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00:00 I'm going to share with you guys a couple of techniques you can use when you want to
00:05 attach pegs to the elements in your scenes.
00:09 Now we can use the menu to do that by going to Element > Add and we can choose to add
00:15 a peg or parent peg.
00:18 So let's say for example I want to attach the eyeballs of this character to a peg.
00:22 I can go ahead and choose Element > Add > Peg, the peg appears in the timeline, then I can
00:30 click on the eyeballs and just drag them right on top of the name peg.
00:35 Now be sure you're not going too high above it because you're not going to attach it to
00:38 the peg, you're going to simply move it up in the list and we kind of missed the peg.
00:42 So we have to click on the eyeballs, drag it right until we see the black line to the
00:47 left of the name, then it's attached as you can see here.
00:52 Now it's ready to be animated.
00:53 Let me go ahead and take those guys out of there and get rid of that peg.
00:58 I can also choose the element, make sure it's blue in the list, go to Element > Add > Parent
01:06 Peg.
01:07 The advantage to this of course is that it has the name now of the element, very handy.
01:14 I'm going to undo that.
01:15 I can also go here to these buttons so I can click this guy and add a peg just like I did
01:20 by going to Element > Add > Peg and I can drag the element to the peg and I can also
01:27 have the element selected and click this button to add a parent with the name and everything.
01:35 Another cool trick is to select more than one item by holding down the Shift key and
01:39 then you can go ahead and click this guy and now everybody has a parent that has the name.
01:45 Just a very, very handy way of working.
01:48 Don't forget you can also do the same thing by going to Element > Add > Parent Peg and
01:53 we get the same result.
01:55 Every element that was selected now has a peg attached to it with the appropriate name.
01:59 So that is how you can quickly add pegs to the elements in your scenes.
02:08 Let's take some time to discuss the structure that you're going to try to look at when you
02:13 build your character hierarchy system.
02:16 Now the good news is that it's always going to change based on the type of character you're
02:21 working on.
02:22 The bad news is it's always going to change based on the type of character you're working
02:25 on.
02:26 So for example, when we're building a human being or a humanoid character, we can look
02:32 at our own bodies and kind of figure out what parts stand still and what parts are attached
02:38 to them.
02:39 For example, our shoulders are attached to our chest muscles and attached to that would
02:45 be the biceps which goes for the forearms and then the wrist and then the hands.
02:49 So if you move the forearms, the wrist is going to follow and the hands are going to
02:54 follow that.
02:55 So you have to build that in the same way.
02:57 As you can see here, I have the character's head and when I build the hierarchy for this
03:01 guy, I want to make sure that this head and neck and everything follow the chest.
03:06 So I could grab the character's chest, move it around, the head would follow and the arms
03:09 would follow.
03:10 I have a chart for you guys in the work files folder that you can look at for reference.
03:16 And once again, this will change based on the type of character.
03:20 So if you're working on some kind of insectoid character like a giant spider, now what are
03:25 you going to do then?
03:26 We have all kinds of different limbs and different parts that are going to be attached differently
03:30 than you would with a character that's a humanoid.
03:33 So you'd have all these leg parts attached to other leg parts, attached to a thorax and
03:37 an abdomen and all kinds of great bug parts.
03:40 So once again, don't let that dissuade you, just experiment a little bit.
03:44 But as a primer, what I have here is the main areas here.
03:48 I have my chest and attached to the chest would be the left arm, left forearm, left
03:54 hand and any prop such as a weapon.
03:58 So if you have a dagger, for example, that would be parented to the hand or the wrist.
04:04 Then you would have of course the right arm, right forearm and the right hand.
04:09 Then of course you'd have these things attached to the neck, the head and then all these guys
04:14 are in a row specifying that they all go to the head.
04:17 So the eyes, the hair, the mouth and any props would all be attached to the head which then
04:23 is attached to the neck.
04:24 The neck is attached to the chest.
04:27 And for the legs we have the hips, the left leg, the left shin, the left foot and so on.
04:33 The hips would be attached of course to the chest as well or whatever you want to.
04:37 So sometimes you would like the hips to be the main focal point for the hierarchy system
04:42 especially in 3D animation.
04:44 The hips are usually the area or the region where the body is going to revolve from or
04:50 move from.
