Manipulating a Deformer to Create Animation
The Bone, Articulation and Curve deformers have very different ways of being manipulated. When you are choosing the type of deformation chain to use on each part, keep in mind the kind of animation movement they can create.
| • | Manipulating a Bone and Articulation Deformer |
| • | Manipulating a Curve Deformer |
Manipulating a Bone and Articulation Deformer
The Bone deformer operates in the same way as a human limb and is composed of a pivot as the starting point, and bones and articulations.
How to animate a Bone and Articulation deformer
| 1. | In the Timeline view, go the frame on which you want to create your first animation pose. |
| 2. | In the Deformation toolbar, deselect the Setup  Mode . If you leave Setup Mode on, you will modify the resting position of the deformer chain instead of animating it. When Setup Mode is disabled, the default colour of the deformation control is light green. If you made changes to your rig in Setup mode, you can select the deform group and click Copy Resting Position to Current  button, located in the Deformation toolbar. This resets the rig outside the Setup mode to match what the rig looks like in Setup mode. |
| 3. | If you want to create animation keyframes, enable the Animate  mode in the Tools toolbar. |
| 4. | In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform  tool. |
| 5. | From the Camera view, select the piece to animate. |
| 6. | In the Deformation toolbar, click the Show Selected Deformers and Hide All Others  button to display the deformer of the selected piece. |
| 7. | In the Camera view, do the following: |
| ‣ | Click on the centre of the Deformation-Root pivot and drag it around to reposition the entire limb. |
| ‣ | Use the first bone or the square pivot handle to rotate the entire limb. |
| ‣ | Use the square control point located at the extremity of a bone to stretch or shorten its length. |
| ‣ | Use a bone next to an articulation to rotate it. You can also hold down the Alt key to lock all the controls and movement, and only allow the rotation of the articulation. |
| ‣ | Click and drag the articulation’s diamond-shaped control point to modify its radius. |
| 8. | In the Timeline view, go the frame on which you want to set your next key pose. |
| 9. | Repeat the previous steps to animate your character. |
| 10. | If needed, in the Deformation toolbar, deselect the Show Simplified Manipulators button  to display the advanced controls. |
| 11. | In the Camera view, do the following: |
| ‣ | Click and drag the round articulation control points to adjust the steepness (bias) of the articulation. |
| ‣ | Use the square articulation control point to rotate it. |
You can also manipulate the deformer by typing values directly in the Layer Properties of the deformation effect modules.
Manipulating a Curve Deformer
The Curve Deformer distorts the element to follow an organic and fluid curve line.
How to manipulate a Curve Deformer
| 1. | In the Deformation toolbar, deselect the Setup Mode . If you leave Setup Mode on, you will modify the resting position of the deformer chain instead of animating it. When Setup Mode is disabled, the default colour of the deformation control is light green. |
| 2. | If you want to create animation keyframes, enable the Animate mode in the Tools toolbar. |
| 3. | In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform tool. |
| 4. | In the top level of the Network view, press Ctrl + A (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + A (Mac OS X) to select all the modules or select Edit > Select All from the top menu. |
| 5. | In the Camera View toolbar, click the Show Control  button or press Shift + F11. |
All the deformation controls in your scene are displayed—see Displaying the Deformation Controls.
| 6. | In the Camera view, do the following: |
| ‣ | Click on the centre of the Deformation-Root pivot and drag it around to reposition the entire limb. |
| ‣ | Use the pivot’s square handle to rotate the entire chain. |
| ‣ | Use the square control point located at the extremity of a bone to stretch or shorten its length. |
| ‣ | Use the curve handles to modify the shape of the curve. |
| 7. | If you have a chain of several curves, you can get all the children of a curve to follow the movement of one handle. This can be useful when, for example, animating an arm and you do not want the fingers sticking to their original place while moving the wrist. |
| ‣ | Select the handle you want to move. |
The handle’s colour turns white.
| ‣ | Press and hold the Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (Mac OS X) and move the handle. |
All the children follow the movement.
| 8. | If you have a double-sided handle, you can lock it, so only one side will move at a time. |
| ‣ | Select the handle you want to move independently from the other. |
The handle’s colour turns white.
| ‣ | Press and hold the Alt key and move the handle. |
You can also manipulate the deformers by typing values directly in the Layer Properties of the Deformation effect modules.
