Importing the Character - My Character Design Process for Puppet, Bone Rig 2D Animation in Reallusion's Cartoon Animator (Part 3)

My character in CA5's character composer showing problems with the bone structure.

Importing my character into
CA5 for the first time.

In part three of my series where I document the process of creating my very first, complete G3-360, SVG vector based character for Cartoon Animator 5 using Inkscape I get to the moment of truth - importing the character into CA5 for the very first time.

In previous posts I showed how I came up with the character design and created the base character image, and how I created the individual main sprites and created the joints ready for rigging.

Moving on...

Creating an Outfit and Additional Face Sprites

I mentioned previously that I wasn't just creating a female character in a bikini for the eye catching attention. I always planned to give her an outfit that was smart business attire.

Sketch of a women wearing a business suit standing next to a male character.

My reference image for the
character's business outfit.

Right on the very next page of my sketchbook I drew what could easily be the same character in a smart business orientated outfit. So I took this sketch, overlaid it onto my character design and set about 'inking' that in.

All that was left to do was to break up my characters fingers into their individual joint sprite segments and then create all the different eye and mouth sprites. I used one of Reallusion's existing characters as a reference for the various eye and mouth expressions required.

While you can make more eye sprites the bare minimum you need for a character is six per eye. These are easy enough to make once you've created your 'normal' eye as you just duplicate this and adjust the vector lines into whatever expression you need.

You also need to remember that whenever an eye expression has the eye open you need to make an eye white mask so the Iris will work with CA5's Face Puppet system i.e. the iris will move around inside the eye white that can be seen.

My character in her business outfit and
her additional eye, mouth, and finger sprites.

For the mouth the minimum number of sprites required is 15 (14 if you don't include the duplicate 'normal' used by the lip sync system in the count).

To save myself some time I used the mouths from the template as the interior of my character's mouth and just added the lips to each one. Again most of the work was just duplicating the lips and adjusting the vector lines to match the expression.

Once all the sprites were done I made sure everything was in position and I set about transferring all my sprites into the Inkscape template.

Note: Technically they were already in the template because I've been working in the Inkscape template the whole time. I just switched off all the template folders and made my own.

This step involved transferring all the sprites from my working folders to the actual template folders and then deleting all my work folders. I did this in a new version of the document so I could retain the working folders version should I need them again).

The final step was to align the template bone points with my character's joints and face sprites.

Importing the Character into Cartoon Animator for the First Time

I don't think anyone expects their first attempt at importing a custom character into Cartoon Animator to work on the first try (regardless of if it's an SVG or PSD character). There's bound to be unforeseen issues. So I dragged my template file onto Cartoon Animator's stage and held my breath...

This is what I was greeted with on first importing my character. An error message about
raster images, which I gather relates to the eyes since they are missing. The notepad document
is what came up when I click the Warning Log Link.

Initially it didn't seem too bad for a first attempt. The eyes were missing, and I suspect they were the obvious source of the raster graphics issue - even though there are no raster objects in my SVG file.

An obvious issue of my making was the layering problem with the character's shoulders. I designed the character's sleeves to go behind the jacket, which is part of the hip sprite. Unfortunately I didn't make anything to cover the skin colored joints for when the character isn't wearing a jacket. This is an easy fix though.

Discovering More Problems in the Composer

Taking the character into Composer Mode, in addition to discovering none of the eye sprites had been imported, I immediately saw a weird issue with the positioning of both my hand bones, neither of which were lined up with the placement in my document.

Some of the issues encountered on my first import of my character into CA5.

Composite graphic showing the key issues facing my character upon
further investigation in Composer mode.

If I used the bone editor to align the hands where they should be the finger bones do not line up with my sprites - especially on the character's left hand.

The final major issue I encountered was that my mouth sprites have all been imported as additional mouth sprites with names they don't have in my file. I did not change the folder names for any of these so I'm not sure why this happened? Not a single one is placed in one of the required mouth sprite spots.

In addition, those mouths that are open, so you can see the mouth interior, the coloring of said interior has reverted back to black and white - with the teeth being black for some reason? I have no idea why?

Can I Fix All These Issues?

As I write this, I'm sure I probably can, but I can't say for certain. I'd really like to know what caused them so I can completely avoid these problems on my next character.

For now I'm going to leave you in suspense. I'll let you know how I fixed everything and finished the character in the fourth, and what I expect will be the final, installment of documenting the creation of this character.

Comments

Inochi2D - Free Open Source 2D VTuber Avatar Rigging and Puppeteering Software (Part 1)

Inochi2D Creator - Free Open Source VTuber Software. If you've been looking for a way to live perform as a 2D cartoon avatar on camera, whether it be for a live stream or for pre-recorded content like educational videos, then VTuber software is a low cost (or even no cost) option worth looking into. In my previous post, How to Become a VTuber - 2D and 3D Software for Creating and Controlling Your Avatar , I took a brief look at the relatively new but completely free and open source Inochi2D which I thought showed great potential for my own needs of creating a live performance character rig for my own TET Avatar that I use for all my promotional materials. While it is possible to live perform my character using Cartoon Animator itself, Reallusion's MotionLive2D capture system isn't great - with lip sync in particular. More importantly though, I can't exactly teach people how to use Cartoon Animator if I'm using Cartoon Animator to control my Avatar. What is Inochi2D

