How do I "reference" a character?

keepfungus · Post by **keepfungus** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:32 am

Hi everybody,
I come from 3D Maya.
When I build up a scene, I usually "import" my characters and props fom a library as REFERENCE. This means that if I make any change on the character in the library I'll find the changes updated in my scene.
Is there any way to have this feature in Anime Studio?
Thanks

Keepfungus

ponysmasher · Post by **ponysmasher** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:44 am

I'm afraid this isn't possible. It would be great though, to have your characters as external references.

keepfungus · Post by **keepfungus** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:32 am

Anime Studio has a huge potential, and it could become a standard in the animation industry. I love the intuitive bone rigging and the fact that almost everithing is animateable, the easy inverse kinematic tools. But it lacks in 2 or 3 basic features that could make the difference if you work in a studio with other people. And the reference architecture is one of this.

Thanks

Keepfungus

jahnocli · Post by **jahnocli** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:47 am

ponysmasher wrote:I'm afraid this isn't possible. It would be great though, to have your characters as external references.

But...I understood that with version 8 that this was now possible? Am I mistaken?

ponysmasher · Post by **ponysmasher** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:58 am

jahnocli wrote:But...I understood that with version 8 that this was now possible? Am I mistaken?

Are you thinking about the character wizard? Because no, that doesn't help with that.

EDIT: Perhaps you mean the live update thing. That will only work with images and sounds. Character are still imported without any updating possible.

jahnocli · Post by **jahnocli** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 12:32 pm

ponysmasher wrote:EDIT: Perhaps you mean the live update thing. That will only work with images and sounds. Character are still imported without any updating possible.

But...I thought a character could be, for example, a collection of image layers from Photoshop. If I went back into Photoshop, and edited one of these layers, is that not now mirrored in AS8? I thought that was what the point of this new feature? If my character is made from a collection of images, is my character not now updated?? I'm confused...

ponysmasher · Post by **ponysmasher** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 12:44 pm

Well yes, the images would update. But it would be great if entire characters could be updated, say if you changed vectors or added stuff like extra hands or mouths.
You could have a file with your master characters and all of your scenes got the characters from that file so any changes to the master character would automatically be updated in all of your scenes.

Probably not the easiest thing to implement but It would be a great feature for professional studio work.

jahnocli · Post by **jahnocli** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 12:49 pm

ponysmasher wrote:any changes to the master character would automatically be updated in all of your scenes

But...isn't that what is happening? What's the difference between a character made from images and, well...images?

ponysmasher · Post by **ponysmasher** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 1:07 pm

Yes, and that's all nice and well, but I don't work with characters made only by images. I want it to work on bones, vectors and all of it.

Say I have a guy with switch layers for hands and I decide to add an extra hand to the switch layer, that will not update even if it's an image used for the hand.

If I change something in the rig, say make the legs shorter, that won't update. And it won't work if I change point bindings, bone constraints, vectors, colors in vectors etc.

External files will be updated and that's why I want the possibility to keep entire characters external.

jahnocli · Post by **jahnocli** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 1:16 pm

Oh. OK.

keepfungus · Post by **keepfungus** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 1:41 pm

I'm glad you too find this feature vital.
Is there any chance this post could be read by the AS staff? I hope so. This must be done asap!!!!

Keepfungus

uddhava · Post by **uddhava** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 12:47 pm

Hello, O keeper of fungus,

keepfungus wrote:I'm glad you too find this feature vital.
Is there any chance this post could be read by the AS staff? I hope so. This must be done asap!!!!

Keepfungus

There is a topic in the General Anime Discussion section called "Waiting to upgrade? Tell me why!" You could post it there.

It would be a great improvement to ASP!

udd