Triggers - Adobe Character Animator CC Tutorial

[@waynewrz]

Thanks for the great tutorial man. Character Animator would be unapproachable without your videos.

[@RomanMarkin]

agree, your contribution is invaluable

[@silasmaurer7835]

totally agree!!

[@tjc360]

Definitely, I also use these for reference when I cant figure something out.

[@beepboopygjm1767]

Your tutorial is so clear and I'm immediately understanding what you mean without having to replay it multiple times. Thank you so much! You're a great teacher.

[@Effectivebasketball]

This is a hands-down most significant tutorial I saw so far. I struggled with few things over the last few days learning and couldn't figure it out by myself now it all in the place. Thank you very much for your amazing tutorials.

[@vatosflokos3290]

I watched this tutorial carefully and now I have a terrible headache... But I am not quittin'

[@thespranglets3406]

Ch rules! and this turtorial and all the other you made (my favorite was the full workflow...) are the base of my life! Without you there were no future! Now my stars got a whole new life... Thanks and Thanks again!

[@King_Twinkie]

I love your tutorials. You really make this software useable for a beginner. Thank you! 😁👍

[@michaelmandaville4228]

This is a terrific video for explaining the essentials for Character Animator. Very excited about exploring them.

[@learningscienceisfun]

Always great tutorials and super helpful.

[@kelvinjayaram1521]

Dave, you've been a real great help in helping me get a startup on my channel. I never thought the animation process would be so fun :) Your tutorials are lit 🔥

[@okaysamurai]

Thanks! I try to keep things fun. :)

[@owlstation355]

Your tutorials are so so helpful! Thank you Okay Samurai and keep them coming please!

[@rgarlinyc]

Thanks a lot for these clearly explained tips!

[@cultive9]

This is great, thanks! I just think the tutorial gets really confusing when you teach several different triggers without showing their results and only in the end show how it all behaves. I feel like it would make way more sense to complete teaching and showing the first trigger, and only then move to the next one But overall, your videos are life savers! Thank you 😁

[@okaysamurai]

Yeah it's a tricky balance. This is why I begin each section by showing the results, then build up to making those. I also think moving back and forth too much between modes can also lose people, so it's tough. Thanks for the feedback and glad they're helping!

[@arts.maimounah]

Awesome tutorial thank you 🤍

[@SuperRockcore]

thanks alot for the tutorials. i got a nice looking puppet, but having a problem with the automated blink. I am just trying for a two frame blink. the problem is that the pupil keeps disappearing. edit.. problem solved.. i just kept it simple and used my own names for the folders and did a simple swap thingy. thanks again!

[@nazianaz5155]

you are a great teacher

[@whoozie]

That triggering behaviors part was cool...this is definitely gonna be a game changer for my videos...thanks for the amazing tutorial! btw, is there any way I can animate a four legged animal like a horse with this software???

[@okaysamurai]

Thanks! Yes, you can animate four legged characters - check out the Intro to Rigging pack on pages.adobe.com/character/en/resources, it has an example of this.

[@whoozie]

@@okaysamurai Ok thank uu I'm going to start an animation youtube channel about assassin's creed....and I think I'd be able to make a good use of this software

[@ramyelbouhy1861]

This is an a mazing playList , Thanks👏

[@yatinsinha6796]

After watching this, I feel like a pilot knowing all those buttons inside a cockpit!

[@LoganBasketball2]

bro it is so helpful going step by step thaaaank you

[@shredderSupreme91]

This is a game changer for Me. Thanks man

[@muhammadaliyan2374]

So much helpful video... I'll definitely recommend my fellows to watch your videos❤️

[@andrecheung8416]

Thanks again for the helpful tutorial !

[@jonathanklassy7275]

Excellent tutorial!

[@ginacasazza1321]

This is great, however how do I make my own trigger behaviors to bring into the scene with my puppet? Do you have a video on how to create these trigger behaviors ourselves? Thank you very much.

[@okaysamurai]

There is only one trigger behavior you need, and it gets added to every puppet automatically. This video should show you how top make triggers out of your artwork though. But if you're stuck, let us know at adobe.com/go/chfeedback for more direct help!

[@omniaelevate]

@@okaysamurai thank you!

[@RoystoneHinkson]

Another well done tutorial. Quick question: if my puppet does head turns, will I have to do swap sets for each view if I wanted to swap happy and sad mouths?

[@okaysamurai]

No, the cool thing is you can add as many layers to a trigger as you want. So just drag all your different sad mouths into the one "sad" trigger inside your swap set and it should work!

[@Cloud-pt9cw]

Hi, could you please do a tutorial about the puppet Rin in Adobe Character where you could elaborate more about how to trigger the nervous and crying (waterfall) emotions. I've tried to look into the layers and replays note from the triggers & it's really hard to understand there. I could set up and trigger the nervous and the crying (waterfall) emotions and test it out on a different puppet just fine, but for the nervous emotion, I wasn't able to hide the original pupils, not sure how it's done. As for the crying (waterfall) emotions, how could I trigger it along with the blinks and the sad mouth? And please give us a tutorial about clipping mask, thank you!!

