Character Swing Rigging
  • Cale OglesbyCale Oglesby
    I've purchased this and am experimenting, but not enjoying the experience.

    What is going on under the hood to limit the compatibility to 2018?
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Cale Oglesby said:
    I've purchased this and am experimenting, but not enjoying the experience.

    What is going on under the hood to limit the compatibility to 2018?
    Hi Cale, I'm extremely sorry for your current experience. I'm currently working on a small update to get it working with 2014 - 2018. The issue is within the pseudo effect that is applied to each layer, I should be able to get this fixed before the end of the week, so please stay tuned.

    Happy Swinging

    Sam
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Cale Oglesby said:
    I've purchased this and am experimenting, but not enjoying the experience.

    What is going on under the hood to limit the compatibility to 2018?
    Just an update, the script has now been updated to work with older version of Adobe After Effects

    Happy Swinging
  • Matthew NaymanMatthew Nayman
    I'm curious how, in your demo video, you seem to extract swinging from rotation data. Any way to share how you built your walking character?
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Matthew Nayman said:

    I'm curious how, in your demo video, you seem to extract swinging from rotation data. Any way to share how you built your walking character?

    Hi Matthew,

    Sure I’ll be building some more advance tutorials to show how this effect can be done. Just stay tuned :)

    Though I do have a very brief video outlining this, you can check it out here


    time: 48:15

    Or https://aescripts.com/character-swing-rigging/
    At the bottom of the page you can see the same video.

    However, if it’s not clear then I’ll quickly explain it here to see if you want to give it ago.

    Once you’ve applied character swing rigging to anything you will have a “driver_” the driver has no parent so you firstly have to parent this to the body part you want I.E the forearm.

    Once it’s parented move the driver ontop of the parented body part.

    Then inside the driver general settings change the target to ‘most probably’ c|hand in the case of duik.

    Then keyframe the hand to whatever you want it to do.

    Happy swinging

    Sam
  • Cale OglesbyCale Oglesby
    Sam Catt said:
    Cale Oglesby said:
    I've purchased this and am experimenting, but not enjoying the experience.

    What is going on under the hood to limit the compatibility to 2018?
    Just an update, the script has now been updated to work with older version of Adobe After Effects

    Happy Swinging
    Unfortunately it is still not working on Win10, 3930k - Is there a Windows location for the extraneous ffx folder?
    "PLEASE NOTE: if you have used v1 and want to use the script on an older version of After Effects please DELETE the folder "ffx" from this location

    /Users/~~~/Library/Application Support/Aescripts/Character_Swing_Rigging"

    Appreciate the speedy responses and updates! Works on PC down to CC2014. :D

    For Windows users - find this ffx folder at C:\Users\X_YourUserName_X\AppData\Roaming\Aescripts\Character_Swing_Rigging

    Thanks Sam!
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Cale Oglesby said:
    Sam Catt said:
    Cale Oglesby said:
    I've purchased this and am experimenting, but not enjoying the experience.

    What is going on under the hood to limit the compatibility to 2018?
    Just an update, the script has now been updated to work with older version of Adobe After Effects

    Happy Swinging
    Unfortunately it is still not working on Win10, 3930k - Is there a Windows location for the extraneous ffx folder?
    "PLEASE NOTE: if you have used v1 and want to use the script on an older version of After Effects please DELETE the folder "ffx" from this location

    /Users/~~~/Library/Application Support/Aescripts/Character_Swing_Rigging"

    Appreciate the speedy responses and updates, but for now it only functions in 2018 still on PC. :/
    Sorry again Cale, 

    I simply forgot to jot down the location for windows users. It should be under 
    "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Aescripts\Character_Swing_Rigging"

    Though please know I don't have a windows computer available at the moment so I'm unable to check directly. I'm just going off by how I remember windows. The file may or may not be hidden so if nothing is appearing, please allow hidden files.

    Give it a look and there should be a folder named ffx simply delete it ( make sure after effects is closed ) then re-open after effects and make sure you are opening v1.01, to check this, press the guide button ( ? ) and check the version number in the top left-hand corner. Then use the script as normal.

