Question. Scaling up or down a character through master null is affecting the pinned area ( makes it small or large ) . is there any way to avoid that? Btw this does not happen when scaling the composition.
You kind of answered your own question. Pre-comping is the best way to avoid any weirdness if you need to scale the character.
Hey Greg, love the plugin: is there a way (now or in the future) to get Puppet Tools to spit out shapes instead of nulls? I see there's that "pins to solids" checkbox, but it doesn't seem to change the output...?
Basically, my thing is this: I'm trying to use Puppet Tools in conjunction with Newton, for a rag-doll effect. I've had some success with it, but at present it's a little circuitous, because puppet tools spits out nulls, and for some reason even if i add a mask to the null, Newton doesn't seem to accept it (I asked the Newton crew, and they said there's no way for Newton to accept nulls). So, I have to create an intermediary shape to parent the null to, to drive them through newton. So, the whole chain goes something like:
art --> pins --> nulls --> shapes --> newton
Which, as you can imagine, gets pretty unwieldy on even a 5-10 jointed character. Anyway, it would streamline things a lot if I could just get Puppet Tools to spit out shapes instead of nulls; is there a way to do that?
Hey Greg, love the plugin: is there a way (now or in the future) to get Puppet Tools to spit out shapes instead of nulls? I see there's that "pins to solids" checkbox, but it doesn't seem to change the output...?
Basically, my thing is this: I'm trying to use Puppet Tools in conjunction with Newton, for a rag-doll effect. I've had some success with it, but at present it's a little circuitous, because puppet tools spits out nulls, and for some reason even if i add a mask to the null, Newton doesn't seem to accept it (I asked the Newton crew, and they said there's no way for Newton to accept nulls). So, I have to create an intermediary shape to parent the null to, to drive them through newton. So, the whole chain goes something like:
art --> pins --> nulls --> shapes --> newton
Which, as you can imagine, gets pretty unwieldy on even a 5-10 jointed character. Anyway, it would streamline things a lot if I could just get Puppet Tools to spit out shapes instead of nulls; is there a way to do that?
There's not a way to generate shape layers, but I will add that on my feature request list for future updates to the script.
In the meantime, you can generate solids by having the ”Pins to Solids” checked before you click the “Pins to Nulls” button. Having that enabled will force the script to create solids instead of nulls—if it’s any help.
Just kicking the tires with the new 3.7 version. I'm still using CS6 so can't use the vector layer feature directly. Noticed though that the links under the ? tab give an error in that both say they can't find the specified file.
Just kicking the tires with the new 3.7 version. I'm still using CS6 so can't use the vector layer feature directly. Noticed though that the links under the ? tab give an error in that both say they can't find the specified file.
Since there isn't a CS6 demo scene, I took the assets & ran some tests. With the Arm and hand for example, added 3 pins to the arm, named them & ran Make Controllers. At first, I didn't think it was working; only saw 1 controller. Waited & then a second appeared & finally the 3rd. Took 12-15 seconds! Wasn't able to get anything to work at first though so saved the scene & closed & restarted AE then they worked correctly. Similar thing with Make IK.
Just installed PuppetTools 3 for a project and I'm getting something odd, I assume its a bug but not sure.
What I am doing is importing a png file scaling it down then putting pins in it but once I hit Pin to nulls (I rolled back to 3.0 to test) it stretches all the points back to where they would be if I didn't scale the content and distorts it all
If I dont scale the content and do the same process it works fine, I could scale it to fit in photoshop etc before importing but I want it to be full size at some points.
Im running CS5.5 on Win7 and I get the same thing with both 3.0 and 3.7.
Just installed PuppetTools 3 for a project and I'm getting something odd, I assume its a bug but not sure.
What I am doing is importing a png file scaling it down then putting pins in it but once I hit Pin to nulls (I rolled back to 3.0 to test) it stretches all the points back to where they would be if I didn't scale the content and distorts it all
If I dont scale the content and do the same process it works fine, I could scale it to fit in photoshop etc before importing but I want it to be full size at some points.
Im running CS5.5 on Win7 and I get the same thing with both 3.0 and 3.7.
Hey Jasper,
Sorry to hear you’re having trouble with the script! AE’s puppet tool is a fickle beast, so I always recommend leaving scale at 100 and ensuring the continuously rasterize option is disabled for that layer.
You could build your rig at the biggest size you need—in a separate comp—and then scale it down later for each scene.
Sorry to hear you’re having trouble with the script! AE’s puppet tool is a fickle beast, so I always recommend leaving scale at 100 and ensuring the continuously rasterize option is disabled for that layer.
You could build your rig at the biggest size you need—in a separate comp—and then scale it down later for each scene.
Hey Greg
Cool thanks for the advise and will check the continuous rasterize option settings, I have done that and put everything into pre-comps to keep the scale
Thanks for picking up the script! AE’s Puppet Tool can get funky sometimes.
Hard to tell what's going without seeing your set up, but if your goal is to animate points along a stroke, I'd start by making a shape layer path (or mask) and then creating controllers for that path.
You should be able to easily animate and control each point while keeping the stroke in tact.
I'm having an awesome time using this script on my current job. I've come across an annoying bug though, which might be CC2019 related (I've not tried it in earlier versions). The controller colour picker seems to have issues if I choose a colour which has too much green in it - it creates truncated hex values (only 4 digits are put in the field, and they seem to always be FF00). Has anyone else seen this issue? It doesn't seem to happen when you choose red or blue controller colours. This is on OSX 10.13.6 with After Effects 16.0.0
I'm having an awesome time using this script on my current job. I've come across an annoying bug though, which might be CC2019 related (I've not tried it in earlier versions). The controller colour picker seems to have issues if I choose a colour which has too much green in it - it creates truncated hex values (only 4 digits are put in the field, and they seem to always be FF00). Has anyone else seen this issue? It doesn't seem to happen when you choose red or blue controller colours
Happy to hear the script is helping! It sounds like you might've uncovered a bug, can you submit a support ticket so I can help fix it?