[@okaysamurai]

1. It looks like the artist set up the nervous trigger to trigger both the nervous eyes and a "mask" layer - which really isn't a mask, it's just a solid color of the skin that goes over top of the old eyes to hide them. 2. You can add as many layers as you want to a trigger! Just drag them into the trigger and check out the "Layers and Replays" section in the Triggers panel to see everything that will be triggered. If the problem persists, please upload a screenshot, video, or your File > Export > Puppet file to the official forums at adobe.com/go/chfeedback so we can take a closer look.

[@Cloud-pt9cw]

@@okaysamurai Thank you!! I will try to experimented it for awhile and if I couldn't find a solution, then I'll try the Adobe forums.

[@totlenmoingay]

I dont understand why we need to drag the Alternatives group into the 2 triggers? Could you pls shed some light?

[@okaysamurai]

Basically you need the Alternatives GROUP to replace the mouth GROUP. If you did this with only the triggers I think you run into conflicts with the lip sync behavior. At least that's what I remember I think!

[@Orf]

I'd like to edit in a swap set ("smile") in the timeline without recording. Is that possible?

[@okaysamurai]

Yes. If the swapset has already been recorded, just right-click into the track and select Smile. If not, activate the smile trigger and go to Timeline > Record 2 frame take to add it to the timeline. (Sorry for the late reply, just got back from vacation!)

[@scompagnone]

Thank you so much, your tutorials are amazing. I'm sort of finding my way around the tutorials and they are quite helpful. One thing I don't understand is, how does dragging the alternatives folder onto each (Sad and confused) triggers ensures that the default mouth won't come through. I might be missing something but don't see the logic behind it as the alternatives folder contains all the sad mouths and the confused one together.

[@okaysamurai]

I actually don't think you need this step anymore. I just tried removing the Alternatives folder from the two extra mouths and the triggers still seem to work. So it looks like this was optimized in later builds. Thanks for pointing it out!

[@scompagnone]

Okay Samurai ! Thank you so much, you are a legend

[@murphdjs]

Some might say the 6 people who disliked the video were... triggered

[@thebossdaddyshow9450]

Thank you for all the great tutorials. Will you be able to help me set-up a macro keyboard(2nd keyboard) so that I will be able to accommodate many triggers for different puppet action to the 2nd keyboard? I will be using my 1st keyboard for gaming and live stream controls. It's kind of a stream deck type set-up. Any help will be much appreciated for setting up multiple trigger controls in keyboard. Thank you so much!

[@okaysamurai]

Hmm, I have not seen anyone do that before, so I'm not sure how successful it would be. I have seen many game streamers use two computers and connect them via NDI. Another way might be to try MIDI inputs. If anyone knows how to do this it's probably the Digital Puppets UK guys - you might want to reach out to them.

[@thebossdaddyshow9450]

@@okaysamurai Thanks!

[@dolcevita8360]

Thank you for lessons❤️

[@alavipourcom9835]

Hi Dear Dave the link of example project not work. please check this...

[@okaysamurai]

Works for me, may have been temporary Adobe site downtime. Try again!

[@immanuelaminmbang6851]

Hey great tutorial, really helpful. I was just wondering how would I take animation I've done (from character animator, or another software) and turn that into a "behavioural" trigger?

[@okaysamurai]

We call those Replays! Check them out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4vMoHqFdtlriKc

[@MedhadeepBanerjee]

you are awesome, and so is your tutorials. too good, and thanks a ton!!!!

[@CreateContent]

Hey Dave, I have the following problem when mixing the "Armraise" Behaviour together with the swap set trigger. Basically what im doing: I have a headgroup with a default head, and a cycle animation that makes the character shake its head. Since the character is shaking it whole head, the default head has to be invisible during the cycle animation-> I pulled the headgrp into a swapset trigger, which works; when i trigger the cycle animation, my default head is invisible. The problem however arises when I have other head animations aswell, for example a headtilt. When I trigger the headtilt in the headgroup swap set, it works fine, until i let go, then the head-shaking cycle animation starts playing. Basically, anytime i trigger anything in my head swap-set, my cycle animation in the headgrp starts playing. How can I blend out the default head when triggering the cycle animation, and only trigger the cycle animation when I actually press the button assigned to it? Edit: it only happens when I have the "hold the last frame" ticked and if I forget to latch back to my default head.

[@okaysamurai]

This might be too complex to try to solve in a KZbin comment - forums might be better - but I think your best bet is to check out Evans from okaysamurai.com/puppets, who swaps his head out for another head (face opening animation with poof smoke). Note how he has the two separate groups in his Head, and the triggers include the groups themselves in their "Layers" below. If that's not helpful, post you .puppet or screenshots on the official forums and hopefully someone can help you with more detail there!

[@heysghost2129]

i love your tutorial dude. can you make it playlist in your channel from create basic puppet to walk and lypsync until make it action on puppet

[@heysghost2129]

im newbie, im so confused to start my frist animation

[@okaysamurai]

I'd start with the tutorials here: www.adobe.com/go/chtutorials. I'd recommend waiting to add walking for later characters as it does complicate things - start simple and build up later.

[@KBlidkvist]

Hey! Great tutorial. I’m binge watching and learning a lot. Just a quick question about the trigger 8 where you mixed one with a latch and one without a latch. Is it possible to connect a trigger with a delay time set to it? My initial plan would be to have an animation that starts out blank for a couple och frames or seconds but if it is possible to set a delay time to it, it would be great.