    Everything should work, as I have fully tested it on my system over each version of after effects. But, if there are any more problems or you are unable to find the file. Please just give me a message back.

    Happy Swinging

    Sam
  • Mohammad SabriMohammad Sabri
    i followed ur tut and it works just fine with (Position) property
    my Question now is :
    Can i use Swing to do a secondry animation to a rotating driver layer which will not move anywhere (only rotation) ??
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Mohammad Sabri said:
    i followed ur tut and it works just fine with (Position) property
    my Question now is :
    Can i use Swing to do a secondry animation to a rotating driver layer which will not move anywhere (only rotation) ??
    Hi Mohammad,

    Thanks for getting in touch, if I'm understanding correctly you would like to have a swing based on another layers rotation?

    I'll happily create a small rough video in a minute to explain the ways in which you could achieve this.

    If you can possibly give a few more details before I create the video that would be great. Just so I understand 100% what you are looking for

    happy swinging

    Sam
  • Mohammad SabriMohammad Sabri
    ya this excatly wat iam i asking for .

    Making a swing animation by changing (Rotation) property of another layer
    i would be grateful for you sir

    thanks for ur response and before all ur sweet Script.
  • Sam CattSam Catt

    Mohammad Sabri said:
    ya this excatly wat iam i asking for .

    Making a swing animation by changing (Rotation) property of another layer
    i would be grateful for you sir

    thanks for ur response and before all ur sweet Script.
    Hey Mohammad,

    Thanks for letting me know. I created a really quick tutorial and have attached it below. Sorry about the quality but hopefully you can understand. There are lots of ways in which you can create the effect you are looking for. Personally, the last one is my favorite.

    Just letting you know I will be releasing 60 second tutorials on Instagram in the near future to help people understand the script and what it can do. So, keep an eye out.

    The more people use it, the easier it'll be able to find ways to use it.

    if you need anything else though, just drop me a message.

    Happy Swinging

    Sam


  • Mohammad SabriMohammad Sabri
    Nothing to say but .. its soo generous from you Sam
    Many thanks for ur help :)

    iam gonna follow ur new tut and give you my feedback
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Mohammad Sabri said:

    Nothing to say but .. its soo generous from you Sam

    Many thanks for ur help :)

    iam gonna follow ur new tut and give you my feedback
    No problem Mohammad,

    Hope it’s everything you need for now. Like I said, I will be making better tutorials and posting them on Instagram later. So please keep an eye out :)

    Happy swinging

    Sam
  • Cale OglesbyCale Oglesby
    Thank you Sam!

    Works great now on Windows 10 and with CC2014. Your efforts are greatly appreciated!
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Cale Oglesby said:
    Thank you Sam!

    Works great now on Windows 10 and with CC2014. Your efforts are greatly appreciated!
    No problem Cale, Hope that resolves all the problems you were having across all the versions.

    It will actually work all the way down to CS6 now, just in case you ever use that version.

    Hope you can now create something amazing!

    Let me know if you need anything else, and I will do my best to get it to you

    Happy Swinging

    Sam
  • Jan BuchheitJan Buchheit
    Great tool, and quiet disapointing on the same time. 

    At least, for what i imagined it to be. It works awesome for position, but it does not work as well for rotation.
    It ist pretty complicated and not really useful for rotation at least.

    It would be great if this script could use both position and rotation in count for its movement.
    Do you have any plans for this?

    Still a great tool thou. Just a bit restricted on position and that is quite counter-intuitiv ;)

    Cheers!
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Jan Buchheit said:

    Great tool, and quiet disapointing on the same time. 


    At least, for what i imagined it to be. It works awesome for position, but it does not work as well for rotation.
    It ist pretty complicated and not really useful for rotation at least.

    It would be great if this script could use both position and rotation in count for its movement.
    Do you have any plans for this?

    Still a great tool thou. Just a bit restricted on position and that is quite counter-intuitiv ;)

    Cheers!
    Hey Jan,

    Thanks for posting up about the plugin! And giving me your feedback it’s a huge help in the development of the plugin

    The rotation currently needs a bit of a work around. However, it is possible to achieve the look you are thinking of. However, the rotation property is not natively supported to “swing” and this due to a limitation in using the rotation and the position at the same time.

