i wil update this ALOT, lol
i will try and cover almost everything pivot!!
any1 who is willing to help out can, just pm me!!
NOTE, ALL THA ANI'S ARE MADE IN PIVOT 3!!!
I WILL CHANGE THAT ASAP
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there will b 5 chapters (mite add on):
1. All about pivot
2. pivot "terms"
3. basic fighting techniques and such
4. effects/other
5. ADVANCED
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CH. 1 ALL ABOUT PIVOT
Here are some simple q's and a's about pivot:
Q.what is pivot?
A. pivot is a stickfigure animation program. It is a program where one can create there own animation, with (of course) stickfigures. The aniamtion process is a frame-by-frames kinda thing, so it can be pretty hard. But once you read this tut, u should have all (or almost all) of your questions answered!
Q. how do i make my own aniamtion?
A. it is actually very simple. first of all, you start by positioning the stk you're going to use. Then, you click the "next frame" button (well go into detail later on). After that, you position your stickman in a differant manner, comeing closer to the action in which you want to animate.
Q. cool, but surely something this good can't be free....can it?
A. yes it can! pivot is a free aniamtion program. no strings attatched. ou can get it simply by going to google and getting it off the web (going to supply dl link when i have the time)
Q. who actually created pivot?
A. the actual creator of the ORIGINAL pivot is peter bone. But there isnt only the original version of pivot.
Q. ok, then what are the other versions of pivot?
A. There are multible versions:
1
1.1
2
2.2.5
2.5
3.0
3.1
etc.
Q. ok, what version should i use???
A. 2.2.5
pivot 1-2.0 have some bugs and such. and pivot 3 has alot of bugs too
so use 2.2.5
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The rundown of the pivot buttons
Play- in order for this button to have any effects, you need to make some frames. once you do that, this button plays the frames that ou have made so far
Stop- this stops the aniamtino (once it's playing)
repeat- if this box is checked, then the aniamtion will repeat after it has completed 1 cycle. if it is un-checked, then it'll stop the aniamtion at the end of that cycle.
*bar next to these options*- this bar simply controls the speed of the animaion. the higher the bar is, the faster the aniamtion will go. the lower the bar, the slower the aniamtion will go.
add figure- this adds 1 more of the type of figure yo have selected (form the figure drop-down box
delete- this deletes the figure that you have currenty selected
edit-this is how you can edit the stickman that you've selected (not going to get into detail, for more information, visit the stick sow-off section)
center- this brings the selected stik figure to the center of the screen
flip- this flip the selected stickfigure
colour- this is how you can change the color of any chosen stickfigure
*size button*- this is how you can change the size of a stkfigure (thehigher the #, the bigger the stk)
front- this puts the selected stkfigure BEHIND all of the oter stickmen/figures
back-this puts the selected stkfigure in FRONT of all of the oter stickmen/figures
next frame- this is the most inprotant factor of the aniamion process. Once you have changed the frames to something you lik, click this button
to make that frame part of the aniamtion.
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SAVING YOUR ANIMATION
this is a very simple process.
here is a step-by-step mini tut:
1. make the aniamtion
2. click on "file" (upper left-hand corner)
3. click save aniamion
4. designate the folder where u want to save it and save it there
5. if ur finished tha ani completely, go back to file
6. click save animation again
7. this time , click on the drop-down bar where is ask you which file type you'd like to save it as. here it is:
8. click gif. option on the screen:
9.click save
10. make the frame delay 6/100, and shrink frames by 1/2:
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CH. 2 PIVOT "TERMS"/ HELP
yes, we now move on to pivot "terms". There are many differant kinds of "terms" reffered to pivot. Such as when people abbreviate things lik "animations" and such. here are a few pivot "terms":
Animation= ani, ani's, anis, anim, anims= an animtion made in pivot
noob= nub, nublet, nubie, n00b= someone who is new to the forum, or new to pivot
Rust= rusty, rusteh= when some one takes a break from pivot, comes back, and is a little worse than when he/ she left
If you would like to learn more terms, please visit thrashmaster's
pivot jargon/ranks thread
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THE 14 COMMANDMENTS OF PIVOT
Here are some things to make an amazing animation.
1.Smoothness: When every joint is moved and is fluidly moving frame by frame.
2.Easing: When a movement is stopping, the joints move less and less untill all the way stopped.
3.Physics: Realistic and movements that comply to ordinary flexibilities.
4.Speed: When a figure is moving at a reasonable speed due to its current actions.
5.Timing: When figures comes out, or leaves, or anything else at the perfect moment.
6.Reaction: When something happens to a figure, and they react in a realistic or something mildly close action.
7.Cinema(optional): When you add cinemal tricks to your animations (wide screen).
8.Originality(optional): When an idea is original and yours.
9.Effects(optional): When you put in good and graphical effects.
10.Trails(optional): When the figure's ligaments are moving at a reasonable speed to add in a "trail" of the edge of it's body part.
11.3D Effects(optional): When you make a building or stick or anything else have a 3D effect.
12.Background and Scenery(optional): Adds a nice effect and adds more enjoyment to the movie.
13.Length(optional: When an animation is well made and at a reasonable length. Short animations that you make in hopes that it will get you a higher rank is usually harder to determine the amount of work put into the animation. Makeing an animation too long may bore the veiwer unless the animation was very well made. Making one just the perfect length is the usual thing people will enjoy.
14.Pose(optional: this is a very important factor in the pivot world. think is pose. this is just simple put your stickman in a realistic, or kewl pose.
no gai, or unrealistic poses. these will make the whloe aniamtion seem worse.
these are 14 ways to make an awesome animation. So for anybody who would like to know what makes anis so good, you just need all these aspects. The six first ones are the main key things for an animation. The other seven things are just stuff people like in animations.