I downloaded from my AE scripts accountpage and (re)installed Puppet tools after it stopped working a while ago. I have now version 3. I see there is a newer version. How do i obtain the update? This version does not seem to be fully functional.
I'm working in AE 2019. When i select three shape layers (leg) and click create IK it says i can only select nulls. In the video you say you can get IK on layers without pins and nulls ass well.
Also It does not create nulls from shape layer vertices as well.
So i hope to overcome these errors with an update.
I downloaded from my AE scripts accountpage and (re)installed Puppet tools after it stopped working a while ago. I have now version 3. I see there is a newer version. How do i obtain the update? This version does not seem to be fully functional.
I'm working in AE 2019. When i select three shape layers (leg) and click create IK it says i can only select nulls. In the video you say you can get IK on layers without pins and nulls ass well.
Also It does not create nulls from shape layer vertices as well.
So i hope to overcome these errors with an update.
Kind regards, Nils
Hi Nils,
Make sure you have the latest version installed (3.7.4). You can download the latest by logging in to your account and looking at your downloads and licenses.
If you run into any trouble, please open a support ticket and I can help you with it. There is a button with a direct link to the support page in the script options.
Hi, love the plugin, but I'm having a lot of trouble with NAMING STYLE. No matter what naming I use, I always get an error that says "please include the name "control" in your naming style", even if I have the word control in there. Even if I click "Reset," I get the error message. If I go ahead and make controllers anyway, it names all the controllers: "layer [name of first puppet pin] : 1", "layer [name of first puppet pin] : 2", "layer [name of first puppet pin] : 3" and so on...
I can still muddle through, having to remember that the waist, for example, is actually "layer Neck : 3", etc. but I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong so I can name things properly.
Hi! Is there a way to duplicate a layer with all corresponding controllers? So if my two legs look identical, can I just rig one and duplicate the rig? Rather than going through all the naming and rigging a second time?
Hi! Is there a way to duplicate a layer with all corresponding controllers? So if my two legs look identical, can I just rig one and duplicate the rig? Rather than going through all the naming and rigging a second time?
Hey Andrew,
Not at this time. The expressions applied to each layer are unique so duplicating the layer would lead to some wacky results.
Is there any way to set the "realism"? To have the "bend angle" or "stiffness" adjustable? This plugin seems be easier/quicker to use and setup than the plugin RubberHose, but say you have an arm as a single photoshop imported layer, if adding 3 puppet pins and then create controllers and create IK, the bend is very round, is there no way to straighten the bend so it's not as soft/round?
Is there any way to set the "realism"? To have the "bend angle" or "stiffness" adjustable? This plugin seems be easier/quicker to use and setup than the plugin RubberHose, but say you have an arm as a single photoshop imported layer, if adding 3 puppet pins and then create controllers and create IK, the bend is very round, is there no way to straighten the bend so it's not as soft/round?
Good question. Because the script uses AE's native puppet tool to deform, you could try "starching" the bend joint (e.g. elbow, knee) so that there's more curvature to the bend.
You should be able to straighten the limb by pulling the end joint away from the others and then aligning it with the bend joint. The bend is based on distance between the end joint (wrist) and bend joint (elbow) as well as the angle between the two.
I found some success in that I could make a duplicate and then manually change the expressions to the new names.
The auto naming of the parts / layers in AE adds a number on the end a '2' to start with and so on.....
So on the new rig, inside any expression on each of the parts, you scroll and find this Menu Animation > Reveal Properties with Animation < reveals expressions.
upperLimb = "L2CalfTop";
lowerLimb = "L2CalfBottom";
extremity = "L2Foot";
effector = "L2Foot IK Ctrl";
and change it to the new name, for example upperLimb = "L2CalfTop 2";
Win7 Pro, 64-bit.
Since there isn't a CS6 demo scene, I took the assets & ran some tests. With the Arm and hand for example, added 3 pins to the arm, named them & ran Make Controllers. At first, I didn't think it was working; only saw 1 controller. Waited & then a second appeared & finally the 3rd. Took 12-15 seconds! Wasn't able to get anything to work at first though so saved the scene & closed & restarted AE then they worked correctly. Similar thing with Make IK.
Im running CS5.5 on Win7 and I get the same thing with both 3.0 and 3.7.
Sorry to hear you’re having trouble with the script! AE’s puppet tool is a fickle beast, so I always recommend leaving scale at 100 and ensuring the continuously rasterize option is disabled for that layer.
You could build your rig at the biggest size you need—in a separate comp—and then scale it down later for each scene.
Please open a support ticket for assistance https://aescripts.com/contact/?direct=1
You should be able to straighten the limb by pulling the end joint away from the others and then aligning it with the bend joint. The bend is based on distance between the end joint (wrist) and bend joint (elbow) as well as the angle between the two.
I found some success in that I could make a duplicate and then manually change the expressions to the new names.
The auto naming of the parts / layers in AE adds a number on the end a '2' to start with and so on.....
So on the new rig, inside any expression on each of the parts, you scroll and find this
Menu Animation > Reveal Properties with Animation < reveals expressions.
and change it to the new name, for example
upperLimb = "L2CalfTop 2";