Dollars Mocap: Full Body Webcam Motion Capture (Including Hands and Fingers) For iClone and Cartoon Animator

Even though I should be further away from the camera Dollars Mocap MONO still does a good job of tracking my arms, hands and fingers. Ever since I wrote my series on becoming a VTuber , discovering it was possible to do full body motion capture, including hands and fingers, with just software and a webcam, I've been on the look out for any motion capture software that can bring that functionality to Cartoon Animator. Dollars Mocap is a low cost motion capture application with a free trial that I learned about through the YouTube Channel Digital Puppets and their test video . It can record full body, upper body, arms and hands, and facial mocap from a live video source or pre-recorded video. Investigating further, I discovered not only does Dollars Mocap have a free iClone7, iClone8 character profile file download (look for it at the bottom of the main program download page), so you can use the saved motions with iClone8, they've also got a demo video for how to convert your

Prome AI Sketch Render Tool - Your Tradigital Clean Up and Colorist Artist for Character and Background Design

Random character head, Biro sketches drawn by TET (left). Render by PromeAI (right) using Prome's Sketch Render tool set to 'Comon:Cartoon, Render Mode: Outline'. W hile I don't do New Year Resolutions, one of my plans for the year ahead is to do more of my own art. Specifically character design drawn in an actual, physical sketchbook. To that end, I have been spending the last half hour of most days drawing a page or two of random biro sketches in my sketchbook and posting the pages to my Instagram account (this link will take you to one of my posts). These sketches are mostly practicing my skills because I don't really draw regularly anymore. Here is a tip, if you do this kind of sketching, and push yourself to keep doing it, you will see many drawings that could be taken further, even if you don't have anything they're suited for just at the moment. Which is where my second favorite AI Image Tool (after Leonardo.ai ) PromeAI comes into play. PromeAI

Moho 14 Released - Still the Best 2D Animation Software for Indy Animators on a Budget

Moho 14 Released. Regular readers know I am a Reallusion, Cartoon Animator advocate through and through. Hands down I would recommend Cartoon Animator 5 first over Lost Marble's Moho 14 to anyone who is just starting in 2D animation, is a team of one, or just needs to animate as quickly as possible. However, feature for feature, Moho is, arguably, the best 2D animation software for the rest of us who can't justify a Toon Boom Harmony , or Adobe Creative Cloud subscription (and even with their applications Moho is very competitive on features). You can get started with Moho Debut for just USD$59.99 which is a cut down version of Moho Pro but it still has the most essential features needed for 2D animation. While Moho Pro is a whopping USD$399.99 (Cartoon Animator, which only has one version, is just USD$149.00) upgrades to new version numbers come down to a quarter of the price at USD$99.00. Even though Reallusion just released features like Motion Pilot Puppet Animation and

Wonder Unit Storyboarder - Free Storyboarding Software for People Who Can (or Can't) Draw

Wonder Unit Storyboarder. As an independent and solo animator I'm always tempted to try and skip storyboarding my animated shorts because they're usually only single scene sketch comedy type jokes. As a result I have many unfinished projects that kind of petered out due to having no clear finishing line. Storyboarding your productions, no matter how small, gives you a step by step guide of every shot that needs to be completed (no planning shots as you animate). It also allows you to create an animatic that gives you a rough preview of the finished production. In short, you shouldn't skip storyboards as they, generally, increase the chance of the project being completed. Disclaimer - I'm Not a Fan of Storyboarder Upfront, Wonder Unit's Storyboarder is not my preferred storyboarding software. However it's completely free, has a number of very compelling featu

Can't Draw Characters? Create Highly Detailed Characters from Simple Drawings and Prompts Free with Realtime Canvas by Leonardo.AI

Leonardo.ai's Realtime Canvas. Create highly detailed images from simple drawings. I f you've had an idea for a character but don't have the artistic skill to design it yourself, or the budget to hire someone to do the design work for you, then Leonardo.ai's Realtime Canvas may be your new creative partner. Sure you could use Leonardo.ai's regular text prompt to image generator but that can be very hit and miss, and may take many generations before you finally craft a complex prompt that's getting something close to what you had in mind. Realtime Canvas, on the other hand, lets you craft a simple text prompt and draw a rough image, both of which you can keep refining until you get a final, real time, updated image that looks close to (and probably better than) what you had in mind. Using Realtime Canvas Once you've signed up for a free account with Leonardo.ai (which will give you 150 free credits, renewed daily), click on Realtime Canvas, from the side

Start Your 2D Animation Side Hustle - Sell Your Cartoon Animator Characters, Props, Scenes, and Motion Files in the Reallusion 2D/3D Marketplace

Have you thought about starting a side hustle selling your original Cartoon Animator assets in the Reallusion 2D/3D Marketplace ? In this article, the first in a series on selling in the marketplace, I'll give you an overview of what's involved, why you should give it some thought, and whether you can earn enough to quit your day job (or at least have a worthwhile side hustle). If you're an artist with any kind of drawing skills, and you're creating your own original characters, props, scenes, and even motion files for your Cartoon Animator projects, then setting up your own store in the Reallusion Marketplace should be a no brainer. You're making content already, it doesn't cost you anything to set up, and Reallusion only takes a 30% commission from each item sold. (If you think that's a lot, I'll address that further down). Don't be put off if you think your art skills aren't up to professional standards. There are plenty of artists with naïve

Animation and Video Life

Search This Blog