Hello, and welcome to our Ohio media's tutorial on character detection and rigging. In our background detection tutorial, you have already learned what the section is. This section is the process of tracing bitmap objects into vectors and getting them ready for animation. Now, when you animate characters in Flash, just a vector tracing is not enough. It is important to create different groups of every single body part. Only when we have each part of the body as a different object.

We can animate it as per our requirement. This process is called as rigging. This tutorial will give you basic training in the process of character detection and rigging. Pay close attention to the process and make detailed notes on the tools, technique and tricks to use when you deselect ordering A character. To start with, let's create a fresh file. We need a character image to detect and rig for this tutorial.

So, we'll now go to the File menu. Select the import tab, and click the Import to stage option. We selected the character JPG file and clicked open. Observe that in this image, we have the character design in three angles. We are going to work on the front view for now. Let's scale it up with this scale and rotate dialog box to make it easier to trace the character.

After that, lock the layer so it doesn't get disturbed. We will rename the image layer as sketch. Let's save the file now. Do keep saving the file every three minutes so your work is saved. Add the bottom of the layer stack, click the Insert layer icon to create A new layer, name it as vector. Use the Zoom tool to magnify the face of the character called the property tab.

Now, select the line tool from the toolbar. In the property dialog box, change the line thickness to 0.5. For character tracing, we will use the black color for our outline. Close the property tab. Now, when we learned background detection, we use the concept of groups for tracing each object. We are going to use exactly the same technique in this tutorial.

Let's begin with the face first, press Ctrl plus G to create a group. It is advisable that you magnify the image a lot so the tracing becomes better. Remember, in character tracing, you cannot make an approximate tracing. It has to be perfect Because the characters design is permanent, so take your time when you trace any character. Let's see how it is done. Begin with the simple parts First, choose the oval tool from the toolbar, hold down the shift key to draw a perfect circle.

Click on the fill and press the delete key. using the keyboard arrow keys, move the circle to match the outline of the left eye. to match it exactly to the size of the I press Ctrl plus alt plus s to call up the scale and rotate dialog box. Enter values and repeat the operations till you match the eye perfectly. You can also use the free transform tool to scale and skew the circle. The main point here is precision.

It must match age to age, no mistakes. Double click outside to come back to the main Stage. Here's an extremely important pointer for you. Often, you'll have to trace a hand drawn character by an artist. Since they are drawn without scales, there are chances that the parts are not symmetrical. In some cases, they're not in proportion to each other.

It is the duty of the tracing artists to find out these errors and correct them while tracing. So when you trace a character's cage, always think about symmetry and proportion. A smart way to ensure this proportion and symmetry is copy and paste. Yes. Let's see how to do it with this I. We have this circle for the characters right I will now copy and paste the exact circle to be used for the characters left I for this, first press Ctrl plus C to copy the circle and then press Ctrl plus shift plus V to paste it in place.

Click the right arrow on your keyboard to get it in the place. By using the keyboard arrow keys, you can ensure that the position of the two eyes is exactly in a line. Using the option of dragging the group with the mouse can be avoided in such cases. Did you observe another thing here, we came out of the group and then created the left eye on the main stage. This is because we want both the eyes to be separate groups. This is a very important part of the character rigging process.

If the two eyes are in the same group, animating both of them differently will be impossible. All right, now hide the sketch layer by clicking on the dot under the eye icon. You see the two high circles we made just like these. We are going to create separate groups for all the other parts of the characters face. Later, we'll proceed To the other body parts unhide the sketch layer again by clicking on the cross under the eye icon. Now, we'll create the inner parts of the eye.

Click on the right eye circle to select it. Again, press Ctrl C to copy the circle. Then, press Ctrl plus shift plus V to paste it in place. Now, we'll scale the new group to suit the eyeball. For this, press Ctrl plus alt plus s and try various values to suit the eyeball outlined in the reference sketch. We'll keep trying the value till we are satisfied.

Okay 55% which well now we'll copy this eyeball and paste it in place. Then move it inside the outer left eye. Done. You'll see that each group in the I outer eyes And the eyeballs are different. Now let's understand another concept. If you have watched a lot of animation films, you will find that the eyeball moves independently of the outer eye circle.

Only the pupil inside the eyeball moves with the eyeball. This means that the pupil group must be inside the eyeball group. So, let's first enter the eyeball circle group by double clicking on it. Let's copy and paste the circle in place and scale it down using the scale and rotate dialog box control plus r plus s. This is the pupil of the eye. Let's go on to the white reflection highlight inside wl. For this, select the pupil.

Copy it with the control plus t shortcut and paste it in place using the ctrl plus shift plus v shortcut. Call up the scale and rotate dialog box Ctrl plus alt plus s to scale it down. Now, move it with the keyboard arrow keys there. If the circle doesn't suit the scale, then you can use the scale and rotate dialog box again. Now that we have created the entire inner parts of the eyeball, we can double click outside the work area and come out to the main screen. Now, remember what we said about proportion.

You have created one complete eye. So you need not repeat the same process for the other eye. You can simply reuse what you have already created. As before, select the eyeball. copy it and paste in place with the control policy and control plus shift plus v shortcuts. Click the right arrows on your keyboard to place the eyeball.

Done. Now hi The sketch layer as we did before, see the exact duplicates. In the time of creating one group, we created two. As a professional in Flash animation, it is very important that you master the technique of reuse. Next, let's draw the nose. As usual, first create a group by pressing Ctrl plus G. Then select the line tool from the toolbar and draw a line.

