Adobe Character Animator

Adobe Character Animator is an advanced computer animation application that mixes technologies from several different design fields into a unique format that allows users of all knowledge levels to more easily learn to animate 2D characters and objects created inside the Adobe app ecosystem. The core technology found in Character Animator App is the combination of motion-capture tools with a multi-track recording system that can take layered 2D creations from the famous Photoshop or Illustrator apps, transform them into “puppets” with automatic rigging points, and then take control of them, animate them, and assign them specific motion behaviors. To enable complete control over the end-product, the app provides users access to not only puppet motion editing and capture of live movements via motion-capture, but also comprehensive toolsets for managing scenes, timeline, and more.

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To create a fully animated character, you first need to import a drawing. This can be made directly from Photoshop with multi-layered creations, or by importing a finished drawing. Your character creation does not need to realistic, or even to have fully-featured face features. Adobe Character Animator can recognize both facial features in drawings and full-body structures and rig them to be ready for real-time motion capture. This motion capture can be done directly on your PC with a laptop or standalone webcam. Simply point a camera on your face or body, and Adobe Character Animator will be able to detect your most important face/body points, track them, and animate 2D characters in real-time. The entire process is so streamlined, fast, and resource-light that creators are even encouraged to Livestream their work sessions and thus gather valuable insights from public viewers, co-workers, or even clients.

Originally introduced in 2015 as a part of the preview program, Adobe Character Animator managed to grow tremendously over the next few years. It had built-in support for markerless body and face tracking from the start, with new features such as lip-sync tracking, visual layer tagging, automatic walk cycles, particle physics engine, and many import/export compatibility addons with other Adobe suite apps added in free upgrade releases. Full support for keyframes (one of the most requested features since the very first app version) was added in late 2020, giving animators full control over the character and scene animations. The same update added many other useful features such as motion lines, triggerable audio, scene cameras, advanced search controls, and more.

Upon completion of the video sequence, which can have both animated characters, backgrounds, camera cuts, voices with lip-sync, audio tracks, and transitions, the entire project can be easily exported in a wide array of supported formats. The formats range from the simple sequence of PNG images and WAV files to any supported format in the powerful Adobe Media Encoder. Exported files can be stored on your PC’s local storage, or be directly transported via Dynamic Link to other Adobe apps such as After Effects and Premiere Pro.

Adobe Character Animator is a core part of the Adobe After Effects CC 2015 to 2017, but it can also be installed as a standalone application by users that own Creative Cloud all-apps subscription.