Body parts organization ?

xgd · Post by **xgd** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:29 am

Hello,

I just got AS 5. I've learnt how to animate a character, but im wondering, how can i organize different body parts ? Is there something like a library (like in flash) or something like that ?

I can have 50+ parts for one character (front, side, 3/4, back etc), so do i have to keep each part on a separate layer ? What if i have 5 characters for example, plus all the background elements, what would be the best way to organize all that ?

also, can i put a few related layers into one "group layer" or something ?

I would always like to keep diferent parts of the body separated for animation purpouses, but it seems to me at the moment that for a 1 minute animation with a few characters and different backgrounds i would need like 1000 layers.

How do u guys organize stuff and do u have any advice ?

Help the AS newbie

thanks

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:41 am

First off, everyone tends to rig their characters differently. AS rigging and organization is very dependant on what you're needing the characters to do and in what style of animation. But there are some general guidelines.

Check out all of the character work included with AS. If you have Pro I think it includes more user content.

Overall you want to group as much as possible. That way, when all of the groups are collapsed, the clutter will be greatly reduced. Then you can just expand what you are working on at the moment. Also it is very important to name layers descriptively so you know what is on them later.

Each character should be in a top level bone or group layer. This will allow you to import them into other projects if you want. Beyond that it really just depends on how you tend to animate. If you do more bone animation, then the layout isn't so important because you can animate the bone layer while it is collapsed. But if you do much point animation it can become a drag constantly changing layers.

Also, if you're not using any (or much) layer sorting, you can keep much of your character on a single layer using bone offset.

Personally, I use some more advanced techniques. The meshinstance layer script (Pro only, you can find it here) helps by allowing me to keep all of my point animation on one layer for each character, but still have all the separate layers for layer sorting. The sorting group I keep collapsed until I need to sort stuff.
May be too much for a newbie though.

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 5:12 am

Another tip is to plan out your animations. Do storyboards. You may not need "1000 layers" if you know exactly what each scene will require. One view of each character rather than including everything plus the kitchen sink just in case you might need it.

3D gives you options not available in 2D. Animating with 3D requires a ton of character set up. With 3D animation you can just rotate the character for a new view. In 2D you need to know what view of the character is needed and plan for that. Maybe you might have some simple head turns.

-vern

funksmaname · Post by **funksmaname** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:32 am

thats very good advice from vern - sometimes a scene might only need 2 bones but if you go into it not know what you plan to do you end up rigging a complete skeleton with rotation constraints (and the kitchen sink) only to find a) you only needed 2 bones, and b) you can't actually use this 'all inclusive' bone for very much other than animating in the very same POV... planning (or at least knowing what you want to get done before you start) will save you hours!

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:16 am

1 minute of animation - that sounds like a complete film.

- Do you have different scenes?
- What's the delivery format of your film?
- Do you have other programs beside AS, like Flash, or a video editor?

Many of us work for video output, so we only have 1 scene per project file, and we assemble all scenes in our video software. Those who use Flash as well do the same.

If you only have AS, then you are stuck with having all scenes in one project file.

xgd · Post by **xgd** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:40 am

Im using AS 5 regular trial version.

anyway i just got it yesterday and tried it out, so i dont know much (except for the tutorials i did). Also i am used to using flash which is a very good and organized program, but it is not good for character animation since it allows only frame by frame animation. i tried out the new flash cs4 since i heard they got bones now but i wish i hadnt, because it sucks now. Anyway that is why i am trying to use AS now, even though it seems a bit tedious to use at the moment.

anyway, i managed to get a character up and walking (easily), for which i was very glad, bone ssytem in AS is excellent, but i still dont know some basic things.

1)first of all, how do i group layers ?

2)How do i export a character as an As file so that i can import him back in later, and what if i have different layers for different body parts ?

3)how do i do this: i have a guy in front 3/4 view, and he is walking. and at one point i want him to turn towards to camera. How do i replace those character 3/4 body parts with his front body parts ? can u tell me exactly?(i think switch layer comes into play here but i dont know how to use it).

4)How do i make different scenes ? For example i have something going on for 30 frames, some people and a background, and then i want to show different people and different backgrounds (at frane 31 and on)? How do i do that (basically change scenes) ? i tried hiding and deleting characters at a certain keyframe but then they disappeared completely even from frame 1.

I know its a lot, but if someone is bothered please help me.

thanks

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 1:02 pm

OK ...

1. Because you have the Standard and not the Pro edition, you have no group layers. But you can use bone layers for the same purpose.

2. You don't export. You just import a top layer from another anme file. It's a good idea to keep an extra "library" file for that purpose where every character root layer lies on the root level.

3. Basically you have 2 different views of that character and switch visibility of those at the right moment. General visibility is the hidden checkbox in the layer information panel. The timeline will show a pink area wherever a layer is invisible.

You could do the same with switch layers, but personally I prefer to rserve switch layers for objects which switch quite often, or to more than 2 variants.

4. Do you still have flash? Then you don't need to do several scenes in one anme file. Save that work. You could easily export each scene and assemble them all in Flash.

If you really must do it all in AS, put each scene in a group/bone layer and either set it visible where you need, or use step keys and put unused scenes outside the project area.