    However, I could potentially add support for rotation, and then the user can switch between using the position property or the rotation property? If that’s something you want then I’ll happily get on adding it in.

    It’s also in its early stages~ so the more feedback I get the more I can improve it :) so please don’t hesitate to make suggestions! Also if you do need any help with setting it up just let me know :smile:

    All the best

    Sam
  • Hector CruzHector Cruz
    Hi there, 

    For some reason when I apply the swing effect to the driver layer, it starts off at a rotation of +22.3 instead of 0. 

    So, the end animation is smooth, but the beginning animation jumps from 0 to +23 and doesn't look natural. 

    I looked at the swing section several times and I still don't know why it's starting out that way. It could definitely be user error, but does anyone have any thoughts? I'd really appreciate it!  

    Btw, I am on a Windows 10 machine using the latest CC AE version. Thanks.
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Hector Cruz said:
    Hi there, 

    For some reason when I apply the swing effect to the driver layer, it starts off at a rotation of +22.3 instead of 0. 

    So, the end animation is smooth, but the beginning animation jumps from 0 to +23 and doesn't look natural. 

    I looked at the swing section several times and I still don't know why it's starting out that way. It could definitely be user error, but does anyone have any thoughts? I'd really appreciate it!  

    Btw, I am on a Windows 10 machine using the latest CC AE version. Thanks.
    Hi Hector,

    Thanks for reaching out and getting in touch. As far as I can tell from what you are describing above is that your keyframes have no easing? or a very harsh ease in motion?

    As the swing tries to calculate a bit of information from the layers velocity ( keyframe velocity ) if the keyframes don't have much easing it will feel like it jumps, the easiest way to stop this is simply by apply a bit of easy ease to the keyframes this will then create a smoother animation from start to finish.

    If that doesn't help please feel free to get back in touch and we will try to solve it together!

    All the best

    Sam
  • Gary NicholsonGary Nicholson
    1.51 seems to have broke in CS6. Only adds one effect when script is applied.

    Gary
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Gary Nicholson said:

    1.51 seems to have broke in CS6. Only adds one effect when script is applied.


    Gary
    Hey Gary,

    Thanks for reporting the issue. I’ll get on it as soon as possible. Is it only adding the “swing - general settings” and then stops? Does it give you any errors at all?

    Trying to replicate the same issue on my system~

    All the best

    Sam
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Gary Nicholson said:
    1.51 seems to have broke in CS6. Only adds one effect when script is applied.

    Gary
    Hi Gary, with v1.5.1 it's all working correctly on my system. I've tried with both using the layer create and pin create tool without having any glitches. You should of received an email from aescripts with instructions when you install the patch to delete the "ffx" folder from aescripts/character_swing_rigging

    the path to the folder is as follows;

    Mac OS: /Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Aescripts/Character_Swing_Rigging
    Windows: C:\Users\ USERNAME\AppData\Roaming/Aescripts/Character_Swing_Rigging

    Make sure you delete the folder "ffx" and all it's contents. Once the folder has been deleted you can use Character Swing Rigging v1.5.1 without any issues. As a warning though, do not try to use 1.5.1 on any project you've used v1.01 or v1.0 as it can cause some issues due to the re-written engine.

    Let me know how you get on after doing this.

    All the best

    Sam
  • Thomas NiblerThomas Nibler
    Hello,

    i tried the Demo-Version, but when i apply the Script ('Apply Character Swing to all Layers Selected') i get an Error-Message "Missing Effect ('Swing - General Settings')" and "Missing Effect ('Wind - Global Generator')". When i try to use the applied script (Enable Swing) it doesn't work, except for the wind.
    I use CS6 (German).

    Thanks for your help!
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Thomas Nibler said:

    Hello,

    i tried the Demo-Version, but when i apply the Script ('Apply Character Swing to all Layers Selected') i get an Error-Message "Missing Effect ('Swing - General Settings')" and "Missing Effect ('Wind - Global Generator')". When i try to use the applied script (Enable Swing) it doesn't work, except for the wind.
    I use CS6 (German).

