Activity

Timing: 3 to 5 hours
Level: Ages 15 and up

How to create character animations

Activity Overview
Adobe Character Animator CC (Beta) is a character animation application that allows you to
bring expressive characters to life using your own artwork. In this activity, students are
introduced to the Character Animator workspaces and learn how to create a character, animate
and refine a character, and how to export a project.

Activity Objectives Project Assets

Technical skills •• Character Animator guide: Overview of Adobe

Character Animator
Character Animator
•• Character Animator guide: How to create a character
•• Understanding and working with the interface
•• Character Animator guide: How to animate and
•• Preparing artwork refine a character
•• Creating and editing characters •• Character Animator guide: How to export a project
•• Animating characters
•• Exporting to After Effects and Premiere Pro
Background preparation resources
•• Exporing with Media Encoder
•• Streaming to an external monitor Technical and content information
Activity Steps

1. Explain that Character Animator allows you to import 2D artwork from Adobe Photoshop or Adobe
Illustrator, and breathe life into them. You can do so by first capturing your performance using a camera,
microphone, keyboard, mouse, or touch screen. While you’re performing, Character Animator tracks your
facial expressions, synchronizes mouth movements to your speech, and provides complete control over all
aspects of a character’s movement.
2. To help your students understand what kinds of characters they can create and animate with Character
Animator, select some examples (http://www.adobe.com/products/character-animator.html#x) and discuss
the types of projects they think could be used with Character Animator .
3. Distribute the technical guide and use it to introduce students to the Character Animator workspace. Discuss
the Character Animator Workflow. Demonstrate the workspaces in Character Animator.
Character Animator guide: Overview of Character Animator

4. Distribute the technical guide and demonstrate how to create a project and a character with Character
Animator.
Character Animator guide: How to create a character

5. Distribute the technical guide and demonstrate how to control a puppet using a webcam, microphone, and
mouse. Demonstrate how to add and adjust behaviors to a puppet.
Character Animator guide: How to animate and refine a character

6. Explain that the final step is to capture a performance, for example the movement of your head in front of the
webcam, to control a puppet’s face. To do so in Character Animator you have to record a take. Demonstrate
how to record a take using webcam, microphone, keyboard, and mouse inputs.
7. Distribute the technical guide and discuss the options to export with Character Animator. Using the “I do, we
do, you do” method, demonstrate the following:
•• How to export to Adobe After Effects or Premiere Pro.
•• How to export with Adobe Media Encoder.
•• How to export using Dynamic Link.
•• How to export by streaming to an external monitor, a third-party video device, or applications such as
Facebook Live, live broadcast on YouTube or others.
Character Animator guide: How to export, import, and stream projects

8. Ask students to use a character template, or their own artwork, to create a puppet, animate it, and export it
using a method you, or they, choose.

Assessment:

0 – Does not meet

3 – Meets expectations
expectations
Animated Absent or incomplete. Animated Character
Character combines at least one applied
behavior and one performed
animation.
5 – Exceeds expectations
Animated Character combines
two or more applied
behaviors and two or more
performed animations.

Getting started with Character Animator Activity 2

 Background preparation resources:

•• To view video tutorials aligned with the skills required to complete this project, visit Adobe Learn.
•• For more teaching and learning resources on the topics in this project, search for resources from the community
on the Adobe Education Exchange: http://edex.adobe.com/.
•• For an overview of the interface and for more information on the technical aspects of Adobe Character
Animator, see Character Animator Help.

For more information

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