Now, using the selection tool, drag the line upwards into a curve to suit the nose line. Now, select the sub selection tool and use the handles to match it to the reference image. Double click to come to the main stage. On to tracing the mouth. Press Ctrl plus G to create a group and select the line tool again, push it into a curve using the selection tool. And then Adjust it further with the sub selection tool.

To draw the little smile lines on either side of the lips, you can select the pencil tool. Good. Let's learn another way to return to the main stage, simply click on the scene tab just below the layer stack. If you hide the sketch layer again, you will see that our character detection is beginning to show the face taking shape. Now, press Ctrl plus g again to create another group. This time we'll draw the characters right I bro selecting the Zoom tool, let's magnify the area.

Now, select the line tool and begin tracing the eyebrow. You will see that the line isn't prominent enough. So let's create a fill shape. instead. draw another line and using the Select tool at dashboard DNS now switch to the sub selection tool and Added speaker. Okay, back to the stage.

Now copy the eyebrow in place with the control policy and control plus shift plus v shortcuts. With the eyebrows selected, go to the Modify menu, select the transform tab and click on Flip Horizontal moves the new eyebrow using the keyboard right arrow keys and place it. Observe that again we reuse one group and created another quickly and that too in perfect proportion and perfect symmetry. While we go through this tutorial, we'll be learning how to work smartly enhancing the consistency of model. Turn to the ear now. Again, select the Zoom tool to magnify the area and begin work with the line tool.

Draw a line and choose the Select tool. holding down the control key. Drag the line you'll observe that if you press the Ctrl key and angular node gets created. Now, you can curve and adjust the rest of the year using the sub selection tool will match the character model Exactly. You will remember that we have used the same steps when we learned back round a section. The only difference is that in character the section the proportion of curves is huge.

And there is absolutely zero margin for error or improvisation. Okay, we have drawn the ear as per the sketch. But when we create groups or shapes for animation, we cannot leave them incomplete. They must be closed so that we can fill color in them. In this case, we'll draw another line and curve it just a bit outside into the face. At present, you might feel that this is looking strange, but soon we'll learn how to get rid of this line.

Let's come out to the stage and reuse the right ear to create the left one. With the ear selected, copy and paste it in place with the Ctrl C, and Ctrl Shift plus v shortcuts. With the ear selected, go to the Modify menu, select the transform tab and click on flip horizontal. Move the new year into its position using the keyboard right arrow keys. Hide the sketch layer for a moment to see what we have done till now. The eyes, eyebrows, lips, nose and ears of our character already time to draw the hair.

Before you create a group, it is a good practice to first check if you are on the right layer. Then press the Escape key on your keyboard. This ensures that nothing is selected on the screen. Ready. Now, press Ctrl plus G to create a new group. Choose the line tool from the toolbar and begin tracing along the outlines.

As we did before, use the Select tool and sub selection tool. Keep the snap button on so that there is no gap left. Here, we again see the point we learned in our background detection tutorial. Even if the group is not complete in the original sketch, it should be completed while pressing here, some part of the hair will go behind the character's ear but will still complete the hair. It is also very essential to delete all extra lines from the tracing we will complete the other parts of the hair. When you do this tutorial on your own focus on getting command over handling nodes and on using the tools to get the required curves, just like we did for the left here, we'll close the hair group so that we can fill it with color later.

Coming back to the main stage, hide the sketch layer to see the results. Now, again, we will press Ctrl plus G to create the face group. For this, take the oval tool, hold down the control key and draw a perfect circle. to match it with the shape of the character space, you can use the free transform tool. Also note that while doing this care should be taken about two things. First, the number of nodes in any shape should be as less as possible.

Second, the groups should overlap each other well. For example, see that the ear and hair are overlapping each other face, hair, and ear are overlapping each other to simply put, there should be no gap between parts of the character. Step out of the group by double clicking outside, hide the sketch layer. The dissection of the character's face is complete, we will now move to an interesting part of the character's body apart, that is not visible to us, the neck. Sometimes the design doesn't include a neck at all. But think from an animation point of view.

Suppose we wanted to show the character from back. Won't this neck be visible? Then just about the colors of his shirt? What if there was a scene where our character looks at this guy? We should have to show his neck there, right? That's the reason why we need to create a neck although it is not visible.

But how do we draw it if we can See it simple. The artist here needs to draw an approximate shape. If the character is super thin, you need a super thin neck. If the character is big time fat, then you draw Sumo sighs neck. In our case, it's a healthy child. So we need a neck that looks healthy enough for the child.

Here we have taken the rectangle tool and made some adjustments with the selected sub selection tool. Observe that we have extended the neck right till the upper chest and the neck right up to the middle of the phase. This will help to accommodate all the various views of the characters neck that the animator might need. Double click outside the face to see what we have done. Hide the sketch layer and unhide it to go to the next step. The shirt.

Okay, now we are going to need more space to work on. So let's hide the timeline by clicking on the active timeline button just about the working area. That will make it easy. All right, select the line tool and draw the shoulder line. curve it up to match the sketch. Here, we have to remember we are dissecting the character.

That is we are dividing the character into groups that will animate together. When we animate the character, the hands will have separate movements. The chest and stomach part will animate differently to so here, we'll turn the upper shoulder, the chest and the stomach into one group. To create the parallel lines in the shirt, you can use the Copy and Paste in Place shortcuts for faster work. Adjust the curves with this sub selection tool and delete the extra line fragments. Now, complete the shirt at the shoulders with cross Go up the lines outside just a bit, double click outside the group and come to the stage to see the result.