[@okaysamurai]

It's a little complicated but yes, your best bet is to do what you were thinking with blank cycle layers frames - there's no time delay parameter that I can think of.

[@lprzytula]

Awesome video.

[@언제나웃음-u8p]

Thanks! I enjoy this video!

[@MiniKiddieSongs]

This is so informative !!! Thanks alot Okay Samurai.

[@nstarkd9951]

I keep gettin this error while trying to download project files: "Something went wrong. Your download is not available." Any solution for this issue?

[@okaysamurai]

It's hosted on the Creative Cloud file sharing, which can go down from time to time. Try again and see if it's working now?

[@anlraider1954]

THANK YOU!!

[@Cwichita]

A triggering question, Dave. Has to do with Head Turner and triggers. Here goes: I’m setting up triggers for my puppet. It has many lid configurations and eyebrow variations and triggers for each. The eyebrows are in their swapset and the lids are in their own swapset. I’m using Head Turner and am guessing that each head position will use the one trigger…and all I need to do is drag the accompanying layers into the trigger sets for each head turn position when I'm rigging that head position. Is this correct? Thanks.

[@okaysamurai]

Correct. A trigger can trigger as many things as you want, and so it'll make your life a lot easier to just have one trigger that includes every head position variation state/layer. So yes, you should only need one swapset, and each trigger inside should contain the correct layer(s) from each view. Takes a little time to set up but worth it in the end!

[@Cwichita]

@@okaysamurai Good news. Thank you so much.

[@frenzyhouse5039]

Thanks for the video! How do I get to use the sad mouths once I add the lip sync? The alternative mouth swap set triggers didn't work with the lip sync.

[@okaysamurai]

If you have the sad set implemented correctly, then if you record a trigger, the lip sync will be sad. The lip sync track itself won’t change, but as long as that sad trigger is active, it should show as expected. Try this with the example file or free template puppets like Bluster or Almasol who have the sad mouth triggers.

[@totlenmoingay]

I cannot open the downloaded file from the link. It says "Libgit2 error". Please kindly reupload it. Thank you so much.

[@totlenmoingay]

As an added note, I am using Windows.

[@totlenmoingay]

I moved it to another folder and successfully opened it.

[@okaysamurai]

Glad you figured it out!

[@cocomagnusson]

Thanks for a great tutorial. I'm having trouble with a swap set of alternative mouths. I followed the tutorial but for me, all the alternative mouths show at the same time and does not lipsync. Don't know if it has to do with the layer names? Anyway, not sure if you still reply comments on a 5 yo video. Thank you!

[@okaysamurai]

Make sure your alternative group is tagged as a "mouth." This is the number one issue people run into. Take a look at the Chloe example from the homescreen and see how she is tagged / setup and emulate her. This video also goes into more detail: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZSchGlrj9NsjrMsi=F2hsWv9mDfaABcGJ

[@cocomagnusson]

@@okaysamurai Thank you very much, I'll try that!

[@cocomagnusson]

@okaysamurai It worked! Thank you for your quick reply!

[@steelbronson4238]

Awesome, is there a way to do sets of different eyes? Happy to sad ones etc?

[@okaysamurai]

Yep. Check out Tull the Cat from the home screen in the app, he has a bunch of different eye triggers.

[@steelbronson4238]

@@okaysamurai Oh! my folly, thank you :)

[@SidRandom]

You are making this too easy =P

[@meeu6658]

Hey thanks for great video. I'm using swap set for bird wings flipping as if it's flying but the problem is when the wing is down, the wing that was up should disappear but that does not happen.... How should I solve this?

[@okaysamurai]

If the wing isn't disappearing then it's either not included in the swap set or it's included in two triggers. Take a look at the "Layers and replays" below and make sure it's only included in one of those triggers. If it persists, please post a screenshot, video, or File > Export > Puppet (.puppet file) to adobe.com/go/chfeedback for more help.

[@SkyProStudio]

Thanks again for the helpful tutorial. what if I want to convert the trigger to swap and also if I name my trigger as 10 or 11 how can I call it when I need it by using the keyboard thank you

[@okaysamurai]

Triggers can only be single alphanumeric values, a-z and 0-9. So I would use a letter instead.

[@kristjan1757]

Dave great stuff and job u did :-) Thx very useful tuto

[@Eng.Falafel]

Amazing tutorial man! Do you know where I can get fire or poof animation sequence? I can't find any only :( Maybe I am searching for the wrong keywords?

[@okaysamurai]

You know, they used to be offered by a game company called POW Studios which I think is unfortunately out of business now. If you search for PNG sequences or spritesheets you might have better luck?

[@Eng.Falafel]

@@okaysamurai yesss! I found some! I did not know that Sprite Sheets was the keyword, thanks 🤗 I have one tiny issue though, is there a way to copy/import the png sequences from Adobe Illustrator directly to Abobe Photoshop? I am saving each one from Adobe Illustrator as png manually, then open then im photoshop then moving them to the Characters photoshop file. Maybe there is a shortcut?

[@okaysamurai]

Can you just open the PNG sequences directly in Photoshop? If so that's what I would do. But no, generally you have to manually copy/paste them into your PSD. One workaround is File > Import Cycle in CH, which lets you import a PNG sequence directly as an individual cycle layers puppet (which you can then drag into another puppet to work).

