User Guide > Character Building > Appendix > Setting Different Pivots for a Puppet Using Symbols

Setting Different Pivots for a Puppet Using Symbols

If you want your puppet's pieces to rotate correctly, you need to set the pivot points onto the articulations. You can either set the pivots using the Rotate tool and have it set for the whole layer or you can set the pivots directly on your symbol and have a different pivot for each symbol cell. By default, when you create your symbols, the symbol pivot is located at the centre of your drawing. You will need to move it onto the shoulder or elbow.

You will set the pivot on the symbol's cells, not directly on the drawings. To set your pivots, you have to be at the top level of your character building scene and not inside the symbols.

By default, when you set your pivot onto your symbol, all the cells use the same pivot. If you need different pivots for your different cells, refer to the following procedure.

Do the following steps for each layer in the Timeline view.

To set the pivots for the body parts:

1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Drawing Pivot tool. You can also select Drawing > Tools > Drawing Pivot.
2. In the Camera or Timeline view, select the symbol you want to set the pivot for.

3. In the Tool Properties view, if you only want to set one pivot for your symbol, make sure that the Set the Pivot for Symbol on All Frames option is enabled.

Disable this option if you want to set a series of different pivots for your symbol's cells.
4. In the Camera view, click where you want the pivot to be. You can also drag the pivot marker to the desired location.

5. If you want to set a different pivot for another drawing or symbol cell, select the drawing or cell and in the Camera view, set the new pivot.
Make sure that the Set the Pivot for Symbol on All Frames option is DISABLED.

Related Topics 

Setting Pivots on a Frame Range