Now, let's come to tracing the hand, press Ctrl plus g for a new group and begin. Here, we must think the hand is made up of three parts, the upper arm, the forearm, and the palm. That means we'll need the three parts to be different groups. As usual, we use the line tool to draw the line and then select and sub selection tool to edit it to match the sketch. At the same time, the hand should not look like three different objects. For this will first draw the hand as one group and later divided while drawing the upper part of the forum, observe that we have overlapped it into the show shape.

At present, you might feel that the lines are disturbing the characters design. But don't worry. After we fill up the colors and arrange the groups about one another, the differences will get hidden effectively. Okay, we have the arm. Here comes another important step, dividing the hand into two groups, the upper arm and the forearm. For this, simply draw a line at the differentiation point, like this.

Now, select the forum by clicking on its four sides and press Ctrl plus x to cut it. Step out of the group by double clicking outside the group. Once on the mainstage paste the object in place with the ctrl plus shift plus v shortcut. While the object is still selected, press Ctrl plus G to turn it into a group as we did before, choose the Select tool and slightly extend the joining into the upper arm area. Observe here that although the upper arm and the forearm are two groups, the smooth flow of the hands shape is intact. This is because we drew the end diagram first and then edited it.

Let's return to the upper arm or the biceps part by double clicking on the group will complete the group by drawing the dividing line between the upper and forearms. Now, if we draw a slight curve on the dividing line here, a gap will show when the forearm rotates. So for the upper arm will extend the line into a bigger and bigger and more circular curve. Let's see how this would help rotate the upper arm a bit. Now, if the curve was slide, you would see a gap between To groups that explains the extra curve extension. All right, double click outside the group and come to the main stage to work on the palm.

Press Ctrl plus G and magnify the palm area with the Zoom tool. We'll use the usual line select and sub selection tools to create the bomb. For intricate details, we can also use the pencil tool. If there are some odd strokes in the original sketch, we can edit and correct them at this stage. Match the finger lines. The thumb to suit the original sketch will complete the palm group by drawing a line that joins the palm with the forearm and then extend the curve slightly to overlap the forearm.

Now, while editing you might come across some mismatches of flow, like we have here such cases, simply select the odd part and click the straighten option at the bottom of the toolbar. This tool turns the odd curve into a straight line so that we can easily rework the curve. We can use the straighten tool, wherever we see odd curves or strokes. Come back to the main stage. The character's right hand is complete. Now, we want the left hand.

Let's reuse the hand we have created. Select the upper arm, the forearm and the palm groups and make a copy by using Ctrl plus C and Ctrl plus shift plus v shortcuts. Now go to the Modify menu. Select the transform tab and click on flip horizontal. Move the new hand using the keyboard right arrow keys to match its position in this sketch, zoom inside the group to match the flow of the shoulder into the upper arm and carefully match it. You will observe that the original drawing is not symmetrical.

In this case, remember that we have to trace the character with two focuses, proportion and symmetry. To ensure that the character models design flow is intact. Hide the sketch layer and move the group to match the flow to your satisfaction. We'll look at the tummy part later. First, we'll deselect the legs, press Ctrl plus G to create a group. Zoom in to work on the details.

Now draw a rectangle with the rectangle tool. Click on the fill and press the delete key. Now, let's begin using the Select tool to edit the rectangle. Here also we need the leg to be divided into two parts, the thigh proportion and the lower leg As we did with the hand group, we'll draw the complete lay group first and then divided into two groups. To create new nodes, hold down the Ctrl key and drag a point on the line. Add the curves as needed to match the sketch.

Now, just like we did with the upper arm group, extend the leg part, well inside this stomach area. This extra space helps when animating the rotation of the hips of the character. Now that we have the complete leg with a well defined flow, we can separate the lower leg from the thigh part. drag over and select the lower part of the leg using the Select tool and cut the selection by pressing Ctrl plus x. Double click to exit the group. And when you come to the main stage, press Ctrl plus shift plus V to paste the outline in the right place.

While it is still selected, press Ctrl plus G to create a new group. Now, add a line to complete the group and extend it just a little bit into the upper leg group. Do observe that in some cases, we add a small curve to end group and in other cases, we plus bigger curves. You will understand the practical use of this when we actually animate the character. Let's complete the time portion now. Double click on the tie group to enter it.

With the line tool, complete the group. Now, remember what we did for the upper arm part. We extended it a lot downward to accommodate the rotation of the forearm. holding down the control key. Drag the line and create a node. To accommodate the rotation of the lower leg.

We need to extend the upper leg group edited further using the sub selection tool. If you feel there is need to change something, it is best to do it at this stage. All right, the shoes. Observe that some part of the shoes is inside the bottom of the band. But as we have done before, draw the complete choose using a little imagination. Draw a line and drag it into a curve.

Copy the line in place by using the ctrl plus C and Ctrl Shift plus v shortcuts. Then go to the Modify menu. Select the transform tab and click on flip horizontal. Now, move the line to match the shoe in the sketch. Learn to reuse as much as you can. Even small parts like this curved line, draw the bottom line and then again, reuse the line by copying and moving it a little upwards to match the top of the shoes sole.

Complete the group with another line. Let's draw the laces part now. Again, observe that the upper part of the laces is not visible in the sketch. But the section artists must complete these parts give the lines the necessary curves, double click outside to step out of the group. After seeing the shoe with the band, you will see that a few changes are required in the band. And just the bottom a bit understand that these changes might seem small, but they are very crucial.