[@Eng.Falafel]

@@okaysamurai Thanks for the tip :) The problem with these ong sequence that they are not on the same origin. The files are in Ai, and in one canvas there are 10 png, so you need to save them then import them so that they have the same origin. But anyway, im glad that I knoe how to do that now :)

[@Cloud-pt9cw]

Hi, I have a question about the puppet Rin. From the swap set Controls for "Nervous", when I click on one of the information on the lower left corner (below Layers and Replays) Rin/Head/Mouthsets/Sad then it will reveal exactly the location of the layer in the puppet panel, but when I try to click on Nervous or Sad Mouth, it doesn't show me any information whatsoever. I think it's probably directly from the other swap sets (Pupils and Mouth) but I'm not sure how to drag it to the Nervous in the swap set Controls. The way that I've done so far for my testing puppet which doesn't have the Nervous or Sad Mouth being drag to the same location... is in the swap set Controls for "Nervous", I've try to input an "N" there, an "N" in "Nervous" in the swap set Pupils, and an "N" in "Sad" in the swap set Mouth and that will work just fine. But from the puppet Rin, just inputting an "N" in the swap set Controls will work since it will called for the other swap sets also. Is there a way more efficient way to do this? Because for instance, what if I want to use both the Nervous and the Cry emotions, and both of them require the Sad mouth then I would have to change the input as in "C" and "N" repetitively to make it work. I could give the Sad mouth a complete different input like a "1" and I could hold both of the inputs "1" and "C" for cry and "1" and "N" for displaying the nervous eyes and sad mouths. Any other effective ways to tackle this?

[@okaysamurai]

For me, when I take the Rin Starter mode puppet into Pro mode, I am seeing Nervous and Sad mouth both have things listed in their layers and replays. So I think you may have edited your version somehow not to include these. It sounds like in your case you want to combine several elements into swap sets. Rin is special because she is primarily controlled by the "Controls" swap set. For example., the "Crying" trigger will trigger the Sad mouth set as well as two replays (see kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4vMoHqFdtlriKc) - Crying and Sad Mouth. So what's happening is those replays are playing back multiple triggers at the same time. If you're still having trouble, please upload a screenshot, video, or your File > Export > Puppet file to the official forums at adobe.com/go/chfeedback so we can take a closer look.

[@Cloud-pt9cw]

​@@okaysamurai Yes!! I've finally seen it from the 2s Replays window...now I'll just have to watch your Replays video to learn how to use and add it. At first I was planning to create multiple mouth sets for each emotion and have different inputs on each of them to trigger simultaneously. However, this Replays feature is way more efficient...thanks again, SENSEI :)

[@maryrees5996]

This is sooooooooo useful!! More please! :-)

[@1SGLittleTop]

Thanks Dave!

[@okaysamurai]

You got it man!

[@gustavotorres-oz1nx]

I was wondering if you wanted to make a character for example smoke, how would you change the hand as the arm comes up to the mouth? would you use triggers?

[@okaysamurai]

I had a character holding a cigarette in Jetpack Early Adopter - kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4SYgppnpJt-p9U - I just used the Dragger behavior to move the arm and swapped the hand when the scene switched to hide the transition. If you wanted the arm to appear in front of the mouth (to drag the arms in front of the face), just put the Body group above the Head group.

[@Cwichita]

A question regarding triggers. What do you do if you have more triggers than keyboard keys? Thanks.

[@okaysamurai]

Currently you can only use the alphanumeric keys on the keyboard, but you can also use external MIDI devices to add even more inputs. Some riggers also have multiple trigger sets, so like I press "1" to see a certain group of triggers, and "2" for another set, etc, where one key could trigger things in both groups, but it only shows up with the one that is currently visible. It's tricky but possible.

[@Cwichita]

@@okaysamurai Thanks for your timely input as always. I've turned to a ledger page to help chart my alphanumeric options. It's helping me organize, edit, eliminate excess. I don't understand the MIDI option, but I do have a Stream Deck hooked up, unused so far, and looking forward to that being part of the mix.

[@Cwichita]

Hi Dave, I am stumped and have a question: Is there a way to copy and paste triggers? Am rigging the head of my puppet with triggers, have populated each trigger with all head turn positions, so, for example, all head turn "happy" eyelids are in one trigger. I want to combine different triggers to create expression triggers - combinations of lids, mouths, eyebrows, etc., except, I have found no way to use a trigger in a composite expression without removing the trigger from the swapset I originally organized all the head turns triggers into. I’d equate it to painting and dabbing a bit of yellow to make a color but in doing that yellow disappears from the palette…or in this case the Lids swapset. Is there a solution that’s efficient and flexible? Thanks.

[@okaysamurai]

If something is disappearing then it means it can't find a replacement - so you can always add those replacements. For example, it you have a swapset of lid triggers and then want to put that into an expressions swapset, make sure each trigger in your expressions group has a replacement for the lids! I think Sirr on okaysamurai.com/puppets/ is your best example to follow - he has a big swapset of expressions but smaller ones too. Hope that helps!