04:52 So when you're creating a hierarchy, determine the structure of your hierarchy, set your
04:56 pivot points appropriately and then test and animate to see if it works.
05:01 Don't worry, it's going to change even if you have a character that doesn't have arms
05:05 like a blob character.
05:06 He might just have three parts of the body.
05:09 A lower part of the body where there's a gelatin kind of movement, a spine and then a head
05:15 and he might have some antenna.
05:17 So you can just adjust this to fit whatever character you're trying to build.
05:27 For those of you new to animation, let me just take this moment to explain what a keyframe
05:32 is.
05:33 So a keyframe is simply something that records a difference in something.
05:39 Let me give you an example.
05:40 Chances are really good that you're sitting down right now watching this tutorial and
05:45 let's say you have a soda on your desk or some tea or coffee.
05:49 So let's look at your hand right now.
05:51 Your hand is probably on your desk.
05:53 Consider that keyframe number one.
05:56 Now you're going to lift your hand up and that's keyframe number two.
06:01 Then you're going to reach for the glass.
06:03 That's keyframe number three.
06:05 And then you bring the glass back to you.
06:07 So we have four keyframes.
06:09 Each one of those frames represents a different state or position.
06:14 Keyframes can also record transparency, a change in color, a change in scale, squashing,
06:20 stretching, something getting in the air like a balloon or deflating and falling down.
06:26 So a keyframe is simply a way to record motion.
06:30 I'll give you an example.
06:32 I'm going to add a peg to my camera here and I'm going to right click on the peg and add
06:37 a keyframe.
06:39 That's keyframe one.
06:40 Now notice that nothing is happening here, right?
06:43 And I'll go over here to frame 40, right click and add another keyframe.
06:49 On both of these keyframes we have the same position of the camera because we haven't
06:52 done anything to the keyframes.
06:55 We have added no motion or translation to it.
06:59 So what I'm going to do is I'm going to go to the last keyframe here for the camera and
07:03 then from my side view I'm going to move the camera closer.
07:09 Now one thing that's really important and I like doing this on purpose because with
07:13 Toon Boom Studio as opposed to some other applications you have to use the correct tool
07:19 to create motion.
07:21 And I see students do this one all the time.
07:23 So you'll notice that there's nothing here.
07:25 Whenever you animate something always keep your eyes up here.
07:29 If you don't see a path, any purple line, then you don't have motion.
07:35 Let me give you an example.
07:37 See that?
07:38 Nothing.
07:39 So I'm going to undo that.
07:41 The tool that you always want to reach for is these guys.
07:45 These guys right here.
07:47 So I'm going to click on this guy right here which will allow us to actually move or translate
07:52 the position of an element when we want to transform its animation position.
07:58 So with this tool selected, the transform tool, I'm going to take the camera and move
08:03 it closer to the character.
08:05 And that's what I want to see.
08:07 See that line right there?
08:09 That tells us that we have keyframes in motion.
08:12 Something is actually happening.
08:14 So I'm going to scrub now and there we go.
08:19 Keyframes in action.
08:21 Keyframe number 1, nothing is happening.
08:24 Keyframe number 40, the camera has actually moved from its current location.
08:28 And Toon Boom Studio recorded that motion.
08:32 And that is how keyframes work in Toon Boom Studio.
08:36 Just a short note that I also want to point out.
08:39 Unlike a 3D application, say Maya or Light Wave or Cinema 4D, Toon Boom Studio can only
08:48 interpolate or give you the in-between frames that are going to be 2D.
08:54 So if you have a character's hands and they're going to open and close, in a 3D application,
08:59 the computer would be able to use bones and actually open and close those hands to give
09:04 you the X, Y, and Z axes of motion.
09:09 In Toon Boom Studio, you're going to get X and you're going to get Y and then when you
09:13 do things like this, you're going to get Z.
09:15 But once again, that's motion, that's translation.
09:19 But you're not going to have that depth that you would get in a 3D application unless you
09:22 manually draw that in.
09:24 So I just want to make sure that I specify that.
09:26 And that's it.
09:27 Thanks for watching.
09:28 I hope you enjoyed it.
09:29 I'll see you next time.
09:29 [END]