Remember that we are going to reuse this tracing for other leg too. So the more accurate it is, the better. Okay, now that we have made the changes, select the high part the lower lag and the shoe groups. Copy the selection in place by using the Ctrl C and Ctrl plus shift plus v shortcuts. Next, go to the Modify menu, select the transform tab, and click on flip horizontal. Now, move the copy with the keyboard right arrows to fit the left leg of the character will now move to the more challenging part of this now.

After placing the legs in place, you will find that they are overlapping each other. If the groups are connected to each other, like the upper arm was connected to the lower arm, overlapping is necessary, but if the groups are going to be animated separately, then such overlapping should be avoided as much as possible. Let's go to work on the leg groups. Again. Start with the shoes. We'll use the free transform tool to scale it down horizontally.

Now the shoes are separate. Doing the same with the pants would be difficult with this sketch layer visible. So let's visit the layer stack and hide it for the time being. Click the dot below the icon. Now, you can clearly see the black outlines on the white background. Now this would be easier to do.

As you work on the parts. Use the Zoom tool to magnify and the Hand tool to move around. Enter the groups of the left and right leg and adjust the bottom part of the pant. And important point here is to know that characters are designed to be animated. So if you feel that some part of the design might create problems in animation, then it's your duty to make changes required to solve the issues. Of course, it is always advisable to first ask permission to your team leader and maybe concert the artists we have made a few changes in the lower leg.

Now when the character walks, the two legs would animate without coming in each other's way. Double click to exit the group unhide the sketch layer again. Next comes our characters Tommy will draw a rectangle and edit it to suit the original design. We will edit it just a little. Putting a patch like this will also ensure that no matter how the character is animated, the last part that remains to be detected in our character design is the zip again, create a group by pressing Ctrl plus G. Now trace the zip with the line tool will again complete the zip group by drawing two extra lines to help us fill it later. Thus far, we have dissected the character completely.

We have Erase the parts, edited them for proportion and symmetry and converted them into groups. Now, we'll fill color in the various parts. For this, we'll be using the actual colors from the original sketch. Here to you will observe that we'll be taking groups with identical colors in one go and then proceed to other parts with different colors. Let's begin. For the moment, we'll hide the vector layer.

Let's color the blue shirt First, go to the color fill swatch and drag the picker onto the blue shirt in this sketch. Notice that the color fill has now blue as the active color. Now unhide the vector layer and enter the different groups with the blue color one by one. Just click inside the group with the paint bucket tool. Now, as we go on filling color inside the groups will delete anything that wasn't part of the original design. For instance, we'll remove the two lines that divided from the hand groups.

Select both these lines and press the Delete key on the keyboard. Fill the remaining bottom patch of the shirt with the blue color. Double click outside to exit the group. Now to the next blue colored group. Let's fill the left hand now. Enter the group.

Select the paint bucket and click inside. Like before, delete the extra lines that joins it with the chess group. Be careful not to delete the other outlines will know why when we animate the character. Move to the next row the forearm. Fill it with the color and delete the line that divides it from the upper arm. Repeat the steps with the right hand as well.

Now, you will see that the tummy and pan groups are coming in front of the shirt. Shouldn't they be at the back? Right? Let's send them back. For this. Drag the Select tool over the tummy group, the zip group and the leg groups to select them.

Now go to the Modify menu, choose the arrange tab and click on Send to Back. You can also use the shortcut key control plus shift plus down arrow to send any group behind all other groups. Observe that now the pant and Tommy groups have gone behind the shirt. Let's color the phase group now. Again, click on the drop down arrow on the color field swatch and click on the face of the character Note that the active color in the sweat has changed from blue to skin color. Enter the group and click inside the circle to paint the face in skin color.

When you come out of the group, you will see that the face group is covering the hair, the eyebrows, the eyes, the nose, the mouth, and the ear groups. To send it back, press Control press down arrow. Repeat the shortcut keys in the face takes the right position. Now to the neck group, enter the group. Click inside it with the paint bucket tool to give it skin color. as we did before, select the next group and keep pressing CTRL plus Down Arrow till it goes behind all the groups observed that the shirt group is about the face Group now, to bring the phase group powered along with the other related groups.

Drag and select all the facial groups. These select the next group, because we want it to be beneath all of the groups. Now, press Control plus up arrow, repeat the operation till the face comes in the forefront. Here's a pointer. Even if you're sure that your tracing is complete, remember to double check this while you fill colors in the groups. For this, after you fill a group, make a point to hide the vector layer and see the sketch once more.

This will show you if you have skipped tracing some part of this sketch. For instance, in the original sketch, there is a double collar line and we have drawn just one line there. So enter the shirt group, but we have filled color in the group we cannot see the actual sketch So, let's select and delete the blue file here. Now we can see this sketch, draw a line with the line tool and match it with the sketch using the selection and sub selection tool. Now again, draw the connecting lines in the shoulder area. Selecting the paint bucket tool, paint the shirt blue.

Check if you have given the same color to the color we have just drawn. When you zoom in, you will find that the neck group is wider than the color. So select the next group and using the free transform tool. Squeeze it horizontally so it is no more visible. Let's color the ears now. We need the skin color here.

