing" tutorial on adobe.com/go/chtutorials.

[@ISknne3D]

@@okaysamurai Ok cool, thanks. Would it not be easier if they were editable keyframes as well? something they may hopefully implement in the future, or hand gestures that are recorded via the webcam, now that would be cool

[@DAVIDEOSfilms]

I can't find the stick tool? It's not where it supposed to be? Please help :)

[@okaysamurai]

Sticks were added in Preview 3. You may need to upgrade After Effects.

[@DAVIDEOSfilms]

Okay thanks it's fixed now ! :)

[@DAVIDEOSfilms]

And one more question, how do I get more than 12 fps for my character?

[@okaysamurai]

Select your scene in the left project panel, then look in the scene properties on the right, You can change FPS, duration, size, etc there.

[@DAVIDEOSfilms]

Okay Samurai Thank you, again, sorry for asking so much questions! I simply couldn't find the answer on the internet, Adobe Character Animator isn't that widely used yet, right?

[@tea4wolf]

I don't find the dragable tool on my set up =|

[@okaysamurai]

This is an older video, but the Dragger tool should still be in the same place. This more recent tutorial, especially part 4, should help you: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z6aWZWepapd0hqs

[@tea4wolf]

@@okaysamuraiThank you so much for responding! The tool doesn't appear for some reason, the little dog tag, I got the other tools.

[@okaysamurai]

Ohhh right, it looks different now. It's the one with the 4 arrows, looks like a compass.

[@tea4wolf]

@@okaysamurai oh! thank you! Mine is in Portuguese and I didn't realize.

[@PreschoolPlay]

Perfect! Thanks!

[@punyaibenk]

i have no stick tool,pls help

[@okaysamurai]

No sticks means you've got an old out of date version. Update here: www.adobe.com/products/character-animator.html

[@parsarahmani4127]

Hi, thanks for your tutorial, but every time I move my character's hand it distorts it completely, what should I do? imgur.com/8gJxjyj

[@parsarahmani4127]

Nevermind, :D fixed it.

[@okaysamurai]

Glad to hear it!

[@WalkarSajid]

Cool

[@ur_god]

lmao "you cant cross sticks"

[@okaysamurai]

Ghostbusters style.