Cutting an object

[JCook]

Does anyone know of a way to cut an object in two and be able to animate the two halves separately? I want them to start out as one object, then split in two and move apart. Another complication is that they will both have an image texture as a fill. I've tried doing this by drawing the object, and then drawing a line down the middle, welding the endpoints to the outline. I copied the layer, and on each layer I deleted the unwanted points and filled the shape. The problem is that the line that divides them does not become part of the new shape, so there is a problem filling the shapes. It would be nice if there was a knife tool that could cut a shape in two so that the two resulting shapes would be independent shapes. Is there a script that might do this?

thanks,
Jack

[slowtiger]

One way to get a split object is to start with the split line and draw only onw half of the shape. Then duplicate the layer and shift the outer points to the other side of the split, making it the other half.

A normal texture can't be placed accurately enough. But you could use the shape as a mask for an image layer with the texture. Duplicate this as well, you'll need two group/bone layers for the two halves now.

[Vagabond]

The way you described it sounds like you want to create a new shape during the animation. I believe you would have better luck if you started off with two shapes next to each other then just move them apart when you need.
If you were using a circle you could have a full circle on top of two semi-circles. Then at the point you want to split the shape you can just hide the top circle and start moving the semicircles. This way, you'll have better control over the image placement on the shapes. I hope this helps.

[JCook]

Ah, these are both great ideas. In fact I think I will use both ways in this animation. That way I can start with an "unsplit" shape, and then reveal to the "split" shape and move the two pieces apart. Thanks to both of you; you've saved my sanity!

Jack