OK, I'm starting to teaching myself AS by working through the tutorials (which, by the way, are very clear). I completed 1.1 but then carried on experimenting to make sure I could remember those first few key processes. I turned the shape into a face and made it distort - this included giving it eyes. I then wanted to move the pupils inside each eye .... which is where my question comes from:
To move each eye, this usually works: Edit/Select none >> Draw/Select points >> Translate points.
BUT, I can't see how to 'grab' the pupil in each eye because I automatically grab the whole eyeball. Also, if 'Select points' touches any other point it naturally means I'm grabbing more than I need. I wondered if shapes had a 'key point' which could be chosen so as to move the whole shape, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
So, how do I grab just tiny parts of a character and move them without moving/distorting other parts as well?
How to 'drag and drop' an element of a character?
Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger
That's a good question and once you learn it your workflow would increase 200%.
To grab only some points there are several ways to do it.
1) Use "lasso mode". You have that option shown in the main window when the select points tool is selected. Also You override/activate that option pressing CTRL at the same time meanwhile you're dragging the mouse. Use lasso mode is similar than in other programs: just leftclick and drag and create a closed curve (it is draw in red color) around the points you want to select and release left click when finished. Voila! the points inside are selected. Also you can release the left mouse button before close the curve. A straigth line would close beggining and end points. I think that both lasso mode and square mode have the possibility of increase the selection using the SHIF key from your keyboard. I'm not sure.
2) If the points that you are going to select are all of them connected by construction curves then you can save a lot of time doing this: Select one or more poins from the set of points you want to grab. Now pres TAB (shortcut to "Select connected" from the Edit menu) and all the selected points are selected. It works also if the Translate points is active what very handy beacuse it avoid mouse movements. ONE TIP: pressing ENTER you unselect all the points (this allow you make another selection still using the Translate points tool just repeating the above procedure)
3) Using named group of points. Once you have selected the points you can call the selection as many times as you want if you give a name to that group of selected points. With Select points tool selected and the desired poits selected, insert a meaning name in the Group name of the options for that tool in the main window. Then press the Set Group Name button (maybe it would have other name - I'm speaking without the program in fron of me
). Later you just use the Select Points tool and the drop down menu to select again the same group of points. This is useful for other tools like Bind points tool (in the Bone section). I don't remember if any other tool uses this.
Finally the replacement of standard Select Points tool from Fazek (look into scripting area) allow to make incremental selection withouth the need of use the SHIFT key because the default mode is incremental. Also it have a feature that allow select shapes with the same tool (and with the shape its surrounding points). In general Fazek's replacement tools increase the workflow speed. Its magnet tool is awesome!: only work on selected points and have some mirroring options that are very useful.
I wish you all the best results with your AS leraning.
-G
To grab only some points there are several ways to do it.
1) Use "lasso mode". You have that option shown in the main window when the select points tool is selected. Also You override/activate that option pressing CTRL at the same time meanwhile you're dragging the mouse. Use lasso mode is similar than in other programs: just leftclick and drag and create a closed curve (it is draw in red color) around the points you want to select and release left click when finished. Voila! the points inside are selected. Also you can release the left mouse button before close the curve. A straigth line would close beggining and end points. I think that both lasso mode and square mode have the possibility of increase the selection using the SHIF key from your keyboard. I'm not sure.
2) If the points that you are going to select are all of them connected by construction curves then you can save a lot of time doing this: Select one or more poins from the set of points you want to grab. Now pres TAB (shortcut to "Select connected" from the Edit menu) and all the selected points are selected. It works also if the Translate points is active what very handy beacuse it avoid mouse movements. ONE TIP: pressing ENTER you unselect all the points (this allow you make another selection still using the Translate points tool just repeating the above procedure)
3) Using named group of points. Once you have selected the points you can call the selection as many times as you want if you give a name to that group of selected points. With Select points tool selected and the desired poits selected, insert a meaning name in the Group name of the options for that tool in the main window. Then press the Set Group Name button (maybe it would have other name - I'm speaking without the program in fron of me
). Later you just use the Select Points tool and the drop down menu to select again the same group of points. This is useful for other tools like Bind points tool (in the Bone section). I don't remember if any other tool uses this.Finally the replacement of standard Select Points tool from Fazek (look into scripting area) allow to make incremental selection withouth the need of use the SHIFT key because the default mode is incremental. Also it have a feature that allow select shapes with the same tool (and with the shape its surrounding points). In general Fazek's replacement tools increase the workflow speed. Its magnet tool is awesome!: only work on selected points and have some mirroring options that are very useful.
I wish you all the best results with your AS leraning.
-G
Everything Genete said. Especially Fazek's tools. They are MAGICAL!
I have found though specific to your question that the TAB key is fantastic.
I just click on one point and hit TAB. When doing heavy editing or moving of shapes I keep one finger over the TAB key. Makes it very easy and you are GUARANTEED to select every point in that shape.
Some times even when dragging over multiple points to select large groups I hit the TAB key just to make sure I got everything.
I find using named groups to be very frustrating. I often spend a lot of time creating groups of named points only to lose them during copy and paste. When you copy and paste a named group of points the named group is lost. It is such a frustrating waste of time I stopped doing it except for very specific situations... or when I know I won't be copying and pasting points or vectors anymore for a specific layer.
For instance with switch layers I use named shapes for lip sync layers because they can get hidden behind other points and be hard to select. I usually name all of these shapes on one layer before creating the other switch layers by duplicating. If you duplicate a layer the named groups are duplicated as well. This works because at that point I won't copy and paste items or it will "break" my interpolation.
-vern
I have found though specific to your question that the TAB key is fantastic.
I just click on one point and hit TAB. When doing heavy editing or moving of shapes I keep one finger over the TAB key. Makes it very easy and you are GUARANTEED to select every point in that shape.
Some times even when dragging over multiple points to select large groups I hit the TAB key just to make sure I got everything.
I find using named groups to be very frustrating. I often spend a lot of time creating groups of named points only to lose them during copy and paste. When you copy and paste a named group of points the named group is lost. It is such a frustrating waste of time I stopped doing it except for very specific situations... or when I know I won't be copying and pasting points or vectors anymore for a specific layer.
For instance with switch layers I use named shapes for lip sync layers because they can get hidden behind other points and be hard to select. I usually name all of these shapes on one layer before creating the other switch layers by duplicating. If you duplicate a layer the named groups are duplicated as well. This works because at that point I won't copy and paste items or it will "break" my interpolation.
-vern