    Thanks for your help!
    Hi Thomas,

    Thanks for reaching out! I’m trying to replicate your issue at the moment but I’m unable to do so. Currently on my system it’s working without any errors.

    Is it possible to attach a screenshot with your driver layer selected and it’s effects panel open. Also is it possible to elaborate on where the error is coming from? Is it an expression error? Or another error?

    Is the error on all the selected layers or just 1?

    As much information as possible would be great so I can dioganose the problem~

    All the best

    Sam
  • Thomas NiblerThomas Nibler
    Sam Catt said:
    Hi Thomas, Thanks for reaching out! I’m trying to replicate your issue at the moment but I’m unable to do so. Currently on my system it’s working without any errors. Is it possible to attach a screenshot with your driver layer selected and it’s effects panel open. Also is it possible to elaborate on where the error is coming from? Is it an expression error? Or another error? Is the error on all the selected layers or just 1? As much information as possible would be great so I can dioganose the problem~ All the best Sam
    Thanks for looking into it!
    I recorded a videoclip of the error, maybe it helps?
    The expressions seem to work, there is no error-message there and no yellow warning-sign.

    I'm on AE CS6 (non-CC-Version, latest updates installed) for Mac, Language: German.

    Thanks again!
  • Sam CattSam Catt


    Thanks for looking into it!
    I recorded a videoclip of the error, maybe it helps?
    The expressions seem to work, there is no error-message there and no yellow warning-sign.

    I'm on AE CS6 (non-CC-Version, latest updates installed) for Mac, Language: German.

    Thanks again!


    Hi Thomas,

    No problem at all! So this isn’t actually a plugin issue, from all the research I’ve done on such issues the “missing” is client side ( meaning your machine ) I believe it’s something to do with firewalls / security settings however it won’t stop the plugin from working it’s just a visual issue stating “missing”

    The reason the swing is not moving is because the swing is calculated from the movement of the target layer (found under general settings). Add position keyframes moving the layer around~ once the swing is turned on you will see it’s movement :)

    If you need more information watch through the video tutorial at the bottom of the page

    It should work in all languages and all the way back down to CS6: so that shouldn’t be causing any problems

    All the best

    Sam

  • Benjamin HelsperBenjamin Helsper
    Hi Sam,

    thank You for the quick response and Bug Fix regarding the puppet pin issue.

    "Dankeschön" from Germany! :-)

  • tasick mpougkistasick mpougkis
    I updated to the latest version 1.5.2 and when i load CSR the version Number that is showing is 1.5.1 but that's not the actual problem here. It seems that nothing Works properly! Unfortunately i didn's save the previous version .jsx and now im back to version 1.01. Is anybody else experiencing the same thing? Is there a way to download the previous version? im at cc2018 version by the way
  • William AndoWilliam Ando
    Hi. I have updated to the latest version 1.5.2 but it doesn't appear to be working in cc2019. Was this a bug? Thx 
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    tasick mpougkis said:

    I updated to the latest version 1.5.2 and when i load CSR the version Number that is showing is 1.5.1 but that's not the actual problem here. It seems that nothing Works properly! Unfortunately i didn's save the previous version .jsx and now im back to version 1.01. Is anybody else experiencing the same thing? Is there a way to download the previous version? im at cc2018 version by the way

    Hey Tasick,

    I believe everything should be fixed now~ update to the latest version and let me know if there are any problems

    Sam
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    William Ando said:

    Hi. I have updated to the latest version 1.5.2 but it doesn't appear to be working in cc2019. Was this a bug? Thx 

    Hey William,

    2019 wasn’t supported. But, everything has been updated to support the latest version of after effects 2019 and you should be good to go!

    All the best

    Sam
  • Ronny KhalilRonny Khalil
    Hi, I'm using a licensed copy of v1.5.3 in AE 2019. 

