• Global community
    • Language:
      • Deutsch
      • English
      • Español
      • Français
      • Português
  • 日本語コミュニティ
    Dedicated community for Japanese speakers
  • 한국 커뮤니티
    Dedicated community for Korean speakers
Exit
0

How to animate a curved joint in a rig

Community Beginner ,
Jun 02, 2022 Jun 02, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hi. I'm struggling with a very simple problem.

I want to animate a stick figure, with stick arms and a stick hand attached to the arm.

I'd like the arm to move like a curvy piece of rubber, but the only thing I manage to achieve with the bone tool is an angled line with random wobbly deformations.

Isn't there a way to broaden the radius of the elbow joint, in order to achieve what I want? I know I can animate a straight line into a curve using a bezier line, but I can't connect an hand to it (or I didn't manage to).

Here's an image: up there's what I get, down is what I'd like.

Schermata 2022-06-02 alle 12.05.20.pngexpand image

Thanks for any suggestions!

Views

262

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Jun 02, 2022 Jun 02, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

What would seem like a simple animation can, as you discovered, be quite complicated. I'm going to do some experiements and time permitting a short video explaining the best approach. Stay tuned.


Animator and content creator for Animate CC

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Jun 02, 2022 Jun 02, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Okay - first check this out...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NrXqgGhO6Ebsx0faTP8vr7YQDjS0F_zB/view?usp=sharing

Basically, I drew a stroke (arm) and the hand I converted to a symbol with the center point near the wrist and then positioned it accordingly. The arm was "rigged" using the Asset Warp Tool. It's the tool represented by a push pin. If you don't see it in your Tools panel, click the 3 dots (...) at bottom of Tools panel and drag the Push Pin icon to your Tools panel.
Select the Push Pin (Asset Warp Tool) and start at the "shoulder" and click/drag to the "elbow" and release. Repeat from elbow to the "wrist". Select each "bone" and in properties panel change its properties to "Hard" to "Soft". Inster a 2nd keyframe down the timeline. In this keyframe drag the bones. The video shows you how I get it to curve. 
Apply a Classic Tween and easing. 


NOTE: I tried to use Layer Parenting to get the hand to follow the "wrist" end of the arm but of course, it doesn't recognize it since the arm isn't a symbol with a center point. So instead I simply used a classic tween to tween it. The problem is, Classic tweens animate in straight lines. If you use a Motion tween, you cann adjust it to animate on a curve. BUT, if you have nested frames with multiple hand positions, you will not be able to control what frame is visible like you can with Classic tweens. This is where Animate gets REALLY clunky and confusing for anyone new to it.

Hope this helps. There may be a better way but I have yet to find it. A future update may provide an even better solution so hang in there 😉


Animator and content creator for Animate CC

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Jun 02, 2022 Jun 02, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Thanks a lot for your answer and for the video you made, you really did give me some good suggestions and it was very easy to understand!

The ideal would be to have the hand attached to the wrist, as you say, but having the "rubber" bones it's already a big improvement. I will try to fumble with the Asset Warp, which I had never used before (but I'm pretty new to Animate, I used a competitor product until now).

Thanks again!

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Jun 02, 2022 Jun 02, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Cool! I'll keep trying to solve it. I use a 3rd party extension that is really powerful but not sure it would work alongside the asset warp tool. I'mm keep trying to find an answer.


Animator and content creator for Animate CC

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Jun 02, 2022 Jun 02, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

It is possible to parent a symbol to a warped asset, just make sure the transformation point of the hand symbol touches the mesh of the arm.

ezgif-4-6c451716bd.gifexpand image

 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Jun 02, 2022 Jun 02, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Oh, so that's maybe why I didn't manage to do it! I will definitely try this, looks like the perfect solution, thanks 🙂

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Jun 03, 2022 Jun 03, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Nice! I had no idea the trans point of the symbol would recognize any area of a mesh. So does it create it's own unique metadata for where on the mesh it's "connected"?

 


Animator and content creator for Animate CC

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Jun 03, 2022 Jun 03, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

LATEST

Hmm that much I don't know but the movement does change depending on where the point is located on the mesh since it is following the deformation. Could be useful to add extra elements on top like a cuff or a bracelet in this case.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines