AS7 Debut QuickStart

8/22/2019 AS7 Debut QuickStart

1/41


2/41

Anime Studio Debut 7QuickStart

2

Quick Start

Quick Start

Tutorial 1.1: A Quick Run-throughThis tutorial quickly runs through the major eatures o Anime Studio,without going into too much detail. The purpose here is more to givean overview o how Anime Studio works, rather than to teach you howto use any specic eatures. In this tutorial, we will draw and animate avery simple object.

Anime Studio has several groups o tools, used or dierent types otasks. Some o these tools are used to create new objects, and others are

used to modiy and animate existing objects. The basic Anime Studio toolgroups are: Draw, Fill, Bone, Layer, Camera, and Workspace.

This tutorial introduces a ew o the Draw, Fill, and Layer tools, while theollowing tutorials ocus specically on each o the tool groups.

Drawing a Simple Shape

Launch Anime Studio by double-clicking the Anime Studio icon, or

selecting the Anime Studio shortcut in the Start menu (Windows). Whenyou create a new Anime Studio project, the application starts o lookingsomething like this:

The Anime Studio interface.

Choose File > New to create a new project, and then click the currenttool icon (just beneath the File menu), to select Reset All Tools. Thisputs all tools at their deault settings so that you can ollow along withthis tutorial.

Select the Draw Shape tool by clicking on it in the toolbar.


3/41


3

Quick Start

Draw Shape

Select the Oval shape rom the Draw Shape tool options.

Oval shape tool.

The Style panel on the right side o the Anime Studio interace allowsyou to select ll and stroke colors or the shapes you draw. To select all color, click the Fill color square to open a color palette. Select the llcolor you want to use, and click OK.

Changing the Fill color.

Click and drag in the main window to create a circle shape. Hold the

Shift key while dragging to orce the shape to be a circle, rather thanan oval. Try to keep the circle within the blue rectangle (this rectanglerepresents the visible area o your project). Note that the circle willautomatically ll with color when the Auto Fill option is checked asshown in the previous gure.

I youre not happy with your circle, just select the Edit > Undocommand rom the menu bar. Your circle should look something like this:

Your rst Anime Studio drawing.


4/41


4

Quick Start

Changing the Color of Your Shape

I you want to change the ll color, choose the Select Shape tool romthe Fill toolbar.

Select Shape tool.

Click the ll color o the circle that you drew. Then select a new colorrom the Style panel, similar to the way that you selected the color in the

previous steps. You can also change the color o the outline by changingthe Stroke color in a similar manner.

Simple Animation

When you animate in Anime Studio, you move objects around and set upkeyrames - points in time at which an object has a certain position. Atpoints in time between keyrames, Anime Studio automatically computesthe position o all objects.

Near the top o the Timeline window is a ruler that displays ramenumbers in the animation. Click the number 36 to set the current timeto rame 36.

The timeline.

Next, choose Edit > Select None rom the menu bar.

Pick the Translate Points tool rom the toolbar.

Translate Points

Click and drag the bottom point o the circle upward to distort the circle


5/41


5

Quick Start

into a shape that looks like this:

Moving a single point.

Now pick the Rotate Layer tool rom the Layer section o the Toolspanel.

Rotate Layer

Click and drag in the main window until everything rotates into aposition similar to the one below:

Moving an entire layer.

Back in the timeline, click rame number 72 in the ruler to change the

current time. Next, select Draw > Reset All Points rom the menu barto move all points back to their original positions. In the tool optionsarea at the top o the main window, press the Reset button to resetthe rotation o the entire layer.

Click the Reset button to reset the rotation of the layer.

Congratulations, youve made an animation! Press the play button nearthe bottom o the main window to watch it go. When youre done, pressstop. OK, so it probably wont win any lm awards, but youre o to agood start learning Anime Studio.


6/41


6

Quick Start

Playback controls.

Heres what your nished animation should look like (approximately).Press the Play button below to see the result.

The nal result. (SWF File)

Youve learned how Anime Studio has dierent groups o tools ordierent operations, and even how to use a ew o those tools. You canexperiment more on your own, maybe adding more keyrames. Whenyoure ready to learn more, move on toTutorial 1.2: Drawing SimpleShapes on page 6.

