Identify related triggers or swap sets in the Triggers panel by assigning label colors to them, similar to the label colors in After Effects and other Adobe applications. You can even filter the Triggers panel to show triggers and swap sets with matching colors.

For more information, see Assign labels to Triggers.

Search filters for project items

Like search filtering in the Puppet, Properties, and Triggers panels, you can now filter the Project panel based on a search term.

Keyframes

Similar to keyframes in After Effects and Premiere Pro, keyframes in Character Animator are a simple way to animate behavior properties.  Use them to set parameters for behaviors like the changing effect of wind strength and gravity direction on tree branches blowing in the wind.

For more information, see Using Keyframes in Character Animator.

Scene Cameras

Scene cameras give you more control over your scenes by allowing you to set up specific shots within your scene, like wide, close-up, and zoom, and switch between them using triggers. These shots can be easily triggered during live or recorded performances of your scene's content.

For more information, see Scene cameras.

Triggerable audio

You can assign audio to a trigger and play the audio back live or during a recording by invoking the trigger. For example, you can make a character yell when a yell facial expression is triggered. Your characters become more dynamic and your animation workflows become simpler with audio automatically synced to the triggerable animation. 

For more information, see Trigger audio.

Motion Lines behavior

This behavior draws lines along the motion path of an object to convey fast movement. Also known as speed lines, they can accentuate how parts of a puppet move over time. You can define any number of motion lines, with each optionally having a pair of secondary lines.

For more information, see Motion Lines.

Rigging Issues pane

Use the Rigging Issues pane to identify rigging issues and get guidance to fix them. Rigging issues can hinder your animation process. Solve the issues for a smoother experience.

For more information, see Identify rigging issues.

Search filters for behaviors (and their parameters), tags, and triggers

The search filters in the Puppet, Properties, and Triggers panel allows you to search for behaviors, tags and triggers.

For more information, see Search filters for behaviors, tags, and triggers.

Camera-Based muting

This feature helps you controls the threshold for lip sync of how open your mouth needs to be (when the Camera Input is enabled) to enable lip sync. This ensures the puppet mouth does not change when there is background noise.

For more information, see Lip Sync: Control a puppet’s mouth with your voice.

Updated save options

History Bookmarks are now called project versions, and Auto bookmarks now called Auto-save versions. For all that you need to know about these changes and working with project versions, see Undo, redo, and history.

Start workspace is now Home screen

The Start workspace is now the Home screen. Open the Home screen by clicking the Home icon. The top bar also has a new Export option.

New ways to get started!

It’s easier than ever to get started using Character Animator with new, in-app example puppets, an all-new interactive onboarding experience, and new in-app tutorials!

Automatic lighting compensation for camera input

Windows only

Automatic lighting compensation enhances the image quality and enables automatic camera adjustment based on real-time analysis of lighting conditions.

For more information, see Automatic lighting compensation for camera input.

Other features and enhancements

• The Layer Picker behavior has a new Camera Input parameter that, when armed, allows you to use head movements to pick the layer to use. 
• The Preferences dialog box now has a Lip Sync pane for controlling how the lip sync engine is used for detecting and generating visemes. 
• Use the position-based Mode parameter in the Walk behavior to capture the exact movement of a walk animation.