Squash and Stretch

[MarkBorok]

Use the "alt" key with the scale tool to make shapes squash and stretch realistically.

This is actually explained in the manual, but, like me, a lot of people probably overlooked it because the scale tool is so self-explanatory we don't bother looking it up in the manual.

The effect you get is fantastic. Shapes actually look like they're made of rubber. No more of that cheap-ass "scale down vertically/scale out horizontally" to get a squash like you get in all those badly made Flash cartoons. Lost Marble, this is something you should be showing off in the "features" section on your web site.

[Mendi]

Great! That's a very time saving trick, thank you mark. Anyway, I always try to configure characters in a way squash and stretch can be achieved through bone animation, but sometimes is better to animate in "muscle mode".

[seRg mOo]

Hi im interested on this theme. Can yo make an example in a file?

Please

Ahhh of course Happy new Years Amigos

[MarkBorok]

Hi im interested on this theme. Can yo make an example in a file?

Please

Ahhh of course Happy new Years Amigos

Just do a horizontal or vertical scale of a shape while keeping the alt/option key pressed down.

[seRg mOo]

Thanks buddy i try it.

[myles]

Thanks for the reminder Mark!

Further note to readers: as well as the Scale Points tool for selected points, this feature also works with the Scale Layer tool, on any type of layer (and affects all sublayers, naturally). Squash and stretch your whole multi-layered character!

Regards, Myles.

[myles]

One more note: the layer origin is the point about which the layer scales.

To scale your character up from their feet rather than out from their stomach, set the layer origin to ground level.

Regards, Myles.

[Rasheed]

Made a little animGIF using your tips for Scale Points, Myles.

You get a bit of that old school animation feeling doing this, which is fun

I really should try some of those examples in Preston Blair's animation book.

[myles]

MarkBorok's tip really, not mine - I just added a little extra information.

Regards, Myles.

[MarkBorok]

You should only be squashing and stretching the soft parts of a character. Even if your character is all soft you should only squash and stretch the parts that are supposed to squash and stretch. In Rasheed's example, the arms shouldn't be stretching and the feet shouldn't be sliding apart like that. Fortunately you can select groups of points and squash or stretch them individually.

[Rasheed]

Of course, I knew that. Here is a better example.


I guess the important feature is that when using the alt key, the total volume doesn't change. And that is very important if you want to do stretch and squash.

I experienced some problems when using the Scale Points tool. You can't set the origin of the scale operation (which is always the center of the points), so when you select only a few points of a shape, the points don't necessarily scale the way you want to:

[MarkBorok]

Yeah, I hope the next version will have the ability to set the pivot point for any selection, not just layers.

[macton]

I experienced some problems when using the Scale Points tool. You can't set the origin of the scale operation (which is always the center of the points), so when you select only a few points of a shape, the points don't necessarily scale the way you want to:

I've added a small change to LM's scale point tool that might help.
Get the script here (Under tool scripts/extras): http://www.lostmarble.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2448

If you hold <ctrl> as you're scaling from a handle, it will lock that handle and scale outward (or inward) from there.
You can also hold <ctrl> and <alt> at the same time to squash and stretch from a particular handle.

So you can more easily do something like this (scaling up from the bottom of the selected points):

[Rasheed]

I'm amazed. Wow, I like this feature. Thanks a lot, macton. This mod saves a lot of time.

BTW On Mac OS X, you'll need to read <cmd> where you mentioned <ctrl> in your reply.

Update:
Here's a typical stretch and squash animation (sorry if it is a bit too broad or crude for your taste):

The doggie is three consecutive keyframes at the highest position and is point scaled with the <alt> key pressed down. The doggie is also three consecutive keyframes at the bottom position, but here all but the points that form the legs are scaled with the <alt> and <cmd> key pressed down (the points that touch the ground shouldn't be scaled), and the scaling was done using the bottom scale handle.

This type of animation would be very hard to do without the modified Scale Points tool.