So again, pick the color from the face and enter the left ear group. With the paint bucket tool active click inside to fill color. If you remember, once the fill is given, it is necessary to To delete the extra lines here to will delete the extra line between the face and the ear to repeat the same procedure and edit the right ear. Come to the nose now, enter the nose group by double clicking it. You will observe that the nose we have drawn is not a complete object. Since its borders are not sealed, it cannot be filled.

Let's use the line tool to complete the shape. Now, fill the nose shape with skin color and then delete the extra line. Observe that the fill stays intact even after the outlines are deleted. Now to another object that has skin color the palms. Let's begin with the right hand palm. Enter the palm group and fill skin color by clicking inside it.

Now delete the line that separates the pound from the blue shirt. Rip Repeat the same process with left balm. Observe that the palms have come about the shirt sleeve. To send them behind the forearm. Select both the palm groups and press Ctrl plus down arrow on your keyboard. Repeat till the palms go behind the blue shirt.

Now, select the tummy group, double click on it to edit it. With the paint bucket tool, click on it so it gets the skin color. Using the control press down arrow shortcut, send it to the back of the blue shirt. Let's color the hair group now. We'll use the same technique of picking the color from the original sketch and then entering the hair group to color it with the paint bucket tool. will now repeat the same with the eyebrow groups.

Let's color the eyes now, in the color swatch, select white. Now enter the outer eye group and color it white with the paint bucket tool. Remember that in the original sketch, lower part of the hair is hidden behind the ears. So we'll have to bring the ears to the front. Select both ear groups and press Control plus up arrow to bring them above the hair group. If you look closely, the hair patch behind the right ear isn't looking that good.

So we'll enter the hair group and do some editing we'll bring the hair in line with the point where the ear joins the face. You can use the Select and sub selection tools we can enhance the character looks greatly at every stage of the character detection process. All we need to do is keenly examine every little part of the character as we work. Repeat the same to the left here too. In a real project, the design evolves right up till the time that the character gets animated. However, it is a good practice to perfect the character as early in the process as possible, will now color the eyes.

Let's hide the vector layer for the time being to pick the color from the original sketch. Okay, we have the color. Let's enter the eyeball group unhide the vector layer and double click the eyeball group to edit it. Select the outer eyeball also no As the iris click inside the iris with the paint bucket tool. Now will color the pupil to zoom into this stage so you can work easily. How about choosing a dark shade from the same color, go to the windows menu and click on color.

You'll get the color tab, check the vertical sidebar at the right of the tab. On this bar, you can choose a brighter or a darker shade of the same color. Now we won't need the outline for the eyeball. So select the outline and press the Delete key on your keyboard. Note that while tracing the eye, we didn't create a group for the highlighted spot. As soon as you notice such omissions, make a point to correct them.

Let's select the highlighted spot and press Ctrl plus G to turn it into a group while it is selected, click the paint bucket tool and select the white color from the color swatch and click inside. Once you have filled the color, select the outline and deleted make it a bit close to the border of the pupil group to match the original sketch. That gives us our right eye. Now, should we repeat the same intricate process for the left eye? No, we should simply create a copy of the right eyeball and move it to the left I use the Ctrl C and Ctrl plus shift plus V to copy the edited eyeball and paste it in place. With the right arrow buttons on your keyboard, move till it matches the position in the original sketch.

To delete the group under the new eyeball we created, simply press Ctrl plus Down Arrow so the new eyeball group goes behind the old one. Now select the upper eyeball and press the delete key on your keyboard. By the way, have you saved your work all this time. Remember, as soon as you begin detecting, keep saving your work every two, three minutes. It's a good practice that can save you a lot of hard work. Simply press Control plus s while you continue working.

It's easy, and it's important. All right, let's see how we are doing. hide and unhide the vector layer to see if the tracing is looking as good as the original character model. Let's turn to the paint colors now. We'll repeat the same process here to that is select the color from the original image using the color fill drop down scratch. Then, enter the groups one by one and use the paint bucket tool to click and color them.

You can use the Select and sub selection tools to edit the groups as per the need. Most important And it's absolutely necessary at this stage to delete all extra lines and outlines that are not in the original sketch. It is always advisable to hide the vector layer once a while to see the sketch layer so that there is no mistake. Generally, at this stage you will find that some groups are not working well. Take for instance, the dummy part, we tried to send it behind the blue shirt and behind the pan groups, but somehow it's not working. In such situations, it is always better to not waste too much time in rearranging the groups.

Simply enter the dummy group and try to design it so it doesn't create ordering problems. Delete all the extra lines and recolor it with skin color. Thinking in this fashion will help you save time and do the detection quickly and efficiently. We'll now go ahead and enter the zip group again to edit it. extend the line to match the center so that it matches the sketch. curve the Fill Area slightly so it overlaps the center.

To see what we have got hide and unhide the vector layer. We haven't colored the shoes yet. So, enter the groups and repeat the color picking and color filling process we have already seen. After you're done with the coloring, it is good professional practice to check the entire body again for errors. If you find any errors, it's best to correct them in the dissection stage itself. In this case, edit the ear group and remove the gap between the face and the ear.

For the right ear, extend the ear lobe to overlap the face outline. Now to the next step, you will see that our character has black outlines for all his body parts. This is generally avoided in animation. We all know that the black color dominates all other colors. It distracts the viewer and makes the character look artificial. Let's learn some simple ways to solve this issue.

Call up the color tab. Here you will find two colors matches. The upper one helps us choose the stroke color and the lower one is for the fill. We have already filled up our groups with the right colors. We only need to change the stroke color for the groups. Here we go.