Tutorial 1.2: Drawing SimpleShapes

In this tutorial you will learn how to draw simple shapes in Anime Studio.The ollowing tutorials will build on what you start drawing in this


7/41


7

Quick Start

tutorial.

Creating a Background

Launch Anime Studio by double-clicking its icon. Or, i Anime Studio isalready running, choose File > New to create a new project.

Click the current tool icon (just beneath the File menu), to select ResetAll Tools. This puts all tools at their deault settings.

In the Tools window, click the Draw Shape tool to activate it. Thenselect the Rectangle option.

Draw Shape

Rectangle

From the Style panel, select a brown color or the Fill color as shownbelow.

Click and drag in the working area to create the rectangle shown below:


8/41


8

Quick Start

Draw a simple rectangle.

This shape is going to be the start o some rolling hills. So ar, thesehills look kind o fat, so lets x that. Pick the Add Point tool rom the

toolbar.

Add Point

Click on the top edge o the rectangle and drag the mouse upwards:

How to add a point to an existing shape.

You should have something now that looks like the picturebelow. I this isnt what you got, select the Edit > Undomenu item and try again. Be sure to click on the line thatorms the top o the rectangle and drag upwards rom there.


9/41


9

Quick Start

Drag the new point upwards.

Lets add another curve to the hills by clicking a little more to the rightand dragging downwards:

Add a second point and drag it downwards.

To keep things organized, its a good idea to name the layers in anAnime Studio project. Double-click this layer (the only one so ar) in theLayers window.

Accessing a layers properties.

In the dialog that appears, type in Hills or the layer name and clickthe OK button.


10/41


10

Quick Start

Ater creating the hills, choose Edit > Select None to deselect anyselected points. Then click the Select Shape tool in the Fill section o theTools panel, and click the ll on your hills.

Select Shape tool.

The Style window will display the settings or the ll: its color, its linewidth and color, and the styles used to display it. To remove settings thatyou have used in previous projects, click the Reset button to reset the llcolors to their deault settings.

Set the line width to 1. Then choose Gradient rom the Eect menu to


11/41


11

Quick Start

open the Gradient dialog.

The Style window.

When you select the Gradient ll style, Anime Studio automatically

opens up the gradient settings dialog. The Linear gradient type isautomatically selected or you.

I you want to change the gradient settings later, click the details buttonto the right o the pop-up menu.

To set the let gradient color, double-click the let square at the bottomo the gradient bar to open the Color Picker. Select a green color andclick OK to return to the Gradient dialog.

To set the right gradient color, double-click the right square at thebottom o the gradient bar to open the Color Picker. Select a browncolor and click OK to return to the Gradient dialog.

When your colors are selected, the Gradient settings should appear asshown below. Click OK to return to the scene.


12/41


12

Quick Start

Gradient settings.

To see the gradient preview more easily, click outside the hill to

deselect the ll. Youll notice a line with a lled circle at one end, whichrepresents the start color o the gradient (green in our example). Theempty circle at the other end represents the end color o the gradient(brown in our example). You can adjust this indicator to control theblending and direction o the gradient.

In our example, the gradient starts with brown on the bottom (emptycircle) and ends with green on the top o the hill (lled circle). The angletilts slightly toward the let as shown below.

Final result.

Choose the File > Save As... command rom the menu and savethe project under the name Tutorial 1.2. In Tutorial 1.3: DrawingComplex Shapes on page 12 well continue working on this scene byadding more complex shapes.

Tutorial 1.3: Drawing Complex

ShapesThis tutorial ollows on the previous one, and teaches you how to drawmore complex shapes. You can either continue with the project youcreated in Tutorial 1.2, or you can open a le provided or you namedTutorial 1.2. This le can be ound in the Tutorials/1 - Basics

i di b


13/41


13

Quick Start

subolder within the main Anime Studio older. The le youre startingthis tutorial with should look something like the ollowing:

Starting point.

Creating a New Layer

Click the New Layer button in the Layer window to create a new layer.In the popup menu that appears, choose Vector.

Double-click this new layer and rename it Clouds.

Now select the Add Point tool.

Add Point

Click the Reset button in the Style panel to reset the colors to their

A i St di D b t 714


14/41


14

Quick Start

deault. Set the line width to 1.

