Re: making it simple.

[middledistancereal]

Hey folks,
I don't usually post to much here, unless, I have finished a new project, but, I thought some of you may find this interesting.

Up until now on my web series 'Frank 'N' Steve' which I'm sure most of you will be at least aware of, I've been rigging the main characters all the way down to the fingers. Which, in theory is great, but, that means I only had one view of the hand. That brings many problems into the animation process.

So, how I've approached fixing this situation is by having a switch with various hand poses inside attached to the arm, instead, of one vectored hand.

I thought the result was pretty cool so, I uploaded for you guys to see.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThPnxEPzkCY

So, to round up the simple approach is probably the best.

Cheers Jon.

[codJoe]

Hey some one sent me here, been doing exactly what u did, but my problem tho is that when i rigup one of the hand layers in the switch, then move on to the next one by moving it up in the switch layer, hence making it the visible one, i still have the bones that i put in the other layer displaying and i dont think they are supposed to be doing that!!!! making it all messy when i try to add more bones, and if i use those very bones for it, then i mess up the first one i made. pliz a stepbystep on how u made yos if u dont mind.
ty

[funksmaname]

Looking good jon

@codJoe - I've replied to you on your own thread...

[middledistancereal]

Thanks funksman! And codjoe it looks like you've had your question more than answered by slowtiger and funksman..But, just so you're clear. This is how mine are rigged.

The arm is one layer. It's made of 8 points. 2 that make the shoulder. 1 that's close to the chest. 1 as the arm pit. 2 to make the elbows and 2 at the wrists.

This are attached to 3 bones. the 1 of the point on the shoulder, the point in the chest and the arm pit point are attached to the chest bone. Then the other points are joined to the where you'd think they would be.

So, after all that I've got one final bone which is attached to a switch layer. Inside the switch layer there's a bunch of hand poses and voila you've got a moving hand and it looks far better than the alternative.

There done, phew! Thanks again!

[ErikAtMapache]

Another thing you can try is to use the "Interpolate sub-layers" option in the layer setting (options panel for the layers, "switch" tab). Each version of the hand (or other part) has to have the same set of points, but AS will tween them between key frames. The easiest way to ensure the points are the same is to create a base vector layer as a starting point, and then to duplicate the layer for each pose. This is not usually as flexible as bones, but there are definately cases where it can be useful, such as eyes, mouths, simple hands, etc.

[uddhava]

middledistancereal,

Thanks for the post and example. Interesting topic.

[middledistancereal]

No problem at all uddhava

[RichardU]

Another thing you can try is to use the "Interpolate sub-layers" option in the layer setting (options panel for the layers, "switch" tab). Each version of the hand (or other part) has to have the same set of points, but AS will tween them between key frames. The easiest way to ensure the points are the same is to create a base vector layer as a starting point, and then to duplicate the layer for each pose. This is not usually as flexible as bones, but there are definately cases where it can be useful, such as eyes, mouths, simple hands, etc.

I've done this effectively with eyebrows and mouths, but learned something the hard way: Put in more points than you think you need. You may not need them for the first x versions of whatever you are drawing, but you might need them eventually. Going back to add points to all the drawings did not work.