Moho Forum

I'm learning AS and wanting to do some animation of a simple 2D parachutist. So the main parts here areP
- Man
- Canopy/Parachute (above his head)
- Lines that go from Man to Parachute

I'm wondering how best to set this up in AS in terms of how to use bones. Obviously the man can have bones and this is good, however not so sure for the parachute/canopy itself and the lines that go from the man to chute. I want to be able to animate the chute in terms of having it flapping in the wind, and also as the guy goes faster to change the angles of the chute & lines.

Q1 - How would you recommend to handle the chute & lines? (related questions)
Q2 - As the canopy is a one piece kind of thing, does having bones even makes sense? You really need different layers for bones correct? So then the canopy doesn't really qualify for using bones. So you would just have to manually manipulate it as a vector layer when you're setting keyframes?
Q3 - How could the lines be set-up such that they always stretch between the point on the man and the chute? So when the man is modified with bones and the chute with vector tools, that the lines would automatically stay between them? Or if this is not possible then each keyframe is it then upto manually adjusting the lines?
Q4 - Haven't worked out how to draw a simple straight line yet, for the canopy lines But perhaps thats best for another thread...

Here's an example of a prototype I was looking at. Stuck in bones but then noted you could only tie one bone from a given layer.

There are many ways you could do this but the best approach is looking at how a parachute actually behaves in real life. The rotation pont during travel is the top center of the chute itself. The character and lines would not really change angle that much. The lines would always stay straight and tight because of the weight of the man holding it down. The angle of the ropes or lines to the chute would not change very much if at all really.

So the rig could be very simple with just one bone. The entire man or character layer would simply be inside the "chute rig" bone layer and bound to the single main chute bone.The chute and the lines could be point or layer bound to that same single bone. The rotation point of this chute bone would be at the center of the chute (pointing down). Any rotation would rotate both the man and the chute and lines as a unit because that is how a parachute works. The center point of the rotation is at the top of the chute. You probably don't need individual bones for each line at all. You could then rotate that bone back and forth, animate the position to simulate a drifting and swinging.

Of course if the character LANDS that is a different story entirely. You could have a simple chain of bones for each line that stays straight while flying and then animate the bones to "collapse" when landing to simulate that effect.

To create the "flapping" in the wind, this could be hand animated point motion of the chute or it could be controlled with bones using the bone constraints "dynamics" settings.

Instead of binding the entire chute to the single main bone, you would bind "most" of the chute vectors to that main bone, and then use flexi binding on the points that would "flap". Add some extra bones to control those points and set them with some subtle dynamics. As the entire thing moves and rotates you would get "automatic flapping". Or if you want more control you could simply animate the points of the chute or bones by hand.

Basically the entire rig should be controlled by a single "bone" or rotation pivot. The whole chute/man rotates together.

thanks heyvern for the advice - can I ask clarify one of the suggestions you had to try to understand it?

heyvern wrote:To create the "flapping" in the wind, this could be hand animated point motion of the chute or it could be controlled with bones using the bone constraints "dynamics" settings.
Instead of binding the entire chute to the single main bone, you would bind "most" of the chute vectors to that main bone, and then use flexi binding on the points that would "flap". Add some extra bones to control those points and set them with some subtle dynamics. As the entire thing moves and rotates you would get "automatic flapping". Or if you want more control you could simply animate the points of the chute or bones by hand.

I'm trying to understand your suggestion in terms of AS features & whether different layers are required for the chute. So:
* binding "most" of the chute vectors - does this imply the canopy would have to be split across multiple vector layers? i.e. so perhaps you mean the outside layers that will flap would have to be on separate layers?
* "flexi binding" - wondering what you mean by this?

many thanks

No not multiple layers.

My idea is simply to have a single bone at the top. All points except a single point between each "seam" on the bottom edge would be bound to that bone.

Then add a bone at the bottom edge of the chute between each seam. These bones would point down. These bones would control a single point between each seam and have a dynamic constraint to create a subtle movement left to right as the layer moves.