After you have assembled the scene, you can export it for use in other applications, such as After Effects or Premiere Pro. You can also export to a watch folder monitored by Adobe Media Encoder to automate the process of rendering your scene and export it to any format supported by Adobe Media Encoder. The default export format is H.264 with the Match Source – High bit rate preset. Read on to know more about importing an exported scene into other applications, exporting and sharing a puppet with other users, and lip sync export to After Effects.
Using Dynamic Link, you can open a scene directly in After Effects or Premiere Pro and keep a live connection to the original scene in Character Animator. Changes to the scene in Character Animator are automatically reflected when switching back to After Effects or Premiere Pro.
To import a scene in After Effects or Premiere Pro via Dynamic Link, do either of the following:
- Drag the scene from the Project panel in Character Animator into the Project panel in After Effects or Premiere Pro. You can start dragging the scene in Character Animator, Alt/Command+Tab to After Effects or Premiere Pro, then drop the scene in the Project panel.
- Import the scene from the .chproj file, as follows:
You can export directly to a movie format (H.264) via Adobe Media Encoder, or to a PNG sequence and WAV file. The exported movie file can be played back immediately or, like the PNG/WAV files, imported into other applications for further use. When used with After Effects and Premiere Pro, a single movie file is easier to import and manage than PNG image sequence and separate audio file. You can also choose to export a scene frame as PNG.
You can directly export a scene from Character Animator to a movie format via Adobe Media Encoder. The default movie format is H.264.
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Choose File > Export > Video via Adobe Media Encoder and specify the location and filename for the file.
Adobe Media Encoder launches and adds an entry for the scene into the queue. It can take several seconds for Adobe Media Encoder to launch the first time. Also, the Adobe Media Encoder window may not move to front, so you have to switch to it manually.
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Choose File > Export > PNG Sequence and WAV (Command+Option+M / Ctrl+Alt+M), then specify a location and base filename for the recorded scene. The base filename defaults to the scene’s name.
On Mac, if you specify the name of an existing subfolder, you are asked to replace it. On Windows, specifying an existing subfolder name simply navigates to that subfolder.
The camera and microphone inputs are disabled during export.
A subfolder based on the specified name is created for you, and the files — PNG sequence and a stereo 48-kHz WAV file — are placed in it. The subfolder is opened automatically.
An .xml file is created next to thesubfolder, and can be used to import the subfolder’s contents into applications that can import such files.
You can export the contents of the scene in the Scene panel at the current time to a PNG image file.
To export the current scene frame, choose File > Export > Frame (Command+Option+S / Ctrl+Alt+S). You can specify the location and name
Примітка.
Note that the Scene panel’s background color is not saved and the PNG file would have a transparent background. Also, puppet meshes (if displayed) will not appear in the file.
You need to manually import the PNG file and WAV file to After Effects from Character Animator. When you import the PNG sequence, interpret the footage to match the Character Animator scene’s frame rate.
Import the exported .xml file into the Project panel. A sequence containing the PNG sequence and WAV file is created.
Примітка.
You can also set up a watch folder that automatically encodes the exported .xml file’s PNG sequence and WAV file to a movie or still-image format.
If you want to send a puppet to other Character Animator users or archive the structure of a puppet for reuse in other projects, create a shareable puppet, a self-contained file with all required artwork included.
To share a puppet:
- Select the puppet in the Project panel or open the puppet (from the Project panel) in the Puppet panel.
- Choose File > Export > Puppet, then name the .puppet file or right-click the puppet in the Project panel and choose Export Puppet.
- Send the .puppet file to the other user via
shared link orother method . - To open a shared puppet, import the .puppet file via File > Import or by dragging it into the Project panel.
Note: Shareable puppets are self-contained, including the artwork associated with them. If needed, you can relink the puppet to a shared instance of the artwork. Parameter changes to a puppet when selected in the timeline, or any recorded takes for a puppet track, are not included in a .puppet file. Also, behaviors that are on the imported puppet are updated to use the versions of the behaviors available in the current project.
Use the Live Streaming option to show your screen on an external monitor or a third-party video device. You can also send your scenes to other applications such as Facebook Live and YouTube to broadcast your live animations using live streaming. For information about streaming, see Stream a scene live. If you are looking for tips, tricks, and workarounds related to streaming, see Tips and tricks for streaming.
Take Character Animator
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In After Effects, set up a composition that contains the different visemes at one-second intervals matching the alphabetical order of visemes in the Visemes context menu -- Aa, D, Ee, F, L, M, Oh, R, S, Uh, W-Oo. At time 0 seconds, it should be the Neutral mouth shape (that is, no viseme), at 1 second place the Aa viseme, at 2 seconds the D viseme, and so on.
If you want to export a scene to a movie file but include an alpha channel so that transparent or semitransparent areas of the scene can reveal the background when composited onto other footage in After Effects or other applications, you can use a separate menu command to send the scene to Adobe Media Encoder.
- To export a scene to a video format with alpha channel, select the scene, then choose File > Export > Video with Alpha via Adobe Media Encoder.
The scene is added to the Adobe Media Encoder