Feature summary | Character Animator (December, October & June 2022 releases)

December 2022 release (version 23.1)

Modernized GPU support

Character Animator's December 2022 release (version 23.1) has improved performance when drawing content in the Scene and Puppet panels and rendering to disk by updating the GPU requirements from OpenGL to use Metal on macOS and DirectX 12 on Windows. Recent macOS systems support Metal. Windows systems with older GPUs might require updated display drivers to support DirectX 12.

Starter mode and Motion Library

• Starter mode: Visual (dashed) drop target now appears when attempting to drag a trigger into the timeline. 
• Motion Library: Added a Strength parameter to control the influence of the behavior on the tagged handles. 

October 2022 release (version 23.0)

Motion Library

The Motion Library is a new Character Animator behavior. The Character Animator Motion Library is a collection of 350+ full-body character animations captured by professional motion actors. Dance moves ranging from ballet to hip-hop can be applied with one quick selection. Sports move from basketball to bowling are super simple. And a range of walking, running, and jumping are also available. Moves that were difficult to animate are now within everyone’s reach.

For more information, view Motion Library behavior.

June 2022 release (version 22.5)

Starter mode

The starter mode for Character Animator is for everyone, and you don't need any subscription to use it. Starter mode offers a streamlined interface that performs, records, and exports characters. You can start animating through live performances, triggerable poses, and emotions. You don't have to be an expert rigger. Upgrade to Pro mode when you're ready.

Here are some features Starter mode has to offer:

• Starter mode offers sample puppets and allows you to import puppets.
• Drag and drop behaviors from the behavior panel on the upper right.
• You can change backgrounds using the background button.
• You can adjust the aspect ratio to scale the puppet to fit the new dimensions.
  
• You can preview triggerable poses, emotions, and backgrounds.
• Quick export to export your animations directly in the H264 file.

For more information, view Animate a Puppet with Starter mode.

Quick Export

You can export animations quickly in Starter mode and Pro mode. Export your animations directly in the H264 file using Quick Export. Choose a Match Source preset to automatically have settings like resolution and frame rate match your sequence, or select from a list of common video resolutions. Both Starter and Pro modes support Quick Export. For more information, see Export a scene or puppet.

Auto-swapping artwork and Leader/Follower behavior

Auto-swap automatically switches to the pose most closely matching the character's movement. If you have a group of layers representing different poses, create a swap set from that group with the "Auto-swap" option. As you control the character, the best matching artwork will be triggered. You can control the character via Dragger (and the Leader/Follower behavior) or Body track. For more information, view Switch artwork with Auto-swap.