    While following along the Evan Abram's "Easy Secondary Motion in Adobe After Effects" tutorial, when I select the body layer of the chicken and click the "Apply character rig" button, then bring the swing value up to 100%, nothing happens (ie the chicken doesn't slightly rotate like in the video). I followed the same workflow in AE 2018 and it works fine (rotates like the video). Any idea whats going on?
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Ronny Khalil said:

    Hi, I'm using a licensed copy of v1.5.3 in AE 2019. 


    While following along the Evan Abram's "Easy Secondary Motion in Adobe After Effects" tutorial, when I select the body layer of the chicken and click the "Apply character rig" button, then bring the swing value up to 100%, nothing happens (ie the chicken doesn't slightly rotate like in the video). I followed the same workflow in AE 2018 and it works fine (rotates like the video). Any idea whats going on?
    Hi Ronny,

    Thanks for reaching out and reporting the bug! I’ll happily take a look at what’s going wrong. I’m guessing it’s with the shape layers? Also what language are you using after effects in? It shouldn’t be causing any issues but you never know ;)

    All the best

    Sam
  • Nikola ANGELOVNikola ANGELOV
    Hi,
    Is look amazing
    This is work on CC2015 and joystick n'slider rig ?
    Best regards :-)
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Nikola ANGELOV said:
    Hi,
    Is look amazing
    This is work on CC2015 and joystick n'slider rig ?
    Best regards :-)
    Hey Nikola,

    It works on CC 2015 and it also works with Joysticks n'sliders :)
    If you get stuck with anything just let me know and I'll help out!

    All the best

    Sam
  • Ronny KhalilRonny Khalil
    Using After Effects in English. Thanks

    Hi Ronny,

    Thanks for reaching out and reporting the bug! I’ll happily take a look at what’s going wrong. I’m guessing it’s with the shape layers? Also what language are you using after effects in? It shouldn’t be causing any issues but you never know ;)

    All the best

    Sam
  • Ronny KhalilRonny Khalil
    Hi, no matter what I do I can't get v1.5.3 working in AE 2019. I created both puppet pin and layer based setups, with both shape layers and image layers and nothing has worked in AE 2019. I recreated the exact experiments in 2018 and all worked like a charm. The best I could do was create the swing rigs in 2018 and then import into 2019 and all works as expected including being able to tweak the driver settings - but definitely not an ideal workflow. FWIW I'm on a Mac with OS v10.13.6. 
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Ronny Khalil said:

    Hi, no matter what I do I can't get v1.5.3 working in AE 2019. I created both puppet pin and layer based setups, with both shape layers and image layers and nothing has worked in AE 2019. I recreated the exact experiments in 2018 and all worked like a charm. The best I could do was create the swing rigs in 2018 and then import into 2019 and all works as expected including being able to tweak the driver settings - but definitely not an ideal workflow. FWIW I'm on a Mac with OS v10.13.6. 

    Hi Ronny,

    Sorry for the slight delay extremely busy since coming back of the honeymoon~

    I’ve tested in in both english / French and German versions to make sure it’s all working correctly in the 2019 version of after effects CC and on my side it is. I think the problem is coming from you possibly running the legacy expression engine for after effects 2019? Can you double check that for me?

    The old expression won’t work with the latest version of expression engine ( non-legacy ) like you said when you pulled it over from AE2018 into AE2019 it was working, this shouldn’t work if your expression engine is switched to non-legacy.

    Double check it for me~

    I believe the switch to change it back, you have to click the rocket icon at the bottom of your project window.

    All the best

    Sam
  • Ronny KhalilRonny Khalil
    Hot diggity!! That was it! Thanks so much (and congrats!)
  • mamoun odehmamoun odeh
    good but position X and position Y in Separate Dimensions not working?
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    mamoun odeh said:

    good
    but position X and position Y in Separate Dimensions not working?

    Hi Mamoun,

    Currently separate dimensions are not supported. However I’m currently working on an update to support this along with using different comps.

    For the mean time: as a quick fix you can copy your keyframes from the position property ( X or Y ) and add them onto a null object. Then on the null object right click the X or Y position ( whichever has the keyframes ) and turn off separate dimensions. After that’s been completed select the null as the target for Character Swing Rigging and everything should work perfectly fine.