Click to set the start point or a new line segment. Without releasing themouse, drag the cursor and release the mouse to create the end o thesegment. The nished segment is shown below.

Add a line segment.

Next, click on the end o the new line segment and drag to stretch thecurve out like this:

Add another segment to the end of the curve.

Anime Studio Debut 7 15


15/41


15

Quick Start

Do this a ew more times until you have the curve below:

Several more segments added.

The key point to remember is in order to extend a curve, you need toclick on one o its endpoints and then drag the mouse to where youwant the new point to be. Remember, i you make a mistake at any time,just choose the Edit > Undo menu command.

Now were going to add a second pu to the cloud. Move your mouseto the point just beore the end o the previous segment. The AutoWeld option or the Add Point tool should be turned on by deault.

When turned on, the node will turn green when you can automaticallyweld the new segment to the existing one. When Auto Fill is turned on,the cloud will automatically ll with color when the shape is closed.

Click on the second to last point in the curve, and drag down and tothe right, as shown below. When you use the Add Point tool on a

point that is in the middle o a curve, what happens is that you start anew curve that is automatically welded to that point in the rst curve.These two curves are permanently joined at that point, which becomesimportant when we get to lling the shape with color. Heres what yourproject should look like ater adding the new curve segment:

Anime Studio Debut 716


16/41


16

Quick Start

A new segment welded to an existing curve.

Add some points to the end o this new curve to get the shape below.Remember, to add a point to the end o a curve, click just on the lastpoint o that curve.

More new points.

Finally, add two or three more points at the beginning o the originalcurve. When you add the last point, drag it over to the right and line itup with the next to last point o the second curve beore letting go othe mouse. Anime Studio will automatically weld those points togetherand ll the cloud with color to get the nal shape below:



17/41


17

Quick Start

Finished cloud.

Sometimes it can be hard to ollow this sequence o steps - lets take amoment to watch a movie o the cloud being created in Anime Studio.Pay special attention to where the mouse is clicked in order to weld thetwo curves together.

Press the play button to watch how to draw the cloud

We will add a line eect to make the cloud a bit soter. In the Stylewindow, select Sot Edge rom the Line Eect pop-up menu. Accept thedeault settings and click OK.



18/41


Quick Start

Now would be a good time to select the File > Preview command tosee what your nal result looks like:

The rendered cloud.

A Second Cloud

Lets make another cloud. With the Clouds layer selected, choose Edit >Select All rom the menu. Now choose Edit > Copy, ollowed by Edit> Paste. Next, pick the Translate Points tool rom the toolbar.

Translate Points

In the working area, click and drag to the right to move the new cloud



19/41

QuickStart

Quick Start

away rom the original. (When you paste an object rom the clipboard, itis positioned directly on top o the original.)

Duplicated cloud.

Use the Scale Points tool to resize this new cloud, making it smallerthan the original.

Scale Points

The Scale Points tool can resize an object both vertically andhorizontally, and will scale whether or not the object is selectedbeorehand. In this case, we dont really want to change the clouds

shape like that. With the Scale tool active, click and drag inward onone o the corner handles that appears around the cloud, thus makingit smaller without changing its overall shape. Continue using the ScalePoints and Translate Points tools until you get the new cloud in aposition you like.

Second cloud scaled down and positioned.

Next, use the Edit > Select None command (or press the enter key) tode-select all the points in the new cloud.

Pick the Translate Points tool again, and this time click and dragindividual points to reshape the second cloud.



20/41

QuickStart

Quick Start

Translate Points

In this case, since only one point is selected at a time, the Translate toolis used to re-shape the cloud, not move the entire object. Just re-shapea ew points here and there so that the two clouds dont look exactlythe same.

Modify some points.

Plant a Tree

Good - were moving right along, but this scene needs some plant lie.

Add a new layer to the project by clicking the new layer buttonin the Layer window. Again, choose Vector rom the popup menu.

Double-click this new layer and rename it Tree.

Select a brown ll color rom the Style panel.

Anime Studio Debut 7k

21


21/41

QuickStart

Quick Start

Using the Add Point tool, along with the welding eature, draw ashape that resembles the trunk o a tree.

