Real-Time Animation with Adobe Character Animator

Build real-time animations for your projects using webcams, microphones, and custom actions

Key Features

• Work with enhancing and polishing the Character Rig
• Creating quick and effective animations for business or entertainment without understanding all the intricacies of the craft
• Create triggers to customize your animated experience

Book Description

Character Animator is a power app for non-animator equipped with easy rigging and easy to understand tools. To easily create entertainment or business videos.

Adobe Character Animator is a comprehensive look at the app itself. You will learn the entire process from importing a character PSD to animating a sequence. Complete with hands-on tutorials, projects and self-assessment questions, this easy-to-follow guide will teach you how to animate a scene in Character Animator from start to finish.

By starting with a character PSD from another artist, we will organize and condense the file to prepare for rigging and animating. From there, we will properly rig the character and explore advanced behaviors and triggers to animate a complex scene that takes advantage of the app's best features.

By the end of this book you will have the ability to create full animations in Character Animator for any purpose.

What you will learn

• Properly assemble rigs in Photoshop for Character Animator
• Add tags, handles, draggable limbs, swap sets and physics effects
• Utilize a webcam and microphone for lip syncing, head turns and other real-time actions
• Work with multiple characters, scene layers and audio files
• Add loopable motions such as walk cycles
• Record a short animation for export

Who This Book Is For

This book is for beginners to animation looking to get up and running quickly and start creating their own animated scenes. The book assumes basic computer knowledge and to follow along effectively the reader should have a webcam and microphone connected. Knowing the principles of animation or having any history with other animation software will help but is not required.

Table of Contents

1. What You Need to Know Before Rigging
2. Comparing Adobe Character Animator to Animate
3. Preparing Your Character in Photoshop
4. Importing and Tagging Your Character
5. Creating Control Handles and Behaviors
6. Physics, Behaviors, and Meshes
7. Assigning Mouths and Props with Triggers and Swap Sets
8. Refining Layers and Exploring Optional Rig Features
9. Working with Preset Actions
10. Animating a Simple Sequence
11. Rearranging, Polishing, and Enhancing Our Sequence
12. Exporting, Editing, and Sharing Your Character Animator Sequence
13. Additional Character Animator Tools and Features