How to make character positions in anime studio

[KHFan1441]

Hi everyone,


I'm new to the forums, and have 2 questions that i really would like to have answered. So, I'm using Anime Studio Debut 9, and am using the software to create an animated series that i have written out. However, 2 "blocks" have caused me a lot of issues which have made me look online a lot for different tutorials on how to fix them, but i can't find them. My "blocks" are the following:



1. With a NEWLY CREATED CHARACTER (NOT one that is used from the Character Wizard), how do you change their positions (the way that they are facing..?) I've been trying to find tutorials online about how to fix this so that my character is facing sideways so that i can make him start walking, but i have had no luck in fixing this block so far.


2. when i created a new character and have bones set up, and attempt to test the legs to make sure that they move properly, BOTH the legs move as if they are one entire layer. How can i resolve this?



Thank you to anyone who answers my post!


-Marcus

[dfaris]

Hi,

1. You have to draw it. Use the view you have now for reference and move layers and such to the correct position. Welcome to 2d animation.
2. You have it rigged wrong. Make sure when you make the bones the you ALWAYS follow bone hierarchy. Also, view your bone strengths. By default they are way too big.

[Greenlaw]

Without seeing an example, it's a little hard to say but I think dfaris may be right about the rigging hierarchy. When you plotted your bones, you may have drawn them out of sequence for proper parent/child relationships.

The way to check is to switch on the Reparent Bone tool. This displays arrows showing the relationship of each bone to the others in the layer. You can reconnect the bones to correct the hierarchy by following the instructions in the Status Bar.

I also find it helpful to give the bones meaningful names like armUpL, armLoL, handL, armUpR, etc., at least the important ones.

G.

[Greenlaw]

RE: question 1., do you mean turning, like from front to side view? This is typically done using Smartbones to drive two or three key positions. Basically, you want to design your character with enough points so you can 'morph' or blend one view pose to another view pose, and animate the shapes and position of shapes to hit the key poses you want (front to side view, for example.) Then you set up a Smartbone that covers the range of blending between the key poses--once this is set up, can switch from front to side and back again by simply animating the Smartbone. If you're really clever, you can even rotate 180 degrees by having it transition through multiple key poses. (This is pretty advanced though...stick to something simpler first.)

If you've never done any type of shape morphing/blending before (even in drawing programs like Illustrator), it may take a bit of practice to understand. Get the technique down using simple shapes with minimal bones before attempting it on a fully rigged character. If you dive in directly with a complex character, you'll probably become frustrated trying to understand how any problems are occurring.

Also, be sure to study the rigged characters that come with the program. I learned a lot of what I know by reverse engineering the work others have already done and applying the techniques to my own characters.

G.

[wizaerd]

The above method is not the only way, and it is for the truly serious artist and animator. If however, you're starting out fresh, tackling that level of SmartBones could be daunting. So instead, create your character like the Character wizard does itself. Create three characters, fully rigged, each facing a different direction and put them into a a Switch layer. Use the Switch layer to control which "view" of your character is the active view.

[Greenlaw]

There is that too!

Actually, it's not necessarily a less advanced method--what's being described are just different methods and they can be used in different situations to produce similar or very different results by choice.

The rig/character switching method is really not so different from what I do in Harmony at my work place. (I mainly use this approach because Harmony has no equivalent of Smartbones.) The trick for getting smooth transitions in rig-switching is to design your character so you can shift internal elements to create 'in-betweens' before you make the switch. For example, before making the switch between front to side for the head, shift the facial features in the direction you wish to have the character 'turn'. Depending on the animation, I might do two different frames for smoothness or if it's not critical, just one 'in-between' and hold the pose for 2 frames; then I switch to the side rig. I may do an 'in-between' frame from there to complete the side transition. (I've even used the same method when animating characters in After Effects using DuIK.)

For my own personal projects using Anime Studio Pro, I use rig switching often, sometimes to transition from one front pose rig to another front pose rig. For example, in Scareplane, when Sister unbuckles her seat belt and sits up, there are as many as three rigs involved: a sitting pose rig, the unbuckling, and the standing--and some elements are the same for the duration, like the head. (Okay, I guess that might be might sound like an 'advanced' technique...except this scene it was my first Anime Studio animation created when I was still learning the program. Actually, while I may not be a beginner anymore, I still consider myself learning.)

Try out all methods you read about and experiment often on your own. Save a lot of variations of your scenes so you can back up from any 'failed' experiments. You'll eventually find that no single method is optimal for every situation but if you know more than one method for rigging and animating, you'll be ready to deal with any difficult as you encounter them.

Have fun, and if you get stuck, come back here with questions. (And pictures.)

G.

[KHFan1441]

G,



Thank you for responding to my thread. I should've made my post more clear, but yeah, i was referring to the way that a character is facing (or turning) in terms of the camera (his front view, side view, etc). So, what your saying is that i' would just have to make the same character 3 times (while making sure all 3 are facing different directions), then put all of them into a switch layer that will allow me to go to any view that i want?


Also, sorry for not providing an example, I will remember to do that next time i post a new thread.



-Marcus

[Greenlaw]

That's just one way to do it. It really depends on your character and the actions you have planned for it.

I like to use SmartBones to modify the pose because they're very quick and easy to setup, once you understand how they work. Also, a well-considered SmartBones setup can simplify and speed up your animation process. But if you need to make this kind of rig to do something outside of it's intended use, it can get sticky to modify. This is probably better if many of your scenes can use this setup without drastic modifications.

Switching between multiple rigs can be useful if you need to combine completely different rigs for different situations. You can use a Switch Layer like dfaris described, or you can keyframe layer visibility.

So when to use what? That comes with careful planning and a little bit of experience. As always, it's good to have a storyboard before you begin rigging anything--then you can decide ahead of time what kind of rig you will need, what the rig needs to do, and how many additional 'specials' you might need to create.

Rigging without knowing what the character will be doing in your production may not be the best way to use your time because you risk over- or under-engineering your rigs and losing time later when trying to fix things while trying to animate them.

Keep in mind that this is just my personal workflow. Planning ahead and following clear steps works for me and my projects but it may not work for everybody--some people prefer to just make things up as they go and they somehow get things done just fine. The best thing is to just try a few different approaches and decide what works best for you.

G.

[KHFan1441]

G,



I have seen a few tutorials on using smartbones and how they work (which in my opinion is exactly what i'd need to help speed up my animation process), however, i'm not sure where to find Smartbones for anime studio debut 9 (which is the version that i'm using right now). Where should i look for this?


-Marcus

[Greenlaw]

Oh, that could be a problem. I'm not sure but I think SmartBones might not exist in 9.0. If it does, it might not be as fully featured as it was in 9.5. An easy way to check is to look at your Actions panel. If you have it, it should be the last tab. If not, you may have to rely on switching rigs instead. (Which, as mentioned, is a perfectly fine way to work.)

Sorry for being uncertain...I've only been using ASP since version 9.5. (Scareplane was created in 9.6 and HLF in 10.)

G.

[Greenlaw]

Did a quick Google search and it appears that Smartbones did exist in 9. There are a handful of YouTube videos covering the subject.

Just search for 'Anime Studio Smartbones'.

That said, I don't know for sure the feature was in Debut. It's possible that it's a Pro-only feature.

[dueyftw]

Smart Bones is a pro feature.

You can animate with Debut. It just takes longer, you have to correct the bones and points manually. Or by using other bones just to offset the effects of some bones.

Dale