Masking for characters

snathan99 · Post by **snathan99** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 1:56 pm

Requirement: Using Anime Studio Pro 8.2 Character Wizard, create two characters and trying to make them shake hands. Completed creating two characters. However having issue with shake hands.

Issue 1: I have to mask one hand below the other for the hand shake

Issue 2: Once Issue 1 is figured out I would like to sandwich Person 1's one hand between both hands of Person 2.

Problem: The wrong hand shows on top. Quick solution would be to change the layer order and that worked. However if won't work if I have to resolve Issue 2.

Supplementary Info: I imported the two characters I created using File --> Import Anime Studio Object on a new Project.

Supplementary Question: What kind of layer did it create when I did this import? I have an icon on the layer with an arrow pointing to 2 o'clock and a tiny triangle at the base. Should I do this differently to achieve what I am trying to do?

Other things tried: Played around with masking, but did not quite work.

neeters_guy · Post by **neeters_guy** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:14 am

I don't know about masking, but the simplest way to show shaking hands is to add a layer to the hand switch of ONE of the characters showing BOTH hands clasped. Like this:

Also add an empty layer to the other character's hand switch that corresponds to this one.

When their hands contact to shake, switch on the clasped hands.

snathan99 · Post by **snathan99** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:25 pm

Thank you. That was easier than I thought. Appreciate you taking the time to not only respond, but also create an example. What tool did you use to convert to GIF?

neeters_guy · Post by **neeters_guy** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 9:44 pm

You're welcome.

snathan99 wrote:What tool did you use to convert to GIF?

Gimp. See sbtamu's reply to jonbo in this thread:
something to achieve
Use the forum search function and read everything. There's some good stuff buried all over the place.

snathan99 · Post by **snathan99** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:44 pm

Thanks again neeters - that was a great link just to see the possibilities and the quality of work that is possible. After I replied I checked to see if there is an imagemagick command. Sure enough there is one:

convert -delay 1 -loop 0 T*.png at.gif

Will create at.gif file of all T*.png files in folder loop infinite times with a 1 hundredths of a second delay between each frame. Ran it under cygwin.