Dynamically Pin One Object to Another Object

[Seifo]

Is it possible in Anime Studio Pro 10 to pin/unpin one object to another dynamically -- that is, during the course of an animation?

For example, how would I go about having a character stand, grab a rope, swing across a gap, and let go of the rope on the other side? The obvious solution would be to somehow temporarily pin the character's hands to the rope, but so far I haven't found a way to do that. I've only found clumsy and inefficient workarounds.


Any help would be appreciated!

[jayfaker]

There aren't really any easy ways to do this with a single object. Mostly those cases require having two identical objects, one attached to the character and one that's not, and using opacity and some sleight of hand to switch between them. If you really had to have a single object switch parents you might be able to accomplish it through layer scripts but that's a whole lot of work.

[jayfaker]

Actually, thinking about it more, it could depend on how complicated your scene is. One other way to accomplish this is to use the target bones on your hands. If your target bones are child bones of bones connected to the objects you want them to grab then you just move the hand bone to the object, and then move the object bone back, if that makes sense.

[Seifo]

Okay, let me see if I understand this...

Let's say we have three bones -- one trapeze bone, one forearm bone, and a target bone for the forearm bone. You're saying I could take the trapeze bone and make it the parent of the target bone, causing the forearm bone to always reach toward the trapeze bone? If that's the case, though, wouldn't you still have to unparent the trapeze bone from the target bone for the forearm bone to be able to detach?

[jayfaker]

Yeah, if it were a moving object like a trapeze it would be more complicated, but perhaps not impossible. Try this: Your forearm bone is targeted to the hand bone. The trapeze bone is targeted to the trapeze target bone. BOTH of the target bones have the same parent bone. NOTE: The parent bone sits still where the two objects will meet!!! Then you animate the target bones separately until the hand grabs the trapeze. Then you animate the parent bone instead of the target bones. The idea is that the parent bone is there, but is only animated when the hand grabs the object. You would still have to animate the body of the character separately, but the hand and the trapeze would be perfectly attached.

Of course you could use this technique for the body too. But that's just more complication.

I'll post an example file as soon as I get the chance.

[jayfaker]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/f9v4egql9dltf ... .anme?dl=0

Here it is. It's pretty simple, but effective.

[Seifo]

Ah, I see! That makes sense. I guess you would have to modify your rig for shots like these, but that's a pretty nice solution -- at least until Smith Micro incorporates a provision for cases like these. Thanks a lot for the help!