Anime Studio Pro and Moho: animating 2D characters with a bone system
The software Anime Studio Pro, currently known as Moho, stands out for its approach to creating movement in two dimensions. Its core is a bone system that acts as a digital skeleton within vector illustrations, transforming the way animation is produced. 🦴
The digital skeleton: foundation of animation
This system allows manipulating and distorting a character's layers in an articulated manner. Animators assign vector points to specific bones. This linkage is crucial, as it enables rotating, stretching, and bending parts of the design with just a few clicks, eliminating the need to manually draw each pose on the timeline.
Key advantages of rigging with bones:- Organic movement: Achieves fluid and natural character movement, as if they had a real internal structure.
- Efficiency: Speeds up the animation process by avoiding constant redrawing of elements. A well-made rig can be reused in multiple scenes.
- Centralized control: Modifying one bone affects all linked vector points, allowing quick global adjustments.
A single mouse movement can trigger a bone choreography that would make a contortionist blush, all without the character complaining about the effort.
Smart Bones: automating complex movements
The Smart Bones tool takes the bone system concept to the next level. It works by creating custom controls, such as dials or sliders, that activate predefined and sophisticated animations. It's ideal for managing facial expressions or repetitive gestures efficiently. 😊
How Smart Bones work:- Create a control: Design a parameter, for example, a dial to control a smile.
- Record the action: Manually animate the bones and vector mesh to transition from a neutral expression to a wide smile.
- Link and reuse: The software saves this sequence in the dial. Turning it later automatically plays the entire associated bone animation.
Optimize and organize the project
Implementing bones and Smart Bones transforms the workflow. Complex actions are archived in a library to apply them to other characters or projects. This saves a lot of time when producing walk cycles, blinks, or dialogue sequences, as the animator only adjusts parameters instead of manipulating each frame. The result is a more agile production and more powerful and direct artistic control.