Add Point

Here are a ew things to remember as you go: First, you can always usethe Edit > Undo command to back up i you make a mistake.

Second, you can switch to using the Translate Points tool to reshapepart o the object, even i you havent nished drawing the whole thingyet.

Translate Points

Third, the Translate Points tool lets you pick individual points by clicking

on them - i you want to get rid o a point, but its too ar back to useundo, select it with the Translate Points tool and press the backspace ordelete key on your keyboard.

Feel ree to be creative with your tree trunk, you dont really have tostick to the sample below.

Anime Studio Debut 7Q i kSt t

22


22/41

QuickStart

Quick Start

Draw a tree trunk.

There are a ew tools that may be useul when building your treethat havent been introduced yet. The Pan Workspace and ZoomWorkspace tools can be used to move around the workspace.

Pan Workspace

Zoom Workspace

Note that these tools are not used to manipulate your drawing - theyjust let you move your view so that you can ocus in on a particular areao interest. To reset your view to its original position, select the View >Reset command rom the menu bar.

Another useul tool is the Curvature tool. Using this tool, you can click

and drag on a point to adjust how round or pointy the curve is as itpasses through that point.

Curvature

The last thing well add in this tutorial is some greenery to the top othe tree. The shape or the treetop will be similar to the clouds, so ollowsimilar steps to create it, but there is one tricky part. Because the treetopoverlaps the trunk o the tree, it can be easy to click on the wrong partand add a new point to the trunk instead o the treetop.

There are two ways to avoid this problem.

One, use the Pan and Zoom tools to move in close to the top o the

tree so that its easier to avoid clicking on the wrong thing.

The second approach is to draw the treetop o to the side wheretheres plenty o empty space. Then, when the treetop is nished,drag it back into position at the top o the tree. For the secondapproach, when youre ready to move it back into position, use the


23


23/41

QuickStart

Quick Start

Translate Points tool and click to select one point on the treetop.Then use the Edit > Select Connected command to select therest o the treetop. Finally, drag the treetop into place, and use theScale Points tool to resize it i necessary.

Select a nice leay green ll color in the Style panel. Set the line width to

4, youll see why later.

Use the Add Point tool to draw your treetop. Heres the kind o lookwere going or:

The treetop.

Choose File > Preview to see how the treetop looks. Notice how theends o line segments look kind o squared o and blocky. Well x thatusing Anime Studios variable line width eature.

Exit the render window and press Enter to de-select all points in thetreetop.

Now, using the Line Width tool, click on each o the points in thetreetop that is at the end o a line segment.

Line Width


24


24/41

QuickStart

Quick Start

Changing line width.

Choose File > Preview again, and notice how the endpoints are nownicely tapered. This eature isnt limited to endpoints - experiment withusing it on other points along a curve. Also, try dragging the Line Widthtool back and orth to make lines thinner or thicker.

The completed background.

Tutorial 1.4: Bone Setup on page 24 will move into using bones tocontrol a character, and youll learn how to set up some animationcontrols to make things move.

Tutorial 1.4: Bone Setup

This tutorial builds on the results o the previous two, teaching you howto add bones to a character. You can either continue with the project

you created in Tutorial 1.3, or you can open a le provided or younamed Tutorial 1.3. This le can be ound in the Tutorials/1 - Basicssubolder within the main Anime Studio older .

Bones are an important tool you can use in Anime Studio to help makeanimation easier. I you think o drawings in Anime Studio (like the


25


25/41

QuickStart

Quick Start

ones you made in previous tutorials) as sot rubber, then bones canbe thought o as sti wires inside the rubber that help you move andposition objects. Bones are never displayed in a nal rendering, theyrejust used as tools during the animation process.

Bones are not absolutely necessary or animation. They are very helpul

or animating certain types o motion as well show in this and the nexttutorial, but there are other ways to animate in Anime Studio as well.As you gain experience using Anime Studio, youll learn when bones areappropriate and when theyre not.

Importing an Object

Launch Anime Studio and open the project rom the last tutorial.

Starting point for this tutorial.

As you build a Anime Studio project, there are times you may want tore-use objects you created beore. Theres an easy way to do this, andwell use it now to add a character to the project.