[@Cwichita]

​@@okaysamurai Thanks for suggesting Sirr. Looking at his lid options I realized I should be looking at the puppet I based my puppet’s lids on, Ted the Bear. He uses many lid expressions (sad, mad, happy, etc) in 5 layer cycles built with top and bottom lids in one layer, which is what I did for my puppet. Am digging into how they rigged Ted now. I expect it will apply to my guy. Your help is always appreciated. Am enjoying Ch, especially when I figure out how to correct something and then see it work!

[@mibevan]

The experimentation is fantastic I feel like the keys for triggers are limited. I think you should allow the use of the [ ] \ ; ' , . // ` - = Keys to give us more abilities. Perhaps utilizing a caps lock or shift key(s) as well.

[@okaysamurai]

Agreed - everyone always wants more triggers! Hopefully we can expand on this in the future.

[@mibevan]

@@okaysamurai personally I think the a view shifter behavior can be useful if you find a way to utilize “Shift+ . Or ,” (or in this case < and >) to give an easier way to shift the view of a puppet. Like going from frontal to a profile with just two strokes. Or by going say frontal to left quarter and then right profile by holding shift, and pressing “./” 3 times. I may not know programming but if it can be done I think it would be a major convenience for turning animations and opens triggers for more controllable head movements for those who prefer triggering head turns for even more views such as side and back views.

[@noemicollie8241]

Hello again. Was wondering about an issue I have run into. I have a puppet with all seven head profiles and five body profiles. I had it set up so that I could press one trigger to get the same mouth on all profiles as my head moved from profile to profile and and spoke. So basically, I had made a trigger set of Mouths and simply pulled each mouth onto the same mouth from each profile. Now I have made a sad mouth alternate set, and I wanted to do the same thing, but I can't figure out how to set it up so I don't end up with multiple mouths showing up.

[@okaysamurai]

For this you would need a swap set with two triggers inside: normal and sad. Drag all the normal mouths into the normal trigger so it has 7 layers listed below when you select it, and then do the same for sad. As long as these are in separate groups this should work. If you need more help please post your setup to adobe.com/go/chfeedback for more direct aid.

[@consp51]

Hi Dave, what's the best way to do post to post animation in Ch? I am able to record real time dragging recording, but the timing can be tricky. Because there is no keyframe in Ch, it is hard for me to go back and re edit movements, resulting retake and not the desired effect.

[@okaysamurai]

I would make sure Dragger is set to hold in place, set your (static) pose, do Timeline > Record 1 frame take, then extend that pose out as long as you want and blend the edges. I generally do a rest pose take and then record short mannerisms / poses on top of it as I show here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iH7SXq1unbRlfq8m19s

[@mariamoreyno4298]

I have a problem. The SadSet is no working during the syncronisation with the video. There were also this problem in the TriggersBeginnerLesson to download.

[@okaysamurai]

Hmm, I just was able to download the file and the SadSet in scene 3 (pressing 6) seems to work for me. If it persists, please post a screenshot, video, or File > Export > Puppet (.puppet file) to adobe.com/go/chfeedback for more help.

[@audiosbyadam3540]

I have a puppet that I'm doing costume changes with and the triggers seem to be working a treat for the non-face bits. However, I want to change the eye and eyebrow colour as well. So I've an alternate set of pupil and eyebrow layers in the same folder that are also tagged to the pupils/brows respectively. Unfortunately the face behaviour only sees the topmost layer of eyes/brows and doesn't care that I have an alternate layer beneath it also tagged. Do I essentially need to create an entirely new face in the scene? I can't just swap out core bits like eyes/brows by toggling visibility via a trigger? Or can I force connect the second set of eyes/brows to the same controller for that face behaviour in some sort of advanced settings/a hierarchy tree, so they move as one, allowing me to just toggle visibility? Rigging issues is clearly pointing out that the lower/alternate layers are not connecting to the face behaviour, but if I can't connect them to the same behaviour set as the primary eyebrows/pupils/rest of the face, best I can tell, I'd have to make an entirely new face with its own face behaviour and just make sure it was set up identically? To make matters worse(!)😁, even the top layer is not working with the camera controlled blink. It's in the same folder as the rest of the eye/blink components, but the trigger is overwriting its ability to turn the pupil off when the camera controlled blink engages (sclera disappears, the blink line shows up, but the pupil layer is on the whole time). Which I thought was the opposite of what's supposed to happen when looking at this older tut: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5q2YZqLpMpkn5o (12.30 in if timecode doesn't work) , the camera controlled blink is not overwriting the pupil layer's visibility from the trigger. Is there something else besides triggers I should be using? I want to dynamically change the appearance of the character's face, without it overwriting/counting as my movement/active animation input from the camera. Cheers! - Adam

[@okaysamurai]

So what I think is happening is most of these behaviors are looking for the first instance of tags, like "left eyebrow" or "right pupil." It will ignore all others. So the best way to usually make this stuff is to make a group tagged as whatever you want, and then put your swapped parts as layers inside that single tagged group. For the blink stuff, it's all about where you place it in the hierarchy - blinks will make everything else at their same level disappear. If the pupil is still showing up, it means it's probably at a different hierarchy level than the blink, or the trigger setup is invalidating it. The 2017 video is pretty old, I think some stuff may have changed since then. If it persists, please post a screenshot, video, or File > Export > Puppet (.puppet file) to adobe.com/go/chfeedback for more direct help!

