Have an arm swing in front of the body and then behind???

ChaseNJersey · Post by **ChaseNJersey** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:55 am

Lets say I wanted my character to swing their arm in front of their body and then lets say I want their hands to be behind their back. Is there a way to do this?

For an example I will refer to the Content Library: Characters: Version 7: Liz. The way she is built her arms go behind her body. Is there an easy way to change this if in a 5 second span I wanted in front to behind to switch in her movement? Or would I have to duplicate the arms and have one layer in front and one behind the body and just keep one invisible. If so how does that effect the sleeve of the shirt. :/... And advice would be much appreciated.

Michelle

jahnocli · Post by **jahnocli** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 12:24 pm

Layer Ordering. Put all your stuff in a group layer, then in the sequence you can alter the order of layers as an animatable feature.

GCharb · Post by **GCharb** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 2:47 pm

You can also use a bone layer if you are using Debut and then you need to activate "Enable animated layer order" in the main bone/group property window (double click the layer icon to open it) under the Depth sort tab.

ChaseNJersey · Post by **ChaseNJersey** » Sun Dec 18, 2011 1:33 am

I am still not 100% certain on some things.. ok.. for instance, I have the sleeves of the shirt behind the front of the shirt on a separate layer.. if I move that to the front it messes up the lines/look of the shirt when I try to move the sleeves the arm.

Second, as far as groups.. I like to have everything organized, so I have the army pants on one layer, and the army boots in a group because I like to make all the laces/silver metal things/and bottom of the boot all on separate layers. The problem is when I have the boots in a group in the bone layer i can no longer animate the feet as I could if all these things were just in the bone layer.

When all layers are just in the bone layer I can make the top of the army boots move with the leg and have the ankle of the boot bend, when I place the boots in a group I lose that control and the whole boot moves. I am unsure if that makes sense... I am going crazy over here!