    All the best

    And happy swinging

    Sam
  • Kristoffer FleischmannKristoffer Fleischmann
    hi sam,

    I'm working with the current version 1.5.3 and I want to achieve the effect of the trees in the description page but with a head which is
    simply rotated around the neck and then I have hair which is attached to the top of the head.
    i cant figure out how to set it up so I can rotate the head and the hair swings and comes to rest downward.

    Must be the same as with the tree example... can you point me in the right direction?

    thx you very much!
    paul
     
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Kristoffer Fleischmann said:
    hi sam,

    I'm working with the current version 1.5.3 and I want to achieve the effect of the trees in the description page but with a head which is
    simply rotated around the neck and then I have hair which is attached to the top of the head.
    i cant figure out how to set it up so I can rotate the head and the hair swings and comes to rest downward.

    Must be the same as with the tree example... can you point me in the right direction?

    thx you very much!
    paul
     
    Hi Paul,

    Thanks for getting in touch. There are a few ways to achieve what you are looking for:

    1: If you've purchased Multi Parent Rigging you can add a null to your scene. You can think of this null as a kind of hair root. Place the null where you want the hair to start ( I'm guess on-top of the head ) once it's in place parent this newly created null to the head of your character. Now use Multi Parent Rigging to create a parent on your driver layers position. Set the parents target to the newly created null and crank the connection to 100%. This will make it so your hair follows your character but will not rotate when the head rotates < now simply play with which data entry you need. Either the rotation property or the position property. I would advise the rotation property and just crank the Amp up a little.

    2: the tree animation was created using 2 swing rigs. The first swing rig was used on the stem with the anchor point placed at the bottom of the layer. Then selecting all 3 branches I add another swing rig to them with the anchor point set to the top of each layer. However, I did not set the layer chain. Once the rig had been created I parented all 3 branches to the tree. I then animated a null to create a movement effect on the tree branch ( a simple left to right animation ), and then used the same null on the branches but just reverse the rig. This created a tree movement, the wind then added more dynamics to the tree. But, I don't believe this will solve what you are looking for.

    - my best suggestion would be to go with option 1. The problems comes from parenting the hair to the head ( parenting, parents every transform property bar the opacity etc ) so when the head rotates so will the swing rig ( this causes the rig to change its resting position ) by using a null in-between and just letting the swing rig's drive move to the nulls position you can manipulate this :)

    if you need more help feel free to pop me an email over at [email protected] and I'll see what I can do.

    Also ( un-tested but you may try using external rotation to help you with this; however this might not work. Set the target for the external rotation to a null layer which has 0 rotation. Then add an expression to the self rotation value "thisLayer.hasParent ? thisLayer.parent.rotation : 0;" if your AE language is not in English let me know so I can change the expression. But, then this "should" cancel the rotation of the head. Then just parent the hair to the head and you are good to go )

    All the best

    Sam
  • Kristoffer FleischmannKristoffer Fleischmann
    hi sam,

    thank you very much! very cool! I will try that. You're awesome :-)

    greetings
    paul

    Sam Catt said:
    Kristoffer Fleischmann said:
    hi sam,

    I'm working with the current version 1.5.3 and I want to achieve the effect of the trees in the description page but with a head which is
    simply rotated around the neck and then I have hair which is attached to the top of the head.
    i cant figure out how to set it up so I can rotate the head and the hair swings and comes to rest downward.

    Must be the same as with the tree example... can you point me in the right direction?

    thx you very much!
    paul
     
    Hi Paul,

    Thanks for getting in touch. There are a few ways to achieve what you are looking for:

    1: If you've purchased Multi Parent Rigging you can add a null to your scene. You can think of this null as a kind of hair root. Place the null where you want the hair to start ( I'm guess on-top of the head ) once it's in place parent this newly created null to the head of your character. Now use Multi Parent Rigging to create a parent on your driver layers position. Set the parents target to the newly created null and crank the connection to 100%. This will make it so your hair follows your character but will not rotate when the head rotates < now simply play with which data entry you need. Either the rotation property or the position property. I would advise the rotation property and just crank the Amp up a little.

