How does one swap out the sprite/image of a character during animation?

[Tim]

Hey guys, as some of you may know, I've been trying to learn the ins and outs of rigging up a puppet in OpenToonz. Recently I've come across the issue where I want to swap out the image used for a specific body part (in this case, a cat's paw). Depending on the position and orientation of the paw, it could alternate between two different images.

In my testing (using the basic drawing tools) I was able to create multiple drawings in the level strip editor and I could swap between those on the timeline. That seemed like a great idea, but whenever I have an imported image for a level, the level strip editor just says "Single Frame" underneath the thumbnail and will not allow me to create any additional drawings in that level.

Has anyone experienced this? Any idea how to get around it? Do I have to create yet ANOTHER level and modify the level's opacity to switch between them? This can't be right. The further I get in building a rig/puppet, the more difficult it becomes to animate with, which seems counter intuitive. I have 17 levels already (before adding any turnarounds) and in order to animate the skeleton I have to click around the x-sheet to expose the skeleton for that mesh. Do I have to have a new level for each state now?

The short version of the question is, "How do you folks handle swapping out the sprite used for a body part in the middle of an animation?"

Thanks all!

[Juls_3000]

Tim, about "single frame" I tell you here my elucubrations (not contrasted), it just seems work but could be better ways to do it, I hope this can help:

Vector drawings ( all in the same level strip):

https://workflowy.com/s/JtI13Zub8a#/92b887ffdb04

Sigle Frame:

(1)(2)  Put images (PNG transparent) in one column

(3) Syncronize them with the animation

[Tim]

Juls_3000,

Thanks for that! I didn't realize I could drop another image onto the x-sheet timeline. After my post last night, I did notice that you can right-click a cell and choose "replace" to swap in another level.

I was able to take what you showed here and create a second mesh and skeleton, so this works perfectly! Thank you so much.

[Herbert123]

A simpler alternative method is available in OpenTOonz: just use the skeleton tool in animate mode. This is meant to animate elements of a cut-out character quickly, and can also be used with a single level, of course.

Check it out:

[Juls_3000]

This method is the one which I recomended first in my former message : (Vector drawings ( all in the same level strip) : https://workflowy.com/s/JtI13Zub8a#/92b887ffdb04 )

It uses one level strip with several drawings, question is how to get this level strip with imported drawings

[Tim]

Herbert, unfortunately the skeleton tool seems to be useless once you apply a plastic mesh to an object. After that, any attempt to animate the skeleton causes the mesh level to act as a "clipping" layer for the image, so when you move the bone the image moves, but not the mesh, and the image disappears.

I've attached a picture to try and explain what I mean.

99% of my difficulties using OpenToonz have stemmed from this issue where it seems that Plastic Tool and Skeleton Tool were not intended be used in conjunction with one another. If it weren't for this "mesh clipping" issue, I'd have had this figured out days ago. :)

[Herbert123]

Your workflow is incorrect: you should create a controller object which is visible in the view, but invisible in the render. Then, in the schematic (node) view, attach the mesh to the controller object, and the deformed object will be controllable with the skeleton tool via the controller object. You do not want to try to rotate or re-position the actual deformed object, because in the hierarchy the mesh comes first, and the deformed object comes last.

And since mesh levels cannot be used in combination with the skeleton tool, the simple solution is to create a controller object, and hook it up BEFORE the mesh object(s). I use a semi-transparent green objects for that, and then hide it from rendering. I place the controller objects at the very left of the Xsheet, and fold those columns.

[Tim]

ooooohhhhh. That is a really interesting way to go about that. I hadn't considered that at all! It seems a bit "wonky" but it would be totally workable and would give me back basic control using the skeleton tool. I will definitely explore this.

Now I just have to go back to the Harlequin tutorial and figure out a little bit more about importing as a sub x-sheet.

Thanks!

[Herbert123]

I work with 3d character rigs in 3d software, and using controller objects is actually a very common part of rigging. Suppose that is why I came up with it. And it sorta seemed obvious to me since we can hide objects from rendering, but still display the same objects in the viewport ---> perfect for controller objects. :-)

[Juls_3000]

Good idea the controller object, it can solve many situations.

[Toonz Buff]

Hi Herbert!
Would it be possible to make a small tutorial on this approach?

[Nathaniel Diaz-Rua]

Herbert, please do a tutorial. Very interesting concept!