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A
A.I.1
Legend
February 16, 2017
Answered

Easiest way of moving multiple copies of the same multi-layered character?

  • February 16, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 866 views

If I have a character (animal) made of multiple layers (body=the parent, and there's a layer for head and 4 duplicate layers for the legs (no joints at knees currently - and for simplicity I probably won't have any)).

If I want 8 versions of this character (ie. some will be a different colour, a few with slightly different faces) all on the screen simultaneously, walking across and down the screen, is there a simple way to manage this?

Am I best pre-composing (I haven't used that much) and having each character on a different pre-composed layer?

Am wondering the best way to keep the project simple and easiest? Perhaps copy a pre-composed layer to a different one and alter any colours, heads etc?

What about walk cycles? Just copy and repeat the keyframes multiple times?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Dave_LaRonde

    You change it in the comp settings.

    1 reply

    Dave_LaRonde
    Dave_LaRonde
    Inspiring
    February 16, 2017

    For simplicity's sake, I'd precomp the critter -- along with the walk cycle -- and keyframe the precomp's horizontal motion.  You can reduce the dimensions on the nested comp if you want so it fits right around the critter.

    Then you can duplicate the nested comp in the Project panel, rename them if you want, and make each critter a different color using an adjustment layer in each of those comps.  Then it's a cakewalk to add each one to the main comp and animate horizontal motion.

    A
    A.I.1Author
    Legend
    February 16, 2017

    Thanks.

    You can reduce the dimensions on the nested comp if you want so it fits right around the critter.

    I've currently got pre-comps for some of the characters (no keyframes yet). When I try reduce the size of a character's pre-comp, it reduces the size of the character. How do I reduce the size of the pre-comp so it fits just around the character?

    Dave_LaRonde
    Dave_LaRondeCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    February 16, 2017

    You change it in the comp settings.

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