[@audiosbyadam3540]

@@okaysamurai Thank you, I will do that if I can't get it working. Thank you for your time and help ❤

[@audiosbyadam3540]

@@okaysamurai Putting the eyebrows and eyes into a tagged folder fixed everything. Thank you!

[@blktoschool]

Shooting my shot here...is there currently a way to fade triggers?

[@okaysamurai]

No, because a trigger is either in an on state or off state - there is no inbetween. The only way to do something like this would be a replay trigger, which yes, can be blended in the timeline! kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4vMoHqFdtlriKc

[@blktoschool]

@@okaysamurai Thank you! You replied to my community forum question too, I really appreciate it :)

[@Pharaohof145thSt]

Is it possible to add a motion path in Ch? I would like to have the draggable hand follow the path in order to simulate the motion of writing on a chalkboard as the text reveals itself via a mask.

[@okaysamurai]

Currently no, but this has been a much requested feature in general, giving dragger a keyframe option. Hopefully we can add it in the future!

[@nedimk]

thanks

[@JarPlace]

How to use universal triggers so I can stream and trigger things while other application is active?

[@okaysamurai]

Currently the best way I know to do this is via MIDI, but in general CH needs to be in focus for triggers to work.

[@maneisdmitry]

Mille gracias...

[@GeekyMeGT]

Question: Can I change a property of my puppet with a trigger... like the color?

[@okaysamurai]

Not exactly - you can swap between different art assets. So if you wanted a different color shirt for example, you would need two layers, one for each shirt color, and trigger between them.

[@GeekyMeGT]

@@okaysamurai Thanks! Ok.. I did something like that but I change the whole rig because is a little monster who changes color with his feelings, It actually works pretty well but I had to conect 2 set of eyes, 2 set of mouths and 2 bodys (between normal and angry) Sometimes the eyes don't follow facial capture in one or the other. If the work on normal, stop working on happy and viceversa... so, any tips to swich between 2 rigs of the same creature without losing tracking on the switch? (Yes, I'm crazy but I'm commited to make it work) thanks! :D

[@okaysamurai]

Unfortunately no, there will always be a little delay / jump if you switch characters live. Yeah, dealing with two of everything can be tricky with the behaviors lining up correctly. In recorded pieces I usually try to hide my puppet swaps between camera cuts, or do a little After Effects surgery to line them up properly. Like a lot of times I have a standing and walking version of a puppet so I'm not overloading one with everything. If you keep having issues, please upload a screenshot, video, or your File > Export > Puppet file to the official forums at adobe.com/go/chfeedback so we can take a closer look and try to help in more detail.

[@animatonia3094]

Hey, does that mean if i want my puppet to lift his arm, i would have to create a frame-by-frame animation of my puppet to do so? Or is there any way to record the motion in character animator?

[@okaysamurai]

You could do frame by frame, but most people use draggables. See Part 4 of the Getting Started video on this channel.

[@TheMikemedia]

Mmm... So I'm not as clever as I thought? And I actually had to download the exercise file and re-watch segments before I understood. Ow! I think you sprained my ego. But thanks. Honestly, I would've never puzzled all this out.

[@My_Jobs]

ty dude!

[@consp51]

Hello Dave, do you have a video on record two frame take pose to pose animation? It will be great if you can show us how to do it. Thanks

[@okaysamurai]

I haven't yet, but that's a good idea for a future tutorial!

[@consp51]

Can't wait for it... ^_^

[@Magictrickslol]

Can i make a swap set for entire limbs that still function in between swaps?

[@okaysamurai]

Yes - if the limbs were are part of one mesh/group with a draggable handle, and then all the swapped components were inside, this should work. Then the one draggable is controlling everything simultaneously.

[@eliashartmason]

hey! i'm looking for tips on how to enable an audience member to trigger a puppet during a livestream. for example, if i were on twitch or instagram live and a viewer typed "hello" in the chat i would like my puppet to wave or say hello back automatically without any input from me. i understand this may require some light coding outside of character animator, but any and all ideas are welcome. thanks for your expertise!

[@okaysamurai]

I replied in the forums too, but check out github.com/thefyrewire/triggleh.

[@eliashartmason]

@@okaysamurai thank you! just what i was looking for

[@qtoons3270]

Help please! I created two alt lipsyncs, one for scared, one for anger. When I created a trigger for each, all of the lip sync mouths show at once, and they don’t change when I talk.

[@okaysamurai]

This means the swap set or tagging isn't working correctly. Take a look at the example and make sure yours is set up and tagged EXACTLY the same. Pay close attention to what each trigger in the swapset is triggering. I helped someone with this the other day, this might help: shared-assets.adobe.com/link/66a5de25-4bd9-4ebf-595a-d88bc6b853ce

[@theislamicstories1961]

Please tell how to make triggers from scratch. Like from illustrator or photoshop

[@okaysamurai]

You don't create triggers in PS or AI, you just draw the artwork there. Then you can follow the steps in this tutorial to turn that artwork into a trigger. Basically anything you want to show/hide for the character, include it in the original artwork file.

[@theislamicstories1961]

@@okaysamurai and there is going to be a different group for triggers or is this going to be included in the head and body group accordingly

[@okaysamurai]

Triggers can be anywhere, they don't need to be in a special group. But yes, putting them inside the Head or Body is the usual way it goes.

