Images mapped onto a vector don't respond the way I need

[stealingfeathers]

I discovered that I cannot animate a png file mapped onto a vector in the case of animating a waving flag. The bitmap doesn't respond to shifting individual vertices of a vector object -- it only works if I move the whole vector object around on the X, Y, Z or to rotate. Does anyone know if there a workable solution? I'm using AS 11 Pro.

Below is a link to a test file. The flag on the right shows what happens with the image over a vector. The flags on the left are all vector and are currently my solution to the problem -- which isn't really the solution I want.

https://youtu.be/zely2BhTsyk

[hayasidist]

warp the image using bones...

to get the simple effect you're after: import the image; put it in a bone layer; add a flagpole bone, add bones parallel to the flagpole (all parented to the flagpole bone); keep the flagpole bone stationary and translate (up/down in your example) the others.

to go further, add more bones to, say, control the end corners at the "loose" end and middle of the flag at the flagpole end (there's probably a technical term for those, but I'm not a vexillologist...)

[stealingfeathers]

Thanks. I see that that bones do solve that part of the issue, but I don't seem to have the hang of how to get this to look like a flag waving with the bones.
https://youtu.be/G6qoywnCf34

[synthsin75]

Check this out:
http://www.kelleytown.com/forum/animato ... IC_ID=2750

[stealingfeathers]

Wow! Thanks for sharing. Much appreciated.

[Greenlaw]

Just a little more info: You need to understand the distinction between ASP's drawing tools and deforming tools.

The points and lines/curves you create using the drawing tools are only visual elements--they can be deformed but they don't actually deform anything themselves, including texture maps you may have placed inside them. The points don't deform an image even when you animate or morph their positions--all you're doing is changing the drawing not the texture.

Bones and the Layer Transform tools are different. These are deforming tools, which you can use to bend, twist and otherwise deform drawings (points and lines) and texture images.

Sometimes, like in the case of a textured flag, you want to set up the artwork 'flat' and undistorted, and make the waves during animation using bones, as in the example shown earlier.

Once you understand that, you can have fun with it. Normally, you want to avoid the slipping and sliding texture effect but some show designers embrace the effect as a visual style. Examples are: Cartoon Network's Chowder or the anime series Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. My wife and I even dabbled with this effect in an animation we created last winter/spring.

Hope this info helps.

G.