Select the File > Import > Anime Studio Object... command. Inthe le dialog that appears, navigate to your Anime Studio installation

older.Locate the Tutorials/1 Basics older and open the le Tutorial Extras.A dialog will open asking you which object you want to use rom thisproject:

Insert Object dialog.

Select the layer named Frank on the let side o the dialog. On theright side, youll see a preview o Frank. Click OK. A new layer will beadded to your project. This layer is a copy o the layer Frank rom the


26


26/41

QuickStart

Quick Start

Tutorial Extras project. Frank is ully drawn and lled in - you can seewhat the scene really looks like now by selecting File > Preview.

Frank added to the project.

Adding Bones

Lets give Frank some bones to make him easier to animate. In the Layerswindow, click the new layer button. In the popup menu that appears,choose Bone. Rename this new layer Skeleton.

Drag the Frank layer upwards into the Skeleton layer. This step isvery important - you will know that youre draggingthe Frank layer to the correct place when the Skeletonlayer becomes highlighted. Finally, click the Skeleton layer tomake sure its active. When this is done, the Layer panel should look like

this:

Frank inside a bone layer.

Make sure the layer Skeleton is selected in the Layer panel. Whileholding down the Alt key, click the eyeballs icon on the let side o the

Skeleton layer to temporarily hide the other layers.

Finally, use the Pan and Zoom tools to zoom in on the contents o thislayer. Your window should now show something like this:


27


27/41

Q

Quick Start

Zoomed in on Frank.

Add a bone to Frank by selecting the Add Bone tool and clicking anddragging upwards as shown below:

Add Bone

This will be the main control bone - you could think o it as Franks

spine. It should look like this:

First bone added.

Click and drag out three more bones as shown below. Its important thatyou draw these three bones in order rom top to bottom: thigh, shin,and oot.


28


28/41

Quick Start

Right leg bones.

When a bone is selected, it is drawn in the highlighted color, red.

When you add a new bone, it becomes the child o the currentlyselected bone. The parent-child relationship or bones means that thechild can move around without aecting the parent, but i the parent

moves, the child will move with it. This is why it was important to drawthe previous three bones in order: the thigh bones connected to thespine bone, the shin bones connected to the thigh bone, and the ootbones connected to the shin bone (at least in Franks body).

When a bone is selected, its displayed in red. Its parent also gets

displayed dierently: in blue. The parent is highlighted like this or yourinormation - sometimes you may connect bones in the wrong order andlooking or the blue parent bone can help determine where things wentwrong.

OK, lets add bones to the other leg. But rst, we need to select thespine again so that the second leg will also be attached to it. Use theSelect Bone tool and click on the spine to select it.

Select Bone


29


29/41

Quick Start

Next, use the Add Bone tool to add three bones to the other leg asshown below:

Add Bone

Left leg bones.

Testing Bones

Theres a bone tool that lets you test how your skeleton structure isworking. Lets try that now. Select the Manipulate Bones tool andclick and drag any o the bones you created. Try dragging several o thebones around to see what happens.

Manipulate Bones

Moving Franks legs.


30


30/41

Quick Start

Notice that Frank automatically moves with the bones. You may havealso noticed that Franks looks quite squishy - when you move eithero his legs, his head changes shape as well. The next step is to clean thisup a bit by telling Anime Studio which parts o Frank should move withwhich bones.

The Test Bones tool doesnt permanently move the bones. Click theSelect Bone tool and all the bones will snap back into their originalplaces.

Select Bone

Adjusting Bone Strength

When you use a bone layer to control a character, every bone in theskeleton has some infuence on every part o the character. We saw thatin Frank - when you move one o the legs, even the head moves a bit.This infuence is strongest closest to each bone, so the head only movesa little bit, not as much as the leg itsel.

We dont really want to see Franks head move much at all when his legsmove. Luckily, theres a way to control this: bone strength. Each bonehas a strength value that controls how large its region o infuence is.What well do next is adjust the strength o the bones that control Frank.

Select the Bone Strength tool and take a look at the bones.

Bone Strength

Each bone has a semi-transparent region highlighted around it. (Youalso saw these regions when using the Manipulate Bones tool.) Theseregions show you the infuence o each bone in the skeleton. A bone hasthe most infuence inside its shaded region.

Regions of inuence.


