How do I make an object go around another?

[qwertyu]

How do I make an animation of a hand that grabs something?
I don't know how to make the hand & fingers appear behind the object to be grabbed and then part of the fingers *in front of it* (when the hand closes).

[neeters_guy]

The easiest way is to use switch layers, ie., one layer of the empty hand, another layer hand holding the object. Once the object is in hand, turn off the visibility of the orignal object.

[qwertyu]

Thanks, but that's not what I'm after.

1) I have a "Hand" layer. It consists of a hand animation: its fingers, from spread, gradually begin curving over "something", in a grabbing gesture. Palm faces the viewer. In the latter frames, it almost becomes a fist.
2) I also have a long, vertical Object. The Hand must grab it.
3) The Hand layer is *behind* the Object layer.
4) In the end frames, the grabbed Object has to protrude from the hand at the top and bottom. So the Object is never fully covered by the Hand.

The problem: the Hand animates fine until the time the tips of the Hand's fingers *touch* the outline of the grabbed Object. This is where I need that parts of the fingers- the parts that begin overlapping the object- go from the "behind" layer (where the Hand is) to the topmost layer, so that they go *over* the Object.
So I'm trying to create a 3D illusion with 2D material.

[funksmaname]

neeters advice is still relevant.

1) Put the hand in a switch layer

2) duplicate the switch layer, and paste in the object - this layer will be hidden until the fingers touch it as you've described. move the hand in this layer so its ready for action at the moment its needed. As the object is now in the same layer as the hand, you can make sure it sits behind the fingers using object fill order

3) animated the empty hand as you would until the point where it is 1 frame away from closing around the object

4) hide the object layer, and switch the hand layer to the one with the object in hand - you must make sure the object starts where the original object sits, to avoid a jolt

now as you move the arm/hand the object is attached to it

make sense?

[neeters_guy]

Hey, funks, thanks for explaining that in detail. Like I said this is the easiest and fairly standard way of doing it. This same method is described in this thread:
HOw Do I... Layer this sword in a hand correctly?

It sounds like qwertyu might be talking about animated layer ordering though. That is, the fingers and palm are on separate layers, then use layer ordering to put the long, vertical object between the two at the right moment. In fact, I thought of your hand rig here:
WIP Lip Sync competition entry
With 30+ layers, it's a bit unwieldy, but perhaps some variation of it might work.

Anyway, I hope gives you some ideas, qwertyu.

[funksmaname]

ah, that hand thing won't work on seperate layers - it relies on all the shapes being on the same layer so that fills can go at the top and above other shapes while outlines go under... (this is why so many shapes, although unweildy, once put into place can function as though they were far fewer objects on a single layer)

Still, there's no reason not to have a permanently available prop off camera which is 'flipped' into place when needed - that way it can be stacked wherever it's needed... some combination of hiding the original object will still be necessary however.

[qwertyu]

Thank you, neeters_guy and funksmaname.

I have one more question, even though it's the wrong forum:
- any idea if that is possible in Flash? Using any technique at all (I doubt Flash has switch layers).

[funksmaname]

flash has switch layers of sorts - create a 'graphic' type clip, and set it to 'single frame' - then you can change it's frame number at key'd positions... but you should probably go to a flash forum for more info - unless you are drawing frame by frame though, flash is a big PITA to animate with!