    2: the tree animation was created using 2 swing rigs. The first swing rig was used on the stem with the anchor point placed at the bottom of the layer. Then selecting all 3 branches I add another swing rig to them with the anchor point set to the top of each layer. However, I did not set the layer chain. Once the rig had been created I parented all 3 branches to the tree. I then animated a null to create a movement effect on the tree branch ( a simple left to right animation ), and then used the same null on the branches but just reverse the rig. This created a tree movement, the wind then added more dynamics to the tree. But, I don't believe this will solve what you are looking for.

    - my best suggestion would be to go with option 1. The problems comes from parenting the hair to the head ( parenting, parents every transform property bar the opacity etc ) so when the head rotates so will the swing rig ( this causes the rig to change its resting position ) by using a null in-between and just letting the swing rig's drive move to the nulls position you can manipulate this :)

    if you need more help feel free to pop me an email over at [email protected] and I'll see what I can do.

    Also ( un-tested but you may try using external rotation to help you with this; however this might not work. Set the target for the external rotation to a null layer which has 0 rotation. Then add an expression to the self rotation value "thisLayer.hasParent ? thisLayer.parent.rotation : 0;" if your AE language is not in English let me know so I can change the expression. But, then this "should" cancel the rotation of the head. Then just parent the hair to the head and you are good to go )

    All the best

    Sam

  • Christoph HeimerChristoph Heimer
    I cant get the simplest swing with three puppet pins on one layer to work - I put the pins, chained them together and clicked "apply character swing to layers". It then creates all the nulls and a driver, but all with the same expression error inside: 
    All the nulls seem to have an expression on their rotation that is broken with this error: The layers dont even do rotate. How can I fix this?image
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Christoph Heimer said:
    I cant get the simplest swing with three puppet pins on one layer to work - I put the pins, chained them together and clicked "apply character swing to layers". It then creates all the nulls and a driver, but all with the same expression error inside: 
    All the nulls seem to have an expression on their rotation that is broken with this error: The layers dont even do rotate. How can I fix this?

    Hey Chris,

    Thanks for getting in touch I've just got your ticket. So I'll be replying from there, I'm sure this is a quick bug we can get fixed and resolved for you. Talk to you soon

    Sam
  • AUSTIN HILLAUSTIN HILL
    Will this be compatible with the latest version of DUIK Bassle?

    thank you!
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    AUSTIN HILL said:

    Will this be compatible with the latest version of DUIK Bassle?


    thank you!
    Hey Austin,

    It’s up-to-date and works with Duik ~ as long as you are Ofcourse not replacing the rotation expressions on the “core” parts of duik itself :)

    All the best

    Sam
  • Michael KukulaMichael Kukula
    I'm also getting a rotation expression error. Can you please post the fix for this somewhere public? Thank you :) I look forward to usiing your script.
    image
  • Sam CattSam Catt
    Michael Kukula said:
    I'm also getting a rotation expression error. Can you please post the fix for this somewhere public? Thank you :) I look forward to usiing your script.
    image
    Hey Michael,

    Thanks for commenting and getting in touch - so simply anyone who is having the error on expressions please do the following:

    AE 2019+
    Head over to your project window and find the little rocket icon on the bottom. Click this and head over to the expression tab - change it from legacy to JavaScript and it'll work instantly

    AE2018-
    Don't worry as AE 2018 and below does not use the latest expression engine you will not get an expression error.

    The reason for this is, adobe released the new 2019 version of AE and included inside was a new faster and more powerful expression engine. The downside however is the method which was used in previous versions of after effects doesn't always work with the newer version and the newer versions as you have probably guessed don't work with the older versions. This isn't actually a problem it is something very very good for the user. However, it does cause a problem when AE switches to the legacy expression engine. ( I've noticed it does this when opening 2018 projects etc or transferring your preferences )

    Once you've enabled the javascript engine you can happily use all my plugins without any problems

    All the best

    Sam
Add a Comment