This once was a simple one: How to attack feet to the ground and move a puppet around with mouse/draggable handle

[El Wombat]

Hi guys,

(please note that I am testing with 3.0 build 127)

I seem to find the very first thing I learned (starting back in the "puppet tool at After Effects" days) very hard to do for a while now, maybe you can help me.

What I want to do is this:

- Move a puppet around with its legs fixed to the ground via mouse / draggable handle. The puppet should not leave the ground.

What I did was this:

1.) (At the highest level of the puppet) I added a fixed stick through both feet horizontally, added the "fix" tag.

2.) (At the same highest level) I added a "draggable" handle (or, bwo variation added the tag "draggable") to the origin handle of the puppet.

3.) I tried different puppets - apart from my own - only Adobe templates.

4.) I tried a couple of variations.

The outcome was never what I wanted

A.) Either the legs weren't attached to the floor at all (i.e. the puppet would move as a whole)

B.) The legs stayed fixed to the ground but the head stayed fixed to an imaginatory ceiling so that I could only drag-move the medium parts of the character.

Any ideas?

Thank you…

[alank99101739]

Can you provide screenshots of the rigging hierarchy of the puppet? Where the independence layers are makes a difference.

[El Wombat]

Thank you! Like so?

Please note that "Ziehbar" = Draggable

The result here is A (puppet moves around with zero gravity)

[El Wombat]

… and "fest" = "fixed".

[alank99101739]

Perfect!  I am not sure if “fixed” works on sticks. Try putting pins on the left and right feet (or a handle with the fixed tag). That would confirm it.

Also I noticed ”hg” hidden at the bottom. Just be aware that hidden (not visible) layers are still part of the puppet when it comes to warping.

If that does not work (sorry, not at computer just now), try removing the draggable tag from the origin handle and create a separate dragger handle. Sometimes tags on the origin cause other things to not take effect (i don’t remember the exact rules). Its like it takes control and nobody else gets a voice. That could also be blocking the pins as something above them has said “i control positioning - ignore everyone else”. Good old internal power play between behaviors...

[El Wombat]

Thank you, alan! It didn't work, though…

- Fixing the feet with stick or single handles makes no apparent difference.

- Using an extra fixed handle on the puppets top level warps the body only while feet stay attached.

- Using the origin handle on the top level with an added "draggable" tag moves the whole thing around and seems to indeed ignore the "fixed" feet.

- HG was a solid BG layer which normally shouldn't interfere. Never knowing I deleted it but this didn't change anything.

[alank99101739]

Happy to try if you want to share a puppet, but puppets are rarely backwards compatible. So if you are using a 3.0 beta of some kind, you probably need to talk to Adobe directly. (The latest release is 2.1?). Have you tried the same sequence of actions with an older version of CH?

[El Wombat · Accepted solution]

alank99101739  schrieb

Have you tried the same sequence of actions with an older version of CH?

No, I have those uninstalled! And thanks a lot for your offer, that wouldn't work and it's also not very urgent, plus there is a workaround: For now, I will stick to bumping the head position parameter well up and control with my body!

Thank you for your help! And, not least, I gather that you wrote that article in your blog about the eye issues, didn't you? Really a great reference! Thank you for that on an extra note!