Need help adding bones to modern rigging

[designer_shrink]

I'm trying my hand at modern rigging - first time. I've managed to crash the program 3 times - and corrupt 3 separate files and it always happens RIGHT when I start trying to add bones. I get all parenting set - correctly, I think - everything looks FINE. Then I add a bone to the body element (a cartoon dog) and try to attach it to the head - and the head blies down to the bottom right - OFF the stage - one of the back legs goes even father off the stage - and the collar and other 3 legs go flying off in the OPPOSITE direction - ending up on the upper LEFT corner - again, totally off the stage. 

The 3 previous disasters all happened with the latest version of Animate. Files were totally non-recoverable - they hadn't even been stored as temp files. Before I started this one, I decided to go back and try Animate 3.0. It hasn't crashed so far and the file isn't corrupted, but the bone thing is behaving EXACTLY like it did the other 3 times. I decided to stop and ask for help before I go any father.

Thanks for any help anyone has.

Susan 

[Mario_CR]

• Try to use the asset warp tool before parenting.
• Make sure to only parent symbols (and warped assets), do not attempt to parent raw drawings, object drawings, groups or anything else.
• Since Animate 22.0, combining parenting + warped assets has been broken. Objects don't move correctly when parented to a warped asset. They only work when they're right at the end of the hierarchy, with nothing attached to them.
• This has been reported multiple times and hasn't been fixed so far.

Please consider making your own report using this link if you have the time: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=Wht7-jR7h0OUrtLBeN7O4S9xwer8laBJnVz9ceh8hh5UOVlX...

[designer_shrink]

Thank you so much. I'm not SURE this is my issue but it may be. I haven't used the asset warp tool at all - don't even know yet where to find it or how to use it. If I NEED to, as you're suggesting, I can and will. Just wondering if this is the same problem. Also, I read the article you linked to. Since I'm NOT using the asset warp tool, should I go back to Animate 21 or something? I'm not sure I can get those older versions but if I can?

Susan 

[designer_shrink]

Mario, I tried this workaround and had trouble with it. At first, things were going fine but when I got everything ready to tween, I couldn't add keyframes to the armature layer so there was no way to do any type of tweening. Have you had an issue with that?

I've decided to give Flanimate a try. I'm wondering if you or Rayek or anyone else can tell me if I can import all of my .ai files and set it all up like I had when I was using Modern Rigging? I've watched a video on Flanimate but it only shows working with shapes. The animation I need to create needs to use .ai or .png files - some kind of vector file.

Can anyone help?

Susan

[rayek.elfin]

Don't bother with the rigging and bone tools in Animate. Those are well-known for being half-baked, buggy, and almost worthless.

There is a way out, though. Flanimate's rigging and character animation plugin tools for Animate and Flash are a brilliant modern and actually working replacement!

Save yourself the frustration. Get the tools here: https://flash-powertools.com/

[designer_shrink]

Yes, I know about Flanimate - but I'd have to start all over and learn a new tool from scratch. I'm hoping to not have to do that. I'm thinking I MAY be able to use Mario's suggestion. I've been looking at my file and although all items on the main timeline ARE movie clips, some of them - most notably - the body - has an item on its timeline that's just a poorly executed graphic object - stray anchor points all over the place. I'm in the process of fixing it now, and have also been advised to go through ALL mcs and convert everything on ALL layers to movie clips. Yes, there's a bug, and I'll be happy to report it - but I'd rather fix it if I can instead of learning a whole new tool and starting all over. I really am VERY far into this project.

[designer_shrink]

Rayek, I've decided to give Flanimate a try. Do you know if I can import all of my .ai files and set it all up like I had when I was using Modern Rigging? I've watched a video on Flanimate but it only shows working with shapes. The animation I need to create needs to use .ai or .png files - some kind of vector files. Are there video tutorials you like? It's frustrating because when I Google my issues - even if I specifically mention Flanimate, it only gives me Modern Rigging answers.