Let's change the stroke of the hair group fathers. Repeat the process of picking the color from the original sketch. Click on the drop down arrow of the stroke color and drag your mouse cursor to the Fill Area you will find that the active color in the stroke color box has turned reddish brown. Now, since it is the outline of the group, it should be darker than the fill. That means we'll have to choose a darker shade in the same color. Now, on the right side of the color tab, you see a vertical color shade bar.

Here, you can either choose the lighter or the darker shade of the active color. move the slider down to choose a darker tone of the hair color. You'll see that as you move this slider down the active color in the stroke fill swatch changes. After you choose the color, enter the hair grow by double clicking on it. Select the outline and then with the stroke color tool active click on the outline The black outline has taken the new color. Exit the group by double clicking outside.

The eyebrows of our character are the exact same color as the hair. So we'll make the changes there immediately. As before, enter the eyebrow group. Observe that in the color tab, we already have the outline color we created for the hair group. Simply take the stroke color tool and click on the black outline to get the required outline color. repeat the same procedure for left eyebrow.

Next, we'll take all the groups that have skin color. First, pick the skin color from the face and go to the color tab to make the color darker Enter the nose group. And with the stroke color tool active, assign the darkened shade to the outline one by one, do it for the face, the ears and the mouth. Remember that the next group also has skin color, but we have put it behind all other groups. In such situations, you can either bring the next group about the other groups or go for a simpler option. Go to the layer stack and click on the outline mode on the vector layer.

You will see that all the groups are showing just outlines and hiding the fields. Now you can Use the stroke color tool to change the outline color of the neck group. After you are done, simply go back to the layer stack and switch off the button. Let's turn to the eyeball group now. We are going to repeat the exact procedure that we followed. Just the colors will change while you go on with the color filling.

Remember a few points. Firstly, make sure that you're not accidentally editing objects. Secondly, keep a sharp eye for minute errors in the section that could be still lying undetected. Thirdly, keep thinking if anything can be added to enhance the look of the character without hurting the style of the character design. As we change the outline colors of the face, you will suddenly see the character looking much much better than before. This is why a black outline is generally avoided.

Now while we are editing the forum group have the character observe that the shirt has double borders everywhere and the color in the bottom part. So, it would be right to follow the style and add a double line To this leave to let's add the double border Now, first, copy the outline and paste it in place using the ctrl plus C and Ctrl plus shift plus V. After that, move the line upwards slightly done. Now, let's change the palm groups outline color. Click on the drop down arrow beside the stroke icon and drag it to select the outline of the face. Now, enter the group and use the stroke Color tool to assign the color to the outline, some for the other balm and the tummy group. You will see that we are using the Zoom tool and the Hand tool to move around the screen quickly.

It is recommended that you practice using the shortcuts as much as possible. One by one, change the outline colors of the band by picking the band color, then choosing the darker shade in the color tab, entering the group and clicking on the object with the stroke color tool active. While we are working, we can see that the leg groups are still looking or we need to edit them before we go ahead Sometimes, the snap tool creates problems during editing the objects that are close to each other. In such cases, switch the button off so you can easily work on it. Enter the groups one by one and use the sub selection tool and the free transform tool to get the required effect and matching the sketch. Now it looks okay, Next, move to the shoes and recolor the outlines.

Done. That brings us to the end of the character dissection part. You must have observed that right through the detection process. We edited and refined the groups as per our need. We also made some necessary additions to the design that suits the style. But all through, we kept the sketch as a prime guide.

Now that we have completely deselected the character, we can delete the sketch layer. Hence both will work on the deselected character. In this session, we'll learn how to rig a character in Flash. For this, let's press Ctrl plus A to select all the groups of our character and bring it to the center of this stage. So what is character rigging? Character rigging is a process by which we convert groups into symbols.

Make the symbols ready for animation and set the pivot points of each group for animation. pivot point is the point around which a symbol transforms and rotates. We often call it as the registration point when we convert an object or group into a symbol. Now before we Begin rigging the character. Let's learn some helpful processes. When we turn an object or group into a symbol, it appears in the library of your file.

Press Ctrl plus L. To see the library of this file. It shows the original sketch of the character. Now, before you go ahead, it is important to remember that the character is now divided into several groups. In an animation project, there are many characters with their own parts. And a typical library has literally hundreds of tiny symbols, and several background and other images too. So, however you choose the one small symbol from all these hundreds of objects, it would be very difficult, right?

That's why it is very important to manage your symbols in the library. Let's see how to do this we'll first create a separate folder. For images for this, click on the arrow at the top right of the library window. Then, click on the New Folder option named the folder as images. Now, click on the character icon, drag it on to the images folder and drop it. Okay.

Now there will be no confusion. Now, close the library window. Now, click on the keyframe on the timeline. All the groups in the character will get selected. Press f8 to bring up the Convert to Symbol dialog box and named the symbol as boy. Keep the graphic radio button on and keep the registration point or pivot point in the center.

Press OK. We have converted the entire board character into a symbol. Now, double click on it to see all the groups that make the boy here comes in important part to understand. When you animate a character, you animate it in parts, like the head rotates, the hand goes to and fro. For this, you need to convert these parts into symbols First, start with the head group. Drag the selection tool over the head portion of the character to select all the parts about the neck. Remember that the neck is not part of the head group.

