Adding bones to frames > 1

Wondering how to accomplish a certain animation task? Ask here.

Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger

Post Reply
znihil
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:57 am

Adding bones to frames > 1

Post by znihil »

Is it possible to add bones to other frames besides than frame 0? Like if I have an animated gif of a bird flying and I want to copy that(adding it to anime studio using image sequence). Can I set up the bones first, then draw in the picture later?
User avatar
Touched
Posts: 504
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 7:33 am
Location: Sunny California
Contact:

Post by Touched »

You cannot add new bones except on frame 0, but you can certainly animate those bones on any future frames without having any drawing attached to be distorted by the bones, so I would say the answer to your last question is yes.
znihil
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:57 am

Post by znihil »

Thanks, after I animated/adjusted the bones, is it possible to copy/paste or move it back to frame 0?
User avatar
Touched
Posts: 504
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 7:33 am
Location: Sunny California
Contact:

Post by Touched »

I don't understand your question. You can copy any single frame's bone movement back to frame 0, yes, but not an entire animation.
User avatar
slowtiger
Posts: 6176
Joined: Thu Feb 16, 2006 6:53 pm
Location: Berlin, Germany
Contact:

Post by slowtiger »

Anything you add in a layer will immediately show up from frame 0 to the end: "any object in AS exists for the entire length of a project".

Often I add a point or two right at the frame I need it, then go back to frame 0 to bind it correctly to where it should belong.
znihil
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:57 am

Post by znihil »

I guess the question was a bit confusing, can I send the files to someone to take a look at? It's around 11mb because of the imported images.
touched wrote:You can copy any single frame's bone movement back to frame 0, yes, but not an entire animation.
How do I copy a frame's bone movement?
User avatar
heyvern
Posts: 7035
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 4:49 am

Post by heyvern »

In the time line there are those "dots" indicating key frames for animated elements like bone rotation, scale, position, layer rotation, scale, etc.

At the top of the time line is a button labeled "Settings". Press this and make sure you check the boxes for the "red" icons for bone keys displayed in the time line. These will show the key frames of SELECTED BONES.

To copy bone position or rotation from the time line to frame 0 go to frame 0 first then select a bone or bones, then select the key framed "dot" on the time line you want to copy.

Press the "copy" button on the time line, then press the "paste" button.

A few things to note:

Copying scale isn't the same on other frames as frame 0. Frame 0 "scale" is actually length which is entirely different. If you copy scale from a frame to frame 0 it is pasted as a bone offset. The length of the bone won't change on frame 0 unless you use the bone offset tool or the manipulate bones tool and you can't change the scale on frame 0.

-vern
Genete
Posts: 3483
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 3:27 pm
Location: España / Spain

Post by Genete »

Copying scale isn't the same on other frames as frame 0. Frame 0 "scale" is actually length which is entirely different. If you copy scale from a frame to frame 0 it is pasted as a bone offset. The length of the bone won't change on frame 0 unless you use the bone offset tool or the manipulate bones tool and you can't change the scale on frame 0.
It sounds a little confusing. I think it should be:
The animated length of the bone won't be shown at frame 0 unless you press the off set tool or the manipulate bones tool and the bone never reflect the animated position offset or scale offset when using the other tools (select, translate or increase its length, strength and re parent tools, etc.)
Scale is an animated value that is applied to the length of the bone and is valid only from frame 1 to the end.

Also the length of the bone cannot be changed in other frame than 0.

The current longitudinal dimension of a bone in any frame is calculated by:

LENGTH (animated) = LENGTH (constant)* SCALE (animated)
So an scale value of 0,5 would divide the length of the bone by two and an scale value of 2 would duplicate the length of the bone during animation.
A cool thing is that you can "reverse" a bone just applying a negative scale value.
Beware of set a scale of 0. If you do so you cannot set again the scale at other frame using the mouse. You'll need to input the number in the input box.
-G
znihil
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:57 am

Post by znihil »

Here is an example of what I was trying to do:

http://www.mediafire.com/?1yiduggwm0m

What I did was basically animating the bones frame by frame. Is there an easier way of doing this?
Genete
Posts: 3483
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 3:27 pm
Location: España / Spain

Post by Genete »

For that kind of animation is better to create your rigged bird with bones and SCALE the bone layer and TRANSLATE the bone layer to simulate the bird fly. Then you can concentrate on a 1:1 size bird animation and let the scale layer tool do the hard work.
Scaling bones would produce a crushed bird at final stages.
-G
znihil
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:57 am

Post by znihil »

yes, that's what I've been trying to do, to create the bones first, then scale the entire thing. Since the bird was too big, bigger than the screen until frame 4, I wanted to do the bones at frame 4, then scale it larger back at frame 0 and start there. After I set the bones properly in frame 4, is it possible to copy that setting/position/etc. back to frame 0?

edit: never mind, for some reason, when I tried to copy the key frames before, nothing happens when I click paste, probably had the wrong layer or something. But it works now. Thanks.
User avatar
slowtiger
Posts: 6176
Joined: Thu Feb 16, 2006 6:53 pm
Location: Berlin, Germany
Contact:

Post by slowtiger »

Combined movements usually are best dealt with in different nested layers, or at least different timelines.

Something like a flying bird could be done like this:
- wings: bone animation of the wings
- body: I often grab the root bone of the character and translate it vertically
- the flight: done with layer translation.

Sometimes when more complicated curves are needed it helps to separate X from Y movements, by putting the bird into a group layer. Now one can have different keys for the Y movements on the bird layer, yet other different keys for the X movement on the group layer.
znihil
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:57 am

Post by znihil »

I redid everything, but the bones don't bind to the points properly, any idea why?

Updated: http://www.mediafire.com/?1bd2yh9oyvj
Genete
Posts: 3483
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 3:27 pm
Location: España / Spain

Post by Genete »

The wings layer is binded to the fist bone of the right wing. To fit the situation just select the wings vector layer, select the Bind Layer tool and make click far away to not select any bone (alternatively you can go to Menu->Bones->Release layer)
Also you can select all the points of the wings and go to Menu->Bones->Flexibind Points (or if you prefer more precise control then bind the two points of the edge of the left wing to the outer bone of that wing and the it would work as the right one)
-G
znihil
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:57 am

Post by znihil »

Thanks, that worked.
Post Reply