31


31/41

Quick Start

With the Bone Strength tool active, click and drag side-to-side oneach o the bones in Franks skeleton to adjust its strength. The goalhere is to adjust the region o each bone so that it just encloses thecorresponding section o Franks body. For example, the region aroundthe shin bone should just enclose the shin, and not much more. Dontworry about being too precise - pretty close is good enough. For Franks

head, dont make the bone region enclose the entire head - that wouldmake the bone too strong. Adjust the bone strengths so that they lookapproximately like the ollowing:

Adjusted bone strengths.

Testing Bones (Again)

Once you adjust bone strengths, its a good idea to test the skeletonagain to make sure everything works correctly. Pick the ManipulateBones tool rom the toolbar and click and drag on Franks shin bonesjust above the ankle.

Manipulate Bones

I everything was set up correctly, Frank should be able to move like this:


32


32/41

Quick Start

Bones in action.

Play around - move Franks bones around into various positions and geta eel or manipulating the skeleton.Tutorial 1.5: Animation on page 32will cover animation, and youll learn how to make objects move around

over time.

Tutorial 1.5: Animation

This tutorial continues on rom the previous three, moving into theanimation eatures o Anime Studio. You can either continue on withyour project rom the previous tutorial, or you can use a le that hasbeen created or you - its named Tutorial 1.4 and its located in theTutorials/1 - Basics subolder within the main Anime Studio older.

There are three basic ways to animate objects in Anime Studio:

animating an entire layer,

using bones to animate parts o an object,

animating the individual points on an object

These three types can be combined to make very complex animations.

This tutorial will walk you through all three types o animation.

Open your previous project (or the Tutorial 1.4 le) in Anime Studio.Make sure all the layers are visible by clicking to turn on each layer inthe Layers window.


33


33/41

Quick Start

Turn on all layers.

Your window should look something like this:

Starting point for this tutorial.

Layer Animation

Layer animation is the most simple way to make objects move aroundin a Anime Studio animation. Its limited in the way you can move theobjects, but in some cases its all you need. Layer animation moves anentire layer around as i it were painted on a pane o glass.

Click the Clouds layer in the Layers window to activate it. Next, set the

current time to rame 72. This is done in the Timeline window. To set thetime, scroll the timeline panel sideways (i necessary) until you see thenumber 72 in the ruler at the top. Click on the number 72 and the timemarker will jump to that rame, as shown below:


34


34/41

Quick Start

Time set to frame 72.

NOTE: I you do not see multiple channels in the timeline, youmay have Anime Studio set to collapse them. Choose Edit >Preferences, and uncheck the Consolidate timeline channelsoption in the Options tab. This displays all animation channels in thetimeline.

In Anime Studio, an important concept is to learn the importance o

rame zero. At the ar let end o the timeline is a rame marked zero.When the time is set to zero, you are in Anime Studios creation mode.For now, you should only draw, add bones, or create other objects atrame zero. When Anime Studio is at any other rame, you are animatingthe objects you have created. As you get more comortable with AnimeStudio, you can choose to draw objects at other rames, but or now itsbest only to create new objects when the time is set to rame zero. Youcan switch back to rame zero at any time by pressing the rewind button,or by clicking on the number 0 in the timeline. For now, leave the time

at rame 72.Select the Translate Layer tool rom the toolbar.

Translate Layer

Click and drag to the right in the working area to move the cloud layerto the right. You can press the Shit key, i desired, to constrain themovement to a straight line.:

Moving the cloud layer.

Notice that a marker appeared in the timeline at rame 72. (You mayhave to scroll downwards to see the marker.) This marker represents a


35


35/41

Quick Start

keyrame - a point in time at which the layer has been given a position.There are several animation channels displayed in the Timeline panel.This keyrame appeared in the Layer Translation channel, because thatswhat type o action you just perormed - you translated (moved) a layer.

The new keyframe.

Try out the animation so ar: press the play button at the bottom-let o

the main window. The animation loops when it reaches the end (in thiscase rame 240). When youve seen enough, press the stop button.

I you preer, you can shorten the length o the animation to 72 rames,so that it will loop back to the beginning once it reaches the lastkeyrame. Simply change the total number o rames to 72 as shownbelow.

Shorten the length of the animation to 72 frames, if desired.