[@therobotandjj]

I'm trying to add your explosion sequence to my own puppet/scene. I exported the explosion puppet and imported it into MY scene. Only now it won't cycle. The cycle behavior is there. But when I trigger it, only the first (#9) layer shows up and doesn't cycle through the animation. One difference I'm noticing is that I can't remove the crown from "Name" Group (nested just under "Explosion by powstudios.com"). Could that be it? Do I need to add all of the Explosion layers to my personal puppet in PS so that I can remove the crown from the group, drag the group to a Trigger and THEN add the Cycle Behavior? Thanks again man, I know at this point these are practically private lessons haha. Cheers.

[@okaysamurai]

If your file is a PSD, I would just copy and paste the layers themselves into your master PSD instead of doing a shared asset inside CH, which is a little more restrictive. My best guess is that the cycle layers is only seeing the first nested group instead of the contents inside. Ideally there would not be two folders deep of stuff, just one - so I think that might be where the confusion is. If it persists, please post a screenshot, video, or File > Export > Puppet (.puppet file) to adobe.com/go/chfeedback for more help.

[@HorribleHomeVideo]

i watch this earlier it works, i watch again it does not work. what would prevent this from working? just curious

[@okaysamurai]

No clue...should work all the time!

[@AirForceJuan2]

Link to the project files returns a project of 0 KB in size and consequently opens up to an empty project. Am I missing a step to get the file working as shown. I just unzipped the download from the link and it leads to an empty Character Animator file eventually. Any direction would be greatly appreciated.

[@okaysamurai]

The chproj file will always be 0KB. You may need to do File > Open Project and select the chproj file to get it to appear (I just tried this and it worked).

[@Jessicafamilyspace]

Hi, I was going to download the example project but the page is not found anymore.

[@okaysamurai]

Hmmm yeah you're right - I'll try to find and relink this, not sure what happened.

[@okaysamurai]

Okay, reuploaded it here, thank for letting me know! okaysamurai.com/puppets/TriggerLessons.zip

[@tea4wolf]

I'm having troubles with setting up the sad mouth for right quarter view and left quarter view

[@okaysamurai]

When you add head turns this becomes more difficult because you're adding so many more instances. Theoretically it should work but if it doesn't, try brute-forcing things by adding an extra Lip Sync behavior to the mouth groups you want to work as well.

[@tea4wolf]

@@okaysamurai Hey, I did it, it's almost done. It's a commercial for the bouncy castle company I work, I only had two days to make everything so I'm not totally happy, but I'm proud of the result. Would love if you check it out, it's about a minute long. It's in Portuguese though.

[@ewvasquez2001]

I am completely new to this software (but not to AI, AE, PS, ID, and PR) and probably am just dumb, but I'm having file management problems. Files being made in seemingly random places, and files I don't know what to do with, so when I close a file I have trouble locating it again, or opening it when I find files I think are the right ones. Then from import to action, as with this tutorial, I downloaded the files, extracted, imported, and I'm sitting here with a black screen. I can't even get past the first step: download the file and start the tutorial. HELP!

[@okaysamurai]

Character Animator should always open the last open project automatically, so you shouldn't have to keep worrying about this (hopefully). Instead of importing the project I would go to File > Open, and select the chproj file - that should make it appear just like this video. If it persists, please post a screenshot or video to adobe.com/go/chfeedback for more help.

[@moneychatswithjay]

i have created all the tiggers its work so perfectly, then i save the file and close, the next day i insert the same file and boom all tiggers are gone, this is a major problem I'm facing right now, once i close the file all the tiggers are disappears, i have to set all the tiggers can you pls help me with this....

[@okaysamurai]

I am not sure why the triggers would be missing, unless the artwork or rig changed and broke the connections. If the problem persists, please upload a screenshot, video, or your File > Export > Puppet file to the official forums at adobe.com/go/chfeedback so we can take a closer look.

[@Cloud-pt9cw]

Hi, if I were to create a trigger for the eyes where the eyes have an animated heart inside both eyes, how should I do it? I've tried to create a small heart and a larger heart along with the white eyeball and add it with "latch and cycle layers"....the EYE PUPIL keeps showing up along with the animated heart and the heart animated too quickly. Is there a way to mask the both Eye Pupil to only see the animated heart? And how to reduce the speed in which the animated heart appear? Help please, thank you!!

[@okaysamurai]

My guess is the setup is just including the pupil instead of swapping out for the hearts. Check out Tull the cat on the app homescreen, who if you press the H key will also have heart eyes. Mimic his setup in rig mode and you should be good to go.

[@Cloud-pt9cw]

@@okaysamurai Thanks!! I will surely check it out...

[@Cloud-pt9cw]

@@okaysamurai I've figured it out and it worked perfectly, thank you so much!!

[@themysteriousunknownrevealed]

Is 36 the maximum amount of triggers one puppet can have?

[@okaysamurai]

There is no limit - only limits to alphanumeric keys, but triggers don't need keys.

[@themysteriousunknownrevealed]

@@okaysamurai Thank the Gods, thank YOU

[@anthonylewis3804]

I have a question whenever I click the triggers animation file, it didn't work it opened the file, but the scenes weren't there. Is it because I'm on windows?

