In Anime Studio Pro 10, how to turn a hand on the watch ?

[freddy9638]

In Anime Studio Pro 10, how to turn a hand on the watch, wings of the windmill and the propeller of an airplane freely?

[hayasidist]

the slow turning propellor on this plane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR6KSna ... S5uZ7sLiGw was done with a switch -- 3 blades so it only has to rotate 120 degrees before it's back to its starting point - and I think I had 3 tweens. the fast turning "disc" also had 3 images that I used "randomly" (e.g. 1 2 3 2 1 3...) in a 15 (ish) frame cycle.

for the windmill I'd use layer rotate (obvioulsy the layer origin needs to be at the pivot point of the windmill blades).

for the watch - well - I'd use either a switch or a layer rotate depending on what I was trying to achieve visually..

[freddy9638]

Hi hayasidist,
Thank you for your quick reply.
I will study the physics of "the turn" along your advice.
However, I think that the production of a turning animation is not easy for me
I watched your all video works at this good opportunity
Particularly, the movie of the propeller turn of the airplane is wonderful animation work! I love this short movie!
I will continuously watch your work on your site in future.
I thank for your kindness very much.
freddy9638

[hayasidist]

@freddy9638 - thanks for your kind words.

have a go at (say) the "seconds" hand on a watch. It's pretty straightforward.

Just to get you started - you need only two vector layers, one for the watch face - in this layer just draw a circle for now; and one for the seconds hand - a straight line will do. Put the watch hand where it needs to be and then set the layer origin of the "hand" layer to be the same as the middle of the circle.

Now move onto time = 1 second (frame 24, 25 or whatever your frame rate is) and use the layer rotate tool to move the layer with the second hand through -6 degrees (minus 6); now move on another second in the timeline and rotate by -12; then another second and rotate by -18 ;etc etc. If you feel brave try copy / paste relative. If not just keep changing the rotation by -6 degrees each second.

Now look at the motion of the second hand and decide it's not what you wanted; so select all the keyframes and change them to "linear" interpolation to give you a "sweep" second hand; or change to "step"; or experiment with elastic / stagger.

now you have the basic motion, you can add to the design of the watch face and the hand...

give it a try - and then ask again if you get stuck.

[freddy9638]

Hello hayasidist,

I'm sorry, my reply has been delayed.
Due to my immature experience for anime studio pro 10, there were various problems on using of it.
So I have been in a kind of busy time.
I thank for your very kind and precise advice regarding "turn of the hand on the watch".
Although I do not yet understand the structure of the mechanical movement of both of the hands of the clock well,
I'm trying to solve the problems one by one when occurring on my work though it would be very slow.
I should make more studies.

Many thanks for your very kindly advice.

Sincerely,
Freddy9638

[heyvern]

Bone Layer - 2 Bones
Bone 1 - hour hand (constrained to minute hand).
Bone 2 - Minute hand (animated only).
Both bones position set to 0 so the base of the bone is exactly at the center.

2 vector layers inside a bone layer.
Layer 2 - Minute hand
Use point or layer binding to bind the minute hand layer to the minute hand bone
Layer 3 - Hour hand
Use point or layer binding to bind the hour hand layer to the hour hand bone

Bottom layer outside of bone layer
Create a circle for the watch and numbers

-------

Select the hour bone
Select "Bone Constraints"
Under "Angle Control Bone" select the Minute Bone
Set the amount to "0.0833" - this is a percentage of the angle of the minute hand bone.
0.0833 is 100% divided by 12.
Every time the minute hand spins around 360 degrees the hour hand will spin 30 degrees lining up with the next number on a clock.

Go to any frame above frame 0 and rotate the Minute hand bone. The hour hand will perfectly match up and rotate exactly like a clock based on the bone constraint. You can spin that minute hand bone as much as you want in any direction on a single key frame. It's a cumulative rotation.

[Danimal]

This is sheer genius, Vern!

[freddy9638]

Hello heyvern,

Thank you for the detailed data which is very useful.
My reply was late. I'm sorry.

I practiced with your method one by one to realize the data you gave .
However, unfortunately Anime Studio Pro10 crashes frequently when I tweak on the tools by unconsciously.
Unfortunately I do not understand the cause well

Probably my assembly operation includes many mistakes, and Anime Studio Pro10 would be at a loss, too

After all, I reached to "Bone Constraints" and could input number of 0.0833, but it is awkward that an hour hand does not link the long hand well.
Besides, I could not find the Rotate Z tool that I maybe saw at somewhere on the information of Anime Studio Pro 8 and 9.
Will there be any good advice or idea?

I thank for useful advice with your kindness heartily.

Sincerely,
Freddy9638

[freddy9638]

Hello hayasidist,

I tried a method to turn the layer of hands as you recommended for me.
The turn layer of the hands on the watch was considerably simple and certain so exactly you said

I tested it on a small work, end frame of 240, with -6 for minute hand and with -3 for hour hand.
The result was excellent
Even a beginner like me was able to easily make it

Lastly, the numbers such as -3 or -6 e.g. that devoted themselves to the timeline were occasionally out of order and forced to fix it several times

It was relieved several minutes later when I saved it as a final of the work, but I yet do not understand why that will happen. If you have any idea, please tell me how to avoid such problems on the timeline

I thank for your very kindly advice heartily.