Hence, only select the hair, the face, the eyes, eyebrows, the ears, the nose, and the mouse groups. To help us do this, you can switch to the outline mode if necessary. To deselect a certain group, you can hold down the control key and then click on that group. To make sure that only the head part is selected. You can drag it away from its position and press Ctrl Z to undo the action While the head is selected, press f8 to bring up the Convert to Symbol dialog box will name the symbolic as boy underscore head. Select the boy underscore part of the name and press Ctrl C. From here on, as we convert the groups into symbols, we will be naming age group.

This will help us identify that a symbol is part of a certain character. The role from now on is to begin the name of every symbol inside the boy character with the word boy underscore understand that we are going to convert many groups and if there are more than one characters in the project, it would become very difficult to identify a certain part with any specific character. So instead of wasting time typing by underscore, we copied it from now on when we name any city In this character will simply paste the word using the ctrl plus v shortcut, and then follow it with the specific part name. Let's see how. Now we'll convert all the groups inside the head into separate symbols. Double click on the heads involved.

To enter it. Select the hair group first, and press f8 for the Convert to Symbol dialog box, in the name box, press Control plus V, the words by underscore will appear. Now type hair after these words. See how they save this time of typing boy underscore for every symbol. Keep the graphic option on with the registration point in the center. Select the face group and press f8 for the Convert to Symbol dialog box.

Again, in the name box, press Ctrl plus V. The words boy underscore will appear. Now type face keeping the graphic option on And the pivot point in the center, press okay. See that the face involved has come to the forefront to send it back selected and click Control plus down. Repeat the same keys until it goes behind the eyes, ears, nose and mouth. We'll be repeating the same process for all the other symbols. Now.

We'll name the right eyebrows as boy underscore eyebrow underscore R, R is for right for the left eyebrow will give the name boy underscore eyebrow underscore L. Observe how we are building up a system of naming our symbols. Why are we doing this? Remember that the names of the symbols should be such that the animator must be easily able to understand them naming the symbols in This manner makes the animators work easier and faster. After you're done with the right eyebrow, select the left eyebrow group and boy underscore eyebrow underscore L. Name the nose group as boy underscore nodes. The lips will be boy underscore lips, press Ctrl plus L to see the library window. You can see all the symbols are now stored in the library.

Now, if at any point of time, accidentally some part of the face say the nose gets deleted from the screen, you can simply go to the library search for the Name, boy underscore nos and drag and drop it back on the stage. Now you would have understood how important it is to convert every group into a symbol. You would have also understood the reason why you should name the symbol systematically. repeat the same procedure for the ear groups. named the right ear as boy underscore ear underscore R, and the left ear as boy underscore ear underscore L. This system is called the naming convention. Sometimes, many companies develop their own naming convention, you should learn the convention followed by the company you work in, and then discipline yourself to obey it.

Now when we come to the eyespots remember that we created one group for the white base of the art And another for the eyeball. Follow this while making the symbolic to name the right side one has boy underscore I base underscore R and the left one has boy underscore I base underscore l to send them back to their original level. select them both, and press Control press down arrow till they assume their position. Next is the eyeball. Since this is one group, instead of naming it eyeball, we'll name it as pupil. named the right one as boy underscore pupil underscore R. And the left one as boy underscore pupil, underscore l We have just converted all the groups to symbols inside the head.

Now, we should make them animatable. For this, each symbol should be on a separate layer. To do so, press Control plus A to select all the symbols inside head, right click on them, and select distribute to layers. Let's see how the timeline looks now. Extended vertically. Observe that each layer has taken the name of a part of the character.

This again proves how important it is to name the symbols systematically. Now, if the animator wants to animate just the eyes, he'll simply search for the name in the layer stack and animated. Remember what you learned about blank layers? Yes, they must be deleted. So find out the layer with an empty circle keyframe. Here is the layer with the name layer.

One selected, and then click the trash button at the bottom of the layer stack will now turn to the other parts of the character. Exit the head symbol and come to the main stage. Let's turn the neck into a symbol. Switch the outline mode on and select the net group. Press f8 to access the Convert to Symbol dialog box. In the Name box, press Ctrl plus V, the words by underscore will appear.

Now type neck after that, keeping the graphic option on and the pivot point in the center. Press OK to send the neck behind all the other symbols selected and press Control press down arrow till it takes its original place. Remember that for the time being, we are only converting the groups into symbols. When we are done with this process, we will concentrate on Changing the pivot points of the characters body parts. Select the shirt now. Press f8 to access the Convert to Symbol dialog box, name it as boy shirt.

Then select the left upper arm of the character and name it boy underscore bicep underscore L. The left forearm will be named as boy underscore forearm underscore L. The left palm will be boy underscore palm underscore L. Using the controllers down arrow keys, send the palm to the back of the forearm symbolic observe that the entire left hand of the character has come in the forefront. As per our characters original design, it should be at the back of the shirt symbol. So select all three parts The left bicep, the left forearm and the left palm with Ctrl plus Down Arrow shortcut, send the three to the back of the shirt symbolic. Throughout this process, be on the lookout for such small errors and correct them then and there. Now, repeat the same process for the right hand of the character. Name the right upper arm, boy underscore bicep underscore are.

The forearm as boy underscore, forearm underscore are the right bomb will be boy underscore bomb underscore are named the dummies involved as boy underscore dummy. Remember that we are keeping the graphic radio button on for all symbols. Also, the registration points also are In the center, send it to back by repeating the control plus Down Arrow shortcut. Turning to the bottom part of the character. Let's name the zip symbol as boy underscore zip. Select the pant parts now, name the right thigh group as boy underscore thigh underscore R. And the lower leg as boy underscore lower leg underscore R. The right shoe will be by underscore feed underscore R. Send the shoe to the back of the lower leg by using the ctrl press down arrow shortcut.