[@okaysamurai]

I just tried it and it's working for me - I see three puppets and three scenes in the project panel. It should be the same for Mac and Win. Regardless, you can always create a new scene by selecting a puppet and clicking the "add to new scene" button (clapboard icon) in the project panel.

[@antonioescareno7628]

Just tried opening up the sample project file on my windows computer, it doesn't open. any help? Thanks

[@okaysamurai]

CHPROJ or Puppet files will only open if Character Animator CC is installed. If it is and you're still not able to open, let us know in the official forums at adobe.com/go/chfeedback.

[@shaheermalik3516]

How can we export a recorded scene to an mp4 video format from character animator?

[@okaysamurai]

File > Export > Add to Adobe Media Encoder Queue. Check out the Recording & Editing tutorial on this channel for a look at all your export options.

[@heerahdelara6807]

Okay Samurai I tried to follow the exact same way you did the mouth sad set, but it just dont show in record mode. when i press 6 the sad mouth shapes do not show up. Even the example puppet as in the video does not work as in the Video.

[@okaysamurai]

Strange, I just downloaded it and pressed 6 and see the sad mouths just fine. Seems like something might be off, not sure what...

[@heerahdelara6807]

@@okaysamurai Thank you for the reply ;) Actually, what I did, I followed the structure of the puppet Chloe you did and post it on the forum. I created the folder the normal mouth set called it "Mouth" and then created the "Alternates" folder and subfolder "Mouth" and it worked now. :D thanks again !!

[@chronosstaffing6071]

HI how can i combine two triggers which are in a separate swap set into one

[@okaysamurai]

You can drag triggers over top of each other in the Triggers panel to combine them.

[@omardiaz2082]

Do you have the alternative mouths on AI? That you can share

[@okaysamurai]

Chloe from the CH homescreen has a folder called "Alt Mouths" - just select her Illustrator version and you can have them all!

[@totallytavetv5924]

my example pack download doesnt have the scenes or am i missing something

[@okaysamurai]

adobe.ly/2pGODAD should have everything after you unzip it, I just checked.

[@cinematicegg]

can i do a time for eyeblink ? for exampel 8 seconde the charachter will blink , because i can't do it all the time by keybord

[@okaysamurai]

Yes, you could make a cycle layers setup where the blink happens every X number of frames. There is also a behavior called "Auto Blink" you can add to add random blinks every once in a while.

[@cinematicegg]

@@okaysamurai i'm a biginner on that program, can you plz give me steps to follow, or doing a story on instagram that i can see how, thank you very much

[@okaysamurai]

Adding the auto blink behavior is your best bet as a beginner - this behaviors video should tell you all you need to know: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKCmmYdqnd54qck

[@cinematicegg]

@@okaysamurai thank you very much brother ❤️

[@visionofgap7413]

hey my triggers are not working.. trying sad face from swap set , but its trigger is not triggering i checked the other characters but it didnt help

[@okaysamurai]

Check out Chloe from the in-app home screen and copy her character layout and trigger setup EXACTLY. Note especially how the mouths are grouped in the PS/AI file, what they are tagged as, and what her Swap Set looks like. If you still can't get it please post your File > Export > Puppet to adobe.com/go/chfeedback and we can take a closer look.

[@visionofgap7413]

@@okaysamurai its still not working, i am sending it to CH feedback .. please help, I am stuck here for days now...

[@sgolan20]

The midi trigger doesn't work in the new update..

[@okaysamurai]

Working over here - if it persists please file a bug in the official forums with video/screenshots of what's happening. Thanks!

[@flaviavilela3471]

I want to make a blink but it is not really working. The auto blink is not recongnizing the eyelids, so I made a trigger. But I need to make something show on default and make it desapear with the trigger. I can make it desapear, but not to show up

[@okaysamurai]

If the auto blink isn't recognizing the eyelids it sounds like something might not be tagged as expected - that behavior looks for blink tags, not eyelid tags. But hard to diagnose here - If the problem persists, please upload a screenshot, video, or your File > Export > Puppet file to the official forums at adobe.com/go/chfeedback so we can take a closer look.

[@flaviavilela3471]

@@okaysamurai I love your instructions. I believe that the problem is that I am brazilian and Ch is in portuguese, so not always do I know what things are called in my own lenguage hahahaha. Anyway, I created a swapset and just do the blinks manualy. Thank you!

[@WilliamGarrisonArts]

My triggers DO NOT work unless I have the application "in focus". I want to be able to be drawing live on stream and trigger a replay (wave) when someone says hi to me. But my triggers for the wave replay don't work unless I click on Character Animator and have it as the in focus application. Thats not efficient for streaming. Am I doing something wrong?

[@okaysamurai]

The current workaround here is with MIDI devices, which should work regardless of focus. What we've found is that many streamers employ a 2 computer setup so they can have one dedicated to CH/triggers. We're looking at ways to improving this in the future.

[@WilliamGarrisonArts]

If the midi works without focus then I am okay with that work around. I cant afford two computers. I have one really powerful one though. Maybe eventually I can get another one.

[@WilliamGarrisonArts]

Midi works wonderfully BTW (update)

[@tomjack1000000]

Where on earth is "pause cycle" can't find it in behaviours

[@okaysamurai]

There is a tag called "cycle pause" - tag a layer as that to stop a cycle mid-sequence.