How do I link vektor points to an image?

Jericho · Post by **Jericho** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 1:47 am

hi, i`m trying to find the best way to make a person turning around. i found this "head turning animation"
viewtopic.php?t=10193
which works pretty well, but only with filled vector layers. now my question is, since i draw my characters on paper and scan them, can i link a vector shape to an image? cause i am really bad in drawing with AS, and i don't want to create the whole character with filled layers in AS.
there is another thing...how did he exactly do this turning animation? did he drew the vector shape once and just moved the points, or did he drew two shapes? in case two i wouldn't know how to animate that.

dueyftw · Post by **dueyftw** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 3:21 am

The first rule of using switch layers for smooth interpolation. Draw only one layer and copy it as many times as needed. Pull the point from one position to the next on the copy.

Try to learn how to draw in AS. Its take time. Do the tutorials.

Dale

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 4:05 am

Image layers in AS are mostly "static". You can warp them with bones but you can't "morph" one image to another or change the pixels. To do a smooth interpolated head turn it must be done with vector layers. Concievably you could draw every frame of a head turn and put each image in a switch layer and animate a head turn that way... but you would be limited to a specific frame rate.

Even though you feel now that you can't draw with AS, please try to give it some time. Don't stop trying to learn how to do this. Many of us felt the same way only to discover later how easy and comfortable drawing in AS becomes with practice. I HATED the drawing tools at first. Blech. Ick. Now I love them to death.

If you decide now you aren't going to draw in AS because you don't like it and you stop trying... you won't learn how. To learn it you must keep doing it as much as possible.

----

When I was a kid I took guitar lessons. I desperately wanted to know how to play guitar but thought it was too hard and boring. I stopped practicing... now, many years later guess what?

I can't play the guitar.

-vern

Jericho · Post by **Jericho** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:43 am

damn it. i think i have no choice left then. oh man, isn't there an easy way to turn around characters? working with these vektor points seems to be a freaking lot of work....allthough, know that i think about it, i guess it isn't that bad. but does anyone have a nice tutorial for that? i mean what do i do, for example, with the mouth (using sound files and papagayo), so that it turns correctly with the head? and what ist the best way to save these turning animations? as an action (saw this in a tut), so that i can use them again for other szenes?

PS: I didn't stopped practicing, and now I can play guitar

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:38 am

You may even think of animating in a drawing-based program, like I do in TVPaint. I find head turns not that complicated when I draw them frame by frame - but I'm an animator for a looong time ...

It depends on the style of movement you wnt to establish. Is the rest of your character made of cut-outs as well? Do you like the restricted and sometimes jerky movement? Then you should follow the same rules in your head turns as well. The most extreme example wold be Southpark, where any head "turn" is in fact just a switch from front to side view.