Playback controls.

Bone Animation

Bone animation uses skeleton structures to move an object around. You

got a good eel or how bones work in the previous tutorial when youused the Manipulate Bones tool. When animating bones you use verysimilar tools.

Activate the Skeleton layer by clicking its entry in the Layer panel.


36


36/41

Quick Start

Set the time to rame 12 by clicking the number 12 in the Timelinewindow. (You may have to scroll the Timeline window beore you cansee the number 12.)

Now, pick the Manipulate Bones tool in the toolbar.

Manipulate Bones

Click and drag the bones in Franks legs until they are positioned asshown below:

Move Franks legs.

Note that the Manipulate Bones tool works dierently at rame 12 thanit did at rame 0 in the previous tutorial. At rame 0, this tool is used totest a bone system, and doesnt permanently modiy the bones. However,when you are animating bones (at any rame other than 0), the bones


37


37/41

Quick Start

do hold their new position.

Next, pick the Translate Bone tool. Click on Franks spine bone anddrag it downwards a bit:

Translate Bone

Lower Franks entire body.

Next, set the time to rame 24 and choose the Bone > Reset AllBones menu command. Press the play button to watch your animation,and press stop when youre done.

When you played back the animation, you probably noticed that aterrame 24, Frank doesnt move any more. You could add more keyramesby setting the time to some later rame and moving Franks bones somemore, but lets try out Anime Studios animation looping eature.

In the timeline, you should see a group o keyrames at rame 24. Thesekeys represent bone movement (the spine bone moving up and down)and bone rotation (the bending legs). Drag a rectangle around theseour keyrames to select them:

Select bone keyframes at frame 24.

Next, right-click on one o these selected keys. A popup menu willappear. Select Cycle... rom the popup menu.


38


38/41

Quick Start

What youre telling Anime Studio is that you want these keys to cycleback to an earlier point in the timeline. A dialog will appear asking youwhat rame to cycle back to - enter the settings shown below. Youretelling Anime Studio that on this keyrame, the bone movement shouldcycle back to rame 0.

Cycle settings.

Click OK and press the play button to see the dierence. An animationchannel with cycling turned on will repeat its animation over and overindenitely. Typically this would be used or some kind o backgroundelement, not a oreground character like Frank, but its a great timesaver. In the timeline you can see an indication o the cycling in the bone

channels:

Cycling indicated in the timeline.

Point Animation

Using point animation, you drag around individual points (or groupso points) on an object. In theory, you could animate the same types o

motion as with bone animation - bones just save you a lot o work. Pointanimation is more typically used when you want to change the shape osome object.

Click the Clouds layer in the Layer panel to activate it.

Pick the Translate Points tool rom the toolbar.


39


39/41

Quick Start

Translate Points

Press the enter key on your keyboard to make sure no points areselected. Finally, click the Jump to End button to jump to the end o theanimation.

Click and drag individual points on the clouds in small amounts, justto reshape the clouds a bit. This will cause the clouds to change theirshapes slightly rom the beginning o the animation to rame 72.

Point animation.

Use the play and stop buttons to see the result.

Importing Animation

Remember how the Frank layer was imported into the project in theprevious tutorial? Well, imported layers can also contain animation.

First, return to Frame 0 in your animation.


40


40/41

Quick Start

Select File > Import > Anime Studio Object.... When prompted,locate your Anime Studio/Tutorials/1-Basics older, and open the leTutorial Extras.In the dialog that pops up, select the Beach Ball layerand click OK.

A bouncing beach ball will appear in your project. Press the play buttonto watch it go. It bounces all right, but its not really in the right position.

Switch back to rame zero (press the rewind button in the timeline) toset the balls initial position.

Using the Translate Layer tool, drag the beach ball to a better location.

Translate Layer


41


41/41

Quick Start

You can also use the Scale Layer tool to resize the ball. (Drag one othe corner handles o the scale control box to resize the beach ball the

same amount in width and height.) Press the Play button to view thenal animation.

Scale Layer

You now have a pretty good grasp o how to draw, ll, set up bones,and animate in Anime Studio. Feel ree to jump right in and start

working with Anime Studio. Or, you can read more tutorials that digdeeper into specic topics.

Documents

AS7 Debut QuickStart