Animating a Free Form Deformation

You can animate the position and angle of each individual point in a Free Form deformation.

  1. In the Timeline view, collapse your character using the Expand/Collapse arrow.

Collapse Layers

  1. Select the first frame of the scene.

Select First KeyFrame

  1. To ensure your model doesn't disappear after 1 frame, open the Extend Exposure dialog by doing one of the following:
  • Right-click on the first frame in the Timeline and select Extend Exposure.
  • Press F5.
  1. In the Extend Exposure dialog, type in the amount of frames in your scene and confirm. This will make your model exposed (visible) throughout your whole scene.

  1. Now, we will make your character's first pose. First, make sure there is a keyframe on the first frame of every layer of the model. This ensures that when you make the second pose later, your first pose will not be affected. To do this do one of the following:

    • In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Keyframe button.
    • Right-click and select Add Keyframe.
    • Press F6.

A keyframe is added on the current frame.

Select First KeyFrame

  1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform tool or press Shift + T.
  1. In the Tools toolbar, if Animate Off or Animate Onion Skin Range mode is selected, click on it to open the Animate pop-up menu and select Animate Current Frame.
  1. Do one of the following:
    • In the Camera, Timeline or Node view, select one of the drawing layers linked to the deformation chain you want to animate.
    • In the Timeline or Node view, select the deformation group or any part of the deformation chain you want to animate.
  1. In the Deformation toolbar, either:
    • Click the Show the Selected Deformation Chain and Hide All Others button to show the selected element's deformation chain and hide any other deformation chain that is currently displayed.
    • Click the Show Selected Deformers button to show the selected element's deformation chain along with any other deformation chain that is currently displayed.

The selected deformation controls appear in the Camera view.

  1. In the Camera view, do the following:

    • Click and drag on the centre of a control point to reposition it.

      TIP You can also nudge a deformation point by selecting it, then pressing the arrow keys.

    • Click and drag on the purple handle right of a control point to rotate it.

  2. Repeat for all the other control points until the drawing is deformed as intended.

  1. In the Timeline view, go to the frame on which you want to set the next key pose.
  1. Add a keyframe on the current frame by doing one of the following:
  • In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Keyframe button.
  • Right-click and select Add Keyframe.
  • Press F6.
  1. Transform your deformer's points to make your new key pose.
  1. Repeat the previous steps until your animation is complete.