Animating multiple characters with different parts overlapping in space

Question

Hi! How would you go about animating two characters where different parts of the characters are in front/behind one another—for instance, a girl on her dad’s shoulders. Her body is behind his head, but her hands and legs cross over the front of his body. Is there any good way to handle that with the puppets?

oksamurai · Answer

Yeah, that's a little complex but seems doable. Basically just think of it as a monster with multiple heads and limbs. Each face should be tagged as a different view, so maybe frontal for the girl and left quarter for the dad, so the facial features will work in each. I'd probably do something like:

+Character

Arms (Kid)

Head (Dad)

Head (Kid)

Legs (Kid)

Body (Dad)

Before getting too deep into artwork, I'd make a stick figure / basic circles & rectangles version to make sure the idea works. I do that a lot for anything out of the ordinary.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.