WEBVTT

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Now that you're familiar with Character animators for workspaces,

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time to create a project, import a puppet, and

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get familiar with some important panels and terms.

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All right, once you've launched Character animator,

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you'll want to create a new project.

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You can do this from the home workspace or

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by going to File and selecting New Project.

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Let's call this one magnus.

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Next, it's time to import a Puppet

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by going to File and Import.

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For this lesson, go to the Project

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Files folder and bring in magnus puppet.

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Notice that magnus will now show up in

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the Project panel, but we can't see him.

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So drag magnus on down to the Timeline panel

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to behold his penguinness in all of its glory.

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Back at the project panel.

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This panel is the repository of all your media assets.

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A given project might include

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multiple puppets, scenes, voiceover recordings,

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sound effects, or background graphics.

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The Project panel is also where you'll get your

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organizational groove on press Return to rename Files and

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create folders by clicking this button right here.

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Another important feature of the Project Panel is that

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by selecting different files in this panel, you bring

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up the properties for that given asset.

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For example, if you're looking to change the frame rate

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for a scene or adjust a face property for a

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puppet, selecting these files from the Projects panel will pop

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up the associated properties for that asset.

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lastly, if you select a puppet in the Project panel,

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a humble yet powerful Edit original button pops up.

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We'll use this feature a lot as it

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allows you to alter the look of your

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character without having to reimport the source file.

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Okay, snuggled up next to the

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Project Panel is the History panel.

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This is a record of every step you've

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taken in the selected project, which brings up

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a key difference between Character animator and almost

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every other app in the universe.

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Character animator essentially autosaves every step.

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yep, you can close the app at any time, and

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it will never ask if you want to save.

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And when you reopen Character animator, it will

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always start right where you left off.

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If you did want to periodically save at some benchmark

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step in your editing progress, this Save New Version button

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will help you jump to key moments in your history.

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Okay, to the right, we have the Scene

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monitor where you preview your character and recordings.

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You've got timecode on the bottom left, playback in

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the middle, and your zoom options on the right.

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Typically, it's a good idea to set your zoom to fit

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so you can see the entire video frame and composition.

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sliding onto the right, we have the Camera and

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mic panel, where you can reset the pose of

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your character if it gets a little bit goofy.

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And this is also where you enable your webcam

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and microphone to capture your facial movements and voice.

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One hot tip on this panel turning on your video

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camera takes up a ton of computer power, so be

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sure to turn this feature on only when needed.

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zipping on back to the left.

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The triggers panel is where you can view any

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keyboard triggers that you have created for your puppet.

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These could be things like replays, such as

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wave animations, or popup graphics like heart eyes.

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And at last, at the bottom, we find the timeline panel.

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This is where you'll do all of your

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editing, including traditional trims and cuts, but also

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some edits that are unique to character animator.

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buddied up with the Timeline panel is the controls

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panel, which will include any triggers you've designed for

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your puppet, as well as any properties you want

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to add and control with sliders.

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So now that you know how to

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import a puppet, start a scene and

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some basic navigation around the record workspace.

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Fire up the next video and let's cover

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the basics of puppet anatomy and rigging.