Adobe Character Animator is a software program that allows you to create and animate 2D characters using your webcam and microphone.
Key Differences from Adobe Animate
Uses real-time performance capture to animate vs. traditional frame-by-frame animation
Better for dialog-heavy content or live interaction vs. narrative animation
Works with 2D art from Photoshop/Illustrator vs. both 2D and 3D assets
More limited toolset focused specifically on character animation
Pedagogical Practices
Develops multimedia and coding skills:
Creating animations and interactive content builds valuable programming abilities and experience working with code snippets, behaviors, tools like JavaScript, HTML5 etc.
Fosters creativity and critical thinking:
The animation development process encourages creative approaches to science communication, thoughtful messaging, and intentional design choices.
Increases engagement and motivation:
Interactive, animated content taps into student technology interests and allows them to level up tech skills through animation.
Improves conceptual understanding:
Research indicates that creating science animations enhances students' own comprehension, memory and ability to visualize complex processes.
Builds communication skills:
Condensing scientific phenomena into accessible, easy-to-understand animations teaches strong science communication abilities.
Actionable Uses
Explain a concept videos:
Have students break down complex topics by animating an instructor character using their webcam and mic.
Interactive science games:
Ask students to develop educational games that interactively demonstrate scientific phenomena through real-time animated characters.
Digital science stories
: Assign animation projects combining educational narratives with stylized Character Animator faces to increase engagement.
Top 5 Adobe Character Animator Tips
Use the Characterizer to easily create stylized characters
Write code snippets to add interactivity and game logic
Animate your own face and voice through the webcam and mic
Customize scenes and transitions for clear storytelling