Now select these tie the lower leg and the shoe symbols and send them to back using the same shortcut. Now, although we are in the process of rigging, we still have to keep a sharp eye to make sure every part of the character looks and feels just right So, if at any point you think editing necessary, go ahead and do it. Giving time to this part right now will save precious time later. It's a good habit to look at every part closely. Whenever you have the chance, it helps remove the difficulties for the animator who will work on this character. We cannot afford to be overconfident in this matter.

Now, look at the left leg. Follow the same naming convention here to the left thigh group is named by underscore thigh underscore L. The lower leg is boy underscore lower leg underscore L. The left shoe will be boy underscore feed underscore l send a shoe to the back of the lower leg by using the Control press down arrow shortcut. Now select the tie the lower leg and the shoe symbols and send them to back using the same shortcut. We have converted all the groups till now, as we learned before, it is never too early to fix an error in drawing. Always push yourself to do a thorough job. It's good for the animation, and it's good for your career.

All right here, inside the boy symbol, we have all the objects. Now we are going to repeat what we did inside the head slimeball. We are going to make all these symbols animatable. For this, we'll send each symbol on a separate layer. Press Ctrl plus A to select all the symbols inside head and distribute two layers. Now, you'll find that one layer is empty in the layer stack.

You can locate it by looking for an empty surface. keyframe. There it is. Select the empty layer, and then click the trash button at the bottom of the layer stack to delete it will return to the main stage by clicking on the scene one tab about the work area. To see the character in full body, click on the timeline icon below the layer stack. The character is ready for animation.

But there is one more important process it must go through before it can be animated. The pivot points are yet to be set. Let's see how this is done. First unhide the timeline by again clicking on the button below the layer stack. Once on the main stage, right click on the boy symbol and select distribute to layers. Since there is only one symbol on the stage, the same symbol has come on another layer with the name boy.

Now the vector is empty. So selected deleted by clicking on the trash button at the bottom of the layer stack. Now, let's move to changing the pivot points of the various symbols. First, let's understand why we need to change pivot points at all. Observe the head symbol closely, we'll see how it rotates while turning the head into a symbol. We kept the pivot in the center.

Hence, it is rotating around the center. But thing does a head rotate like this? The answer is no. Then how does it rotate? The head rotates around the neck. This means that the neck is the pivot point of the head.

In our case, the point should be at the chin. But how do we change the pivot point. The empty circle you see at the center is the pivot point of the head symbol. What we'll do is we'll simply drag the point and place it in the Middle of the chin. Now, let's check if the head rotates in the right fashion. Observe that now the head is rotating well.

The same way, we are going to fix the pivot points for the various other symbols. Let's do change the pivot point for the neck. Now, we'll shift it close to the center of the characters chest. To change the pivot point, you're going to use the free transform tool a lot. So to access it first, use the keyboard shortcut Q. Let's turn to the right bicep.

Now, the pivot point of this part will be the right shoulder. So we'll drag and drop the pivot point there. For the right forearm. The point around which it moves is the elbow joint below the biceps there. Let's see how the forearm rotates. See, however it is rotating at the elbow joint.

In the same way, the pivot point for the palm is the base of the palm. So we'll move it there. We'll repeat the same for the left hand to why do we are setting the pivot points, you will slowly begin to understand the exact manner in which characters are animated. Now to the legs. We'll choose the left lower leg first, and move its pivot point to the knee joint. The Thai baht will have its pivot point well about the rest There is a simple way to know where the pivot point of any body part will be tested yourself, move your own hands, your own feet, and you will easily understand the underlying principle and the logic behind this.

Now, where is the center of the middle part of the character. If you stand up and try to bend, you will find that it is in the middle of your West. So, drag the empty circle down to the west and situated in the middle. Here's an important part to remember. We have just said the registration points of all the symbols separately. Now let's see what happens when we select more than one objects.

For instance, let's try to see what flass does, when we select all the symbols about the West. Observe that when we select many parts, then the Software creates a pivot point in the center of the selection. In this case, ask yourself, where should the pivot point for the upper body be located. Stand up and see for yourself by bending forward and backward a bit. Try bending sideways, you will find that the pivot point is different when you bend forward and backward, that is in the center of the West, and it is different when you bend sideways. From this you must have received further insight into how a character is animated.

Before we go ahead and do another interesting tutorial on character animation. Here's a few points to consider. If you want to be a good professional animator in Flash. The Career of almost all flash animators generally begins with the job of background and character detection and rigging. You should have thorough control over the tools and the shortcuts. As mentioned earlier, character the section is an intricate job, and it requires perfection and persistence.

You need to go over every little line you have grown, every object you have failed, and find out the errors there. It is important that you master the techniques to fix those errors and achieve perfection in this section. In any animation company, it is expected that you know not just the use of the tools and techniques. You're also expected to have insight into why a certain process is done. You need to be aware of the principles behind every animation technique. Most important of all, you must know how to manage work.

These are the absolute fundamentals of a good career in Flash animation. To turn yourself into a good animator, we recommend you watch this tutorial, too. All the minute details becomes second nature to you. As always, it is important to practice, practice and practice. It would be a good idea to surf the internet, get a few character designs this act and rig them independently. You will learn a lot more when you actually do the job independently.

We hope you have enjoyed this tutorial on character detection and rigging from our over media. All the best and thanks for your time.