How do i turn a caracter

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7feet
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Post by 7feet »

Yeah, what jorgy said. When I used to work in fx, we often built animatronics to fit certain shots. Maybe you just couldn't turn the figure all the way around or you'd see the jib and mass of cables coming out the back ('course, no you just make that go away digitally).

That said, people are continually coming up with new ways of doing things. But they aren't necessarily easy. There are a few things you can do. You could make maybe 8,16 or so copies of your character in separate bone layers each representing a number of degrees of the turn. Then drop them all in a switch layer. Then you can switch sequentially between the various views and get something that (if it was properly drawn) should be reasonably smooth. One of the things that would be work is that you would have to position the skeletons for each new switch to match the pose from the previous switch's position. The fact that the onion skinning takes into account changes in switch layers is vital here. Move the current switch's bones to their position you want them to me on the frame where the change between switches will be, and then make the switch. If you set up an onionskin for the same frame you are on, and maybe another a few frames farther back so you can judge the movement, you can make the separate drawings match up okay. Takes a little work, but you can get used to anything.

Here is a quick, horribly, horribly crude example of what I'm talking about.
http://www.sharemation.com/Moho/Examples/BodyTurn.swf
I just busted it out. If I were to actually do this, I would certainly use a separate head and hands hands, but hopefully you get the picture.
Naruto
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Post by Naruto »

Can you please post your moho file of that turning Caracter?
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7feet
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Post by 7feet »

Sure. Here you go. I'll do something a bit smoother when I have a chance,

http://www.sharemation.com/Moho/Examples/BodyTurn.zip

It's just 4 separate bone layers inside a switch layer. On the 2 layers that look the most sideways, I moved the arms and their bones away fronm the body on Frame Zero, and moved them back with the Bone Offset tool. Didn't on the 2 lowest layers. Keep that in mind, it makes it a little confusing , sorry. If I really wanted it to look right, I would draw out the bodies on paper and scan them, then trace them in Moho. I can work much better that way, something like this is a variation on traditional animation. If you were very careful, you could also probably just use vector layers inside the switch layer (using the switch layers own bones for control). Then, as long as all the vector layers had the same number of points, you might be able to use the Switch layer interpolation.
Naruto
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Post by Naruto »

Thanks 7feet for the moho file and your help
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bupaje
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Post by bupaje »

just don't do that ...
I actually only recently started to get this. :) Not sure if its because we live in a 3D world but I kept trying to make the 2D app act 3D. I went crazy experimenting with stuff like a fish drawn from side view then intersected a layer that represented the oval of the body from the front and was spinning it and fading one to the other, blurring etc. I was watching Bernstein Bears the other day which my 6 year old son and twin 6 year old nieces love and guess what? Simple images, simple transitions, nice story, and the kids love it.

That cat head turn is also perfect ... did I mention I also tried a head made up of 4 intersecting layers from front to side view and tried to 'rotate' that by showing each one in sequence while fading the previous -what a waste of time.

So I second the vote about learning how to work within the contraints of 2D - reminds me of my dad; he could do some really good work with basic wood working tools that others couldn't do with laser guided saws; just need to become expert at the existing tools. :)
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cribble
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Post by cribble »

did I mention I also tried a head made up of 4 intersecting layers from front to side view and tried to 'rotate' that by showing each one in sequence while fading the previous -what a waste of time.
I've wasted loads of time trying to figure out how to make slick head turns.... still haven't mastered it yet. But you're not wasting time though, its more of a learning curve, you have got to try these things to know what works and what doesn't.
--Scott
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