Creating New Deformation Chains (Transformation Chains)
The process of creating multiple deformation chains on the same character is divided in four steps: creating the main chain, creating additional chains, renaming the chains, and associating additional drawings to the chains.
The drawings are associated with deformation chains. For example, if you want to rig the puppet's arm, you will need to add a deformation chain to the arm drawing. If the arm has multiple pieces such as upper arm, forearm and hand, you will create the deformation chain on the upper arm and afterward link the forearm and hand to that same chain. When creating the additional transformation chains on the other views of your rig, you will create them on the upper arm. The forearm and hand will not influence which chain is used. They will follow the upper arm chain. If the drawing exposure is changed on the upper arm, the deformation chain will change to the associated one. If the forearm or hand exposure is changed, the same deformation chain will remain. You must create the deformation chain on the drawing that will have the most influence when changing the puppet's view.
After creating your deformation rig, you may want to convert an animated character's pose to a new deformation chain. This can be useful when you want to add a pose to a turn-around deformation rig you have already spent time creating and manipulating. You can take the pose at the current frame and the state of the deformations and create a new drawing set along with a new deformation chain using the current position.
- In the Timeline view, make sure the time marker is set to the frame displaying your first drawing.
- In the Node view, select the drawing layer containing the drawing you want to create the chain for. If you want to create the chain for an arm composed in multiple pieces, you must select only one of the drawing layer, such as the upper arm. The additional pieces will be added afterward.
- In the Deformation toolbar, click the Create New Deformation Chain button.
A new deformation chain is created and appears in the Transformation Chain drop-down list.
- In the Deformation toolbar, select the Rigging tool.
- Create your deformer structure—see Adding Basic Deformation Chains.
- If needed, in the Node view, link the new deformation group to the additional pieces, such as the forearm and hand.
- Repeat these steps for all the deformation chains that need to be created on the current puppet's view.
These chains are now the default deformation chains that will be used on all drawings not using a custom deformation chain.
- In the Timeline view, move the playhead (current frame) to the next character's position.
- In the Node or Timeline view, select the drawing you want to set a new deformation chain (transformation chain) for. If you had previously selected the upper arm in a multiple parts arm structure, select the same drawing layer (upper arm).
- In the Deformation toolbar, click the Create New Deformation Chain button.
A new deformation chain is created and appears in the Transformation Chain drop-down list.
- In the Deformation toolbar, select the Rigging tool.
- Create your new deformer structure—see Adding Basic Deformation Chains.
- In the Timeline or Node view, select the drawing layer containing the chains you want to rename. Make sure your current frame contains a deformation chain.
- In the Deformation toolbar, click on the Rename Transformation button,
The Rename Transformations dialog opens.
- Rename the different transformation chains (deformation chains) to match the view they are associated with.
- Click OK.
- In the Timeline or Node view, select the drawing layer containing the drawing you want to link to an existing deformation chain. The deformation chain has to exist on that same layer. You cannot associate a drawing to a chain created on a different layer.
- To associate the drawing to the chain, do one of the the following:
‣ | In the Deformation toolbar, select the desired chain from the Transformation Chain drop-down list. |
‣ | In the Node view, select the Transformation-Switch contained in the deformation group and in the Layer Properties view, type the drawing name in the field corresponding to the desired chain. The drawing names must be semi-colon separated. |
- In the Timeline view, go to the frame you want to transform into an new pose (deformation chain).
- Select the drawing you want to convert and add a new chain.
- Do one of the following:
‣ | From the top menu, select Animation > Deformation > Convert to New Drawing and Add Deformation Chain. |
‣ | In the Deformation toolbar, click the Convert to New Drawing and Add Deformation Chain button. |
A new transformation is created and added to the list.