ALL CRED GOES TO INSANE SAMURI FOR THESE, EXCEPT FOR THE STUFF IN BOLD
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CH. 3 THE BASICS
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One of the most popular things people animate with pivot it fights. But in order to create a fight, you must learn some basic techniques.
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THE STEP
This is THE most useful technique that you can master. it is used in just about every animation you make, so that's why it comes first.
here are the basic things needed to animate a step:
- move the legs like he's pivoting on an axis
- make sure that the front legs DOES NOT change it's place (moveing forward/backward)
- make sure that your bending the legs in a realistic manner (ex., the back leg's calf bends back a little, lik in real life)
- make sure that your moving the armstowrds the body when the stickman is starting up, and as he stops, they spread out again.
- MAKE THE LEGS CROSS-OVER NOTICEABLE!! but not TOO noticeable
- if you just cant seem to get it, then study your own walk, or othere's walking (in real life)
dl tha step here
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PUNCH
This is one of the most popular and effective fighting movesyou can learn.
this is a list of what you must do:
- you must combine the step, with the right arm movements
- like in the step, while the stickman is moveing foreward, the arms go twords the body, except with the punch, the BACK arm moves up, and bends into a punch-like position
- make sure to move the front arm twords the middle, and the back arm twords the neck
- once eveything's in position, make the stickman punch foreward
- make sure when he's punching to MAKE THE BACK EBND FOREWARD.
otherwise it'll look stiff, and unrealistic. - practice makes perfect. try to make your own style of punches, or just study punches made by other animators, that'll help you master this move.
- if you want to make it look more powerful, you can add a tremor
here's tha dl
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BLUD
yet another common effect in tha pivot world
here'show to do it:
- make sure to make the particles break up as the move out
- make the blood retain some of it;s original form (ex, dont make it go all over the place)
- make the particles shrink in a pattern (simplist way, that's how this blud is made) like 100, 75, 50, 25, 15, etc.
- make sure to move EVERY particle EVERY frame
- the more particles the better the blud
(click for piv.)
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GUN SHOT
This is another imparative skill to learn and master. THis is, the gun shot. here's how to make a sucessful gunshot:
- start practicing WITHOUT a real gun, just use the stickman's arm to begin with, then you can move on to the real gun.
- Make sure to have recoil to your shot
- Make the aniamtion MORE THAN 10 FRAMES!
- make sure the gun (when you have it) is steady(not shaking around)
- in order to make it more realistic, make a stk with 1 arm, find the EXACT length, AND thickness of the arm. Then make a figure with those demensions. After that, add that segmant to the animation. Make it IN FRONT OF the gun, and make the rest of the body BEHINDE the gun. Finally, make sure that the induvidual arm's origin point (orange dot) stays "connected" to the neck, or wherever your other arm is placed.
here u go ^_^
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JUMP
not as common, but still a very useful skill
here's tha tut:
- start by bending the knees forward
- make sure to keep the feet in a steay place
- ease to a stop, like he is crouching
- then make him push off, both legs straightening almost completely
- make sure when he lands, you show him bending his knees to absorb the impact
clicky^_^
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CH. 4 EFFECTS
we now move on to effects. this can really add to an aniamtion, thus resulting in a higher rank. Here are some basic, yet effective techniques:
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Speedlines
these have many differant purposes. they can e used to show the speed that a stikman is traveling by. Or it can be used as a stickman moving at supersonic speeds.
here is the rundown (to show stickman flying through the air):
- rip the "zoom" sticks from the aniamtion, and use them in urs (give cred to baha)
- make sure to add both of the sticks in the aniamtion
- make the stks pan across the screen rapidly
- do NOT move the stickman (backwards or forwards)
- make the stickman react it as realistic of a manner that you can make
here's tha piv.
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ALL THE TUTS IN THIS NEXT SECTION WERE MADE BY THRASHMASTER
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LIGHTNING
anouther yet useful efects. Here's how to do it:
here we go :D
first make ur stks. u need to make a stk that looks like litning. that save it, then open it and make every segment 3-4 bits thicker. you shud get this:
http://www.pivothost.org/upload/v2/cm96/lit1gqjl.bmp
then change the clor of the smaler ne to white, and the other one to blue/red whatever. put the white one in front of it. like this:
http://www.pivothost.org/upload/v2/cm96/lit2t2mf.bmp
(sowwy, img tags arent werking <_<)
then make an ani. every frame flip both lightning segments and mve
them along 1-2 pixels. put little white circles on the floor underneath where the lighning has just been. on the last few frames fade it out ull get this:
piv: http://www.pivothost.org/upload/v2/ThrashMaster/lit_ani5a4m.piv
dosnt look very powerful does it? add temors and it looks much better :D
piv: http://www.pivothost.org/upload/v2/ThrashMaster/lit_temtgfa.piv
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Back to me XD
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ADVANCED
this is for borderline+...hopefully this will b a very useful section
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SUPER PUNCH
a nice and simple way to make and stickman look lik he's punching at supersonic speeds :D
here's tha tut:
- this is VERY simple, so dont try and make it lik eased alot and such
- it;s just 3 frames
- frame 1- make the arms at a stand still, on bend near the stickman's waist, and the other bent behinde his head like a normal punch
- frame 2- make his upper arm fully extend foreward, while the waist-arm moves (and bends) up
- frame 3- make the arm that just punched start to bend down, while the other arm gets into the punching position
here're some helpful pics:
for more effect, bend his body down slowly
that's in this example
piv.
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still werking on it ^_^
