NPC character animation keeps going behind object

Hi!

I've been making a scene where the active character first places a book from his inventory to a table in front of a seated NPC character. Next the NPC picks up the book. My problem is that when the NPC animation reaches for the book his hand always goes behind the table.

I have an object called "chair" which is where the NPC character is set to stand at. I have made sure that the object center value of the "chair" is bigger than the center value of the "table" object (which is an object with image because the active character needs to walk behind it). Also I have arranged the scene objects so that the "chair" object is above the "table" object in the hierarchy. Still the NPC character goes behind the table.

Is there something I don't know about NPC characters that are placed in scenes, or should this work the way I've done it?

By the way, the NPC caracter sits outside the way borders of the scenes (the active character doesn't need to get close to him, only to the table). Does this have anything to do with it?

Appreciate any thoughts!

Where the NPC is shown depends on the animation center you set in the character's animation. It's usually somewhere around the feet.
If you need the NPC to be infront of the table the table needs to have lower object center then where is the NPC.

If you create "start" object and you will set to your NPC in the properties tab that it should be standing there.
The object center of the "start" object is where will be the character's animation center.

It doesn't matter if the NPC is outside of the way borders.

Ah, that was just the problem! In this specific sitting character I had put the animation center around the pelvis area so it was well behind the table's center. Thanks Ke4!

Quick tip: Try to use a consistent image canvas size for each of your characters animations. This way you should be able to set the same character animation center for each of the animations, which means that you will not have to mess around with the "animation studio (harmonizer)" tool to correctly align your character animations.

If you use different canvas sizes / different character animation center values, then more likely than not your character will offset erratically each time you change their active animation.

Finally... as Ke4 mentioned: the character animation center is usually placed near the feet. The animation center actually represents the position coordinates of each character on the active scene. The position also checks against each objects object center value to determine if the character should be drawn in front of or behind an object.