Sincerely,
Freddy9638

[Maestral]

Out of sheer curiosity, even though I share Danimal`s opinion and was sure it would work, I gave it a try and made a clock for myself.

There`s a one thing you should avoid - parenting bones. If you just create hour and Minute hand, as I did, you`ll have them parented and Angle control would not work. You`ll need to either reparent those or simply create one, press Enter (deselects active bone) and than create another one.

It took me a while to figure out what went left at Albuquerque

[hayasidist]

yeah - my "stepping" approach is not really for the hours and minutes hands - it's for the seconds hand...

That's why I asked what effect you were trying to achieve. For example, if you wanted to show time passing quickly (say 6 hours in 2-3 second) I'd use a combination of the "aircraft propellor" approach (for the minute hand) and the "windmill" approach (for the hour hand); if you just wanted snapshots of different times then I'd have a switch layer for the clock hands... and if I wanted to have the smooth movement of hours and minutes then Vern's solution is both elegant and appropriate.

[heyvern]

Out of sheer curiosity, even though I share Danimal`s opinion and was sure it would work, I gave it a try and made a clock for myself.

There`s a one thing you should avoid - parenting bones. If you just create hour and Minute hand, as I did, you`ll have them parented and Angle control would not work. You`ll need to either reparent those or simply create one, press Enter (deselects active bone) and than create another one.

It took me a while to figure out what went left at Albuquerque

Ooops!

Sorry, I forgot to mention that the hand bones of the clock should not be parented to each other... although they could be... you would need to change the direction and value of the hour hand constraint... but that is needlessly confusing.

The bone set up is so much easier to control. You only need one key and speed up or slow down the clock by moving one key up and down the time line, or adding additional keys.

You can use all of the key frame interpolations easily because just one key frame on one bone. You could also create a "second hand" using the same constraint value but target the hour hand. You could also make the clock "tick" by using one of those... new interpolations I forget what it's called.

[freddy9638]

Hello hayasidist,

Thank you very much for a quick reply !
Yes, you are right definitely.

I have read again your comments from [ Wed Jul 23, 2014 7:25 p.m.] to end, then there was always new discovery and was able to learn something again.

Simply, I wanted to know the method to turn "a clock and a propeller and a windmill", but unexpectedly there were three methods to perform of "Rotate".

For my recognition, these three method of ROTATE are "Layer rotate" "Switch" and "Bone rotate."
So I came to think that I wanted to know "the turn" exactly more deeply.

Although "Layer rotate" was not yet completely on my hand, but it was able to be understood a little better than first.

Secondly, "Switch" is non-challenge method yet. However, I would like to challenge it by all means afterwards if I successfully understood the "Bone Rotate".

Thirdly, unfortunately "Bone Rotate" is not yet able to succeed as I mentioned above.
I read Vern's explanation again over and over again.
After having failed many time of "Bone Rotate" over and over, each time I started from "new" and tried it over and over again.

Although the "Bone Rotate" is a big barrier for me of the beginner, but I know the "Bone Rotate" is definitely a great method that absolutely deserved to be learned.
I will succeed by all means.

I would like to know the mystery of "Why I went left at Albuquerque"　

P.S.
Difficult problems still pile up for me. Inevitably there will be many questions from me. At that time, please comment on your splendid knowledge and experience for my questions.

Truly knowledgeable people with the great experience posted up many comments to my question.
Many thanks Hayasidist and Heyvern, Danimal and Maestral.
I am very glad and thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Freddy9638

[freddy9638]

Hello Maestral,

Thank you for valuable comment.

I read comment of you and Heyvern in turn now.
Both serve as a great reference very much.
Such as me who is a super beginner encounters slightly difficult factor, but I believe that it would never be a boggler.

Probably I make BONE 1 (Hour) and BONE 2 (Minute) and think that I have not added parenthood to them.
However, neither BONE 1 nor BONE 2 go around well for some reason.
Even BONE 2 (Minute) alone has not turned around well. Why will it be?
Definitely, I gave them something wrong. But for now, I have no idea about this problem.

Please tell me if you have any idea for this problem.

I eagerly would like to know when went left at Albuquerque, too.

I thank for your kindly advice heartily.

Sincerely,
Freddy9638

[Maestral]

Glad to hear you`re getting familiar with AS. Still, I`m sure you`ll be good with the watch and dials if you follow hayvern`s instruction but pay attention on naming/labeling bones since you`ll have to use the same name/label in Bone Constraints drop-menu, or it would not work. Also, watch out for parenting (press Enter after creating each bone) and that should be it.

Give it another try and yell if something goes sideways ,)

@heyvern
Mental gymnastic is a healthy habit ,)

p.s.
...
For "second hand"
Under "Angle Control Bone" set the hour bone
Set the amount to "0.0167" - this should be the 1/5 of 0.0833 but if you use 0.0166, a gap would occur at the full hour. 0.0167 makes that gap smaller.