Character Animator Cannot Access Camera

[GetzelR]

There are a number of threads in this forum relating to crashes, but none seem directly related to the issue I'm having.

I'm using a laptop workstation with Windows 10. When the program starts up, as soon as the camera light goes on, indicating the camera is being accessed, the program dies instantly.

I started the Camera app, which works fine, and if I start Character Animator at that point it will run properly, without access to the camera. I can open a template, the voice activated visemes will trigger correctly. The camera pane remains black, which I understand is expected behavior when the camera is in use, but if I then close the Camera app and try to switch to default camera, the light turns back on and the program dies instantly.

Any advice?

[alank99101739]

Weird!  I use Windows 10 as well with the built in laptop webcam without issue. Here are a few random ideas if you want to try them.

What version of CH are you running?

How much memory does your machine have? (Is it running out of memory?)

What brand of camera is it? Can you borrow another camera to see if it is that camera (or driver) that is the problem.

if it’s the built in webcam, check for available upgrades of drivers etc?

You could try uninstalling CH then reinstalling the software just in case... in case something got corrupted. (Take a backup of your project first to be paranoid.)

[GetzelR]

Ch Version 1.5

It's not a memory issue. I checked. Besides - the fact that it works if Camera is open suggests the issue is connected with starting up the camera.

It's the built in webcam, and the drivers are the latest available.

I tried un- and then reinstalling. The issue hasn't been resolved.

[alank99101739]

Hmmm. Sorry, no idea then. Will probably need some Adobe staff to have a look. Maybe there is a log file somewhere with more error messages. They may ask for your laptop model / specs. My guess because more people are not reporting the issue (there was one report I do recall), it is something to do with the camera/driver you have. It may be Adobe’s bug still, but triggered by interaction with your specific camera. If you do have a separate USB webcam to try out, that may be still worth trying.

[GetzelR]

Update: I bought a Logitech c920. Switching to that camera has the same effect. The blue light on the camera switches on to indicate it is active and then the whole program silently and instantly dies.

How do I go about getting a response from an Adobe staff member on here?

[Jeff Almasol]

What's the full file path to your Character Animator application (e.g., C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Character Animator CC 2018\Support Files\Character Animator.exe)? Does it have any accented or double-byte characters in the file path?

Similarly, what's the full file path to your user Documents folder?

And, when the crash occurs, do you see a dialog box appear from Windows Error Reporting or some other Windows-related tool, that references a crash dump file located in your C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\CrashDumps\ ? If so, can you send us a shared link to that file (via Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.) to diagnose? Please send via direct message here.

Thanks.

[GetzelR]

The path to the app is the default path, exactly as in your example path.

User Documents path is also the default C:\Users\Getzel\Documents.

The program fails silently with no alerts from Adobe *or* Windows and no dump file in the folder you specified.