Rigging particles?

alxqs · Post by **alxqs** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 11:29 pm

Hello all, first post.

I'm doing early animation tests for an iPad game. Here's a wizard:

http://www.swfcabin.com/open/1330117689

I started working in Anime Studio a few weeks ago and have a lot to learn, but I've got experience in a few other 2D and 3D programs that I might have to make references to in my questions.

I'm interested in using particles with these characters, and I'd like the particle emitters to follow the motion seamlessly, like a burst of light that follows this wizard's staff. I'm finding, though, that when a particle is bound to a joint then the gravity of the particle moves and rotates relative to the joint, too.

Any way around this? Is there a way for an object to follow motion without being parented? Like a Point Constraint in Maya?

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 12:08 am

Have you tried to just rotate the layer?

jonbo · Post by **jonbo** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 12:19 am

You could try binding to a bone that is being controlled by an angle control bone. Set the setting to negative one so when the control bone rotates clockwise, the particle bone will rotate counter clockwise an equal amount thus remaining upright. Or you could try the follow path tool. I know I'm not explaining it right. If you want an example tell me what version you're using and I'll make one.

alxqs · Post by **alxqs** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 9:48 pm

Interesting. I had tried rotating the particle parent joint manually, but that really isn't ideal. Even if its rotation is relative to a control bone, then if I rotate a bone that's above that controller in the hierarchy then I'll face the same problem, right?

I really want to be able to have a controller affect an object without needing them to be in the same hierarchy. Is there a way to have that functionality in AS, maybe by scripting?